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CNN International: Blinken Meets with Zelenskyy in Kyiv; Putin Replaces Russian Defense Minister Shoigu; U.S.: Enough Israeli Troops Around Rafah for Offensive; HRW: IDF Attacking Known Aid Worker Locations in Gaza; Cohen Testifies Trump Approved Payment to Stormy Daniels. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 14, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Israel has amassed enough troops on the border of Rafah that it could make a full incursion into the city in the coming days. Israel continues to warn that it is going to move forward with the Rafah operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not good for our European future, which is our dream. We will achieve our dreams, which is to be part of the European Union. And before we have to flip up this law.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They've got no evidence. And I'm innocent. This is a political witch hunt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Tuesday, May the 14th. It's 9 a.m. here in London. It's 11 a.m. in Kyiv in Ukraine, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just met with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is part of an unannounced visit by America's top diplomat to reaffirm the country's support for Ukraine.

Mr. Zelenskyy thanked Blinken and expressed his gratitude to the U.S. Congress, President Biden and the American people for passing the recent supplemental funding bill for Ukraine. Blinken's visit comes after Russia launched an intense cross-border assault on northern Ukraine over the weekend.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We know this is a challenging time, but we also know that in the near term, the assistance is now on the way. Some of it's already arrived. More of it will be arriving.

And that's going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield. And we're determined, along with many other partners for Ukraine, to make sure that you succeed on the battlefield.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: This is Blinken's fourth visit to the Ukrainian capital since the war began and his first since the U.S. approved that multi-billion dollar military aid package for Ukraine, which was late last month. The U.S. says some of the new aid has reached the front lines, but Blinken admits the delay in getting that aid approved has been costly for Ukraine. Ukrainian officials are acknowledging that Russia is having, quote, tactical success in the Kharkiv region.

The commander of the Kharkiv city defense forces says the overall situation in northeastern Ukraine remains difficult. He says heavy fighting continues in six border towns after Russia claimed to have taken over several villages. But he pointed out that even though Russia is gaining some ground, their losses are enormous.

Ukrainian soldiers are now warning that ammunition and spare parts for foreign-made tanks are running low, adding another obstacle on the battlefield. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is promising to ramp up the delivery of aid and says a new package of weapons will be announced this week.

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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The delay put Ukraine in a hole and we're trying to help them dig out of that hole as rapidly as possible. And so at the highest levels in our government, we are engaged with the highest levels of theirs to be able to ensure that we're doing everything humanly possible, both ourselves and our allies who are searching equipment as well to get it there to the front lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Ukraine has opened its first underground school on Monday in the city of Kharkiv. For many children, it's the first time they've been able to walk into a classroom since Russia's invasion pushed schools to remote learning in 2022. The bunker school is six meters underground and built for 900 students.

Kharkiv's mayor says it's heavily fortified and designed to withstand direct hits. He added that at least three more underground schools are in the works.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Berlin. Fred let's start then with Blinken's surprise visit to Kyiv. He's under pressure, presumably because those U.S. weapons aren't all there yet.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, you're absolutely right. And I think one of the things that we heard Secretary of State Blinken say and also in general, the administration says those weapons are on the way. Some of them have hit the battlefield.

But certainly there's been a bottleneck in U.S. aid to Ukraine because of that holdup that happened in U.S. Congress, where really for about half a year, U.S. weapons were only coming in very small quantities or not at all in the end to the front lines in Ukraine. That's certainly been quite detrimental to the Ukrainians, especially if you look in terms of artillery ammunition, but also rocket artillery ammunition as well.

And in general, in that time, Max, that the U.S. aid wasn't arriving, the entire war has really shifted and become very different.

[04:05:04]

One of the things that we're also seeing right now, especially in some of those new front lines that the Ukrainians are talking about in the northeast of the country, north of the city of Kharkiv, is that the Russians are much more capable of using their air force now than they have in the past. They've developed cheap guidance kits for Cold War era bombs with which they can actually drop those bombs further away from the front lines.

