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CNN International: Trump Return for Another Week of Court; Bodies Found in Mexico Confirmed to be Missing Surfers; Kenya: Death Toll up to 228, 72 Mission, with More Heavy Rain Coming; Chinese Leader in France on First Trip to Europe in 5 Years. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 06, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here are our top stories today.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting with French and EU leaders today on the first stop of his European tour. The six-day trip will also include stops in Serbia and Hungary. Ceasefire talks involving Israel and Hamas in Cairo have stalled but haven't ended.

This as Israel urges people to evacuate from eastern Rafah. More than a million Palestinian refugees have fled there from the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no amount of international pressure to change tactics will stop Israel from defending itself. Netanyahu spoke at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event where he compared what happened during World War II to what's happening today.

Now, just hours from now Donald Trump will be back in a New York courtroom for the start of the fourth week of his historic criminal trial. The former U.S. president has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels is a potential witness for the prosecution but they've been tight-lipped over who they might call to the stand next. CNN's Zachary Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: A new witness will take the stand on Monday when the hush money trial of former president Donald Trump resumes. While it remains unclear who will be called to testify next, we're still waiting to hear from several key witnesses including the adult actress at the center of the trial Stormy Daniels and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen.

The trial picks back up after Friday's testimony from one of Trump's former key advisors Hope Hicks. Hicks sat feet away from Trump as she described the 2016 fallout from the Access Hollywood tape and the Trump campaign's response to stories about hush money payments. Testimony from Hicks really set the stage for witnesses who have

direct knowledge of Trump's alleged role in this scheme to keep Stormy Daniels quiet ahead of the 2016 election. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from how he allegedly hid the way Michael Cohen was reimbursed for paying $130,000 to Daniels.

Hicks testified last week that she did not believe the story that Cohen had paid the money on his own and she said that Trump was glad he did not have to deal with the stories about hush money payments coming out until after the 2016 election. Now Trump White House aides, Trump organization employees, Daniels and Michael Cohen are all still on deck for prosecutors to call.

Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Despite Trump's legal problems he's still running neck and neck with President Joe Biden now six months ahead of election day. CNN's latest Poll of Polls shows no clear leader in the presidential race at the moment. 47 percent of voters favor Trump while 46 support Biden. The Poll of Polls includes four of the most recent national polls.

Panama's electoral authority says Jose Raul Mulino is the unofficial winner of the presidential election there based on preliminary results. With most of the votes counted he's leading his closest rival by about 10 percentage points.

The right-wing former public servant moved to the top of his party's ticket after his running mate was disqualified. Mulino has vowed to shut down Darien Gap, the treacherous stretch of jungle that's become a main highway for migrants heading to the U.S. Panama is struggling with many thorny issues including corruption, high inflation and a stagnating economy.

A tragic update on the search for three missing surfers in Mexico. The bodies found in Baja California Friday have been confirmed to be the two missing Australian brothers and their American friend. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Unfortunately, Maria Elena Andrade, the attorney general in charge of the case of the three missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico told reporters in a statement late on Sunday that the relatives of these three surfers had identified the three bodies that were recovered earlier last Friday in the morning as those of the three tourists. Two are Australian citizens, one is a U.S. citizen.

In a previous statement, reporters also on Sunday out of Tijuana, Andrade had told the reporters that she believed that the three tourists had been killed as part of a car robbery gone wrong.

MARIA ELENA ANDRADE, STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO (through translator): The aggression to these three people, a regrettable attack, had no relation to being surfers. They were killed because they were there at the wrong moment when they wanted to steal the vehicle, a pickup. We have not established that there was any knowledge that they were foreigners.

POZZEBON: Andrade said that the three suspects had been detained and she pledged to bring anyone involved with the crime to justice.

[04:35:00]

The foreign ministry of Mexico presented a statement of condolences and the relatives of the two Australian citizens, Jake and Callum Robinson, as well as the family of the U.S. citizen Jack Carter Rhoad, had traveled to Mexico last week to assist with the investigation and received the news out of Tijuana, unfortunately.

This latest crime involving these three foreign tourists puts the spotlight on a deep security crisis that is being felt all across northern Mexico. Even though these rising levels of violence rarely target foreigners and tourists in particular, more than 100,000 Mexicans are still reported missing to this date.

