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Trump, Biden Snatched Super Tuesday Wins; ICC Arrests Two Key Russian Military Commanders; CNN Gains Exclusive Access to the Disputed South China Sea as Sea Tensions Between China and the Philippines Increases; China's National People's Congress Centers on the Five Percent Growth Target. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 06, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, the U.S. presidential race appears headed for a rematch that few people seem to want after Joe Biden and Donald Trump secure big primary wins on Super Tuesday.
Hamas pushes back against the latest ceasefire proposal as the clock ticks down to the start of Ramadan.
And CNN got a front row seat aboard a Philippine Coast Guard ship amid growing tensions with China in the South China Sea. We'll have a live report.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
Well, it's looking more and more likely we will see a 2020 rematch in the U.S. presidential race this November after Joe Biden and Donald Trump dominated contests on Super Tuesday, where 15 states and one U.S. territory held primaries.
Among the last state's reporting results, Alaska, where CNN now projects Trump will win the Republican primary there. Trump is also projected to pick up a big win in delicate, rich California, a victory there too for Biden. The U.S. president is also heading for a win in Utah's Democratic race. He has so far won every Super Tuesday contest except American Samoa.
Well, there was one small prize on the night for Nikki Haley. CNN projects she will win Vermont's Republican primary with 17 delegates were at stake. Despite that win, Trump has built a commanding lead in the delegate count over Haley, his only remaining Republican opponent. Trump didn't mention Haley during his victory speech, but did
criticize President Biden and his immigration policies. Here's part of his message to supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They call it Super Tuesday for a reason. This is a big one. And they tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there's never been one like this has never been anything so conclusive. This was an amazing, an amazing night, an amazing day. It's been an incredible period of time in our country's history. It's been sad in so many ways, but I think it's going to be inspiring because we're going to do something that frankly, nobody's been able to do for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: More now on how Nikki Haley's campaign is reacting to her lone Super Tuesday win. CNN's Kylie Atwood reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nikki Haley's campaign responding to the results on Super Tuesday, saying that she is honored to have received the support of millions of Americans and going on to point out that she is the first woman to have won two presidential primary states.
Vermont is one of them. The District of Columbia is the other one. But the statement also went on to point out the fact that there is not unity within the Republican Party right now.
I want to read to you a bit of that saying, quote, "today in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing these voters' concerns will make the Republican Party and America better".
Now, this statement not saying when Nikki Haley plans to address the public. We know that on the eve of Super Tuesday, she has no plans to make public remarks, but we will watch for Wednesday to see if she comes out and speaks with her voters and tells them what the future of her campaign holds.
Kylie Atwood, CNN, Charleston, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining me now from Los Angeles is Sarah Sadhwani, a political science professor at Pomona College and democracy fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School. And from Sacramento, Mike Madrid, co- founder of the Lincoln Project, author of the "Latino Century" and co- host of the "Latino Vote". Welcome to you both.
MIKE MADRID, CO-FOUNDER, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: Thanks for having us. CHURCH: So not surprisingly, Joe Biden and Donald Trump dominated contests on Super Tuesday, moving one step closer to a rematch between the two men in November. But there were some clear warnings for both men. Sarah, let's start with you. What are these results reveal about what might happen in the general election?
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SARAH SADHWANI, ASST. PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, POMONA COLLEGE: Well, certainly these two are heading to the general election. They're almost at that stage. The delegate count is not quite there yet, but these are absolutely our two front runners.
What we continue to see, however, is that there are some uncommitted votes, places like Minnesota, having a number of folks pulling away from Biden on the Democratic side, really over the issues between Israel and Gaza. We saw this previously in the state of Michigan, and this is going to be a point of weakness for Joe Biden moving forward.
CHURCH: And Mike, Nikki Haley is the sole challenger to Donald Trump. And while this might be her last stand, she has been able to expose a gap in support for Trump, especially among college educated voters and women. What might that mean for the general election? And will Haley supporters end up voting for Trump or for Biden come November or will they just sit it out?
MADRID: Well, it's a couple of different questions, both of which I think are exactly the right questions to be asking as we head into the final days of these primaries.
College educated voters have had problems with Donald Trump since 2016. And that segment of the Republican electorate has been moving away from him over the course of the past eight years, moving expeditiously beyond him after the 2022 midterms in the Republican Party, when abortion rights were essentially overturned at the federal level.
