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Biden Announces Executive Action To Curb Migrant Crossings; Modi Claims 3rd Term In India, But His Party Suffers Losses; Sunak And Starmer Clash In Heated First Debate Of U.K. General Election; Egypt, Qatar and U.S. To Discuss Resumption Of Negotiations On Gaza In Doha; PM Sunak Spars with Labour Challenger in Heated Debate; European Parliament Election to Kick Off Thursday; Major Asylum Restrictions Now in Effect at Southern Border; One Man's Mission to Patrol the U.S.-Mexico Border; Testimony Begins in Federal Gun Trial of U.S. President's Son; Marking the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 05, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:24]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'll never separate children from their families at the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.S. President announces a softer gentler ban on asylum seekers, but a ban nonetheless similar to the one tried unsuccessfully by the Trump administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In this third term, the country will write a new chapter decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: When victory seems more like defeat, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins and historic third term, but at the same time support collapses for his ruling party, the BJP and Sunak tried desperately to land some blows Starmer needed to stay the course will the first of two leaders debates have any impact on what looks like almost certain defeat for the ruling conservative a month from now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John.
VAUSE: Just on what I am here on the U.S. east coast as of now the United States will not accept any requests for asylum by those who have crossed illegally into the country, all part of a sweeping Executive Order announced by President Joe Biden just hours ago.
The restrictions on asylum requests are triggered when the number of illegal crossings averages more than 2,500 in one day. In recent months the number has been north of three and 4,000 a day, meaning the asylum shutdown went into immediate effect at midnight U.S. Eastern time an hour ago.
When the number of illegal crossings falls below 1,500 on average each day, those requests can then resume. President Biden says the executive action is needed to secure the southern border after Republican lawmakers rejected a bipartisan deal on immigration reform earlier this year, a deal which many saw as a one sided Republican wishlist.
But many on the far left have been critical of the president's executive action, which relies on the same immigration laws, which the former Trump administration attempted to use to implement a failed ban on Muslims entering the country and a failed attempt to shut down asylum claims in 2018.
During his announcement, President Biden suggested this action was really his only choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We must face the simple truth to protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now. The simple truth is there is a worldwide migrant crisis. And if the United States doesn't secure our border, there's no limit to the number of people may try to come here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: U.S. president has faced increased political pressure over the number of illegal crossings at the southern border. Well, those numbers have fallen in recent months. Some White House officials fear and expected summertime surge could cause serious problems for Biden ahead of November's election. More now from CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden took his most dramatic move yet on the U.S. southern border Tuesday, as he tries to address one of his biggest political vulnerabilities head on before November.
BIDEN: I'm moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities of LME as President to do what I can on my own to address the border.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): This sweeping executive action announced by the president shuts off access to asylum to migrants crossing the border illegally when a daily threshold of 2,500 is met, resulting in people turn back to Mexico or remove to their origin country. unaccompanied children and select others will be exempt.
The order amounts to the most restrictive border policy from the Biden White House.
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: I don't think it is the right direction.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Sparking swift backlash from members of Biden's own party who blasted the move as similar to steps taken by Trump.
JAYAPAL: I'm disappointed that the President has, you know, sort of gone into the same frame as Donald Trump at a very time when we need to make a distinction between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Other Democrats, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, struck a more optimistic tone.
MARK KELLY. U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: Now, with my Republican colleagues not wanting to take action on this. We're at this point where the White House is taking some steps that I truly believe is going to make a big difference.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): The American Civil Liberties Union already announced that it plans to challenge the move in court, just as they did for the Trump era asylum restrictions.
LEE GELERNT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ACLU'S IMMGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT: We said that that was illegal when he tried an asylum ban that we think is very similar to the one that President Biden is doing. We think it remains illegal. And so we will challenge that in court.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Officials maintain the move is necessary to stem the flow of migration and say Congress needs to act. The Republicans argue the action is too little too late.
TED CRUZ, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: The only question anyone should ask is Why didn't you do this in 2021? Why don't you do this in 2022? Why didn't you do this in 2023? Why didn't you do this last month or the month before or the month before?
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:10]
VAUSE: With us this hour from Washington is David Bier, an expert on legal immigration, border security and interior enforcement. He's also director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute. Great to have you with us.