And that's also one of the reasons why, with Secretary of State Blinken there in Kyiv, one of the first things that he talked about with President Zelenskyy, and he is talking about President Zelenskyy, is more air defense missiles for the Ukrainians. That is to protect Ukrainian cities, protect critical infrastructure, but also for use on the front lines right now with Russia's air force much more capable, and certainly making life very difficult for the Ukrainians.

So that's definitely one of those cases where it's very important right now for Secretary of State Blinken to be in Kyiv to show the support from the U.S., but they certainly are also going to want to see some substantial aid coming their way very soon, and air defense is definitely one of the top priority for the Ukrainians -- Max.

FOSTER: And the Russians re-strategizing all the time, it feels, doesn't it, with the front line pushing into Ukrainian territory, and now a new defense minister in charge as well.

PLEITGEN: Yes, I think that that's something that certainly is a move that is extremely significant on the part of the Russians, and certainly all the commentators that I've been speaking to inside Russia and outside of Russia say they believe that this signals nothing less than Vladimir Putin really following through on putting Russia on a complete war footing, and making sure that this war, which he seems to believe is going to take for a very long time, is sustainable for the Russian economy, and then, of course, also for the Russian military as well. Let's look at what happened.

FOSTER: OK, Fred. Thank you.

PLEITGEN: Yes, it looks like that.

FOSTER: OK, we're going to come back.

PLEITGEN: Looks like that report isn't there. But let me just outline what we were saying there, though, Max, because I do think it's quite significant. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Purporting to show Vladimir Putin's troops on the offensive. But just as Russian forces have started a new assault on the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine, Putin sacking his longtime defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.

The two last seen together at Russia's Victory Day parade last week, where Putin once again threatened the West.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia will do anything to prevent a global conflict, but at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): While the Russian army has recently made some gains, their losses in soldiers and armored vehicles have been catastrophic, both the U.S. and Ukraine say.

Shoigu often facing heavy criticism. In March 2022, he disappeared from the public light altogether, fueling speculation Putin may have sacked him, only to resurface in a defense ministry call nearly two weeks later.

When Russia's deputy defense minister and close Shoigu ally, Timur Ivanov, was recently arrested and charged with corruption, it seemed clear the air for Shoigu was getting thinner, Russian political commentator Sergey Markov says.

SERGEY MARKOV, POLITICAL ANALYST: One problem is corruption, because now Russian military budget increasing twice, and arrest of the deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov shows that level of corruption around defense ministry are quite high.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Shoigu will be moved to head Russia's State Security Council, along with another sidelined former Putin ally, Dmitry Medvedev, once even viewed as a possible successor to Putin. The Kremlin's new designated defense minister, the former minister for economic innovation, Andrey Belousov. His task, putting Russia's army on a long-term war footing, Markov says.

MARKOV: This is a very modern war. Not only soldiers but also technical systems, as armies of drones and the connections between AI, and armies of drones, and rockets, missiles and artillery systems, should play a decisive role.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Fred Pleitgen brings us that report, and thanks for him for joining us before as well.

Now, the U.S. State Department is calling Vladimir Putin's latest cabinet shakeup a sign of desperation. The Kremlin pointed to Moscow's rising military budget and a need for innovation as reasons for replacing Sergei Shoigu. But U.S. officials aren't buying it.

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VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Our point of view is that this is further indication of Putin's desperation to sustain his war of aggression against Ukraine, despite it not just being a major drain on the Russian economy and heavy losses of Russian troops with some estimates as high as 315,000 casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The Russian president will be in China this Thursday and Friday, according to Chinese state media, marking his second visit to the country in less than a year. His two-day state visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping comes just over a week after Putin began his fifth term as president, and with Moscow appearing to make some gains on the battlefield as well, as we were saying, in Ukraine.

CNN's Marc Stewart is with us from Beijing. And, you know, big message just by making this his first visit in his newest term.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question, Max. The symbolism, the optics from all of this are tremendous. And along the theme of the war in Ukraine, it will likely be an inevitable discussion, as Xi Jinping just returned from Europe, meeting with European leaders.

