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U.N. Deploys Security Mission to Stabilize Violence-Raged Haiti; E.U. Members Met in Ukraine's Capital to Pledge More Military Assistance; Pro-Russian Slovak Leader Wins Parliamentary Elections; Trump Attends First Trial Hearing on his Financial Fraud Charges; Nine-year Old Girl Rescued After it Was Lost at a Camping Trip; Late Night Talk Shows Resumed Airing After the Writers' Strike. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 03, 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]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, help is on the way. The U.N. approves a security mission to try to stabilize Haiti and help regain control from violent gangs.
A strong show of support for Ukraine, members of the European Union met in Kyiv to pledge more military assistance while aid from the U.S. remains up in the air.
Plus, an apparent cross-border attack raises tensions yet again between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center. This is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. International help is on the way to the gang ravaged nation of Haiti. The United Nations Security Council on Monday voted to authorize a security force of armed police and possibly soldiers to restore order in the Caribbean country.
Haiti, including its capital, is largely controlled by violent criminal gangs. Thousands of Haitians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Kenya will lead the multinational security support mission. It's expected to assist Haitian police and take control of key facilities, including ports and airports.
And CNN's David McKenzie has been monitoring these new developments for us. He joins us now live. So David, what happens next now that the U.N. has authorized this armed force to help police restore order in Haiti, with Kenya leading the charge?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, what happens next is a lot of organization. The details of this mission that was approved by 13-0 with Russia and China upstanding at the U.N. Security Council, something you'd expect, are still at least publicly needing to be hashed out.
Kenya contributing at least a thousand, possibly police officers, potentially paramilitary GSU officers to this mission. They've been joined after heeding the call of Prime Minister Henry to head to Haiti at some point by Caribbean countries who will put in a more modest police force in that operation to try and stem the total chaos that has really gripped Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti in recent years because of the grip of the gangs that are controlling much of that country.
Now the Haitian foreign minister praised the move by the Security Council.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN VICTOR GENEUS, HAITIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The vote on this text represents significant progress towards resolving the multi-dimensional crisis that Haiti is going through. It's a glimmer of hope for the people that have for too long been suffering the consequences of a difficult political, socio-economic, security and humanitarian situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: The U.S. State Department has said that it will contribute at least $100 million to help finance this mission. It's not exactly under the auspices of the United Nations, despite it being approved by the Security Council. Many fear that this will be an extremely challenging mission to break the back of those gangs.
The point of this and the call from the leadership in Haiti was to try and stabilize the country enough to hold elections. It's been approved for a year. After nine months that will be reassessed, there is not a great history, frankly, of peacekeeping missions in Haiti and their success in the past. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yeah, David, on that point, to what concerns have been expressed about Kenya leading this mission?
MCKENZIE: Well Kenya has a deep exposure and history with peacekeeping missions on the African continent and elsewhere, both in terms of the military and the police forces, with pretty successful contributions to peacekeeping forces in places like South Sudan. They obviously also have a significant experience in military operations in southern Somalia and also security operations within the country of Kenya. Amnesty International, the leader to this vote, did question whether Kenya is necessarily the right country to lead this, saying that they need to pay attention to the security forces and how they operate inside Kenya.
[03:05:04]
Particularly the paramilitary GSU I mentioned has been accused multiple times of extrajudicial killings, as well as excessive violence when it comes to dealing with protesters in Kenya.
But the Kenyan government, including the president and the foreign minister, have said that they are ready to contribute, that they can bring a positive contribution to Haiti and stabilizing the situation. They are also, Kenya being a very close ally with the United States, and I think that is significant here. When the call came out by Haiti to have some kind of international force, you didn't see the U.S. or Brazil or other regional countries rushing to their aid, and Kenya did.
There will be details that will be very important. How exactly are they planning to stabilize the situation? Dealing with gangs is not just about detaining groups, it's about intelligence gathering and counter narcotics operations, in particular in Haiti. So this will be a complex mission, but Kenya says they're up to the task. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Our thanks to David McKenzie, bringing us up to date on the situation. I Appreciate it.
Well Ukraine is expected to top the agenda as NATO leaders gather in the coming hours for the annual Warsaw Security Forum. It follows a strong show of support for Ukraine from European Union foreign ministers. They met for the first time in a non-member nation, on Monday, gathering in Kyiv.
Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell is proposing a $5.25 billion aid package for Ukraine in 2024. He says the bloc's support is long-term and does not depend on one-day battlefield advances.
