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CNN International: Haiti's Prime Minister Resigns Amid Escalating Violence; Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza Leaves Cyprus Port; Witness Speaks Out About Trump Classified Documents Case; Dozens Injured in Sudden Mid-Air Drop on LATAM Flight; Former U.S. President Hosts Hungarian Prime Minister at Mar-a-Lago. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 12, 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)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

ARIEL HENRY, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A peaceful transition is still quite a challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white banker's boxes. That's what I remember loading. We were just taking them out of the escalator, piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other and then we're lifting them up to the pilots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a scene out of a movie. I opened my eyes and there was various individuals at the top of the plane just stuck to the roof and then they fell to the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo. Max has the day off.

It's Tuesday, March 12th, 8 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Haiti, where the country's Prime Minister has resigned after weeks of chaos in the Caribbean nation.

Ariel Henry submitted his reservation Monday night and said he will step down once a transitional council is in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIEL HENRY, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): My government will leave immediately after the inauguration of the council. It will be a caretaker government until they name a Prime Minister and a new cabinet.

Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: His resignation comes just hours after regional leaders met in Jamaica to discuss a framework for political transition.

The country plunged into a crisis after powerful gangs carried out highly coordinated attacks across the capital Port-au-Prince last month. Meantime, America's top diplomat says the U.S. will contribute $300 million for a Kenya-led multinational security mission to Haiti. Antony Blinken's announcement came after that high-level emergency meeting in Jamaica to discuss Haiti's political crisis.

And CNN's Paula Newton has been following the developments and has those details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This resignation was days in the making as political factions had warned that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry would have to step down if a new political compromise could be brokered.

Now, while the Prime Minister has resigned, he said he would only officially step down once a transitional presidential council could be formed and a new interim Prime Minister appointed.

I want you to listen now to how leaders at CARICOM, a regional bloc, what they said about this resignation, assuming they hope that it paves the way for a peaceful transition in Haiti. Listen.

IRFAAN ALI, CHAIRPERSON OF CARICOM AND GUYANESE PRESIDENT: We are pleased to announce the commitment to a transitional governance arrangement which paves the way for a peaceful transition of power, continuity of governance, an action plan for near-term security, and a road to free and fair elections.

It further seeks to assure that Haiti will be governed by the rule of law. This commitment reflects hard compromises among a diverse coalition of actors who have put their country above all differences. To that end, we acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and a naming of an interim Prime Minister.

NEWTON: Meantime, Henry does remain in Puerto Rico, essentially stranded, unable to guarantee his safety if he does try and return to Haiti.

Now, a peaceful transition is still quite a challenge, as you can imagine. Gang leaders there, they continue to spar with each other, but they are also saying that they must share in political power, and they are rejecting the idea of any international interference, including the expected arrival of Kenyan police, who are supposed to arrive to try and reestablish order. Now, in the meantime, gang violence continues to hamper access in Haiti by air, land, and sea, and aid agencies are warning that the country will run out of key medicine, food, and supplies in a few weeks if the political situation is not resolved.

Paul Newton, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:00]

NOBILO: Israeli officials say a ground offensive in Rafah during Ramadan is not off the table, but they also say it's not imminent.

More than one million people are sheltering in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say plans to evacuate those civilians from Rafah are not imminent but evacuating them could take at least two weeks. Those same officials also say that Israel needs time to build up troops in the area before they're ready for an offensive.

And as reports emerge of a widening rift between the leaders of Israel and the U.S., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he and U.S. President Joe Biden are of like minds on the need to root out Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The president and I have agreed that we have to destroy Hamas. We can't leave a quarter of the Hamas terror army in place there in Rafah.

If the president means by that that we should first enable the safe departure of the civilian population from Rafah before we go in, we agree with that. We don't need any prompting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic after last week's State of the Union address, saying he's planning to have a, quote, come to Jesus meeting with the Israeli prime minister. On Monday, he wasn't so committed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you scheduled a come to Jesus meeting with Bibi Netanyahu?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you plan to, sir?

BIDEN: We'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The World Food Programme's chief says if aid to Gaza doesn't increase exponentially, famine there is imminent. Cindy McCain says northern Gaza is already in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Meanwhile, the first ship scheduled to bring aid from Cyprus to Gaza has finally left the port. World Central Kitchen chef Jose Andres says that the ship is towing a barge with almost 200 pounds of food.

And as aid groups struggle to get essential supplies into Gaza, Jordan's Queen Rania tells CNN that she thinks Israel is intentionally blocking aid to the enclave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN RANIA AL ABDULLAH, JORDAN: This has been a slow motion mass murder of children, five months in the making. Children who were thriving and healthy just months ago are wasting away in front of their parents.

