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Putin To Cement His Grip On Power Until 2030; Netanyahu Calls Hamas Demands "Outlandish", Dueling Messages From Trump And Biden; Russian Elections; Protesters Around the World Denounce Putin; U.S. Aware of Niger's Plan to End Military Agreement; Volcano Erupts for Fourth Time, No Major Infrastructure Damage; Sand Dune Built to Protect Homes Washed Away in 24 Hours. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 18, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:27]
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. To no one's surprise, Vladimir Putin is poised to further cement his grip on power. After Russia's presidential election, we will examine what a fifth Putin term means for democracy under an increasingly autocratic leader.
Plus, Israel's Prime Minister says the Hamas demands for a hostage deal are outlandish, as world leaders warned that a plan is really offensive will jeopardize any chance at a peaceful resolution. And President Joe Biden calls for more aid to Gaza and unity among Americans in his latest White House remarks a day after Donald Trump warned of a bloodbath if he would lose the upcoming presidential election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. And we begin this hour in Russia where President Vladimir Putin is calling for national unity as the country wraps up a presidential election that is certain to deliver him a massive win and a fifth term. With no credible challenge to his rule, Putin is expected to further tighten his grip on power. Preliminary results earlier showed him with a commanding lead of almost 90%. A win means he will stay in office until at least 2030. Continuing as Russia's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
In a post-election address, he took a swipe at the U.S. political system.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): If you would like to know if our elections are democratic or not, I think they are democratic in some countries, for example, in yours, can you consider it democratic to use the administrative resources in order to attack one of the presidential candidates in the U.S. using at the same time the judicial system. We don't have a preference for any of the U.S. presidential candidates. We will work with whomever the voters put their trust in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Inside Russia, supporters of Alexei Navalny urged voters to head to polling stations at noon local time, on the third and final day of voting to protest the election and many did just that. CNNs Matthew Chance has details now from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Another flash of defiance in Russia's presidential vote. The opposition called this midday against Putin supporters gathering at polling stations across the country in his show of solidarity. It's what Alexei Navalny rushes late opposition leader had urged before he suddenly died. Well, the Russian authorities say that anyone who attends an unauthorized protests will be dealt with severely. Bt you can see, it's just after 12 o'clock here in Moscow and a lot of people have turned out at this one polling station to cast their ballots.
It's not a protest, but it is an indication of just how many people here are heeding Alexei Navalny's call.
CHANCE: Why have you come now to cast your vote?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they come, too.
CHANCE: And he wants you to see all these people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We wanted to come together and see each other in person.
CHANCE: Why do you -- why sites come now at 12 o'clock?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know why. I think everyone who stay in this queue know why.
CHANCE (voiceover): For three days Russians have been voting in an election, which President Putin was always certain to win. Scattered acts of disruption have exposed the division. In several polling stations die was poured into ballot boxes to ruin paper votes already cast. Across Russia, a number of voting centers were hit with arson attacks. But officials insist these deeply flawed presidential elections in which the opposition wasn't even allowed to stand with free and fair.
Compared to the last presidential vote in 2018, we received only half as many complaints. Russia's Chief Human Rights Commissioner tells state television. I don't remember such active, deeply monitored elections here she has. But the defiance of some Russians has also been exceptional. The simmering discontent in the Kremlin is tightly controlled Russia, briefly boiling up to the surface. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [01:05:30]
CHURCH: Russian state media is claiming a higher voter turnout in parts of Ukraine annexed by Russia. But critics say the voting has been coercive with poll workers escorted by armed men, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, called the Russian elections a sham and slammed Putin for being quote, "sick with power".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): There's not a single bit of legitimacy in this simulation of an election and there cannot be. This actor should be on trial in The Hague. That's what we have to ensure together with everyone in the world that values life and decency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Ukrainian officials say a man was killed and eight people were wounded by a Russian strike and Mykolaiv. The Regional Governor says the southern port city was targeted by two Russian missiles on the last day of Russia's presidential election. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces said they destroyed 14 Russian drones over ODESA on Sunday. That port city was targeted by a massive Russian attack on Friday, which killed at least 21 people and left dozens wounded the worst strike on the city since the start of the war.
