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Biden Warns U.S. Will Withhold Weapons Shipments If Israel Invades Rafah; Putin To Mark Victory Day Emboldened By Ukraine Gains; House Lawmakers Grill K-12 Administrators Over Antisemitism; Powerful Storms Kill 3 As Tornadoes Tear Through Central And Southeastern US; Chinese President Xi to Hold Talks With Orban In Hungary. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 09, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up this hour here on CNN, as Israel's offensive on Rafah appears to expand, the U.S. president says enough.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Israel's wage war in those areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Once shipment of us defensive weapons already on hold, the President wants Israel, more delays in military assistance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what Putin has to offer. And it's war.
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VAUSE: Vladimir Putin and Victory Day how the Russian president has tied his own blatantly rigged election win into the country's revered celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can hardly fathom sending one of my sons to school knowing he'll be exposed to vile hate filled discrimination.
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VAUSE: First, they grilled administrators at elite universities in the US. Now Republicans in Congress want to know what's being done to fight antisemitism in K through 12th grade at public schools.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause. VAUSE: For the first time, U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Israel will not be supplied with offensive weapons, which could be used in a military operation on the southern Gaza City of Rafah. During an exclusive interview with CNN, President Biden says the U.S. remains committed to Israel's security. But he's also concerned for the safety of more than a million displaced Palestinians, now in rougher on the orders of the Israeli military.
For days, Rafah has been hit with airstrikes as well as tank and artillery fire and Israel seize control of the rougher border crossing on Monday. But President Biden says Israeli forces have not yet moved into the main population area of Rafah.
Last week, the White House paused shipments of 2,000 pound and 500 pound bombs to Israel concerned about their use in population centers like Rafah. Here's part of Biden's exclusive conversation with CNN Erin Burnett.
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BIDEN: I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, they haven't gotten on Rafah yet, they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.
We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks like came out in the Middle East recently. But it's just wrong. We're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells use that.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Artillery shells as well.
BIDEN: Yeah, Artillery shells.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Scott McLean, following developments live this hour for us from Istanbul. So Scott, I want you to listen to the IDF chief spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari, he's talking about the relationship with the United States in terms of overall military assistance. Here he is.
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ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF CHIEF SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The aid is unprecedented. The operational partnership is significant when there are disputes. And there are they are being resolved behind closed doors in a matter of fact, way. We are responsible for the security interests of the state of Israel. And we are attentive to the interests of the United States in the region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's what's being said publicly. What are the Israelis saying privately about this pause in weapons supplies? SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, yes, so we know from a source briefed on the matter that Israeli officials are expressing their, quote, deep frustrations with this pause in weapons shipments from the United States arguing that the move may jeopardize the hostage negotiations at a pretty critical stage.
We should take this with some grain of salt because it's not really clear what level these conversations between Israeli officials and American officials are actually taking place. But to suffice to say, the Israelis feel very strongly that the U.S. criticism or the U.S. efforts should be directed at Hamas, not at cutting off weapons to Israel.
It is also worth noting, John, that the IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner was interviewed on CNN yesterday and he was asked point blank, what impact this pause in weapons shipments might have on the operation in Rafah and he deflected on the question, so it's not really clear at the moment.
But you are hearing it now from the President and from now all levels of the U.S. administration. The message here is pretty clear that, look, the U.S. wants to make sure that It Israel has what it needs to defend itself but in terms of offensive operations in Rafah, they don't want any part of that.
[01:05:08]
And when we're talking about these weapons, I mean, 3,500 of them have put been put on pause. Now these are about half of them are 2,000 pound bombs. The other half are 500 pound bombs. And these are not precision weapons, the heavier ones at least will leave a massive crater, they will shoot shrapnel hundreds of feet away. And so when we're talking about a densely populated area, these can do a lot of damage. And we are seeing some of this on the ground already.
VAUSE: Should 2,000 pound bombs we never used in the U.S. led offensive on Mosul or the Iraqi led coalition offensive on Mosul against ISIS just as a point there, but Peter Lerner, the IDF spokesperson kind of dodged the question about the impact it has on Israel's operations.
But it does seem from what we know that the Israeli offensive on Rafah is at least expanding in some regards.
MCLEAN: Yes, and so we know this from satellite pictures taken in the last few days, John. So if you compare them it shows a similar pattern to what we saw earlier on in the war airstrikes followed by troops moving in, followed by various buildings and bits of rubble being bulldozed to make way for IDF vehicles and equipment and things like that. And that is what we are seeing at the moment right now.