Now, starvation is a very slow, cruel and painful death. Your muscles shrink, your immune system shuts down, your organs give out.

Imagine being a parent, having to go through that, witness your child going through that, not being able to do anything to help. It is absolutely shameful, outrageous and entirely predictable what's happening in Gaza today because it was deliberate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now. Paula, we've been waiting to see this aid ship leave port and it's finally happened.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianca, we know that this ship is carrying some 200 tons of food aid. Now, we've heard from World Central Kitchen. They say rice, flour, beans, tuna and other food goods are on board. And their plan is once they get to the Gaza coastline, they will then disembark the goods by crane, they say. It will be put onto trucks and it will be going towards northern Gaza.

Now, of course, it is a difficult and tricky job to be able to do that. But we have heard from World Central Kitchen that they have been contacted by many other countries, many other groups, to ask when the next possible maritime crossing would be and could they be involved in it. So this is really opening up another avenue to be able to try and get food into Gaza.

And it shows the absolute frustration and desperation by countries to be able to get that food aid in, because enough is simply not getting through by land and through the crossings. Israel being criticized for not allowing enough humanitarian into those areas. And also, we're still seeing the -- the air drops by the U.S., for example, over the weekend dropped about more than 27,000 meals, 25,000 bottles of water.

Those air drops are criticized by certain humanitarian groups saying it's simply not enough. We've heard from the World Food Programme as well, saying that what is going in at this point is not enough and famine is imminent if it doesn't change. Here's Cindy McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CINDY MCCAIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: WFP is gravely concerned about humanitarian conditions across Gaza, particularly the north, which is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas, famine is imminent. It's imminent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: We're also having more reports of children dying within Gaza of malnutrition and of dehydration. Two newborns died in northern Gaza.

[04:10:00]

Humanitarian aid groups and UNICEF saying this will continue if the aid does not get to where it needs in particular in northern Gaza. They say that the malnutrition, the severe malnutrition levels in children in northern Gaza is three times what you see in southern Gaza, because the crossings are in southern Gaza and more aid, still not enough, but more aid can get to those areas.

So really, this three-pronged attack by land, by sea, and also by air really does show the frustration of NGOs and of countries desperately trying to get enough aid into the country, into Gaza -- Bianca.

NOBILO: And Paula, speaking of frustration, we know for quite some time that there have been tensions in the relationship between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu. Sometimes we get a subtle expression of that publicly. What do we know at the moment about whether or not the two men are on the same page?

HANCOCKS: We have seen more and more officials within the Biden administration willing to talk more candidly about the effective breakdown in that relationship. There is a frustration within the Biden administration that what they are suggesting and what they have been giving as guidance to Netanyahu's government and war cabinet over recent weeks and months has not been heeded and in some cases has in fact been ignored.

Now, there was an annual threat assessment from the United States saying Netanyahu's viability as a leader may be in jeopardy, saying that within the country, within Israel, they do expect there to be big protests, as there have been, and also more calls for his resignation or for a fresh election.

But there is definitely a case that the U.S. President is willing to go further in his public comments as well, calling now for an immediate ceasefire, although he is considering that to be temporary -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Paula Hancocks for us live in Abu Dhabi. Thank you.

A United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was rerouted back to Sydney due to a maintenance issue. About two hours after takeoff, flight 830 had to turn back for an emergency landing on Monday. None of the 183 people on board were injured. The plane, a Boeing 777- 300, is believed to have suffered hydraulic failure, according to CNN affiliate 7 News. This is the fifth emergency for United Airlines in the past week.

On Friday, a United airliner bound for Mexico City diverted to Los Angeles after an issue with the plane's hydraulic system.

Authorities in New Zealand are investigating what's been described as a sudden mid-air drop on a LATAM airline flight which injured dozens of people on Monday. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner headed from Sydney to Auckland suffered what the airline is calling a technical event, adding that the plane experienced a strong shake during the flight.

Here's how passengers describe what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN JOKAT, PASSENGER ON LATAM AIRLINES FLIGHT LA800: It was -- it was -- it was like a scene out of a movie when actually you're actually in the movie. I had dozed off and luckily had my seatbelt engaged and the next thing you know the plane, as I kind of learned to understand, dropped something to the effect of 500 feet instantly and then had the effect of it coming like a roller coaster and then started to point down.

And that's it -- and I opened my eyes and there was various individuals at the top of the plane just stuck to the roof and then they fell to the floor.

LUCA ELLWOOD, PASSENGER ON LATAM AIRLINES FLIGHT LA800: We dropped and it happened in a split second and then suddenly all the devices and bags were up near the roof and then next moment everything was scattered on the ground. It was people scared, screaming, crying and lots of injuries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: An ambulance service in Auckland says about 50 people were treated for injuries including one serious condition. Senior journalist Nick Truebridge with News Hub has the latest from Auckland International Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK TRUEBRIDGE, SENIOR JOURNALIST, NEWSHUB: Well, this is where all the action was at Auckland Airport last night.

