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Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi Involved In Helicopter Crash; Dali Cargo Set To Refloat To Baltimore Terminal Tomorrow; Biden Briefed On Chopper Crash Involving Iran's President; Sean "Diddy" Combs Says He's Truly Sorry For Actions In Hotel video; Jurors See Gold Bars In Senator Menendez Bribery Trial. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 19, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:03]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington, and we're following breaking news overseas.

Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi has been involved in a helicopter crash in a remote part of the country. That crash happening early this morning after the president and other officials attended a ceremony for the opening of a new dam near the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi's condition is unknown and rescuers are having a very difficult time reaching the site of that crash because of heavy fog and bad weather. And you can see now it's very dark there.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is tracking this story closely and joins us now with the latest.

Nic, now some 12 hours later, what do we know?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Confusing and conflicting information, Jessica, from the Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in Eastern Azerbaijan province right up there in northwestern Iran. They said just a couple of hours ago that they had a signal from the helicopter. They got a cell phone signal picked up from the helicopter as well that they knew where it was.

But now we understand from their head of Iran's Red Crescent, their equivalent of the Red Cross, they don't know. Rescue workers do not know at this time whereabouts the helicopter is. The government and the president of the country are calling on people to pray. The supreme leader rather calling on people to pray for the president at this time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Iran's government asked people to pray for their president. So they did. For hours, faith and the hope he survived a mountainous helicopter crash. All the country had to cling on to. Hours earlier, he was aboard a government helicopter on the way to open a dam in Iran's far northwest. It was a big deal, on the border with Azerbaijan he met that country's president.

But within hours, Raisi's helicopter carrying him, Iran's foreign minister and other top officials back from the dam had crashed in dense fog, according to Iranian state news. A frantic search and rescue was launched. Ambulances rushed to the area, medics and mountain climbers searching for direction in the dense fog of the East Azerbaijan Province mountains. The weather conditions in the rugged, remote region too dangerous to use helicopters.

The head of Iran's armed forces ordered the mobilization of all facilities and equipment to assist in the search. Army, police, even the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard. As the search continued, Iran's supreme leader telling the country the government has the situation under control.

ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): Be assured that there will be no disruption in the country's affairs. The government authorities since they have learned about the incident this afternoon have been working hard and hopefully everything will be fine.

ROBERTSON: The 63-year-old Raisi was elected president in 2021. A hardliner, he has overseen a tightening of the country's already strict morality laws. Before that, as former chief justice, prosecutor general, and deputy chief justice, he oversaw many executions of activists and regime opponents. He also oversaw the bloody crackdown of anti-government protesters following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Hardline enough to be seen as a possible successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Both he and the foreign minister had taken a tough line negotiating Iran's nuclear program, as well as strong support for Hamas in Israel's war on Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on-camera): Now it does seem as if the government is wanting to keep a narrative at the moment that hope is possible. Even though 12 hours on these cold mountain sides and even if the rescuers can't get there, if there were a survivor or two, it might have been possible you would think that they could walk out of the mountains down to remote village, somehow raise an alarm.

Nevertheless, we just do not have clarity, but we do know now the Iranian authorities have asked the Turkish authorities to lend them one of their helicopters that's got night vision equipment. The Turkish authorities have agreed to do that and in the last hour or so we've heard from the Russian saying that they're going to send a couple of specialists plane, specialists helicopters that should be arriving in Iran over the next hour or so.

They're going to send as well 50 professional mountain rescue people as well. So all of this help coming in from neighboring countries, but it really does feel like a race against time right now.

[18:05:05]

DEAN: Certainly. And still so many questions as you illuminated there, Nic. Thank you so much for that reporting. Let's turn now to our CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann who's

here in the studio with us.

And we know that the U.S. is closely monitoring this, Oren, but they aren't keeping their distance as well.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. President Joe Biden was briefed in the hour or hours right after this happened, according to the White House press secretary. But at this point that's all the White House will say simply that he was briefed. We haven't seen a public statement from Biden. We also haven't seen a public payment from Jake Sullivan, who is in the region having just met with the Saudis and then the Israelis.

But that's not a surprise, and there are a number of reasons for that. First, the U.S. is trying to figure out exactly what happened here. As Nic pointed out, this is in a very remote region, so it's difficult to get information and much of that information will come directly from Iran or Iranian state media. Second, of course the U.S. trying to keep its distance, no reason to weigh in at this point, especially when you have so little information.

