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International Criminal Court Seeks Arrest Warrants for Hamas and Israeli Leaders; Funeral Ceremonies for Ebrahim Raisi to Begin on Tuesday; Prosecution Rests Case on Day 19 of Trump's Criminal Trial. Prosecutors Try to Strengthen Cohen's Testimony About Call; Funeral Ceremonies for Ebrahim Raisi to Begin on Tuesday; Taiwan's New President Sworn in to Office. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 21, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: And wonderful wit and her ability to welcome everyone into the conversation make it that much better. In a world where you say, you should never talk politics with friends, she broke that rule because she remained a friend to so many. And I will deeply miss Alice Stewart, her grace and her spirit. And so will so many others who she touched.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Paula Newton.

Ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM, the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for top Hamas and Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A move President Biden calls outrageous.

The funeral for Iranian President Raisi is set to begin in the coming hours. We'll take a look at his human rights record.

And pressed by the defense in Trump's hush money case, Michael Cohen admits to stealing or self-help, as he calls it, from the Trump Organization. Now the trial until enters its final stages.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM, with Paula Newton.

NEWTON: And we do begin this hour with the announcement from the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court seeking the arrest of top Hamas and Israeli officials. Karim Khan is asking a panel of judges to issue warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Khan says they should face charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity for the October 7th terror attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

The announcement came in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Israel's defense minister and two other Hamas leaders are also targets.

Now the decision puts Mr. Netanyahu in the company of Russian president Vladimir Putin and the late Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the move as outrageous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me be clear, we reject the ICC's application of arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders. Whatever these warrants may imply there's no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. And it's clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection. But let me be clear. Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what's happening is not genocide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now Benjamin Netanyahu meantime is condemning the ICC decision to seek arrest warrants as, quote, "a travesty of justice."

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more now from Jerusalem.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the decision by the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is certainly sparking a lot of controversy inside of Israel. Outrage and condemnation from across the political spectrum. The Israeli Prime Minister himself of course but also his political rivals, including the leader of the opposition.

All of them condemning what they view as the International Criminal Court applying some kind of moral equivalency here by carrying out this decision to seek arrest warrants against both Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same breadth. We've heard from the Israeli prime minister who said that this is not only an attack against him but he views it as an attack against the state of Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): With what audacity do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world? With what audacity you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped, and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting in just war? That isn't paralleled in morality. That isn't matched.

As the prime minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutors' comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And the Israeli prime minister also calling this a, quote, "disgrace and a distortion of reality," vowing that it will not deter Israel from continuing to carry out its war in Gaza. And it will not deter Israel from accomplishing its goal as he has laid it out of defeating Hamas.

But this notion of moral equivalency, of carrying out the search for arrest warrants on both Israel as well as Hamas, is something that Hamas actually picked up on themselves as well. In their statement reacting to these this requests for warrants, Hamas says, quote, that it strongly condemns the attempts of the ICC prosecutor to equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against the number of Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis.

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Now, what is ultimately clear here is that the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for war crimes, as well as crimes against humanity on both sides. On Hamas side they focus in particular on the murder of civilians on October 7th, the taking of hostages, the sexual violence that has been committed by Hamas against hostages as well as against women on October 7th.

As it relates to Israel, there's a focus on the targeting of civilians, as well as using starvation as a weapon of war.

NEWTON: That is CNN's Jeremy Diamond reporting there.

Now it's important to note this request for the arrest warrants must first be approved by a panel of the court's judges. Here's part of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with the chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I want to ask you about the so-called political nature that many people will claim. Prime Minister Netanyahu has already said ICC charges would be a scandal on a historic scale. An indelible stain on the idea of justice. Israel's commitment to international law is unwavering. And Netanyahu has also said it would be an antisemitic hate crime.

Now we haven't heard anything from Hamas about how they would react. What do you say to that? There must have been a huge amount of pressure on you from all sides to do and not to do.

KARIM KHAN, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Well, this court, Christiane, is a child of Nuremberg. It was built because of the awful pictures that haunt us today of the shower and the gas chambers, and then the Balkans and the list goes on. And we have to look at the evidence. And the way I very simply try to do things is look at the evidence, look at the conduct, look at the victims, and airbrush out the nationality.

