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Michael Cohen to Testify on Day 16 of Trump's Hush Money Trial; Shoigu Relegates to the Russian Security Council, Civilian Named New Defense Chief. 300 People Died in Afghanistan's Flash Floods; Global Seed Vault Wins World Food Prize; Harry and Meghan Loved by Nigerians Ahead of Their Departure. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 13, 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 here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead. A key witness is due to take the stand in former U.S. President Donald Trump's hush money trial in just a few hours. We will take a look at how the jury might receive former fixer Michael Cohen's testimony.

The U.S. is warning that a full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah could lead to massive civilian deaths. Many in Rafah say they don't know where to go next.

And wrapping up their trip, Prince Harry and Meghan were a hit in Nigeria. We'll have a live report from Lagos.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, day 16 of Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial will kick off in New York in the coming hours. Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen is expected to take the stand. And prosecutors say it's entirely possible they will rest their case by the end of the week.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial are expected to call a key witness to the stand on Monday.

The testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump's one-time attorney and fixer, could make or break the Manhattan District Attorney's case against the former president. He's the only witness who will testify about Trump's involvement in both the alleged decision to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her from going public, about a past encounter with the former president ahead of the 2016 election, and the plan to reimburse Cohen for advancing the money.

Now, tying Trump to both the decision to pay Daniels and the reimbursement is critical for prosecutors who are seeking to prove Trump allegedly falsified business records to keep Daniels quiet.

Now, the jurors have already heard a lot about Cohen from other witnesses who have testified over the last three weeks, and most of it has been unflattering. Trump's defense attorneys will likely try to further undercut Cohen's credibility during what is sure to be a tense cross-examination.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, have tried to lay the groundwork for Cohen's testimony by introducing documents, including emails and texts they say back up his version of events. Ultimately, the case could come down to whether or not the jury finds Cohen's testimony credible, or if Trump's attorneys are able to convince them otherwise.

Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Bernarda Villalona joins me now from New York. She is a criminal defense attorney and former New York prosecutor. Appreciate you being with us.

BERNADA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER NEW YORK PROSECUTOR: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So star witness in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, Michael Cohen, set to testify in the coming hours. How significant is this moment and can we expect him to say anything that we haven't heard before?

VILLALONA: Yes, absolutely. Michael Cohen is a crucial witness in this case. While we heard so much about him through other witnesses who tend to corroborate what he is expected to say, we still also know from other witnesses that he does have credibility issues.

But the key testimony that we're going to hear from Michael Cohen is about that crucial meeting in February of 2017 inside of the White House, inside of the Oval Office, where Michael Cohen is expected to testify that he and Donald Trump had this conversation about the hush money that was paid to Stormy Daniels and how he was supposed to be repaid for that hush money in order to conceal that testimony from ever coming into light, that about Stormy Daniels herself.

CHURCH: And while the prosecution views Cohen as a star witness who can potentially link an alleged cover-up scheme back to Trump, the defense paints him as a liar with no credibility, motivated by revenge. Which narrative will likely win and which has the stronger evidence?

VILLALONA: So the defense is going to go with that Michael Cohen is obsessed with Donald Trump. He's been obsessed with Donald Trump for years, that he's constantly posting about Donald Trump, talking in the media about Donald Trump, and that he's so fixated on Donald Trump that he has become delusional.

And you heard some of this through the defense's opening statement. So that's how we know that's where they're going with Donald, with Michael Cohen's testimony.

[03:04:51]

In terms of the prosecution, the prosecution is going to allow Michael Cohen to be the person that he is, and then later argue that this type of person is the same person that Donald Trump needed and trusted to fix his problems, to try to hush Stormy Daniels, to try to hush and conceal this from ever coming to light.

In the end, the prosecution's going to tie Michael Cohen's testimony and all the corroborating evidence, including meetings, telephone records, that audio recording that we already heard earlier in the trial, as well as statements that were made previously, in order to find and tell this jury that you can find him credible, and that you can find Donald Trump guilty based on his testimony, but not just his testimony, in total, all the testimony that they've heard throughout. And the defense, of course, is going to try to poke holes through all of that and find reasonable doubt.

CHURCH: And given that, how important has it been for the prosecution to hear testimony first from the other witnesses before Cohen presents his testimony with all his credibility issues?

