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CNN International: One Dead After Severe Turbulence Hits Singapore Airlines Flight; Defense, Prosecution Rest In Trump Hush Money Trial; Trump Allies Summoned To Court For Arizona Election Subversion Case; Iranian Presidential Election Set For June 28; U.N. Alarmed By Difficulty In Collecting & Disturbing Aid In Gaza; CNN On The Front Lines Amid Heavy Fighting In Kharkiv Region; Biden Campaigns In New Hampshire With Focus On Veterans' Health Care. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 21, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:36]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 2:00 a.m. in Bangkok, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington. I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

And let's get right to the news.

We begin with an in-flight emergency. One person has died, more than 70 were injured onboard a Singapore Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore. The Boeing 777 jet carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members made an emergency landing in Thailand as a result.

Six people critically injured by the turbulence, which cause, as you could see there, significant damage inside the plane. Parts of luggage compartments collapsed, those oxygen masks down, food and glass strewn everywhere.

Joining me now, CNN's Richard Quest. He's covered aviation for years.

So, Richard, help explain to us what we know -- and I know there's a lot more investigation that has to be done -- about what exactly this plane is likely to have encountered, and then how it behaved after encountering that weather.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Right. So the plane is flying London to Singapore, 13, 14-hour flight. And over Myanmar, it hits bad weather, really nasty weather by the sounds of it. And what happens is the plane then starts to move around. It starts to fall and it starts to climb.

Now, Jim, there's our aircraft moving along as you can see. You can see the damage that happened. But when you look at the chart, when you actually see what took place, you realize that the actual aircraft movements were not that big.

On the left side -- you can't see it on your screen -- but on the left to the actual amounts it moves. The plane is going up and down by about 150 feet at a time. Sometimes it goes up 75, then it comes down 50, then it goes up 135, comes down 200, all within the space of 90 seconds.

These are not massive differences in altitude, but the violence comes from the velocity. Suddenly, the plane is going up 900 feet a minute, then its dropping by 2,000 feet a minute, then it's going up 500 feet a minute, then its dropping by 500 feet a minute.

And it is that fierceness and ferocity that causes the damage. People either not with their seatbelt, the galleys are open, because they're about to serve a meal. And just like you can imagine, you fall, you see -- if your -- it's not through with the plane, you fall, you hit your head, and that's what happened.

SCIUTTO: I mean -- that's -- I mean, when you put it in those terms, that's still falling and rising by 20, 30 stories, right?

QUEST: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: I mean, it's at those speeds, I imagine inside just must so felt like a little slice of hell. You --

QUEST: Completely. That's why you have one person who died. We don't know the full circumstances. The Englishman is believed to have a heart condition. It's looking more like it was some sort of heart attack. We don't know the details.

You have six or seven people who are still critically injured in hospitals. Some of those are crew we believe, and you have a lot of people with broken bones, abrasions, cuts, and bruises, and that's because all the things that were in the cabin will have moved.

The analogy I always use is take an egg, Jim, and put it in a glass jar and drop the jar and see what happens.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

QUEST: We all the egg -- you know, it's obvious, and that's what happened here.

Seat belts help, of course, they do if you're wearing a seat belt, but if the debris is coming out of the overhead compartments and everything else is just bedlam, flying around the cabin. Then you're going to get hit and that's why this has been so dramatic.

The plane as far as I can see, the plane was never in any -- in any danger at all.

SCIUTTO: Okay. That's an important point. Let me ask you this because, of course, we all been on flights where the pilot will say were heading into some turbulence, please sit down. We've suspended meal service, et cetera, fasten your seat belts.

How difficult is it for pilots to see the turbulence before it happens based on instruments and any other pilot reports, et cetera? And can they be taken off guard by the severity of the turbulence?

QUEST: Completely, completely. You'll hear the pilot saying, we're expecting weather in 40 miles. That's because their own radar will show it, or air traffic control has advised them, or the plane in front has done what's known as a ride report, and said to air traffic controller and to everybody else -- hey, guys, the weather up here, we're bouncing around.

[15:05:14]

Mild chop, light turbulence, moderate turbulence, is the phrases that they will use. And then your pilot will request a different altitude.