So the U.S. is closely monitoring. But, again, at arm's length here. It is worth noting simply the situation in the Middle East. Iranian proxies have since the beginning of the Gaza war, carried out scores of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. Those have stopped with the past couple of months, but the U.S. knows that's a lever that Iran can turn on and off. And that of course is under Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's hardline government.

He replaced Hassan Rouhani, who was viewed as much more of a moderate. So the U.S. has seen not only the crackdown on protesters, the carrying out of executions that Nic talked about when Raisi was head of the judiciary, but also the continuation of the hardline policies. He was also viewed as one of the potential successors for the current supreme leader. Now the only person who's viewed as a likely successor is the supreme leader's son.

So that's another dynamic that the U.S. is watching very closely here. The Middle East, we have seen it's already de-stable enough, so they'll ultimately be looking for the possible spiderweb effects of this and whether that leads to more destabilization in the Middle East. A lot to watch here, but for now the U.S. is much more in an information gathering mode than trying to get out front of this at this point.

DEAN: Absolutely. All right, Oren Liebermann. Thanks so much for that reporting. We appreciate it.

And I want to bring in now Leon Panetta, who served as both CIA director and secretary of defense during the Obama administration.

Thank you so much for being here with us. We're so glad to have you. Just to be clear to everyone out there, we still don't know whether the Iranian president was killed in this crash. So we just can go off the information that we have right now and I'm curious what -- knowing what we know right now, what do you think the fallout is in the state of play?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think it's probably not a wise thing to speculate without really knowing exactly what happened. But right now we don't know what has happened and we probably won't know until rescuers are able to reach the site of the helicopter and determine what happened. And that may not be until the morning in Iran time.

I think, you know, the one thing that we do know is that whatever happened here is probably not going to change the situation with the government of Iran. They'll continue to be hardliners. The supreme leader will continue to be in charge along with the IRGC. And I suspect that will continue -- United States will continue to have a difficult relationship with Iran in the future.

DEAN: And we do know that it's some 12 hours now since that helicopter went down and we have no status update on the president of Iran. Are you surprised by this at all that we just don't know what's happened here, and it's 12 hours later?

PANETTA: Well, you have to you have to understand this is very difficult terrain in that part of Iran. It's very mountainous, very difficult to get to, and in addition to that, they're having terrible weather and a terrible fog situation in terms of visibility. So when you combine all that together and a helicopter goes down, you're not quite sure where it went down, you're not quite sure just exactly what happened.

Were there any survivors? They now have the opportunity I guess to get night vision helicopters from Turkey and probably the same from Russia. Whether that will help or not, who knows. So I just think right now we really have very little information about just exactly what has happened here.

DEAN: And are you surprised at all that so many high-ranking officials were on board that same helicopter and that they were flying in these conditions?

[18:10:01]

I mean, obviously you're describing the terrain, those conditions can change as they're flying through them. But does any of that surprise you?

PANETTA: Well, you usually don't want to put your top officials in one helicopter. That's not a good policy to follow. And when I was chief of staff, we never did that with the president or the vice president and others. You normally would want to have them go in separate helicopters.

This was a big event evidently in Azerbaijan. They were dedicating a dam and so the president and the foreign minister went up there together. They probably decided to ride together in the helicopter, which was a mistake and now as a result of that, very frankly, Iran and the world really don't know whether or not the president and the foreign minister are still alive. DEAN: And it's been interesting to see how state media has handled

this. They've been trying to give information, but it is state media and it's a question of how transparent they can actually be or they actually want to be. What do you make of the information that they so far have put out there and the message they're trying to get across, which seems to be we're competent, we're in control, we've got this?

PANETTA: No, I don't think it's a good idea to trust the information that's coming out of Iran now or in the future, very frankly, because they're not going to -- they're not going to admit anything and they probably really don't know what has occurred here because, as I said, this helicopter went down in some pretty difficult terrain. But it's clear that the supreme leader is sending a very clear message that he's still in charge.

The hardliners will remain in charge. There's no question in my mind. And whatever ultimately is determined to have happened here, the relationship with Iran, between Iran and the United States and other countries for that matter is still going to be very strained because they remain an adversary.