VILLALONA: It was a strategic move by the prosecution to try to corroborate Michael Cohen's testimony before bringing Michael Cohen to the stand, because in addition to his credibility issues, you're also going to hear about how he pled guilty and how he served time in jail as a result of his crimes.

But that can also backfire to the defense if they decide to poke holes into that, because remember, he pled guilty as a result of what? Campaign finance violations having to deal with Donald Trump.

So it was crucial for the prosecution to bring out the corroboration from other witnesses, bringing out the phone records, bringing that crucial bank statement where Alan Weisselberg wrote out in detail how the payment was going to be reimbursed to Michael Cohen. So things like that is what's going to prepare this jury for Michael Cohen to testify. And they're going to be able to at least have an open mind when they hear his testimony, because they know that it is going to be corroborated and has been corroborated as well.

CHURCH: And the prosecution could rest its case by the end of this week. Then we hear from the defense. The big question, of course, is will we hear from Trump himself? What do you think?

VILLALONA: I think it's highly unlikely that Donald Trump is going to testify. Now, in any given case, of course, attorneys have the decisions in terms of strategic moves of how they present and cross- examine witnesses. However, when it comes to a defendant testifying, the only person that can make that decision is the defendant, is Donald Trump. That is the sole decision of Donald Trump.

In fact, Judge Merchan, at the end of the trial, will turn to Donald Trump and ask him whether he wishes to testify and whether he had enough opportunity to determine whether he wanted to testify or not.

It's highly unlikely he's going to testify because of the prior rulings by the judge where he will be allowed to be cross-examined, having to deal with the two cases, having to deal with E. Jean Carroll, having to deal with the New York Attorney General's case, having to deal with the fines that he received from Judge Engoron, the $5,000 and the $10,000 for not abiding by a court order. So it's just subject to so much cross-examination and he's just not a good witness and you can't control him.

So I think a jury is not going to take him likely. So that's why I don't think he'll testify.

CHURCH: We'll all be watching and listening. Bernardo Villalona, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.

VILLALONA: Thank you.

CHURCH: The corruption trial of a U.S. lawmaker is set to begin in the coming hours. Prosecutors say Senator Bob Menendez was involved in a wide-ranging corruption scheme to help the Egyptian and Qatari governments in exchange for lucrative bribes. Prosecutors say he received hundreds of thousands of dollars and items including a Mercedes-Benz car and gold bars.

His wife Nadine has also been charged but will be tried separately. The couple have pleaded not guilty. Now this is the second corruption trial for Menendez. Another corruption case against him in 2017 ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked.

As Israel continues to plan an expansion of its military operations in Rafah, U.S. officials are warning that a full Israeli invasion of Rafah could lead to massive civilian deaths. The U.S. Secretary of State says it could leave a vacuum filled by chaos.

Meanwhile, Gaza's Ministry of Health says the Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza has already passed 35,000. And the IDF Chief of Staff said he bears responsibility for the military's failure to defend civilians on October 7th. General Herzi Halevi spoke at Israel's Memorial Day ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

And our Scott McLean joins us live from Istanbul. So Scott, what more are you learning about the Rafah evacuations?

[03:10:05]

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Rosemary, look, the U.N. and Israel often agree on very little. They are often publicly at odds with one another, but they agree here on the scale of the exodus. 300,000 people have left Rafah in the last week or so. Where they disagree is on the safety of where they're actually going. The head of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said

that the idea of safe zones, in his words, is false and misleading because no place is safe in Gaza.

Israel is sending people to an area along the coast it's calling a humanitarian zone. The area is called al-Mawasi. People are pitching tents there, but there is very little in the way of infrastructure to support that volume of people.

There is also very little aid getting into southern Gaza at this point. There have been some disagreements on precisely how many trucks have gotten through, but no one is claiming that it is a lot.

In fact, UNRWA, the World Food Program, say that they are at risk of running out of food very soon if more isn't allowed in.

The streets of Rafah are also looking increasingly bare, but according to our CNN stringer on the ground, there's a lot of people who will tell you that they are either unwilling or unable to leave because of sickness or exhaustion.

Case in point, one elderly man who spoke to CNN said that he had initially decided to stay put in Rafah and then changed his mind to be with his wife and his daughter, but he has no money for a car. They're very expensive right now in Rafah given the scarcity of them. And so he's going there on foot, but to add insult to injury on his way there, what little he had, a change of clothes and some food was robbed. He was robbed of that.