We are also seeing pictures from the ground, which shows the devastation of some of those airstrikes, and frankly, they're pretty hard to watch, whether it's people running with children in their arms, some looking semi-conscious or unconscious or bleeding. And then inside the hospitals there, it looks like absolute chaos. We also know that people are on the move at last count, there were
50,000 or so people confirmed to have moved out of Rafah. And there's also one hospital, the biggest one in Rafah that is effectively in the line of fire and has been emptied out and shut down for the moment at least. It's been relocated now to a central part of the city, in obviously much more makeshift conditions that they're working in.
They don't have the specialties. They don't have an ICU. They don't have the same number of doctors working there as well. There are two other smaller hospitals that are operating. But again, they are all only partially operating at the moment.
And so the again, going back to the shipment of weapons, the U.S. is trying to make clear that look, it doesn't support any kind of operation, large scale operation in Rafah, when they don't have a plan, at least in the US's version how the U.S. sees things. They don't have a plan, a credible plan to move all those million plus civilians out of the way.
VAUSE: Scott, thank you. Scott McLean there with some updates on what the Israelis are saying as well as situation in Rafah as well. Scott, thank you.
Let's go to Rafah now. Hamish Young is UNICEF's senior Emergency Coordinator for Gaza. He is with us now in Rafah. Hamish thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
HAMISH YOUNG, SENIOR EMERGENCY COORDINATOR FOR GAZA, UNICEF: Morning, John.
VAUSE: I just want to say satellite images for a moment. They show the last day or so that the Israeli operation appears to expanded. If you look closely, there will be some buildings appear to be bulldozed along with mustering areas for vehicles for the IDF appear to be created as well.
Israeli troops have moved about a mile or so in from the Rafah border crossing towards the city of the main population center of Rafah. So, how much of that detail can you confirm from where you are in Rafah? What are you seeing of this Israeli military operation from where you are?
YOUNG: John, Rafah is hanging on the edge of the precipice. I'm sure you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced some time ago that there was going to be an incursion on Rafah. People left then the people that were the people with the means to move. The people that left here now are the most vulnerable.
We've seen the same satellite images as you have. But I think more importantly, what we're seeing and hearing on the ground here is the ongoing offensive and an increase certainly an aerial activity. Where I'm standing now is to the western part of Rafah. But I regularly hear bombs going off, shelling. I can hear the jets overhead. And yesterday morning in this morning, there was quite a lot of gunfire coming from the naval ships offshore. VAUSE: Your organization, UNICEF, believes the number of children,
just children in Rafah right now more than half 1,600,000. In general terms describe their current medical condition after seven months of war, their physical capability of actually reaching those safety zones as declared by Israel as the place where they should seek shelter right now can they even get there?
YOUNG: So the children in Rafah now as I said earlier, some of the few people left were the ones that could the children and the people here now are the most vulnerable. Just to give you an example, are living in difficult conditions, under tents, makeshift tarpaulins this time thing under shocking sanitary conditions because there's no effective sewage system here.
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So the level of acute watery diarrhea, which as a, you know, can kill children quite easily is now 20 times higher than what it was this time last year. We've seen malnutrition rates going up in the south here, not as much as in the north, but they are going up.
And of course, as I think your last speaker said, we've just lost one of the main hospitals in Rafah here or lost access to it. So there's a greatly reduced ability for children to reach medical services. They're in real trouble.
I was leaving where we work yesterday and stopped and had a chat with a family who was leaving, packing up a beaten up old car. There were a couple of adults, like a grandfather, some kids and asked where they were going, and the elder gentleman told me, he would rather go back to his destroyed house in in Khan Younis than stay in Rafah.
And as he was talking to me, he just broke down and started sobbing, John, and the whole situation deteriorated, the kids started crying, then the kids started pleading with me make it stop, make it stop. This is the sort of situation that people it's really, really tragic.
VAUSE: Time set by about 1.5 million, I imagine. The head of the World Health Organization is now warning that with the Rafah across enclosed, there is a dire situation for fuel. Here he is. Listen to this.
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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We only have enough fuel to run health services in the South for three more days. (INAUDIBLE) has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals. But without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot sustain our life saving support to hospitals.
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VAUSE: Three days of fuel, what happens when that's gone?
YOUNG: We made that estimate yesterday, John, it's two days of fuel now. When that -- we're rationing the fuel already for hospitals scaling down operations as we can. When that fuel runs out, life support systems in hospitals stop. All hospitals are running on generators. All the mains power for Gaza was switched off a long time ago. So people on ventilators, I don't know what happens to them when the ventilators stopped running children in incubators, little tiny babies.
Often it's two and three jammed into one incubator because we haven't been able to bring enough in. Those incubators stopped running. So I think it's safe to say that those people are extreme risk and probably a large number will die when the fuel runs out.
VAUSE: Hamish, thank you. Hamish Young in Rafah we appreciate the update. Stay safe, please. Thank you.
YOUNG: Thanks John. Thank you.
