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CNN International: Ebrahim Raisi's Funeral Ceremony Underway in Tehran; Norway, Ireland, Spain to Recognize Palestinian State; Netanyahu Slams ICC Allegations as "A Pack of Lies"; At Least One Dead as Multiple Tornadoes Strike Iowa; Closing Arguments Set for Next Tuesday in Trump Hush Money Trial. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are huge crowds that are turning out here to pay their final respects. One of the big themes here is to portray those who were killed in this air crash as martyrs in the service of the Iranian state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw people from across the aisle going completely horizontal, hitting the ceiling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see any member of cabin crew that wasn't injured. They all, every single cabin crew person I saw, had an injury of some sort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard like a train. I heard it and I knew it was hitting.

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Wednesday, May the 22nd, 9 a.m. here in London.

It's 11:30 in Tehran. Huge crowds packing the streets there to pay their final respects to the late president, Ebrahim Raisi. Right now, the funeral procession is heading towards Freedom Square.

The ceremony is part of Raisi's days-long funeral event. The country's foreign minister and seven others were also killed in the helicopter crash this weekend. They're being honored too.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers earlier. Offices are closed today and a public holiday is being observed for the day of mourning. Now, the capital is just the latest stop in the funeral ceremonies that began on Tuesday in the northwest city of Tabriz. They will conclude on Thursday night in Mashhad, where Raisi is set to be buried.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, joins us live from Tehran -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Max. Yes, we were inside those crowds as they went here through the central part of Tehran. You're absolutely right.

It was very large crowds that turned out. I would say hundreds of thousands of people that we saw obviously following those caskets of Ebrahim Raisi, but also of the others who were killed in that air crash. Among them, of course, also the foreign minister of this country, Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

It certainly was a great deal of grief that was very publicly shown. But I think you can also see behind me that in general by the government, there has been a big effort to make sure that all the mourning that takes place in this country is very public and is very large. The kind of billboards that you see behind me have sprung up across the city in the last two and a half days since the air crash happened.

And also while we were inside that procession, which was an extremely large crowd, we saw a lot of people with posters also commemorating those who were killed. And the people that you speak to obviously say that they are in mourning, that many of them are in shock about the death of the president and also the foreign minister and of course of the others who were on a helicopter as well. But many of them, of course, also now also looking forward.

One of the interesting things that we saw today was that the Supreme Leader of this country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he led the prayers for the funeral procession. And he then also before that said that while the country is mourning the president and the foreign minister, that at the same time there will not be a disruption in the government. And that's certainly something that those in power here are definitely trying to portray also at events like the one that we've seen unfold here today.

FOSTER: OK, Fred Pleitgen in Tehran, thank you. With you throughout the day as those enormous crowds emerge.

Breaking news now, though, from here in Europe, where Norway, Ireland and Spain say they will recognize a Palestinian state beginning next week.

Norway's prime minister says: In the midst of a war with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Two states living side by side in peace and security.

CNN's Scott McLean joins us live from Istanbul. And we've had a pretty rapid response as well, haven't we, from Israel?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we sure have. Look, I should say right off the bat, Max, that this obviously is a win for the Palestinian cause. It is also already straining those three countries' relations with Israel. But essentially the argument that they are making boils down to this, that the status quo in getting a two-state solution and getting some kind of peace deal is not working. And so perhaps this recognition may prime the pump on that process. You read already the Norwegian prime minister's reaction.

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The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that, look, this decision is not against Israel, certainly not against Jewish people, not pro-Hamas obviously either, but it is in support of co-existence.

The Irish prime minister said that the necessary arrangements will be made so that this decision can take effect on May the 28th. Now, the immediate practical implications at least, obviously there are a lot of political ones, but the practical implications are probably not that huge.

Since Reuters is reporting that prior to this decision, you already had one of the three countries, 143 out of 193 U.N. member states already recognizing Palestine as a state. Right now it is a non-member observer state.

It won't become a full U.N. member unless it gets signed off from the Security Council, which would require countries like the United States signing off on that. And they have previously made very clear that they would rather this be part of the process for peace talks.

What this decision could do is spur other European countries to follow suit. We know that the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, has already given some indications that perhaps the U.K. may be willing to recognize the Palestinian state as part of the process toward peace.

But the Israelis are having none of this. We know that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made very clear, as has one of his big political rivals in Israel, Benny Gantz, also a member of the war cabinet, neither of those men actually support the existence or the establishment, I should say, of a Palestinian state. This decision also, Max, has prompted some pretty fierce reaction from the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz.

He's already recalled the ambassadors to those three countries. And he said, I'll just read you part of it.