Other people doubt the safety of that al-Mawassi humanitarian zone, as Israel is calling it, saying that Israel could strike there anyways. Here's what one man told Reuters over the weekend in Rafah. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER AL-RABALA, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translator): We are tired and lost. We don't know where to go. In a small area, we are lost. No one is standing with us, not Netanyahu, nor Muslims, nor Saudi Arabia, nor any Arab country. This is the destruction. We are working as workers. I left with a shirt and a torn undershirt. I'm working as a worker for 10 shekels. We are suffering from the high prices from one side and the war from the other side, and we are displaced. I swear since five days, I only had one meal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: And U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did the rounds on U.S. TV this weekend, making very publicly the case against Israel's looming full-scale invasion of the Rafah area. The U.S. is arguing now that this will lead to chaos and a power vacuum that will very likely be filled by Hamas. The U.S. obviously is not wanting to supply any weapons to Israel for that invasion.

The U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also had a call with his Israeli counterpart, and at least according to the U.S. version of that call, Rosemary, Israel confirmed that they were taking into account U.S. concerns. But if you look at what's happening on the ground, it seems like a very different picture. It seems like Israel is pressing ahead with its original plans, whether the U.S. is on board or not.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Scott McLean there with the latest.

And earlier, I spoke with Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General in New York, and I asked him what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's next move could be as he faces increasing pressure from the U.S.

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ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: And most importantly, Rosemary, he's defied the very idea of coming up or drafting an idea for post-war Gaza.

So right now, if he intends to push forward with this offensive in Rafah, which remains to be seen, by the way, because the scale and the scope of such an operation varies.

And, you know, a grand invasion may not happen, and we may yet see this thing burning itself out in two, three days. But if he does go on, if he's serious about his unattainable goal of eradicating Hamas, then Israel needs to essentially occupy the Gaza Strip indefinitely. And I don't see that happening necessarily.

CHURCH: So why is it that Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be willing to alienate his country's biggest ally by possibly invading Rafah, despite calls from the U.S. not to do so, and despite advice on how to defeat Hamas without an expanded invasion of Rafah?

PINKAS: Well, in one word, Rosemary, politics. In two words, personal politics. In three words, silly personal politics. And combine these three options, and you understand his modus operandi.

[03:15:01]

He has a vested interest in prolonging and lengthening the war. He knows that if the war ends now, which, by the way, Rosemary, any hostage deal that is accompanied by a ceasefire, a six-week ceasefire, an eight-week ceasefire, a four-week ceasefire, would de facto end the war. And if the war ends now, then he cannot claim victory. He cannot claim that Hamas was eradicated or that it was militarily and politically, most importantly, politically toppled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Still ahead, Russia's president replaces his defense minister, the same man who was criticized for his handling of the war in Ukraine. We'll explain after the break.

Plus, Ukrainians are evacuating areas near the country's northern border as Russian forces try to open up another front in the war. A live report just ahead.

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CHURCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, with a civilian. Shoigu was criticized for his handling of the invasion of Ukraine, most forcefully by the late Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

[03:20:07]

The Kremlin says Shoigu has now been appointed Secretary of Russia's Security Council. He will also oversee the country's military- industrial complex. The new defense minister, Andrei Belousov, previously served as First Deputy Prime Minister. The Kremlin spokesperson explained why Putin made the change during a media call on Sunday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Today on the battlefield, those who are more open for innovations, more open towards a quick implementation of the innovations, win. That is why it's natural that on the current stage, the president has taken the decision for a civilian to be in charge of the Ministry of Defense.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHURCH: He also highlighted the country's rising military spending, saying it's approaching levels last seen during the Cold War.

At least 15 people are dead after Ukraine bombed the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday, according to Russian state media. Rescuers are trying to dig out any survivors after a high-rise apartment building was hit. Russian authorities say the number of casualties will likely rise. Belgorod borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, where intense battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces are underway.

Russia claims to have captured four more villages in the Kharkiv region after launching a surprise cross-border attack on Friday. Ukraine's army chief says the situation on the northern front has quote, "significantly worsened", but he did not comment on Russia's claims, which CNN cannot confirm independently. Ukrainian police officers also evacuated residents from a city in the Kharkiv region on Sunday as Russian forces pushed in. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this is a new wave of counter-offensive actions by Russia.