DAVID BIER, DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION STUDIES, CATO INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me on.
VAUSE: OK. So when it comes to trying to control the number of illegal border crossings into the U.S., you've argued in the past that, you know, tougher laws are often part of the problem, not part of the solution. Would you include this executive order by the President and that sort of equation? BIER: Absolutely. This executive order is a perfect example of a enforcement only policy, that's going to have adverse consequences for people at the border for border security for all of the outcomes that people say they want, when they want enforcement, it's going to make all those problems worse, because now rather than people turning themselves in to request asylum, you're going to have huge numbers of people trying to evade the Border Patrol, lead them on car chases, or scaling the wall. And you know, forcing them into confrontation with Border Patrol.
All of these things are unwanted consequences both for the Border Patrol for border residents, it will lead to more chaos, more illegality. And it's not in the best interest of the United States, it's not in the best interest of anyone in this situation. So again, you're looking at the policy in and of itself, people think you need a crackdown to solve it. In reality, the crackdown makes many of the problems that we see so much worse.
VAUSE: I want you listen to the Secretary of Homeland Security, explaining how the Biden order is different a similar action, which was taken by former President Donald Trump. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DHS SECRETARY: President Trump shut down asylum altogether, what we are doing is cutting out the smugglers and deterring irregular migration in between our ports of entry, where it's so very dangerous, and the crossings are illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, the asylum process shuts down under the Biden order with the number of illegal crossing averages around 2,500 a day for a week. The daily average in December was more than 8,000, by March just shy of 4,500. Low again, 4,200 each day on average in April, which means once this goes into effect, after midnight, the asylum process is essentially shut down on the southern border, which is precisely what Trump and the Republicans had wanted. So how's it different?
BIER: Look, the main thing they can point to is that they let in a little bit more per month through legal crossing points. The Trump administration has imposed a cap on the number of people who can apply for legal entry at these illegal crossing points. The Biden administration has slightly increased that cap.
But the reality is, since it's a cap, all the people that he's banning, under this order, have nowhere to go. There's not a single additional slot made available under the order for people to enter illegally. So of course, they're going to keep crossing illegally. There's no other option.
And so that's the fundamental flaw and in this thinking that there's somehow so much better than the Trump administration. Well, the Trump administration had essentially the same policy, but there were fewer people trying to come. And so it's not really that different. And I think it's sort of a bad faith effort to justify what they're doing. VAUSE: And after the executive order was announced, Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal spoke to reporters, defending this new Biden policy. Here he is.
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SALUD CARBAJAL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Asylum system is still intact. Let's make sure we have that understanding. This provide security, provides humanitarian solution to the influx of people being brought by smugglers posing threats to their lives. This is going to help us secure the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is he talking about the same executive order?
BIER: It doesn't sound like it. Look, this is empowering the smuggling networks. I mean, if your only option is to evade the Border Patrol, you basically have to hire a smuggler and just turn your life over to them and say, look, I'm willing to hire you and you get me in somehow I'll ride in your trunk. I'll go in the back of a tractor trailer and we saw all the people who died trapped in that situation. We've seen people die in car chases where U.S. citizens, they don't want to pull over. They don't care about the lives of the people in the backseat, who, you know, just want economic opportunity or safety in the United States.
And we've seen many deaths at the border and it was far worse when asylum was banned.
[01:10:00]
Look, this is nothing new for this administration. They tried to enforce an asylum ban under Title 42 of the health code for the first two and a half years that they were in office. And it did not work. It resulted in more chaos, more illegality. It was a fundamentally flawed process. They got rid of it.
Fortunately, in May of 2023, the number of evasions of Border Patrol has declined by 70 percent since then, so we got more security. There have been no more arrests. There has not been this big influx that everyone was predicting. And we ended up with a better situation at the border. I don't understand why the administration is hell bent on overturning the progress they've made.
VAUSE: It's a good question, David, one, which we don't quite know the answer to, at least just not yet. Thank you so much for being with us. So we appreciate your time and your insights.
BIER: Thank you.
