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Ukraine's President To Make Case For More Aid In Coming Day; Intense Battles As Israel Expands Operations In Southern Gaza; Israel: Last Hamas Strongholds In Northern Gaza Surrounded; COP28 Draft Deal Drops Calls For Fossil Fuel Phase-Out; Alexei Navalny's Team: Russian Opposition Leader Is Missing; Netanyahu Allowed Cash Flow From Qatar to Hamas Despite Concerns From His Government; Kim Jong-Un Accused of Stealing Billions of Crypto for Weapons; Alex Jones Back on X; Soho House Stops Accepting New Members in Some Cities. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired December 12, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:14]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Ukraine's president is in the U.S. to push for military aid and warning the Congress's standoff over funding is a dream come true for Vladimir Putin.

The IDF says it's encircled Hamas's last strongholds in northern Gaza, even as it expands military operations in the south.

And climate activists blast the latest draft COP28 agreement. It doesn't include a call to phase out the fossil fuels that are driving global warming. We're live in Dubai with the latest.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, the Ukrainian president is making a direct plea for more security aid during his third visit to Washington since the Russian invasion. That's after a Senate vote last week that included billions of dollars in assistance failed to pass.

In the hours ahead, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will try to persuade senators and the new U.S. House speaker but it appears likely that Congress will go into recess at weeks end without having approved any additional aid.

Republicans have been trying to link the funding to domestic immigration controls, the Democrats oppose resulting in a deadlock. President Zelenskyy will also head to the White House Tuesday to meet with the U.S. president whose administration warns that Russia is closely watching what happens in Congress. The Ukrainian president says if the impasse is not resolved, the big winner will be Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: If there's anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, is just Putin and his sick clique. They see the dreams come through when they see the delays or some scandals, and they see freedom to fall when the support of freedom fighters go down. And people like Putin shouldn't even hope to conquer freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian is covering this live from London. She joins us now. Good morning to you, Clare.

So, Ukraine's President highlighting how delighted President Putin would be at this time as he watches Republicans refuse additional funding for the war torn nation. Of course, we are seeing that reflected on Russian state television where anchors are celebrating and commending U.S. conservatives for their actions. So what is the latest on this? And of course, Mr. Zelenskyy's upcoming meetings today.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, the key to understanding this is that in Russia, this policy of confronting the U.S., it is in everything. It determines everything at this point in the war and this has been the case for a while now.

But under no circumstances is this presented by Russian officials or state media as a war with Ukraine. This is a war that the West, according to Russia, has started against Russia. So that's the context here.

We're seeing it, you know, covered significantly, Russia always watches Congress now even more so, there's more subtle coverage this morning, for example, we're seeing a lot of news outlets quoting Senator J.D. Vance saying, you know, Ukraine might have to give up territory to end this, might have to move to negotiations.

And then on state media in particular, there are a lot of commentators who are less subtle, who are unable to hide their enthusiasm for what's happening. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What's happening in the U.S. is beneficial for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Ukraine is losing. Russia is winning. This is it. Their funding and weapons came to an end.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): As of now, well done Republicans. They're standing firm. That's good for us. Even Mitch McConnell, well done gramps.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SEBASTIAN: For the problem of Ukraine is that right now, and this is still early days and this visit he has a much bigger day today. But the needle hasn't moved.

Senator James Lankford, who is the Chief GOP negotiator on immigration, has essentially ruled out pushing the idea of immigration reform, later postponing it and trying to get Ukraine aid passed before Congress -- the members of Congress leave for the holidays.

And look, Zelenskyy does have a lot of opportunities today to try to make his case, he has a meeting at the White House with Biden. He's already met with Jake Sullivan, we understand on Tuesday. On Monday night, the National Security Adviser critically he will be up on Capitol Hill. He's been invited to an all senators meeting and perhaps, the most important meeting of all will be with the Republican House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, who has you know, his conference is opposed to Ukraine aid, but he is the one who really holds the key here. So that will be a crucial meeting. President Zelenskyy will be able to make his case to raise awareness to try to build relationships.

[02:05:24]

Now, of course, the risk is that unlike last year, when he came in December and left with the promise of patriot missiles, he could leave empty handed. He risks being embroiled in partisan politics in the U.S., and that could affect Ukrainian morale.