And joining us now is CNN's Clare Sebastian live in London. So, Clare, how significant is this announcement from Putin that he's replacing his defense minister with a civilian and what might that signal?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think it signals a real prioritization, Rosemary, of the economics of this war, of the fact that it is, certainly in the words of the NATO Secretary General, a war of industrial production. Russia needs to keep that industrial production at full throttle in order to maintain its edge in the face of Ukraine now about to receive more Western aid. And this is why we see Sergei Shoigu, I think one reason, replaced by this civilian, an economist, by training a former economy minister and first deputy prime minister, Andrei Belousov, who is a sort of gray- suited, serious-speaking, close ally of Vladimir Putin. So that is one thing. I think obviously this comes at a point where Russia is more confident on the battlefield. It has been making gains. It's in the middle, really, of its most significant sort of cross-border push in many, many months.

That, I think, masks the fact that they are dealing with a war now in its third year, where it was supposed to last just a few weeks maximum. So I think that is another reason, perhaps, that Sergei Shoigu was seen as a marked man. That, on top, of course, of a corruption scandal in his ministry, a top deputy arrested just under three weeks ago, that is something that the Russian government tends to do when it wants to get that individual to reveal information, perhaps even about higher ranks in the ministry. Shoigu, though, has not been completely sidelined.

He has been given a pretty prominent role as head of Russia's Security Council. But in terms of the war in Ukraine, I think this is Russia really prioritizing the fact that the spending they are doing now, according to Peskov, up to 6.7 percent of GDP really needs to be funneled to the right places. And I think this does not spell any commitment from Russia to try to find an end to this conflict.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian joining us live from London.

A Georgia Parliamentary Committee has approved the third reading of a controversial foreign agents bill, according to the nation's public broadcaster. Now the legislation goes to the full parliament for a vote, which is set for Tuesday. But tens of thousands of demonstrators are hoping that does not happen.

They just staged an all-night protest in front of the parliament building amid a heavy police presence. If passed, the law would require groups receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents or face heavy fines. The E.U. says the law could jeopardize Georgia's candidate status.

It's been six weeks since the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy and we will bring you the latest on plans to remove the collapsed portion of the bridge after the break.

Plus pro-Palestinian demonstrators interrupt graduation ceremonies in some colleges across the U.S. How far one school is going to ensure a smooth commencement event, we'll explain.

[03:25:11]

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CHURCH: The partial demolition of Baltimore's Key Bridge is now scheduled for Monday afternoon. It was originally set for Saturday but was postponed due to inclement weather. The bridge collapsed back in March when a cargo ship rammed a pillar killing six men who had been repairing potholes on the span. A massive piece of the bridge has been sitting on top of the ship ever since.

Our Gloria Pazmino reports from the memorial site.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well for two days now we had been expecting the unified command to begin this complicated but careful operation to demolish parts of the key bridge that have been sitting atop the Dali, the ship that crashed into the bridge bringing it down more than 47 days ago. But we were just told that the operation has been postponed until Monday afternoon because of the weather.

We spoke with the U.S. Coast Guard just to try and get an understanding of just how complicated this operation is and why every environmental factor matters.

NICK AMEEN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, U.S. COAST GUARD: There was some inclement weather in the area today. There were a few lightning strikes whenever there's a lightning strike in the area that pushes the clock back and so that clock just kept getting pushed back and pushed back and so ultimately we arrived at the decision to postpone until tomorrow. A very dynamic situation that we're dealing with here with the key bridge response. It's important to note that we will absolutely not sacrifice safety for speed.

PAZMINO: Now the unified command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been looking at working at the structure for several days now.

[03:30:00]

They have already gone in and carried out a number of precision cuts. In those precision cuts they have placed chargers which will be wired when this operation can finally take place to help remove pieces of this bridge. It's going to be a controlled explosion.

Small explosives which can be seen in this video animation provided to us by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gives you an idea of just exactly how this is going to work. They will put the chargers in. The chargers will be wired.

When they explode that will move the pieces off the ship and into the water. Salvage operation can come in and that can begin the process of removing the bridge so that eventually the Dali can be moved off the channel. While all of that is taking place the community here in Baltimore is still very much remembering the victims that were lost and looking ahead to recovery, right. The key bridge was such a major part of the economy here, a part of the community.