DEAN: I want to talk to you, too, about National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who just left Saudi Arabia. He's an Israel trying to get this grand deal done before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. The U.S. was trying to move toward a deal that in part what have normalized relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. It's something that the administration still wants to get done.

And it sounds like based on their readout they had a pretty productive conversation in Saudi Arabia. Do you think that they can get Israel on board?

PANETTA: Well, you know, as we've all recognized, there are a lot of crosscurrents that are occurring right now with regards to the Israel- Hamas war, and a lot of mixed messages as to exactly what's going to happen in the future. Netanyahu still wants to go into Rafah and he says it'll be a limited operation, but we don't know.

There are lives at stake there. There's no plan to deal with those lives. There's no plan as far as I know to deal with how to govern Gaza, which is a real problem because Hamas continues to return, particularly to the north of Gaza, and there's no agreement with Israel and Netanyahu as to developing ultimately a Palestinian state.

Having said all of that, I'm really glad that the United States, Jake Sullivan and others are continuing to try to pursue some kind of solution here. I think working with Saudi Arabia is important. I think that's one aspect that can help to try to move us toward some kind of agreement here.

What is needed, frankly, is some kind of ceasefire probably on a short-term basis, develop a ceasefire, develop a plan for what happens with the hostages everybody wants to see where these hostages are or whether they're still alive, develop an approach as to the future of Gaza. Who is going to govern Gaza? Otherwise, very frankly, no matter what happens in Rafah, Hamas will continue to be a threat in that area and we'll continue to have war until there is a plan for how Gaza is going to be governed. And also deal obviously with the humanitarian needs, which are very serious there.

[18:15:02]

So all of those things hopefully need to be addressed, but it's going to take a lot of work on the part of all parties.

DEAN: And the Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was at the Knesset today and gave a speech. I just want to play some of her remarks for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): A total victory is something to many others throughout the free world fail to understand. Total victory starts but only starts with wiping those responsible for October 7th off the face of the earth. There can be no retrievable dignity for Hamas and its backers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And you were just talking about how Hamas, we've seen them returning in Northern Gaza specifically, kind of among in this power vacuum that's been created after the IDF leaves. I'm just curious in your opinion that their -- the Israeli objective from the prime minister is to eradicate Hamas, to wipe them off the planet. Is that possible to totally eradicate Hamas?

PANETTA: All right. I think one of the problems involved in this war has been not really having a clear definition of what constitutes victory. I know that Netanyahu has talked about totally destroying Hamas. That's not going to happen. Everybody knows that's not going to happen. What you can do is go after the leadership of Hamas that was involved in the October 7th campaign and make sure that that kind of attack will never happen again.

The ability to do that represents in my mind the kind of victory that is needed in this war. But to do that, you do need a plan for the future. You do need a plan for Gaza as to who's going to govern Gaza in order to make sure that Hamas does not return and continue this kind of war in the future.

DEAN: That all circles back to those conversations that are ongoing amongst all those different parties we've been talking about.

Secretary Leon Panetta, thank you so much for joining us.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

DEAN: Thanks.

Still ahead, President Joe Biden is in Detroit where he's addressing an NAACP dinner tonight. His appearance just hours after he gave a commencement speech at one of the nation's most prestigious historically black colleges. What his message is today. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:09]

DEAN: The White House says President Biden has been briefed on the helicopter crash involving Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi. It went down early today in a remote part of the country. The president is now in Detroit for a campaign stop with the NAACP, and joining us now is senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak, who was traveling with the president.

And Kevin, it has been a busy weekend for President Biden. He started the day in Atlanta, ended it of course in Detroit. What can you tell us about what he's been doing this weekend?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's actually been quite a busy stretch, four-day stretch that the president has been really trying to reinforce his support among black voters, specifically starting last week in Washington when he commemorated the anniversary of that landmark Brown versus the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. Moving on to that address that he delivered at Morehouse. And now to this speech that he will deliver in about an hour from now here in Detroit.

All with the hope of trying to win back some of these voters whose support does seem to be eroding. Black voters of course turned out in strong numbers for President Biden in 2020. But polls indicate that many of them are flocking away from the president. And that is an imperative for him if he is to look to reel that coalition that helped propel him to the White House four years ago.