VAUSE: Here's President Joe Biden campaign in Wisconsin Wednesday on his economic achievements, while Republican rival Donald Trump spent his day on the dining with people who actually paid big bucks to buy some pictures of him. CNN Julia Benbrook has our report.
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JULIA BENBROOK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden announcing a more than $3 billion investment from Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence facility in Wisconsin.
BIDEN: It's going to be transformative. Not here, just here. But worldwide.
BENBROOK (voice-over): This new facility will be located at the same site where in 2018, then-President Donald Trump broke ground on what was supposed to be a signature project under his administration and Electronics Factory for Taiwan's Foxconn, which had secured billions in tax credits and promised thousands of jobs. Those investments largely failed to materialize.
BIDEN: They dug a hole, those golden shovels and then they fell into it.
BENBROOK (voice-over): Meanwhile, Trump has the day off from court. On Tuesday, Stormy Daniels the adult film star Trump is accused of trying to silence with the hush money payment took the stand. Daniels detailed the alleged affair she had with Trump which he denies ever happened.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I should be in a lot of different places right now campaigning and I'm sitting here.
BENBROOK (voice-over): Trump often complains that he should be on the campaign trail when he stuck in court. But the trial goes dark on Wednesdays and Trump is choosing to spend this Wednesday at Mar-a-Lago with supporters who purchased multiple NFT's. Trump's NFTs include a photo of his mug shot taken after he was arrested in Georgia last year. His NFTs are not connected to the campaign. Reporting in Washington, I'm Julia Benbrook.
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VAUSE: Strong storms are sweeping across parts of the central and southeastern US. Millions under threat of severe weather and tornadoes including Alabama for a large and destructive tornado was reported just a short time ago in the city of Haniger (ph) east of Huntsville.
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Meantime, in the state of Tennessee, the National Weather Service's there have already been four tornado reports. At least two people have been killed. All this playing out one day are two powerful storms swept through Michigan is one tornado hit the town of Portage Tuesday night. Images show trees being toppled by the fierce winds in one front yard of a home.
In the past week record rainfall has triggered deadly floods in southern Brazil. At least 95 people have died more than 150,000 have been forced to leave their homes. The government has responded with mass rescues. More than 46,000 people have been pulled from the rising waters and people are now seeking shelter anywhere they can even camping next to highways.
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ADAN MORELRA DOES SANTOS, DISPLACED BY FLOODS (through translator): We're camping because there's no way we can stay in the water. There the water is almost three meters high. It's already covering the roofs. We're staying here because there's nowhere else to stay.
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VAUSE: More than a million and a half people have been affected by the storms in Brazil as well as countless animals including a horse stranded on the top of a roof. Heavy rain has been linked to human caused global warming as well as El Nino which warms parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Still ahead here, China expanding its influence in Eastern Europe. Xi Jing ping visiting Serbia and Hungary as he tries to build stronger ties with allies and autocrats at the edge of the European Union.
Also later, a cargo plane forced to make an emergency landing coming to a stop on his nose, FedEx delivery in time. We'll see.
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VAUSE: The world's largest Navy a piece of a brand new aircraft carrier. China's defense ministry announcing bait and sea trials for the Fujian is China's first homegrown carrier much bigger than the other two active carriers which were built based on a Ukrainian decommissioned aircraft carrier. China says the carrier meets expectations over multiple tests and propulsion and electrical systems as well. Key feature is an electromagnetic catapult system, which will allow you to launch large and heavy aircraft. By now the only active carrier in the world with that kind of system is the USS Gerald Ford.
Or many of to autocrats in Hungary, Viktor Orban greeted China's Xi Jinping in Budapest last leg of Xi's European tour. Two leaders are set for talks and a signing ceremony in the coming hours. Xi wants to deepen ties with Eastern Europe with Chinese companies and the Chinese government has invested billions of dollars as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.
On Wednesday, Xi and Serbia's President agreed on a shared future for their country's signing al two dozen trade and regulation agreements and promising to continue their partnership.
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XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Today Serbia has become the first European country to jointly build a community with a shared future with China that fully demonstrates the special strategic and high level of China's Serbia relations.
ALEKSANDER VUCIC, SERBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Republic of Serbia and the People's Republic of China are moving from strategic relations.
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A level to which we had already succeeded in raising our bilateral relations to a community that speaks of the common future of our two countries. This is the highest level of cooperation between two countries.
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VAUSE: Presently Xi's visit coincided with the anniversary of the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
Overnight (ph) barrage of Russian missiles and attack drones have caused extensive damage to Ukraine's energy grid, according to Ukrainian officials. Three Ukrainian power plants were targeted and the biggest Russian strike in weeks came on the same day Ukraine celebrated victory over Nazi Germany.