But, Jim, we're talking about storms in Southeast Asia, very unpredictable weather patterns. The only predictability is the unpredictability.

And they are massive cloud formations. They are very hard to go round -- to go round because there's so vast and you don't want to go through. This is -- this is what happened.

And Singapore Airlines, one of the finest airlines in the world regularly wins the awards. This flight SQ321, I've taken numerous times. But once it gets into those areas where there are some storms, this is the sort of weather you might expect.

SCIUTTO: So, let me ask you this, a study last year said that air turbulence is going to increase and linked it because of the conditions for such air turbulence are linked to climate change. Can you explain that connection?

QUEST: Sure, absolutely. What does climate change mean? Climate change means the world is heating up. The ground is heating up. When the ground heats up, or the oceans heat up.

What happens? Thermal currents rise, when thermal currents rise, then you get more turbulence. You get cumulus-nimbus cloud formations building up. You get stormed formations.

If you're landing in Atlanta Hartsfield in the summer, you will bounce around if it's late afternoon, same in Washington, D.C., because intense heat and weather creates different thermal waves and thermal movements. And the plane bounces around. Now extrapolate that much greater and you start to see why this is so serious.

What could have been done here? Well, initially, could that be better information on the weather ahead.

Number two, how -- did people have seat belts fastened if they're in the seats? The crew were serving meals, should they have been warned? This sort of stuff will happen.

But again, Jim, I have seen -- to those who are worried about turbulence, I have witnessed experiments and tests with planes where they've bent the wing by 45, 50 degrees, the wing will take it.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

QUEST: The airframe will take it. You will not. SCIUTTO: Right. And that's why it's important to listen to the captain when he says, fasten those seat belts.

Richard Quest, thanks so much.

QUEST: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Be sure to join Richard next hour for "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" right here on CNN.

Well, the prosecution and the defense have now rested in the people of the state of New York v. Donald J. Trump. What's left is now closing arguments set for Tuesday. And then, of course, the crucial question of guilt or innocence of the former president, which will be in the hands of those 12 jurors.

Right now, the judge and attorneys are determining, discussing what instructions the jury will receive next week ahead of those deliberations. Trump remains in the room for those discussions.

Defense rested today after calling just two witnesses for less than two hours of testimony. That after prosecutors called some 20 witnesses, who testified for more than 50 hours in total.

Jurors now will have to weigh whether the prosecution has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump illegally covered up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels because he did not want her affair allegations to come to light before the 2016 presidential election.

Here to discuss now, CNN's Jessica Schneider.

Jessica, defense wrapped up this morning, this after testimony from Robert Costello, former legal advisor to Michael Cohen.

Tell us what we learned from that final witness.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, the prosecutors really tried to get to this point that Robert Costello was really just trying to maybe manipulate Michael Cohen that he was really acting as an agent of Donald Trump. Again, this is the prosecutor is really trying to erode the credibility of Costello, who we know kind of had some problems.

Yesterday, the judge had to shut down room, released the jury for a little bit, released the public to get Robert Costello to stop acting out as a witness. So we know that the defense already had some trouble with Costello today. The prosecution really tried to hammer home this idea that Costello is an untrustworthy figure.

SCIUTTO: And the point being because Costello was brought by the defense to eat away at Michael Cohen's credibility. So, now, the prosecution trying to --

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: The prosecution wants to erode Costello's credibility. And there was really one email that they brought up that Costello had sent to try to the prosecution wanted to pull up this email. I'll pull it up for you. This is what Costello wrote to an associate, saying, our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instruction from Giuliani or the president.

[15:10:05]

In my opinion, this is the clear, correct strategy. So prosecutors trying to bring that in.

SCIUTTO: It sounds like he was talking about what the real plan was here.

SCHNEIDER: Working as a double agent, right.

SCIUTTO: OK, schedule wise -- so Tuesday, they're going to have closing arguments, defense and prosecution. They expect that just to be -- the judge expects that to be the day.

So, he -- do we expect the jury to have this case in their hands as soon as -- well, perhaps late Tuesday or Wednesday.

