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WCK Founder Speaks Out After the Death of Seven Aid Workers; Rescue Workers Scrambling to Survive in the Rubble in the Taiwan Earthquake Aftermath; NATO Anniversary to Focus on Ukraine; Israeli War Cabinet Head Calls for an Early Elections, Netanyahu's Party Distanced Himself from Petty Politics; Argentine Workers Protest Against Plans to Cut the Public Service Workforce by its President; Judge Denies Motion to Delay Hush Money Hearing vs. Former U.S. President Donald Trump; Monday's Solar Eclipse Might Not Be Visible in Some States due to Forecasted Weather Conditions. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 04, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
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JOSE ANDRES, CELEBRITY CHEF AND WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN FOUNDER: We were targeted deliberately, non-stop until everybody was dead in this convoy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Celebrity chef Jose Andres speaks out after seven workers from his aid group were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza.
Searching for signs of life, rescue crews in Taiwan are racing against the clock, hoping to find dozens still trapped after Wednesday's deadly earthquake.
And excitement is building for next week's solar eclipse, but now experts are warning Mother Nature might spoil the fun for some.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.
The founder of World Central Kitchen is calling for an independent investigation into an Israeli attack in Gaza that killed seven aid workers from his organization.
Jose Andres is also accusing Israel of systematically targeting the workers. The bodies of six foreign nationals killed in that strike were transported out of the Palestinian territory through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Wednesday.
The deadly attack impacted the flow of aid in Gaza. World Central Kitchen says its operations in the enclave remain closed for now and it's not yet reached a decision on when it will resume its vital work. The group immediately suspended its mission there after the deaths of its workers and all its aid ships are now back at the Cyprus port.
This video shows one boat that left Gaza following the strike without offloading most of its cargo, which added up to about 332 tons of humanitarian aid. That is according to the Cypriot foreign ministry. The World Central Kitchen founder is lashing out at Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRES: This was not just a bad luck situation where, oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place or not. This was over 1.5, 1.8 kilometers with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of, but that's very clear who we are and what we do. What I know is that we were targeted deliberately, non-stop, until everybody was dead in this convoy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments. She joins me now from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, what has been the reaction in the region to Jose Andres accusing Israel of systematically targeting those seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in Gaza by those Israeli strikes?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, there has been an angry response from a number of different world leaders, notably those representing the countries of the workers themselves that were killed.
Now, we heard from the Australian prime minister. He said that he'd already spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, yesterday on Wednesday and said he wanted a full investigation.
Since then, we have heard from the Israeli prime minister saying it was an Israeli strike or strikes that carried out this particular attack, saying that it is regrettable, but also saying that this happens in war.
So we heard the Australian prime minister react specifically to that statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We need to have accountability for how it's occurred. And what isn't good enough is the statements that have been made, including that this is just a product of war. This is against humanitarian law. International humanitarian law makes it very clear that aid workers should be able to provide that aid and that assistance free of the threat of losing their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: United Nations figures show that more than 200 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since the October 7th Hamas attacks.
It is considered one of the world's most dangerous and difficult areas to work as a humanitarian aid worker.
[03:05:06]
And we're seeing a knock on effect of this attack.
When we see that famine is approaching in Gaza, certainly in parts of northern Gaza, we understand that many are starving at this point. And yet, because of this attack, we're seeing World Central Kitchen, for example, suspending their activities.
A U.N. agency also saying that they're going to suspend activities for at least 48 hours while they assess the security risks for their people on the ground. Now, World Central Kitchen is now also calling for an independent investigation, a third party investigation, so not conducted by Israel, into exactly what happened.
They're calling on Israel to protect and preserve all their communications, all their documents related to the decision to carry out these strikes so that they can have credibility within this investigation as well.
We've heard the leader, the chef, Jose, saying that he believes that they were systematically targeted. A CNN analysis of what happened as well shows that it was likely these were separate precision strikes against cars that were very far apart, up to about two and a half kilometers apart.
And certainly, this is what we're hearing from many sides, including the United States, that they would like to see a public finding. They would like it to be transparent and they would like to know exactly what happened. But World Central Kitchen saying this has to be a third party investigation into how this was able to happen, not just for those that were killed, but also to make sure that it doesn't happen again and that the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Gaza is allowed to continue. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Our thanks to Paula Hancocks for that live report.
The U.S. Defense Secretary is urging his Israeli counterpart to carry out a quick and transparent inquiry.