Residential homes and parts of Ukraine's rail network are also damaged at least three people were hurt. Russia will celebrate victory day in the coming hours with a speech from the newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin, and also a big military parade.
On Wednesday, Putin hosted a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union with the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, the leaders of those countries will also attend the Victory Day events later today.
Putin has used the Victory Day in the past at least to rally support, and also to complain against a long list of grievances he has with the West.
And earlier I spoke with Jill Dougherty, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, also a former CNN Moscow bureau chief and I asked Jill, what we should expect from Putin's Victory Day address this year.
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JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think the danger here is that the war which is extremely important World War II, 27 million Russians died, there is no doubt about that. But Putin is now turning World War II into really the definition of what Russians are. This has become, you know, a sacred idea. And it taken to an extreme level.
So it has turned Russia, I believe, into a very militaristic country right now, internally with a lot of repression, et cetera. So this is where we appear to be headed, that this is what Putin has to offer. And its war.
VAUSE: Notably, Ukraine, the same anniversary but a day earlier. The Ukrainian president Zelenskyy had very similar things to say about Nazism and fascism in Russia taking over. We also heard from a spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry with us how this war in Ukraine could deescalate issues. Here she is.
MARIA ZAKHOROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): What is needed for deescalation? Josep Borrell has already said it. He said that if you stop supplying weapons to the Kyiv regime, how long did he say? Everything will be over in two weeks. Here is the true formula for peace, voiced by the Westerners themselves. Here is a possible deescalation.
VAUSE: That is truly world class spin. But one person's deescalation is another's capitulation. But does that statement in a way reflect any concerns in Moscow, possibly a renewed military assistance from the United States heading its way to Ukraine after being stalled for months in Congress?
DOUGHERTY: I think they're concerned about it. There's no question. That's a bit of trolling, obviously, that she has. But that is the position that Russia has, you know, everything is fine if Ukraine simply gives up and then the war will be over.
But this again, we get back to that point, that Putin at this point, the entire economy, society, the entire country right now is focused on one thing, and that is war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Our thanks to CNN contributor, Jill Dougherty. Well, a day of reckoning perhaps for the congressional representative from the USA of Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the lady who bleeds into his space lasers. At an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Greene's motion to have him removed from the speakership was defeated in a bipartisan landslide. One GOP lawmaker called the Georgia congresswoman's behavior embarrassing. Another one she's sowing dissent and discord. CNN's Melanie Zanona has the very latest reporting in from Capitol Hill.
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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: While the showdown between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Speaker drops and finally came to a head on Wednesday with Marjorie Taylor Greene, moving ahead and forcing a floor vote to oust the sitting speaker but that motion was easily defeated.
The second she called up that vote Johnson scheduled it and they made a procedural move to table or kill the motion and it was defeated, with the help of Democrats and just 11 Republicans siding with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
But even though this was easily defeated, Republicans were furious with Greene for following through with this move, especially since Donald Trump had personally called her and told and urged her to back down and now some Republicans are calling for consequences for Greene. Take a listen.
REP. STEPHANIE BICE (R-OK): Right now we're all focused on making sure that this institution continues to function and I think today we showed that we're tired of the chaos and the nonsense.
REP. MARC MOLINARO (R-NY): This A pathetic rerun of an awful syndicated TV series that needs to come to a close.
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I think that there needs to be ultimately there needs to be accountability. I don't think people should be. Some people here think they're more important than everyone else. They are not. And there needs to be accountability for that.
REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Look, I think it's idiotic. You know, Moscow Marjorie has lost her mind clearly the result of a space laser. There needs to be consequences, including the loss of committee assignments, Chip Roy and Thomas Massie who serve on the rules committee should both be removed immediately.
ZANONA: Now, Johnson himself has not advocated for any repercussions for his colleagues that voted against him. But he has said that they need to change their House rules next year in order to ensure that the chamber can function properly. And he also said that he hopes after this vote, they can finally put this messy infighting that has defined the 118 Congress behind them, but Greene has not ruled out forcing additional votes on the motion to vacate. So we'll have to wait and see. For now though, Johnson's job is safe. Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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VAUSE: When we come back, the exclusive conversation between Joe Biden and CNN's Erin Burnett, who asked the U.S. president about the war in Gaza, these protests on campus, the economy and also his rematch with Republican rival Donald Trump.
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VAUSE: Now to a CNN exclusive interview with the U.S. President Joe Biden. Erin Burnett asked President Biden about his support for Israel. And for the first time he detailed conditions on U.S. military aid, as well as the supply of us made weapons. They also discussed his rematch with Donald Trump, and the number one issue for American voters, the economy.
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BURNETT: Mr. President, thank you so much for being with me.
BIDEN: Well, thanks for having me.