And among the big topics that came up was the war in Ukraine. He got a lot of pressure, a lot of questions from EU officials. Yet Xi Jinping said that he denies that China is helping to fund the Russian war machine, going into great lengths with a one-on-one discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron.

But now that we have Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin soon to sit side by side, it will be interesting to see what kind of approach China will take. I heard from one observer on the ground here in mainland China, who suggested that China is so hungry, so eager to take the lead as a player on the world stage, perhaps it will use this as an opportunity to try to broker some kind of deal with Russia and Ukraine. Unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility.

This is also happening at a time, these two men are meeting at a time when China is really trying to establish itself as a leader of a new world order. And Russia certainly would play a big role in all of that. It is close to Europe. It has military strength. The economic strength, maybe not so much there, but there is a lot of strategic benefit. And it's a point I recently discussed with David Shulman of the Atlantic Council.

I want you to take a quick listen to that conversation.

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DAVE SHULLMAN, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: So China and Russia are sharing that drive to kind of to reform the order and to get more countries to believe, you know, we don't need to go with the United States. We can, you know, engage with China, benefit from the investment that China is throwing our way. And we don't have to follow a democratic path to development necessarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: We are getting some response this afternoon from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this visit. In fact, it's been reported for weeks in Russian state media. Now the Chinese government is formally acknowledging it.

According to a spokesperson, Xi and Putin will exchange views on bilateral relations, cooperation in various fields, and international and regional issues of mutual interest. We'll have to see how Ukraine plays in all of that. But no question, Max, the photo ops from all of this, they will be quite stunning.

FOSTER: Yes, it's going to be interesting. Marc, thank you so much for joining us in Beijing.

We're also keeping an eye on the capital city of Georgia where the final reading of a controversial foreign agents bill is set to be taking place at this hour.

A final vote is also expected today. Despite widespread protests opposing the legislation, the country's prime minister vowing that the bill will be passed in Parliament.

Now, the Biden administration says Israel has enough troops around Rafah to launch a full scale assault. But two senior U.S. officials say it's not clear that they've made a final decision just yet.

Meanwhile, there's renewed fighting in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces had claimed to have dismantled Hamas, but now say the group is trying to reassemble there.

And in central Gaza, hospital officials say an Israeli airstrike earlier this morning on a residential building killed 13, excuse me, 13 displaced Palestinians whilst they were sleeping and left families buried there in the rubble.

All this is raising new doubts about Israel's strategy for the war. And the U.S. national security adviser says Israel needs more than a battle plan to win in Gaza.

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SULLIVAN: Military pressure is necessary, but not sufficient to fully defeat Hamas. If Israel's military efforts are not accompanied by a political plan for the future of Gaza and the Palestinian people, the terrorists will keep coming back and Israel will remain under threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, CNN's MJ Lee has more from the White House on the tensions between the U.S. and Israel.

[04:15:00] MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Two senior administration officials tell me and Kylie Atwood, that the U.S.'s current assessment is that Israel has amassed enough troops on the border of Rafah that it could make a full incursion into the city in the coming days.

But the important caveat that we are being told is that senior U.S. officials don't actually know whether Israel has made the decision to go ahead with such a military operation. Of course, if Israel were to move forward with such an operation, this would be hugely significant, precisely because of what President Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett last week. He made clear that the U.S. would stop sending offensive weapons to Israel if Israel were to go into Rafah. And also, this would just be in direct defiance of the president's repeated warnings to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the previous months.

Now, in a sign of how problematic all of this would be in the eyes of the Biden White House, one senior official telling me that Israel has also not come anywhere close to making adequate preparations in terms of housing, in terms of food, in terms of hygiene, ahead of a potential evacuation of the more than one million people who are currently sheltering in Rafah.

What is also interesting is that we are increasingly seeing U.S. officials publicly questioning Israel's approach to not only the war, but also what its endgame might be in the conflict. Kurt Campbell telling our colleague Kylie Atwood that Israeli officials often talk about the idea of a sweeping victory on the battlefield and about total victory.