According to the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin pressed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant to share the conclusions publicly and hold those responsible to account. Austin also stressed the need for a rapid increase in aid to Gaza through all crossings, particularly to communities in northern Gaza at risk of famine.
President Joe Biden will speak by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the day ahead. It will be their first conversation since the World Central Kitchen workers were killed. One official describes the U.S. President as angry and increasingly frustrated and fully prepared to make that known. Mr. Biden is also expected to discuss Israel's potential ground incursion into Rafah, the ongoing ceasefire and hostage talks, the need for more humanitarian aid and the protection of aid workers in Gaza.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: It doesn't really matter how they made the mistake. At the end of the day, you have seven dead aid workers who were there trying to deliver humanitarian assistance. So whatever the reason was that led to this tragedy, whatever the mistake that happened inside the IDF, it's unacceptable and they need to do better and they need to put measures in place to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Dr. Thaer Ahmad joins me now from Chicago. Thank you, doctor, for being with us.
DR. THAER AHMAD, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: I do want to start with World Central Kitchen's founder and chef, Jose Andres, accusing Israel of systematically targeting his seven aid workers and killing them in their convoy of three clearly marked vehicles. Israel calls it a grave mistake and blames misidentification. But these aid workers were coordinating their movements with the IDF in the hope they would protect them. What's your reaction to his accusation that instead they were targeted?
AHMAD: I mean, I think he has a point there, and it's absolutely devastating what happened to these health care workers, to these humanitarian aid workers who were trying to feed hungry Palestinians. I mean, if you take a look at what happened here, three separate vehicles, three separate missiles. It was an assassination attempt.
And this is just in a long line of incidents that have taken place in the Gaza Strip, whether it's a healthcare facility or an aid convoy. I mean, it was just last month when we heard about the convoy in the north where 100 Palestinians who were trying to grab flour were massacred and killed. It's incident after incident. And we cannot rely on the Israelis to investigate themselves.
It has to come from the international community, and they need to be held accountable with respect to these incidents. This is totally unacceptable, and it's so tragic. And now you're seeing many other aid organizations say that they're going to pause activities because it is incredibly dangerous to deliver aid in the Gaza Strip right now.
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I mean, this is why it's the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. Every single part of life in the Gaza Strip has been upended and turned upside down. You can't even distribute food to hungry people without risking your life. CHURCH: And as a result of this deadly attack, some aid groups have
suspended their humanitarian operations for fear of being targeted. This after about 190 aid workers have been killed in this war. You have volunteered as a doctor in Gaza. How would you describe the health care system there and, of course, the dire humanitarian crisis?
AHMAD: It has totally collapsed. The health care system is not functioning. I was at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in January.
Prior to the war, Nasser Hospital is the second largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. While we were there, Al Shifa Hospital, which is the largest and you may be familiar with because it was in the news again last week, had already been shut down.
And so Nasser was overwhelmed. This is a hospital that's supposed to be able to perform multiple surgeries. But health care institution after health care institution has been raided, targeted and left defunct.
And you can I can name you all of them. Shifa, Al-Awda, Al-Rantisi, Al-Nasser, the list goes on and on.
70 health care workers have been abducted. Over 400 health care workers have been killed. In fact, one of the surgeons that I worked with at Nasser Hospital, Dr. Khalid Al-Sir, who was working on getting Nasser up and running again, has just been detained by the Israeli military recently. And so there is a deliberate attack on health care infrastructure. And it's just one piece of making life hell in the Gaza Strip and why the humanitarian crisis is so bad.
It's not just that there's a famine in the north and there's a possible invasion of Rafah in the south. It's that nothing can get in. We can't even get food or water into the Gaza Strip. It's being restricted by the Israelis. Hospitals cannot get fuel for their generators to power on their lights and treat their patients. We're out of medicine. We're out of supplies. We're out of even space in Rafah for people to stay.
You can't even pitch a tent if you're a displaced person in the Gaza Strip right now. And so every aspect of life has come under attack. And all of civilian infrastructure has been devastated. It should be no surprise to anybody that at six months we're in this catastrophic situation here. And that's why people are calling for a ceasefire. That's why they're saying an invasion into Rafah is a red line.
And they're saying that we need a maritime corridor. We need airdrops. But most importantly, every single access on land needs to be open and unrestricted. Trucks need to be able to get in with supplies that will save lives.
