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Netanyahu Moving Ahead with Rafah Offensive; IDF Ends Operation in Al-Shifa Hospital; Humanitarian Aid Air Dropped in Gaza; Biden and Trump Sends Easter Messages; U.S. Coast Guard Removes Portions of Collapsed Bridge; Moscow Calls Up 150,000 New Recruits; Speaker Mike Johnson's Speakership on the Line Over Ukraine Aid; Erdogan Opponent Claims Victory In Istanbul Mayoral Race; King Charles Attends Easter Service in First Public Appearance Since His Cancer Diagnosis In February; Jury Selection To Begin In Chad Daybell Capital Case; Fish Around Florida Keys Are Spinning In Circles and Dying . Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 01, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:00]

ROSESMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world and streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not bend to U.S. pressure when it comes to moving Israel's military into Rafah. This as officials say high-level talks between the U.S. and Israel over the operation could take place in the hours ahead.

Donald Trump marks the Easter holiday by lashing out at his political opponents. What he had to say and how such rhetoric is likely to be received by his base.

And Britain's King Charles back in the public eye, making his first major public appearance since his cancer diagnosis.

Good to have you with us. So, we begin in Israel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says pressure from the U.S. will not stop his forces from going ahead with a planned military ground offensive in Rafah.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, he said any delay so far has nothing to do with Washington's opposition to the plan nor the holy month of Ramadan, adding that such an operation takes time to plan. He also again claimed the operation was necessary to defeat Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translation): We will go into Rafah and eliminate Hamas battalions there for one simple reason. There is no victory without entering Rafah and there is no victory without eliminating Hamas' battalions there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: U.S. officials tell CNN high-level talks between U.S. and Israeli officials over Rafah could take place as soon as Monday. Those talks, originally scheduled for last week, were abruptly called off by Netanyahu after Washington refused to block a U.N. resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.

All this as Netanyahu is recovering from surgery for a hernia. The hospital says he is in quote "excellent health, is awake and talking to his family." Meantime, mass anti-government protests rocked Jerusalem for a second straight day on Sunday. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets demanding the release of all remaining Israeli hostages and calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign and hold early elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: As soon as we can do it, we call for new elections to take place. Even Netanyahu is not doing his job anywhere in the last few years. He's bringing the country down in every, every aspect possible. So, we got to replace him immediately.

UNKNOWN: Listen to the crowds, listen to the people of Israel who are saying enough is enough. We need a functioning government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Melissa Bell has been following the developments and has more now from Jerusalem.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the first time since the war began, the protest movement has returned to the streets of Jerusalem with many thousands coming out to protest the way the government has handled the war so far. Urgent calls for the remaining more than 130 hostages to be brought home. But also anger at Benjamin Netanyahu and his government and calls for elections to be held.

Now, tents have been set up just down there by the Knesset. The protesters intend to keep their pressure up over the coming days. We heard from the Israeli prime minister himself just ahead of the protest saying that he believed it was his policies that were responsible for bringing half the hostages home so far and doubling down on the idea that he believed that ground offensive in Rafah was necessary in order to flush out the remaining Hamas battalions.

But that tonight is not what we've heard from these protesters. A good deal of anger, great calls now that his time in office should end. The changes should be made and that this war should be brought to an end. Melissa Bell, CNN, Jerusalem.

CHURCH: CNN analyst Barak Ravid says Mr. Netanyahu's continued rhetoric about going ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah despite concerns from the U.S. shows he's trying to divert attention from the political problems he's facing back at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the dynamics between Israel and the U.S. is in one word it's good, in two words it's not good.

[02:05:01]

And I think we saw that today and over the last few weeks. And Netanyahu today, I think I don't want to treat the issue of Rafah in a way that doesn't sound serious enough. But, you know, let's go over the facts. This was the fourth time in the last two months that Netanyahu said that he approved the operation in Rafah, okay.

