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G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting Centers on Alexei Navalny's Death and Ukraine-Russia War. Israel to Expand Powers to the Hostage Negotiating Team When They'll Meet in Paris. South Carolina Voters Head to Polls for the Republican Primary. FCC to Investigate AT&T Outage; China to Donate Two Pandas to San Diego Zoo. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 23, 2024 - 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
The Biden administration is set to place new sanctions on Russia in response to Putin critic Alexei Navalny's death, some imposed against the Russian president himself.
Israel is expected to give its hostage negotiating team expanded powers as they meet in Paris to talk about a potential ceasefire and release of hostages.
And a U.S. spacecraft successfully lands on the moon after a nail- biting descent in the final moments.
AMBASSADOR: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is set to announce what's described as the largest single set of sanctions against Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine nearly two years ago.
It will come one week after the death of Putin critic Alexei Navalny and include more than 500 Russian targets. US President Joe Biden says these new sanctions are being imposed directly against Putin, who was, quote, responsible for Navalny's death. He met with Navalny's wife and daughter in California on Thursday, expressing his heartfelt condolences. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: He was a man of incredible courage, and it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. We're going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, in Russia, Navalny's mother has finally been allowed to see her son's body.
CNN producer Sebastian Shukla is live this hour in Berlin with details. So, Sebastian, let's start there with what we're learning about the conditions to release Navalny's body. What more can you tell us?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Kim, since last Friday, when news ripped through the Munich security conference that Alexei Navalny had, in fact, died in that Arctic penal colony, the search has been on for the family to make sure that they can get their hands on his body. The Russian authorities had said last week that they will keep the body for at least two weeks. But we heard from Lyudmila Navalnaya yesterday, who has been in the city of Salekhard just inside the Arctic Circle.
She said yesterday that she has now seen Alexei's body. Take a listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYUDMILA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S MOTHER (through translator): Yesterday evening, they secretly took me to the morgue, where they showed me Alexei. The investigators claim that they know the cause of the death, that they have all the medical and legal documents ready, which I saw, and I signed the medical death certificate.
According to the law, they should have given me Alexei's body right away, but they haven't done it yet. Instead, they blackmailed me and set conditions for where, when, and how Alexei should be buried. It is illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUKLA: Lyudmila Navalnaya said that she had seen the body and that she had signed the death certificate. Navalny's aides have also then subsequently said that the cause of death listed was natural causes.
But as the course of the evening went through yesterday, we started to hear a little more detail about what exactly those allegations of blackmail were and the conditions set by the Russian investigative committee about Navalny's funeral.
One of his aides telling us that Lyudmila Navalnaya would be required to fly back to Moscow on a private jet. She would not be allowed to announce the date of the funeral for want of public protests and swells coming towards the morgue where his body may be.
And also, and even the granular details about where Navalny would be able to be buried, the first option, which was put forward by the family, was taken off the table almost immediately. But there is now, we believe, an agreement on a second position for Alexei to be laid to rest.
But what we know, what we appear to be seeing from the Kremlin at least, is that they want to avoid big outpourings of public displays of affection because of the highlighting, the issues and the controversy surrounding Alexei's death. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. And then, Sebastian, briefly on the planned U.S. sanctions, not a lot confirmed so far, but to the point, what more are we learning?
[03:04:50]
SHUKLA: Yeah, Kim, the sanctions are relatively large. This is going to be a big package, including some 500 companies or entities. Details are scant at the moment, but what we do know from hearing, talking to Treasury officials in the White House and President Biden is that they will be targeting the Russian military-industrial complex, which is namely its defense sector, and the Russian economy more broadly, particularly as we go into the anniversary of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian economy has been able to weather sanctions which were imposed since it invaded on the 24th of February 2022. The hope here will be able, or at least will be to try to clip and curtail any more advances that Russia may be able to make on the battlefield, which we have seen just in this past week, particularly with the fall of the city or town of Avdiivka. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right. Thanks so much, Sebastian Shukla in Berlin. I Appreciate that.
Ukraine is taking heavy drone fire ahead of Saturday's second anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion. Kyiv says three people were killed in Odessa after drone debris crashed on a building causing a fire Friday morning. At least eight others were injured in central Ukraine, where a drone made a direct hit on a residential building. Kyiv says it shot down 23 of about 30 drones launched by Russia.
Ukraine will mark the war's anniversary just days after losing the town of Avdiivka, which was Russia's biggest victory in months. Clare Sebastian gives us the big picture of the battlefield after the Ukrainian loss.