And if a crime has been committed, we should move forward. Nobody is above the law, no people by doing to birth or passport, religion, nationality or the color of their skin, have a get-out-of-jail-free card, have a free pass to say, well, the law doesn't apply to us.

This is a moment when we see in the shadow of Ukraine, an increasing cacophony of noise, of double standards and selectivity, and what we're trying to do is not go with the tide of emotion but take our time, move as effectively as we can. But we got to by evidence and every human life, every baby that is killed, whether it's a baby that's cruelly abducted by Hamas and killed or a baby that's been bombed or killed or has died in incubators because of no electricity or water or food in Gaza. For them, for their families and humanity, it's a tragedy and this is

why we have a court. It's about the equal application of the law. And no people are better than another. No people anywhere are saints. And so we have to apply a yardstick of legality to conduct. We've done that and this is why we've made the applications that the judges must determine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Mark Ellis is the executive director of the International Bar Association and he joins me now live from London.

Very good to have you on here as we continue -- just to try and gain some insight into exactly what was filed there. There are host of legal weeds that we could get into. We get lost in right now, but I think most people just want to know what happens next and if then the arrest warrants are issued, what then?

MARK ELLIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION: Yes. The next step now that the prosecutor has set out his case for an arrest warrant based on these various crimes, both war crimes and crimes against humanity, now a pre-trial chamber, three judges will review and will -- they will be asked to reconfirm the prosecutor's evidence, showing that there was a reasonable basis to believe that the individuals who have been indicted in essence committed these crimes.

And if the pre-trial chamber does that, I suspected it will do that. It's not a high bar to reconfirm these -- the positions of the prosecutor, then it goes to this very arduous process of issuing the arrest warrants and trying to secure the apprehension of these individuals. And that, as you've alluded to, is the most complex, the most complicated part of the process, because that's a political process.

Not a legal process which we have now seen through the prosecutor's request for the arrest warrants. So very -- two very different things that we're looking at now.

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NEWTON: Yes. And history has shown that many arrest warrants are not fulfilled. No matter the evidence that is found against them and wanting to stand trial in the Hague.

I want to get to the issue of equivalence because it's highly contentious for obvious reasons. We have a democracy that it says is defending itself against the terrorist group that we all know murdered, tortured, and kidnapped civilians. But two details that I want to highlight that Mr. Khan said out there.

One was the fact that he began his evidence in this case on October 8th, less than 24 hours he says after the October 7th attack and the other is the word intentional. The intentionality of this against Israel. ELLIS: Yes, this is -- well, first of all, I think you can see through

the prosecutor's case that he's really focusing on the civilians. Both sides of this conflict. The horrendous attacks against the Israeli civilians October 7th and then his position that Palestinian civilians have been attacked, too. And he's arguing things are intentional. And I think he's setting forth the evidence saying they're intentional.

The reason he's doing that because that's to me -- that is at the heart of international humanitarian law. You cannot intentionally target civilians. You have to protect civilians. So he's making it very clear that his focus is on ensuring that those civilians who have been victims of this, of this war that justices brought to them. So that's what he's focusing about.

But the other point that he makes is moral equivalency, part of it. He puts that aside and I think rightfully so. This is about law. This is about the requirements that are set in the Rome statute, the International Criminal Court, but also more generally about international criminal law. War crimes, crimes against humanity, all of those are imbedded in international law. Every party has to abide by those principles. And that's what he's saying.

NEWTON: Now, the prosecutor used an outside panel of experts and they published a statement in the "Financial Times." I mean, they published their full report online, but in the "Financial Times," you know, they claimed quite succinctly of who they are. They claimed to be diverse, impartial, and objective. But I also want you to listen to this.

The panel also, they say unanimously, agrees that the evidence presented by the prosecutor provides reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Israel's minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. This includes the war crime of intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the murder and persecution of Palestinians as crimes against humanity.

This definitely involves experienced jurists, one of them being Amal Clooney, who has worked obviously on cases between Syria and ISIS before. What kind of weight does this kind of panel give the prosecutor at this point?