The challenge is going to be, can Republicans stop that leaking? And Nikki Haley's candidacy is showing that college educated voters are leaving Donald Trump, specifically the Republican Party generally, at a rate faster than any time in the past, again, eight years.
And they're claiming to be never Trump, anti-Trump by about three and a half times the amount that they were four years ago, a race which Donald Trump lost. So both of these gentlemen have problems with their bases, but they're very, very different.
CHURCH: And Sarah, President Biden enjoyed strong support from Democratic voters on Super Tuesday, except in American Samoa. Silly news, apparently, according to his campaign. But we still saw a significant number of voters check the uncommitted box. And you refer to this, that's to protest his support for Israel. How big a concern should this be for the Democrats in the general election and how does the party combat the lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy?
SADHWANI: It's most certainly a point of weakness for Biden, but he's going to have to respond to it and address it.
And we've seen himself and Vice President Harris already beginning to make shifts and adjustments. We've seen Vice President Kamala Harris coming out calling for a ceasefire. We've seen aid being dropped in Gaza. So already we're seeing some shifts and of course, he's going to have to do a lot more work in this area.
However, I'll point to the state of California where we have essentially just elected Adam Schiff to the Senate. Now that's not a foregone conclusion completely, he's gonna have to run in November, but he's running against a Republican.
California voters had an opportunity to elect a far more liberal candidate, a ceasefire candidate in Barbara Lee, and they rejected Barbara Lee outright. Adam Schiff is by all projections going to be the next senator from the golden state of California.
And I think this is a real sign that at the end of the day, Democratic voters will make that call, not solely on the issue of Gaza and Israel, but on larger issues around democracy and ensuring that Joe Biden is able to advance against Donald Trump in 2024.
CHURCH: And Mike, Trump's biggest challenge appears to be uniting the Republican Party behind him. How does he bring Republican college educated voters on board as well as women who object to him denying them reproductive rights, whether it's access to abortions or more likely with Republican women access to IVF?
MADRID: Well, strategy, that's a great question. Again, the strategy seems pretty clear.
They're gonna try to win by subtraction yet again, which has worked for Donald Trump in the past. And what I mean by that is you're gonna have to find a foil, a bulwark against the hemorrhaging of women leaving because of the abortion rights issue. And the issue that they're gonna be using overwhelmingly is going to be the issue of illegal immigration.
This is an issue that has worked for Donald Trump. It worked for him in 2016. It served, again, as a foil of women leaving on cultural -- the social cultural drift words right to the Republicans that are frightening suburban women.
The specter of illegal immigration and growing crime is what they're gonna try to center this campaign on. And their hopes are that if Trump can be the, set the stage there, they'll be fighting on very solid ground for them. And the poll suggests that they're probably right.
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CHURCH: And Sarah, more women or more men, I should say, than women are voting for Trump, more black men are choosing Trump over Biden and college educated voters prefer Biden over Trump. So what do you make of that shift in voter preferences and how might it change the way Joe Biden's campaign is run over the next eight months? SADHWANI: Yeah, absolutely. We have seen portions of black men, Latino
men as well, shifting towards Trump.
It's not a large proportion of those voters, but it is a significant proportion and it has a steady and consistent one over the last several election cycles. So most certainly the Biden camp is going to have to do work to build back those relationships where they can.
We see a lot of the shift in some of these voters having to do with the culture wars that are going on throughout the United States and some sort of preference for Donald Trump and his sort of strong man, masculine nature that he has.
So this is most certainly going to be an area where Biden is going to have to try and pick up some momentum over the next several months.
CHURCH: And Mike, you get the last word. Will Trump be making the economy and immigration his big issues at the expense of everything else? And is that the winning formula for him, or will it work against him?
MADRID: Well, those are both issues where he scores dramatically higher than Joe Biden and he should. I would advise as a campaign professional, if I were advising Donald Trump, that's precisely where I would want him to be staying and talking.
The challenge with Donald Trump is he's probably the least disciplined candidate in the history of American politics. Trying to get him to stay on message is extraordinarily difficult. I guess what might be an advantage is that he likes those two issues. He feels strong on strong ground on both of those two issues.
And again, most American voters support him by pretty wide margins on both -- on both the economy and on border security. So can he? I don't know. Should he? Yes, he absolutely should.