On the flip side, we see President Putin in Russia on Monday inaugurating two new nuclear submarines projecting power. He has, of course, just announced that he's going to be running for a fifth time in elections next year. Rosemary?

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

For more, I want to turn to CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger. He is also the White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times. Good to have you with us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, in an effort to break the stalemate in Congress, President Zelenskyy will meet with President Joe Biden, senators and the House speaker today on an urgent mission to convince U.S. conservatives that supporting his war torn nation is in their best interest.

So, how likely is it that he can break the impasse on Capitol Hill and change their focus from border security specifically to also include his nation's needs?

SANGER: President Biden made a calculation that he would benefit from combining together more support for the border, more support for Israel, that $14 billion and the 60 billion or so for Ukraine. And it's where the most of that money is going to U.S. companies that are going to resupply the United States and its own arsenal, from -- for weapons that have already been given to Ukraine.

It seems unlikely that Zelenskyy is capable of moving votes here, because those who are against him are against him on issues around the border more than on the American involvement in Ukraine, although there is an isolationist group within or seemingly isolationist group within the Republican Party that basically says this is no longer America's fight.

CHURCH: Let's look at those numbers, I want to bring up this graphic we have on the supplemental national security package. And here we can see that $61.4 billion tag for Ukraine right now compared to 13.6 billion allotted to border security and additional 14.3 billion tag for Israel and 7.4 billion for Taiwan and the Indo Pacific.

So, is there room for some negotiation perhaps on the amount being allocated to Ukraine, as opposed to border security, which of course, as we pointed out, is the main stumbling block here for conservatives?

SANGER: The stumbling block really isn't about the amount of money that's being spent, although there are some Republicans who think the right number for our contributions to Ukraine would be zero. It really has to do with restoring the Trump era policies at the border.

In the Ukraine case, the argument that President Biden has been making. And the argument that Zelenskyy will repeat is if you cut this off now, you are handing a great victory to Vladimir Putin. And you are creating a precedent in which the Chinese would learn to fundamentally that the United States tires of these conflicts quickly, and would not defend Taiwan, even with the vigor that it defended Ukraine.

CHURCH: Back to Ukraine, what will likely happen if a U.S. wartime aid package for that country, that war torn nation is not approved by year's end?

SANGER: Well, we don't know what happens by year's end because there probably some emergency authorities the president could invoke to get them through, you know, January or so.

But the fact of the matter is that Ukraine and the United States are moving in opposite directions right now on the question of what they need. When defense Secretary Austin as we wrote in The Times today, went to Ukraine a few weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving, there were generals asking for more artillery shells than the United States and NATO have in stock by many multiples. They were asking for sums of money that are wildly above $111 billion that's been given for military aid and general support so far. They would be lucky to get a fraction of that, if this goes through.

[02:10:23]

CHURCH: And David, you touched on this, but what do you think Russia's President Putin is thinking right now as he watches this play out? Hardline Republicans essentially doing his bidding with Russian state television, commending them for their good work saying, well done Republicans. And what message does all this send to other bad actors? SANGER: Well, there are three ways Putin wins here. One of them is that the United States cracks and stops providing the aid. The second is that Europe cracks and stops providing its aid and that could well happen after the United States did so. And the third is that someone gets elected president who fundamentally doesn't believe in the current strategy of aiding Ukraine.

And if you're Vladimir Putin, it's clear, your best bet is to sit back, hold on, dig in, and hope that your fortunes increase in the next 12 months.

CHURCH: David Sanger thanks so much for joining us and sharing your analysis on this issue. Appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you.

CHURCH: As the U.N. General Assembly gears up to resume its emergency session on Gaza in the hours ahead, Israel's defense minister claims soldiers are now surrounding the last two Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza and he's calling on fighters to surrender.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is following developments and has the latest now from Tel Aviv and a warning, some of the images you're about to see can be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israel says after two months of fighting, it is still battling Hamas in two different strongholds in northern Gaza where militants have held out but Israel claims they are now on the verge of being dismantled.

One area is the Jabalia refugee camp, where residents said dozens of civilians were killed over the weekend.

Since the fragile week long pause in the fighting ended, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip and focused on the south in Khan Yunis, the second largest city there where Israel believes senior Hamas leaders may be hiding.