I'm standing just in front of the airside access security point here at the international terminal. It was this time last night when ambulances were flowing through those gates to assist that flight that had landed from Sydney here in Auckland.

What I can tell you tonight is four people remain in hospital. Of course, we know that 50 people in total required medical attention.

[04:15:00]

And it's also been confirmed in the last couple of hours that authorities in Chile will open an investigation into exactly what occurred on that airplane. They will be supported by authorities here in New Zealand.

As we know, it's been a difficult start to the year for Boeing. Of course, they had issues with a flight -- an Alaska Airlines flight on the west coast of the United States when part of the aircraft appeared to come off or detach during mid-flight.

We've spoken to local experts here in New Zealand today. They say what could have happened in this case was an issue with the autopilot. That has happened to other flights in this part of the world. In 2008, there was a malfunction with a Qantas flight in Australia. That was back in 2008 and 70 people were injured.

Speaking to people today, there is a real sense of fear over what's occurred. It sort of still feels surreal to them. They weren't sure whether they were going to make it through this incident. Obviously, they have. They were very glad to make it here back onto safe ground in Auckland.

But of course, they, along with the rest of us here in this part of the world, now search for answers as to exactly what has happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Next, unpacking the truth. An ex-Mar-a-Lago employee speaks exclusively to CNN about the Trump classified documents case.

Plus, the Princess of Wales apologizes for a family photo that was digitally altered. But her comments have done little to quiet the speculation surrounding her health.

And a record-breaking rally as Bitcoin soars to new heights. We'll look at what's driving investor confidence when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Now to a CNN exclusive. A former long-time employee at Donald Trump's Florida resort is speaking publicly about the classified documents case for the very first time.

Known in court documents as Trump Employee 5, Brian Butler worked at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years. He says he unknowingly helped load boxes of secret intelligence documents onto the former president's plane in June 2022. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more details now from Palm Beach, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Brian Butler is Trump Employee 5 in the criminal indictment of the former president brought by the special counsel's office. That indictment accuses Donald Trump of maintaining classified records, mishandling them at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And the reason that Brian Butler is so pivotal in that indictment is that he heard things and he saw things.

One of the things that he saw, he's now saying publicly to CNN. He previously told investigators about, that is June 3rd, 2022. That's the day that the FBI and the Justice Department visited Mar-a-Lago to get a hold of all of the classified records that Trump wasn't turning back over to the federal government, putting them back into the federal government's possession after he left the presidency.

[04:20:00]

On that day, when the FBI and Justice Department visited Mar-a-Lago to pick up everything, that was a day that boxes of classified documents essentially went out the back door.

Brian Butler spoke about Walt Nauta, the body man to Donald Trump, spoke about him to Kaitlan Collins, about how Nauta asked him, oddly, to borrow an Escalade, a car that later was used to move boxes, and that Brian Butler used that car at the airport here in Palm Beach to take boxes and put them on the plane.

Here's a little more from that.

BRIAN BUTLER, FORMER MAR-A-LAGO EMPLOYEE: And then what happened is Walt left before me and he never goes directly to the plane. He's either in the motorcade or when he goes there with the boss, which the former president.

And I remember telling him he left the club with, I didn't know what he had in his vehicle, but he waited for me at a nearby business and I told him I would tell him when I was leaving Mar-a-Lago.

So I left Mar-a-Lago. I texted him, hey, I'm on my way.

He followed me. He pulled out and got behind me. We got to the airport.

I ended up loading all the luggage I had and he had a bunch of boxes.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You noticed that he had boxes?

BUTLER: Oh yes, they were the boxes that were in the indictment. The white bankers boxes. That's what I remember loading.

COLLINS: And did you have any time -- any idea at the time that there was potentially U.S. national security secrets in those boxes?

BUTLER: No clue. I had no clue.

I mean, we were just taking them out of the Escalade, piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other and then we're lifting them up to the pilots.

POLANTZ: So that's Butler speaking about the movement of documents here in West Palm Beach, Florida, onto the Trump plane in June, a pivotal moment in the investigation. But he then becomes privy to conversations after that that were just

as important. Conversations he was having with a best friend of his, someone he worked with at the Mar-a-Lago club for 20 years and now has had to cut off contact with because that man, Carlos de Oliveira, is a co-defendant of Donald Trump's in this investigation.