And Russia's defense minister has ordered additional firepower to be added to the country's Black Sea Fleet in order to repel Ukrainian attacks on Russia's mainland and on Russian warships. Russia is marking the 10th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. It's been 10 years since Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a formal decree declaring the semi-autonomous republic, an official part of Russia. His troops had seized control of Crimea and a covert invasion months before. Russian forces then held an illegal referendum condemned by the majority of the international community. '
Ukraine says it will continue to fight in its current war until it restores its borders from 1991 which includes Crimea. The Israeli defense forces say their troops are conducting a quote, "precise operation in the area of the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. They say based on their intelligence, the hospital is being used by quote "senior Hamas terrorists to conduct and promote terrorist activity". CNN cannot independently verify the IDF claim. The IDF has frequently targeted hospitals in Gaza, leading to widespread international condemnation. And this was the scene outside and UNRWA aid distribution center on Sunday has people lined up for flowers.
Hundreds of thousands of people are scrambling for food in Gaza as limited a trickles in with aid organizations saying Gazans are facing famine. A warning though the video we are about to show you is disturbing. Gaza's health ministry says more than 90 people were killed in the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to more than 31,600. CNN cannot independently verify those numbers.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was in the region on Sunday says Israel's proposed offensive in the southern city of Rafah could hinder peace talks with Hamas. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a plan for evacuating civilians from the city over the weekend. Or meantime, a senior Hamas official says their latest proposal is quote, "illogical and could bring about a breakthrough". But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was calling those plans outlandish.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: Well, time will tell but Hamas has outlandish demands, and I'm not itemizing every one of them now makes that deal. A lot more difficult. But I'm -- we're going to keep on trying because we want those hostages back. We understand also that the one thing that gets Hamas to give them is to give these hostages to us, is the continued military pressure that we're applying there.
So we're going to continue military pressure, and we're going to continue to try to get those hostages out and we've succeeded already in bringing half of them out. I hope we continue along that same course.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The latest round of hostage and ceasefire talks are expected to take place in Doha, Qatar in the coming hours. CNNs Paula Hancocks has details.
[01:10:02]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the latest Hamas counter proposal outlandish and unrealistic. He is, however sending a delegation here to Doha to continue negotiations for a ceasefire. Now, we know that the Mossad director, David Barnea will be here, we believe to have talks on Monday, according to a diplomat familiar with those talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Now, there were meetings on Sunday in Israel. There was a war cabinet meeting where they decided the parameters of how far that mediation could go and what could be agreed to. We've heard from a Hamas senior leader saying that they believe that the proposal they have come up with is logical and that the ball is now in Israel's court.
Now, we know last Thursday, Hamas said that their proposal was they wanted between 701,000 Palestinian prisoners to be released in return for all female prisoners, including IDF soldiers, and also potentially the elderly, the weak or the wounded hostages, assumed to be around 40. Although there's no definitive figure on that at this point. The sticking point comes after this phase, one, when Hamas has proposed that Israel fully pull out of Gaza militarily, and also there is a permanent ceasefire.
We have heard consistently from Israel that that is not what they want to do that even if there is a temporary ceasefire, they are still determined to launch this offensive in Rafah, which we heard once again on Sunday from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that that offensive would take in all a matter of weeks. Back on Friday of last week, he approved the military and the evacuation plan for some 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah in the south of Gaza. Although there's no timeframe for when it will happen.
There is huge resistance to this plan, including from the main ally, the United States, the head of the World Health Organization, saying they are gravely concerned that this offensive could go ahead. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Doha, Qatar.
CHURCH: Earlier I spoke with Aaron David Miller, former U.S. State Department, Middle East negotiator and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And I asked him, how can Washington respond as Israel plans to go ahead with its military offensive in Rafah?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON DAVID MILLER, FMR U.S. STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I think that it's hard to know what's going to come first, although a grand campaign and Rafah is certainly not an imminent, we're probably weeks away. I think the administration is hope that sometime in the next several weeks, the Israel Hamas hostage for prisoner exchange, and for 45 days of common temporary ceasefire will somehow take hold.
If that happens, I think the Rafah campaign will at a minimum be delayed, and perhaps it won't occur at all. I must say, though, that Mr. Netanyahu is not alone here, when it comes to wanting to continue Israel's grand campaign against the four remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah, I think, large majority of Israeli public, including that against the perhaps the putative successor to Mr. Netanyahu. He's also in favor of that campaign.
