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CNN International: Georgia Protests Over Final Reading of Foreign Agents Bill Before Vote; OpenAI Unveils New Model of ChatGPT; Cohen Testifies Trump Approved Hush Money Payment; Jury Selection in Sen. Menendez Trial to Continue Tuesday in Corruption Case. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 14, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: 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. The ship hit the bridge in the middle of the night in March, causing the span to collapse and killing six construction workers.

Now, still to come, ChatGPT is new and improved. We'll show you the amazing new capabilities that some people think are just a little too creepy.

And before that, a final reading of Georgia's controversial foreign agents bill underway despite fierce protests by thousands in the capital city. The latest in a live report just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. Top stories this hour.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arriving in Kyiv earlier today on an unannounced visit. He's there to reaffirm America's support for Ukraine and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It's Blinken's fourth visit to the Ukrainian capital since the war began.

President Biden set to announce new tariffs on Chinese imports today. It's an effort to stop China from undercutting U.S. companies and jobs in the manufacturing sector. The tariffs would impact electric vehicles, steel and aluminum, semiconductors as well, battery components.

New Caledonia's government is calling for calm after protests in the French territory turned violent and police were attacked. The protests came ahead of today's debate in the French National Assembly on changes to the constitution which would allow more French residents to vote in New Caledonia's elections.

Right now, a final reading of Georgia's controversial foreign agents bill is underway in Parliament. Georgia's Prime Minister is vowing the bill will be approved today, despite widespread protests across the former Soviet country. The final debate will be followed by a vote. If the bill passes, the law would require organizations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence or face major fines.

[04:35:00]

Mass protests in the capital city of Tbilisi have been ongoing, including a march by university students on Monday. Critics say the bill mirrors a similar law in Russia, and there's concern the legislation could jeopardize the country's bid to join the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NODAR, MEDICAL STUDENT AND PROTESTER: We also want to say that we do not agree with this law against this spy. This is not good for our European future, which is our dream. And that's all we want to say about it.

I am here, I'm standing here with my colleagues from my university. We are graduating this year. And we want to say that we want public health, which is European that is not pro-Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Clare Sebastian joins us now. I mean, they are pretty dramatic protests, but it's pretty obvious as well the government's ignoring them. It has ignored them for so long. This is the second time they've brought this bill through, and they've actually got enough votes. So it's going to happen, isn't it?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, I think that's the way this is heading. Obviously, we can't predict the debate that's happening in the parliament at this moment.

I don't know if we can show you. Those are live pictures from outside of the parliament you can see --

FOSTER: There's more police.

SEBASTIAN: -- almost as many, maybe even more police than there are protesters.

And this has been one of the hallmarks of what's been happening. As the protesters have grown more determined over the recent weeks, the police response has become ever more brutal in the words of the European Union. We've seen opposition leaders beaten, other beatings, multiple arrests, things like that.

This is really now a very volatile clash, not only, I would say, between the people, 80 percent of which, at least according to the latest polls, support EU membership and the government, but also between these two sort of world views, the pro-Western, pro-EU integration with the EU and NATO ideas versus Russia.

And that is why this is not just about this law. These protesters, they see this foreign agents law as a slippery slope to this sort of Russian influence, the kind of Russian repression that we see in Russia, partly due to their own foreign agents bill and partly for other reasons.

But they see this kind of democratic backsliding is what the White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, has called it.

So, look, the protesters that we've been speaking to, they say that even if this passes, they will continue to turn out. What happens next is that the president has promised that she will veto this. She is pro-European. Parliament then say they can override it. That means there's potentially a couple more weeks of these sort of procedural elements.

And the protesters last hope is that the government will see sense at that point and withdraw the bill. They are facing elections in October, so the hope is that that will prove some incentive. But at this point, the Prime Minister is saying on Monday that they will pass this in the third reading.

FOSTER: Looking at these images from outside the parliament, I mean, it says so much, doesn't it? You've got a, you know, largely pro- Russian group of politicians within the building if this goes through. Outside, you've got all those protesters who are waving EU and American flags.