And certainly at Morehouse, one of the key backdrops to his speech there was the conflict in the Middle East. There was some contention on campus before his arrival amongst students and among faculty who are displeased at how his handling that conflict and there was some question of whether his speech would be interrupted in protest.

His speech was not interrupted, but there were some students who turned their back on him while he was speaking. Now -- but the president did address the conflict head on in his remarks. Listen to a little bit of how he framed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking. Hamas' vicious attack on Israel, killing innocent lives and holding people hostage. Innocent Palestinians caught in the middle of all this. Men, women, and children killed or displaced, and in desperate need of water, food, and medicine. It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That's why I've called for an immediate ceasefire. An immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Bring the hostages home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: I don't know. I'm not sure if you can still hear me or what's going on. I don't -- I've lost all --

DEAN: All right. We've left -- we've lost Kevin Liptak. We'll try to get back to him a little bit later in the show, but thanks so much for that reporting, Kevin.

Still ahead, Sean "Diddy" Combs is now apologizing after a video exclusively obtained by CNN appeared to show him hit, kick and drag his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, inside of a hotel back in 2016.

[18:25:04]

How Ventura is responding to the post.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Sean "Diddy" Combs is saying he's sorry two days after a video exclusively obtained by CNN shows him beating Cassie Ventura inside a hotel in 2016. And we do want to warn you that this video is disturbing. Combs is seen shoving, kicking, and dragging his then girlfriend down the hallway, and now he's posted an apology on Instagram.

CNN's Veronica Miracle joins me now.

And veronica, that video is so disturbing and now this apology. What's he saying?

[18:30:07]

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, Jessica, is very difficult to watch. We are actually going to go through it and show our viewers what he is apologizing for. But today, Sean Combs says he is disgusted by his actions and that he is trying to become a better man. We'll get to his full apology, but we want to take a look at the very difficult to watch surveillance video, which is dated back from March 2016, exclusively obtained by CNN showing different angles from the Intercontinental Hotel where it appears to show Sean Combs throwing Cassie Ventura to the ground, kicking her several times.

He drags her later in the video. And at one point, he appears to throw what looks like vases at her. Now this apology video that he posted today is the first time that he has acknowledged this event. In fact, he has repeatedly denied allegations of assault from Cassie Ventura, which is now the basis of a settled federal lawsuit that was settled back in November.

Let's take a listen to his full apology posted on Instagram this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS, RAPPER, MUSIC MOGUL: So difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Sometimes you've got to do that. I was (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now.

I went and I sought out professional help. I had to go into therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry, but I'm committed to be a better man each and every day. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, Veronica, what are we hearing from Cassie Ventura?

MIRACLE: Well, Jessica, CNN was the first to hear from Cassie Ventura's team and they said in a statement, quote, "Combs' most recent statement is more about himself than the many people he has hurt. When Cassie and multiple other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were looking for a payday. They go on to say that he was only compelled to apologize once repeated denials were proven false -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Veronica Miracle with the latest reporting there. Thanks so much.

And just a note, if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence and you need help, you can call the Domestic Violence Hotline, that number is 80799-SAFE. It's 800-799-7233. There is help for you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:37:48]

DEAN: We are following breaking news out of Iran as rescue crews are searching for a helicopter that crashed carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a mountainous area. The head of Iran's Red Crescent says harsh weather, heavy fog are all complicating the search, not to mention it's now dark there. Initial reports suggested the site was detected, but now there are conflicting reports and still no word on the condition of President Raisi.

Let's bring in retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, great to see you. It seems pretty obvious here that they are dealing with some pretty difficult weather and that weather could have been a factor in all of this.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely, Jessica. And one of the things when you look at the crash site right here, you notice, first of all that it's extremely mountainous, but when there's a weather front that comes through a place like this. It actually has a major impact because what it's doing is it's creating all kinds of conditions. The elevation is high. That means the temperature is low and it could mean everything from fog to sleet, to even possibly a snowfall in certain areas with the highest elevations.

So it's a very difficult terrain to deal with for any rescue efforts. And the fact that it's, you know, in an area that is not only mountainous, but also really rough terrain makes the search operations really hard to deal with.