CHURCH: Jose Andres says Israel looks to be waging war against humanity itself and called on U.S. President Joe Biden to do more. Now, you walked out of a meeting at the White House Tuesday evening. That meeting was with the president, his vice president and other Biden officials. And you did that to protest what's happening in Gaza. So what do you want President Biden to say to Benjamin Netanyahu when he speaks to him in a phone call in the coming hours about this deadly attack on aid workers, a conversation that they haven't had in three weeks?
AHMAD: Yeah, I mean, he needs to be clear. He needs to be explicit. And he needs to draw the red line. He needs to say the war needs to stop and there needs to be a ceasefire.
He needs to also comment on the fact that aid is being obstructed inside. And he cannot just accept any of the explanations that he has been hearing for the past six months.
I'll remind you that with this World Central Kitchen convoy, the first explanation for the Israeli military was that it was just some an IED on the side of the road.
I mean, that's the sort of answers that we're getting from this military. And so President Biden needs to be explicitly clear with Netanyahu that if they do not stop this war and they do not allow aid into starving Palestinians, and they don't guarantee that there is going to be a safe resolution to all of this, that there are consequences to this. And those consequences can deal with aid.
They can deal with sanctions. There needs to be some teeth to the words that President Biden is going to use with Netanyahu. There has to absolutely be consequences because rhetoric for six months has gotten us 32,000 dead Palestinians.
Rhetoric for the last six months has had aid workers murdered in plain sight. And so that's not going to work anymore. And I hope that that's something that my message and the message from the entire international NGO community and people like Chef Jose, that that's the message that's heard by President Biden and that he actually uses it in a conversation.
CHURCH: Dr. Thaer Ahmad, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.
AHMAD: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: Rescue teams in Taiwan are searching for more survivors a day after the island was hit by its strongest earthquake in a quarter century.
[03:15:03]
Officials say the 7.4 magnitude quake killed at least nine people and injured more than a thousand as it toppled buildings and triggered landslides in some areas. The quake struck off the east coast of the island at a relatively shallow depth of about 35 kilometers. The U.S. Geological Survey says it has recorded dozens of powerful aftershocks near the epicenter.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Kristie. So what is the latest on these efforts to rescue those still trapped in the rubble in the aftermath of this deadly earthquake and, of course, the continuing aftershocks?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, the tireless work of search and rescue goes on in Taiwan a day after that massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake, it caused rock fall, landslides, collapsed structures, including those tilted buildings that we've been seeing out of Hualien.
Over 600 people, we've learned, are stranded or unreachable, including dozens of miners who are still trapped at a quarry.
We've learned that at least nine people have died. More than a thousand people are injured. And rescuers, they are working to free these people who are trapped or stranded by debris. And they're also just struggling to reach them. You know, the epicenter, as you pointed out, is in Hualien County on the east coast of Taiwan. And many in the region are in these remote coastal areas and mountain communities that can be hard to reach.
And I want to show you this drone video. In this video, you could see 50 stranded hotel employees that are there just waiting for rescue. So they were on their way to work earlier on Wednesday morning before the earthquake struck at around 8 a.m. local time.
And rescuers, they have to wait for the roads to be cleared before they can reach that group. Now, in the next video, you will see first responders reaching the scene of a major rock fall, a major landslide that happened after the earthquake. And they have to scramble through all of that, through this blocked highway to reach survivors. They did find a man at the scene who was found unconscious.
And the man was later sent to hospital for treatment.
Now, it's one day after the earthquake and residents in the region are still very nervous. Last night, a number of them slept in shelters and slept over outdoors because there have been dozens of aftershocks that have rocked the area, aftershocks that continue to this day.
I want you to listen to this survivor.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): I'm afraid of aftershocks, and I don't know how bad the shaking will be. And then the house is already a mess. How do you get in? There's no way to get in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And authorities have been warned that there will be more aftershocks to come in the next few days. Rosemary, back to you.
CHURCH: And Kristie, what more are you learning about any possible impact on Taiwan's chip manufacturers that might affect the region's semiconductor supply chain?
LU STOUT: Yeah, that's been a big question. Taiwan chip makers like the giant TSMC, they did suspend operations for inspection after the quake struck yesterday morning.
And then late last night on Wednesday, TSMC did say that more than 70 percent of its chip manufacturing has resumed production. Look, Taiwan is a major global chip hub. It's home to TSMC, the world's largest contract chip maker.
This is the chip maker that supplies chips to Apple, NVIDIA, et cetera. It's also home to other chip makers like UMC, Hanhai, the list goes on.