If you want to go on an operation, you go on an operation. You don't say four times that you approve the operation, but it still hasn't happened. And I think it tells you a lot. And it tells you a lot about, you know, Netanyahu's domestic political problems and how he's trying to divert attention from a lot of other stuff with this shiny object of Rafah. And, you know, he says Rafah and, you know, we're talking about Rafah. But on the ground, nothing is happening regarding the operation in Rafah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And this news just coming in to CNN. Israeli forces have withdrawn from Gaza's largest hospital after a 14-day siege. That is according to a Gaza civil defense spokesperson. He says the situation is, quote, "very bad" at Al-Shifa Hospital as injured and dead bodies fill the hospital grounds. He says more than 30 injured people had to be transported to another hospital east of Gaza City. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

Meantime, in central Gaza, two people were killed on Sunday in an Israeli drone strike around Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, according to the hospital spokesperson. Thousands of displaced people are sheltering on the hospital grounds, along with several news teams working from tents in the area as well.

It's still a struggle to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. Reuters captured this video of what appears to be an airdrop of supplies on Sunday, though it's unknown where these specific supplies came from. Jordan's armed forces say they made 10 different airdrops of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza on the same day.

And a ship carrying aid organized by the World Central Kitchen is also en route to Gaza after leaving a port in Cyprus. The World Food Program's Executive Director, Cindy McCain, is calling for full access to deliver critical aid to the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY MCCAIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: We need access. We need full, unfettered access, and right now we don't have that. We can occasionally get a few trucks in, we can occasionally get up all the way to the north, but it's not consistent and it is not to scale either. All of the other issues regarding maritime and airdrops and all those are all good. We need any way to be able to get food in, in any way we can, but they can't take it to scale. We really need access to the road and we need to be able to get up to the north all the way without being caught at checkpoints and turned around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN has gathered a list of vetted organizations that are on the ground responding. You can find details on how you can help on our website, cnn.com/impact.

The Easter Sunday holiday sparked two very different online messages shared by the front-running U.S. presidential candidates. President Joe Biden wished observers a happy Easter and said, quote, "With wars and conflict taking a toll on innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security and dignity for all."

On the flip side, Donald Trump posted in part, and I'm quoting here, "Happy Easter to all, including those people or those many people I completely and totally despise because they want to destroy America." It comes one day after sharing an image of his political opponent, Joe Biden, tied up and bound in the back of a pickup truck.

Trump also ramped up attacks against the judge overseeing his criminal case over alleged hush money payments, posting a link to an article showing his daughter's picture just days after attacking her as a, quote, "rabid Trump hater."

Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic." He joins me now from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, in what appears to be a new low for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump is lashing out on social media, even posting an image of President Joe Biden hog tied in the back of a pickup truck. What is the impact of an image like this coming as Trump increasingly ramps up violent rhetoric against judges and prosecutors, testing the limits of his gag order and also using words like bloodbath when threatening what will happen to this country if he's not elected in November? And are all of these dog whistles to his base, do you think?

[02:10:06]

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, look, there are voters out there, Americans out there who are going to hear this in a very specific way. The same way as when he told the Proud Boys in 2020 to stand back and stand by, ultimately translated into January 6th. There is nothing subtle about the way Donald Trump has encouraged violence as part of his political strategy really since his emergence in 2016.

You know, you can go back and recall that he offered to pay the legal fees of people who beat up protesters at his rallies all the way back in his first presidential campaign. There is nothing subtle here about what he is doing. And again, it continues to be striking how few Republicans -- excuse me -- are willing to speak up and warn and reflect on the obvious dangers of the leader of their party, the undisputed leader of their party using this kind of language and sending these kinds of signals.