As Israel expands its operations, the number of civilians killed and wounded grows.

The entire house fell on my head and I was pulled from underneath the rubble, this woman said. We would have been better off dead with my children rather than living in this grim reality.

An urgent appeal was issued by the IDF this weekend for even more civilians to evacuate parts of Khan Yunis, but it's unclear how many would have heard the orders. And it isn't a guarantee of safety or shelter, medicine, food and water, which are all in short supply.

We were displaced from the north to the south for safety. But there is no safety in the South, this woman said. It has led to deteriorating chaotic scenes. The United Nations Secretary General warning the public order will completely break down soon.

COLONEL MOSHE TETRO, COORDINATION OF GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE TERRITORIES: The situation is very challenging, but I think that the State of Israel does much beyond our obligations by the international humanitarian law.

MARQUARDT: You call the situation in southern Gaza challenging. Last month, you denied that there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Do you acknowledge now that there really is a dire humanitarian crisis?

TETRO: What I'm saying is, like I've said, the situation is very, very challenging.

MARQUARDT: But it's not a crisis in your opinion?

TETRO: As I see it, it's a challenge. It's a huge challenge.

MARQUARDT (voice over): When the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session on Friday to vote on a ceasefire resolution, the United States was the only country to vote against it, vetoing the resolution.

The U.N. vote coming the same day that the Biden administration used an emergency maneuver to bypass Congress and approve the sale of 14,000 more tank rounds for Israel.

Today in Jerusalem, Palestinian areas protested the war with a general strike. Also seen in the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan.

MARQUARDT: On a normal afternoon, the small streets in East Jerusalem would be teeming with people who live here, tourists, shopkeepers selling all kinds of things. But today, there are very few people out, shops are all closed and it's eerily quiet. Business and life really coming to a standstill in solidarity with Gaza.

AYMAN AL SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region that will define generations to come.

And therefore, it's hurting its own people as much as it is hurting everybody else in the region. This is a war that cannot be won.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:15:01]

CHURCH: Elliott Gotkine is following developments and joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Elliot.

So, what is the latest on the fighting in northern Gaza and also Israel's military presence at the Jabalia refugee camp? ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, as Alex was noting in his report there, the focus in recent days seems to have been on the second city of the Gaza Strip, Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the enclave as Israel expand its ground operations.

But the job is still not done as far as Israel's concerned. In the northern part of the Gaza Strip, particularly when it comes to Jabalia and Shuja'iya which Israel describes as Hamas strongholds.

Now, what we heard yesterday from Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant is that Israel is encircling those two places.

At the same time, Gallant talking about Hamas battalions being on the verge of dismantling, adding in his words, the number of those who surrender that come out of these places shows us what is happening. And he was talking about Hamas fighters complaining that they were running out of food, that they were running out of weapons and he called on those who are still holding out to lay down their weapons if they want to spare their lives.

So, fighting continuing there in the north as well. At the same time, the last half hour or so, the IDF saying that in one of its raids in the Gaza Strip yesterday, discovered around 250 rockets, rocket propelled grenades and shells which were ready to be used against Israel.

And of course, all the while this is going on, we know that the United Nations General Assembly is due to hold a vote, it won't be legally binding like the U.N. Security Council vote last week that was vetoed by the United States. But it will is expected to gain overwhelming support and to be more or less along the same lines calling for this humanitarian ceasefire to happen.

And of course, at the same time as all, that is going on. We know that Kerem Shalom and which is the southernmost entry between Israel and the Gaza Strip. And also, Nitzana, which is about 50 kilometers to the south, are due to be open today to allow for more screening and security checks of humanitarian aid to in Israel's words, double the volume of aid that can go into the Gaza Strip, but it was also at pains to point out that no aid will be going into the Gaza Strip directly from Israel.

And that may well be because the person that oversees COGAT, which is the Israeli body that oversees the Israeli occupied West Bank in terms of civilian matters and the Gaza Strip is Bezalel Smotrich, who is the finance minister and also heads up the religious Zionism party, one of the most right-wing members of the Israel's governing coalition, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Elliott Gotkine joining us live from London, many thanks for that report.