I mean, this is symbolic of global tension right now, isn't it? The West versus, you know, this other axis that's forming between Russia and China.

SEBASTIAN: This is a fault line, I think, in that, Max. I think that's how Georgia sees this and that's why you see, you know, European flags, you've seen American flags in the crowd. They also want the West to know what's going on and to potentially do something to stop it. There are a lot of calls for sanctions.

You know, we've had U.S. senators come out and condemn this, but we haven't had any actual sanctions on the Georgian Dream, that's the ruling party elite, which the protesters, civil society, opposition figures that we speak to think would actually make a difference here.

And then, of course, you have the wider questions as to how we got here, right? Fifteen years ago, Georgia and Russia were at war. Russia still occupies 20 percent of Georgia's internationally recognized territory. And the Georgian Dream Party, which came in in 2012, did not come in with the promise of sort of rapprochement with Russia.

That gradual sort of process has happened since then and exposed even more by the invasion of Ukraine. Georgia did not join Western sanctions, has not roundly condemned Russia. But most people will tell you that Georgia would not have gained EU candidate status if it wasn't going to be wrapped into that along with Ukraine.

So that has sort of exposed these divisions. And that is why Georgia, I think, finds itself at this point a real crossroads.

FOSTER: What do we know about where the security forces, the police are on all of this? Because if we look at those images, as you say, these protests have been going on for, you know, weeks, haven't they? You've been reporting on that. It's really tense.

SEBASTIAN: Yes.

FOSTER: But when it comes to that crunch point and the bill gets passed, you know, there's going to be even more frustration. It's going to feel like you can't go back. And, you know, how are the police going to react to the protesters? I mean, could it kick off?

SEBASTIAN: Right. Yes, I think it could. The one civil society leader told me that he thinks a tsunami is coming if the bill passes.

On the other hand, though, I have also had reports that there are some police who actually sympathize with the bill. I think when you have a country which is 80 percent pro-European, then that is also a possibility. But this has also, as I said, been characterized by a disproportionate crackdown.

There's been intimidation of opposition leaders.

[04:40:00]

One opposition leader, you know, beaten up, he says, deliberately targeted. We've seen other types of intimidation as well. There are these sort of wanted style posters that have gone up outside the offices of NGOs, civil society leaders saying there's no place for agent activity in, in Georgia.

So you can see that the kind of chilling effect of a bill like this that these protesters are worried about is already, to an extent, happening.

FOSTER: OK. Clare Sebastian, thank you. We'll be watching it very closely. They're voting on it now?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, this hour.

FOSTER: OK. You'll be able to have real time, clever conversations with ChatGBT in the meantime. Open AI has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence model, ChatGBT 4.0. It is effectively a very helpful digital buddy that's capable of witty dialogue in any language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHATGBT: It looks like you're feeling pretty happy and cheerful with a big smile and maybe even a touch of excitement. Whatever's going on, it seems like you're in a great mood. Care to share the source of those good vibes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, no. The reason I'm in a really good mood is because we were doing a presentation showcasing how useful and amazing you are.

CHATGBT: Oh, stop it. You're making me blush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the new version can view your photos, screenshots and documents and talk to you about them as well. It's free. CNN's Clare Duffy has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: A true virtual personal assistant. It can have real time spoken conversations as well as text interactions. It can also interpret photos, videos, documents and have a discussion about those things in real time.

One of the things I found really interesting is it's also going to be able to do real time translation in more than 50 languages. We have a clip we can show you of that.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CHATGBT: Mike, she wonders if whales could talk, what would they tell us?