CHURCH: Sarah Sadhwani, Mike Madrid, many thanks to you both for joining our panel of discussion on this issue. I Appreciate it.
SADHWANI: Thanks for having me.
MADRID: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: A senior Hamas official is accusing Israel of stalling negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for more hostages. He says there can be no exchange of prisoners until there is a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
But America's top diplomat says it's on Hamas to accept an immediate truce, a sentiment echoed by President Joe Biden.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The hostages in the hands of Hamas right now. Because it's going to offer a rational offer with Israelis have agreeing to it and wait to see what the Hamas does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Those comments by President Biden come as a U.N. diplomat told CNN that Washington circulated a newly revised U.N. Security Council draft resolution to back an immediate six-week ceasefire in Gaza with the release of all hostages.
And CNN's Scott McLean joins us now live from Istanbul, Turkey. So, Scott, talk to us about all of this and the efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Rosemary, look, there is only one party to this conflict right now, which is currently in the room in those talks in Cairo. The mediators convinced Hamas to remain in Cairo for another day. But that doesn't necessarily mean that things are going in the right direction.
Egyptian state media said that there are difficulties. The Egyptian foreign minister said that he's not neither optimistic nor pessimistic. But the reality is that they are not at a point where there is going to be any immediate breakthrough or any kind of ceasefire right off the bat.
The Israelis are not there because they say that Hamas has not responded to its two latest demands. And that is, number one, for a list to be provided of the hostages who are alive and the hostages that are dead. Hamas said yesterday that it can't provide that until a ceasefire actually begins. The Israelis also want to confirm the hostage to Palestinian prisoner release ratio.
Al Jazeera and Reuters had reported last week that Hamas was reviewing a proposal to exchange 40 hostages in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners currently in Israeli jails. But again, all of this is up for negotiation.
Hamas continues to insist that they are flexible, but they also say that they are unbending on three demands that they have. And that is, number one, a permanent ceasefire, not anything temporary, which is what the Israelis are pushing. Netanyahu, the prime minister, has said that the war will go on after any kind of a pause.
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They want the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, something that flies in the face of the plan that the Israelis unveiled for the day after the war to give IDF troops unfettered access to any place inside the Gaza Strip. And they also want displaced people from the north to be able to return to their homes. Again, difficult for the Israelis because, as they've said, they want to restart the war after this ceasefire or this pause is over.
The U.S. is pushing a scaled back deal, something that would involve a six-week ceasefire. President Biden said that Israel has already basically agreed to this. And it would involve the release of vulnerable hostages by Hamas, elderly women, people who are sick, injured. But the difficulty that we're told is that Hamas is not engaged on agreeing on a precise definition of who would be considered vulnerable in that case.
And so that is where things stand at this point. It seems like one or both sides need to substantially shift their position in order to move things forward. And of course, the clock is ticking because everybody wants to get some kind of an agreement in place before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, because there are fears that if fighting continues, obviously, that could further inflame tensions in the region. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Scott McLean joining us live from Istanbul.
More countries airdropped desperately needed food aid into northern Gaza on Tuesday, as only a limited amount of aid is being allowed in by Israel. The U.S. and Jordan sent the equivalent of about 37,000 meals, while the UAE and Egypt delivered 42 tons of food and medical supplies. The U.N. says a convoy of 14 trucks carrying food aid to the north was turned away by Israeli forces.
The World Health Organization says malnutrition levels in Gaza's north are particularly extreme and roughly three times higher than in the south. Limited aid deliveries have resulted in severe food poverty and acute malnourishment. The disparity between northern and southern Gaza underscores the life-saving difference when people have access to aid.
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JENS LAERKE, OCHA SPOKESPERSON: Now, when children starting as the doctors are telling our colleagues to die from starvation, that should be an alarm like no other. If not now, when is the time to pull the stops, break the glass, flood Gaza with the aid that it needs?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: We are hearing more from the U.N. about its findings of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israelis. A U.N. team that visited the region says it found clear and convincing information that hostages taken to Gaza were sexually abused.
It also says there are reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence, including rape, occurred during the Hamas attacks of October 7th. The head of that U.N. mission spoke with CNN about their findings.
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PRAMILLA PATTEN, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT: And came to this finding of reasonable grounds to believe that in at least three different locations, Nova festival, music festival site, the road 232 and Kibbutz Reim, that there were instances of sexual violence in the form of rape and gang rape, in addition to other forms of sexual violence.