SCHNEIDER: Probably not. So, the judge has already expected some skepticism that both sides will be able to do their closing arguments by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. He's asked the jury, can you stay a little bit later? Then after that, the judge has to instruct the jury, and that is what's happening right now. The attorneys from both sides are hammering out these jury instructions.

I mean, its crucial because I'll give you an example. Part of this charge, this indictment says that Donald Trump had knowingly cause or make a false entry in the business records. What they're talking about right now is how do you how do you talk to the jury about knowingly causing or making these false records.

SCIUTTO: What's the legal standard to meet that? Yeah.

SCHNEIDER: Exactly. They want to put those instructions into simple English so jury knows what standard they need to meet if they are to convict Donald Trump.

SCIUTTO: All right. Big question to decide for those 12 jurors and the alternate.

Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.

All right. So legal questions for our legal experts, Joey Jackson and Areva Martin.

Good to have you both.

On that last point that we left off with Jessica Schneider because there's been a lot of talk about how influential the jury instructions can be to how this jury ultimately decides. Joey Jackson, can you explain in simple legal terms if you can, what the judge's options are here in terms of how we instruct the jury on that quick key questions Jessica was describing whether Trump acted to have these false records entered regarding those payments?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah. Jim, good to be with you and Areva.

So it's limited in terms of what the judges leeway is because the judge has to follow the law and we know what the law is as it relates to what the charges are here. There are 34 counts. The issue is the fraudulent of the business records such as the ledgers, such as the invoices, such as the checks.

Now, with regard to that, the law speaks to the issue of knowingly, knowingly, right, giving the indication that something is fraudulent. That means that your intent, it's your goal, it's your objective, and so that's as to the state of mind. That is not the only issue.

Then you have to jump and take the leap if it's to be a felony with respect to okay, now that you've knowingly proved or not as to whether or not the defendant in this case is knowingly engaged in the fraudulent problem offering of business records. What was the intent or purpose of that? Was it for the intent, goal, objective purpose of furthering some other objective, right, or engaging in other legality, concealing in some other way.

So I explain it like that, Jim, because you're limited with respect to what the law says. Now, Jessica was very properly and excellently explaining the issue that you have to now make this relatable to the jury and how do you do that? You do that by having a conference as the attorneys are having and trying to get a sense from both sides with respect to what the jury should know.

Last point, in doing that, very rarely is there agreement between the attorneys and oftentimes then it's left up to the judge to oppose what they think. Last last point, and that's this, we know that the jury is the ultimate or assessor of what factually happen or did not happen. The judge is the one who pronounces the law. Hence, the judge will instruct the jury on what law to follow with respect to applying the facts as they believe them to be two, the law, right, as ultimately the judge says it is, and that's what's happening right now.

SCIUTTO: So, Areva Martin, lets go to what the prosecution has been able to show to date. Has it not only proved that the payment took place and that the intent of the payment was two kill this story with the intent to influence the 2016 election, and in doing so it, its in effect of violation I imagine of election law. And therefore, it's a felony.

I mean, there's a lot of steps along the way there. In your view, has the prosecution accomplish that?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah. You're right, Jim. There are a lot of steps and Joey describe what's happening in that conference this afternoon and the complexity of the jurors often face when they get these jury instructions, they're not easy for lawyers to often understand them and jurors often get hung up in terms of trying to apply the facts to the law.

But this case is pretty straightforward and a lot of ways. And even if you put Michael Cohen's kind of tortured testimony aside, the documents in this case speak for themselves in this -- the regards of showing that there was evidence of payments reimbursements made to Michael Cohen that had nothing to do with legal services provided, which is what the defense has been trying to argue throughout this trial.

[15:15:04]

And then this last witness brought on by the defense, Robert Costello, this email that basically says, you know, we're back-channel as you use a term I think with Jessica, double agent for Trump, I think was very, very damaging to the president's case because rather than Robert Costello establishing that Michael Cohen has credibility issues, it was pretty clear from his testimony that he was working on behalf of Trump, trying to get Michael Cohen not to call on, quote (INAUDIBLE) on Donald Trump, which is a big issue in this case.