So that's a tough issue on which the administration should choose. He's going to take on more than Mr. Netanyahu is going to take on I think the vast majority of Israelis think the administration would be much more inclined if they're going to use pressure to use pressure in order to get Hamas and Israel to do a deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And you can watch my full interview with Aaron David Miller in the next hour. Still to come. U.S. President Joe Biden mark St. Patrick's Day with Irish leader, Leo Varadkar at the White House on Sunday. Details of what they said coming up. Plus, fallout continues across the political spectrum over a series of controversial comments made by Donald Trump at a rally in Ohio. That story and more straightahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:16:35]
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Irish leader Leo Varadkar at the White House on St. Patrick's Day. This comes ahead of his anticipated trip to Northern Ireland to mark the upcoming anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Mr. Biden, who has Irish roots recognized the need for unity in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Whether you're from the red state or blue state on this day, you're Irish green. America has a heart and soul that draws the older the new home to people of every place on earth from every place on earth. We all come from somewhere. But we're all Americans, we can never forget that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Meantime, the Biden team brought in $53 million in February. That includes his campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and other joint fundraising teams. The president now has about $155 million at his disposal, more cash than any U.S. Democratic presidential candidate has ever had at this stage of the election. CNNs Priscilla Alvarez has details.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Biden campaign over the weekend announced another major fundraising hall saying that in the month of February, they raised $53 million now of $155 million cash on hand marking a major advantage over Republican rival former President Donald Trump. Now fundraising has been a bright spot for the campaign. But this hall in particular was notable as the rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Biden has been crystallized in recent weeks. A moment that the Biden campaign has been waiting for up until this point.
Now President Biden spent the month of February on a fundraising swing on the West Coast that contributed to this fundraising haul as well as the GOP primary in South Carolina. Now they also had another record- breaking month in grassroots fundraising with 97% of the funds raised under $200. Now senior campaign officials calling this a barometer of enthusiasm even among those low approval ratings. And the president is expected to continue his campaign blitz this week with stops in Nevada and Arizona as he continues to shore up his coalition and try to secure that victory in November. Priscilla Alvarez CNN at the White House.
CHURCH: Biden's campaign join Democrats and a few Republicans in condemning remarks made by likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. At a rally in Ohio on Saturday he caught people convicted of crimes on January 6, patriots and hostages. He said some migrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally are quote "animals". Most alarmingly, he predicted a bloodbath for the U.S. auto industry and the country if he's not elected in November.
Former VP Mike Pence called his remarks about January 6 prisoners unacceptable. But Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Representative Mike Turner are standing by Trump.
Michael Genovese is a political analyst, the author of the modern presidency, six debates that define the institution, and president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount and he joins us now from Los Angeles. Great to have you with us appreciate you being with us. [01:20:00]
MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Always my pleasure.
CHURCH: So U.S. President Joe Biden is making it clear a two state solution is the answer to peace in the Middle East and is calling for more aid in Gaza. But the President's support for Israel is a vulnerability in his election campaign with these mixed messages of sending bombs and bread to the region. What does he need to be doing to send a clear message to voters and silence his critics on this issue?
GENOVESE: President Biden is walking the tightrope and one that he did not expect to have to walk. I think that he was surprised at the extent and level to which support for the people of Gaza has made itself manifest in the United States. So there's been a lot of pushback within his own party about that. I think Biden is of a generation that assumed support for Israel. And now you have to convince people to support Israel in this situation.
And so both the United States politicians, Chuck Schumer and others are pushing the president. And he's being pushed from both the left and the right. So he's in a very, very difficult position, even when the Prime Minister of Ireland came, he invited to visit him over St. Patrick's Day, even he was talking about the refugees in Gaza and the problems of giving them a humanitarian aid. So this is a problem that Biden did not truly anticipate, and for which he has very little problem of solution.
CHURCH: And meantime, Donald Trump says, if he's not elected, there's going to be a bloodbath. But his campaign says he was talking specifically about the auto industry. Do you buy that? What's your reading of what he meant? And how will his followers likely interpret his words?
GENOVESE: Donald Trump uses a lot of dark rhetoric and dark imagery because he wants to get the voters to get angry and to blame President Biden. This has worked for him very well. It works incredibly well for his base, which he riles up. They're incredibly loyal to him. And they respond to everything he says, in a positive way. But the problem is, at this point, you've got to extend the base, add to it if you want to get elected.
And so that's where Donald Trump is going to be in trouble. He keeps on using rhetoric, like, as you mentioned, calling immigrants, animals and using the word bloodbath, just throwing it out there and saying, well, there'll be a butt bloodbath for the auto industry, but he also then said for the country. And so the question is, what does that mean? Is that another January 6 threat? He likes to walk his own tightrope. But for Trump, he relishes in the dark rhetoric.