But importantly, he said, I don't think we believe that is likely or possible. So that's certainly a sobering assessment from a top U.S. official, as Israel continues to warn that it is going to move forward with the Rafah operation.

MJ Lee, CNN at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And have a look at this video. Israeli activists in the West Bank intercepted an aid shipment bound for Gaza and did their best to destroy it as well, as you can see. They are smashing boxes, sacks of food. The group opposes aid going into Gaza. In a statement, they said it was unfathomable that Israel allow this on the country's Memorial Day. CNN has reached out to Israeli police for comment.

Now, Israel says a United Nations vehicle struck in Rafah on Monday was in an active combat zone. At least one United Nations aid worker was killed, another injured. The U.S. says they were in a clearly marked U.N. vehicle that came under attack. Israel says it wasn't aware of the vehicle's route and is reviewing the incident.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch says there's a pattern of IDF attacks on aid workers that raises questions about Israel's commitment to comply with international law. That includes an attack in April that killed seven workers of the World Central Kitchen. CNN's Paul Hancocks is live for us in Abu Dhabi with more on that. Paula, a big accusation to make coming from Human Rights Watch. What sort of evidence do they have to say that there's a pattern of these sorts of attacks?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, this report, they say they were looking at eight specific attacks that they say killed about 31 aid workers and those around them since October 7th. And they say that these were cases where the aid groups had warned Israel in advance of their coordinates. They had pointed out exactly where their people were to try and prevent any kind of issues like this happening.

Also saying that Israel did not issue advance warnings when it carried out these particular attacks. Saying that it reveals fundamental flaws with so-called de-confliction systems.

Now the Human Rights Watch reports does say that obviously what happened with World Central Kitchen last month when there were some seven aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes was shocking. But that this has been happening time and time again.

So really trying to highlight the fact that aid workers have not been protected in any way when it comes to what has been happening since October 7th. They say that more than 250 aid workers in all have been killed in Gaza during that time -- Max.

FOSTER: And the latest on the deadly Israeli airstrike on the building sheltering displaced people, what is that?

HANCOCKS: So this is the area of Nuseirat refugee camp. And it is an area where we understand a four-story building was hit by an Israeli airstrike. It happened in the early hours of the morning when many were sleeping.

Now the latest death toll we have is at least 13 people were killed in that attack.

[04:20:00]

But we understand that this was an area where up to 100 displaced people had been sheltering. So there is a real fear that that death toll will significantly rise.

Now you can see some of the footage here as they are trying to save anybody they can within this apartment building. Some of this footage is graphic. It is upsetting. You can see children trapped in the rubble as they are trying to be rescued.

Now our CNN stringer on the ground said that they'd spoken to at least four people who had said that they still had family members who were missing, at least half a dozen.

And this is an area that Israel had operated in significantly last month. After they had left in April the Israeli military, there were some residents who went back to this area and said it looked like an earthquake had happened. It was a devastated area. But now the Israeli military back in this area once again.

And this airstrike itself we know was on a building that had been housing the displaced. We are asking the Israeli -- Israel Defense Forces for more information as to what they were targeting there -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Paula in Abu Dhabi, thank you for that update.

16 days into Donald Trump's hush money trial and the prosecution's key witness will be back on the stand in the coming hours. Former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testified about everything he did to protect his then boss, including setting up the $130,000 payment to former adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Through his testimony, jurors for the first time heard evidence directly connecting the former U.S. president to the payoff and reimbursements. CNN's Paula Reid explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prosecution's most anticipated witness, Michael Cohen, taking the stand in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial.

TRUMP: We paid a lawyer a legal expense and I believe that expense is a legal expense. It's marked down to the quote, legal expense.

REID (voice-over): Facing his former boss, Cohen spoke about his 10 years working as Trump's attorney and fixer while Trump sat back in his chair, closing his eyes, not reacting to Cohen's testimony. Cohen said he enjoyed working for Trump and whenever he received direct praise for completing a task, he felt like he was on top of the world.

