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Russian Mourners Showed Up For Navalny's Funeral And Burial Despite Possibility Of Being Arrested; Winter Storm Slamming California With Blizzard Conditions; Texas Wildfires Claimed Two Lives And Torched 1M+ Acres; Air National Guardsman Accused Of Posting Classified Documents Online Expected To Plead Guilty; Journalist's Refusal To Disclose Sources Deemed Contemptuous By A Judge; OpenAI Sued By Elon Musk Over Microsoft Agreement; For Now, Lunar Lander Ody Broadcasts Its Last Image From The Moon. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired March 01, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: This morning in Moscow, Alexei Navalny rallies the Russian people even in death.
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CROWD: Navalny. Navalny. Navalny.
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ACOSTA: Thousands of mourners defied the risk of arrest to gather outside the funeral of Vladimir Putin's most vocal and daring critic. This image of Navalny in his casket covered in flowers, you can see it right there, was posted by his team on social media earlier this morning. It was two weeks ago today that the world was told that Navalny had died in a Russian prison camp.
His death continues to fuel anger around the world. Here is the crowd leaving his funeral and marching the one and a half miles to his burial. mourners there were heard chanting, Russia without Putin.
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ACOSTA: And, just a short time ago, Navalny's widow posted this heartfelt tribute on social media. She thanked her husband for, "26 years of absolute happiness."
CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow and he filed this report.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The signal's been very dodgy here. They put an umbrella blanket, it seems, over the whole area, and we couldn't get a signal up, but we're here now. And you can see, the line of people stretches into the distance. Thousands of Russians have come out to pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny, even though you've just said that the funeral in the church, which is a short distance from here, is now over. You can see people are still coming along, carrying flowers, and messages to lay at the casket or inside the church where Alexei Navalny has just been taken away from.
Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir. Thank you.
CHANCE: Why have you come here today with so many other Russians to pay your respects?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess it's a symbolic value for people who don't agree with everything that's happening in Russia.
CHANCE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't be specific because we can say, like, the bad words, you know?
CHANCE: It's risky for you to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's certainly risky. You see --
CHANCE: So why take the risk?
[10:35:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because, that's my stance on at least. And I believe that's to show solidarity. That they are not the one who has to deal with this.
CHANCE: All right. Sir, thank you very much.
I've got Polina (ph) over here as well.
POLINA (PH): Hi. How are you?
CHANCE: The fact that Alexei Navalny is dead, what -- has that united people here? What does it say about the state of the country, Russia?
POLINA (PH): I would say that it united some people, but at the same time it's quite -- it's obviously horribly sad. It upsets me, obviously, and other people here in this group.
CHANCE: Yes.
POLINA (PH): But I think it's kind of a uniting thing since a lot of people come -- came here to --
CHANCE: Right.
POLINA (PH): -- pay their last goodbyes. CHANCE: Sure, but what does it say about your country, about Russia, the state of it?
POLINA (PH): There are obviously some people who are, I guess, against the whole thing that's happening right now.
CHANCE: Yes.
POLINA (PH): I can't say it, obviously. But there are some people who have good hearts, basically, I feel like.
CHANCE: Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
POLINA (PH): Thank you.
CHANCE: Thank you.
Well, John, there you have it. A lot of people here coming out, they're very careful about what they say because obviously it can be risky speaking your mind out publicly in this way. Remember, hundreds of Russians who were simply putting flowers at makeshift memorials across the country over the past couple of weeks have been detained by the authorities.
And so, people know that they're taking a risk here. But look, many thousands of people have come out despite the very intense security operation that's been underway here. Riot police have been put in place all along the route to, sort of, hold people back. But at the moment, we haven't seen any crackdown yet by the authorities. The authorities are still allowing these thousands of people to file past, to go to this church which is right behind us there, and to pay their respects to Russia's most prominent opposition figure.
From here, in the next few hours, the funeral will take place at a cemetery which is not far from here. And so, this parade, this procession will continue throughout the course of the day, we expect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: All right. Matthew Chance continuing to do some brave reporting there in Moscow.