CHURCH: And Michael, as you mentioned, Trump suggested that some migrants are not people but animals in an effort to double down on immigration and what he sees as one of the top issues for his election campaign after torpedoing that bipartisan border security bill, will this strategy work for him? And how should the Democrats be responding to this?
GENOVESE: Well, it has worked in the past, and there's reason to believe it will continue to work because it is such a hot ticket item for American voters, even voters who are far from the border, fear the rise of immigrants. And it's partly a function of you know, people from South America, Central America, and Mexico coming in people of color. And so there's a little bit of that, but especially the Donald Trump has used this to great effect in the past. And it's also true that Joe Biden is in trouble on this issue because the border does appear to be porous, each appears to have no solution.
And so ever since Trump scuttled the deal that was made in the Senate. I think the President, President Biden has been very clearly thinking what are my options? And he has talked about doing something bold at the border, I wouldn't be surprised if he reserved as a resort to something very bold and tries to shut down the border.
CHURCH: And what do you think that would be? So you think he would use executive orders to shut down the border? And does he need to repeat over and over to American voters that he was going to solve some of these problems with that bipartisan bill that again, we have to emphasize, Donald Trump decided not to allow that to be voted on and passed because he wanted to use it for political opportunism, didn't he?
GENOVESE: You're right, and I think he will use executive authority of uses his unilateral power, which you may or may not have legally, but I think he will resort to that if nothing else is available to him. He had a good deal on the table with the Republicans in the Senate. He gave the Republicans most of what they wanted. Trump truncated that.
And so the President is left holding the bag. I don't think he's going to hold it for very long. I think he's going to start doing something bold at the border.
GENOVESE: But there's definitely a messaging problem isn't there for The Democrats how can they improve that they don't appear to be doing very much to turn that around because American voters I mean they're not picking up on it when it comes to the economy, immigration and indeed other issues.
[01:25:13]
GENOVESE: Well, you know, one of the greatest I think problems that the President Biden has, has been in spite of the fact that he controls the bully pulpit of the White House is his inability to move Donald Trump off center stage. And that's because Donald Trump is so entertaining. He puts on a great show. He is a magnet for the camera.
Whereas Biden is much less glamorous. He's less jovial. He's more mundane, more mundane, and a lot of ways he's more straightforward thinking. Trump puts on a show and we love the show. We are attracted to the show. And I think that contrasts both in terms of their styles, but also in terms of substance. Biden is going by doing his job. Trump goes about using dark rhetoric. CHURCH: All right. We'll see if anything changes with those styles and approaches. Michael Genovese, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
GENOVESE: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And still to come, we will have the latest on our top story Russia's presidential election and learn how Vladimir Putin broke with tradition regarding late dissident Alexei Navalny. And officials are warning that Russia is trying to undermine Nige's relationship with the United States. We'll have a live report after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:28:56]
CHURCH: Returning now to our top story, Russia's presidential election and its all but certain outcome. President Vladimir Putin held a news conference in Moscow Sunday on the final day of voting. He discussed opposition leader Alexei Navalny breaking his longtime tradition of not saying the late dissident's name. Mr. Putin called Navalny's death sad then equivocated by saying people die in prison in the U.S. too.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PUTIN (voiceover): As for Mr. Navalny, yes, he passed away. It is always a sad event. And there were other cases when people in prisons passed away, but it doesn't just happen in the United States. And yes, it did. And not once.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Navalny's widow was among thousands of people lining up to vote at the Russian Embassy in Berlin on Sunday. Many were there to protest as well carrying anti-Putin signs and chanting. There were shouts of Russia against Putin and no to war from those in the crowd.
Yulia Navalnaya stood in line for several hours to cast a vote and was greeted with cheers. After voting she described Russia's president as a killer and a gangster. She had joined calls to deface or invalidate ballots or to write in Navalny's name and told supporters she voted for her late husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YULIA NAVALNAYA, WIDOW OF ALEXEY NAVALNY (through translator): You're probably wondering what I wrote on the ballot papers, who I voted for. Of course, I wrote Navalny's surname because it just can't be so that a month before the election and already during the presidential campaign Putin's main opponent already in prison was murdered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Russian authorities say Navalny died last month after falling ill at a prison in the arctic circle. On Sunday, his grave in Moscow was covered by a mountain of flowers and bouquets left by supporters. And CNN was near Russian polling sites outside the country on Sunday. Clare Sebastian has details on protests near London's Russian embassy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well it's just after midday here in London, and you can see there's a pretty significant turnout here at the embassy. People are starting to line up at the entrance and then the queue stretches all the way around.