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CLARFE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was once Avdiivka's main hospital, filmed in the final days before Ukraine's withdrawal.
People used to get medical treatment here, says this Ukrainian journalist. Now a total ruin.
Satellite imagery taken the day Ukraine pulled out, revealing the extent of the damage to the hospital and surrounding area.
Compare that to just a few months before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
SEBASTIAN: Well, in the context of this thousand kilometer front line, Avdiivka doesn't actually change much. In fact, the whole second year of the war barely changed this picture. Russia, of course, captured Bakhmut up in May. In Ukraine, you can see here in yellow that string of villages that it managed to take in western Zaporizhzhia as part of this counteroffensive. But this was ultimately a year when neither side was able to gain an advantage.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Russia now might be. This video, posted on February 12th, which CNN has geolocated to the area around that Avdiivka hospital, purportedly shows Russian strikes using massive half-ton glide bombs.
These are known to be increasingly in use on the battlefield and capable of evading Ukrainian air defenses.
The satellite image shows several very large craters near the hospital, unlikely to be the result of artillery strikes, weapons experts say.
F-16 fighter jets would help combat these bombs, but Ukraine's pilots are not yet ready to fly them.
OLEKSANDRA USTINOVA, UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER: There is no political will, I would say, in the United States to train more pilots. It seems right now that we're going to have more jets than actually the trained pilots.
SEBASTIAN: Russia is seizing the moment and is now on the offensive in multiple locations up here around Bakhmut, again up north in the Kharkiv region, near the town of Kupyansk and down in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. And these are mostly, it should be said, not new battlefields, but areas it previously occupied and then lost as Ukraine counter-attacked. Case in point, if we zoom in on the southern front, is the town of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Ukraine raised the flag here last August. Now its forces on alert again as Russia ramps up attacks.
USTINOVA: Unfortunately, we paid a lot of lives with the counteroffensive last year to get those territories. We basically have to pray for the United States Congress to understand how important it is to pass the bill no matter what happens. If they are not passing it in March, Ukraine is going to be screwed.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Ukraine's resistance is fierce. It's continuing to wreak havoc on Russia's Black Sea fleet.
And on the front lines, it's digging in. The Ministry of Defense publishing new images this week of extensive construction of fortifications.
The only hope now is to hold on.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And we're joined now by Franz-Stefan Gady, an Associate Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. And he's speaking with us from Vienna. Thanks so much for being here with us. So building on what we just saw there, looking at the state of the
battlefield now as this war enters the third year, it's a stalemate. The momentum seems to be turning in Russia's favor. A lot of the conventional wisdom seems to be along the lines of Ukraine is being ground down in this battle of attrition and the pathway to victory seems slimmer every day. Do you share that assessment?
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FRANZ-STEFAN GADY, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Well, I think it's fair to say that Ukraine has assumed a more defensive posture along the entire front line. It is currently suffering from manpower and ammunition shortages. The situation is very critical, but it's not hopeless, in my opinion.
Ukraine can still hold on to the front line as it is. It likely will have to conduct some tactical withdrawals. It will likely have to pull back from some of the more exposed sectors along this front line. But I don't see a Russian breakthrough as imminent.
I don't see a collapse of the Ukrainian front line currently happening. It could potentially happen at some point, but this is not the situation right now.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Obviously, one of the biggest issues has been the closing of the pipeline of U.S. support, which is having a massive effect on the battlefield. You know, you mentioned ammunition. I mean, you've argued that turning the tide in the war will require a decisive advantage in firepower, mainly artillery and drones, through domestic production. So explain how they go about doing this.
GADY: Well, in a recent analysis that was published by the Institute for International Strategic Studies by a colleague of mine, Michael Kaufman, and myself, we estimated that Ukraine, for more defensive posture along the front line, will require around 75,000 to 90,000 shells per month for more offensive posture. That is going on the attack at some point at the end of 2024, 2025. It will require about double that number.
Now, European defense contractors and other allies and partners of Ukraine outside the United States could probably support such a defensive strategy this year. For an offensive strategy, that is Ukraine going again on the offense, it will require U.S. support, in my opinion.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I mean, you talk about the Western allies there, but in terms of, you know, Ukraine itself, how do you increase production to the scale that it's needed to help turn the tide?
GADY: Right. It's further assumed that in 2024 and probably 2025, Ukraine, the indigenous defense industry of Ukraine, will not be able to support this ongoing war of attrition. That is, it will not fulfill the requirements to continue fighting.