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JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Our resolve to support the fight of freedom and independence of Ukraine is firm and will continue the strongest security commitments that we can give to Ukraine is European Union membership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Ukraine's president addressed the meeting calling for more sanctions against Russia and closer cooperation with the European Union. The E.U. foreign ministers paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Russian invasion. They laid flowers at a memorial wall in Kiev and held a moment of silence.
Well Meantime, in the U.S., President Joe Biden says he fully expects Congress to approve new funding for Ukraine. Over the weekend, Congress stripped future spending for Ukraine from a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown. The U.S. State Department calls that unacceptable.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: If we allow authoritarians like President Putin to do whatever they want to other sovereign countries, then the whole U.N. Charter will be shredded and we are going to live in a world where this kind of aggression can happen anywhere, anytime. That would be far more expensive for the American people and far more dangerous for the American people. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow America's support for Ukraine to be interrupted. Our allies, our adversaries, and the world will be watching.
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CHURCH: Meantime, Ukrainian forces say weapons from the US and other Western countries are vital to their success. CNN's Fred Pleitgen visited the front lines to get a close-up look.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ukraine's 80th Airborne Assault Brigade storming Russian positions on the Eastern Front using U.S.-made weapons to try and dislodge Vladimir Putin's troops. Gains that would probably be impossible if Washington cut military assistance.
This soldier, whom we can only name as Vasyl, tells me.
I don't know what to say. That would be tough, he says. The troops say U.S.-supplied weapons like this Browning heavy machine gun are helping them turn the tide because they're more accurate, more reliable and more robust than what the Russians have.
(on-camera): You can see just how important military aid for Ukraine is for that country to stay in the fight. It's everything from rifles to surface to air missile systems to help Ukraine push Russia back.
(voice-over): The U.S. has sent more than $45 billion worth of security assistance to Ukraine since Russia's prolonged invasion. New weapons viewed as game changers by Kyiv, like the High Mars multiple rockets launching systems and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, which Kyiv says have already saved the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers.
Losing U.S. assistance would be catastrophic, Ukraine admits, but the National Security Adviser tells CNN, it doesn't believe that it will be tough.
We are more than confident that this will not happen, he says, if the United States is a country responsible for the democratic world and has assumed this responsibility.
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It would be a great joy for Putin and all autocratic regimes if the U.S. withdrew the assistance it provides us.
But the Kremlin believes sooner or later, Washington will buckle.
Fatigue from the absurd sponsorship of the Kyiv regime will increase in various countries, including the United States, the spokesman says. And this fatigue will lead to a fragmentation of the political establishment and a rise in infighting. The soldiers from the 80th Airborne say they badly need U.S. weapons
to continue pushing the Russians back in the East, but will keep on fighting with or without American support.
You don't have a choice, he says. We have to do it. Our brigade's motto is nobody but us.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN in eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments live this hour from London. She joins us now. Good morning to you, Nada. So what is the significance of Monday's meeting in Kyiv, especially given the uncertainty over ongoing U.S. funding for Ukraine?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Rosemary, this is deeply significant in terms of the symbolism here, particularly on the heels of that decision taken by the U.S. Congress. We heard yesterday from the E.U. Foreign Affairs Chief, Josep Borrell, speaking alongside the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, describing this as a clear expression of the will and commitment of European Union member states to continue supporting Ukraine, even in the face of perhaps arguably waning support from some members of the U.S. Congress.
Dmitry Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, also echoing that sentiment, he spoke about the significance of this meeting of foreign ministers taking place perhaps in his words, not in E.U. borders at this point in time, but in future E.U. borders. Of course, Ukraine still pushing ahead with hopes that they will be granted membership to the European Union.
We heard also yesterday from other representatives of the European Union and other foreign ministers taking part in this Foreign Affairs Council. It was not technically an official sitting of the Foreign Affairs Council given that it took place outside of E.U. premises. So no official conclusions or concrete agreements, but we did see some positive indications, particularly when it comes to Ukraine's hopes to join the European Union. Take a listen to this statement from the German Foreign Minister speaking yesterday.
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ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): With this foreign council of E.U. foreign ministers, we are taking the European Union to where the heart of Europe beats strongest at the moment. Here in Kyiv, here in Ukraine. Ukraine's future lies in the European Union, in our community of freedom, and it will soon stretch from Lisbon to Luhansk, with every village, with every meter that Ukraine liberates, with every meter where it saves its people. It also paves its way into the European Union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHUR: Now in addition to proposals of continued and new funding for Ukraine from the European Union, the E.U.'s Foreign Affairs Chief, Josep Borrell, also spoke about this commitment, saying that this was in some sense the E.U.'s membership could be the biggest commitment that these member states could offer Ukraine at this current point in time. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Minister said that in their view, they believe this is moving in the right direction, that the Ukrainian government and E.U. leaders are on the same page when it comes to the prospect of E.U. membership.
