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CNN International: Biden and Trump Prepare for Contentious November Rematch; U.K. Presses Israel to Increase the Flow of Aid into Gaza; U.S. Strikes Houthi Drones After Rebel Missiles Kill Three; Haiti in Crisis; Kremlin's Propaganda Machine Props Up Putin's Image. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 07, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This country can do better than the choice that we've been given.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A major escalation of gang violence is taking Haiti hostage. Banks looted with ATMs smashed open. A major mystery looms. Where exactly is Prime Minister Henry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Water cannons and the collision of heavy ships. CNN getting a rare chance to witness the David and Goliath confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm Max Foster.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. It's Thursday, March 7th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C.

A pressure is building on U.S. President Joe Biden to deliver a critical State of the Union address later on tonight.

FOSTER: Not only does he have to remind Democrats why they should vote for him again, he must also attract new supporters if he wants to assure victory against his once again rival, Donald Trump. Democratic lawmakers have also pleaded with Biden to show the energy he entered with when he went into office, while some commentators say he needs to focus on communicating his accomplishments in office, not just attacking Trump.

As CNN's MJ Lee reports, it's all part of a greater campaign push as November draws ever closer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With only one last man standing in the Republican contest, this week marks the official beginning of the general election contest for the Joe Biden campaign. That means that everything that the campaign does going forward is very much going to be with an eye towards November and trying to broaden out the president's coalition and his base of supporters.

We know that even before Nikki Haley officially dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, that the Biden campaign was eyeing her supporters. These are the voters that they say are potentially gettable for them. They are the voters that they think have been sort of permanently turned off from Donald Trump.

And we saw President Biden making an explicit outreach to those voters in his statement on Wednesday, where he said Donald Trump made it clear that he doesn't want Nikki Haley supporters. I want to be clear that there is a place for them in my campaign.

Now, for the Biden campaign and the White House, there really is no separating out the events of Super Tuesday and the State of the Union remarks that are coming up for the president Thursday evening. The themes that really animate the president's general election argument are the very themes that we very much expect to see woven throughout his State of the Union address.

Now, this is going to be the third State of the Union address that the president has delivered. But it is so important because this will be the last time that he gets this kind of audience and gets to speak in this setting before he faces voters again come November.

MJ Lee, CNN at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: There's one less variable in the race to the White House for Donald Trump. After Nikki Haley formally suspended her presidential bid on Wednesday, she told supporters she wants Americans to have their voices heard.

FOSTER: Haley also said she has no regrets. Notably, she didn't endorse Trump, but she didn't reject him either. Haley simply said it's his turn to convince voters that he's the right man for the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: In all likelihood, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America's president. Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, that makes it all but official that the U.S. presidential race will be a rematch between Donald Trump and President Biden. Both men turning up the heat on each other in the wake of Super Tuesday. President Biden says Americans have a choice to move forward or allow Trump to, quote, drag us backwards into the chaos.

NOBILO: Meantime, Donald Trump claimed, quote, if we lose this election, we're not going to have a country.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny details the challenges that each candidate will face heading into November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:00]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The curtain finally goes up on a historic presidential rematch, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, emerging from Super Tuesday primaries as the effective nominees of their parties. But there are warning signs in winning, with both men facing distinct challenges of rebuilding their coalitions.

Nikki Haley, the last standing Republican rival, suspended her campaign without offering an endorsement.

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that.

ZELENY (voice-over): After months of warning Republicans about Trump's vulnerabilities, she bluntly said the burden is on the former president to win over her supporters and unify the party.

HALEY: At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing.

ZELENY (voice-over): Any fence-mending got off to a rocky start, with Trump saying on social media, Nikki Haley got trounced last night in record-setting fashion.

President Biden struck a different note and extended his hand, saying, Donald Trump made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear. There is a place for them in my campaign.

It's far from certain where Haley voters ultimately will go, but an analysis of CNN exit polls from five states found only 19 percent said they would be satisfied with Trump as the nominee, and 79 percent dissatisfied.

In the closing days of the primary, voters expressed the challenges of unity.