SCIUTTO: So, Joey, to Areva's point, the law here is complicated for us non-lawyers out up there. The essential allegation is not that complicated. It's an affair took place, alleged affair took place, that Trump didn't want that a fair to be public in the midst of election campaigns, particularly after the Access Hollywood tape came out, paid money to hide it. And then did not say what that money was paid for, but called it legal fees, et cetera.

I mean, those kinds of basics I think jurors could understand. If they believe all those pieces, what -- is there a legal leap they have to make to vote to convict on the felony charges?

JACKSON: You know, Jim, I think you just laid out the prosecutions case and the way it's going to be laid out in closing argument, quite frankly. The only piece you didn't add was for the purpose of interfering or influencing or boosting his election prospects. Other than that, simply is what I think they'll try to keep it.

At the end of the day, you're going to hear prosecutors talk about, forget about Michael Cohen. The reality is, is this so much other evidence we've given you that corroborates what he says. And when you talk about what we didn't corroborate, we corroborated everything because what in the world would the president not be looking to hide a story for when the realities are Access Hollywood came out, that's damaging. He was involved. We know that, as it relates to them giving the prosecutions argument.

Relating to the Karen McDougal situation, he knew all about that, but he doesn't know about this. He's writing checks, he doesn't know about it?

To the reverse, the defense is going to argue, look, Michael Cohen can't be trusted. It's all about Michael Cohen. It's all about his credibility. He's a theft, he's a liar, he's a criminal, he's a crook. Are you kidding me?

If you don't believe Michael Cohen, you have to acquit. Those are the bouncing narratives who the jury comes out for is going to be up to them. And that's why I believe that the closing arguments are going to be critical, sharp, sweet, simple to the point, prove your case. Sit down.

SCIUTTO: I've heard, Areva Martin, before we go, a lot of my lawyer friends, some of whom appear on CNN as well alongside you, that a hung jury is a real possibility here and there's been a lot of attention paid to the two lawyers who are on this jury and the lawyer might say, hey, I believe all that story, but I know law well enough to know, you know, this is kind of complicated here, right? Maybe -- maybe you don't come to an agreement there, but its a hung jury in your view, a major possibility here?

MARTIN: I think, Jim, it's always a possibility in lawyers are always tricky to add on juries because they can break down certain aspects of the jury instructions that perhaps laypeople wouldn't be able to do. But we can't forget that jurors in New York have already ruled against Donald Trump in two civil matters.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MARTIN: Now, obviously, the standard, proof is different, higher in a criminal case. But his odds aren't very high when you look at what has happened to him in courtrooms in New York City. So my money is on a conviction in this case.

SCIUTTO: All right. I'm going to keep tab of all those bets and I'm going to come back to you later.

Joey Jackson, Areva Martin, thanks so much.

JACKSON: Thanks, Jim. Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Well, while Donald Trumps trial rests for now in Manhattan, arraignment of his closest allies in the state of Arizona just getting underway.

Rudy Giuliani appeared virtually pleased not guilty in Phoenix court today. After law enforcement had to track him down at his 80th birthday party to serve him notice about that arraignment. Giuliani had evaded authority for several days before. He is one of more than a dozen Trump allies indicted for fraud, forgery, fraud, and conspiracy charges outlined in a sprawling indictment that details their alleged efforts to send a fraudulent slate of electors to Washington with the goal of wrongfully declaring Trump the winner of Arizona's presidential election back in 2020. Trump himself is an unindicted coconspirator in that case.

Following it all to CNN's Kyung Lah.

And, Kyung, walk us through what exactly Giuliani and others are accused of in this case and, by the way, we talk about how no trial of election-related crimes as relate to President Trump will happen or may happen before the election. But here's one that's happening with Trump is an unindicted coconspirator. What are the charges at stake here?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, essentially, we're talking about nine charges against 18 defendants, Jim. But what the overarching theme is and all of these charges in this particular case is undermining the will of voters. And that is what is happening here in Arizona.

[15:20:10]

There are a number of these states that have brought forward these charges. These are battleground states and now it is Arizona's turn and this is a sweeping indictment of many people. There are for familiar faces, a basically, essentially a who's who in Arizona's Trump's circle.