BURNETT: So Trump attended a groundbreaking here where we are for Foxconn. He promised 13,000 jobs and only about 1,000 of those actually exist right now. So I know you're promising more than 2,000 union construction jobs, and that 100,000 people are going to get trained in AI here.
Why should people here believe that you will succeed at creating jobs where Trump failed?
BIDEN: He's never succeeded in creating jobs. And I've never failed. I've created over 15 million jobs. This is a president. 50 million in three quarters years. And secondly, Microsoft is a serious player. And they're very much engaged and making sure they pick this area as sort of the home base for their AI initiative in the nation.
And they're going to do it. And just like -- and by the way where I shouldn't go no, but Trump, he started off with a golden shovel, you know --
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BURNETT: For the groundbreaking here.
BIDEN: For the groundbreaking.
BURNETT: Yes.
BIDEN: And talked about this being the eighth wonder of the world.
When has he ever done anything he said? I'm not being facetious. Think about it. He started off, he lost -- other than Herbert Hoover, he's the only other president who lost more jobs than created in his four- year term. He's -- and the way he managed the end of the -- his last year, when we were dealing with COVID, A million people died.
He would tell people, inject bleach, and that may do it, it wasn't a real problem, when he did an interview with one of your colleagues where he just flat-out acknowledged he knew how dangerous it was, but he didn't want to speak to it. You know, it's a -- I just -- and look at what he says he's going to do if he gets elected. He says he's going to do away with what I have done on Medicare, reducing the price of Medicare drastically.
He said he's going to do away with the Affordable Care Act. He said he's going to do it -- and just down the line.
So we have a very different view. I look at it from a position -- not being facetious -- from a Scranton perspective. He looks at it from a Mar-a-Lago perspective.
He wants to give more significant tax cuts to the super wealthy. You know, we have got 1,000 billionaires in America. You know what their average federal tax is? 8.3 percent.
He talks about, if I -- I want to raise it to 25 percent. That would raise, that would raise $40 billion -- $400 billion over 10 years. We can further reduce the deficit, which I have been able to reduce.
I mean, it's just a completely different perspective on how we should proceed.
BURNETT: When it comes, though, to the 100,000 jobs specifically that we're talking about here, people training in A.I., the actual jobs. When are they actually going to have jobs, those 100,000 people that are being trained?
BIDEN: Beginning probably in the first tranche in three to four years. The community colleges are going to, the one we're at, we're going to provide for 2,000 folks, and to be able to be trained, 200 a year. And it's going to go -- the whole pipeline goes all the way throughout to high schools and training facilities.
You know, it used to be that, when I was in high school, even at the tail end, or the tail end, before you went to high school, we -- most public high schools had shop and home -- you learned to work with your hands. It doesn't exist anymore.
And so it allows people who have skills and be able to train technical skills to be able to make a decent living without a college degree. And it's what we need.
BURNETT: So when we talk about the bet on A.I. and sort of what it means, I don't know if you saw this weekend, Warren Buffett had his annual meeting and he talked about A.I.
So the first thing he said was, OK, it's got enormous potential for good. But then he likened it to the development of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and he said it scares the hell out of him. You know he always says it like he sees it.
And then he says -- quote, "He doesn't understand a damn thing about it."
And that may capture how many Americans feel. Does A.I. scare you?
BIDEN: A.I. has enormous potential and enormous downside potential.
That's why three years ago, I got together the major architects of A.I. who did different operations around the world. I met with them in Europe and here in the United States. And it ranges all the way from one of the leaders saying it's a real -- it's going to take over human thinking, all the way to folks who say, no, it's not a problem.
And so that's why I set out certain standards that it has -- it can't -- can do no harm. And we have to make sure we know how to do that. We have to make sure it's controlled. And that's how -- that's going to -- and how we -- how it -- it's the most significant, I think, technological development in human history.
BURNETT: The most significant in human history?
BIDEN: Yes, not in terms of war and peace, but in terms of being able to -- one leader in the A.I. community said to me, it's going to overtake human thinking, and -- which is frightening.
BURNETT: Terrifying.
BIDEN: But the other -- most think it can be used for everything from find cures for cancer to significantly increase productivity.
BURNETT: So when you talk about the economy, of course, it is by far the most important issue for voters. It's also true right now, Mr. President, that voters by a wide margin trust Trump more on the economy. They say that in polls.
[01:34:46]
BURNETT: And part of the reason for that may be the numbers. And you're aware of many of these, of course.
The cost of buying a home in the United States is double what it was, when you look at your monthly costs, from before the pandemic.
Real income when you account for inflation is actually down since you took office. Economic growth last week far short of expectations. Consumer confidence, maybe no surprise, is near a two-year low.