Ireland and Norway intend to send a message to the Palestinians and the whole world today. Terrorism pays. He said, the perverse step of the countries is an injustice to the memories of the October 7th victims. It's also haring the effort to return the 128 hostages. This is a back win for the jihadist of Hamas in Iran, distancing the chance for peace and undermines Israel's right to self defense.

This is also being celebrated -- or surely will be celebrated by many countries in the Middle East.

Turkey, for its part, we've just gotten a statement from the foreign ministry, which read in part: That we are very pleased that Spain, Norway, or sorry, that Spain, Norway and Ireland have announced that they will recognize the state of Palestine. They called it an important step in terms of restoring the usurped rights of the occupied Palestinian people -- Max.

FOSTER: Is this a -- how would you interpret this? Is this almost like a protest move? Or is this just a big effort to try to push to some sort of new world in that region after this war? Because it's not going to change what's happening on the ground right now, is it?

MCLEAN: Yes, and it seems like the longer this war has gone on, Max, that many of the attitudes in Europe and certainly in the West have been maybe recalibrating as to what they think is the best way to go about this. You know, it seems pretty implausible that you would have many Western countries supporting the ICC decision a few years ago.

Now you have the likes of Belgium and France saying that they support the ICC's independence. And even Western countries that, you know, took issue with the equating of Israel and Hamas have said, look, yes, we support the court's independence, sort of a tacit approval of what has gone on here. And so we have seen bits of, you know, European resistance in going along with what the Israelis are doing.

Many of them have already cut off weapons shipments. In fact, not long ago, it was the Spanish who actually rejected a request for a ship carrying arms bound for Israel to even dock in its port. So, yes, this is in some ways symbolic, but perhaps it could also be the catalyst for other countries to follow suit -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Scott in Istanbul, thank you.

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas hit a major impasse early this month. The deal that Hamas announced was not what Israel had agreed to, and it was not what negotiators from Qatar and the U.S. believed had been submitted to Hamas for review.

CNN's Alex Marquardt explains the stunning reason where it went all awry.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We've learned more about how the ceasefire talks for Gaza, which appeared on the brink of success, then fell apart earlier this month. Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier and that the U.S. had hailed as extraordinarily generous. But Egypt didn't think that Hamas would go for the terms and work to change some of them.

Specifically, according to three sources speaking with CNN, it was a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek.

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He was responsible for making those changes. A proposal was then given by Egypt to Hamas without the awareness of Israel or the other mediators, the U.S. and Qatar, but which Hamas agreed to. But any excitement over Hamas agreeing to a deal was short-lived when everyone realized that they had agreed to different terms than had originally been discussed.

One source told me, we were all duped. The CIA director Bill Burns, who was in the region at the time, almost blew a gasket, according to that same source.

CNN's Jake Tapper asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if this now raises concerns with Egypt's role going forward. Here's what he had to say.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Hamas, unfortunately, has been hunkering down on a demand that is simple. They say, well, we can release the rest of the hostages, maybe. But in order to do that, you have to get out of Gaza, end the war, and allow us, basically, to regroup and reconquer Gaza.

So that's something I won't agree to. And I hope Egypt understands that we can't agree to something like that.

MARQUARDT: Mediators had hoped that a ceasefire deal could delay or even prevent an Israeli incursion into Rafah, which is now growing. The talks have fully stalled and show little sign of starting up again soon.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: The U.N. warns that Israel's military operations in north, south and central Gaza are making it impossible to deliver aid to desperate civilians. One senior official says the situation in the enclave is worse than, quote, hell on earth. UNRWA says its distribution center and the World Food Programme warehouse in Rafah are now low on supplies, they're inaccessible, and they're forcing the agency to suspend food distribution in the southern city.

Meanwhile, the U.N. says that the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel is technically open, but moving aid into Gaza is extremely difficult because hostilities and logistical challenges get in the way.

The U.S. says 569 metric ton of humanitarian aid has reached Gaza across its new floating pier, but one U.N. official says security issues and convoy raids have kept the aid from being distributed to the people who actually need it. The Pentagon acknowledges the issue.

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MAJ. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The causeway has been able to get over 569 metric tons of aid into Gaza for onward delivery. So, yes, very shortly I think you'll see aid starting to be delivered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But none of that has been delivered, right? As of today.

RYDER: As of today, I do not believe so. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied allegations that he is starving civilians in Gaza as a method of war and insisted that Israel has been allowing food and medical aid to enter the enclave.

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NETANYAHU: We were trying to get the aid in, we got the aid in, and Hamas was looting the aid. That's what was happening. They were taking it for themselves or extorting the population.

We were letting the aid in from the start. And look, I've been -- this was my directive from day one. The day one thing was we have to provide, we comport with international law. We comport with the rules of war. We have to get those trucks in. We're getting hundreds of trucks every day in.