DEAN: It helps explain potentially why it could be 12 hours now and we still don't know where the president of Iran is.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. Because in a situation like this, when you're dealing with, you know, as you can see right here, the terrain is kind of, you know, rough and that's actually his helicopter right there. And what it shows, Jessica, is that, when an aircraft like this goes missing, and it's in an inaccessible area then it makes it really difficult for search crews to get there, especially if there have things like fog and rain, and you know, some really falling temperatures.

DEAN: Yes, and you have an air force background. What's it like flying in conditions like this, flying was VIPs like this on a helicopter?

LEIGHTON: Well, for one thing, one of the things that they should have probably done is not flown under these conditions.

DEAN: But Leon Panetta said, too, yes.

[18:40:02]

LEIGHTON: Yes, and exactly. And because you know, anybody who is responsible for transporting VIPs has to have their safety as the top priority. Now that VIP may have said take me regardless of what the weather is, you can make it. That's possible. That has happened before and then unfortunately, they paid the price for that kind of thing. But the key factor is this. The pilot is ultimately responsible for the safety of those VIPs. And if they really have to, they should overrule that passenger. In this case, the VIP.

Now in the Iranian system, that's a little bit more difficult to do that in the U.S. But that generally is the rule in a case like this.

DEAN: He had actually said that they shouldn't be flying together, putting them all on board one chopper was not the smartest move.

LEIGHTON: No, it's not. And that's one of the things that you do is you divide them up. There were supposedly three choppers in this formation. The one that went down contained the president and the foreign minister and several other high officials. And that can in essence decapitate the Iranian government just like that.

DEAN: And so we were talking in the break when a helicopter like this goes down, and again, we don't know a lot right now. We have very limited information only that there was a crash. But in this sort of terrain, a crash site in some instances can be really big.

LEIGHTON: Oh, absolutely. If a crash occurs in an area like this, and this is the bell helicopter that the president of Iran was using, you can see that, you know, when you look here at here at the terrain in the background, if it were to impact let's say a mountain like this one, the debris field would be really, really large potentially. And that would cause a lot of difficulties for the search people, and especially when it comes to, you know, trying to find things like black boxes and other emanations, radio signals from a crash site. That is going to be really difficult to do especially if the equipment is damaged in a case like that.

DEAN: And do you think, again, now it's the middle of the night there, but the sun will be coming up soon-ish. Do you think that will help?

LEIGHTON: Yes, absolutely. So when in a case like this, Iran is seven hours and 30 minutes away from the Eastern Time Zone here in the U.S. So when the sun comes up in Iran, they'll be able to see some things now. It all depends on the weather.

DEAN: Right.

LEIGHTON: And the latest weather forecasts for that area indicates some clearing during the morning hours, but then rain coming in again in the evening and afternoon hours. So with all of that said, the search parties have a very small window of time to do there their job. And of course they want to recover hopefully living people from this accident. But the likelihood of that diminishes by the hour. Now with 12 hours having passed since the crash that is getting more and more unlikely.

DEAN: It's a long time.

LEIGHTON: It is.

DEAN: It's a long time. All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, always great to see you. Thanks so much.

And still ahead, the cargo ship that slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could soon be moved after being stuck for months. How crews are going to refloat the Dali. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And a violent smash and grab worth half $1 billion. It's the unsolved mystery of the Gardner art heist. A new episode of "HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED WITH JESSE L. MARTIN" tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:04]

DEAN: New tonight, we're learning Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer plans to call a vote on the border this week. It's that long negotiated bipartisan border legislation that was scuttled by Republicans back in January after Donald Trump announced that he did not want to see it passed. No exact timing has been announced for that vote but Schumer's move puts new political pressure on Republicans in this election year.

GOP leaders have said they oppose another vote on the legislation and Schumer acknowledges he doesn't expect all Democrats will support the standalone bill. It is not expected to get the 60 votes needed for it to advance.

It has been a traffic nightmare for drivers in Baltimore for two months now after the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. But we do have some progress to tell you about. As early as tomorrow, the Dali cargo ship that crashed into the bridge may be floated back in the city's marine terminal and that would help both the investigation into what happened and the plan to clear the channel, and eventually build a new bridge.