And as such, Ukraine can help alleviate the need for Western military equipment and ammunition by, for example, increased drone production, FPV drones - first person view drones. These are improvised kamikaze drones.
And here, Ukraine is ramping up production and that can partially offset ammunition requirements. And so here, I think, lies the key, in a sense, to Ukraine at least partially helping with the current ammunition shortage, because as you also pointed out, this remains a war dominated by artillery and it will give that side that can achieve a decisive advantage in firepower, tactical advantages, right? At the moment, though, I don't see either side having a decisive advantage in firepower. So I'm also not seeing it on the Russian side.
BRUNHUBER: All right. You mentioned Europe. The question now in the light of what we're seeing in Congress and hearing from potential U.S. President Donald Trump is, does Europe have to prepare to be abandoned by the United States? I mean, leaders are talking about it, certainly, but if so, what concrete action needs to be taken specifically to help Ukraine and do you think that's likely?
GADY: Well, obviously, I can't predict when this domestic impasse is going to break in the United States. I do think there's a sort of sober mood in European capitals. There's a much more gloomier mood, I would say, in Kyiv pertaining to future U.S. military aid.
As I said, I think Europe needs to scale up its production of ammunition. It needs to generally revitalize its defense industry. That's critical, not just for the war in Ukraine, but also, I think, down the road, Europe will need to assume more responsibility for its own security. It cannot rely indefinitely on the U.S. security umbrella.
I think that is clear. And I don't think this is just because of the election or potential future election of Donald Trump. I think that's a larger phenomenon within the Republican Party.
I do think it's fair to assume that the foreign policy or security policy consensus that has prevailed for many decades in the United States on issues such as NATO and its relationship with our allies and partners is currently being reexamined. There's an open debate about this in the United States, and Europe needs to take note of this and also assume the worst.
[03:14:08]
That is that we will need to step up our own defense capabilities and assume more responsibility for our defense, not just for the defense of Ukraine, which is obviously a critical factor within this overall future European security architecture.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to leave it there. Franz-Stefan Gady, thank you so much. I Appreciate it.
GADY: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Russia and the U.S. trading insults now after President Biden sharply criticized Vladimir Putin over Alexei Navalny's death. Biden called the Russian president, quote, a crazy SOB, according to reporters traveling with him on Wednesday. On Thursday, a Kremlin spokesman described the comments as rude. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): This is a huge disgrace for the country. I mean, for the United States of America. So if the president of such a country uses such language, it would be shameful. Clearly, Mr. Biden is demonstrating behavior in the style of a Hollywood cowboy to cater to domestic political interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Also on Thursday, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. said Biden's comments couldn't be resolved with a simple apology. And the Russian embassy also sent a strong note of protest to the U.S. State Department.
Alexei Navalny's death and the war in Ukraine topped the agenda for G20 foreign ministers meeting this week in Brazil. Stefano Pozzebon has details.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The two chief diplomats from the United States and Russia took part in the same summit for two days, but never interacted, a sign of how tensions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the situation in Gaza overshadowed the G20 foreign ministers summit in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday and Thursday.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said that many of the countries that took part in the meeting shared the same goal of putting an end to Russia's aggression and called Russia, and I quote, "the world's leading exporter of instability".
The summit was the first time that the Russian and the U.S. foreign ministers saw each other since the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on Thursday that the West's reaction over Navalny's death was hysterical.
Rising tension in the Middle East instead was the other main topic discussed in the meeting, which was hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just days after he was called, was declared a persona non grata in Israel after comments that he made comparing the situation in Gaza to the killing of Jews in Nazi Germany.
And referring to those comments, Antony Blinken said this.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We can have these disagreements, even profound disagreements on one particular issue, or I should say even an aspect of the issue, and still continue all of the vital work that we're doing together. And also we're joined in having the shared objectives in this moment of getting hostages out, getting an extended humanitarian ceasefire in, along with more humanitarian assistance, and ending the conflict.
POZZEBON: This week's summit was part of a series of meeting of G20 countries hosted by Brazil. There will also be a presidential summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.
And after the summit, Antony Blinken will continue his tour of Latin America by going to Argentina, meeting President Javier Villay, while just last night Lavrov met with Lula da Silva at the completion of that meeting.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Antony Blinken said a hostage deal is a shared objective. When we come back, details on the latest round of negotiations expected today. That's coming up. Stay with us.
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[03:20:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 23 people in central Gaza on Thursday. That's according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which didn't give further details. And they said the death toll could rise. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. Now, the strike comes as the next round of hostage negotiations is set to begin in the coming hours in Paris.