Well, the U.S. says it's concerned and wants answers after reports that Israel used U.S. supplied white phosphorus munitions in an attack earlier this year. The munitions reportedly injured civilians in southern Lebanon. A

White House spokesperson stressed that white phosphorus must be used within the laws of armed conflict, such as creating a smokescreen to conceal troop movements.

CNN cannot confirm whether Israel used those munitions improperly, but the IDF says it only uses legal weapons.

Lawyers for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny say he is missing from prison. What we're hearing from his team coming up on CNN.

Plus, outrage and disappointment at the COP28 summit in Dubai as a proposed deal to tackle the climate crisis fall short of expectations. We'll have that and more in just a moment, do stay with us.

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[02:20:51]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone, disappointment and division at the COP28 talks in Dubai where a new draft agreement on tackling the climate crisis is facing an international backlash. The U.S., E.U. and many coastal countries slammed the draft deal reached on Monday, which dropped calls for a phase out of fossil fuels and the deadline the summit's president had set to finalize an agreement 11:00 a.m. local time today has just passed.

Environmental groups are also expressing their outrage. The summit was due to end today but now is going into overtime with hopes the deal can be revised.

David McKenzie joins us now. So, David, what is the latest on this move at COP28 to drop calls for fossil fuels to be phased out from that draft deal. And talk to us about what climate change activists are saying about this and any possibility of revising it.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, yes, there is a possibility it gets revised, there are sure to be intense negotiations through the day and possibly into the night. Because many countries and activists believe that the current language is completely unacceptable. Greenpeace released a statement saying it's an affront to science, and a betrayal of our collective future.

Now, when it comes to the science, it's pretty universal, saying that you need to phase out fossil fuels rapidly to try and limit the damage of the climate crisis and try and meet those goals of the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Well, in current emissions cuts, we're nowhere close to getting to those targets. And so, many countries believe that there had to be concrete language in there to say that you need to phase out coal, oil and gas with concrete timelines. And the smaller island nations in particular say this is not acceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOEOLESULUSULU CEDRIC SCHUSTER, SAMOAN MINISTER FOR RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT: If we do not have strong mitigation outcomes at this COP, then we will be -- this will be the COP where 1.5 would have died. We will not sign our death certificates. We cannot sign on two ticks that does not have strong commitment on phasing out fossil fuels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Even from the beginning, there was a trust deficit at this COP28 in Dubai, we were there for the opening days. It's presided over by an oil executive from the UAE and many felt that there was a concerted push by oil producing nations to try to water down this language.

At this stage at least, this is exactly what has happened that the current language does not put in direct cause to phase out or phase down fossil fuels. There is still time though, and though we've gone past that deadline for the announcement to be made, that is not unusual. And potentially, those negotiations could go late into the night, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Our thanks to David McKenzie bringing us that live report. Appreciate it.

One of Vladimir Putin's top critic's opposition leader Alexei Navalny is apparently missing from prison. Navalny was being held in a Russian penal colony east of Moscow, but the prison now says he's not there. And Navalny missed a remote court appearance on Monday according to his team.

They say they have not heard from him in six days. Elections in Russia are four months away. And a member of Navalny's foundation spoke to CNN about the timing of his disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA PEVCHIKH, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S Anti-Corruption Foundation: If you just look into the timings and Navalny disappeared in Tuesday last week, and the official elections were announced on Thursday, and this was also the day when we announced our campaign, our anti-Putin, anti- war campaign and there's billboards that's lovely, billboards they say -- that say Russia. They are part of our campaign and if you scan the Q.R. codes, you will get to our website. And this was our little fun project.

[02:25:05]

So, of course, Putin wants his reelection to be as smooth as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the Navalny's sudden disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a huge amount of concern about Alexei Navalny, after both the Anti- Corruption Foundation and also his family say they have absolutely no idea where he is that essentially he is missing inside the Russian prison system.

Now, a spokeswoman for Alexei Navalny, she said that he was supposed to show up for a video link hearing today from the jail that he's being kept in so far with a court and that he simply didn't show up for that hearing.

Now, when Alexei Navalny's lawyer asked what was going on, they were apparently initially told that there had been power issues at the jail where he was.

However, upon further questioning, the authorities at that prison called the IK-6 prison, which is about 150 miles to the east of Moscow said that he simply wasn't on their list anymore of prisoners who are inside that jail.