I can't even see the end of it. At this point, people have been turning out in the rain, clearly heeding the coal from Alexei Navalny and his team to come out and to line up at the embassy at 12:00 to express their opposition to President Putin. And of course, his war in Ukraine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to start somewhere, you know. We can't just say we can't change anything and therefore we're get to stay home in a couch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is a really key moment in our lives. And given that so we were actually just talking about it. So we are 28, all of us with my good friends and this is the first elections that many of us are taking part in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This picture of people standing here. There was a very fact that there are lots of people and all of them are against Putin and it means something and easy. It's worth something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the highest probably turnout that I've seen at any mass protest in London.
It's important for us to not to give up our fight even though we cannot really affect the situation now but things will change. And at that time we want to be an organized political force that can shape how Russia will be governed at the next stage of its development.
SEBASTIAN: Now obviously these Russians in London can do what Russians inside Russia cannot, without great personal risk. It's called act of protest against Putin's regime.
And the purpose of all of this when they cannot change the result of the election is one, to do something at a time of great despair for the Russian opposition movement up to the death of Alexey Navalny.
And secondly, to try to show Russian in Russia that if they do oppose the regime, they're not alone.
Clare Sebastian, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Groups around the world gathered on Sunday in protest of Russia's election. Alexey Navalny's widow urged Russians to turn out en mass but residents of other countries did as well. That's from one of the many so-called Noon against Putin events. This
one in Paris. Crowds denounced the Russian president and called for other countries to not recognize the election results.
The scene was much the same in Latvia where demonstrators held signs attacking Putin, while others blamed Russia for the disappearance of the children amid the war in Ukraine.
In the U.S. protesters held up the Ukrainian flag as well as a blue and white flag adopted by some Russian opposition members. They say Russia's current flag has become a symbol of blood, war, and aggression, carrying what they called the flag of the wonderful Russia of the future.
The U.S. State Department says it's aware of Niger's plan to end a military agreement between the two countries, adding that the announcement came after quote, "frank discussions" at senior levels during a three-day visit in Niger.
The agreement which was signed in 2012, allowed military personnel and civilian staff from the Department of Defense to operate in the country. But Niger's military government says, the accord was imposed on them. And is quote, "profoundly unfair".
Joining us now is CNN correspondent Larry Madowo, who is in neighboring Lagos, Nigeria.
Good to see you, Larry.
So what more are you able to tell us about Niger's plan to end that military agreement with the U.S.
[01:34:51]
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, in one word, Russia. That is the center of this current dispute between the Americans and the military junta in Niger. Specifically a big American diplomatic and military delegation went to Niger last week to try and warm up these relations between the U.S. and the military junta there.
They've always operated in one condition. That they are willing to continue cooperating with the military junta there, as long as they commit to a path to return the civilians rule in the country, which is not something that Russians have committed to.
And U.S. officials now, telling CNN that they had a very tense meeting with the military junta in Niger, especially about the growing Russian military presence in the country.
In January, the Russian defense ministry said that Russia and Niger were expanding the military ties. And right now, it appears that this is really the center of this controversy because the Russians operate in a way that the U.S. cannot.
After the U.S. designated this as a coup, it is legally limited in what kind of cooperation or aid it can offer to the military leadership in Niger.
Russia does not have the same kind of restrictions. And at same time, Russia can sell weapons and any other equipment to Niger much faster without the same kind of restrictions on you must respect human rights, you must go back to a democratic transition and democratic rule and all of that.
And so that really is what the Niger military leadership does not appreciate. They said that they'll being lectured. In fact, after that, in a statement announcing the revocation of their long-standing military cooperation, this has been going on for almost ten years, they said that the U.S. had been condescending to them and threatening consequences which they don't appreciate.
But here's the context. General Michael Langley, who commands the U.S. Africa Command warned Congress earlier this year that Russia is trying to take over the entire region called the Sahel. And he also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. MICHAEL LANGLEY, U.S.-AFRICA COMMAND: I would say the Russian Federation's narrative drowned out the U.S. government's in the past years. They were accelerated. The Russian Federation, not just through Wagner stoked a lot of the instability across the Sahel. They did this through misinformation, disinformation campaigns.
So I see or how we work could not double-down in our efforts is through our own information campaign, but (INAUDIBLE) our assurance efforts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: The headline there that Russia, the U.S. accusing it of stoking instability in this wider region and to profiting of the natural resources, including the gold mines in the Niger.
Yesterday on state TV, they painted the U.S. as failing democracy, talked about the January 6 insurrection and said they cannot lecture Niger about any kind of democratic process.