Israel's war cabinet has agreed to send a negotiating team to the meeting with senior officials from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. There's a growing sense of urgency to reach agreement. Israel is threatening to expand its assault in Rafah if hostages aren't released by the start of Ramadan in two weeks. Hamas' political leader wrapped up a visit to Egypt on Thursday, where they discussed the current state of negotiations.
I want to go live now to London and Elliott Gotkine. Before we turn to the negotiations, I want to ask you about something. Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed some of his post-war plans for Gaza. So what more can you tell us about them?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, this is a document he presented to the Cabinet last night. Now, you recall, of course, he's been criticized for not really having a cogent plan for the day after this war in Gaza.
And what we have now in this document is the first time that some of his thoughts or expressions that he's made over the past few weeks have been put down on paper and distilled into some kind of plan.
So these are the key points that I've picked out of these, Kim.
So first of all, Israel will, he says, maintain complete operational freedom in the Gaza Strip in a similar way that it does to the West Bank. He says that Israel will maintain a buffer zone around the Gaza Strip for as long as is necessary, that the whole of the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized aside from the things that are needed to maintain an order.
He also says that Israel will control the southern border with Egypt in conjunction with the Egyptians to ensure that there is no smuggling of weapons and the like under the border between Egypt and Gaza. Also talking about the de-radicalization of educational, religious and welfare institutions inside the Gaza Strip.
Talking about the civil administration, in other words, Gaza being run by unaffiliated local people. In other words, people that aren't affiliated to Hamas or to Islamic Jihad or to any other country. So independent locals would be administering the Gaza Strip in this plan from Prime Minister Netanyahu.
There will be no more UNRWA, no more Palestinian Refugee Agency controlling aid inside the Gaza Strip. This is something that Israel has anyway been pushing for separately. And of course, there's an investigation ongoing into Israel's claims that employees of UNRWA were actively participating in the October the 7th terrorist attacks.
And also, finally, reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu saying that in his plan, this would be led by countries approved by Israel. But just on that particular note, we know that the likes of the United Arab Emirates and others have said that they will not finance reconstruction of the Gaza Strip unless there is a clear political horizon towards an independent, excuse me, Palestinian state. Something that Prime Minister Netanyahu himself has said is never going to happen.
So these are the plans of Netanyahu for the day after Gaza. It reads more a bit like a wish list. But certainly, this is the first time that this has been put down on paper and given us a sense of his vision for what happens once this war is over. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: We're seeing plenty of reaction and opposition to a lot of those details there. Elliott, now back to those hostage negotiations. Is there any reason for optimism here?
GOTKINE: There is reason for optimism, Kim, for the simple reason that we haven't really had much over the past couple of weeks. Even the Qataris were saying that talks were not looking promising. And discussions seem to be at an impasse after Hamas proposed the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and a complete end to the war, demands that Israel, that Prime Minister Netanyahu said were delusional. Now, at least we know that talks are happening in Paris today.
You've got the CIA director, Bill Burns, his counterpart from Egypt, the Qatari prime minister.
[03:25:03]
And as of last night, finally, we learned that Israel will be sending a delegation. It hadn't confirmed that it was doing so until last night. It will be sending a delegation headed by the Mossad chief, David Barnea. And there seems to be hopes that we could be inching towards a deal,
not least because Barnea has been given more powers to take part in substantive negotiations rather than just being in listening mode. Add to that the fact that Hamas had a delegation in Cairo earlier this week, the Egyptians and the Qataris, of course, being key mediators between Israel and Hamas.
And all of that adds up to hopes that some kind of deal can be done, especially with the U.S. very much determined to try to forestall this Israeli ground operation in Rafah, which it has said it will carry out if all of the Israeli hostages are not released in time for Ramadan, which begins on March the 10th. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: I appreciate that. Elliott Gotkine in London.
U.S. spacecraft has touched down on the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. So we'll look at what now and how the view is. We have many milestones to discuss next.
Plus, Donald Trump's attorneys want the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case dismissed. We'll look at their legal arguments ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Just hours ago, history was made on the moon. Have a look.
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An American spacecraft touched down for the first time in more than 50 years. The Odysseus is transmitting signals back to mission control in Houston, Texas. Odysseus is upright and has been sending back data. And we're awaiting the first images.
CNN's space and defense correspondent, Kristen Fischer, picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN FISCHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Intuitive Machines has just made history as the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon.