CHURCH: Yeah, and Ron, you just wrote a piece in "The Atlantic" suggesting health care in America may turn out to be a major winning issue for Democrats. Why do you say that, given the party's previous efforts to expand health care were met with public and political resistance?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, you know, it was interesting that Joe Biden was on stage with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama this week in New York, raising that $25 million or so, incredible sum. Like Clinton and Obama, Biden has made expanding access to health care a centerpiece of his domestic policy agenda. Unlike them, he may actually benefit from them.

The backlash against Bill Clinton's Clinton Care program, a proposal devised largely by Hillary Clinton, the backlash against that swept the Republicans to their landslide in 1994, his failure to pass it. The backlash against Barack Obama actually passing the ACA in a very polarized legislative debate helped Republicans win more seats in 2010 in the House than any party out of the White House since 1938.

But when Republicans and Donald Trump tried to repeal the ACA in 2017, the politics flipped. Democrats shifted the focus from the parts of the law that are focused on expanding coverage for those without insurance to the parts of the law that protect people with pre- existing conditions who do have insurance. And since then, the law has been more popular than not.

More Americans have said they want to keep it in place than want to repeal it. And you have the Republicans continuing to push down the road of repeal, as well as House Republicans talking about an idea like converting Medicaid into a block grant and Medicare into a voucher. They are providing Biden a lot of targets to try to win back some of those working-class voters who are disenchanted with him largely because of inflation and high prices.

CHURCH: And Ron, what about the controversial issue of abortion rights in America being tested once again before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is now considering whether to apply a nationwide ban on the abortion pill Mifepristone. How likely is it that this will ensure abortion becomes one of the critical issues that rallies voters, no matter what the court decides in June?

CHURCH: Yeah -- excuse me -- the reason that it's so important is because Donald Trump and a Republican administration can do through executive action at the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice, everything that the advocates are asking the Supreme Court to do. It does not seem like the Supreme Court is inclined, based on the oral arguments, to go along with the claims from the opponents that they should roll back the efforts that were taken under both Obama and Biden to make it easier to access Mifepristone. Trump left all of those rules, the Obama rules, in place while he was

president. He didn't act against them. This time he faces much more pressure within his coalition to use tools at the FDA and even a 19th century law called the Comstock Act, through an opinion of the Justice Department, to restrict the distribution, maybe not only of Mifepristone, but any medical device that is used in abortion.

And so, yeah, this issue is very much going to be on the ballot, not only regardless of what policy Trump pursues in terms of legislation around a nationwide ban on abortion, the administrative executive branch levers that he largely left untouched as president, again, he is going to face much more pressure within the party to deal with them, and I think Democrats are going to make voters very much aware of that.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, always appreciate your political analysis. Thank you so much for joining us.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

[02:15:00]

CHURCH: There's progress to report from Baltimore Harbor. The U.S. Coast Guard says the first pieces of the collapsed bridge have been lifted from the water nearly a week after a container ship crashed into the structure. This is only the beginning of a long process. CNN's Gloria Pazmino gives us a closer look at the crash site and the magnitude of the task ahead.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, you can see we have been able to get extremely up close to the wreckage of the Dali and we're starting to really get an appreciation and a sense of just how massive this job is going to be. You're looking at 4,000 tons of steel and concrete that are sitting on top of that bow.

That is going to be the most complicated part of this operation, moving all of that debris and taking it off the ship so that they can begin this cleanup process. And then there's everything that's laying below the surface, the part that we can't see. There is more metal, more concrete, more debris in the water.

And that's going to be critical because they have to be able to make that safe for the divers whose mission is to get back into the water and continue searching to attempt to recover the bodies of those who were lost.

But as we're sitting here, you know, now finally being able to really see it and get up close to it, you really just get a sense of the enormity of the job at hand. But all the officials here have told us that they are confident that they're going to be able to get it done.

They're working together, have all of the technology necessary, and they're going step by step, taking a meticulous approach to make sure that they get it right and that eventually they can reopen the port. They can start rebuilding, and that this important symbol for the city of Baltimore and the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland can get cleaned up and the people here can start getting back to normal. I'm Gloria Pazmino, CNN.