And we found in two cases rape of corpses. And indeed, it's very disturbing. But when it comes to hostages whom we met, we met some recently released hostages and got direct information from them. And we got, we had a finding of clear and convincing information that sexual violence did occur against what was in captivity. And we also have reasonable ground to believe that there are risks of ongoing sexual violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.N. is also looking into alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinians.
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PATTEN: I went there, I went to Ramallah and I met with recently released detainees who shared very disturbing information with me and with my technical team, because my technical team went back about strip searches, about threats of rape, about prolonged forced nudity. And also, they expressed concerns about sexual harassment and threats of rape during house raids and at checkpoints.
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And I must say that I have solid information and more in depth information in this regard from U.N. entities operating in the occupied Palestinian Authority, which will be in the annual report of the Secretary General, which will be debated before the Security Council on the 25th of April.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURC: The Special Envoy has also requested information on sexual violence carried out in Gaza.
Still to come, violence spirals further out of control in Haiti with armed gangs launching coordinated attacks and taking over several police stations in the capital.
And CNN witnesses violent confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. We'll have a live report.
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CHURCH: Criminal gangs in Haiti have launched coordinated attacks on police stations in the capital and Haitian armed forces have reportedly been deployed to protect the airport, which is also under attack. The police academy in Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of cadets are stationed, has also been targeted. And now Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, reports widespread injuries in the capital after a weekend of violence.
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry landed in Puerto Rico on Tuesday after unsuccessfully trying to get home to Haiti through neighboring Dominican Republic. CNN's Caitlin Hu recently returned from Haiti and has more now on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CAITLIN HU, CNN SR. EDITOR: After days of speculation about his whereabouts, Haiti's leader Ariel Henry has appeared in nearby Puerto Rico, according to a local government spokesperson. His plane landed in what would appear to be an attempt to reach his own country, where gang violence is currently exploding.
Henry has not been seen in public since last week when he visited Kenya to sign an agreement on a mission intended to help Haiti's police beat back the gangs.
But around the same time that deal was signed, the same gangs launched a wave of coordinated attacks on capital city Port-au-Prince. And according to the leader of one gang coalition, Jimmy Cherizier, who goes by the name Barbecue, the attacks are intended to overthrow Henry's government.
The attacks have targeted state institutions, the gangs have burned down police stations and broken into two prisons, releasing thousands of prisoners. And they've also targeted the airport, where it seems they're waiting for Henry's return.
Security sources say the level of coordination between previously warring gangs is unprecedented. This time they're using each other's territories to launch attacks, for example.
And amid the chaos, Haiti's government has declared a state of emergency. The neighboring Dominican Republic has stopped all flights connecting to Haiti.
Meanwhile, the civilian toll is rising. The United Nations says thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. And that adds to the over 300,000 who had already been displaced by gang violence before this escalation.
Caitlin Hu, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:45:59]
CHURCH: Ukraine is struggling on the battlefield, but it's claiming success in the Black Sea, so much so that Ukraine's president says there are no longer any safe harbors for Russia there.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency says it struck this Russian patrol ship with a drone on Tuesday. The Sergei Kotov has been the target of Ukrainian attacks before. But a spokesperson for Ukraine's defense intelligence agency says this time the ship was, quote, "destroyed for sure". Ukraine says it has now disabled a third of Russia's Black Sea fleet.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two of Russia's top military commanders. The court is going after Sergei Kobylash, a lieutenant general in the Russian armed forces, and Viktor Sokolov, an admiral in the Russian Navy. The ICC says they are responsible for war crimes such as directing attacks on Ukrainian civilians, causing excessive harm to civilians, and for committing inhumane acts, which is a crime against humanity.
Nick Paton-Walsh explains why this is so significant for Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A profound development, really, in the war in Ukraine. Two key Russian military commanders, both functioning in the Black Sea area, issued arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court.
Two of them both accused of being involved in attacks on civilian infrastructure and essentially the damage that has caused to the civilian population, essentially killing innocent civilians here.
The warrant points to two individuals, Admiral Viktor Sokolov and another man, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, both of whom were key commanders in the Black Sea. The warrant suggests during the last couple of years, while much munitions fired against civilian areas were initially originating from the Black Sea fleet.