MIKE: They might ask, how do we solve linear equations?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DUFFY: So you see there ChatGPT listening in Italian, translating to English, listening in English, translating back to Italian. Really powerful stuff. And as you said there, this going to be free for all ChatGPT users, which I think is really important in this moment, in the AI arms race when you have players like Google and Meta who are incorporating their AI tools into much more widely used products like Google Assistant, Facebook and Instagram. Open AI wants to give people a reason to use its product, ChatGPT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: OK, shares of video game retailer GameStop have soared after an infamous trader posted on X for the first time in three years. The trader known as Roaring Kitty helped ignite the so-called meme stock frenzy of 2021, during which troubled stocks went viral due to online chatter and social media activity. Roaring Kitty recently posted this cartoon depicting a man leaning forward in a chair holding a video game controller.

That caused GameStop shares to surge more than 110 percent on Monday before settling at 74 percent. To be clear, this huge jump had nothing to do with the company's fundamentals. You can see how far the stock has fallen over the past year, down to about $10 a share before skyrocketing up to more than $30.

One of the world's biggest charitable organizations is losing one of its founders. Melinda French Gates will soon be stepping down as co- chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CNN's Anna Stewart has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the end of another era for Bill and Melinda Gates. Three years after they announced their intention to divorce, Melinda French Gates is now leaving the foundation she started with her former husband. Over the last 25 years, it's made nearly $78 billion in grant payments around the world.

In a statement posted on X, she said it wasn't a decision she took lightly, but it was time for the next chapter in her philanthropy. And she has plenty of money to get it going.

Under the terms of her separation agreement, she has $12.5 billion to spend on charitable works. And while there isn't much detail on exactly what comes next, whether she will launch a new foundation, it is clear where her focus will be.

She said: This is a critical moment for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, and those fighting to protect and advance equality are in urgent need of support.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates also took to X, thanking his former wife for her work, adding that he was sorry to see her leave, and assuring followers that he remained committed to the foundation of which he will now be the sole chairman.

The name of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be changed to the Gates Foundation.

Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now to new takeaways from the longest clinical trial yet of the wildly popular weight loss drug, Wegovy.

[04:45:00]

Rather, they are raising new questions about how it and similar drugs should be used, and if they should be covered by insurance. The trial was funded by drugmaker Novo Nordisk.

Researchers found those taking Wegovy had an average weight loss of about 10 percent, and participants typically lost weight for about 65 weeks before hitting a plateau. Most were able to keep the weight off for four years, and researchers say the drug also significantly reduced the risk of heart attacks. Novo Nordisk says more than 25,000 people in the U.S. are starting Wegovy each week.

King Charles was given a senior military role. Well, he's handed one over to his son, Prince William.

At a ceremony on Monday, the King presented William with the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, a position the monarch held for 32 years. It was a rare joint appearance for them, as King Charles continues to ease back into his public duties after his cancer diagnosis. And Prince William returns to his own official duties after taking a break earlier this year to care for his wife, Catherine, who's also being treated for cancer.

A new voter survey shows a worrying trend for President Biden. The key swing states where he's trailing Donald Trump. We'll have more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen returns to the stand later today for the Hush Money trial and his testimony will likely last much of the week. He's poised to become the trial's most consequential and controversial witness because he's doing something that no one else can, testifying about multiple direct conversations with the former U.S. president about allegedly faking business records to cover up a payment to a porn star.

Cohen is also confirming the prosecution's main argument that the so- called catch-and-kill scheme to buy and bury unflattering stories about Trump was a political move meant to help win the 2016 presidential election.

Now, new polling shows Trump has a significant edge over President Joe Biden in four key swing states likely to determine the outcome of this year's election. The survey from the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College show that Trump is leading in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, all states won by Mr. Biden four years ago. Trump's largest lead is in Nevada where he's up by 12 percent.

Each state has a margin of error of more than 4 percent. The poll found two other battleground states have no clear leader. That would be Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, both part of the Democrats' so-called blue wall.

Now, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris had some blunt advice as she marked Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Speaking to a group of young Asian Americans on Monday, she pressed them to take it upon themselves to strive for their own opportunities and successes, even if the odds were against them.

[04:50:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: It is as Alicia said, my mother would say to me, don't you ever let anybody tell you who you are. You tell them who you are. We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won't. And then you need to kick that (BLEEP) door down. Excuse my language.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Harris, of course, has broken barriers as America's first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president.