On Sunday, the surfing community of Ensenada held a rally to protest the violence in the city.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Officials in Kenya say the death toll from weeks of widespread flooding has now risen to at least 228 people. 72 are still missing and the danger is far from over with more heavy rain forecast for the country's western and northern regions.

Parts of the country received more than half a month's worth of rain in just two days at the start of this month. More than 165,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

Larry Madowo joins us from Nairobi. And it's frightening to think that there could be worse to come with more rain on already saturated ground.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the forecast, Max, but I want to show you the impact of the two months of rain on one of Kenya's most exclusive neighborhoods. Where I'm standing, you see the water up to my knees, is actually part of -- this used to be a wall. This is a broken down wall from past flooding, but I want to show you across the wall over the other side because that courtyard is completely flooded and the water is higher than my entire height and I'm 5'9", so that is no small feat.

This is one of Nairobi's most exclusive neighborhoods. These are high- end properties, mansions, fancy hotels. We're just a few hundred meters from the U.N. office in Nairobi and that is what you see over there. That's the reality of the flooding that Kenya has been seeing over this past two months. So I'm just going to walk over across the road because that water is coming from that compound across the road. This road is officially closed, but that does not stop people from using it all the same because this is one of the easier ways to get to where they're going instead of getting rerouted.

But this is a reality of the flooding and that is why so many roads are getting closed, so many people are getting evacuated. The government last Friday ordering people to move. Mandatory evacuations for places what they consider to be in fragile ecosystems likely to flood. They identified 178 different dams that are either full or near full that they ordered people to move.

And this morning when because of six hours of rain overnight they closed this road but that's as you can see people are still using it avoiding that government intervention and risking their lives.

There have been cases where people have been swept away in their cars, in their motorbikes, in their bicycles because of something like this. Disobeying that government guidance and going through it anyway not knowing how deep the water is or if there's any sudden change in the currents or anything of the sort.

But this is the reality of flooding across the country. This is why so far 228 people have been killed across the country. That is danger. I didn't know how deep this is.

228 people have been killed across the country. More than 160,000 people are displaced and the forecast according to President William Ruto is that there will still going to be more rain throughout this month possibly into next month.

So the damage could be even more significant. We saw for instance in western Kenya on Sunday River Nyando bursting its banks leading to flooding the town of Ahero and the neighborhoods there. People were marooned. The Kenya Wildlife Service had to use helicopters to evacuate some people.

The county government of Kisumu are pleading for help because they now have a few hundred more people who are displaced. That is the reality across the country where the government has set up more than a hundred different sites to take care of people who are displaced.

Schools have been postponed indefinitely. Public schools across the country will not be opening until further notice according to the government just to make sure that learners are safe. In the meantime people risking their lives all the time just trying to use the quickest ways to get where they're going -- Max.

FOSTER: Yes it's difficult to see how the government can manage this because of the scale of the flooding and it's pretty unprecedented isn't it? But the Kenyan meteorological department as I understand it did warn a year ago that El Nino could intensify the rainy season which would have allowed the government to prepare to some extent. MADOWO: That's absolutely correct. The Kenyan Met Department to their credit has always warned that we would see enhanced rainfall because of the El Nino weather phenomenon. These warnings have been public.

[04:40:00]

They have made these documents available to government and that's why there's been so much criticism of the government's response to this. The lack of early warning to citizens to evacuate. The lack of a plan for disaster response as soon as people were in some cases the flash floods where there were mudslides they were not responded to immediately. So some people died just because the response was inadequate.

And now the government of Kenya appealing for foreign countries to help in the disaster response, to help with shelter and food and other non-food items because when you have more than 100,000 people displaced the government just cannot deal with it. So far they've received some aid from the United Arab Emirates but the need is just so far greater than what's available right now -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Larry in Nairobi thank you.

Extreme weather also devastating southern Brazil. Officials say at least 78 people have been killed in a series of catastrophic floods. More than 100 others are missing. Residents and evacuees tell CNN they've seen dead bodies floating in the water. Some areas have already exceeded their average May rainfall in the first five days of the month.

Search and rescue teams in Texas continue to scour areas flooded by days of heavy rain. Hundreds of people more than 150 pets have been rescued. Some areas received two months worth of rain in just five days.