Now, these chip makers in Taiwan, they have contingency plans. Being based on an island that's prone to earthquakes, they have plans in place and they've also been diversifying. TSMC has announced plans for diversification away from Taiwan with new chip fabs in places like Japan, Germany and also the United States. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Kristie Lu Stout, joining us live from Hong Kong with that report. Many thanks.
Still to come, how NATO is hoping to secure future aid deliveries to Ukraine, even if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election. We'll explain.
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[03:20:00]
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CHURCH: At least five people are dead after Ukraine's second largest city took more fire from Russian drones, according to Kharkiv's mayor. Officials say at least 10 people were injured in Thursday morning's attack. Four Russian drones reportedly struck the city back to back. Three of the fatalities were emergency workers who responded to the initial strike when another drone hit the same area and killed them. The attack caused at least one fire and damaged a residential high- rise.
NATO is honoring its past and reportedly looking for ways to safeguard its future aid to Ukraine. Right now, ceremonies are underway in Brussels marking the alliance's 75th anniversary. We're looking at these live pictures right now, in fact. NATO was created on April 4, 1949, when 12 founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington.
In the coming hours, NATO foreign ministers are set to hold meetings with Ukrainian officials. NATO is also trying to, as one diplomat put it, future-proof its aid deliveries to Ukraine. That means, according to sources, to make sure the aid keeps going, even if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November.
CNN's Nic Robertson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, had started the day by saying there needed to be a change in the dynamics of support for Ukraine, that this needed to be a multi-year process.
He spoke as well, 75th anniversary of NATO coming up the following day, 32 nations for the first time joined by the Swedish foreign minister.
But as we began to understand from the Secretary General, this is a meeting about sort of setting up the basis for agreement, but not the details about it. So he did lay out some bare bones of what they'd agreed.
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Today, allies have agreed to move forward with planning for a greater NATO role in coordinating security assistance and training. The details will take shape in the weeks to come. But make no mistake, Ukraine can rely on NATO's support now and for the long haul.
ROBERTSON: Even so, Stoltenberg was pressed by journalists for more details, one of them asking about reports that there was a $100 billion commitment he was looking for over five years, as some have reported.
The question was to Trump-proof NATO, that if Donald Trump should be reelected U.S. president that somehow this military aid package for Ukraine could withstand and sustain during the period of his presidency.
Now, the Secretary General, as he typically does, didn't again get into detail, said, look, you've been briefed by someone, but not briefed by me. But what he wanted to achieve, and what NATO is trying to achieve here, is this financial commitment that allows Ukraine to plan for the coming years of the war, know that it can have enough ammunition, let's say if it chooses to have an offensive in 2025, and for defense providers, manufacturers throughout Europe, the United States, to know that there's long term commitment for them to produce the armaments.
So that, of course, is where the devil will be in the detail of those details. Stoltenberg hasn't yet spoken about and will be worked out in the coming weeks and months.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Karen Donfried is a senior fellow at the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs. She joins me now from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Appreciate you being with us.
KAREN DONFRIED, SR. FELLOW, BELFER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: Pleasure to be here.
[03:25:06]
CHURCH: So in an article you co-wrote for the "Foreign Affairs Journal", you assess what Ukraine needs from NATO in terms of advanced weapons, and the clarity it needs for NATO membership. So let's start with that much-needed military equipment. And with NATO ministers meeting in Brussels to mark 75 years since its inception, how far might the alliance go in providing military assistance to the war-torn nation, given U.S. aid remains stalled in Congress?
DONFRIED: So NATO as an organization is not providing the Ukrainians with aid. It's many of the NATO member states.
And the United States is the most important NATO member state that's been giving military assistance to Ukraine.
So what you just mentioned about military assistance to Ukraine being stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives is a big problem for Ukraine.
So there's a lot of work taking place in Washington trying to move that package after the Congressional Easter recess. But that is the urgent priority for Ukraine.
And I'm sure that at NATO's foreign ministerial, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is getting an earful from his NATO allies about the urgency of that assistance moving.
CHURCH: Right. And without that new U.S. military assistance or help from various NATO member nations, Ukraine's ground forces can't hold back the Russian military. And that represents more of a threat to Europe, of course, than to the U.S. So why isn't NATO responding more vigorously by providing critical assistance, ammunition, military aid to Ukraine right now?
DONFRIED: So when we think about Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, there are at least three impacts of it.