CHURCH: Just five months after taking power, Mike Johnson's hold on the U.S. House of Representatives is at serious risk. Who and what's behind the effort to oust him? And how his handling of aid to Ukraine could be the deciding factor? That's next on CNN.

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[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Russia is calling up 150,000 civilians for military service, the country's largest conscription goal since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All Russian men are required to serve in the military for a year from the age of 18, and twice a year, Russia calls up new conscripts for service. In July 2023, Russian lawmakers voted to raise the maximum conscription age from 27 to 30. Military officials say conscripts will not be involved in the so-called special military operation in Ukraine.

Some $60 billion in U.S. aid for Ukraine has been stalled in Congress for weeks now thanks to deep dysfunction within the Republican Party. But one moderate Republican lawmaker says that may soon be over. Representative Mike Lawler told CNN Sunday that he is optimistic the issue will come up for a vote in the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): I believe there will be a vote when we get back from the Easter recess. Certainly, this is critically important for our allies. We are the leader of the free world and we cannot shirk on our responsibility to uphold and defend democracies across the globe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But there could still be road bumps before Ukraine gets that aid. Far-right Republican lawmakers are opposing any new money for Kyiv and are threatening to oust the House Speaker if he puts the funding up to a vote. CNN's Manu Raju has a closer look at the pressure Speaker Mike Johnson is under from his Republican colleagues.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, could be the second House Speaker ever to be ousted by his own colleagues. That's if Marjorie Taylor Greene, the conservative congresswoman from Georgia, does move ahead to call for a vote seeking his ouster. And if he doesn't have the votes to fend it off.

This was announced just before the House left town for a two-week Easter recess. But behind the scenes, Mike Johnson has been strategizing, trying to figure out how to avoid this ultimate fate. His allies think he can avoid it, but there are some big decisions that are looming. One of them is how to deal with aid to Ukraine.

Some Democrats say if he moves forward with aid to Ukraine, that will be actually enough for them to help him save his job. But Mike Johnson is debating trying to move a narrower Ukraine package. And some hard- right members are pushing him to offset that Ukraine aid package with spending cuts, loaded up with immigration measures, things that could put off Democrats. How will that play out, and will that ultimately lead to his ouster?

All those things have been discussed behind the scenes. New reporting from my colleagues Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer, and myself details all of that. And I put the question to some Republicans, including one, Matt Gaetz, who led the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, if he would do the same with Mike Johnson. He made clear he's on Johnson's side, as he indicated that they've talked about this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I would not support a motion to vacate. I gave the speaker some unsolicited advice that we've got to get into a fighting posture, and I was very pleased with how the Speaker received that advice.

RAJU: Do you think the speaker needs to be voted out of office?

REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): I don't have a comment on that. And I think that comment is a comment in and of itself, but I don't have a comment on that.

RAJU: If you may have a vote to vacate Mike Johnson, would you support that?

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Look, right now we've got to go back and get Republicans united to point out what our radical progressive Democrat colleagues are doing and present an actual competing vision. That does not start with, to be very clear, it does not start with putting a clean Ukraine bill down on the floor.

[02:25:02]

RAJU: Do you have confidence in him as speaker right now?

ROY: Look, you know, again, we're all working together trying to figure out what we're going to do next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But as you can see, there a lot of members still have not made up their decision on what to do, including those far-right members. And with Mike Johnson having virtually no margin for error in the Republican House, if this vote does come up, it would really threaten his speakership, and it would be up to Democrats, most likely, to decide whether to save him. Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Ukraine's president is warning that his forces will have to cede more territory to Russia if U.S. aid does not arrive soon. I spoke about that with Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor of national security at the University of New Haven, and I asked him how much time Ukraine has left before that happens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW SCHMIDT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: I think we can see now that it is being forced to give up land. It simply doesn't have the ammunition or the manpower it needs to withstand, you know, the Russian offensive going on right now. It's not a lot of land. It's not strategically critical right now. But even if that money is turned on tomorrow, it will take some time for the arms to get into theatre and make an effect.