Also, national Trump allies, many faces you may recognize. Arraigned today, a familiar right-wing personality, Christina Bobb, but also making a virtual full appearances, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, also a Trump ally for three weeks, the attorney generals office here in Arizona had been trying to serve him notice of this arraignment, a notice to appear for arraignment, and he essentially dodged that service. That delivery of that notice by hiding out his New York the apartment according to the attorney generals office and flying to Florida and hanging out there.

And so, due to his live streams, they were able to track him down. And so do to them at three-week cat and mouse hunt between New York and Florida, the attorney generals office asked the judge to make Rudy Giuliani appear here in Arizona and then have to pay a $10,000 secured bond.

Here's the reasoning behind it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS KLINGERMAN, ARIZONA ASST. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Rudy Giuliani has made numerous statements over the past month discussing the indictment, his co-defendants, and quite frankly mocking the justice system in Arizona, given his latest Twitter posts and then his lie about communicating with our office, we decided to be appropriate to ask for some release conditions to ensure his appearance in Arizona.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And in court, even though he was on the phone at times, Giuliani did rant about this entire appearance. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: (INAUDIBLE) this indictment, a complete embarrassment to the American legal system but I've shown no tendency not to comply. I show up for every court appearance and they must have been about 20 to 30, there is no history of my being (INAUDIBLE). (CROSSTALK)

GIULIANI: I think it'd be outrageous (INAUDIBLER) and this completely, and this completely political case that come very, very late (INAUDIBLE) three years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Giuliani, I don't want to mute you, but I need to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And he did enter a plea of not guilty -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, we should note, Arizona, one of four states that has indicted Trump allies involved in this fake electors scheme. So the allegation here is that it was most something of a conspiracy.

Kyung Lah, thanks so much.

When we do come back thousands turnout in Iran to pay their respects to the president, foreign ministers, seven others killed in Sunday's helicopter crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:19]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Iranians will go to the polls in an emergency election on June 28, following the death of the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and helicopter crash this weekend. As the government has declared five days of mourning, thousands turned out in Tehran and Tabriz and government run events to pay their respects to the president, foreign minister, and seven others killed in that crash.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now.

And, Ben, it is a crucial moment in Iranian politics. The country's legislative elections in March saw the lowest voter turnout since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979. This follows as we were discussing last our nationwide protests over the death of a woman who was arrested and beaten simply for now wearing her hijab correctly.

Who is expected to run in this election? Will it be competitive? And what is the turnout expected to be?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know exactly now who is expected to run, but basically, the choice is going to be critical. Now, the -- there's something called the guardian council that decides who can actually run as president in the election. And they have a rather stark choice.

On the one hand, if they only approve conservative hardliners, were going to see probably a continuing drop in the turnout and therefore, a drop in the legitimacy of the regime. On the other hand, if they open it up to a much broader field of candidates, and you have a liberal or reformer being elected, the very nature of the regime could be threatened. And for instance in the last election in 2021, Hassan Rouhani, the president who of Iran who was re-elected. He was president from 2013 and 2021, he was rejected by the guardian council.

So clearly, this guardian council, their willingness to approve candidates who might be somewhat more liberal or reformist than, for instance, Ebrahim Raisi if they're not going to approve him, who are going to approve and therefore, it will be very interesting to see who is going to run and who's going to win in this election on the 28 of June because this is a regime that's increasingly unpopular.

The economy is in horrendous shape. This is a country that continues to struggle under ever mounting international sanctions. And the question is, how much longer is the population of Iran going to put up with a political system that just does not deliver -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, we've seen open defiance of that system with great courage, particularly by women in those protests in recent years.

Ben Wedeman, thanks so much.

We are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza. That is what one senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Monday, calling the situation there worse than hell on Earth. With Israel controlling all of the entry points into Gaza, delivering crucial aid has become even more difficult. A U.S. build pier just off the coast of Gaza has only managed to transfer 14 aid trucks since it began operating last week.