That Black Sea fleet itself, though, targeted by Ukraine over the past hours. The Ukrainian intelligence service suggested they managed to take out a patrol ship called the Sergei Kotov that cost $65 million, they said.
Another example of how Ukraine has begun to project its force into areas that Moscow would normally have considered to be its safe territory. These outlying suggestions of Ukrainian strategic success, it comes at a time of extraordinary trouble for Ukraine here near the Eastern Front, where I'm standing. You can hear the distant rumble of explosions far away from me.
Really, Ukraine is struggling to hold the defensive line it said it would be able to maintain after it pulled out of the town of Avdiivka about two weekends ago.
Avdiivka had been fought over for months and Ukraine said that it had voluntarily pulled back. It gave up a number of villages in its retreat and it said it would hold another three villages, those villages themselves under significant Russian repeated persistent assault.
Russia able to throw extraordinary resources at these particular objectives and Ukraine, I think on the best of days, struggling to suggest that it has that fight calmed entirely.
It's significant because if we do see Russia continue to put pressure on Ukrainian front lines around me here, there are minimal signs that there is another back defensive line prepared for Ukraine to be able to hold.
And so we are dealing with a very complex time for Ukraine at this moment. They're able to project success in the Black Sea. Yes, they even suggested in the recent days they hit a bridge 500 miles inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they took 15 fighter jets out of the sky in February alone. They are doing things that nobody felt they could do at the start of the war. But the one thing they're able to do right now is hold key parts of the Donbass front line because they haven't got the munitions they need from the West.
And that is because of the hold up in Republican-held Congress. No sign of that changing at all. And we hear from Ukrainian fighters on the front line here that it's simply a matter of life and death until that changes.
And already the resurgence of Russia is changing the front line calculus daily.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The head of Russia's foreign intelligence service says opposition figure Alexei Navalny died his own death in prison as pressure builds on the Kremlin to provide answers. Navalny, a longtime critic of the Russian president, died unexpectedly in prison last month. More than 40 countries, including the U.S., have blamed Vladimir Putin for his death and are calling for an independent investigation. The Kremlin denies any involvement.
And an American detained in Russia for more than five years says Navalny's death is extremely worrying for him. Paul Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges, which he vehemently denies. He spoke exclusively to CNN as he was spending his 54th birthday in prison.
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(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
PAUL WHELAN, AMERICAN DETAINED IN RUSSIA: I can't say too much for obvious reasons, but one thing I will say is that if they can get to him, they can get to me.
And what that means is if they are willing to face the repercussions from the world for doing in somebody like Navalny, they are not going to think twice about doing in someone like me and then blaming the United States for not bothering to get me back in five years.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. State Department says Whelan has been wrongfully detained.
Coast Guard vessels from China and the Philippines collided in the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Tuesday. The Philippines has accused China of executing dangerous maneuvers, while China claims it took control measures against the Philippine vessel.
Ivan Watson went aboard a Philippine Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is just after sunrise and as you may see, there is a large Chinese Coast Guard ship directly in front of this Philippine Coast Guard vessel.
And we've been watching this over the course of the last hour. These are supposed to be international waterways with free passage. I'm aboard this Philippine Coast Guard ship that was part of a convoy of four vessels that were headed towards a place called the Second Thomas Shoal.
And before dawn, all of a sudden, these Philippine ships were swarmed by much larger and many more Chinese ships that are more off to our port bow. These are not marked like the Chinese Coast Guard ships, but they're clearly operating with them and operating in very close proximity to this Philippine Coast Guard ship.
In fact, I've seen them in the past cutting this off. And what they've succeeded in doing is not only pretty much stopping our ship in its tracks, but it has separated this ship from the other boats in the Philippines convoy, which included two small resupply vessels that were trying to get to the Second Thomas Shoal.
Now, part of what is at play here is a territorial dispute. That shoal, the Philippines claims, is part of its economic exclusion zone.
China, though it is much further geographically from this area, claims it for itself and clearly tries to stop Philippine ships from getting to it. We're completely encircled by a fleet of Chinese ships, at least 14 that I've counted.
And moments ago, the Chinese Coast Guard ships were blasting a Philippines resupply vessel with water cannons.