CHURCH: And all of this comes as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is indicating an openness to support a separate bipartisan plan in the House and has told GOP lawmakers, he may schedule floor time after the Easter recess. But is it getting too late for this, given NATO is also yet to offer Ukraine a greater commitment to its defense against Russia?

SCHMIDT: I think you hit the nail on the head, Rosemary. The key here is for NATO to signal to Ukraine that it is committed to defending territorial lines as they are or as they were, and we just don't see NATO doing that yet. As far as U.S. aid goes, I don't think we can read too much into the fact that Johnson has said he might put a bill on the floor after Easter.

He's going to, in any case, put a bill on the floor that's going to ask Democrats to cut spending somewhere else. And that's going to mean that anything that does pass is likely going to be well short of the $61 billion that the administration has asked for.

CHURCH: And what would force both parties, Russia and Ukraine, to the negotiating table right now, with Ukraine desperate for military aid and Russia lacking quality manpower? And what might that negotiation look like?

SCHMIDT: Russia is facing a bottleneck in its production of equipment and ammunition in 2025. It really, really wants to be able to put this to bed now in 2024. Ukraine is looking to survive until 2025, so this is the critical, you know, 12 to 24 months for both sides. I think in terms of a negotiation, the likely outcome here is that Ukraine will refuse to give up legal right to any of its territory, especially Crimea, but will seek to freeze the conflict and then come back 10, 20 years later and pull that territory and those populations back under its fold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll bring you my full conversation with Matthew Schmidt next hour. A Turkish opposition leader claims victory in Istanbul's mayoral race.

Ahead, how the heavy blows dealt to President Erdogan's political party in nationwide elections could signal a big change for Turkey's future. That's next on CNN.

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[02:32:32] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone.

The people of Turkey delivered President Erdogan and his political party their biggest ever electoral blow on Sunday in nationwide municipal elections. Voters reinforced the power of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and his opposition party as a strengthening political force. With most of the votes counted, Imamoglu said he is leading the election by 1 million votes. His Republican Peoples Party gained mayoral seats in 15 other cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EKREM IMAMOGLU, ISTANBUL MAYOR/OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): The nation itself gives the order and the instructions, not just one person, officials receive instructions from the nation. A period of one man rule is over as of today. It is done. The Republican democracy to go full speed ahead from now on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The outcome of the election marks a dramatic defeat for President Erdogan and his AK Party after two decades in power.

Our Scott McLean is following developments from Istanbul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In local elections in Turkey where a referendum on the ruling government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and voters have very clearly sent a message that they are not happy, not only in Erdogan's AK Party failed to win back major cities in this country. But it appears that they are on track to also lose some areas that had been considered strongholds. And perhaps the biggest blow of the night is right here in Istanbul where people have come to celebrate the win of the incumbent mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a man who is widely considered to be one of the very few, perhaps the only opposition figure popularity in the spring take on Erdogan in a general election.

And not only has Imamoglu won reelection, but it appears that he's won with a very comfortable margin. His party has taken a district in Istanbul where Erdogan himself was born and raised.

And Erdogan personally injected himself into this race. His face is on banners and billboards. He's been here for rallies as well, but also hanging over the country at the time, the dire the wake of the economy where inflation is out of control, interest rate 50 percent and people are really feeling it in their wallets.

Now, President Erdogan is constitutionally barred from running for another term in office, but there are some loopholes which could allow him to run one more time.

[02:35:08]

And if he does, he will now surely have a very formidable opponent and the reelected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Scott McLean, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, King Charles makes his first major public appearance since revealing his cancer diagnosis. What this means for the British royal family after a short break.

Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

In the U.K., King Charles met with the public for the first time since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. The 75-year-old monarch was all smiles as he greeted a crowd outside St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle on Easter Sunday. The outing comes more than a week after the princess of Wales revealed her own battle with cancer.

CNN's Max Foster reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lucky few royal well-wishers given a surprise invite into Windsor Castle to see the king making his first major public appearance, since his cancer diagnosis. Then an even bigger surprise when he went for a walk and a chat.

KING CHARLES, GREAT BRITAIN: You haven't got too cold standing there.

FOSTER: A royal source telling CNN all future engagements remain subject to medical device near the time. But this was an encouraging sign of how the treatment is progressing as we look towards summer, and how the road ahead is looking positive.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: It's obviously an opinion really great form. He's walking. He's out there again, but we've been told that this isn't a return for public duties. What it is, is just of gentle return to the public eyes. So we're seeing Charles out and about waving, seeing people. But he's not going back to the full duties of kingship and we don't yet have a timeline as to when that's going to be.

[02:40:01]

FOSTER: The service at Windsor is a tradition for the royals, Prince Andrew, amongst those invited, showing that he's part of the family, if not part of the firm anymore.

The princess of Wales didn't attend a she receives around treatment for cancer. But that was expected as she also spends time with our children during the school holidays. KATE MIDDLETON, PRINCESS OF WALES, We hope that you'll understand that

as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy, while I complete my treatment.

FOSTER: It's an unprecedented time to the royal family with two senior royals sidelines due to serious illness, leaving only a handful of working royals to carry out public duties. Queen Camilla has shouldered much of the load in Charles's absence. Prince William is expected to resume public engagement in mid-April, but it's been a strain on the system.

ERIN HILL, PEOPLE MAGAZINE SENIOR EDITOR, ROYALS: King Charles really wanted to have a slim down monarchy when he took, took on the throne, but he never could have anticipated slimming down to where it is now.

FOSTER: And there's also a matter of trust. The statement by the princess of Wales diffused a frenzy of conspiracy theories about her health and whereabouts. But there are lingering questions about a digitally altered photo of Catherine and the children and concerns that the palace isn't being transparent enough.

Media cameras were invited to film the events rather than in-house media teams. Behind the scenes, the king has been carrying out meetings and continuing his work as head of state as both he and Catherine continued that cancer treatments.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER (on camera): Royal fans often come here to Windsor for a chance to see the king for a lucky few, there are invited into the castle and they actually spent some time with them. And they're all saying how well he looked. So encouraging signs for a monarchist here in the UK.

Max Foster, CNN, Windsor Castle, England.

CHURCH: And thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. And for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:54]

CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church.

Another weekend in America marred by gun violence on Saturday, at least seven children between the ages of 12 and 17 were shot in Indiana's capital. All the victims are in stable condition and police are still working to identify a suspect. This marks the third weekend in a row that Indianapolis has been rocked by a mass shooting.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indianapolis police say they rushed to the scene and found a large group of children's six of them with gunshot wounds are seven juvenile who also sustained gunshot wounds, arrived at an area hospital later right now, all of them are recovering from their injuries. Police have yet to make any arrests.

Now we want to show you this map showing the locations and dates of all the recent mass shootings in Indianapolis, all of the shootings happen within 25 minutes distance of each other, although they're not believed to be connected.

On March 16th, a nightclub shooting left one person dead and five others injured. The following weekend, one person was killed and five others, including an off-duty Indianapolis metro police officer were injured after a shooting outside a bar early Sunday, March 24, and violence flared Saturday night downtown in an incident involving a large group of young people and multiple firearms, police officials say more than 25 officers were patrolling the area Saturday to prevent this type of gun violence from breaking out.

But it happened anyway and they warn disputes like this should never lead to guns violence.

TANYA TERRY, DEPUTY CHIEF, INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE: Downtown Commander Burton has already changed resources and directed resources to try to address these juvenile crowds before they get started. And having officers that come in earlier, even to try to address that and stay on top of it. So, absolutely, all of our resources are going to be directed at preventing this kind of crime.