ELLIS: Well, it was an interesting decision by the prosecutor I thought. It's not the only time we've seen a court or prosecutor bring in outside individuals as a separate independent set of eyes, if you will, and being asked to review the evidence that he has to see if in fact there is a reasonable basis.

The prosecutor has indicated there is a reasonable basis to proceed with going in front of the pre-trial chamber. So this is just an opportunity to get a set of experts of each and every one of them as seen as an international experts to review the evidence. They've done that, they've come back and they've given the prosecutor I think additional credibility to say, listen, this was just not me seeing -- looking at the evidence. I've asked these other experts to say they have found in the exact -- they have the exact same position and I have. I think it does provide him some additional degree of credibility to

move forward so that there's no argument that there's any type of bias on his part.

NEWTON: Well, and moving forward, no doubt this case will be years to come. We will be hearing about the still.

Mark Ellis, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ELLIS: You're welcome.

NEWTON: Now, it's nearly 8:00 in the morning in Iran where funeral prayers and ceremonies will begin soon for President Ebrahim Raisi after he and eight others were killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend. A new video released by Iran state media shows the casket carrying the late president and the country's foreign minister, who was also killed when that helicopter went down.

In Tehran meantime crowds turned out to pay their respects to Raisi on Monday as the country began five days of official mourning.

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Now to the northwest in the city of Tabriz, prayers and a procession will begin in the coming hours and will continue in other cities in the days ahead before Raisi is buried on Thursday.

CNN's Anna Coren has been falling all of these developments and joins us now live from Hong Kong.

I mean, it has to be said, right? Extraordinary developments here already underway this hour in Iran. What more do we expect to see in the coming hours?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, as you say, in the next two hours in fact funeral possessions will begin for the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who, as you say, was killed Sunday in that helicopter crash in mountains near the Azerbaijan border along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other passengers and crew. The wreckage was found early Monday in those poor weather conditions.

And as you say, Paula, five days of public mourning have been announced by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The bodies will travel to the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran, and then on Thursday, Raisi's body will go to Birjand and finally his hometown of Mashhad. And that is where he will be buried.

The Iranians have appointed a high commission to investigate what they are calling a, quote, "the dimensions and causes of the crash." Now, so far no official explanation has been given. It's not clear if it was due to mechanical error, weather conditions, human error or foul play. Now, obviously, conspiracy theories abound, but Israeli and U.S. officials have ruled out any involvement in the crash.

We heard from the State Department a little earlier and they said that the Iranian government is responsible for its decision to fly the president in a 45-year-old helicopter in poor weather conditions, quote, "not any other actor."

The first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, he has been appointed acting president. But, Paula, under the constitution a new presidential election must be held within 15 days, and as we know, it comes at a tumultuous time for Iran, both domestically and in the region. But Iranian authorities are insisting this will be a smooth transition.

Let's take a listen to the acting president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD MOKHBER, ACTING IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is a serious incident for all of us. It is sad and upsetting. But in the interests of country and our people, we won't have any disruption. The country will continue moving forward under this leadership. Everyone should continue on with their roles despite this incident. In no way will this tragic incident interfere with the government and running of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Now the question is, who will be the next president? Raisi is seen to have been groomed to take over from the 85-year-old Supreme Leader. The ayatollah's son is considered a possibility, but there is no obvious successor at this stage.

Look, we will obviously know within the next few weeks who the ayatollah wants to be the next president. But, look, messages of condolences have poured in from the region and from Iran's allies, notably the Russian president Vladimir. He stands out. He called Raisi a true friend of Russia. And remember, Iranian drones are helping to fuel Russia's war against Ukraine.

Inside Iran. Paula, reaction to the president's death, has been mixed. You have government supporters who've gathered for prayers, but then there was also a celebration, particularly among those who were very much part of the resistance. But, look, those people hoping for a shift in Iranian politics and policy, you know, they're going to be solely disappointed. 63 year-old Raisi, he was a divisive hardliner.

He was referred to as the butcher of Tehran for his key role in the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 and then more recently as president he oversaw the enforcement of those strict morality laws and bloody crackdown on the protests that ensued. He's also pushed hard in nuclear talks with world leaders.

So, Paula, really, the next president is expected to be of the same ilk.

NEWTON: Yes, and in the meantime, we await the events of the next few hours.