CNN national correspondent Gloria Pazmino brings us up to date on the progress.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, everything about this has been massive in scale from the accident to the cleanup effort to now this plan to finally refloat the Dali out of the channel and back into the Port of Baltimore. We understand that the crew of the Dali, which has been on board this entire time, has been working throughout the entire day today preparing the Dali for the refloating operation Monday morning.

They have been dropping anchors, dropping the mooring lines, and emptying the Dali of millions of gallons of water that have to be pumped into the ship in order to help balance it as these other cleanup operations were happening around it. So Monday morning, if it all goes as planned at the height of high tide, around 5:00 a.m., there will be five tugboats that will come in and they're going to pull the Dali back into the Port of Baltimore.

[18:50:10]

It's going to be removed to a marine terminal there. This is going to be a slow-moving operation. It has to travel about two and a half miles, but they are expecting that to take more than 20 hours. They're going slowly to make sure that this is done safely and that there are no other issues that are created as a result of finally moving this massive ship out of the channel.

Now, one thing that's important to remember, Jessica, is that, as I said, the crew of the Dali remains on board. We have been in touch with the International Transport Workers Federation, which is the union that represents these workers. And they've told us that they are becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of time that the workers have had to stay aboard the ship.

They said that their cell phones have being confiscated as a result of the investigation, that they have been disconnected from their families and their loved ones, unable to access contacts and important information on their phones. And that this is creating a lot of anxiety among the crew, which doesn't really know what's going to happen to them, next. Their visas have expired. So the union is now working with the company which manages the Dali, as well as a Border Patrol in order to come up with a plan for these crew members who are going to have to need a plan once the ship is back at the Port of Baltimore.

We are still waiting to hear more details about when the crew will be allowed to leave the ship. But for now, we do expect the Dali to be removed from the federal channel finally allowing for that critical artery to reopen once again. And the Port of Baltimore to get back to normal operating business -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

The corruption and bribery trial of Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, is underway in New York. Jurors have been shown the 13 gold bars at the heart of the bribery case in addition to hearing testimony from an FBI agent who found nearly half-million dollars stash in a Burberry bag, a Timberland boot, and the senator's jacket in the Menendez's home.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are accused of taking bribes in exchange for political favors. Menendez and his wife denied any wrongdoing.

CNN's Jason Carroll has been inside the courtroom and has this update.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Embattled Senator Robert Menendez arrived at federal court facing cameras and not answering questions about corruption charges he is facing. Prosecutors portraying the senator as a man who put greed first and his power up for sale. Agents confiscated more than $480,000 in cash and gold bars in June 2022 from the senator's home.

The first witness in the case, an FBI special agent, who detailed to jurors how they discovered cash in closets and in basement, and a home office, including $100,000 in a Burberry bag, $7500 inside a Timberland boot, $4300 in the pocket of a congressional jacket with the senator's name on it. So much cash and so many places, the agents said his team needed two machines to count at all.

The prosecution telling jurors the senator used his wife as a go- between to accept bribes for his influence, including gold bars, cash for his wife, and a job for his wife.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If you're convicted, will you resign?

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Really? I'm looking forward to proving my innocence.

CARROLL: Senator Menendez faces 16 federal accounts, including bribery, extortion, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt and assisting the government of Qatar. The defense arguing the senator is not guilty of accepting bribes, saying he was working for his constituents. The gold bars and cash they say were gifts. His wife Nadine and two business associates are also charged and pleaded not guilty.

The senator's attorney placing any possible wrongdoing at the feet of his wife, telling jurors the couple had separate accounts, and in some ways live separate lives, saying she kept Bob sidelined. Nadine made sure Bob was kept out of conversations involving money.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's their only out, right? What they have to establish, them and his attorneys, is that he was just not in the loop. He was unaware and the items that were recovered in that home in large measure he knew very little if anything about.

CARROLL: The senator's critics not buying the story.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: The defense seems to be saying that his wife was doing these things without his knowledge. Your reaction?

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes. Yes. No, he was wondering like, you know, how could I be more sleazy? It's like, oh, I can blame my wife.

[18:55:05]

CARROLL: Nadine Menendez will be tried separately due to a medical issue. This week, it was revealed she has breast cancer and will need a double mastectomy. Her trial is set for July.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Still ahead, a helicopter carrying the Iranian president crashes in a remote part of the country. The latest on the rescue efforts next.

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