VAUSE: Senior officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar, scheduled to meet in Doha in a few hours to work on a ceasefire for Gaza. CIA director Bill Burns is expecting an update from Qatar on their extensive discussions with Hamas officials. The U.S. is urging Israel and Hamas to accept the proposal which President Biden outlined on Friday.
One Hamas official says any deal must include a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. For now, though Israeli military operations continue with a new ground and air assault central Gaza on Tuesday. Gaza's Ministry of Health says 15 Palestinians were killed, including a 12-year old boy, dozens of others were wounded. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem and has laid details on ceasefire negotiations.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over the course of the last few days, the Israeli prime minister has been hammering home the fact that this ceasefire proposal that is now on the table is not in his view going to lead to an end to the war, at least not until Hamas is first destroyed on the battlefield in Gaza.
And he's been doing that of course, because two key members of his right wing governing coalition, the far right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have been threatening to bolt from the government to topple this current coalition governments, if the Israeli Prime Minister follows through with this deal, but not only have the Israeli Prime Minister's words about this not leading to a permanent ceasefire or an end of the war not been successful in convincing those ministers to back off of these threats.
But they're also now sparking growing concern within the Israeli government about the effect it's having on this Israeli proposal and the ability of Hamas to be able to accept it. And that's because this proposal is intentionally ambiguous in certain parts in order to try and sell Hamas on the idea that it will, as they want it to lead to an end of the war lead to a permanent ceasefire. That's exactly how President Biden framed it in his remarks last week. And it's also how the mediators are now trying to sell Hamas on this proposal.
So it remains to be seen whether or not Hamas will accept a ceasefire agreement that doesn't explicitly have an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire to an end of the war, and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops on the front end of this deal. But that is indeed what is being presented to them now.
Now, as all of this is happening, we're also witnessing growing concerns in northern Israel as these cross border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, have been heating up in a real way, not only in terms of the intensification of the barrages of from both sides. But we're also now witnessing two active wildfires in northern Israel as a result of the rocket fire of from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
And also, at least one of these fires, according to Israeli a fire and rescue services, was actually caused by an Israeli interceptor missile that was trying to intercept these rockets being fired from Hezbollah. There are now two active fires in northern Israel, 22 firefighting teams actively working to extinguish these blazes in coordination with the Israeli military and these blazes are being worsened according to the Israeli fire and rescue services by changing winds, high dryness, high temperatures, but of course beyond that, it's drawing attention to the fact that the situation in northern Israel has yet to be resolved that these clashes with Hezbollah are still continuing eight months into the war and tens of thousands of Israelis have yet to be able to return to their homes.
That's prompting the Israeli military's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi today saying that there may well soon be a reckoning with Hezbollah in order to resolve this situation unclear exactly how that situation will be resolved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Israeli airstrike in Syria has killed an Iranian military advisor according to officials in Tehran, or any state media reports the advisor is a member of the Revolutionary Guard.
[01:15:00]
Syrian state media reporting Israeli missile strikes near the city of Aleppo after midnight Monday, all of this comes just two months after war almost erupted between Iran and Israel. After a suspected Israeli attack in Damascus, which killed several senior Iranian military commanders. Iran and Israel launched aerial attacks on each other's soil in the days and weeks which followed.
Still to come here on CNN, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins his historic third term, but he's really party fall short of a super majority even loses its majority in parliament. What does this actually mean for the ruling coalition. All that, still to come.
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VAUSE: Tuesday back 35 years since the Tiananmen Square crackdown when the government sent in tanks and troops on its own people students led these protests to pro-democracy demonstrations. In Hong Kong though where memorials were once held each year but are now no longer allowed for people were arrested. And in the Chinese capital Beijing security was heavy but for the most part, it was just another day come and sensors have raised almost all trace that the bloodshed ever happened.
No death toll was ever released from 35 years ago. Taiwan remains the last corner of the Chinese speaking world where victims can be publicly honored and mourned. We're now told around 2,000 took part in a candlelit vigil outside Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, many said to be from Hong Kong and living in Taiwan. That's going to Taiwan's official news agency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODI (through translator): We Indians will walk together toward the development of the country. And in this third term, the country will write a new chapter of decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Narendra Modi there and a bittersweet election, where he won an historic third term as Prime Minister. Many voters turning out -- turned rather on the ruling party the BJP. Instead of winning a supermajority of more than 400 of the 543 seats in Parliament, which Modi had predicted final results now show the party actually lost 63 seats and it's outright majority. That means the BJP is relying on coalition partners to stay in power.