With less than six months to go to Election Day, are you worried that you're running out of time to turn that around?
BIDEN: We have already turned it around.
Look, look at the Michigan survey, where 65 percent of the American people think they're in good shape economically. They think the nation's not in good shape, but they're personally in good shape.
The polling data has been wrong all along. How many -- you guys do a poll at CNN. How many folks you have to call to get one response? The idea that we're in a situation where things are so bad, the folks that -- I mean, we have created more jobs. We have made -- we're in a situation where people have access to good-paying jobs. And the last I saw, the combination of the inflation, the cost of inflation and all those things, that's really worrisome to people, with good reason.
That's why I'm working very hard to bring the cost of rentals down, to increase the number of homes that are available.
But let me say it this way. When I started this administration, people were saying there's going to be a collapse of the economy. We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again -- in the world.
BURNETT: Although GDP last week was far short of expectations.
BIDEN: Oh, it wasn't -- look, GDP's still growing. Look at the response of the markets, overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly positive.
And one of the reasons why people feel good about it, not being as strong as it was before, is, they believe that the Fed's going to respond.
BURNETT: They hope they're going to get a rate cut.
BIDEN: Yes.
Well, so -- but, I mean, no president's had the run we have had, in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9 percent when I came to office. 9 percent.
But, look, people have a right to be concerned, ordinary people. The idea that you bounce a check and you get a $30 fee for bouncing the check, well, I changed that. You can't charge more than eight bucks for that. Or your credit card, your late payment, $35.
I mean, there's corporate greed going on out there. And it's got to be dealt with.
BURNETT: What about -- I mean, but there's real pain. I mean, grocery prices are up 30 percent, more than 30 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, and people are spending more on food and groceries than they have at any time really in the past 30 years.
I mean, that's a real day-to-day pain that people feel.
BIDEN: No, no, it really is. And it's real.
But the fact is that, if you take a look at what people have, they have the money to spend. It angers them and angers me that you have to spend more.
For example, the whole idea of this notion that Senator Casey talked about, shrinkflation. You -- I think you always, on your program --
BURNETT: Same price for a smaller bottle of juice or something.
BIDEN: Yes, right, for example, Snickers bar, they did a thing, and it's like 20 percent less for the same price. That's corporate greed. That's corporate greed.
And we have got to deal with it. And that's what I'm working on.
BURNETT: I want to ask you about something happening as we sit here and speak. And that, of course is Israel is striking Rafah.
I know that you have paused, Mr. President, shipments of 2,000-pound U.S. bombs to Israel due to concern that they could be used in any offensive on Rafah. Have those bombs, those powerful 2,000-pound bombs, been used to kill civilians in Gaza?
BIDEN: Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers.
And I made it clear that, if they go into Rafah -- they haven't gone into Rafah yet. If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem.
We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure, in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks like came out of the Middle East recently.
But it's -- it's just wrong. We're not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells used -- that have been used --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Artillery shells as well?
BIDEN: Yes, artillery shells.
BURNETT: So just to understand, what they're doing right now in Rafah, is that not going into Rafah, as you define it?
BIDEN: No, they haven't gone into the population centers. What they did is right on the border. And it's causing problems with -- right now, in terms of with Egypt, which I have worked very hard to make sure we have a relationship and help.
But I have made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet they're not going to get our support if, in fact, they're going into these population centers.
[01:39:47]
BIDEN: We're not walking away from Israel's security. We're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas.
BURNETT: So it's not over your red line yet?
BIDEN: Not yet. But it's -- we have held up the weapons. We have held up the one shipment that is an old shipment that has been designed for -- but we held that up.
BURNETT: And I want to ask you one more thing, if I may. The images that people see out of Gaza are horrific. The U.N. is talking about some of these mass graves and the summary executions that there's been evidence of torture.
The images of children, it breaks anyone's heart to look at it.
And, obviously, we have seen that frustration here in the U.S. on college campuses. And, Mr. President, you had signs at college campuses, some say "Genocide Joe". Any of us that have gone to those campuses, sometimes, we hear that chant.
Do you hear the message of those young Americans?
BIDEN: Absolutely, I hear the message.
Look, two things. First of all, there's a legitimate right to free speech and protest. There's a legitimate right to do that. And they have a right to do that.
There's not a legitimate right to use hate speech. There's not a legitimate right to threaten Jewish students. There's not a legitimate right to block people access to class. That's against the law. That's against the law.
And so -- and if you look at the data, these demonstrations are real. But they're not nearly -- I mean, look -- and everybody's -- I made a speech on the Holocaust the other day.
And I pointed out that, you know, it took seven decades to get to the place where after the Holocaust occurred, and there's still anti- Semitism.
Look what's happened in seven weeks, seven -- 70 -- I mean, what's happening.