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FOSTER: Netanyahu is once again lashing out at the pursuit of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him and his defense minister. Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, he said that claims of war crimes are based on a pack of lies.

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NETANYAHU: I think these charges are exactly as President Biden called them. They're outrageous. They're beyond outrageous.

This is a rogue prosecutor that has put false charges and created false symmetries that are both dangerous and false. And the first false symmetry is he equates the democratically elected leaders of Israel with the terrorist tyrants of Hamas. That's like saying that, well, I'm issuing, you know, arrest warrants for FDR and Churchill, but also for Hitler.

Or I'm issuing arrest warrants for George Bush, George W. Bush, but also for bin Laden. That's absurd.

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FOSTER: French President Emmanuel Macron and other French officials are heading to the island territory of New Caledonia after a week of deadly anti-government riots. At least six people were killed in the unrest with protesters torching cars and buildings and engaging in clashes with police. The violence was sparked after French officials voted to change New Caledonia's voting rules.

A thousand additional French forces arrived on Tuesday to support the nearly 2,000 security personnel already there. Australia and New Zealand sent government planes to evacuate their citizens from the territory. Here's how one man described the conditions on the island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were quite a lot of fires and a lot of smoke in the first couple of days. But then after that, they calmed down a little bit and there's a lot more troops. So we were staying in one of the hotels and we had 150 police staying with us.

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So that was quite reassuring. We had a curfew at six until six in the morning and everybody did that, you know, 50 police staying with us. So that was quite reassuring.

We had a curfew at six until six in the morning and everybody did that, you know, everybody got off the streets. There was nobody on the streets at all.

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FOSTER: New Caledonia's airport remains closed to commercial flights. That's until Saturday.

Several tornadoes have hit the U.S. state of Iowa, killing at least one person on Tuesday. A powerful line of thunderstorms across parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois prompted tornado watches for those states. Nearly 20 tornadoes were reported across the country. The system was strong enough to force the temporary closure of the Des Moines International Airport.

Iowa officials say the city of Greenfield suffered devastating damage from one tornado which went straight through the town center.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's devastating. I've lived here all my life. I'm just praying that everybody was safe, everybody's safe and nobody got hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just thanking Jesus that we're all here.

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FOSTER: Well, Iowa's governor is set to visit Greenfield and other areas today to survey that damage.

Both sides in Donald Trump's hush money trial have now rested their cases. We'll look at the next steps and when the former U.S. president could learn his fate.

Plus, Kenya's president, William Ruto, will visit the White House today for a crucial time in that country's relationship with the U.S.

And later, the world's first airline for dogs gearing up for its maiden flight. What can our furry friends expect on board?

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FOSTER: Donald Trump is planning to attend a series of fundraisers later today in Texas now that his hush money trial is winding down. The defense has rested its case with closing arguments set for next Tuesday. The former U.S. president is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payoff to an adult film star before the 2016 election.

More now from CNN's Kara Scannell.

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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The defense rested their case on Tuesday without former president Donald Trump taking the stand in his historic hush money trial.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Almost five weeks of work.

SCANNELL (voice-over): On Monday the prosecution rested its case, having called 20 witnesses over 19 days, totaling over 50 hours of testimony. Meanwhile, Trump's team called just two witnesses with about two hours of testimony. The majority of that time came from former adviser to Trump's ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, Robert Costello.

The defense hoped to use Costello to attack Cohen's credibility but Costello ended up angering the judge on Monday, leading the judge to clear the courtroom to address his decorum.

TRUMP: We have a phenomenal case. We've won the case by any standard.

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SCANNELL (voice-over): Prosecutors began their case approximately one month ago by questioning former "National Enquirer" publisher, David Pecker. Pecker laid out the catch-and-kill scheme at the crux of the prosecution's case. Prosecutors alleged Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to block her story of an alleged affair with Trump from becoming public to influence the 2016 election. Trump denies the affair.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Was it hush money to stay silent?

STORMY DANIELS, ADULT FILM STAR: Yes. The story was coming out again.

SCANNELL (voice-over): All eyes were on Daniels when she took the stand. Prosecutors sought to bolster her testimony by having Daniels recall specific details of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump and the events surrounding it.

The prosecution's final and star witness was Michael Cohen, the only one who can directly link Trump to the alleged crimes.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP FIXER AND ATTORNEY: I just want to get through this so that I can start my own life again.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Cohen walked the jury through Trump's involvement, recounting conversations with Trump when he directed Cohen to pay off Daniels before the 2016 election, as well as the 11 checks including ones Trump personally signed to reimburse Cohen for the funds that he paid to Daniels out of his pocket.