Now eight rivers are in major flood stage and more than a third of the state's counties are under disaster declarations. The high water has prompted mandatory evacuations forcing thousands of people from their homes but despite the threat some refuse to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. DAVID JASPER, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: These people live down here, they've been through this before. They experienced Hurricane Harvey and the way this is it's not region-wide like Hurricane Harvey was but in this area it's second only to Hurricane Harvey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well the state has also recorded its first fatality from the flooding with the body of a five-year-old boy recovered near Fort Worth on Sunday.

China's leader is on his first trip to Europe in five years. We'll get details on Xi Jinping's agenda and what he hopes to accomplish just ahead in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Chinese President Xi Jinping is in France this hour aiming to strengthen what he called the long-standing friendship between the two countries. Mr. Xi is set to meet soon with president -- French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President as well Ursula von der Leyen. Later on Monday he'll be honored at a state dinner.

This is Mr. Xi's first visit to Europe in five years. His six-day tour will also include stops in Serbia and Hungary. Kristie Lu Stout joins us now from Hong Kong. There will be a lot of countries in Europe that would like to receive this visit. How did they select which ones they were going to do you think?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the selection is very, very intentional here.

[04:45:00]

The stakes are high for Xi Jinping at the start of his six-day trip to these three countries to France, Serbia and Hungary and it comes at a time of deep division over trade, over Russia's war against Ukraine, a war that China has yet to condemn.

And in the hours ahead we know that Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet with one of his toughest critics. He'll be meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen along with the French President Emmanuel Macron and we were just able to see that both leaders have just arrived, the European leaders for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Now von der Leyen, she's the one who's called on the EU to de-risk its supply chains away from China and to probe, to investigate the influx of cheaper subsidized Chinese EVs into the European market.

Now Macron also seeking protection from cheaper Chinese products like EVs. He also wants China to use its leverage over Russia and Macron is also seeking investment. In an article that was published on Sunday in Le Figaro, Xi Jinping pledged to deepen trade ties with France.

He said this -- let's bring it up for you.

Quote: The Chinese government supports more Chinese companies and investing in France. We hope that France will ensure that they operate in a fair and equitable business environment, unquote.

But analysts say that this visit is much more than just shoring up trade. This is part of China's strategy to exploit differences inside Europe, which is why Xi Jinping is visiting these three countries.

CNN spoke to Noah Barkin, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and he pointed out this.

He said: China is seen increasingly as a multi-faceted threat in many European capitals but there are divisions within Europe over how fast and how far to go in addressing concerns about China, both in the economic and security spheres.

As you mentioned Max, after this visit to France, Xi Jinping is set to visit Serbia next as well as Hungary and those in contrast are two countries in Europe that are pro-Russia and also very, very big recipients of Chinese investment.

So those visits are expected to be much less contentious and something observers say Beijing likely planned on purpose. Back to you.

FOSTER: Kristie in Hong Kong, thank you.

Nicholas Bequelin is a senior fellow at the Yale Law School's Paul Seitz China Centre, joins us now from New York. Thank you so much for joining us.

It's an interesting point that isn't it, that Kristie's making. Is this a not so subtle way of China really creating or exploiting divides amongst Western allies?

NICHOLAS BEQUELIN, SR. FELLOW, YALE LAW SCHOOL'S FAUL TSAI CHINA CENTER: Oh absolutely. I mean the message that Xi Jinping is sending by choosing these three countries to go to Europe, his first trip since the pandemic, since Russia's invasion, is threefold.

I go to France, the most powerful country in the EU at the moment, to show other countries in Europe that they should treat me the way that France has treated me. They give me a great reception and they want to do business, they want to cooperate, they're not on the American line, that China is dangerous, so please treat me in the same way.

Then he goes to Serbia to commemorate the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy during the Balkan War in '99, which the Americans say was a mistake, but the Chinese never believed this.

And then he goes to Hungary, which is the biggest headache for the European Union and the actor that really prevents the European Union to reach common decisions and keep effectively the EU divided.

So this is really a power move from Xi Jinping, showing that he wants to deal with the European Union, he wants things to stay in the same way, he doesn't want Europe to de-risk, but the trade and the relationship has to be on China's terms.

FOSTER: Which will make the meeting interesting, won't it, with the French president and the president of the EU. They're going to be in joint meetings. So how do you think he'll handle that? He's effectively going to want to strengthen ties with France while stabilizing them with the EU or even weakening them.

BEQUELIN: Well, this is, you know, this is Macron's approach. France has been very much behind the efforts at the European level to de-risk its relationship with China, to reduce its dependencies, because China has a huge trade deficit with Europe, is about to, you know, flood the European market with EV vehicles and green technology that will completely level up the European industry. So Macron is very aware of this and is trying through the European Union to prevent it through de-risking.