Now, upon hearing this, the legal team then went on to ask other jails whether or not Alexei Navalny was there and all of them said that he simply wasn't.

So as of right now, Alexei Navalny remains missing as far as his foundation is concerned and as far as his family is concerned, as well.

Now, the big question, of course, is what could have happened to Alexei Navalny, and there's certainly several possibilities that are out there. One of them is that Alexei Navalny apparently was supposed to be transferred to a jail that has an even harsher regime than the one that he's been staying in so far. And it's not uncommon within the Russian prison system for prisoners who are in that transfer phase, that they are out of communication, that they're not allowed to communicate.

In fact, that's something that happened to Alexei Navalny, when he was taken to the prison that he's been in so far in 2022.

However, the Anti-Corruption Foundation also says that Alexei Navalny has been having some serious health issues as of recently that for instance, last week, he fainted inside his jail cell and had to be given an I.V.

The other thing that the associates of Alexei Navalny are also looking at is the fact that his disappearance right now within the Russian jail system comes just at this almost the same time that Vladimir Putin has announced that he will run again in the upcoming Russian presidential election.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, Qatar has been sending millions of dollars in aid to Gaza since 2018 with Israel's blessing. Details of the controversial deal after a short break, stay with us.

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[02:30:22]

CHURCH: As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, CNN found after a series of interviews with key Israeli players, that Qatar sent millions of dollars to Gaza for years with Israel's backing. Although Qatar is now coming under fire for sending the aid money to Gaza, it is vowing not to stop the payments. CNN also discovered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed this cash flow to Hamas despite concerns raised from within his own government. Nima Elbagir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel's mourning continues even as the karma around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grows, questioning whether his policies helped prop up Hamas. In a series of interviews with key Israeli players, CNN and the Israeli investigative platform, Shomrim were told how Netanyahu allowed Qatari cash donations to Hamas for years without supervision, despite concerns from within his own government.

AMOS GILAD, RETIRED MAJOR GENERAL, FORMER SENIOR ISRAELI DEFENSE AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: $30 million per --

ELBAGIR: Month.

GILAD: -- per month.

ELBAGIR: OK.

GILAD: $360 million, it's more than (inaudible) -- it's simple mathematics.

ELBAGIR: That's a lot of money.

GILAD: A lot of money, $1 in Gaza is like $20 in the U.S. For them, it was like relief. It was like oxygen. Can you live without oxygen? No, so it is dramatic, historic mistake.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Former Israeli Prime Minister and Former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett says he was among those repeatedly raising concerns to Netanyahu. When Bennett became prime minister in 2021, he put a stop to the suitcases of cash to Hamas, moving the transfer of financial support to Hamas from cash to a U.N. mechanism.

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I stopped the cash suitcases because I believe that is a horrendous mistake to allow Hamas to have all these suitcases full of cash that goes directly to re-arm themselves against Israelis. Why would we feed them cash to kill us?

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The cash deliveries were supposed to help, among other humanitarian needs, pay Gaza's civil servants. And pictures in 2018 showed workers lining up to receive $100 bills. Israel approved the deal in a security cabinet meeting in august 2018 during a previous Netanyahu tenure as prime minister. And an Israeli official defended Netanyahu's decision, telling CNN successive Israeli governments enabled money to go to Gaza, not in order to strengthen Hamas, but to prevent a humanitarian crisis. That's true, but no one else approved it in cash. Former Prime Minister Bennett says that Netanyahu underestimated Hamas.

BENNETT: I think the approach towards Hamas was one of a sort of a nuisance type terror organization that can shoot rockets, that can cause a bit of havoc here and there, but not much more than that.

ELBAGIR: So, underestimated?

BENNETT: Absolutely. And in that sense, we have learned the lesson. We have to believe our enemies.

ELBAGIR: This lesson has become a turning point for Israel, one even longtime Netanyahu allies like Zvika Hauser acknowledge.

ZVIKA HAUSER, FORMER CHAIR, KNESSET DEFENSE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: That was a strategic lesson for the Israeli society that you can talk a lot about peace. You can try to do a lot of things. You can come to the White House, and get some Nobel Prizes. But in some point, enough is enough. And if you ask me what symbolized October 7th? October 7th mostly symbolized the Israeli society, no more take risk.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Risks such as this, heeding the toll of human suffering and international calls to slow the pummeling of Gaza before Israel is satisfied Hamas has been destroyed, whatever the cost.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Despite being isolated, sanctioned, blacklisted, and shunned by much of the world, North Korea's Kim Jong-Un has managed to build up a considerable arsenal of weapons, and experts believe it is largely funded through a complex international web of hackers and cryptocurrency criminals. CNN's Will Ripley has that report.