The negotiations are, in his view, potentially taking place before the beginning of next year. So that is certainly a positive indication from the European Union. But of course, there are stringent requirements in place for any nation seeking membership of the E.U. Ukraine will be no exception to that. We know that the E.U. has put forward at least seven recommendations for reforms to be made in Ukraine including tackling corruption, money laundering, press freedoms and minority rights. So there is certainly still a lot to work on there but clearly a message of commitment, a message of renewed support from the EU for Ukraine.
CHURCH: Many thanks to Nada Bashir for that live report.
We want to turn to Slovakia now where a pro-Russian leader has won the parliamentary election and has been given two weeks to form a government. The victory is important because as you see on this map, Ukraine is bordered by Russia to the east and Slovakia to the west. Well now as Robert Fico tries to build a coalition government, there's a new focus on his comments against sending arms to Ukraine.
CNN's Nic Robertson has details.
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NOC ROBERSTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Robert Fico, Slovakia's pro-Putin populist leader, has been here before. 2006, 2010 and 2016, winning the biggest vote share in national elections, 22.9 percent, but not enough for his SMEAR-SD party to govern alone, as they did following the elections in 2012. His challenge now, build a governing coalition. The clock's ticking. He has two weeks.
[03:15:09]
ROBERT FICO, LEADER, SMER PARTY (through translator): I want to say to all Slovakia that we are ready. We are enlightened and we are more experienced in the fights we have taken.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): If he succeeds, it would be his third term as prime minister and could have a big impact beyond Slovakia's borders.
Fico's no weapons to Ukraine policy would be a massive U-turn, potentially ending Slovakia's stalwart support for its neighbor.
FICO (through translator): We are ready to help Ukraine humanitarianly. We are ready to help in the restoration of the state. But our opinion on arming Ukraine does not change.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For now, no change in Slovakia's Ukraine policy. The current technocrat foreign minister in Kyiv with his E.U. counterparts pledging continuity.
MIROSLAV WLACHOVSKY, SLOVAKIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We came here to express our full support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Reality is, his replacement in a Fico-led government may rankle E.U. unity and not just over Ukraine.
Ahead of this election, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova warned Russia's disinformation is rampant in Slovakia.
VERA JOUROVA, EUROPEAN COMMISSION VICE PRESIDENT: We speak about dangerous campaigns. which is misleading, which can do harm to the society, which can radicalize the society, and which can radically change the election's result.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): It's too soon to know if Jourova's fears were realized, but pro-Putin sentiment is already strong. Most Slovaks don't blame him for invading Ukraine.
If Fico fails to build a coalition, as he did in 2010, other parties are confident they can muster the 75 seats in the 150-member parliament needed.
MICHAEL SIMECKA, LEADER, PROGRESSIVE SLOVAKIA: Realistically there are two options at the table. One is a government led by Mr. Fico and the other one is a coalition made up of Progressive Slovakia and other partners which would in fact have over 80 MPs.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For now though it's Fico in the driving seat. potentially putting him on a collision course with European leaders. Something sure to please Putin.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas joins me now. Good to have you with us.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me on, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So Slovakia's president has asked populist former Prime Minister Robert Fico to try to form a coalition government after winning early parliamentary elections. So what form might that coalition take, do you think? And what could it mean ultimately for Slovakia's relations to the rest of Europe?
THOMAS: Yeah, so the road to power in Slovakia is 76 seats. No party managed to get that, and none of the top three parties are able to move forward without creating, therefore, these kind of complex coalitions. Fico has an opportunity here by just joining up with two political parties to be able to move forward. And I think that the likelihood is that he'll move with the party that came third in this election that is known as Voice, that is an outgrowth of his party and with whom they share these very important issues that played out in the election, which is the interruption of military aid and support for conflict in Ukraine, the end to sanctions on Russia, and for arguing for peaceful talks and negotiations, highly controversial points.
And all they would need if those two parties that have been partners before to join up would be one of the smaller parties, probably the Nationalist Party of Slovakia, would join up with them. For the party that came in second, they would need three more coalition parties. Their positions are diametrically opposed in the sense of their allegiance to European Union and to European Union talking points. And I think it would be an uphill struggle for them, Rosemary, to be able to move forward and create a stable coalition government.