[15:30:00]

According to the U.N., 900,000 people have been displaced inside Gaza in the last two weeks. All of this comes as the International Criminal Court is now seeking an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister, also for its defense minister, for allegedly using, weaponizing starvation as a method of war.

France has been one of the few Western allies to support the ICC's decision, citing the, quote, unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and the lack of humanitarian access.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond, he's in Israel.

And, Jeremy, the backlash among some to the ICC's decision, including in this country, the secretary of state, Blinken, the president, Biden, it's been quite strong. Even Blinken has now said he is open to some legislative action by Congress against the ICC. Netanyahu has been very strong to this accusation of starvation, basically weaponizing starvation against the Gaza people.

How does he respond specifically to that criticism?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's responded in a few ways. First of all, specifically on the starvation accusations, he has focused on the fact that Israel has indeed allowed hundreds of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. But his numbers don't necessarily tell the full picture and they certainly don't tell the picture of what humanitarian aid officials have been saying for months now, which is that?

Yes, while Israel is allowing some humanitarian aid into Gaza, it simply is not enough to meet the enormous need of the people of Gaza, notwithstanding the fact that it is Israel's legal responsibility to allow that aid to flow in. We've seen periods of time where they were there have been -- there has been less aid allowed into Gaza than at other periods. And then we've also seen Israel switch the spigot back on and allow more aid in, indicating that it does have some degree of control, a pretty significant degree of control over the amount of aid allowed in.

In addition to that, the Israeli prime minister is really striking out at what he views as a moral equivalency that he thinks the ICC is drawing between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of Hamas. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think this is absurd. This is beyond outrageous. You said that we deny water? It is making a totally false accusation here and everywhere else. We are supplying now, nearly half of the water of Gaza. We supplied only 7 percent before the war.

So this is completely opposite of what he's saying. He's saying that we're starving people. You know, we have supplied half a million tons of food and medicine with 20,000 trucks.

This guy is out to demonize Israel. He's doing a hit job. He's creating a false symmetry between the democratically elected leaders of Israel and the terrorist chieftains. That's like saying in -- after 9/11, well, I'm issuing arrest warrants for George Bush, but also for bin Laden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And the Israeli prime minister also said that he believes the ICC is trying to handcuff Israel into war against Hamas, vowing that Israel will continue to prosecute that war. The ICC's top prosecutor said that while Israel has the right to self-defense, he believes that the means Israel is using to defend itself criminal -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: That's right. We should note, the content of those warrants are different for those issued against the Hamas leaders and Israeli leaders.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

We should note at the top of the hour, Jake Tapper will interview the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. You can catch it on the lead at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The fierce fighting in Ukraine's north resulting from more cross-

border attacks, particularly from Russia, including a notable increase in the use of drones by both Russia and attacking Ukraine in defending.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, he was able to go out with a Ukrainian drone team fighting that battle on the frontlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dusk begins a race to hide before dark. It's this drone unit's first night in a new location. The twilight, a tiny window when perhaps you can unpack, set up without the Russian drones that are always, always above, seeing you as clearly.

Like so much in this fast changing war, their task was unimaginable when Moscow invaded. The target is on the horizon. Russia itself into which they fly and plant mines on key roads. They wait for dark.

Those lights twinkling over there on the horizon, that's Belgorod, Russia. How close they're operating towards Russian mainland.

[15:35:00]

Putin's latest offensive towards Kharkiv has made the fight personal for Artyom. His parents live about a five-minute drive away and fighting for his literal home is unsettling.

ARTEM, DRONE OPERATOR, "CODE 9.2" DRONE UNIT: It's anxious. For real. For a year and a half they didn't know that I'm in a combat brigade fighting near Bakhmut. I was telling them I'm guarding checkpoints.

WALSH: And now, for the first of many times that only defense is to listen for drones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back! Back! Back! Orlan (Russian drone) flying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Orlan.

WALSH: It passes. Now, it is dark. They must hurry.

Russian drones have thermal cameras.

They hear another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quiet. Flying --

WALSH: Battles raging nearby may help them go unnoticed. They resume.

Any strike could also ignite two mines they're fitting. They hear another drone. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on! Run!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (EXPLETIVE DELETED) won't let us work.