Everybody's sort of forgotten about what happened in Israel -- those 1,200 young kids murdered. I saw pictures. I went over there shortly after, a mother and a daughter being roped together and then kerosene poured and burned to death.
Nothing like that has happened to the Jewish community since the Holocaust. So when I went over immediately after that happened, I said to Bibi, don't make the same mistake we made in America. We wanted to get bin Laden, and we will help you get Sinwar.
But we went into Afghanistan to -- it made sense to go get bin Laden. It made no sense to try and unify Afghanistan. It made no sense, in my view, to engage in thinking that, in Iraq, they had a nuclear weapon.
Don't make the same mistake. Focus on -- and we will help you focus on getting the bad guys. But -- and we have got to think through, what is happening after Gaza, after this is over? Who's going to occupy Gaza?
I have been working with the Arab states. I won't mention them because I don't want to get them in trouble, but five leaders in the Arab community. We're prepared to help rebuild Gaza, prepared to help transition to a two-state solution.
BURNETT: To govern it?
BIDEN: Well, to maintain the security and peace while they're working out a Palestinian Authority that's real and not corrupt.
BURNETT: Mr. President, thank you very much. I appreciate your time today.
BIDEN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: That was CNN's Erin Burnett, speaking in an exclusive interview with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Chances of extended Stormy testimony in a New York courtroom in the hours ahead with Donald Trump's defense team planning to cross-examine the former adult film star Stormy Daniels much longer than originally fine. That's after she went into a lengthy, explicit and specific details about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump back in 2006.
Here's CNN's Kara Scannell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lawyers for Donald Trump had asked a New York appeals court to speed up their decision-making on his challenge to the gag order put in place in the New York hush money criminal trial.
The appeals court has said that both sides have until May 20thn to file their briefs. This comes as Stormy Daniels will be back on the witness stand on Thursday and as the judge has already found that Trump has violated this gag order ten times and chastised Trump's behavior in court on Tuesday when the judge called him out for shaking his head and cursing during Daniels' testimony.
Trump's lawyers have already cross-examined Daniels for about 90 minutes. She will be back on the witness stand on Thursday for more cross-examination.
Trump's lawyers are trying to undercut her credibility and her motivations, saying she was trying to sell her story for money. Just how far they press her on her past statements remains to be seen. It could open the door for prosecutors to get more details out about her night with Trump and what followed.
Kara Scannell, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Coming up here on CNN, how scientists in southern Florida are working to find a solution to save disappearing coral reefs.
[01:44:51] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Coral reefs are one of the most important ecosystems on the planet. And yet we've lost half of them since the 1950s. Today on "Call to Earth", we visit southern Florida where scientists are developing a hybrid system they believe could provide a solution to the disappearing reefs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Miami Beach is known for its Art Deco flare and turquoise waters. But just off the coast of this colorful city lies an underwater world in decline.
DR. DIEGO LIRMAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: Coral reefs protect our shorelines against the impacts of storms and waves. They're the speed bumps of the ocean.
But coral reefs are declining and suffering around the world. Florida is not the exception.
WEIR: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recently confirmed a fourth global mass bleaching event, the second in the last 10 years.
LIRMAN: The number one threat to corals on a global basis is climate change. Increases in temperature, changes in ocean chemistry, changes in storm patterns.
WEIR: Diego Lirman leads a team that's testing an innovative approach to coral reef restoration.
LIRMAN: I run the rescue reef lab at the University of Miami. We're working with scientists across fields to design and implement hybrid reefs that will protect the shoreline but will also function as a natural coral reef, providing all of those ecosystem services that we expect from healthy coral reefs.
WEIR: For more than 15 years, Lirman's lab has been growing and testing coral colonies in these nurseries to maximize survival out at sea.
LIRMAN: Right now, in our tanks, we have about 2,000 corals here. We're also trying to understand why some corals survive while others in the same environment die. And then we're using that information to propagate those corals and to create climate-resistant corals.
WEIR: And this unique storm simulation tank has played a fundamental role in developing their eco-reef experiments.
LIRMAN: This facility is able to replicate conditions that you commonly see during a hurricane category 5 in terms of wave conditions.
Our aim is to design artificial structures that will mitigate wave impacts so that, when the waves hit the shoreline, they are shorter and have less energy.
WEIR: The artificial reefs are parts cement, part coral. Lirman says the cement base alone is capable of reducing wave action by 60 percent to 70 percent.
LIRMAN: When you cover these structures with corals, then you get an added benefit of about 15 percent to 20 percent. So combined, these two approaches will reduce wave energy and wave height by about 80 percent to 90 percent, which is what we want to protect our shorelines.
[01:49:53]
WEIR: Today, Lirman and his team are heading out to check on the artificial reefs they deployed about a year ago.