It is clearly, by swarming this ship, a show of force and a show of intimidation. And it is physically stopping vessels from another country from being able to move forward through this international waterway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And Ivan Watson joins us now live from Palawan in the Philippines after spending 48 hours in the South China Sea aboard that Coast Guard ship. So Ivan, what are the two governments saying about this?
WATSON: Right. Well, the Chinese government says it has issued the strongest protest against the Philippine government.
It says that its vessels were taking control measures at it, as it put it, after accusing the Philippines of illegally entering its territory. It has accused the Philippines of being dishonest, deliberately stirring up trouble and maliciously inciting and sensationalizing. I now have heard from the Philippines government and they have accused
China of dangerous maneuvers, of causing a minor collision and of illegal and irresponsible activities. Now, as an eyewitness in the middle, I can say that there was a vast, the Philippines tiny little convoy was vastly outnumbered by these Chinese ships.
According to the Philippines Coast Guard, at least five Chinese Coast Guard ships, 18 of these so-called Chinese maritime militia ships, which are very unusual, as we pointed out in that bit of video, Rosemary, they do not carry official government markings. They look like fishing boats, but I probably do more fishing than these ships do because they were deliberately putting themselves in front of China, of the Philippines Coast Guard vessels and threatening them and blocking them.
[03:34:54]
And I witnessed also the water cannoning from two China Coast Guard vessels of this one little kind of two-story wooden Philippine boat, which smashed the windshield of that vessel and mildly wounded at least four people on board.
The Philippines government says it was forced to send two of its ships back after the Chinese fleet intercepted them, though one small boat was able to reach marines on that contested shoal. All of this was taking place about 180 kilometers, a little bit more than 100 miles off the shore of the Philippines. That's considerably closer than it is to mainland China. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Ivan Watson reporting there. I Appreciate it.
Just ahead, Americans say immigration is the most important problem the country is facing right now. We will talk about how the current presidential candidates plan to address it. Back with that and more in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: It was a super predictable Super Tuesday in the U.S., the biggest day of voting during the U.S. presidential primaries. No surprise, U.S. President Joe Biden is projected to win every democratic contest so far, except for one, American Samoa.
A Biden campaign official brushed off the loss, calling it silly news. Donald Trump also won big as expected, and he is projected to extend his lead over Republican rival Nikki Haley by more than 800 delegates, putting the country even closer to a Biden-Trump rematch this November.
As they prepare for the general election, the Trump campaign is working to keep costs in check. Even as his personal multi-million- dollar legal bills keep piling up, CNN has learned from a source familiar with Trump's meetings that the Republican frontrunner met with billionaire Elon Musk recently. It is not clear whether Musk plans to donate money to Trump's campaign. Trump hosted donors at his Mar-a-Lago residence over the weekend as he tries to raise more money for his campaign and avoid a repeat of the financial struggles they faced in the 2020 general election.
Immigration is the most important issue to Americans right now, according to polling data from Gallup released last week. It says the subject has surged past all other problems in recent months, but it doesn't help the conversation when false information is spread about the matter, which Donald Trump has done repeatedly. Here's what he had to say about undocumented immigrants on Fox News Tuesday.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (on the phone): Nobody's ever seen anything like this. They're coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions, insane asylums. They're terrorists. I mean, you have terrorists pouring in at a level that we have not seen maybe ever. And what they're doing to our country is incredible. They're poisoning our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Raul Reyes is an attorney, immigration analyst and CNN opinion writer, and he joins me now from New York. Great to have you with us.
RAUL REYES, ATTORNEY AND CNN OPINION EDITOR: Thank you.
CHURCH: So immigration has become a hot button issue for both Democratic and Republican voters, and we saw that on Super Tuesday. But how many of them actually know that Donald Trump torpedoed that critical and historic bipartisan bill that would have fixed many of the problems of the U.S. southern border, all because Trump wants to run on that controversial issue rather than give Joe Biden the credit for fixing border security?
REYES: Right. I think right there, that point is one of the challenges that has been very confounding to the Biden administration.
There are certain truths about our border situation and immigration politics that are just not resonating with the American public. For example, Trump talks a lot about the invasion at the borders, just like a lot of Republican governors do. But people who live there, people who are in Texas and Arizona, they know that it's not an invasion.