Joining me now in Washington, CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto. And in addition to Matthew's bravery there. I mean, just to see all of these Russians taking the chance to go out into the streets to pay their respects, to speak to an American, I guess, base journalist, in Matthew Chance. It's pretty remarkable.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You can be certain that Russian authorities are taking names and faces. They're recording faces, taking pictures, to know exactly who showed up. Those people you see in those long lines there are showing enormous courage in that country because they already know how Russia punishes, not just dissidents or political opponents, but people willing to show support for dissidents or political opponents. A lot of them end up in jail. They get followed. They get harassed. They get financially penalized or worse. That's an act of courage. And you know what struck me about those photos as I watched not just the interviews on television broadcast around the world, the interview with Matthew, but showing up, laying flowers, chanting his name. Their faces are uncovered.
You know, whose faces are covered, the security forces. I don't know if we have it in this shot.
ACOSTA: Yes.
SCIUTTO: But with all the security forces I saw there were wearing face masks. It -- it's a classic contrast of false strength versus genuine courage. And, you know, in a country that has had two decades of harsh repression, that a show of support like this is still possible --
ACOSTA: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- it was remarkable.
ACOSTA: And if any Americans have -- I mean, obviously we hear different things from Trump in the U.S. when it comes to Vladimir Putin and what's going on in Russia. He compared himself to Navalny, which was obviously silly. But this -- I mean, this gives the world what life is like inside a thugocracy.
SCIUTTO: No question.
ACOSTA: And that is what Vladimir Putin has run here. And Alexei Navalny is dead because the state killed him.
SCIUTTO: No question.
ACOSTA: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Listen -- and by the way, as we know, they tried to kill him forthwith, right?
ACOSTA: Multiple times. Yes, right.
SCIUTTO: With the most powerful nerve agent in the world, Novichok, during Trump's presidency, we should note back in 2020. Navalny is the latest in a long line of people who had the courage to stand up to Putin in various ways and are now dead or have been punished in other ways.
You think of Navalny. You think of Yevgeny Prigozhin. I'm not calling them the same.
ACOSTA: Right.
SCIUTTO: But Prigozhin led a brief coup, died in a quite mysterious plane crash. You think of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was an oligarch, but Putin viewed as a threat to him. He went to prison for many years. Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion, has to live in exile now.
Go back even to people who challenged Putin's preferred candidates in other's country -- other countries. To Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko who challenged Putin's favorite candidate in Ukraine 20 years ago and was poisoned with that -- you remember the pictures of his face, poisoned with some sort of metal, poisonous metal that nearly killed him as well. As well as dissidents. Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with radioactive polonium.
[10:40:00]
ACOSTA: But something here has really lit a spark --
SCIUTTO: Mm-hmm.
ACOSTA: -- Alexei Navalny.
SCIUTTO: He's an interesting one because he's not just a political opponent to Putin, right?
ACOSTA: Right.
SCIUTTO: He's someone who exposed Putin's corruption.
ACOSTA: Right.
SCIUTTO: And that's one reason he drove so much support there because Putin is corrupt. Putin and his cronies steal from the people. That's why they are billionaires. That's why they own palaces and so on, and ferret that money away around the world, and Navalny documented that. And the Russian people are smart enough to know that's right.
ACOSTA: Yes.
SCIUTTO: And he earned the respect for that. I think that's one of the reasons you saw them out there today.
ACOSTA: Yes, it's really inspiring. Not just Alexei Navalny and the life he led, but the response that we have seen today. It really is just very inspiring. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ACOSTA: In the meantime, a massive and extremely dangerous winter storm is already slamming parts of California. We're tracking the rare blizzard conditions in the CNN Weather Center, that's next.
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[10:45:00]
ACOSTA: Happening right now, a powerful winter storm is slamming parts of the West Coast. Blizzard like conditions are creating dangerous scenes across California. In a matter of days, the Sierra Nevada Mountains could be buried in up to 12 feet of snow.
CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins me live in the Weather Center. Derek, how long is this going to last?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: This snow will last right through Sunday, maybe perhaps even to Monday and Tuesday, Jim. This is about as extreme as it gets in terms of winter weather across the United States. We're talking about disorienting, whiteout conditions to zero. And wind gusts have already exceeded 100 miles per hour.