COHEN: And he says to me something to the effect of, don't worry, Michael, your January and February reimbursement checks are coming.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Cohen testified the check stubs were false because they said the payments were made for a retainer agreement. During intense cross-examination, Trump's team's main objective was to undercut Cohen's credibility, aiming to paint him as a vengeful liar who hates Trump.

TRUMP: Michael Cohen is a convicted liar and he's got no credibility whatsoever.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Trump attorney Todd Blanche got Cohen to admit he stole from the Trump Organization. In one of the most dramatic moments in the trial, Cohen was pressed over his memory of a key phone conversation when Cohen said he told Trump Daniels' deal was getting resolved.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Bernarda Villalona is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. She's with us from New York to explain for people who haven't followed the ins and outs of this exactly where we are. How would you summarize?

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We're finally at the end, Max. This is the point where everyone was waiting for. We're finally going to learn the fate of Donald Trump.

Will this jury find Donald Trump guilty on those 34 counts of falsifying business records for his attempt to interfere with the election back in 2016?

FOSTER: In terms of how the defense and prosecution handled their cases, what were the two highlights, would you say, from either side?

VILLALONA: So for the defense to highlight, and just to think that the defense doesn't have to put on a case, but in terms of the highlights on their end, having to deal with cross-examining the prosecution would be when they cross-examined Michael Cohen after a crucial call on October 24th, and they were able to make some headway in terms of whether he was lying about that call, whether the purpose of that call was to update Donald Trump on the Stormy Daniels deal, or whether it was to deal with a prank caller who had been calling him multiple times. And I think they were able to make some headway with that, but I don't think it was a fatal one to the prosecution.

Also, of course, when the defense decided to call Robert Costello and all the drama that followed that, of course, the purpose for the defense, which I don't think it was a decision of the attorneys, but more of Donald Trump wanted Robert Costello to testify that, look, that Michael Cohen, when he met with Michael Cohen initially, that he said he had nothing on Donald Trump to offer to the prosecution, that Donald Trump knew nothing of the Stormy Daniels NDA.

Now, in terms of the prosecution, the prosecution had some crucial moments throughout their case, of course, because they have the burden of everything having to deal with Michael Cohen, but I think the smoking gun for the prosecution was, one, the bank statement where Allen Weisselberg had put his own notes as to how these payments were going to be made, and that counting of these payments, how it got up to $420,000.

Also, a second crucial moment was that audio recording that Michael Cohen made of his meeting with Donald Trump when they were talking about payment for Karen McDougal. Yes, Karen McDougal, she's not one of the charged people that's in this indictment and that we're talking about. The focus is on Stormy Daniels, but it got us into the mind frame of Donald Trump, that he was willing to actually pay off someone, that he was willing to pay off cash, that he was allowing and directing Michael Cohen to take care of his dirty work.

So those are just, like, some key insights, but this whole trial has had its ups and downs. And finally, we're going to see blow to blow on Tuesday, doing closing arguments, where both parties are going to have their final say in front of these 12 jurors and trying to sell their positions.

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FOSTER: OK, and in terms of what the timeline now, when do we get the result?

VILLALONA: So that is the unpredictable part. So on Tuesday, both sides are going to give their closing arguments. The defense is going to give their closing arguments first, and then the prosecution is going to give their closing arguments.

I expect the closing arguments are going to last hours, at least two hours, probably, on the prosecution side, and of course, over an hour on the defense side.

So after the prosecutor gives their closing argument, the judge is going to give that jury the jury instructions, and the jury instructions are key because the instructions on the law of how the jury is supposed to apply the facts to the law as it's given by the judge, and ultimately the instructions of how to conduct their deliberations, that this has to be a unanimous verdict. Once the judge gives them the instructions, they'll also get their verdict form.

They will then go back into a room, and this is the first time that the 12 jurors are going to be allowed to talk to each other about the case and about the evidence and about how to go about reaching a decision and see if they can reach a decision. Sometimes it can take minutes. Sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes it takes days.

This is the only time that you really just do not know when a verdict will come down. What will give us some insight is if the jury sends out a note to the judge asking for some direction or some evidence or some of the testimony to be read back.

But again, we're just all going to be on pins and needles to see when this jury can come back, if they can come back, with a unanimous verdict. So we'll wait and see next week. That's a waiting game for all of us.

FOSTER: We are braced, Bernarda. Thank you so much for your brilliant analysis as ever.

Now, still ahead, a terrifying moment on board a flight from London to Singapore when extreme turbulence at 37,000 feet turns deadly. One passenger says all hell broke loose.

And Kenya's leader lands in the U.S. ahead of his historic visit to see the U.S. president. It comes as America's influence on the African continent is waning. Stay with us.

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