Its Odysseus lunar lander is standing upright, according to the company, and is successfully transmitting data, although we're still waiting for those first few pictures.
Now, this was really a tense final few moments for this mission. Just a few hours before landing, Intuitive Machines announced that there was an issue with Odysseus' navigation system. It wasn't working.
But in a spectacular example of a public-private partnership, it just so happened that one of Odysseus' or Intuitive Machines' paying customers, NASA, had an experimental piece of equipment that did the exact same thing as this broken piece of navigation software.
And so engineers on Earth were able to patch up a fix and allow Odysseus to safely navigate that treacherous terrain on the south pole of the moon, dodging craters and boulders to find a safe space to land. And so that is what happened. It took a little bit longer than the company thought to communicate with the spacecraft, but it is sending back data now.
And this is now the first time that any American spacecraft has landed on the surface of the moon since the end of the Apollo program back in 1972.
So it's a win for NASA as a sponsor of this mission, but certainly a win for this Texas-based company, Intuitive Machines. They were able to do for about $100 million what NASA was able to do with the Apollo program with a much larger budget.
So some big cheers from that mission control room when the landing happened. And now we get to see what Odysseus can do on the surface of the moon for the next week or so.
Kristen Fisher, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump wants the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against him dismissed. His attorneys have filed new legal briefs claiming the charges lack legitimacy.
One of their arguments is that Trump has presidential immunity, and that has already been rejected by an appeals court in his election subversion case. The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether to block that ruling. Trump's legal team also claims Attorney General Merrick Garland unlawfully appointed special counsel Jack Smith.
A judge in New York has rejected Trump's request to delay finalizing the $355 million civil fraud order against him. Once the judgment is officially entered, Trump will have 30 days to file an appeal. But during that period, he will have to put up enough cash to cover the $355 million plus another 100 million in interest. Trump is also banned from doing business in the state of New York for three years.
The former president talked about the case during a campaign event Thursday night in Tennessee. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They gave me a fine of $355 million for doing nothing wrong. This was a fine like never seen before. And you know the amazing thing? The people in this country, they understood it immediately. It's all a big hoax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Voters will cast their ballots in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday. Polls show Donald Trump with a significant lead over his last remaining challenger, the state's former governor Nikki Haley. She's defending her decision to stay in the race despite Trump's lead. Haley told supporters in Georgetown, South Carolina, she has a better chance of beating President Biden in a general election than Donald Trump. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't care about a political future. If I did, I would have been out by now. I'm doing this for my kids. I'm doing this for your kids and your grandkids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The road to the Republican nomination will get even tougher for Haley in early March, with more than a dozen states holding primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday. CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke with voters in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALEY: I am not going anywhere.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): For supporters of Nikki Haley, her defiant pledge is music to their ears.
SHEREE RICHNOW, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: I think she should stay in until the very last second. I really do. I do not think that we should acquiesce.
ZELENY (voice-over): Sheree Richnow sees Haley as not merely the best choice, but perhaps the only choice in the race for the White House.
ZELENY: If she's not the Republican nominee, what do you do?
RICHNOW: I may not vote.
ZELENY: You may not vote for president.
RICHNOW: Not vote, right, because I don't think either choice is good at that point.
ZELENY (voice-over): The sun is setting on the Republican primary, and on Haley's chances of catching Donald Trump before the early state delegate contest becomes a nationwide sprint.
HALEY: Don't complain about what happens in a general election if you don't go out and vote in this primary. It matters.
ZELENY (voice-over): Should she not deliver a South Carolina surprise on Saturday, her supporters face a decision many would prefer not to discuss aloud.
ANN HUPKA, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: We need a president that's going to protect our democracy, not one that's going to give it away to the Russians. ZELENY (voice-over): Ann and Marty Hupka are pulling for Haley, but
bracing for the general election ahead.
ZELENY: Come November, what do you guys do?
A. HUPKA: We move to Canada.
MARTY HUPKA, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: You're down to two choices. You take the lesser of the two.
[03:35:01]
ZELENY: Who is that in your mind?
M. HUPKA: It's got to be Biden. If it's Trump, then it's got to be Biden.
ZELENY (voice-over): South Carolina has long been Trump country.
TRUMP: We've never lost here. We've never lost here.
ZELENY (voice-over): On the final day of early voting here, Porter and Linda Baldwin proudly cast their ballots for the former president.
PORTER BALDWIN, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: We're Trump people.
ZELENY (voice-over): Haley was a fine governor, they said, but her pointed criticism of Trump has soured their view.