Anna Coren, I know you'll be following it for us. Thanks so much. Joining me now is Gissou Nia. She is a human rights lawyer and the

director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council.

And we thank you for joining us. You know, we have spent quite some time talking about Raisi's death. I think you would like to return the world to the issue of his life. What you describe in fact as a legacy of brutal repression.

GISSOU NIA, DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC LITIGATION PROJECT, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Yes, indeed. Raisi has the distinction of having committed human rights violations and atrocity crimes every decade that the Islamic Republic has been in existence.

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He started his career as a young prosecutor in the 1980s, sending political opponents to execution. In 1988, he was one member of a four-man death commission that summarily executed thousands of political prisoners after just a couple of questions, yes or no questions, about their political or religious belief. And the U.N. has declared that that was crimes against humanity.

He's most recently known for his crackdown on mandatory hijab laws and the extreme enforcement of these laws against women. He had started that crackdown just two months before Mahsa Jina Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, was killed over detention over improper alleged -- alleged improper hijab. And that led to the Woman Life Freedom protests that took the nation by storm.

So his legacy is really one of brutal repression and we would have wanted to see him in a defendant's doc but some of his victims and the survivors of his abuses are viewing this really as a form of divine intervention that (INAUDIBLE).

NEWTON: Divine intervention. And I do want to get to that point. Is that you see -- do you believe personally responsible? Is he the architect of the human rights abuses that are now -- by now so well documented unfortunately in Iran and beyond, or is he more of a willing participant in a regime that will continue sadly to be dedicated to that kind of systemic oppression of its own people?

NIA: In many ways, he's been described as sort of this loyal bureaucrat, somebody who would just put his head down and take the orders and really unleash this kind of repression without perhaps thinking about it. He was also been described as somebody who didn't have a lot of formal education. So it's really unclear. I wouldn't say that he was necessarily the architect, but he was the brute enforcer of these policies.

And that is what is important because you need -- in order to enforce a regime of repression, you need those people who aren't going to question what they're doing and just move ahead and do it and he was really one of those loyal henchmen.

NEWTON: Is there regret? And you just alluded to it now. Is there regret among those you've spoken to that he will never face justice either in Iran or in any international criminal court?

NIA: Based on the videos from victims and survivors of his brutality and the brutality of the state security forces during the Woman Life Freedom protesters, I mean, they were popping champagne bottles, dancing. So there was very much of a celebratory atmosphere, but I think this is a caution and inject some urgency and understanding that we need to initiate investigations against Islamic Republic of Iran officials wherever they may go in the world because it's not certain that they will one day be here and be able to be tried by a court of law.

So I would say that European countries that have universal jurisdiction frameworks really need to open structural investigations into the Islamic Republic's crimes against humanity.

NEWTON: And yet, you know, unfortunately with absolutely chilling despair, so many dissidents outside of Iran, but also those who do want to return to their own country, even students are unable to at this hour because they fear the repression.

Is there any hope of any change here or do you believe it will perhaps go in the worst direction for many who protested?

NIA: I know for certain that something during the Woman Life Freedom protests, there was -- it was a taboo that was broken about voicing dissent against the system where there was once this fear. We really no longer see that. I mean, the recent parliamentary elections in the country, there was a record low voter turnout.

I think the bulk of the population in Iran understands that this regime is repressive, that these elections are more of a selection and a sham, and they are disillusioned with the Islamic Republic. So it is just a matter of time as this Islamic Republic loses legitimacy for things to be the change. And we see that especially with the young generation and the demands that they have.

NEWTON: Gissou Nia, we will leave it there for now. We thank you for your insights. Really appreciate it.

NIA: Thanks having me on.

NEWTON: The Donald Trump hush money case is entering the home stretch with defense attorneys painting the star witness as not just a liar but also a thief. We'll have our details just ahead.

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NEWTON: So after calling 20 witnesses over several weeks, the prosecution has rested its case in the Donald Trump hush money criminal trial, and the defense could do the same in the coming day. Star witness and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen's testimony, it wrapped up on Monday with the defense getting him to acknowledge stealing from the Trump Organization.

Now, it's unclear how much that admission and some damaging testimony he gave last week tarnish the prosecution's case.