So you see kind of this rhetoric really being pushed in the narrative that's going out in Niger, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Larry Madowo joining us from Lagos. Appreciate it.
The Dominican Republic says it's evacuated 27 of its citizens from Haiti as the country grapples with a violent gang uprising. They were flown out on helicopters using an evacuation corridor set up by both nations. Dominican officials say those citizens asked to be evacuated because it's so difficult to get in or out of Haiti right now.
Limited access to the country is also fueling a humanitarian crisis. UNICEF says a container with essential items for newborn babies and their mothers was looted in Port-au-Prince on Saturday. The agency added that more than 260 humanitarian containers are now controlled by armed groups that breached the main port last week.
Turning now to the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, murder and other criminal charges have been filed against the man suspected in Saturday's shooting spree that left three people dead. He also faces carjacking and firearm possession charges in the state of New Jersey, where he was captured after an hour's long armed standoff.
26-year-old Andre Gordon allegedly killed his stepmother, 13-year-old sister, and the mother of two of his children before carjacking a vehicle and fleeing to nearby Trenton, New Jersey.
A manhunt this weekend in the U.S. state of New Mexico has ended in arrest. Officials say Jaremy Smith (ph) was arrested for shooting and killing a police officer in New Mexico who had stopped to help him with a flat tire.
Police captured him after a brief foot pursuit and he's being treated for gunshot wound after officers opened fire.
Investigators say Smith was driving this woman's car during the New Mexico incident. She is a paramedic of South Carolina and she was found dead on Friday.
[01:39:48]
CHURCH: Well, curbing gun violence in America some say it starts with education at home and maybe even in schools. But one place we have not always seen it is on the silver screen.
CNN's Josh Campbell takes a look inside Hollywood's new effort to reduce gun deaths.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gunfire, danger, high-energy --- it's another episode of the hit CBS show "S.W.A.T."
But something in this scene is different. Can you tell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your day get any better after I saw you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually it got worse if you can believe it, but we did save a mother and her child. So it's all worth it.
How did the rest of your day go?
CAMPBELL: Did you spot it? Look again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- mother and her child. So it's all worth it.
CAMPBELL: Safe gun storage. On that same Sony Pictures set "S.W.A.T." show runner Andrew Dettmann says, in the past, the officer may have just set his gun on the counter but now -- ANDREW DETTMANN, "S.W.A.T." SHOWRUNNER: Gun safe opens. He puts the
gun away. It's nice and safe before he heads back to talk to his wife, it's a very routine part of his life. Come home at the end of the day, store your weapon so that it's safe now that he's got a toddler in the house.
KRIS BROWN, PRESIDENT, BRADY UNITED: That's a game changer.
CAMPBELL: The new approach is one of the successes of the "Show Gun Safety" campaign launched by advocacy group Brady United, which is now partnering with studios across the country after first meeting at a White House roundtable with actors and writers last year.
Their initiative calls for no guns on kids shows, rethinking whether guns are needed in adult shows, and if they are showing proper storage and handling.
BROWN: We lose eight kids a day, a uniquely American epidemic, to family fire. That's to -- that's because of firearms in the home that are not safely stored.
CAMPBELL: While guns can be politically polarizing. This show believes encouraging the safe storage of firearms shouldn't be controversial at all.
DETTMANN: This is not part of that larger gun debate. You know, we have -- our audience is very much on both sides of that issue. This to me, I hoped anyway, seemed like this is just a common-sense issue, right? Stow it safely. Don't leave it out in the house, you know. And if they see their favorite characters doing it on a regular basis, maybe that influences them in some way.
OK. Settle, settle, here we go. Quiet, please.
CAMPBELL: Inside another sound stage, we watch as the "S.W.A.T." crew film scenes with star Shemar Moore.
Weve heard statistics that more people look up to their favorite actor than a lot of politicians.
SHEMAR MOORE, ACTOR: Well, I'm not Taylor Swift, but she doesn't carry a gun.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: As far I know.
CAMPBELL: Moore told us he's a gun owner too and with a young daughter both on and off screen, modeling safety is a badge he is willing to wear.
MOORE: Big bad ass Hondo and I get out there and, you know, I take down bad guys. But when I come home, I own a firearm, but it's safe. It's protected.
If I can use my platform to affect change or affect optimism, or to get people to listen that's an honor. I'm humbled by it.
CAMPBALL: Along with safe storage, "S.W.A.T." is also curbing the amount of gunfire on its show.