We're talking about Cat 2, Cat 3, hurricane equivalent strength. This is a serious storm that will bring major implications, especially for the mountainous terrain of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. A lot of people wondering how much snow will we actually receive? We debated whether or not to show this actual map, but some of our computer graphics don't even have a color table to represent the amount of snow that is being projected here.
The highest elevations within the Sierra Nevada could see up to 12 feet of snow by the time this is all said and done, we're talking all the way through Sunday and Monday. Right where humans live and operate around 6,000 feet. Lake Tahoe level, we're talking four to six feet. That is crippling snow conditions. And it's not just for the mountainous areas. This will spill over into the leeward side of the mountain range as well. Impacting places like Reno, Nevada for instance.
Let me take you to the Donner Pass. This is I-80. still open, at least from the last moment we checked. And you can see just how treacherous conditions are within that area, Jim. We have blizzard warnings, very rare for this area, as it continues to just get pounded by very, very powerful winds and very heavy snowfall.
ACOSTA: And right now, we've got fire crews in Texas battling that state's largest wildfire.
VAN DAM: Yes.
ACOSTA: What can you tell us about that?
VAN DAM: Jim, this is the other concern. So, as this major storm moves in along the West Coast, what it does is, it has an impact on the winds over the entire western half of the U.S. And unfortunately, it will allow for winds to pick up near Amarillo. The Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle, that will start to pick up from a southerly direction. So, the snow and rain we received across the Texas Panhandle yesterday will dry out as temperatures warm. Relative humidity levels drop. Winds pick up. That is a recipe for fire danger.
And that's why Weather Prediction Center has increased this to critical fire weather for both Saturday and Sunday across some of the hardest hit areas throughout the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. Ongoing fires, including Texas largest wildfire, the Smokehouse Creek fire that's burned over a million acres. So, this is not good news for firefighters on the ground.
ACOSTA: All right. Hope they get some relief very soon.
VAN DAM: Yes.
ACOSTA: All right. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Derek, thank you very much.
And for more information about how you can help fire victims across the country, please go to cnn.com/impact or text WILDFIRE to 70-70-70 to donate. And we'll be right back.
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[10:50:00]
ACOSTA: Now, to a few other stories we're watching this hour. In Boston, an Air National Guardsman accused of posting classified documents online is expected to plead guilty to federal charges next week. That's after he initially pleaded not guilty after his arrest in April. 21-year-old Jack Teixeira is charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified material related to national defense. Right now, it's unclear which charges he plans to plead guilty to or if he has struck a deal with prosecutors.
Plus, new developments in a case that could have sweeping First Amendment implications for journalists and news organizations across the country. A federal judge is holding veteran Fox News Journalist Catherine Herridge in contempt of court and fining her $800 a day for refusing to reveal her sources. That's in connection to a story in 2017 about a Chinese-American scientist at the center of a federal probe. Herridge has fought the case vigorously and is expected to appeal.
And the world's richest man is suing the company behind ChatGPT. Elon Musk is alleging that OpenAI breached a contract after it supposedly diverged from its original nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft in a $10 billion deal. He's asking for the company's CEO Sam Altman and another co-founder to return profits they received from the business. We should also note Musk is a co-founder of OpenAI, and since parting ways with the company, he's launched his own A.I. business.
And finally, on this Friday for us, take a look at the last picture from the lunar lander known as Ody. Intuitive Machines, the company behind the lander planned to lose communication as the sun disappeared from that part of the moon, preventing Ody's solar panels from charging. It sent one last photo of the lunar's landscape, look at it right there. Pretty fascinating stuff, featuring a tiny crescent Earth off in the distance.
The lunar night is expected to last up to three weeks. It's unclear whether Ody will be able to survive the frigid temperatures and start transmitting again after that. But the company is hopeful. So, here's to hoping for all of that and good luck to Ody. I hope you're back with us soon.
[10:55:00]
Thanks very much for joining me this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of NEWSROOM with Wolf Blitzer starts after a short break. Thanks for a great work -- first week, everybody. Have a great weekend.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR AND "SITUATION ROOM" HOST: Happening now, Donald Trump is back in the Florida courtroom this morning for his classified documents case. We could soon find out when this actual trial will start.
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