Now, jury selection will resume in the coming hours in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. The New Jersey Democrat is accused of taking bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts with government officials in Egypt and Qatar. CNN's Jason Carroll has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, jury selection will now move into Tuesday. Once a jury is seated, then we will move on to opening statements where both sides will present their cases to the jurors. We already know what the prosecution says happened here.

The prosecution says that Senator Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator's influence in trying to get influence with the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Those bribes coming in the form of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars and home furnishings.

Senator Menendez, for his part, says that the government is overreaching, that the government is out to get him, that he has done nothing wrong. He says that money that was found at his home was money that he had saved over a period of time, other money that came in the form of loans.

We also got a clue as to what also might be part of the defense here. That came in a pretrial document. There's a particular statement of note.

It reads: Senator Menendez intends to present a defense arguing in part that he lacked the requisite knowledge of much of the conduct and statements of his wife Nadine and did not agree to join any of the charged conspiracies.

Nadine Menendez will be tried separately. Her trial starts in July.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A legendary guitar from rock guitar legend Eric Clapton is about to be auctioned. The story behind it and how much it's expected to sell for as well coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The first game of the upcoming NFL season will feature a rematch between two of the league's powerhouse teams. On Monday, it was announced that the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, will kick things off against the Baltimore Ravens, September the 5th in Kansas City. The Chiefs beat the Ravens in last season's AFC championship game 17-10 in Baltimore. Kansas City went on to win their second straight Super Bowl. Now trying for a third, of course.

A mixed-breed dog made history at this year's Westminster Dog Show, becoming the first to win the agility championship. You have to see this video. Nimble from Maryland raced through the entire obstacle course in under 30 seconds. People stood up and cheered, and one commentator even said he was left breathless.

The agility championship allows mixed-breed dogs to compete in a show that's historically been dominated by pure-breed dogs, and what a winner.

[04:55:00]

The cast of Downton Abbey returning to the big screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wonderful all to be back together again. You come back together and it's like no time has passed at all.

We're so happy to announce that we're in production for the third Downton Abbey movie. We can't wait to see you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The Crawley's and their entourage are coming back for a third movie. The latest installment will feature older new faces. The award- winning TV series gained a huge following in the U.K. and U.S. after first airing in 2010. It went on for six seasons and was followed by two films released in 2019 and 2022.

Glitz and glamour on the French Riviera as the Cannes Film Festival is set to kick off in the coming hours. The 77th edition of the event will begin with the French-language comedy, The Second Act.

The festival's nine-member jury met for the first time on Monday. The international panel is led by American filmmaker Greta Gerwig. The group will decide who will be awarded the prestigious Palme d'Or, which honors exceptional cinematic achievement. The festival runs until May 25th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC CLAPTON, SONG BY ERIC CLAPTON, WONDERFUL TONIGHT: And then she asks me, "Do I look alright?" And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The song Wonderful Tonight is one of Eric Clapton's biggest hits and next month, the guitar he used to write it will be listed for auction. This is the guitar. It is a 1974 00028 Martin Acoustic. I hope I said that right. Bonham's Auction House says it's expected to sell for as much as half a million dollars.

Legend has it that Clapton wrote Wonderful Tonight whilst waiting for his girlfriend, Patti Boyd, to get ready for a party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAIRE TOLE-MOIR, HEAD OF POPULAR CULTURE DEPARTMENT, BONHAMS: The story goes that Patti was getting ready for a night out at a Paul McCartney party. She didn't know what she was going to wear. She was trying on different dresses, doing her makeup, taking a little bit longer than had planned, and Eric wrote a song.

When she came down, she asked the inevitable question, Do I look alright? To which he sang her the song with the chorus line, Yes, you look wonderful tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That is legendary genius.

Thanks for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "THIS MORNING" comes up next after a quick break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAPTON: And then she asks me, "Do I look alright?" And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:00:00]