P. BALDWIN: It's a waste of time and money, and I think they're using her. She's being used.
LINDA BALDWIN, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: I think she needs to step down.
ZELENY (voice-over): Senator Tim Scott, who cast his early vote for Trump, told us a prolonged Haley candidacy was not good for the party or country.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The one person that stands in the way of having a conversation between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is Nikki Haley, and so getting out of the way is incredibly important.
ZELENY (voice-over): Don Lassey, a Marine veteran, sees it differently.
DON LASSEY, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: Any vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Putin.
ZELENY (voice-over): He's a lifelong Republican.
LASSEY: I voted for Richard Nixon. I voted for Ronald Reagan. I voted for John McCain. I voted for Mitt Romney. I voted for George H. Bush. I like Republicans, but I like mostly honest Republicans.
ZELENY (voice-over): And believes Trump will become more vulnerable as the campaign goes on, given his legal and foreign policy challenges. If Haley doesn't prevail, he's already weighing his options.
LASSEY: Lesser of two evils is either Kennedy or Biden. I would like to pick Kennedy, but I'm not sure he will beat Trump, so I will go with Biden.
ZELENY: In the closing days and hours of this campaign, Haley is saying that she doesn't care about her political future. She said, if I did, I would be out of the race by now, clearly trying to make her campaign as something more about her, about the party, and indeed the country.
Now, there is no question some Trump supporters find her candidacy to be an annoyance. Other Republicans view her as more of an insurance policy, should something happen with Donald Trump if he becomes the nominee.
In either case, the outcome of the South Carolina primary here on Saturday will certainly set the course for the next chapter of this race. If she'll have enough financial support to keep going forward, for her part, she says she's in until at least Super Tuesday next month.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The follow-up continues in Alabama, after the state Supreme Court ruled last week that frozen embryos are children. A third fertility clinic has paused some of its in vitro fertilization treatments due to legal risks.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan effort is underway to clarify state laws and protect IVF. Democrats introduced a bill declaring fertilized eggs outside of human uterus are not considered human beings.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is investing in a huge outage of AT&T's U.S. cellular network on Thursday. AT&T says service has been restored, but for about 12 hours, many customers were unable to make calls, send texts or access the internet on their devices. The company says it wasn't a cyberattack, but it may have been related to network expansion.
CNN's Brian Todd has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A massive disruption.
AT&T's network goes down for many customers across the U.S., people unable to place cell phone calls, send texts or access the internet on their phones.
LANCE ULANOFF, U.S. EDITOR IN CHIEF, TECHRADAR: We don't see a lot of outages like this. We've had spotty ones, but this was probably the biggest, certainly the biggest one this year. It is a wake-up call that this could happen. TODD (voice-over): The spike in outages started around 4 a.m. Eastern
time on Thursday, according to downdetector.com, and lasted till midday, with tens of thousands affected. Houston, Dallas and Chicago were hit especially hard.
By mid-afternoon, AT&T said its network was completely back online and apologized. But in the meantime, several local municipalities said the outage disrupted crucial services like 911 calls.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): They are focusing a lot on emergency services. It's a little bit jarring to think about the implications if something like that happened on a much grander scale.
TODD (voice-over): A bracing reminder, experts say, of the need for strong backup systems.
CHRIS KEBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: What we're seeing is that we are increasingly dependent in every aspect of our life, whether it's work, in our homes, in our communities. We are increasingly digitally connected, and the things that we're connecting to the internet do rely on a strong, consistent, reliable signal. And it is pretty unnerving when that signal is broken or severed.
TODD (voice-over): What can you do if your cell service is not working? First, try reconnecting.
BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Turning airplane mode on, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it off. And the idea there is that your phone will try to reestablish contact with the cellular network.
TODD (voice-over): Or if you have a Wi-Fi internet connection, switch to using that.
[03:39:56]
FUNG: So to set up Wi-Fi calling, it's pretty easy. It's generally a setting that's in your device or phone settings. So you go in there and there's a switch you can toggle or a setting you can enable that says Wi-Fi calling.
So you could also use a service like Google Voice or Skype that lets you place phone calls over the internet instead of over a cellular connection.
TODD (voice-over): Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: An ominous warning about the suffering in Sudan. I spoke to a director from the International Rescue Group about the shortages and the fears families are facing.
Plus, Xi Jinping now echoing Putin when it comes to China's claims over Taiwan. We'll have that report after the break. Please stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Each year, the International Rescue Committee releases a list of countries most likely to endure a deteriorating humanitarian crisis, and Sudan is top of the list for 2024. The power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has displaced millions of people, and health care services have nearly collapsed. The aid group estimates more than half the country's population, some 25 million people, are in need.