The most existential is for Ukraine.
There's also an implication for European security. And you are right that many NATO members border Ukraine. And then there's also an implication for global stability and our belief in international law and the argument that we respect each other's sovereignty and countries have the right to defend themselves and make their own choices.
So that's what's at stake in the battle that's taking place right now in Ukraine.
And NATO's eastern member states are deeply concerned about the implications for them if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine.
So the urgency is felt very clearly in Eastern Europe.
But I think it's felt throughout the alliance.
And what we see right now is unity among NATO allies about thinking about what role NATO can play in this war. And one idea is to institutionalize at least the coordination of the
military assistance going to Ukraine in the alliance, maybe moving the training of Ukrainian forces under a NATO framework.
So to try to ensure that that support is longstanding and enduring.
CHURCH: And even if Ukraine receives all the military assistance it needs, what happens next in terms of securing a political future for the war-torn nation and how does NATO lay out a path for Ukraine to become a NATO member and how do NATO member nations overcome the challenge of allowing Ukraine entry to the alliance while it's still at war?
DONFRIED: So you're absolutely right that there's the urgent question of the assistance Ukraine gets today. But then once the war ends, there's that longer term question of Ukraine's role in the European Security Order.
Since 2008, NATO has said that Ukraine will be a member of NATO one day.
Ukraine is still not a member of NATO. So in that sense, what the alliance owes Ukraine is clarity.
Last July at the NATO summit in Lithuania, NATO members said Ukraine can join the alliance when allies agree and when conditions are met. Of course, allies have to agree. That goes almost without saying.
But when conditions are met was vague and wasn't explained.
And I think NATO owes Ukraine that. There are conditions certainly that have to do with democratic reforms in Ukraine, anti-corruption reforms, but also many member states argue that as long as there's active fighting in Ukraine, it cannot join the alliance.
[03:30:00]
But I do think alliance members have to explain what that means. Does there need to be a peace agreement? If there's a front line that's stable and becomes a durable ceasefire, could that then be sufficient for Ukraine to join? So that's something that the alliance does owe Ukraine.
CHURCH: And when might it give Ukraine that clarity?
DONFIRED: Well, in the article that you referenced that I wrote with Ambassador Ivo Daalder, we argued the alliance should give Ukraine that answer this July at the Washington NATO summit, where the alliance will celebrate its 75th anniversary. But it won't just be a backward looking celebration. It also will be a forward looking vision for what NATO will be going forward. And Ukraine's place in the alliance is surely a key part of that.
CHURCH: Karen Donfried, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
DONFRIED: My pleasure. Thank you.
CHURCH: And still to come, the founder of the World Central Kitchen levels serious allegations against Israel after its deadly strike on the charity's aid convoy.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, later today, the U.S. President is set to make what no doubt will be a tense phone call with the Israeli Prime Minister. This will be their first conversation since the tragic killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.
A White House official says Joe Biden is angry and frustrated over Israel's deadly strike. And while President Biden's outrage appears to be shifting, we're hearing there's been no change in overall U.S. policy toward Israel.
Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen is calling for an independent investigation into the attack and says it does not yet know when it will restart operations in Gaza. The remains of its foreign staff members were moved out of the territory on Wednesday via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The victims include a U.S.-Canadian national, a Palestinian, an Australian, a Polish worker and three others from Britain.
The charity's founder has called them the best of humanity, stressing they are not collateral damage. During his first on-camera interview since the attack, Chef Jose Andres said the aid convoy was systematically targeted by Israel. CNN's Brian Todd has details.
[03:34:58]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 54-year-old founder of World Central Kitchen slamming the Israel military for the attack that killed seven of the group's aid workers in Gaza.
JOSE ANDRES, CELEBRITY CHEF AND FOUNDER OF WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: They were targeted systematically, car by car.
TODD (voice-over): Celebrity chef Jose Andres, in a jarring interview with Reuters, describes how the vehicles in the team's convoy were fired on.
ANDRES: They attacked the first car. We have a feeling they were able to escape safely because it was an armored vehicle. They were able to move in the second one. Again, this one was hit. They were able to move in the third one.
TODD (voice-over): Andres says his team tried to communicate with the Israel Defense Forces at that moment.
ANDRES: In the chaos of the moment, whatever happened, to try to be telling IDF that what are they doing, that they were targeting us in the conflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF, them knowing that was our teams moving on that route.