MARTIN GREEN, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Trump can't win without her supporters, you know. And calling her names isn't going to help him win.

ZELENY: Do you worry that some of her supporters may go to Biden?

MARGARET ST. ARMAND, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Maybe third party.

ZELENY (voice-over): Eight months before the general election, the Republican Party is rallying around Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: November 5th is going to go down as the single most important day in the history of our country.

ZELENY (voice-over): Senator Mitch McConnell, who hasn't spoken to Trump in more than three years, offered his endorsement, saying, it should come as no surprise that as the nominee, he will have my support.

After a string of Democratic primary victories, President Biden is preparing to make his case at the State of the Union address on Thursday, a primetime opportunity to tackle myriad challenges he faces to win reelection.

Biden easily swept away long-shot rivals like Dean Phillips, but a series of protest votes made clear he faces the task of uniting Democrats too, like in Minnesota on Tuesday, where uncommitted received 19 percent of the vote. With a general election contest finally taking shape, history will be tested anew, as Trump seeks to become the first president since Grover Cleveland was voted out of office to be sent back for a second term.

ZELENY: So the sequel between Biden and Trump will play out in a far different political context. And there are wild cards galore from Trump's criminal cases to Biden's foreign policy challenges and the fitness of both of these presidential candidates. There is no doubt these primaries have shown the vulnerabilities of both campaigns and both candidates.

There's no modern-day historical guide for the campaign that is to come, but it starts now.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And you can watch President Biden's State of the Union address tonight right here on CNN. Our special coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

FOSTER: There's new urgency for a ceasefire in Gaza as people are starving to death.

NOBILO: Hamas said on Wednesday it will continue participating in negotiations to reach a ceasefire. The militant group accused Israel of evading the obligations of the agreement being discussed.

Ceasefire and hostage talks were among the topics discussed when an Israeli war cabinet minister met with senior British officials in London on Wednesday. FOSTER: Israeli Minister Benny Gantz thanked the U.K. for its efforts

to secure the release of hostages. He also defended Israel's strategy to root out Hamas. He says Israel's actions in Gaza follow international law. The U.K. is amongst the many countries calling on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza amid a spiraling humanitarian crisis and rising hunger in the besieged enclave.

For more on this, CNN's Scott McLean joins us. First of all, the meeting, Scott, what can you tell us about that?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, look, you mentioned international law and what Benny Gantz said about Israel's commitment to that. And that seems to be a contrasting message coming from the British side of this meeting, from David Cameron, the foreign secretary who obviously was involved.

He said that this was a tough message for Israel, you know, pushing them over aid. The U.N. says that 40 percent of its aid missions are being rejected by Israel, over getting a humanitarian pause and, of course, over Israel's international obligations. And I just want to read you what David Cameron's statement said after the fact.

[04:10:00]

It said in part, quote: As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has the legal responsibility to ensure aid is available for civilians. That responsibility has consequences, including when we as the U.K. assess whether Israel is compliant with international law.

So clearly raising questions here, Max and Bianca. But Benny Gantz, as I mentioned, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister's chief political rival, but also a member of the Israeli war cabinet, his National Unity Party put out a statement which, as I said, seemingly contrasting.

Said, quote: Gantz also noted in the meetings Israel's commitment to complete the just and necessary goal of removing the threat of Hamas and ending its rule in the Strip, while its actions are carried out in accordance with international law.

But let's just remind people about what David Cameron has said about this topic in the past. Back in January, he was asked and he said that he is worried about whether Israel is following international law or has broken international law.

He said that the advice that he had gotten at the time is that they were compliant, but that there were major outstanding questions. Last month, he said that Israel must follow international law, not just on the battlefield, but also when it comes to providing people the basics, food and water. And if they don't, then that's a breach of international law.

And just this week, he said that Gaza has gotten to the point of famine and disease, that people are starving to death, that people are dying of hunger and dying of otherwise preventable diseases. And so he is not explicitly saying that Israel has broken international law. But I think we can read between the lines here.