And as you can see from this memorial that has been taking shape here behind me over the last several days, people are still honoring the memory of those who were lost. We have been watching throughout the day as people come in to pay their respects, lay flowers, take pictures and just take in as I said the loss of those who were killed during this incident. So if the weather and all the other environmental factors cooperate

this operation now expected to happen Monday afternoon.

Reporting in Baltimore, I'm Gloria Pazmino, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The clock is ticking for the U.S. Congress to pass a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration. The Senate passed the reauthorization bill last week giving the House of Representatives until Friday to approve it.

The bill will renew the agency's federal authority for five years and includes amendments to improve aviation safety and make it easier for customers to get refunds after flights are delayed or canceled. The legislation would authorize more than $105 billion in funding for the FAA.

Pro-Palestinian protests are continuing at some colleges across the U.S. as they held commencement ceremonies over the weekend. CNN's local affiliate reports more than two dozen students walked out as actor and comedian Jerry Seinfeld was about to speak at Duke University's commencement ceremony. Pomona College in Southern California moved its ceremony more than 30 miles away after days of protests on campus.

CNN's Camila Bernal has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many students and parents frustrated in this case have to drive 30 miles and change their plans just to make sure that commencement goes on as planned. So instead of it being in Pomona College, it's going to be here in L.A. at the Shrine Auditorium. You can see it here behind me. There are security measures already in place. There is a barrier, a metal barrier and already security guards who are not allowed inside the auditorium if you do not have a ticket.

The school apologizing and saying not only that this was an inconvenience but also saying that they would provide transportation for the students to get here to Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, students just disappointed and say they're not happy about this whole change. Take a listen to what one student said.

UNKNOWN: I think it's sad and I think it's a really bad way to end your college career and I think it's showing exactly where Pomona is headed.

BERNAL: And some universities like Columbia and USC canceling altogether this big traditional commencement ceremony and instead making other plans citing safety reasons and wanting to avoid protest. We saw students at Duke University walking out right as the commencement speaker was introduced. That was Jerry Seinfeld. He was able to give his address as planned with no apparent interruptions. And this weekend at different universities we saw students at U.C.

Berkeley chanting and protesting and briefly pausing the commencement ceremony. They then walked out of that event and also at Virginia Commonwealth University at least a dozen students also walking out when the governor was beginning to give his commencement address. So again that's what a lot of universities are trying to avoid this weekend and others who have events later on.

And of course this has also caused just a lot of frustration among students who had to deal with graduating from high school in the middle of a pandemic and now again having to deal with commencement under difficult circumstances or under something that they do not consider a normal commencement ceremony.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:35:00]

CHURCH: Actor Steve Buscemi is apparently okay after being randomly punched in the face in New York City on Wednesday according to a statement from his publicist. Police say Buscemi was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for swelling and bleeding in his left eye. The actor is known for his quirky roles in a host of shows and movies including "Reservoir Dogs", "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski". New York police released a photo of a person they believe is the suspect and asked for the public's help identifying the individual.

A powerful storm system is rolling through southeastern Texas and Louisiana today bringing with it the potential for damaging winds, hail and flooding. More than 14 million people are under flood watches today into Tuesday from areas north of Houston to the Florida Panhandle.

The National Weather Service has also issued severe storm and tornado watches across the region. This storm system is expected to move across the Gulf States by Monday morning but another round of storms is expected to shift toward North Florida and the Carolinas by Tuesday.

Still to come. Catastrophic flooding in Afghanistan kills hundreds and wipes out entire villages. A look at the destruction amid calls for international aid. That's just ahead.

Plus an oddly shaped building in the Arctic Circle contains hope for the future of humanity. We will speak to one of the global seed bank's creators. That's next.

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CHURCH: More than 300 people are dead after devastating flash floods in Afghanistan over the weekend according to the World Food Program. The floods have destroyed entire villages washing away homes, livestock and access to clean drinking water and food. Taliban officials are now calling on the international community for help. So let's go to CNN's Anna Coren. She joins us live from Hong Kong with

the latest. So Anna, what can you tell us about Afghanistan's deadly floods? What more are you learning?

[03:40:08]

Well we've got some images, Rosemary, coming out of Baghlan province in the north of Afghanistan. This was the hardest hit and we need to warn our audience that what they're about to see is really distressing.