The World Food Program says they're facing hunger and malnutrition, and the suffering is only expected to grow worse throughout the year. Humanitarian access has been hindered, and it's getting harder to get aid into some areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY LOUISE EAGLETON, UNICEF SUDAN DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE: It feels like the country's really been abandoned, and the country's children have really been abandoned. What this means for families and children is that they're facing a lethal combination of displacement, hunger, and disease outbreaks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Etizaz Yousif is the country director for the International Rescue Committee, and she joins us from Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you so much for being here with us. So, you know, some 10 months into the conflict, and it seems to be worsening. The U.N.'s been calling it a humanitarian perfect storm.
Tell me about the fears that families are facing every day.
ETIZAZ YOUSIF, COUNTRY DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Well, thank you very much for having me.
I do believe now Sudan is like the highest or global crisis, with hosting the largest displacement globally, with almost talking about more than 10 million population. So for me, displacement is the major fear for the Sudanese population.
And with the 10 months, as you mentioned, the situation is getting even worse. So even getting basic supplies and basic commodity became very difficult and very expensive. And also for the population is being really trapped for the hard-to-reach area. They've been facing a serious risk of starvation and hunger due to the access and security and safety of moving supplies to those areas.
That is specifically Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan.
[03:45:06]
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, let's talk about the hunger problem. Food availability, as you say, is very limited. Prices have skyrocketed. More than 7 million people facing extreme hunger by June. Both sides are basically weaponizing aid, controlling that to essentially control people's survival.
YOUSIF: Yeah, that is 100 percent right. Because the access and the movement between states within Sudan, it became very difficult and killing it. Each of the conflicting parties, they put restriction and movement of aid supplies into their territories and area, which make the delivery and scale up and expansion to reach to the people in the heart area is more difficult, very lengthy and very expensive actually.
BRUNHUBER: So you also mentioned the displacement, some 8 million people displaced about the population of New York. We have some pictures that your team took at the border, I understand, of Sudan and South Sudan. These were new arrivals who were waiting for days for a boat to leave and the conditions they face. I mean, tell us what they and so many others like them are going through.
YOUSIF: You see, the problem is Sudan, this crisis, it will be having a spillover and it will definitely impact the region. And also the country around us is having their own struggle and challenges and their infrastructure.
So Sudan is being hosting, even before the crisis, almost like 1 million South Sudanese refugees and almost closer to 700, I guess, Ethiopian refugees and Eritrean. And those moving back to the border with the Sudanese, it creates really a crowd. And also those countries, they don't have that infrastructure to accommodate and support.
And you are right, talking about South Sudan at the border, this infrastructure is so limited to provide and accommodate all those number of refugees that are just crossing border. Or also we call them Eritrean, because South Sudan is also start moving back to their country. With all the struggle now South Sudan is going through, and also those border definitely will be clinging by lacking of a proper infrastructure to accommodate. So the camps at the border, at the two sides, they are not equipped with what it can provide a dignified service delivery in those locations.
BRUNHUBER: Well, let's talk about service delivery. I mean, the conflict is so complex and vast and intense as well. I mean, how do you even begin to help, especially with the world's attention turned to other conflicts?
YOUSIF: You see, a Sudan crisis is getting really a very low international attention. And I guess we all understand the competing priorities and the conflict in Russia, in Ukraine, and clearly getting, and also, I guess, the humanitarian fund globally shrinking.
BRUNHUBER: The situation is so desperate and the need is so great. So I really appreciate you highlighting this for us. Etizaz Yousif, thank you so much.
YOUSIF: Thank you very much.
BRUNHUBER: China is lashing out at U.S. lawmakers who are visiting Taiwan and promising continued support for the island, with Beijing calling it interference. Now, this comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is taking a page out of Putin's playbook when it comes to Taiwan.
CNN's Will Ripley reports from Taipei.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dangerous parallels between Vladimir Putin's ambitions in Ukraine and Xi Jinping's claims over Taiwan.
In his recent softball interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin justified his brutal war in Ukraine, invoking historical grievances and nationalism.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Suddenly, the Ukrainian soldiers were squealing from there in Russian, perfect Russian, saying, Russians do not surrender. And all of them perished. They still identify themselves as Russian.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Putin glossing over the fact thousands of Ukrainians have died defending their democratic homeland from Putin's army, which has also suffered huge losses for tiny territorial gains.