DETTMANN: The director had an automatic weapon in mind, but maybe we can pull that back and just have it be a few shots so that we don't have all this gratuitous gunfire with no consequence.
CHRISTIAN HEYNE, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, BRADY UNITED: We've got to stop normalizing this across the board.
CAMPBELL: Gun violence victims like Christian Heyne, who lost his mother in a 2005 shooting in California praised the efforts of shows like "S.W.A.T.".
Now a chief policy officer for Brady United, he hopes this new campaign succeeds, like past partnerships with Hollywood to deglamorize smoking and promote safe driving.
HEYNE: You never will see somebody get into a car on a film or on television and not put a seat belt on. We have to be thinking the same way about gun violence to really create a movement in Hollywood where this becomes second nature.
MOORE: People are going to watch me and listen to me and I know that by behavior, by how I present myself, somebody could follow suit. That's a huge responsibility.
And so hopefully this is a reminder to the adults, to the parents to be extra cautious.
CAMPBELL: Josh Campbell, CNN -- Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And still to come the latest on the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Why some tourists say it was the experience of a lifetime. That's just ahead.
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[01:44:03]
CHURCH: In the coming hours, Tropical Cyclone Megan is expected to strike parts of northern Australia. It's expected to make landfall there Monday evening local time. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center says Megan's winds are moving at about one 160 kilometers per hour and heading southwest. Meteorologists say Australia's Northern Territory could see more than a month's worth of rain. Meantime, coastal residents in the area are being warned about dangerous storm tides.
Officials in Iceland say there's been no damage, so far to critical infrastructure from the volcanic eruption near Reykjavik. The meteorological office says that while the eruption is not over, lava flow has slowed substantially. Seismic activity also decreased overnight. Airports on the island are operating normally. Authorities have been warning for weeks that another eruption was imminent and for tourists there, this weekend, they say it was an eye- opening experience.
CNN's Michael Holmes picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A siren wails at the world-famous Blue Lagoon Spa in Iceland. The orange plume lighting up the night sky means it's time to evacuate, again.
For some tourists, this is part of the excitement. One of the reasons they came to Iceland to see it's active volcanoes.
And there has been a lot of activity lately. This is the fourth time since December that a volcano has erupted in southwest Iceland, less than an hour from the country's capital, Reykjavik.
The fissure is estimated to be roughly flee three kilometers long and flowing once again towards the town of Grindavik, where emergency teams are working to reinforce the town's defenses.
HALIDOR GEIRSSON (ph), GEOPHYSICIST: Most of the flow is going east of the town towards the sea. So it looks like the barriers are really doing the job they were designed for.
HOLMES: Grindavik was first evacuated in November after a series of earthquakes, split open roads in the town heralding the reawakening of a volcanic system, which had been dormant for nearly 800 years. Then lava first burst through the surface in December, followed by a second eruption in January that destroyed several homes and buildings in the area. A third eruption last month demolished to hot water pipeline and cut off heat to more than 20,000 people.
The last few residents of Grindavik who had returned to their homes have been evacuated again. And Icelandic authorities have declared a state of emergency for the area, calling this the most powerful eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula since 2021.
As in previous eruptions, the Blue Lagoon Spa once again closed its doors, interrupting the vacations of some tourists, some who may have gotten a little more of the Icelandic volcano experience than they imagined.
MELISSA EZAIR, TOURIST: I've never experienced anything like that before. I'll be honest, I wasn't scared or anything. I hope everybody got out OK. But it really was an experience and I'm like at the same time, wow, I've got past it.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Nearly $2 billion worth of property in the U.S. state of Massachusetts is at risk of coastal flooding as the Atlantic Ocean wiped away a sand dune in just 24 hours. And that was after homeowners had spent $600,000 to build it. Bill Weir has the story.
[01:49:49]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Over the past half century the folks in this part of Massachusetts watched the sea swallow their beach foot by foot, year by year.
JOE ROSSITTO, SALISBURY BEACH RESIDENT SINCE 1966: I have pictures of my kids down there, you know, playing on the ocean -- going shooting up toward the cottages. The cottages were this big.
WEIR: Because they are so far --
ROSSITTO: Because you were so far out.
WEIR: So they began fighting back with sand trucked in by the ton a couple of times a decade since the state refuses to restore dunes on private property. Neighbors banded together to buy $600,000 worth of sand last month thinking it would defend their homes for at least the next three years.
But then came yet another freak storm at King Tide and over half of it washed away in a single day.