CHURCH: Dominic, as you touched on, Fico pledged to end support for Ukraine. So what could his coalition government mean if he's able to form it for Russia's war on Ukraine?
THOMAS: Yeah, well, this is a very complicated situation because they are essentially running a campaign, which in many ways was sort of taking the pulse on how these issues would play out in a national context. Those particular talking points pertaining to Russia, end of support for Ukraine, are diametrically opposed to the positions of the European Union on these questions. The European Union and NATO, I should add, have been very clear on this.
[03:19:59]
In this particular conflict, there is a clear aggressor. It is Russia, and there is a country that has been illegally occupied, and that is Ukraine. Moving to a negotiating table even though everybody hopes for peace, is essentially to argue without Russia having been withdrawn that somehow both parties have a legitimate claim. This is a very risky proposition. It sets an awful precedent in terms of invasion. But I think the bigger issue, Rosemary, here is that we see a kind of fracture developing amongst European Union member countries on these particular questions. And we know that the Russian propagandist machine has been very adept at exploiting these kinds of polarizing issues.
CHURCH: And Dominic, what do we need to know about Robert Fico and, of course, his relationship with Russia's President Vladimir Putin?
THOMAS: Yes, well, I mean, these are like, for example, Orban in Hungary, political leaders that have a track record of walking a very fine line between adherence to European to the European Union from which the country benefits exponentially financially, while at the same time, not so much being in the sphere of influence of Russia, but working along the principles of a kind of sympathy and a sort of nostalgia for that kind of relationship. And in this particular context of conflict, in which neutrality is simply not an option, those particular positions are problematic when it comes to the broader question of E.U. and NATO and how they want to go about handling this.
And we see this particular figure, therefore, as disrupting the focus of the E.U. and NATO on these particular questions.
CHURCH: Still to come, new reports of an attack on Armenian soldiers amid tensions at the border with Azerbaijan.
Plus, the U.S. claims Serbia is amassing forces at Kosovo's border, but Serbia's president says otherwise. Details after a short break.
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CHURCH: Armenia's defense ministry claims an Armenian soldier was killed and two more injured after an attack from Azerbaijani forces on Monday. But Azerbaijan's defense ministry calls the reports completely false. It comes amid a mass exodus of refugees after the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 100,000 refugees have fled Nagorno- Karabakh to Armenia amid the crisis, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
CNN's Scott McLean joins me now live from London with more on this. Good to see you, Scott. So after more than 100,000 people fled the separatist territory, a U.N. mission has now arrived on the ground. So what did they find?
[03:24:56]
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rosemary. Yeah, very much lines up with the social media video that we saw yesterday showing the town square of Stepanakert, the capital of this separatist region virtually abandoned. There were some strollers, some carts, things that people obviously could afford to leave behind, perhaps couldn't carry with them on the cars or buses that they were boarding to flee to Armenia.
And this U.N. mission comprised of a group of delegates from a variety of different U.N. agencies, well there was lots to see but not a lot of people to talk to. They found the town virtually abandoned, though they say that much of it was in pretty good shape. Certainly the civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, residential buildings were very much intact despite the lightning offensive that came about two weeks ago from Azerbaijan.
They also were told by locals that the estimates of the population still in the region, between 50 and 1,000. 50 and 1,000 somewhere in there that's the estimate right now and keep in mind that this was a region the separatist region which was home to 120,000 people they also said that Azerbaijanis were preparing to restart health services in the area and get utilities back online there obviously no shops open because why would there be there is almost nobody there. They said that of the locals that they were able to talk to, they didn't report any kind of violence since the last ceasefire was put in place against the civilian population.
Where we are seeing violence though is what you mentioned already, Rosemary, and that is along the border region with yesterday Armenia reporting that one soldier was killed, two were injured in an attack on soldiers near a combat outpost along the border.
Russian peacekeepers who were patrolling with Azerbaijani troops also reported that they were taking fire from an unknown sniper. Both sides denied that they were part of either of these attacks and it comes after Saturday. The Azerbaijanis said that one of their soldiers was killed along the border. They blamed Armenia which denied it.
We have not seen a lot of reports of arrests among people fleeing to Armenia, but there have been some high-profile exceptions and among them two former commanders of the military of Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian military, and also a former state minister whose children took to Twitter or X yesterday to appeal to the international community to help secure Ruben Vardanyan, their father's release. They said that they have not heard from him since he was arrested trying to flee to Armenia, Wednesday last week. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Alright. Our Thanks to Scott McLean bringing us up to date on those developments. I Appreciate it.