[04:50:00]

That's the hard stance towards China. And then in person, he's trying to be as charming as possible to have a good relation with China. And as you know, China is very good at this and you can never go wrong making the French feel special. So that's part also of the approach.

But Macron not being naive sees that, you know, when China announced that they would go to the Serbia and Hungary, the two biggest headaches for Europe, that's when he finally decided, OK, we need to have the EU in the room and invited at the very last minute von der Leyen to be able for Xi Jinping to hear EU common position while he tours the continent.

FOSTER: The French pretty good at making visitors feel special as well. This is a ceremonial guard gathering outside the Elysee Palace ready to bring in, to welcome President Xi Jinping. I know, you know, from his visit to the U.K. a few years ago that the Chinese diplomats really think about every single second of this, don't they? They are so aware of the optics and how the president comes across in a foreign country. And there won't be much they haven't thought about on this visit.

BEQUELIN: Absolutely. And I think they have lots of little signals that show that France, even though he wants to give faith to Xi Jinping, President Macron is taking President Xi to his holiday home in southern France, pretty much in the same way that Xi invited Macron to see his father's residence during his trip last year.

But there are a number of little snubs that you can see. First, you know, it was the prime minister who welcomed Xi at the airport, not the president. The meeting is taking place at the Elysee, not at Versailles, which is the more prestigious part. And then he invites von der Leyen, which is probably the last person that Xi Jinping wants to see on this trip.

So I think the, you know, that the atmosphere of the meeting will, you know, they'll turn the charm on and they'll want to insist on the common point and the common interest, because Xi Jinping wants a better relation with Europe that it has with the U.S. But at the same time, the reality is that there is huge opposition between these two blocs. Basically, China is supporting Russia and Russia is the main security threats to Europe.

That is not something that the Europeans can let go. But China wants just that. They just want Europe to continue to be divided, to continue to be hobbled by this major security risk in the Ukraine war, to be not aligned entirely with the U.S., which is really making its strengths still in China at the moment, and to continue to be, you know, a partner that you can take advantage of.

But that era is over. And I think that Europe has woken up to the threats. FOSTER: We'll be following it closely. It's a fascinating visit. Nicholas Bequelin, thank you so much for joining us.

Just ahead, it's 110th time lucky for Lando Norris as he ends his long wait for an F1 win and ends world champion Max Verstappen's own long winning streak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:00]

FOSTER: Lando Norris stormed to his first victory in the Miami Grand Prix. The 24-year-old McLaren driver started fifth on the grid but finished more than seven seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. It's first time Norris has taken top spot with a British driver. Admitting it's been a long time coming. He'll be hoping to emulate the win when F1 heads to Italy in just a couple of weeks.

Almost 266,000 people donned their sneakers for a common cause Sunday, uniting in what's been dubbed the largest running event in the world. Runners, walkers, and wheelchair users in 169 countries joined the Wings for Life World Run. They raised nearly $9 million to fund the research for a cure for spinal cord injuries. The average distance was a very respectable 11 and a half kilometers, with the men's winner topping 70 kilometers and the female champ clocking 55.

And the story's in the spotlight this hour. NASA says two of its astronauts are about to make history as the first pilots to fly a Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station. The Starliner spacecraft has had two unmanned test flights to the ISS. Boeing is banking on this mission being a success.

The company is dealing with several controversies with its airplanes after some deadly crashes and other high-profile incidents. The launch is scheduled for just after 10:30 p.m. Eastern time tonight.

Now it's almost time for the world's most famous night in fashion. On Monday, the steps of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a bevy of A-listers hitting the red carpet in their most eye-popping ensembles for the Met Gala. This year's theme is the Garden of Time, a reference to the sci-fi short story written in 1962 by J.G. Ballard. Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Zendaya and Chris Hemsworth are serving as co-chairs for the gala.

Music icon Madonna turned up the star power with a spectacular concert in Brazil. The queen of pop dazzled fans at a free show in Rio de Janeiro. It was the last stop on her Celebration World Tour. She performed legendary hits like Vogue, Express Yourself and Like A Prayer. An estimated 1.6 million fans braved the heat to catch the material girl's performance. They filled the area around Copacabana Beach for several blocks. Look at that.

Thank you for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.