TOM SAAB, PRESIDENT, SALISBURY BEACH CITIZENS FOR CHANGE: Everybody lost about 50 percent of what they put in.
WEIR: In a day.
SAAB: In less than a day, right.
So but they're sacrificial. OK. So we call them sacrificial dunes. They did their job only it cost us $300,000.
WEIR: What do you think about long term? You've got kids, you've got grandkids. I mean, what does Salisbury beach look like when you look at the sea level rise projections, the storm projection.
SAAB: So I would tell you that back in the early 1970s people were telling us that, you know, by the year 2000 this beach would be gone. We're here in 2024, it's not gone.
It's like as long as you keep rebuilding, it's not going to go away.
WEIR: Do you believe in climate change?
SAAB: No.
WEIR: It's raising the -- you don't believe in that?
SAAB: No. No, I don't believe in that, no.
WEIR: Really. SAAB: I don't think it's climate change.
ROSSITTO: I wasn't a believer in global warming or ocean levels, but I mean historically there's no precedent to this. So I mean, I'm willing to consider things that, you know, previously I (INAUDIBLE).
I'm not sure.
WEIR: Using the tides in the year 2000 as a baseline, the state is officially planning for up to a foot of sea level rise by 2030 and four feet by 2070. And Salisbury Beach is just one of 79 cities and towns in the state within coastal surge zones. Defending them all could cost billions.
So you know, there's hundreds of scientists within an hour driver here warning us of what's happening when it comes to a warmer planet. And what's going to happen to coastal communities like this.
You don't believe them or --
SAAB: yes. I'm not I'm not a climate change guy. And I believe that climate does have some effect, but I don't believe that this beach will be gone and destroyed 20 years from now or 30 years from now.
WEIR: But will it take $1 million worth of sand every year to keep it at the current rate.
SAAB: Hey, it may. It might.
WEIR: But you've got a couple of -- you have $2 billion in property here
SAAB: We just need the state to help with the funding to protect the properties. What do you do? Just say ok, goodbye to $2 billion of property?
WEIR: Despite his thoughts on climate science that gentleman Tom Saab was really responsible for rallying these homeowners to getting these dunes built. For reference, they came all the way out under the staircase meant to last several years. Lasted just a few hours and not all homeowners kicked in.
Here's a house that did not as a result, the waves went right in through the living room. Just a stark example as the planet warms up and the tides rise, it comes down to the haves and have nots, who's defended and who pays for it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Still to come a thrilling match between bitter rivals as Liverpool sees it's FA Cup hopes dashed by Manchester United. We'll have the highlights after the break.
[01:53:33]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.
It was a roller coaster of a rivalry match on Sunday with Manchester United knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup in a thrilling extra time finish.
World Sports Don Riddell has the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: Two of the greatest rivals in English football ran into each other on Sunday, and it was epic. They played out an instant classic that will live very, very long in the memory.
The headline is this, Manchester United beat Liverpool to advance to the semifinals of the FA Cup, but that's not even half the story.
Let's show you how it all went down.
Manchester United and their manager Erik Ten Hag are under a lot of pressure this season, but they made a brilliant start. Ahead after just ten minutes through Scott Mctominay (ph) but Liverpool wanted this one badly too, and they were soon level through Alexis Mac Allister.
Remember their manager, Jurgen Klopp is leaving at the end of the season and the Reds want to win four trophies before he goes. So thank you, (INAUDIBLE). Liverpool 2-1 up at halftime. And they were just three minutes away from winning it.
But United equalized through Anthony delighting a packed old Trafford Stadium. Liverpool were stunned. United, by the way, could have won it with the last kick of a game, but Marcus Rashford missed a huge chance.
And he would have been ruing that in extra time when Liverpool regained the lead through young star Harvey Elliott.
But Rashford then made amends for his earlier miss, leveling the game at three-all. And at this point, it seemed as though a penalty (INAUDIBLE) would have to settle it.
But in the 121st minute of a pulsating game, United youngster, Amad Diallo scored the most sensational winner. And to put an exclamation point on the whole thing, he was booked for taking off his shirt in celebration, a second yellow card for which he was sent off.
He won't care. It was a perfect mike drop to the most incredible win.
So here is the semifinal draw. Manchester United will be thrilled with their next opponents. They've got Coventry City, that's a team from the division below the Premier League.
Elsewhere though, Chelsea have a really tough draw against Manchester City -- can't wait for those games -- coming up in April. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And thanks so much for your company.
I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of "Newsroom" in just a moment. Do stick around.
[01:57:30]
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