An invasion is what's happening in Ukraine and in Gaza. We do have a border crisis, certainly, but it's not really being presented to the American people in a way, I think, in a realistic way. What we have at the border, in my view, we have a humanitarian crisis of thousands of people waiting to enter the country, not to mention millions within the country with no process to adjust their status. Right? We have a crisis of resources because we don't have enough Border
Patrol agents, immigration judges and other personnel to process these people. But most of all, we have a leadership crisis in Washington where neither political parties in Congress are willing to expend the political capital and make meaningful, permanent changes to this situation.
CHURCH: Yeah. And of course, many folks I talk to have absolutely no clue that Donald Trump killed off that bipartisan bill, which indicates a message fail on the part of the Democrats or perhaps that voters are not watching the day to day politics. How do Democrats improve their messaging on this issue?
REYES: That that's -- that is another real problem for the Biden administration. They have what I would call a communications deficit. They are just not able to get the word out, especially when faced with -- with Trump's policies. I think you could ask almost anyone in the United States whether they follow politics closely or not. And they know Donald Trump's immigration policies, build a wall, deport people.
But when you ask them what President Biden's immigration policies are, I don't think the average American has a clear idea. And to be fair, in part, that's because the Biden administration hasn't really done a good job in putting forward a coherent message of what their immigration priorities are.
CHURCH: And a lot of voters are saying that the economy and immigration are their biggest issues of concern. So what does Trump plan to do at the border if he's elected and how will that differ to what President Biden had hoped to achieve with that bipartisan bill?
REYES: Well, Trump's stated immigration priorities are actually quite extreme. He -- he is on the record and has spoken publicly that in his second term, if he has one, he -- he will build his wall. He wants mass deportations. He wants more immigration detention facilities. He has even spoken in public that he would resume the horrific family separations policies.
Now, these are extreme measures. And perhaps the American public has a short memory of how chaotic our immigration policy was and at times how we -- we were in a position where even our standing as a nation in the world was impacted by some of Trump's policies.
In contrast, Biden has really struggled to balance what he says are his goals of having a humane immigration system, a compassionate system with providing border security.
So because it's more nuanced, it's harder to figure out which way he wants to go with this approach. And one thing that's so clear on Super Tuesday, whereas in the past, immigration was a real, really a big issue in the Border States or maybe in some states with a large Latino population.
Now it's a national issue. It's the number one issue for Americans in places like Colorado, where they saw the arrival of 40,000 migrants in just the last two years, or even in Massachusetts, where Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott have been sending migrants to that blue state.
[03:45:03]
So the immigration issue is nationalized. The contrast between the president and the former president on their policies really could not be clearer. But I think for now, strategically, Trump seems to have the advantage in getting his message out. The Biden administration seems to have been somewhat hesitant to tackle this issue head on, to be more aggressive on their messaging. And because there's been that void, Trump has been able to fill it with a lot of anti-immigrant, very xenophobic, very restrictionist rhetoric.
CHURCH: Raul Reyes, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
REYES: Thank you.
CHURCH: As China's top brass gather in Beijing, will they strike gold with a new economic plans? The latest on Chinese agenda for the year ahead.
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CHURCH: France's president says he is ready to work with the Czech Republic to buy ammunition from other countries to send to Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron met with the Czech Prime Minister in Prague on Tuesday. His comments come as Ukraine's battlefield progress is basically halted by a severe lack of ammunition and much needed aid from the United States is stalled in Congress.
Mr. Macron has long advocated for Europe's self-defense and praised the Czech-led initiative to source military aid for Ukraine without U.S. help.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Support for Ukraine also requires greater European sovereignty and autonomy. And beyond the pragmatic response to immediate Ukrainian military needs, such as your initiative on ammunition, we want to continue to direct the E.U.'s new military support tools towards Ukraine and more broadly to strengthen the industrial base of European defense.
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CHURCH: Germany's defense ministry says it is investigating the leak of a call by German officers about the Taurus missile system. Details of the conversation emerged when they were posted by Russian state media. The hack is being blamed on human error, with the German defense minister insisting that communication systems have not been compromised as far as he knows.
Fred Pleitgen has more on the hack and the fallout.
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FREDERIK PLEUTGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: German defense minister Boris Pistorius says he does not believe that the communications of the German military are generally compromised after a conversation of senior German commanders was leaked first to Russian state media and then commented on by Russian state officials. Now Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister, he says that he believes that the fact that this call was compromised was due to a failure of one of the participants on the call.