TODD (voice-over): Regarding Israeli claims that the attack was a mistake and unintentional, Andres brushed back fiercely.
ANDRES: This was not just a bad luck situation where we dropped the bomb in the wrong place or not. This was over 1.5, 1.8 kilometers with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of, but that that's very clear who we are and what we do. It seems that what is happening is like a true Hunger Games. This has to end.
TODD (voice-over): Andres went after the leadership of Israel and the U.S.
ANDRES: We are letting the people of Palestine down. U.S. must do more. I need to understand that this was not by somebody that is above law and order that decided to kill us because, I don't know, maybe because I did a tweet that was very strong against President Netanyahu.
TODD (voice-over): Andres repeatedly rejected Israeli and U.S. claims that the strikes on his team were not deliberate.
ANDRES: Even if we were not in coordination with the IDF, not democratic country and not military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians, especially when the technology today allows you to know things in ways not too long ago was not possible. Those drones have eyes on everything that moves in Gaza. I've been there. This is drones non-stop flying above you. It's nothing that moves that IDF doesn't know. But said that, even nobody should be targeting ever humanitarian organizations and civilians continuously.
TODD (voice-over): Asked if World Central Kitchen will start its operations again in Gaza, Chef Andres said their work is, quote, "halted, but that they're analyzing the situation hour by hour to figure out how to keep doing the work".
And in a pointed message to the Israeli prime minister.
ANDRES: I will tell to Prime Minister Netanyahu 200 humanitarians have died already. Tens of thousands of civilians have died. I'm so sorry, but I think one humanitarian life is one too many. One children is one too many.
TODD: Again, regarding this attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces, quote, "unintentionally struck innocent people". The IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has said that the attack was a, quote, "grave mistake". Other Israeli officials have said the incident is being investigated at the highest levels.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A member of Israel's war cabinet is calling for early elections in September.
Benny Gantz is a key rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but joined his coalition government after the Hamas attacks in October. Opposition leader Yair Lapid also says the Netanyahu government should resign as early as possible. Here's what Gantz posted on Facebook.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENNY GANTZ, ISRAELI WAR CABINET MINISTER (through translator): In order for us to remain united and succeed in the tasks we're facing, the public must know that we'll soon ask once again for them to demonstrate their trust that we won't ignore the October 7th catastrophe and what occurred prior to it. Therefore, we must agree upon a date to hold elections in September as we approach the one year anniversary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Mr. Netanyahu's Likud party says Gantz should stop engaging in petty politics. It claims early elections would lead to political paralysis and fatally damage the chances of a hostage deal.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
A wild scene inside Israel's parliament as family members of the hostages stormed the Knesset's gallery. Some had their hands painted yellow, a symbol now associated with the plight of the captives. Others smeared yellow paint on the gallery's glass dividing wall. Most of the protesters left soon after they entered, but one man had to be forcibly removed. The demonstrators left pictures of the remaining hostages on gallery seats.
[03:40:06]
Still to come, a New York judge denies a motion filed by Donald Trump's lawyers to delay his criminal hush money trial. We'll have the latest on his legal troubles.
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CHURCH: Workers in Argentina took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against President Javier Milei's plan to cut tens of thousands of public service jobs. CNN's Ivan Sarmenti has more from Buenos Aires.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN ZARMENTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Javier Milei's chainsaw has reached state employees. The government announced last week the dismissal of 15,000 state workers by the end of March, and sectors unions have already counted 11,000 dismissals throughout the public administration.
But in the coming months, this number could reach up to 70,000, according to the government's own estimates. That is why they were here protesting this Wednesday. These layoffs occurred last week, just before the Easter holidays, and
include employees in national offices located here in the capital, Buenos Aires, as well as throughout the country.
The notifications arrived without prior notice through emails and WhatsApp messages, and include both workers who had been hired by the state during the previous government, as well as others with more than 20 years of seniority.
These cutbacks are part of the shrinking of the state carried out by the libertarian president to eliminate the deficit and balance the national accounts. The government has stated that there are 70,000 people who, in total, could be dismissed.
For this reason, once in office, the new government launched a policy of 90-day public contract that may or may not be renewed. These massive layoffs, then, correspond to the end of the first quarter, and many of those who remain in their jobs will still have to wait three more months to find out if they continue or not.
Ivan Sarmenti, CNN, Buenos Aires.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The judge overseeing Donald Trump's New York criminal trial over hush money allegations has denied a motion from the former president to delay the trial. Trump's lawyers called for a until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on his claim of presidential immunity for alleged crimes during his time in office. Judge Juan Merchan called the motion untimely, noting Trump's attorneys had months to file over the issue.