WALSH: Such an escalation over two years into the war to now see Ukrainians flying drones of explosive straight into Russia.

Inside, Sasha watches it cross the border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you bring your passport?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No visa needed.

WALSH: Remarkably, when Russian jamming kicks in, the drone keeps going.

And they're able to pick the signal up again deeper inside Russia.

They spot the target road. They will mind drop both payloads and head back. A GPS problem means that drone crashed lands, but they have a spare. They once elsewhere, managed 24 sorties in one night. But they have to be spotted only once. And these shells may not pass overhead.

We leave. Lights off at first to avoid drones. The road littered with anti-tank defenses not laid out in time to hinder Russia's latest advance.

And now they have only courage and ingenuity to hold bag for dark.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, outside Kharkiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Report from the front lines in Ukraine.

Still to come this hour, President Biden announces more than 1 million claims approved for veterans exposed to burn pits as well as Agent Orange and other toxic substances while deployed. We're going have an update, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

President Biden is in New Hampshire today, announcing a major milestone for what's known as the PACT Act. That act, which expanded coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits, as well as Agent Orange and other toxic substances during their service was signed into law back in 2022. Since then, the Biden administration has approved more than 1 million claims for veterans under the act.

The issue is very personal for President Biden. The event comes just days before the ninth anniversary of his son, Beau's death and he has often said he believes Beau developed brain cancer because of his own exposure to burn pits while he was deployed serving in Iraq.

CNN's Camila DeChalus joins me now.

This is certainly an issue very much close to President Biden's heart, but it's also for him an outreach I imagine to veterans and to other voters.

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. And, Jim, what' really important in this conversation is that he's doing this announcement in New Hampshire. Now this state holds a lot of independent voters, and that is who Biden really wants to target, is these voters who have still not made up their minds about whether they're going to throw their support behind him or Trump. Now, I was there a few months ago and a lot of these voters, I spoke to when Biden -- when Trump was actually trying to make their appeal to them.

They were going after Nikki Haley, saying that was a candidate that they wanted to put their support. But now that she's out of this race, Biden knows that he needs to make more of a concerted effort in the state, even though it goes blue.

But just to really do outreach. And the fact that he's talking about this topic as you mentioned, this is a personal issue for him. He talked about his son, Beau, and oftentimes really me that correlation about how he believes that his son's brain cancer was closely associated to his time in the military service when he is exposed to the burn pits.

So this is an issue that not only it is a topic where you can say this is what we've done during our administration. This is a type of legislation that we passed, but it's also something that's really close to his heart and he really wants to make that connection with voters.

SCIUTTO: So whenever you mentioned his son in relation to this, I mean, you could see the emotion in his voice and his eyes.

Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

And we will be right back after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:12]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up inspections of water facilities that could be vulnerable to cyber attacks. According to the agency, this follows an increase in both frequency and severity of cyber attacks targeting the nation's water plants.

Joining me now, CNN cybersecurity reporter Sean Lyngaas. Sean, we've heard about these attacks, not just on water facilities, but critical infrastructure, cyber facilities, including by several international actors.

So what is the EPA trying to do here to head this off?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: What they're trying to do, Jim, is close the door after the horse has left the barn. They are saying water facilities across the country, get your act together. Otherwise, were going to find you or, you know, investigate you. Perhaps refer investigations to the Justice Department.

The challenge here, Jim, is that a lot of these water facilities are very small and they rely on rate payers to fund all of their budget or most of their budget. And so, do you want to tell people, hey, we're going to hike your water rates so we can improve our cybersecurity? Now, that doesn't necessarily need to happen, but that is a possibility.

SCIUTTO: Are they in effect saying that these local water plants have to have their own cybersecurity teams? Is that the idea?

LYNGAAS: Not exactly. They want -- they have to do these assessments. These have to have emergency response plan or resilience plan. And so when regulars come by and say, hey, do you have this checklist, they're going to need to produce evidence of that.

So for the ones that can afford it, the feds are trying to say, okay, here's some free resources we can help you with. But it really is a work in progress, Jim, because of many of these facilities are strapped for cash and personnel, and this is a new type of threat that they're facing, they're not used to, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, I mean, it shows one of the challenges here, right, is you're only as strong as your weakest link in effect in these actors are always looking for ways to find their way in.