The videos were shared on a journalist group in Afghanistan and it shows the ferocious flash flooding as it hits the village. People are yelling run away, run away. You can just see the absolute ferocity of it. Now moments later there are children that are being pulled from the mud.

Those three siblings there then a toddler you know they are -- they are shaking. They are the lucky ones because there are so many children who have lost their parents. This girl is saying her mother was swept away in the floods and you can see the bodies there that were being prepared for burial.

This happened, we believe, on Friday. It happened around the time of Friday prayers when men were at the mosque. You know women and children were at home. This was unusually heavy rainfall across the north of the country. It is -- it's really quite mountainous up there.

The Taliban claims more than 300 people have been killed over 1,600 injured thousands of homes. These mud homes have been destroyed but you know you speak to humanitarian groups Rosemary and they believe that the death toll in fact is a lot higher. I mean the U.N. fears that there are hundreds of people trapped under debris and mud.

Let's have a listen to a father who lost 13 family members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHAMMAD YAHQOOB, RESIDENT (through translator): We have no food, no drinking water, no shelter, no blankets, nothing at all. The floods have destroyed everything. Out of 42 houses only two or three houses remained. The floods have destroyed the entire valley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: The Taliban, the de facto government says it's mobilizing all available resources. It's also calling on the U.N. and humanitarian agencies to help. But look aid groups Rosemary are very concerned about the humanitarian crisis that will undoubtedly follow.

You know health care facilities vital infrastructure has just been swept away or it's buried under the mud and the U.N. has said that the country lacks you know the necessary resources to manage a disaster of this magnitude. And just before I go you know Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Speaking to someone from the World Food Program a little earlier he

said you know this area as much of the country is poverty stricken. Well these people are now destitute. They have nothing. They're trying to get aid and food up to them by donkey. This is how inaccessible some of these areas are. But climate change, you know, it's being blamed for this latest natural disaster. The U.N. says, Rosemary, it's one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Anna Coren bringing us the latest there. I Appreciate it.

Meantime in Brazil more than two million people have been impacted by ongoing floods as another round of heavy rain hits the region. The country's civil defense agency reports nearly 150 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from the natural disaster.

But first responders are working around the clock to try and locate more than 100 missing people. Brazil's government has vowed to rebuild what the floods have destroyed, announcing more than $2 billion in emergency spending for the crisis. Meteorologists say rain in some areas could last through Wednesday.

Two scientists have been named the 2024 World Food Prize Laureates for their work in creating the famous global seed vault. The prize is given to people who work to ensure global food security and their project fits the bill. The huge vault located inside the Arctic Circle holds more than 1.2 million samples of the world's crop seeds. It's also called the doomsday vault and is meant to be the last line of defense against crop failures, pandemics and climate catastrophes.

And Cary Fowler is one of those scientists who won the World Food Prize. He's also the U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security with the U.S. State Department. He joins me now from Rome. Thank you so much for being with us and congratulations.

CARY FOWLER, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY: Well thank you for having me.

So creating a global seed vault of this scale may have seemed like a pretty crazy idea 20 years ago. Now it's a World Food Prize winner. When this all started, what is it that you were saying that the rest of the world failed to see?

[03:45:07]

FOWLER: We didn't set out aiming to protect against doomsday. We weren't thinking about an asteroid hitting earth or anything like that. But we know that collections of seeds, collections of diversity and seed banks around the world, those collections are vulnerable and they're vulnerable to natural catastrophes, war, civil strife, mechanical failures etc.

And that's the raw material for plant breeding. It's the raw material that allows plant breeders to create new higher yielding disease pest resistant varieties. So we wanted a more or less fail-safe backup for that collection and we went pretty far north to achieve it. CHURCH: Yeah and of course the vault holds well over a million seed

samples as we mentioned from nearly every country and provides genetic protection for thousands of varieties of crops. But how did you collect all these seeds and how does the storage facility actually work?

FOWLER: Well the storage facility itself is well inside of a mountain in Svalbard which is above mainland Norway. It's very cold up there as you can imagine and if you want to protect seeds for the long term you freeze them.

So the natural cold provided a backup for actually the mechanical freezing that we do employ there which takes the temperature down to minus 18 Celsius. So we have protection physical and in terms of the temperature in that location. The seeds themselves are duplicate copies of seeds that are held in seed banks around the world and today as you mentioned there are I think more than 1,280,000 different samples.