All at the Modi alliance has 292 seats. That's a buffer of 20. A stunning and humbling result from Modi, who claimed he'd been sent by God to govern. The opposition coalition of more than 30 parties, including the Indian National Congress, won 234 seats all up.
CNN's Ivan Watson has been following this election, which saw more than 640 million people cast their ballots over six weeks.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's largest election is now over and just hours into the massive vote count, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's followers were already partying.
WATSON: Supporters are celebrating here at the headquarters of the BJP and it does look like Narendra Modi will govern for another term, but it does not seem that he has won the landslide victory he predicted which success he'll govern the weaker electoral mandate.
[01:20:03]
WATSON (voice-over): A rally in the capitol, Modi declared victory even though for the first time in a decade his party failed to win a majority of seats in parliament. Modi will have to form a coalition government if he is to continue to rule. The opposition say they've hurt the powerful Prime Minister.
RAHUl GANDHI, INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS: The country has unanimously and clearly stated we do not want Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Amit Shah to be involved in the running of this country. We do not like the way they run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution.
WATSON (voice-over): Modi's opponents accused the prime minister of limiting freedom of speech and press with crackdowns on political rivals. Modi and his party have also targeted India's Muslim minority with Islamophobic rhetoric.
MODI (through translator): Do you think your hard earned money should be given to infiltrators?
WATSON (voice-over): Modi's brand of Hindu nationalism may have reached its limit. His party's candidate lost in Ayodhya the town where he inaugurated a controversial new Hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque.
Modi is still seen by many as the business friendly steward of the world's fifth largest economy. Indian stock markets plunged more than 5 percent on Tuesday, upon news of Modi's lackluster election results. The weekend, Modi is still the most powerful and polarizing politician India has seen in generations. Ivan Watson, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining us this hour now from New York is Ravi Agrawal, Editor- in-Chief of Foreign Policy, and host of FP Live and magazines, video channel and podcast. Ravi, it's been a while Good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
RAVI AGRAWAL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF-FOREIGN POLICY: Likewise.
VAUSE: So three days before the official results were actually announced a day before the first vote had even been counted. Modi tweeted on X this, I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to reelect the NDA government, NDA is Modi's coalition, the National Democratic Alliance. That tweet didn't really aged very well. But perhaps it reveals, in part what may have gone wrong for Modi, you know, he was the overly confident even though you've been sent by God, as he claimed during a recent interview.
AGRAWAL: He was overly confident. He thought that he would come back to power, as you pointed out with a huge majority landslide majority, the likes of which has never been seen before in India. But not only him. The markets felt that he would return with a majority and sort of exit polls.
So across the board, it seems like everyone seems to have overestimated how well the BJP could do and underestimated how the opposition was going to perform. In some senses, I think what the Indian voters seems to be telling the world and the Indian public is that it's been ignored is that things like inequality, things like unemployment, have been issues that have lingered, inflation has been punishing over the last few years. And those are all things it seems like people are trying to rise up and say, Well, what about us? And that's what we're seeing in the votes.
VAUSE: Well, the opposition bloc, which is made up of more than 30 political parties are called the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance. The final results are in they've won more than what 230 seats much better than the most optimistic polls have predicted. Is there any chance at all that they could actually form a working coalition government?
AGRAWAL: An extremely slim chance. I mean, we're there to do so. It would take defections from the NDA, the BJP Alliance, it would mean that they'd have to cobble together, you know, a patchwork of parties that really don't have that much in common beyond the fact that they were trying to oppose the BJP were they to try to cobble together a majority then you'd have, you know, the usual horse trading of who gets to be Prime Minister who gets to control various levers of government. It's very messy, very difficult.
It's far, far, far more likely that the BJP would be able to cobble together a majority, which it already has with the NDA. It's just that this is uncharted territory for Modi, who's never had to do this before. Even when he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat, his party has always returned the majority. So he's never had to share power. He's never had to try and look at what various partners might want from the government. He's always gone it alone. So this is new for him.