CNN's Paula Reid explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prosecution rests on day 19 of the Trump hush money trial, ending four days of dramatic testimony from star witness, Michael Cohen. Trump attorney Todd Blanche last week painted Cohen as a liar, out for revenge. Under further cross-examination Monday, he got Trump's former fixer to admit to stealing from the Trump Organization.

Blanche focused on a payment Cohen organized to tech company Red Finch to help create an algorithm that would boost Trump in a CNBC poll. Handwritten notes show Cohen was reimbursed $50,000 for that work, but Cohen testified he only paid the company $20,000 in a brown paper bag.

You only paid the Red Finch owner $20,000, right, Blanche asked. Yes, sir, Cohen replied. So you stole from the Trump Organization, Blanche asked. Yes, sir, Cohen confirmed.

Prosecutors then got a chance to clean up their case with Cohen on redirect.

I know it may feel like you're on trial here after cross-examination, but are you actually on trial, Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked. No, ma'am, Cohen replied.

Cohen was the only witness called by the prosecution who directly implicated Trump for allegedly falsifying business records. Over 17 hours of testimony, Cohen provided some helpful evidence for prosecutors, including testifying last week that he spoke with Trump twice to get his signoff before making the payment to Stormy Daniels.

On May 13th, he testified everything required Mr. Trump's sign-off. On top of that, I wanted the money back. On May 16th, Trump attorneys later called into question a key phone call Cohen had said he had with Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller, who then passed the phone to Trump, where Cohen had testified that he told Trump how he planned to pay Daniels.

On May 16th, Blanche pressed Cohen saying that was a lie. You did not talk to President Trump. You talked to Keith Schiller. You can admit it. No, sir, I don't know that it's accurate, Cohen responded. I believe I also spoke to Mr. Trump and told him everything regarding the Stormy Daniels matter. We are not asking for your belief, the jury does not want to hear what you think happened, Blanche shot back.

That exchange, one of the most successful moments for the Trump defense. On redirect prosecutors tried to sure up Cohen's account, entering into evidence a screenshot of this video captured minutes before the 2016 phone call showing Schiller and Trump together.

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Prosecutors concluded their redirect of Michael Cohen by asking, "Would you have paid Stormy Daniels the $130,000, had Mr. Trump not signed off?"

"No, ma'am," Cohen replied.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Our thanks to Paula Reid.

Now, the defense has signaled it's likely to rest its case in the hours ahead, which indicates Trump himself will not testify. Closing arguments are expected to happen next week, and the case will be in the hands of the jury.

OK. Coming up for us, how people in Iran are mourning the sudden death of President Raisi.

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NEWTON: And a warm, welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton.

Funeral preparations are underway for late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Iranian officials say remembrance ceremonies will begin just hours from now in the Northwestern city of Tabriz and will run through Thursday when Raisi will be buried.

CNN's Ivan Watson reports Raisi's death comes at a time when Iran is facing unprecedented challenges at home and abroad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran in a state of mourning, commemorating the shocking death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

During the frantic hours when rescuers searched for the missing president, the most powerful figure in the Iranian political system, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, declared the government stable and strong.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): Dear people, whether you are sitting here or will hear my speech later, do not worry. There will be no disruption in the country's work.

WATSON (voice-over): Inside Iran, highly polarized reactions to the sudden death of a leader.

ARASH AZIZI, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Ebrahim Raisi has been a face of repression in Iran for a very long time. I'm not surprised that many will celebrate his demise.

WATSON (voice-over): Raisi was a regime hardliner, sanctioned by the U.S. government for allegedly overseeing deadly crackdowns on Iranian protest movements; and, the U.S. and rights groups say, he took part in an alleged death commission that ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, which Raisi has never responded to. ALI VAEZ, SENIOR ADVISOR, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: I see more continuity than change, regardless of what happens next.

WATSON (voice-over): According to the Iranian constitution, the little-known vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, has now become interim president, paving the way for elections to be held within 50 days.

[00:35:03]

VAEZ: This is a system that has with managed this kind of turmoil in the past. So in the short run, it can certainly manage choppy waters, but in the longer run, it's a system that is ideologically bankrupt.