And this is just the latest push, you know, that the U.K. is doing and the U.S. is doing to try to get more pressure on Israel to allow more aid in, to avert, to try to stop this humanitarian crisis that is happening there and to push for a ceasefire.

As you mentioned, talks there, Hamas says that they're committed to continuing those talks. The Israelis, though, are not in the room. And frankly, there are some pretty fundamental differences in the two positions. Chief among them is the simple fact that the Israelis say that even if there is a pause to exchange prisoners and hostages, that the war will continue afterwards until Hamas is completely defeated. Hamas, though, is insisting that any kind of pause or ceasefire is a permanent one -- Max, Bianca.

NOBILO: Scott, for us in Istanbul, thank you.

FOSTER: U.S. Central Command says it conducted strikes on two drones in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, hours after Houthi rebels -- or missiles, rather -- killed three crew members of a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.

NOBILO: According to the U.S. officials who are involved with this matter, these are the first deaths since the Iran-backed Houthis began their missile attacks in response to Israel's war in Gaza. CNN's Oren Liebermann has more details now from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We have seen in recent days and certainly recent weeks an escalation in the results and the damage caused by Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.

The Rubymar just days ago became the first commercial vessel to sink as a result of a Houthi attack when it went down in the Red Sea. And now we have seen an even greater escalation, a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile attack on the true continents, a Liberia-owned Barbados-flagged vessel. A Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile hit that vessel, according to U.S. Central Command, causing major damage as well as three deaths and four injuries.

According to CENTCOM, three of those injuries left the crew members in critical condition. They had to be evacuated from that vessel. This is the first time we have seen a Houthi attack on commercial vessels result in the loss of life.

Over the course of the past several months, according to U.S. Central Command, there have been some 45 attacks on commercial vessels as well as on U.S. Navy vessels. Some have hit their targets, causing minor damage, some minor injuries. Another ship had to be evacuated here. But this is the first time we have seen this level, deaths as a result of these Houthi attacks.

The U.S., often in coordination with the U.K., have carried out strikes on Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, drones, cruise missiles, radar sites. And yet the U.S. doesn't have a clear understanding of how much of Houthi weaponry has been destroyed.

They still clearly have the capability to carry out these sorts of attacks. In fact, according to U.S. Central Command, they have launched five anti-ship ballistic missiles over the course of the past 48 hours. So the threat to commercial vessels and the U.S. Navy in one of the world's most critical waterways continues, and these attacks continue.

The U.S. has warned their strikes on the Houthis in Yemen will not stop until these attacks stop. For now, this, this back and forth we have seen that now has deadly consequences, will continue.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:15:00]

FOSTER: Now, as violence surges across Haiti, the U.S. is calling on Prime Minister Ariel Henry to urgently establish a presidential transition council, which will clear the way to hold elections.

NOBILO: But the gang leader known as Barbecue says Haiti will suffer a genocide if the prime minister remains in power. CNN's David Culver recently returned from Haiti, and he's got more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A major escalation of gang violence is taking Haiti hostage. Scenes like this playing out in Port-au-Prince Wednesday. Banks looted, with ATMs smashed open, people scrambling to gather whatever they can, several police stations bombed out by powerful gangs who now freely stroll through the streets. The rising anger directed towards Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

One gang leader in the capital threatening that if Henry does not step down, it'll mean genocide for the Haitian people. And it is most often the people who pay the price.

We were in Haiti just before this recent surge in violence, people venting to us their frustrations, wanting Henry to go, and barricading their neighborhoods to stop would-be gang kidnappers. Perhaps the biggest indicator of dysfunction comes from the top. All of this happening while a major mystery looms.

Where exactly is Prime Minister Henry? He was last seen last week signing an agreement in Kenya, securing the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti, expected to arrive any day now.

The "Miami Herald" says Henry then boarded a flight that went first to the U.S., then on toward Haiti's island neighbor, the Dominican Republic, for an indefinite stopover. But officials in the D.R. blocked his arrival.

Instead, Henry's plane went on to Puerto Rico. The "Miami Herald" reporting that Henry was mid-flight when the Biden administration asked him to agree to a new transitional government and resign.