LIRMAN: We haven't been to the site in a while. So here to see, how the corals look, how the structures look.
EMILY ESPLANDIU, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: So when they first were installed, they were just completely bare.
And we've seen a whole fish community form there. We've seen turtles and sharks and rays. And we've also seen the corals grow and flourish there, which has been really awesome.
LIRMAN: So we've been studying those two small structures for about a year, learning, getting information about what works, what doesn't work.
So over the next couple of years, we are going to be expanding the scale of the artificial reef significantly.
WEIR: Lirman hopes these hybrid reefs can serve as an example for other seaboard cities around the world.
LIRMAN: The ecosystems that we love are just a fraction of what they were 30, 40, 50 years ago. So we need to protect our shorelines and nature-based solutions and hybrid reefs are one effective, cost- efficient way of doing that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let us know what you're doing to answer the call with the hashtag "Call to Earth".
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: After about two weeks of pro-Palestinian protests at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. the school is now open and back on schedule.
Police say more than 30 protesters were arrested early Wednesday morning for assault on police and unlawful entry. Law enforcement say they used pepper spray three times on demonstrators who were trying to reach others who'd been arrested.
Protesters have been calling on their schools to divest from companies and military groups connected to Israel, as well as the war in Gaza.
For the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began, U.S. Congress has now held a hearing into the rise of anti-Semitism -- anti-Semitic incidents in elementary and high schools across the U.S.
More now from CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Turmoil at colleges has grabbed headlines for weeks, but now, Congress is looking at the lower grades, K through 12 and growing reports of anti-Semitism there.
REP. AARON BEAN (R-FL): I can hardly fathom sending one of my sons to school knowing he'll be exposed to vile, hate-filled discrimination.
FOREMAN: The Republican-led committee called school leaders from three predominantly Democratic areas and grilled them about anti-Semitic incidents, making some Jewish students and teachers feel targeted, pressured, victimized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are like saying in passing in the hallways, it's like, oh, what side are you on?
FOREMAN: One example, a pro-Palestinian walkout by students at New York City's Hillcrest High last year, which allegedly was aimed at a teacher who had shown support for Israel after the Hamas attack in October.
REP. BRANDON WILLIAMS (R-NY): How can Jewish students feel safe at New York City public schools when you can't even manage to terminate the principal of Open Season on Jews High School.
FOREMAN: But from the hot seats, the New York public schools chancellor said, hold on, the principal was removed, students were suspended.
DAVID BANKS, CHANCELLOR, NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I condemned clearly what happened at Hillcrest was a complete act of anti- Semitism. It will not stand on my watch.
[01:54:45]
FOREMAN: Another question, what about teaching around the phrase "from the river to the sea" in a class about Middle East conflict.
The Anti-Defamation League says it's a call to eviscerate Israel, but many Palestinian say it's a call for justice.
REP. KEVIN KILEY (R-CA): Do you think that's an appropriate thing to have on a slide for students?
ENIKIA FORD MORTHEL, SUPERINTENDENT, BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: So we definitely believe it's important to expose our students to a diversity of ideas and perspectives. And if it was presented as a perspective, I do think it's appropriate.
FOREMAN: Amid such back-and-forth, some Democratic lawmakers finally let loose.
BANKS: I work in an institution that teaches hate.
FOREMAN: Accusing their Republican colleagues of suddenly embracing this important issue only after years of ignoring similar complaints of bias from women and racial minorities, and dodging problematic statements from their own party's presidential candidate, who only a month ago said --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel, and frankly should be spoken to.
REP. SUZANNE BONAMICI (D-OR): If my colleagues care about anti- Semitism, they would condemn and denounce these comments from the leader of their party.
FOREMAN: In the end, many Democrats came out of the meeting, rolling their eyes at what they clearly saw as a show of rank hypocrisy. And many Republicans came out patting themselves on the back for being, dare we say it, so woke on this issue.
Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The crew of FedEx cargo plane walked away unharmed after an emergency landing in Istanbul when the plane came to a stop on its nose.
The pilot radioed the airport control tower saying the front landing gear did not deploy. Airport crews prepared for what they call a planned fuselage landing with fire and rescue workers stationed on the runway ready to assist. There were no injuries, no disruptions to other flights.
The world's largest pollution vacuum now operating in Iceland. Mammoth is the second to be built by the Swiss company Climeworks. Its ten times bigger than its predecessor called Orca, which started running in 2021.
The vacuums are designed to suck in air and spit out the carbon, which is then moved out under ground where it naturally turns into stone locking up the carbon permanently.
As they say it's an important step, but just a small fraction of what's needed to reach climate goals.
I'm John Vause.
Quick break now. Back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. 100 percent more me after the break.
[01:57:10]
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