The trial has already been delayed once and is set to begin on April 15. Another one of Trump's federal criminal cases, this one over allegations he took classified documents from the White House after he left office, is mired in delays, and U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith is pushing back against the judge's orders over potential jury instructions.
CNN's Paula Reid has the latest.
[03:44:56]
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JACK SMITH, U.S. SPECIAL COUNSEL: We very much look forward to presenting our case to a jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A trial in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case appears highly unlikely to happen before the 2024 election, and Special Counsel Jack Smith expressing frustration with Judge Eileen Cannon.
In a new filing late Tuesday, Smith's team said Cannon had ordered briefings based on a fundamentally flawed legal premise that had no basis in law or fact.
JUDGE EILEEN CANNON, TRUMP APPOINTEE: My sincere thanks go to the president for the honor of this nomination.
REID (voice-over): Prosecutors harshly criticizing the Trump-appointed judge's request for hypothetical jury instructions. She asked both sides to take into account the former president's claim that he had broad authority to take classified documents under the Presidential Records Act.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Whatever documents the president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. It's an absolute right.
REID (voice-over): The post-Watergate law covers what documents belong to the government after an administration leaves the White House. But prosecutors have repeatedly said that law is not relevant because Trump is accused of obstruction and storing highly classified material in a bathroom and other unsecure locations at his Florida estate.
Prosecutors also point out that telling a jury that Trump had the authority to take records he wanted from the White House would make it nearly impossible to secure a conviction.
Prosecutors insist that legal premise is wrong and a jury instruction that reflects that premise would distort the trial.
But Trump's attorneys, who were also asked to weigh in here, suggested that the judge tell jurors Trump was authorized to possess a category of documents defined as personal records, both during and after his term in office.
The idea that classified documents belonged to Trump, Smith's team said, is pure fiction.
JEREMY FOGEL, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: I was a trial judge for 37 years. I have never seen an order like this.
REID (voice-over): Former federal judge Jeremy Fogel says the government will likely appeal.
FOGEL: If he makes that decision and then the case goes to trial and then he's acquitted, as he certainly would be with that instruction, the government has no recourse. There's double jeopardy.
REID (voice-over): But an appeal will likely further delay the trial, something Trump has been seeking in all his criminal cases.
REID: It's been over a month since Judge Cannon had a hearing where she heard arguments about delaying this case. It's currently penciled in for late May, but expected to be delayed. She let both sides weigh in on how far it should be delayed.
Now, since she hasn't put a date on the calendar, it's likely this case will not go before the November election. And if Trump is reelected, it is expected that he would have his
attorney general dismiss Jack Smith and those two federal criminal cases.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A Texas attorney defending the state's controversial immigration law, known as SB4, says lawmakers may have gone too far by passing it last year.
SB4 makes entering Texas illegally a state crime, giving state judges the ability to order immigrants be deported. The U.S. Justice Department challenged the law and now it sits in limbo before a federal appeals court. Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielsen says now it's the court's job to decide what to do.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
AARON NIELSEN, TEXAS SOLICITOR GENERAL: What Texas has done here is they have looked at the Supreme Court's precedent and they have tried to develop a statute that goes up to the line of Supreme Court precedent that allows Texas to protect the border. Now, to be fair, maybe Texas went too far and that's the question this court's going to have to decide.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHURCH: Nielsen went on to say the Texas attorney general interprets the state law to mean any migrant subject to deportation under the law would be turned over to federal custody.
A construction company that lost six workers in last week's bridge collapse in Baltimore has set up a fund to help their families. Brauner Builders says it created a GoFundMe account for outside donations which will go to family members. The company also says it's providing them with financial and emotional support and counseling.
Meanwhile, the city says it's setting aside $1 million in wage subsidies for workers whose jobs could be on the line because of the collapse. It shut down the port of Baltimore, affecting about 8,000 local jobs. The city hopes the money will help companies keep those workers on the payroll.
But a CNN investigation has found a number of other U.S. bridges could be at risk of collapsing if they're hit by large cargo ships. That's what caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore to crumble last week. As CNN's Pete Muntean reports, one of those vulnerable bridges is just downstream from there.
[03:50:02]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN. CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the center of the shipping channel that would have been used by the MV Dali, and soaring above is the four-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge between Annapolis and Ken Island.