Well U.S. officials say they have been tracking a growing number of Serbian forces gathering at the country's border with Kosovo. A contingent of more than 8,000 soldiers had been at the border following a deadly attack on Kosovo's police force last month. Authorities say one officer and three armed attackers were killed.
CNN's Bianca Nobilo and Isa Soares break down the incident.
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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The issues between Kosovo and Serbia begin with deep-seated geographical and historical enmity. Now the tensions at the moment are flaring in this area here and the U.S. has warned of an unprecedented, they say, military buildup from Serbia of troops, artillery and tanks on this border, which of course is making Kosovo and their government very nervous. They say it resembles what we saw Russia do prior to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But where did this current tension come from?
For that we need to go back one week. And this man is now at the center of what was a very violent attack in the northern provinces of Kosovo, which are Serb majority. It came out of nowhere. It surprised people on both sides. Now the Kosovo government says there were 30 gunmen involved.
They stormed a Kosovo police patrol. And this man, Milan Radojcic, says that he was fully responsible for that, that the Serbian government had nothing to do with it. He said it was all his idea, it was his planning, he executed it, and he said that his intention was to try and encourage Serbs in Kosovo to resist the rule of the Kosovo Prime Minister, Alvin Kurti.
Now, this seems strange for a number of reasons, and we'll get to that in just a second. We can see here on the far right, that's Radojcic. supposedly captured on video on the day of these attacks. Now, what is raising question marks for some in Kosovo is the extent of the weaponry that Radojcic had when these 30 supposed Serbian government made this attack in Northern Kosovo. There were sophisticated artillery, there were radio kits, plenty of weapons and grenades, which would seem very strange for a sort of last-minute paramilitary force to put together. So the question then becomes.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Who could be behind this is where you're leading?
[03:30:00]
NOBILO: Exactly.
SOARES: Okay, so question marks. And what is the thinking and who has the most, let me put it this way, who has the most to win from this?
NOBILO: Well, this is what is so deeply perplexing and why the plot keeps thickening because. Both sides have a lot to lose here. Serbia's been in a really difficult position since Russia's invasion of Ukraine because it has these historical ties to Russia, it has a Slavic and an Orthodox affinity, and they want to keep that relationship. But Serbia does have aspirations to join the European Union, so it's trying to straddle Russia and the West.
So launching an attack on Kosovo, which obviously G7 countries recognize or potentially even gearing up to some sort of invasion, which is what the Kosovans have said they're worried about, would completely destabilize and eradicate any possibility of that happening.
But equally the idea that they had no knowledge of an attack of paramilitaries with that size, a large amount of weaponry, that their intelligence services weren't aware that was bubbling away in northern Kosovo and being prepared does stretch credulity a little bit. So as far as both sides are concerned, there has been criticism of those in Kosovo and the government there for not granting the autonomy to Serbs that was promised, the Serbians feel like they've reneged on those promises to feel like they're necessarily protected in the North. But as far as Kosovo is concerned, to see this surprise attack, this potential military buildup when trust is at an all time low, there is just no capital there between the two. It certainly has the potential, as the German ambassador to the U.S. said just a day ago, to be Europe's next powder keg.
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CHURCH: Well, Serbia's president says the White House report on troop buildup is not fully accurate. Speaking with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, he claims to have reduced troops at the border by nearly half.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEKSANDAR VUCIC, SERBIAN PRESIDENT: A year ago, we used to have 14,000 people at the administrative line with Kosovo. Few days ago we used to have less than 8,400. Today we have it 4,400 which is a regular number of people. And we always hear and we always listen when our partners were asking
us to de-escalate the situation and we did it this time although there were no reasons for a big worry because we didn't need any kind of --
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Okay.
VUCIC: -- wars any kind of clashes with NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Coming up, Donald Trump showed up for day one of his business fraud trial and quietly scowled inside the courtroom, but outside he let loose.
Plus, safe and sound. A missing nine-year-old girl is back with her family after a harrowing weekend. How police found her suspected kidnapper, just ahead.
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[03:35:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, just days after the top U.S. House Republican struck an 11th hour deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, he's now facing the most serious threat to his speakership so far and it's coming from inside his own party.
A motion to remove Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker has been filed by hardline Republican Matt Gaetz who's long been a critic. A floor vote to oust McCarthy would take a majority to succeed, meaning he'll likely need Democratic support to stay in power.