Xi Jinping echoes Putin's narrative, consistently framing China's claim over Taiwan through a lens of historical entitlement, national rejuvenation.
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and share a natural affinity and national identity built upon kinship and mutual assistance. This is a fact that can never be changed by anyone or any force.
[03:50:01]
RIPLEY: Here in Taiwan, poll after poll shows the majority of people identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese. That's not how President Xi sees things.
RIPLEY (voice-over): To back up his claims, Xi is expanding China's military at a pace the world hasn't seen in a century since before World War II.
KOLAS YOTAKA, FORMER SPOKESWOMAN, TAIWAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE: We can't just give up.
Former Taiwan presidential spokesperson Kolas Yotaka says both autocratic leaders pose a direct threat to the autonomy and democratic systems of Ukraine and Taiwan.
YOTAKA: Putin and Xi Jinping are similar because both of them believe they represent the old imperial power in their countries. They think they are the chosen ones and they want to stay in power forever. But this is scary.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The Atlantic Council's Wen-ti Sung says democratic nations need to unite against authoritarian aggression. WEN-TI SUNG, NONRESIDENT FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: You hear Xi Jinping talks about the east is rising and the west is declining all the time. With that increased projected confidence comes increased demand for results to be delivered by Xi Jinping as well.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Critics of Russia and China's strongman leaders say the two nuclear superpowers threaten the norms of international relations, the very foundations of democracy and freedom.
RIPLEY: A high-profile bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers is on the ground here in Taipei. And that is particularly infuriating for Xi and the Chinese Communist Party because the cornerstone of rejuvenating the Chinese nation in their view to a position of power and global stature is to take control of Taiwan. And they see this deepening relationship on all fronts with the United States, albeit an unofficial one, as a threat to that plan.
Many here fear it may be only a matter of time before Xi, like Putin, puts his words into action.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: When we come back, panda diplomacy is apparently alive and well. A pair of giant pandas may soon be heading to an American zoo courtesy of China. More details, coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: You're listening to the alluring songs of baleen whales, one of nature's best kept secrets. Well, how they do that has eluded scientists since its discovery more than 50 years ago. That is, until now.
A study published on Wednesday reveals baleen whales are able to sing underwater courtesy of their uniquely shaped larynx, or voice box. The study's lead author told CNN that whales use sound to locate each other and mate. Now, understanding how Earth's largest mammals vocalize could help scientists better understand how man-made noise pollution in marine waters impacts these sea giants.
For the first time in 20 years, more pandas on loan from China could be headed to the United States. Now, there's no official timeline yet, but two giant pandas will soon call the San Diego Zoo home, marking a big step forward for panda diplomacy.
CNN's Marc Stewart is in Beijing with details.
[03:54:59]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If anyone understands the political power of the panda, it's Chinese President Xi Jinping, who calls the animals envoys of friendship.
According to officials, two pandas are expected to come to the San Diego Zoo, expressing optimism it would happen in the not-so-distant future. This would be the first time we'd see new pandas, essentially on loan to the United States, for the first time in two decades.
Yet we've seen pandas on loan across Europe, including Germany and the Netherlands, over the past decade, and in 2022, Qatar in the Middle East.
Many pandas loaned to the United States, including those at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., have returned to China in recent years. State media in China reports the zoo in D.C. is in talks to see pandas once again.
This idea of this panda pathway came up in November when Xi Jinping visited San Francisco. He brought up the notion during a dinner with some of the most influential business leaders.
For the record, there are fewer than 2,000 pandas in the wild. That's according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal is so generous, he gave one fan the shirt off his back and his supersized shoes to boot.
So just ask this 16-year-old from the Kansas City area who desperately needed a size 23 shoe. Imagine that. Jor'el Bolden's family had been struggling to find him a pair that fit, as you can imagine, saying companies don't make his size and he'd need a custom pair that cost $1,500.
So that's when mom started a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money. And when the retired NBA superstar heard about Jor'el, he sent the teen 20 pairs of shoes, new clothes, and other items from his own closet. And here is Jor'el's reaction. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOR'EL BOLDEN, RECIPIENT OF SHAQ'S GIFT: Thank you for taking the time and the money that you have earned to give it to me when I needed it. So I would like to thank you for all the things that will come from it and will have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And then check out this comparison. On the left is a shoe from Shaq. On the right is a women's sneaker.
All right, that's it for me. Thanks for joining me. I'm Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta. Well CNN NEWSROOM continues with Max Foster right after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