And hence, I think the shock of this for him, for his party, for the Indian markets as well, which is why by the way, stocks declined by more than 5 percent on Tuesday on the news, essentially wiping out all of that gains from 2024. This is a real shock to the system.
VAUSE: Well after the results came in, Modi was still talking about, you know, victory just not his. Here he is.
[01:25:00]
MODI (through translator): This victory is a win for the world's largest democracy. This is a win of the country's loyalty to the Constitution. This is a win for a developed India, a win for India's 1.4 billion people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, it is a win but it feels like a defeat. So, you know, we touched on this. What does actually mean for the next five years? Does he reverse course, on his, you know, Hindu first policies back off of the hate speech? Is there moderation in the future? I mean, which, Modi isn't really known for.
AGRAWAL: Exactly, there would have to be moderation. For example, a couple of the parties that are part of his alliance are avowedly secular. They would obviously want to rein in the very worst tendencies of Modi to try and be a Hindu majoritarian leader.
Also, Modi has, you know, in the past Chun parliamentary debate, he's been increasingly authoritarian. He would have to change those tendencies. He'd have to listen to his partners. He'd have to share power, this is new for him. Those are all things you could expect to change where here to form a government which at this point is what the numbers suggest will happen.
VAUSE: Thanks to Ravi Agrawal there from CNN, formerly and now from Foreign Policy magazine.
Well, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. And the Labour leader opposition leader Keir Starmer went head to head taking off the gloves, coming out swinging. It was a heated TV debate but didn't really matter. More that in the moment.
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VAUSE: A month before voters in the U.K. head to the polls the British prime minister and labour opposition leader went head to head in their first televised election debate. They clashed over the economy, immigration, health care and taxes. With the ruling conservatives now on track for somewhere between a shellacking to political annihilation Sunak needed to land some blows while Starmer just had to turn up and not actually dribble. Here's part of the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've heard a lot about the cost of living challenges today. So I have made some decisions, bold decisions. That will mean that we can save all of you thousands of pounds still meet our targets and we can ensure our country's energy security.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER: We will raise specific taxes and we've been really clear what they are. The oil and gas companies should be paying their fair share towards our energy. So we will raise those but we won't raise the other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining us our lives Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London. His latest book is "The Conservative Party After Exit Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation."
[01:30:00]
VAUSE: Tim, thank you for being with us.
TIM BALE, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS AT QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Good to be with you.
VAUSE: OK, so this televised debate there's a chance that Rishi Sunak to close that gap on, you know, which Labour appear to be closing to an easy win a month from now.
So he came out swinging. Scotland's "Daily Record" though they declared "Sunak loses the plot in TV Debate" while the headline from the "The Telegraph", "Starmer on the ropes over tax".
So, you know, overall did Sunak move the needle here in any substantial way enough to give the Tories a glimpse of hope come to life.
BALE: Well, if you look at the overnight polling, you'll see that Rishi Sunak just edged it by 51 to 49, so basically it was a score drawer. I think Rishi Sunak would have had to have done an awful lot more in order to close the gap, which just for your viewers is around 20 percentage points.
So Labour is a long way in the lead and has been for a year. And at the moment after a week of election campaign it really doesn't look like there's much change.
VAUSE: Well, Sunak repeated one line over and over again about a Labour government raising everyone's taxes by a very specific amount, 2,000 pounds. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've heard a lot about the cost- of-living challenges today. So I have made some decisions, bold decisions that will mean that we can save all of you thousands of pounds, still meet our targets, and we can ensure our country's energy security.
The contrast, it's clear at this election, because Keir Starmer will reverse all of the changes I've made. That's going to cost everyone and you thousands of pounds.
STARMER: This 2,000 pounds you keep saying it's going to cost is absolute garbage. We won't go into the details of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It may be complete garbage, but it seems Starmer never actually really explained why.
BALE: Yes. I mean, the reason why is because when the treasury was asked to make those costings, it was asked to do so by conservative special advisors according to the parameters set by them.
So I think Keir Starmer has got a reasonable argument to suggest that in some ways it is garbage in, garbage out. However, he didn't make that argument particularly clearly or particularly succinctly.