WATSON (voice-over): Messages of condolence are pouring in from longtime allies like Syria, as well as Russia, which launches Iranian Shahid drones against cities in Ukraine.

Also publicly morning, Raisi's loss, Iranian-backed militant groups such as Yemen's Houthis, Hamas, and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, few tears likely to be shared by Iran's sworn enemy, Israel. The two countries' long simmering shadow war exploded into direct, tit-for-tat long-range strikes just last month.

AZIZ: I don't think it will shift anything in the region or in terms of Iran's relationship with its neighbors or -- or neighboring powers. That's because most of the power in Iran lies with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is still in power, and he's the one who's calling all the shots.

WATSON (voice-over): How the Islamic republic deals with this deadly crash may set the stage for a much bigger future challenge: the question of succession for Ayatollah Khamenei, the country's 85-year- old supreme leader.

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Still to come for us, Taiwan's new president has a strong message for China: stop the threats. What else he said after taking office, that's next.

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NEWTON: So London's high court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States.

He's been wanted by U.S. authorities for more than a decade now on espionage charges for publishing classified documents, exposing alleged U.S. war crimes.

Back in March, the court sought guarantees from the U.S. protecting Assange's free speech rights and that he wouldn't get the death penalty.

But on Monday, the court ruled those assurances weren't enough.

Now to Taiwan, where its new president called on China to stop intimidating the island during his inauguration speech on Monday. After officially taking office, Lai Ching-te said China needs to, quote, "face the reality of Taiwan's existence."

Now, China slammed foreign officials for attending the inauguration, claiming, quote, "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China."

CNN's Will Ripley is in Taipei with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Taiwan begins a new era with a new leader, Lai Ching-te.

The island democracy's 64-year-old president steps into a political minefield. China's communist leaders loathe Lai and his government.

RIPLEY: How's Beijing likely to respond?

WEN-TI SUNG, FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S GLOBAL CHINA HUB: Beijing is likely to play hardball towards Taiwan. More military exercises from Beijing, likely targeted economic sanctions against Taiwanese economic exports to China.

[00:40:11]

RIPLEY (voice-over): Just hours into his presidency, Lai called on the communist mainland to stop its military and political intimidation and recognize the sovereignty of democratic Taiwan, using the island's official name, the Republic of China.

LAI CHING-TE, PRESIDENT OF TAIWAN (through translator): I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China's existence and respect the choices of the people of Taiwan.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Lai faces rising tensions at home and across the Taiwan Strait.

RIPLEY: This is the first time in the history of Taiwan's democracy that any political party has won a third consecutive presidential term.

But the next four years could be even more challenging for the new president.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Challenges like chaos in a fiercely divided parliament. A brawl broke out last week over legislative reforms to give more power to Lai's political opponents, champions of more China- friendly policies.

SUNG: The opportunity, however, is that there's always the possibility for the ruling party and the opposition party of Taiwan to kind of play good cop, bad cop towards Beijing. RIPLEY (voice-over): At a closed-door briefing in Taipei, a senior official telling CNN, Taiwan's new president is bracing for a turbulent tenure.

Taiwan is spending billions to bolster its military defense, forging friendships with like-minded democracies, despite a dwindling number of formal diplomatic allies, one of many huge hurdles facing President Lai Ching-te as democratic Taiwan prepares for an uncertain future.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: So life imitated a bit too closely with OpenAI's latest artificial intelligence tool.

The company announced Monday it would pause its use of ChatGPT's AI voice. That voice has prompted comparisons to the fictional voice assistant played by Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 film "Her." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: Good morning, Theodore.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX, ACTOR: Morning.

JOHANSSON: You have a meeting in five minutes. You want to try getting out of bed?

PHOENIX: Too funny.

JOHANSSON: OK, good. I'm funny. I want to learn everything about everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So Johansson says she was shocked and angered when she learned the ChatGPT voice sounded so much like her. She says she declined an offer from the company last year to have her voice used. The organization claims the voice was not derived from Johannson's.

The actress says OpenAI agreed to remove the voice after she hired legal counsel.

And I have news. Buckle up, folks. This is just the beginning of the AI controversies.

I want to thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. WORLD SPORT is next, but I'll be back with more news in about 15 minutes.

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