Sean Lyngaas, thanks so much.

Well, to Hollywood now where it is Hollywood versus big tech. Actress Scarlett Johansson says she is, quote, shocked, angered and in disbelief after the voice for ChatGPT's new A.I. assistant sounded eerily similar to her own.

Here's Johansson in the movie "Her", a film in which you may remember, she voiced a super intelligent A.I. assistant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A.I. ASSISTANT: Good morning, Theodore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

A.I. ASSISTANT: You have a meeting in five minutes. Do you want to try getting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too funny.

A.I. ASSISTANT: Good. I'm funny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: All right. So that's Hollywood. That's fiction. Here's reality. Here is ChatGPT's new A.I. assistant named Sky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. How's it going?

SKY, A.I. ASSISTANT: Hey, there. It's going great. How about you? I see you're rocking an OpenAI hoodie, nice choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:03]

SCIUTTO: Sounds kind of similar.

Johansson says she has declined and offer last year from OpenAI CEO to be the voice of the company's artificial intelligence tool other words, they asked her, she said no. She still says it sounds liker seasons here.

CNN's Claire Duffy is following all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLAIRE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah, Jim, Scarlett Johansson said this all started back in September when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reached out to her and asked if she would be willing to be the voice of the updated ChatGPT. She said she thought about it, but ultimately decided against it for personal reasons. Then, just two days before this updated ChatGPT launched, just over for a week ago, she said Altman got back in touch with their agent and asked her to reconsider. She said she didn't have time to think about it and then the company went ahead and launched it anyway.

She said she was shocked and angered and in disbelief to hear this voice that in her words was so eerily similar to her own.

And it wasn't just Scarlett Johansson who thought this. There were many, many people who were comparing this updated ChatGPT voice called Sky to Johansson's voice and specifically Johansson's voice in the 2013 film "Her", which, of course, is a quasi-dystopian film about the relationship between humans and technology.

Now, OpenAI says that this was never Johansson voice. Altman said in a statement last night that they used a separate voice actress, but that they ultimately decided to pause this Sky voice out of respect for Johansson.

But nonetheless, not a good look for OpenAI here. And this really gets at the heart of what so many in Hollywood, as well as writers and artists have been concerned about this fear that A.I. could be using there work or their likeness for training. And then it could replicate them and profit from their work without ever actually compensating them -- Jim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Claire Duffy, thanks so much for that report. Because, of course, that dispute was a big part of the Hollywood strikes going back last year.

Still become this hour the tornado watch issued for five states as the Midwest is bracing for severe weather, were going to have a forecast coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

An outbreak of hails, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes is expected to hit some parts of the Midwest today. According to the Storm Prediction Center, there are currently more than 25 million people across that region that are under a level three of five or four or five for risk of severe thunderstorms, at least five states are under tornado watches as well right now.

[15:55:04]

With more on these stormy conditions, let's bring CNN's weather expert Chad Myers.

What it's looking like and for how many people should be paying attention here?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Everybody in the yellow, orange, and red, and even some people with the green, you're going to get some thunderstorms today.

But, really the core of this is Iowa, parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and even as far east as Chicago, lot of people there and that's going to be late at night, maybe even around midnight for you Chicago. But right now, we've had a tornado on the ground in Red Oak, Iowa, already today, and more likely, the watch his continue all the way down to the south, including now Kansas City, Missouri, for tornado watches here.

So yes, the storms are already developing. They're already moving to the east and they are rotating and some tornadoes will be on the ground throughout the afternoon into the evening tonight. You need to make sure you have a way to get your warnings. Make sure your phone knows where you are, so that the location services going alarm you.

But look at this, this is 8:00 tonight, into Illinois, all the way -- almost to Chicago. Some of these could be moving through parts of Wisconsin as well. A lot of these are going to be rotating and warnings will be posted throughout the evening. This is going to be a brutal night for severe weather -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Listen to Chad Myers, who knows what he's talking about.

Thanks so much, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.