Two times he had suspicious conversations with Carlos de Oliveira that are now part of the Trump indictment, that piece of paper that the Justice Department has taken through a grand jury and will try to get a conviction from whenever they take this case to trial. In that, Brian Butler was speaking about how Carlos, his dear friend, told him that another man working with Trump, a third co-defendant of theirs, was interested in the surveillance tapes at Mar-a-Lago, how long they would be kept. Potentially they are accused of wanting to delete them, those surveillance tapes of them moving boxes.

He also spoke about Carlos de Oliveira being loyal to Trump whenever he was asked by people around Trump, would he be loyal or is he good? And Brian Butler told the Trump camp that his friend Carlos would be loyal. Here's a little bit more there.

BUTLER: You know, he takes the call, we're standing in the food court, I think we went to sit down. And he -- I can't remember how long the conversation was, but I know at the end of the conversation when they hung up, Carlos said he's going to get me an attorney.

COLLINS: Did he tell you anything else that Trump said to him?

BUTLER: I didn't ask and I don't remember him saying anything else. But, you know, I was just told not that long -- not, you know, too long before we're getting him an attorney by Walt and then he gets the call that he's going to get him the attorney.

POLANTZ: So now de Oliveira, Walt Nauta, the second co-defendant and Donald Trump are all headed to trial here in the federal court in Florida. Brian Butler is a likely witness to be called at trial to testify against these men. And he's saying that he's wanted to do this because he wants the truth to come out.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: In the coming hours, Robert Herr is set to face questions on Capitol Hill about his investigation as special counsel into Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

Herr, who's a former U.S. attorney appointed by then-President Trump, will testify as a private citizen after finishing his work as special counsel last week. His report found that President Biden willfully retained classified information but declined to charge him with the crime.

Hungary's prime minister says that if Donald Trump becomes president again, he would effectively end the war in Ukraine by cutting off funding to Kyiv. Trump hosted Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago at the end of last week. And CNN's Brian Todd has more on why the meeting is significant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a classic Trumpian embrace of a strongman.

At Mar-a-Lago, the former president hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and he heaped praise on Orban's style of leadership in videos posted on Orban's Instagram account.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He said, this is the way it's going to be, and that's the end of it, right? He's the boss. He's a great leader, fantastic leader in Europe and all over the world.

[04:25:00]

They respect him.

TODD: Do people respect Viktor Orban?

JACOB HEILBRUNN, AUTHOR, "AMERICA LAST: THE RIGHT'S CENTURY-LONG ROMANCE WITH FOREIGN DICTATORS": They do not. In fact, Viktor Orban is one of the most vilified leaders inside the European Union. He's a complete outlier.

TODD (voice-over): The far-right Orban's stifling of the opposition and the press and eroding of democracy has led many observers to label him an autocrat, which some analysts say makes him a kindred spirit with the former president.

MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Trump has seemingly never met a dictator he doesn't like, and not just like, but he seeks to emulate, which is the scariest thing of all.

TODD (voice-over): Trump has openly praised Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Last year calling Xi brilliant in an interview and saying this about him while he was in office.

TRUMP: President Xi is a friend of mine.

TODD (voice-over): There was Trump's almost comical courtship of the brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un during the period when Trump was trying to strike a nuclear deal with Kim.

Trump once displaying a Kim letter in an oversized envelope and often bragging about their correspondence.

TRUMP: And then we fell in love, OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters. We fell in love.

TODD (voice-over): In his new book, "The Return of Great Powers," CNN's Jim Sciutto quotes top former Trump White House aides describing Trump's admiration for dictators. Retired General John Kelly, who served as Trump's White House Chief of Staff, told Sciutto that Trump praised Adolf Hitler.

Kelly saying, quote: He said, well, but Hitler did some good things. I said, well, what? And he said, well, Hitler rebuilt the economy. I said, sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.

In 2021, a spokeswoman for Trump denied that he had praised Hitler. But another former Trump cabinet member said this to CNN.

MARK ESPER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Clearly, he has a predilection for leaders whom he perceives to be strong. And that's just how he breaks the world down and breaks things down between strong and weak.

TODD (voice-over): One analyst worries about how Trump, with the endorsement of hardline Republican conservatives, is now campaigning on ideas of establishing almost dictatorial powers in the White House.

HEILBRUNN: He fetishizes the strongman. And that's the blueprint. Crush the media and establish his own rule over the country.

TODD: Analyst Jacob Heilbrunn points out there's another major concern regarding Trump's affinity for dictators if he gets elected to a second term. The very real possibility that he'll purge agencies like the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA of competent people who he perceives to be his enemies. A classic dictator move.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Ukrainian medics are struggling to treat the wounded amid Russia's continuous bombardment. Still ahead, we'll take you to the front line in an eye-opening ride along with some of those medics.

Plus, tragedy in the Swiss Alps after several skiers are found dead and one remains missing. The latest on the search effort ahead.

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