CHRIS BAILEY, CHIEF, INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE: It starts at home. That's the first place. You can look to the police. All you want on to try to solve these things in like the chief said. We have plenty of resources in downtown Indianapolis on the weekends to deal with our issues. And yet this occurred and so we're all going to have to like I said, take a look in the mirror and find out what more we can do as a community.

TERRY: It's extremely concerning to the mindset of some of our community members, especially some of our young community members. Once again and I know you guys have heard Chief Bailey talk about it conflict should not lead to somebody pulling out a gun and trying to resolve it. The consequences are eternal, okay? We have got to learn how to talk to each other. We've got to learn how to resolve conflict in different ways and when there's a bold disrespect for law enforcement authority and the laws of our society, it's a problem that's bigger than the police.

RODRIGUEZ: Deputy chief Tanya Terry also says police believe multiple firearms were involved, but it's unclear what led to the shooting or how many people opened fire, although they didn't provide information on the nature of the gathering, police have noticed large crowds of young people moving around the downtown area. Ivan Rodriguez, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In the state of Tennessee, police have identified a suspect in connection with a deadly Easter brunch shooting. One person was killed and at least seven others wounded at a Nashville restaurant on Sunday. Police believe it happened after an argument between two men. The suspect has been identified as 46 year-old Anton Rucker.

Police say he has passed convictions for aggravated assault and drug charges. They don't believe the suspect and victim knew each other. It was a case that captivated America. Capital murder conspiracy and claims of apocalyptic religious beliefs.

In the hours ahead, Chad Daybell's triple murder trial gets underway in Idaho, beginning with jury selection. He is charged with conspiring with his wife, Lori Vallow Daybell to kill her two children, and his first wife.

[02:50:02]

Lori Daybell, who was dubbed the doomsday mom, was convicted last year in the same case and sentenced to life in prison.

CNN's Camila Bernal has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State of Idaho versus Chad Guy Daybell.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A high-stakes trial with the death penalty on the table if convicted.

Prosecutors say Chad Daybell killed two of his step children and his first wife, motivated by power, sex, money, and apocalyptic religious beliefs.

CHAD DAYBELL, ACCUSED: Not guilty.

BERNAL: Murder and conspiracy charges.

DAYBELL: Not guilty

BERNAL: All of them, the same plea.

DAYBELL: Not guilty.

BERNAL: His wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, was convicted of the same murders in May of last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The answer? Guilty. The answer? Guilty.

BERNAL: And on Monday, it's Chad Daybell's turn to be tried.

Prosecutors say Tylee Ryan, who was 16, and JJ Vallow, who was seven, were last seen on different days in September of 2019. Then, in October, they alleged Daybell killed his then wife, Tammy, who was initially believed to have died in her sleep.

Less than three weeks after her death, he married Lori Vallow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search continues for two missing children.

BERNAL: The children's disappearance captured the nation's attention in late 2019, when Daybell and Vallow abruptly left Idaho after police started asking questions.

REPORTER: Just tell us where your kids are?

BERNAL: The couple was found in Hawaii in January of 2020.

That June, a gruesome discovery. The remains of Tylee and JJ were found on Daybell's property. Daybell's preliminary hearings have already given a preview of the evidence against him.

STEVE DANIELS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Eventually, we uncovered the entire body that was wrapped in this black plastic bag with a lot of duct tape.

BERNAL: And in Vallow Daybell's trial, prosecutors said the two believed themselves to be religious figures who had assistance some of rating people as light or dark, and use their doomsday religious beliefs to justify the killings.

During her sentencing, Vallow Daybell doubled down on her religious beliefs.

LORI VALLOW DAYBELL, CONVICTED MURDERER: Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen.

JUDGE STEVEN BOYCE, IDAHO DISTRICT COURT: You justified all of this by going down a bizarre religious rabbit hole and clearly, you are still down there.