The White House pushing back on that.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are definitely not pushing the prime minister to resign. That is not what we're doing. But we have underscored that now is the time to finalize a political accord to help set Haiti on a path to a better future.

CULVER (voice-over); Where Henry is now is not clear, nor is the direction of his country, which is increasingly under the tightening grip of gangs.

David Culver, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The Kremlin's propaganda machine shifts into overdrive ahead of Russia's upcoming presidential elections. We'll see how far the state media goes to prop up President Putin's image.

FOSTER: Also ahead, the first verdict in the deadly shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie, "Rust." The woman who managed the film's weapons now faces prison time as Baldwin gets ready for his own trial.

NOBILO: And later, getting a ticket for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics just got tougher. Why attendance has been slashed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

FOSTER: Ukraine's president and the Greek prime minister narrowly missed being hit by a Russian missile on Wednesday.

NOBILO: It happened while Mr. Zelenskyy was showing his counterpart around the port city of Odessa. The Greek leader says that they were getting into their cars when they heard a big explosion.

FOSTER: According to a source, the convoy felt the impact of the strike just 500 meters away and saw a huge mushroom cloud of smoke.

NOBILO: Ukrainian officials say at least five people were killed and several more were injured in the attack. Mr. Zelenskyy says it's more proof that Russia acts with disregard for human life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We saw this strike today. You can see who we are dealing with. They don't care where they strike. I know that there are victims today. I don't know all the details yet. But I know that there are dead and wounded.

We need to defend ourselves first and foremost. The best way to do that is with an air defense system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, spoke about nuclear safety with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

NOBILO: Grossi says that they had an important exchange about Ukraine's Zaporizhia nuclear power plant during their meeting in Sochi on Wednesday. The plant is occupied by Russia and all of its reactors are reportedly shut down. Because of fighting, it's lost its external power supply multiple times, which it requires to cool down its nuclear fuel and to avoid a potential nuclear incident.

The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is calling for nationwide protest during the upcoming presidential election. In a social media post on Wednesday, Yulia Navalnaya called Russia's leadership a cult and praised the thousands of people who attended her husband's funeral last week.

FOSTER: She also urged Russians to show up at the polls at noon local time on March 17th, the final day of voting, and hold rallies against President Vladimir Putin.

The election is widely seen as a mere formality, with Putin fully expected to secure that fifth term, but Navalnaya still wants Russian voters to take a stand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YULIA NAVALNAYA, WIDOW OF OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEI NAVALNY (through translator): We can still use that so-called election against Putin to achieve our goals. Alexei himself told us how to do it.

We need to use the election day to show that we exist and there are many of us. We are real, we are alive, we exist and we are against Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: But as the election gets closer, the Kremlin's propaganda machine is shifting into high gear to prop up Mr. Putin's image.

Clare Sebastian has more on that. Clare, what can you tell us?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I thought it was interesting with Navalnaya, right, because what she's doing I think in large part is trying to break through this information bubble to get Russians to show that there is opposition to Putin so that others see it and they can maybe break through to them as well. In the absence of actually being able to vote for an opposition candidate because there isn't one.

But on the flip side, of course, we have Putin's propaganda machine, which in the absence of any, you haven't seen any kind of rallies or debates or anything like that coming up to the elections.

They are doing the work of campaigning for him and we really do see this sort of stepping up ahead of the elections and I think it really goes some way to explaining why we don't see more Russians, even though there were more than expected turning up for Navalny. Why we don't see more of them doing that, why we don't see more voices of opposition? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Flying into a fifth term, the war of Putin's nuclear-capable strategic bomber almost as loud as the propaganda machine propelling him forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Vladimir Putin on board the most powerful, the biggest, the fastest strategic bomber.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): This is Putin's desired pre-election image. Strong, vigorous, calling the shots in his so-called special military operation, and letting his chief propagandists campaign on his behalf on state TV.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated text): He works until late, late at night, starts again in the morning. I just want to say thank you to him, to our president.