Each sample by the way usually contains quite a bit of diversity itself. So if you think about this we have about 150,000 different types of wheat and 150,000 different types of rice and many other crops stored out there. So this provides all the options that plant breeders will have in the future to deal with pests and diseases, to make yield improvements and of course to combat climate change.

CHURCH: Yeah. Insects, diseases, even politics have of course threatened crops for generations but crops around the world appear to be in their biggest fight ever against climate change. How has it affected our food supply so far and what are your main concerns for the future?

FOWLER: Well climate change obviously is a problem and all farmers know that the climate is changing rapidly. We're particularly concerned I should say at the Department of State with what we're seeing in Africa which is the most food insecure region in the world already.

We have stood up a program there we're calling the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils to try to improve the fertility and health of African soils which of course is the foundation for food production and to try to work with plant breeders internationally and in Africa to create better improved varieties of their traditional and indigenous crops which are highly nutritious and really needed for giving the micro and macro nutrients to people there.

You know there's a huge problem in Africa with childhood stunting. In many countries 20 to 30 percent of the children under five are stunted and that means mentally and physically and it means for the rest of their lives. This is a huge initiative we've undertaken with the African Union Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. and private sector and public sector.

It's what Secretary Blinken calls an above the ground and below the ground approach. We think it'll be transformative for African agriculture and of course the collections that we have at the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard will play into that because they'll give us some of the traits the options if you will needed to help African agriculture and frankly agriculture all over the world adapt to climate change and everything else that's going on.

CHURCH: Do you see a doomsday scenario when you have to break the bank?

FOWLER: Well we've already had one doomsday scenario if you will. One of the major seed banks in the world. It was an international seed bank containing really invaluable collections of wheat and barley and other crops particularly adapted to dry and hot conditions was located in just outside of Aleppo Syria and so when the war started there we had to evacuate if you will those seeds pretty quickly.

[03:49:54]

We got them up to the seed vault and just a couple of years ago they were restored to the institute which relocated in Morocco and Lebanon. So that was doomsday for that collection and that's the kind of thing we were really anticipating if you will when we established the seed vault. I should also mention of course the incredible contribution that the government of Norway has made to this. It's on their territory and they finance the construction of it and have just been amazing partners all the way along.

CHURCH: Cary Fowler congratulations on your win and of course on your great work. Appreciate you being with us.

FOWLER: Thank you.

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex wrapped up their trip to Nigeria on Sunday with a basketball charity event in Lagos. The three-day visit was linked to Prince Harry's Invictus Games but was also an opportunity for Meghan to learn more about her Nigerian genealogy.

CNN's Stephanie Busari joins me now from Lagos. Good to see you Steph. So what all came out of Harry and Meghan's trip to Nigeria?

[03:54:59]

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SR. EDITOR, AFRICA: Well Rosemary they came, they saw, they conquered and one of the most significant things that came out was that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex really cemented their reputation as natural people connectors. Everywhere they went they were received very warmly by the Nigerians they met and Meghan especially was really given a welcome home of sorts and she described Nigeria as her country and her home in various meetings that she had.

So it was really a journey of discovery for her and another thing that came out of this was a big win for the country's veterans, wounded veterans. They're hardly talked about here in the country and a big win for them

to have a focus, a spotlight on them for change and a state-of-the-art Invictus Centre will be built in the near future we're told and there was also a big focus on sports and sports rehabilitation particularly for young people in underprivileged areas.

But you know it was a very successful trip for the Sussexes and I'm sure they're leaving Nigeria feeling quite pleased about how things have turned out. Meghan in particular was warmly received. Three traditional African rulers left their kingdoms to visit with the pair and gave them special jewelry and a special welcome at an event at the Delbra Hotel in Lagos yesterday evening.

So it was a kind of a very successful trip and for the Nigerians too they will be feeling quite pleased today. There were some speculation about how safe it was for Harry and Meghan to be here in Nigeria and so they'll be feeling pleased that things have gone without a hitch.

CHURCH: All right our thanks to Stephanie Busari joining us there, and thank you for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

For our CNN Max and international viewers, CNN NEWSROOM continues with our Max Foster, and for those of you in North America, "State of the Union" is coming up next.

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