Gaetz says by this time next week, there will either be a new House Speaker or the public will know McCarthy is aligned with the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I have made no deal with Democrats because I believe that Democrats should vote against Kevin McCarthy for free. It's Kevin McCarthy who's out there offering deals to Democrats. So if there's a deal made with Democrats, the only deal is to make one with McCarthy because I'm not offering anything and won't offer anything. And by the way, if the Democrats want to own Kevin McCarthy, they can have it.
(end video clip)
CHURCH: In a tit-for-tat exchange on X, formerly Twitter, McCarthy wrote, bring it on, in response to Gaetz' motion to oust him. Gates fired back soon after, saying, just did.
Well Donald Trump posted online he plans to show up once again for his civil fraud trial that will resume later today. On Monday, Trump went after the New York Attorney General and the judge presiding over the case. The Attorney General is seeking $1.25 billion in fines as well as bans preventing Trump and his sons from doing business in New York. They are accused of inflating his wealth on financial statements to get better terms on loans and insurance policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: Donald Trump and the other defendants have committed persistent and repeated fraud. Last week, we proved that in our motion for summary judgment. Today, we will prove our other claims. My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Trump used his appearance to bolster his presidential campaign and to fundraise while repeating some familiar accusations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This has to do with election interference, plain and simple. We have a corrupt attorney general in this state. This is a pure witch hunt for purposes of interfering with the elections of the United States of America. It's totally illegal, and this was for politics. Now, it has been very successful for them because they took me off the campaign trail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Except that's not true. Trump was not required to be present for what is expected to be a months-long trial. He chose to be there. CNN's Brynn Gingras picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, pretty eventful day for the first day of the civil fraud trial brought against Donald Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Opening statements kicked off with Trump inside the courtroom and in those opening statements, states attorneys laid out what its case will be for the next three months or so that this trial is expected to last talking about how Trump and his sons and Trump or conspired to commit persistent fraud and saying in doing so banks took on hidden risk. They talked about how they'll be calling several witnesses to the stand including Trump's sons and possibly Trump and even Michael Cohen who is of course his testimony to Congress is the whole reason why this case even got started in the first place when it was the defense's turn to bring its opening statements. They talked about how Trump made billions off of just good business deals in real estate, essentially saying that he did everything by the book and pointing out the fact that no fraud was committed and that there were really no victims in this case.
In some they say there was no illegality, there was no fraud and there are no victims. Now, as far as what was happening inside that courtroom, Letitia James was there inside sitting as well as Eric Trump and Donald Trump with his defense attorneys. Donald Trump did not acknowledge Letitia James several times as he walked past her, except for maybe one time. Eric Trump actually went over to Letitia James and shook her hand twice throughout the duration of the day. But Trump did take the time outside of the courtroom to lash out not only at Letitia James, but about this trial in general and about the judge who will be deciding the really the balls and strikes of this entire case.
[03:40:11]
So it'll be interesting to see if he shows up later on Tuesday for court. But as of now, it's unclear if he will show up, although he is eager to testify again in a trial that is expected to last three months.
I'm Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A nine-year-old girl who vanished during a camping trip in upstate New York on Saturday has been found. The governor says authorities located Charlotte Senna after her alleged kidnapper hand- delivered a ransom note to the girl's home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCUL (D-NY): She literally drove up to the family's mailbox, assuming they were not home. 4:20 in the morning opens the mailbox and inserts the ransom note leaving a critical piece of evidence behind his own fingerprint.
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CHURCH: The girl was rescued from a camper that the suspect lived in behind his mother's home. Police say the suspect is now in custody and New York's governor expects charges to be brought against him.
Still to come, melting glaciers are revealing ancient treasures, opening up a whole new field of science. I'll speak with a glacial archaeologist about this research and how we can benefit from these discoveries. Back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: As glaciers around the world are melting due to climate change, they're also revealing a fascinating trove of treasures buried deep within the ice for millions of years. It's paved the way for a new field of research called glacial archaeology. From bodies to ancient weapons and even frozen viruses, these archaeologists are finding incredible artifacts that would otherwise be undiscovered.
And joining me now live from Oslo, Norway is Julian Post-Melbye, an archaeologist with the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. He's also been working with a glacial archaeology program called The Secrets of the Ice. Thank you so much for talking with us. JULIAN POST-MELBYE, ARCHAEOLOGIST, MUSEUM OF CULTURAL HISTORY,
UNIVERSITY OF OSLO: Thank you for having me on.