Cohen told the court that when Trump was mulling a run for the presidency in 2015, Trump warned Cohen, you know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared. There's going to be a lot of women coming forward.

Cohen claimed that just weeks before the 2016 election, the editor of the National Enquirer told Cohen, Stormy Daniels wanted to sell her story about having an affair with Trump, which Cohen said would have been catastrophic and horrible for Trump's campaign.

Cohen said Trump got angry with him when they spoke about the Stormy Daniels story. I told him that one of the things that we need to do is obviously take care of it. Trump allegedly responded.

Absolutely. Do it. Take care of it.

Cohen testified that it was his idea to include a punitive damages clause in the Daniels deal to ensure that she didn't speak. Cohen said Trump told him to drag the Daniels payment out as long as possible. In fact, preferably until after the election, because if I win, it will have no relevance because I'm president. And if I lose, I don't even care. And he added this damning allegation.

He wasn't thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign.

Cohen walked the court through the process of creating several LLC's in order to transfer payment to Daniels. Cohen had to front the money himself and used a home equity line of credit because it was paperless so he could hide it from his wife.

I was doing everything I could and more to protect my boss, which is something that I had done for a long time.

Cohen testified that on October 28th, he immediately called Trump after Daniel signed the agreement, telling him: That this matter is now completely under control and locked down.

Cohen said in early 2017, he tried to get repaid for the money he fronted to Daniels. I needed Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg's input for questions about taxes. Cohen said he would be reimbursed over the course of the next 12 months, disguising the payment as like a legal service rendered since I was then going to be given the title of personal attorney to the president.

TRUMP: There's no fraud here. There's no crime here.

REID: Cohen will be back on the stand Tuesday and likely for the rest of the week. Now, his eventual cross-examination, which is expected to be conducted by Trump's lead attorney, Todd Blanche. Sources tell me it is expected to last as long, if not longer than direct questioning from prosecutors.

[04:25:00]

Paula Reid, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A massive billboard collapses during a storm in India, an update on the situation on the ground as rescue efforts continue there.

Plus, new information about the weight loss drug Wegovy and the results of its longest clinical trial yet.

And why the surprise return of a trader called Roaring Kitty sends shares of struggling retailer GameStop soaring once again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Dozens of wildfires are burning across Canada, threatening to engulf entire communities. Residents in several towns have been ordered to evacuate, including in Alberta province in western Canada, where wildfires are burning out of control just 16km from the town of Fort McMurray. One wildfire in British Columbia more than tripled in size over the weekend to nearly 5,300 hectares. And in Manitoba, a massive fire has scorched more than 34,000 hectares.

Heavy rains are bringing more devastation to southern Brazil. Several rivers and lakes in the region hit their highest ever levels as the torrential rain continued on Monday. At least 147 people have died and 127 are still missing since the rain and floods began nearly two weeks ago. Officials say more than half a million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Search efforts underway in Mumbai for dozens believed to be trapped after a massive billboard came crashing down during a rainstorm. Fire services, police and other officials have been taking part in the rescue operation. The National Disaster Response Force said at least 14 people were killed. A warning that images of that moment may be hard to watch because the towering billboard, which was located next to a busy road, collapsed on some houses and a service station as rain and strong winds lashed the area.

Local officials say dozens of people were injured. Social media posts showed the billboard blowing in the wind for a while before it actually fell over.

Now a twister whipping through Missouri has been caught on camera. Golfers in southern Missouri spotted a tornado touching down on Monday. Fire officials reported minor damage after the storm rolled through, according to CNN affiliate KCTV. The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area. That included wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour.

In this video you can see the golfers fleeing by golf cart to seek shelter from that storm.

And that was a controlled explosion there, just set off on Monday to dislodge the wreckage from the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Officials say the blast removed a tremendous amount of steel from the huge container ship that slammed into the bridge. The ship has been stuck for seven weeks but could be moving again within days. The controlled explosion was originally planned for Saturday but it was delayed because of bad weather.

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