SEBASTIAN: As we get closer to elections in Russia in March, we're seeing more and more of this more obvious propaganda. But there are also slightly more subtle tactics at play, and the most prominent of those is the constant scapegoating or even outright trolling of the U.S.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): One popular talk show played this split screen on loop. Putin boarding his bomber, Biden tripping up the steps of Air Force One.

News reports on the war in Ukraine regularly showing off the wreckage of Western weapons. There's even a discarded Starlink antenna.

Boris Akunin, one of Russia's most popular modern authors, says the West needs to take note of this.

BORIS AKUNIN, RUSSIAN WRITER: Putin benefits from this picture of the outside world as a something hostile so that people would unite around him.

[04:25:00]

When the war started, a lot of Russians are immigrated then they met with hostility, a lot of them have to return, and every single case has been used by Putin's propaganda to strengthen this idea that we are together. We are a besieged camp.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Alexei Navalny knew how to get around Putin's propaganda machine and its longstanding policy of ignoring him. From this cramped Moscow headquarters, which I visited in 2017, he and his colleagues beamed their message to millions of Russians via YouTube.

And yet his death was something state media temporarily found itself unable to ignore. First discrediting his legacy. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): He was a Nazi.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Then blaming the West.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated text): For them, this is excellent timing, we have elections coming up. Support for the president is off the charts.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Finally, turning on his widow, Yulia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): We looked at the life of the queen of the opposition, during the time he was in prison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated text): Two hours after the news of the death of her husband, the wife emerges all made up. Listen, the girls will understand me, even her mascara didn't run. How do you manage that?

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): For Akunin, Navalny's death is more than just a propaganda challenge. It signals propaganda may now be taking a back seat to a much blunter instrument of control, outright repression.

AKUNIN: By killing Alexei Navalny, they lost the last chance of trying to pretend that they were legal, decent, law-abiding. Intimidation is now going to be the main instrument.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN (on camera): So obviously we have to say the Kremlin has said that any accusations the Russian authorities were behind Navalny's death are unfounded and the official cause of his death, as seen by his mother on his medical certificate, is said to be natural causes.

But of course his campaigners are trying to find out exactly what happened there. And I think it's important to hammer home the points that Boris Akunin in that piece was making. That if there are two key tools to control the population, on the one hand propaganda, and on the other hand outright repression and intimidation. Where we are seeing the screws really tightening right now is with that blunter instrument, the repression, the intimidation.

Because as we are now getting deeper into the third year of this very costly war, the Russian state simply cannot afford to lose control of its population. And I think that's why you see people like Yulia Navalnaya coming out, speaking to the European Parliament, saying the Russian people are your allies. I think there's a feeling among these dissident voices that if Ukraine can't push Russia out, then the last hope for change here is going to have to come from within Russia.

NOBILO: Your piece exposes very well the mechanisms that are in place to suppress dissent. It's obviously impossible to know what Russians think in their heart of hearts, to what extent they're persuaded by this, as they haven't been exposed to the kind of plurality and democratic norms. Do they think it's strange that they're not hearing from anybody else? And what their true interpretation of the political context actually is.

SEBASTIAN: I mean, there's a divide, I think, generationally. You tend to see that the propaganda is consumed more by older generations, though not exclusively. There's regional divides, right, in the big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. People are more likely to be more tech-savvy, to be able to access VPNs, to find alternative sources of information via Telegram and things like that. And to take these talk shows with these powerful propagandists with a bit of a pinch of salt.

But look, this is the big question, right? We look at the crowds that turned out for Navalny. We're trying to get a sense here of how strong this undercurrent of opposition is and how strong, on the flip side, the level of fear is. Because, of course, without that threat of arrest -- and there are still arrests, by the way, going on, of people who were seen on security cameras at those events, laying flowers, turning up at the funeral. Without that fear, it could have been much higher.

And I think that is what Yulia Navalnaya, as I said, is trying to galvanize right now, to try to break through that information bubble.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you very much.

FOSTER: Now, warnings, water cannon and heavy ships colliding. Details on this dangerous confrontation at sea and what led up to it.

NOBILO: And scientists have published alarming new climate change studies. Coming up, the record-setting temperatures that are warming our land and sea.

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