CHURCH: So with climate change accelerating the melting of glaciers, we are now seeing many more archaeological discoveries like this. So how significant is this and what new ancient artifacts have you and other crews been finding in recent years that stand out?
POST-MELBYE: So all these artifacts that are melting out of the ice, they have been preserved in a way in. Other sites cannot because they've been frozen in time inside ice. So we have organic material that we can't find otherwise and preserve, perfectly preserve clothes, arrows, skis, hunting equipment, horse equipment. And all this gives us new insights into things we can't study other places.
[03:45:06]
CHURCH: And with the melting of these glaciers, of course, that has been significant in itself, uncovering these various treasures. But just how obvious has it been for you and your team watching the melting of these glaciers? What's your reaction to that? I mean, obviously the silver lining and finding these artifacts, but it comes at such a great cost doesn't it with climate change?
POST-MELBYE: Yeah, if even though it's a boon for us archaeologists It's a hefty cost because the change in the mountains especially in Norway where I work is relentless the last 20 years, 70 percent of the ice on the sites where we have archaeological finds, they are gone now because these are unmoving ice patches and they are pretty much like a canary in a coal mine. They will disappear quicker than glaciers.
So we see this change as we perceive it as inevitable that they will be gone within this century.
CHURCH: And how do you think the world benefits by the uncovering of these artifacts? What do you think is gained by this?
POST-MELBYE: Well, first of all, there are several things, but one of them is that we can tell the public in a very visual way that the ice in the mountains of the world is disappearing and it's disappearing fast.
And it also gives a sense of like the depth of time, how long this ice has been here, because we find artifacts that are over 6,000 years old in Norway and even older, for example, in Canada. So you can say that these sites have been stable for the last 6, 7,000 years and now they are disappearing due to anthropogenic climate change. So it gives like this persistent change.
And also it gives us the opportunity to tell new stories about the human past, like they were willing and able to travel in the high mountains with skis in the winter, 2,000 meters above sea level in the winter. And that's also a very new field of study for us to see a populated high mountain area.
CHURCH: And Julian, with the emergence of this new field of science in search of these well-preserved ancient treasures previously hidden under the ice, is there sufficient regulation to ensure that these artifacts are retrieved and preserved properly? Because of course we've seen situations where people have stolen artifacts like this that have been uncovered. But this is a new area, isn't it? So, I mean, is it everyone sort of rushing to find these? How is it regulated?
POST-MELBYE: Well, luckily in Norway, we have a pretty strict cultural heritage law, so they are protected by that law. But we really have to be there when they melt out because they will start to deteriorate quickly. And so this is a, we just have to prioritize to work with it as they're melting out.
And this has been going on for the last 15 years, and maybe we have 15 more years before all these artifacts will be lost. So it's a job for my generation of archaeologists to handle this crisis.
CHURCH: And what other secrets of the ice do you expect and hope to find?
POST-MELBYE: Well, we have lots of dreams. I know the last 15 years we have found things beyond my expectations. We've found complete clothing that's 2000, almost 2000 years old. We've found complete pairs of skis. We've found like trails crossing the mountains where you can see they've brought children along to cross mountain passes in prehistory and we have found hunting equipment stretching all the way back to the stone age to people's spoons they've lost while -- while eating. So like. I think the imagination is our only limits to what we will find.
CHURCH: Julian Post-Melbye in Oslo, many thanks for joining us. It is certainly a fascinating new field of science. And we thank you for sharing what you've found so far.
POST-MELBYE: Yeah, thank you for having me on.
CHURCH: Thank you.
Well, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico will soon contaminate drinking water supplies for tens of thousands of people in Louisiana, including New Orleans. CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, shows us how officials are trying to combat the problem.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In South Louisiana, folks are plenty familiar with saltwater that moves at the speed of a hurricane. But now they must also worry about saltwater that creeps, steady and invisible, toward the crops, machines and drinking water systems of almost a million people.
[03:50:00]
UNKNOWN: I happen to be one who believes in the power of prayer. I'm going to ask for people to pray for rain. WEIR (voice-over): After a second straight year of extraordinary
drought, the not-so-mighty Mississippi is too weak to hold back the Gulf of Mexico. So the heavier saltwater is running downhill towards New Orleans in the shape of a wedge with the toe about 15 miles in front of the kind of inundation that could threaten the health of the vulnerable and destroy everything from lead pipes to appliances.