BERNAL: She was sentenced to spend her life in prison. But now, the question is whether Chad Daybell's defense will also include these beliefs, or if he will turn on his wife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): And Chad Daybell's attorneys spoke out saying his client is ready to tell his story, although it is unclear if he will testify in his own defense, what will also be interesting to see here is what the defense consists of, because in Lori's case, they decided and to not call any witnesses to the stand. So it will be interesting to see what this defense attorney does.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

CHURCH: An underwater mystery swirling around the Florida keys, dozens of different fish species were inexplicably swimming in circles until they die. CNN's Bill Weir reports from Marathon, Florida, where researchers are

racing to figure out what's causing the bizarre behavior and how to stop it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREGG FURSTENWERTH, FLORIDA KEYS LIFETIME RESIDENT: Started diving when I was eight years old with my mom, so I've been in the water for a very long time.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gregg Furstenwerth has seen a lot in his life spent underwater around the Florida Keys, but he'd never seen anything like this.

FURSTENWERTH: I noticed the fish were spinning, and so I started taking video of that that I really had no idea what I was looking at.

WEIR: Since last fall, he's seen stingrays moving upside down, goliath groupers flailing on their sides, and dozens of other species swimming and tortured flailing loops.

FURSTENWERTH : Well, I mean, I've said that, you know, its like I'm in the middle of a disaster movie and I'm that guy yelling from the mountain top, trying to get people to pay attention.

WEIR: State Fish and Wildlife officials, and Florida's Bonefish &Tarpon Trust have logged nearly 200 incidents with over 30 species acting this way, mostly in the Lower Keys but as far north as Miami.

MICHAEL ROLPH, CAPTAIN, MYKEYS TOURS: Yeah, this is crazy. I was out on a six-hour charter. I had two people on the boat and we were down off a ligament by the bank, and we've happened to see a fish floundering on the flats and then so we got close to him where he wants to see if there was a problem and we can obviously tell that he was in distress.

WEIR: It turned out to be a sawfish, a critically endangered species that might lose four or five mature adults a year.

[02:55:00]

But in just a few months, at least 27 had beached themselves or died after intense episodes of what anglers are calling the spins.

MIKE PARSONS, PROFESSOR, FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY: So typically when we think of fish acting strangely or dying, we think of low oxygen conditions in the water for or red tide. And so, we saw neither.

WEIR: At the water school at Florida Gulf Coast University, Mike Parsons' team is part of a statewide effort to solve the mystery three of the spinning fish. And while tests for most toxins have turned up empty, the most promising suspect is found living off seaweed at the bottom. A tiny critter named Gambierdiscus.

PARSONS: This is the highest we've seen of the Gambierdiscus in the Keys. We don't know if it's the main cause.

WEIR: The single-cell algae can produce various neurotoxins and is showing up at record high levels but it's just one more stressor on marine life already reeling from pollution, overfishing, and off the charts, ocean heatwaves brought by climate change.

PARSONS: So there's concern and curiosity I guess on could the hot -- hot temperatures in the summer cause some changes that may be led to the fish behavior now, and we just don't really have all the pieces together to try to link one to the other.

FURSTENWERTH: They really have no idea what is happening. There is no concrete conclusive proof of what is happening yet. And that is still to be determined, which is quite terrifying.

WEIR: It is scary, isn't it?

FURSTENWERTH: It is because if it continues, it's going to be the end of this ecosystem as we know it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (on camera): Off the charts, ocean temperatures are, of course, just one of the massive stressors on marine life down here these days, there was a three-year study recently in which 100 percent of the bone fish that were tested in the Keys turned up at least seven different pharmaceuticals from opioids to antidepressants. And so this behavior is not been seen before, but it is sort of an attack from 1,000 different angles for the creatures living down here, and maybe a warning for the rest of us.

CHURCH: And thanks to your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Do stay with us.