A CNN investigation finds that it too could be vulnerable to the same kind of disaster that took down Baltimore's Key Bridge.
FRANK CARVER, BOAT CAPTAIN: That's the symbol of the Chesapeake Bay.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Captain Frank Carver showed me the Bay Bridge at close range, its oldest span now more than 70 years old. Multiple experts warned to CNN that the suspension bridges' concrete pilings and aging piers are too exposed to possible collision on this busy shipping route. State figures show that each year cargo ships carry a total of 11 million tons of cargo underneath.
CARVER: Sometimes we do at least four times a day, if not sometimes 10 times a day.
MUNTEAN: This is the older span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, finished in 1953. The newer span, the westbound span, finished in 1972. Both of these combined are critical for the area. About 27 million vehicles pass over these two bridges each year.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Engineering professor Adel ElSafty of the University of North Florida says the design could be at risk of collapse if the wrong piling was hit.
ADEL ELSAFTY, CIVIL ENGINEERING PROF., UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN FLORIDA: If one support goes down, then the whole superstructure will go down as well, and it will pull the other parts as well. It's going to have that kind of catastrophic failure.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The tower piers that support the main spans of the Bay Bridge have protective fenders, but ElSafty points out that is where protections end. There are none of the barriers known as dolphins used to blunt the force of an errant ship.
ELSAFTY: I think that is what we really need to do is to design and protect, design better and protect our infrastructure.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is operated and maintained by the same agency that oversees the Key Bridge.
In a new statement to CNN, the Maryland Transportation Authority says after the Key Bridge collapse, it is, quote, "looking at options with the U.S. Coast Guard on the feasibility of increased pier protections for the Bay Bridge and what's possible in the navigation channel".
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said no bridge is designed for a direct hit from a ship.
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is a unique circumstance. I do not know of a bridge that has been constructed to withstand a direct impact from a vessel of this size.
CARVER: I think everybody will definitely be on more guard now, that's for sure.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Just south of the Bay Bridge are the container ships waiting to get into Baltimore, still blocked by the Key Bridge disaster. One, Frank Carver, says cannot be repeated.
CARVER: It's a whole new life. Something you just didn't realize could ever happen, all that. It happened. Now you can see it just opened up so many more vulnerabilities all around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN's Pete Muntean reporting there. And we'll be right back.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
North America is just days away from experiencing a total eclipse of the sun. The line of totality, where the moon will completely block the sun on Monday, runs from central Mexico's Pacific coast through a large part of the U.S. and eastern Canada.
But severe weather may complicate things. Forecasters predict thunderstorms in parts of the southern United States on eclipse day right along the line of totality.
[03:55:04]
Well millions of people in the U.S. alone are expected to hit the roads, airports and rail lines to find and experience the most intense views of the solar eclipse. Kristen Fisher tells us what's in store for them.
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KRISTEN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: A total solar eclipse like this one will not be visible from the United States again until 2044, so 20 years from now. That's why we're seeing so many people scrambling to try to find the best weather and get in position to see this on Monday.
There are a few other things that make this eclipse really unique, and the first is the length of time for totality. That's the moment when the moon completely blocks out the sun, and that's when day will literally turn to night, so dark that the stars come out, nocturnal animals come out. That is how dark it gets, and so that moment of totality for this eclipse is much longer than it was in previous eclipses. At the longest point it'll be about four minutes and 30 seconds, so that's a good amount of time to really get to soak in the power of nature in our solar system.
Another really unique thing about this eclipse is the fact that it just happens to coincide with a period of peak activity on the surface of the sun, so during that moment of totality things like solar flares or coronal mass ejections are much more likely than in previous eclipses and could just make for some really cool viewing. But of course with any eclipse, but this one in particular, the weather is always a factor and unfortunately it's not looking like it's going to cooperate in large parts of the United States along this path of totality. Texas and Arkansas, really the weather not looking great there, but places like southern Missouri and Indianapolis and upstate New York and New England, the weather's looking pretty good there.
So as always before an eclipse, the eclipse chasers, the diehards are trying to find that best weather viewing condition so that they can see this eclipse, because again if you don't see this one it's going to be 20 years before you get to see something like this if you live in the United States.
Kristen Fisher, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Very exciting. And join us Monday for the total solar eclipse as it travels from Mexico across America and into Canada. Our special coverage starts at 12 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. that is 5 p.m. in London.
And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next, with Max Foster.
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