(on-camera): So the Army Corps of Engineers is urgently racing against time and salt with a couple different tools. This is the first of what will be many barges that can bring about a half million gallons of freshwater at a time downstream. They use it to dilute the brackish stuff as it goes into a small water plant here in Plaquemines Parish. The Corps says they can move 36 million gallons a day, but even that wouldn't be enough to save the New Orleans water supply. So they're already talking about maybe building pipelines to prop up that water system. In the meantime, the Corps is also building a big sill, like an underwater speed bump, to try to slow the wedge as it moves inland. But these are all temporary fixes. And the leader of this pair says, if this is the new normal, that means parts of Louisiana will need the same kind of desalination that they use in Israel and other desert communities.
KEITH HINKLEY, PRESIDENT, PLAQUEMINES PARISH: You've got one trailer would be the reverse osmosis and the other would be the filtration system right there.
WEIR (voice-over): Keith Hinkley is the president of Plaquemines Parish, a spread out county of less than 25,000, now spending a fortune on desalination.
HINKLEY: If we didn't have help from the state and the federal government, it could bankrupt the parish here. So yeah, yeah. Cause we're probably right now about $33 million in on this situation. Like I said, we're a small parish.
WEIR (on-camera): Just this summer, just this wedge?
HINKLEY: Yeah, just because of this wedge.
WEIR (on-camera): Wow. This is land that's familiar with hurricanes. Flooding, not droughts and wildfires.
HINKLEY: Right.
WEIR (on-camera): How do you reconcile these things?
HINKLEY: Well, because like you say, when you look this way and you look that way, you're looking at water. We're in the middle of water, but we're in the middle of the wrong kind of water, and that's why we're needing these kind of machines.
WEIR (voice-over): There is hope El Nino will bring rare October rain. But this battle could last months, with the latest forecast putting the wedge close to New Orleans in the next three weeks.
LT. GEN. RUSSEL L. HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): But this happened two years in a row, because this is considered to be a pattern.
WEIR (voice-over): Lieutenant General Russell Honore led the military recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina and says that was the first disaster that made him consider the costs of climate change. Now retired, it is the focus of his work. as an environmental activist in his native Louisiana.
HONORE: For the first time in my life, a couple of weeks ago, the governor declared a wildfire emergency. I've never heard of that in Louisiana before. This time of the year, we're gonna normally go to church on Sunday, the priests are praying for no hurricanes. We need to turn that and ask them to start praying for thunderstorms.
Yesterday we had floods in New York. Who would have thought? This time of year the floods are in the Gulf, not in New York, and the city flooded. So the climate is changing quicker than we are adapting.
WEIR (on-camera): Due to rising seas and the sinking land here, Louisiana loses an area of land about the size of a football field every hour and a half. This is the first time this kind of wedge has happened back-to-back years now. The worst one was way back in the 30s, but they're worried that this new trend will mean a whole new level of adaptation to a changing climate.
Bill Weir, CNN, New Orleans.
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CHURCH: Coming up, Pope Francis takes a stance on the potential blessings of same-sex couples, one which could raise eyebrows among the Catholic Church's most conservative cardinals. We'll take a look at that on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
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[03:55:00]
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CHURCH: For the first time, Pope Francis has hinted at the possibility of some same-sex couples receiving blessings in the Catholic Church. He says it could only happen on a limited case-by-case basis. The Church does not recognize same-sex marriages. The Pope's opinion came in response to formal questions posed by five conservative cardinals, some of his harshest critics, and it differs from an explicit Vatican ruling against blessings of same-sex couples issued in 2021.
This year's Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to two scientists for their work on mRNA vaccines, a crucial tool in curtailing the spread of COVID-19. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman jointly won the prestigious honor on Monday. The committee praised the scientists for their groundbreaking findings, which it said fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system. Here's more from a Nobel committee member.
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OLLE KAMPE, NOBEL COMMITTEE: What the mRNA vaccine technology holds in the future is a possibility to make vaccines that can treat certain cancer forms.
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CHURCH: Now that the writer's strike is over, America's late-night comedy shows are back. Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers all hosted new live episodes of their programs Monday night for the first time since May when the strike began. Fans of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" waited in line on Hollywood Boulevard hoping to get a ticket.
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MARK NANKISSOOR, FAN FROM TORONTO, CANADA: I miss the interviews, I miss the comedy, I miss the jokes, I miss all of it. I miss all of it.
BEVERLY SPRINGER, FAN FROM LOS ANGELES: Well, I'm happy that people are working now, you know, stressful. I was thinking about all the guys on the line, everyone is affecting everyone and their homes and getting paid, so I'm happy that everyone's back, you know.
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CHURCH: Everybody's happy and laughing. Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next.
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