[03:49:59]
It was a call between senior German commanders, including the commanding general of the German air force. And Pistorius said that one of the people who was on that call called in from Singapore using the WebEx software but failed to adhere to the necessary security protocols.
In general though, the German defense minister does say that he takes all of this very seriously. All this has caused a massive row between Germany and the Russians.
The Russians for their part are accusing the Germans of planning to attack the bridge of Kerch, which is of course the bridge that links Russia to occupied Crimea using the Taurus missile.
The Germans for their part say that the conversation did deal with the Taurus missile and that it dealt with the specs of the Taurus missile and how many of those missiles would be needed to destroy the Kerch Bridge. Obviously the Germans say that they did not plan to attack the Kerch Bridge. All this of course comes as Germany has been talking about possibly giving these Taurus cruise missiles to the Ukrainians. So far the German chancellor Olaf Scholz is saying that he is not willing to do that at this point in time.
One of the other things that the defense minister also said is he said at this point in time there are not going to be any consequences for any of those involved in that call that went bad. However he does say that an investigation has been launched.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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CHURCH: And we'll be right back.
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CHURCH: Farmers in India are planning another round of protests in the coming hours. Security has been tight across the capital New Delhi as farmers are planning to enter in large numbers.
For months now the farmers have been demanding higher prices for their crops. Thousands started their march to the capital last month but were stopped by security forces who used tear gas and water cannon to disperse them.
Putting productivity front and center, China's political elite have been gathering for the annual National People's Congress. Beijing has already set an ambitious growth target of around five percent as leaders work to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy. Current challenges include the property sector, pressure from deflation and a low birth rate.
Kristie Lu Stout joins us now live from Hong Kong with more on this. Good to see you, Kristie. So after unveiling an ambitious growth target, does China have a plan to get there?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, there is a lot of uncertainty out there. The Chinese economy is facing a number of challenges and President Xi Jinping is now calling for the nation to unleash what he calls new quality productive forces.
And on top of that, China's top economic leaders, they've been addressing concerns about growth.
Now all this is happening at the National People's Congress. That's where China set this growth target of around five percent this year as it seeks to transform its growth model. But no major stimulus measures were announced. So analysts fear that China may have a target. But does it have a plan?
Now one analyst at UBS is saying this. Let's bring up the quote for you. He says the growth target is okay, but the missing part is how they want to achieve that. What sort of stimulus is unclear for now?
This afternoon, and this is a press conference that just wrapped up, we heard from China's finance, commerce, banking, development and securities heads. And they address concerns about the Chinese economy. We heard from China's National Development and Reform Commission chairman Zheng Shanjie.
[03:55:03]
And in his words, he said this, quote, it, "referring to the five percent growth target, is a goal that can be achieved with a positive attitude and hard work", unquote. Joining him was China's central bank governor. He added that China still has these monetary policy tools at its disposal, suggesting that China might continue to cut rates down the line.
Now, during the Congress, we also heard from Xi Jinping. He was quoted in Chinese state media today after he spoke to a delegation from Jiangsu province, and he used that new catchphrase. He said this, let's bring up the quote from Xi Jinping. He said, "developing new quality productive forces does not mean neglecting or abandoning traditional industries. It is necessary to prevent a headlong rush into projects and the formation of industry bubbles".
Now, let's zero in on that term, new productive forces. Now, that was used by Xi Jinping late last year when he called for the need for a new growth model based on technology and innovation. So, Xi Jinping appears to be putting the focus here on like an innovation-driven future growth.
But right now, today, China is facing a number of economic challenges that we have been covering very closely here on CNN, demographic crisis, property crisis, deflation, high youth unemployment, local debt, et cetera, et cetera. And the situation has gotten so bad that China's economy has been called, quote, "a drag on world output" by the IMF. So, this is something that needs to be addressed. Back to you.
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Kristie Lu Stout, joining us live from Hong Kong.
In an unusual case, a California man has been arrested on charges he smuggled greenhouse gasses into the U.S. Federal investigators say the man purchased hydrofluorocarbons in Mexico and sold them for profit in the U.S. HFC's are used in air conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols, among other things, and can have potent effects on the environment if not handled properly.
It's illegal to import those gasses into the U.S. without federal approval. A U.S. attorney says it's the first time the Justice Department is prosecuting a case like this and it won't be the last.
I want to thank you for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next, with Max Forster and Bianca Nobilo.
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