[02:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNNSENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every North Korean missile test, every satellite launch, every nuclear test, likely cost Kim Jong-Un's cash-starved country millions of dollars. Where does that money come from? How does Kim's regime evade heavy sanctions, advancing its nuclear and ballistic missiles program at breakneck speed?

ANNE NEUBERGER, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We certainly believe that North Korean hacking of cryptocurrency around -- infrastructure around the world is a major source of revenue for the regime.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A staggering more than $3 billion in stolen crypto over the past five years. U.S. lawmakers say a record $1.7 billion last year alone.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: So, where does that money go? Straight into North Korea's illegal nuclear program.

RIPLEY (voice-over): An underground pipeline of illicit wealth fueling Kim's nuclear ambitions, pumping payments into Pyongyang from places like Russia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam.

WARREN: Does that pose a threat to our national security?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does, Senator.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. Believes North Korea has a global shadow army, secret operatives posing as I.T. professionals, government officials, freelance block chain developers, even hiring westerners to hide their connection to Pyongyang. Spanish police arrested Alejandro Cao de Benos earlier this month, known as a special delegate for North Korea. The U.S. accuses him of helping North Korean officials use tech for money laundering. He posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying there is no extradition. The U.S. accusation besides being false does not exist in Spain.

Blacklisted by the U.S. as a modern-day digital pirates, North Korean operatives are linked to ransomware attacks, targeting online gaming, gambling, and banking industries, even American hospitals. North Korea exploiting online vulnerabilities using stolen money to mass produce missiles, funding the Kim family's lavish lifestyle, palaces, planes, yachts, and this armored Mercedes limousine carried on Kim's private train to that September summit with Russian President Putin.

The latest breach from North Korea's notorious Andariel hacking group, targeting South Korean defense firms and others. A yearlong investigation by South Korean police and the FBI exposing grave vulnerabilities in Seoul's cybersecurity defenses, around 250 sensitive files, 1. 2 terabytes of classified data stolen. A crime concealed through rented servers. A secretive trail of digital deception leading straight to the North Korean capital, breaching borders, defying digital defenses, threatening global stability.

Well Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Still to come, we will look at the impacts of Elon Musk reinstating the account of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X. We'll be right in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, just a day after Elon Musk restored the X account of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the platform is now actively promoting his account and encouraging users to follow him. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.

[02:40:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elon Musk not only allowing the infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on X, which is formerly Twitter, of course. But actively, seemingly promoting Jones's account. Musk on Sunday evening took part in a Twitter live audio stream, that included Jones and other prominent conspiracy theorists, where they essentially celebrated Jones coming back onto the platform.

Also, our CNN colleague Clare Duffy reporting on Monday that people aren't -- who are using X, even if they don't follow Jones, they are seeing Twitter's algorithm suggesting that they follow Jones' account. So, the service seemingly promoting this conspiracy theorist.

Now, look, this all comes here in the U.S., particularly ahead of an election year as we go into 2024 where, of course, there are going to be -- there's going to mis- and disinformation abound about the vote, about the results, and everything else. So, really setting the stage, I think for a very messy year of misinformation here in the U.S. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, if you are looking to become a member of the exclusive club Soho House, you may be out of luck. Starting next year, the private club chain is closing its doors to new members in New York, Los Angeles, and London. The news comes after complaints of overcrowding and declining customer service. Soho House's founder says the Group will only be accepting members in locations where they have capacity as he does not want the clubs to "feel too busy."

The Golden Globe Awards have released the list of nominees for next month's ceremony, the awards show honoring the best projects in film and television has added two new categories this year, one celebrating films that topped the box office, but in might not of otherwise be nominated during award season. It's giving franchises like Mission Impossible and John Wick a new opportunity for recognition, a notable addition is Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" film which has earned nearly $250 million worldwide according to the tracking website Box Office Mojo.

And thanks so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I will be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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[02:45:00]

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