And I think in some ways that characterized the night, I think Sunak was a lot sharper with his arguments, was very clear about his messaging.
Whereas Keir Starmer, I think failed to adapt to the format which only gave the participants, I think 45 seconds to answer the questions on the moderator. And to be honest, the moderator didn't really control the debate particularly well with the result that it ended up being rather a shouting match with people talking over each other.
VAUSE: Well, that happened in the part of the debate which focus on the number of people waiting in line for treatment at the NHS.
Here's part of that moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNAK: The waiting lists are coming down. But what Keir Starmer didn't mention to you, which you did Julie was there --
(CROSSTALKING)
STARMER: There're now some 7.5 million. He says they're coming down and the guy's pretty good at math.
SUNAK: Yes, they are now coming down. They are now coming down.
STARMER: 7.2 when you said, you'd get them down. 7.2 million. There are not 7.5 million. I'd like you to explain how they're coming down.
SUNAK: Because they were coming down from where they were when they were higher. And they're not on their way down.
They are down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The problem with being in power for 14 years, is that the crisis in the NHS began under conservative rule, has continued to get worse under conservative rule. Theres no one else to blame.
So with that in mind, is Labour so far ahead because the conservatives are just doing so badly.
BALE: There is an extent to which that is true. Keir Starmer isn't particularly an inspiring leader of the opposition. And as you say, the conservatives have been there for 14 years.
So there is an extent to which if you like the pendulum of politics is swinging against them. But I think on public services in particular, the National Health Service, it is something that is normally a win for Labour.
So if Labour can make this election in some sense as a referendum on the government's NHS policy then Labour is going to win this election.
I think Keir Starmer though was in a little bit of trouble over the tax stuff. And of course, that will be the bruise (ph) that the Tories intend to punch all the way through this campaign.
VAUSE: Well, in other news, Nigel Farage, he of Brexit fame now the leader of the far-right Reform Party was actually hit in the face by a milkshake while he was out campaigning.
That woman allegedly (INAUDIBLE), who was not hurt and all the rest of it, but you know. It was a good moment in preventing people I think.
He's tried but fail several times to be elected to parliament. I think what, seven times before. What are his chances this time, and how much will that impact the outcome of this election because a lot of these folks will come from the Conservative Party.
BALE: His chances of actually winning in that constituency, Clapton (ph), that district are pretty good. It is a very Brexiteer constituency so well-suited to Nigel Farage his brand of politics. Many people, there are very worried about migration and that is his big USP (ph).
As far as the impact of Nigel Farage and the Reform Party goes on the results of the election.
[01:34:46]
BALE: It is bad news for the conservatives because as you suggest, most people tempted by Reform and Nigel Farage were previously conservative voters.
It's not that Reform will win many seats if it wins any. It's the fact that it will actually take votes away from conservative candidates all over the country. Meaning that in many cases, perhaps dozens of cases, conservative candidates that otherwise might have hoped to win their district will actually lose to Labour or liberal democrat candidates.
VAUSE: Tim, thank you for getting up early and we appreciate all the insights and the explanation. Thank you.
Well, we're just a day away from the second largest election in the world. Starting Thursday 27 European member states will choose lawmakers for the European Parliament.
CNN's Barbie Nadeau has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This concludes this unique transnational democratic exercise.
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The world is a very different place since European Parliamentary elections were held back in 2019. A global pandemic, two major wars, including one in Europe, and the subsequent rise in energy costs.
Farmers frustrated by E.U. red tape and cheap imports, dumping manure in Brussels. A worsening climate with activists attacking cultural gems from Paris to Venice. And the cost-of-living crisis are all among the issues facing Europe's 373 million eligible voters.
These elections are the second largest in the world after India and considerably bigger than the upcoming American vote.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 99 amendments by the committee responsible as a bloc vote was in favor.
NADEAU: Between June 6th and 9th, voters in 27 European countries will choose the 720 lawmakers to shape an increasingly splintered Europe for the next five years.
LORENZO DE SIO, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, LUISS UNIVERSITY, ROME: European elections are important because in E.U. member countries nowadays a lot of important strategic decisions are taken at the European level.
This is why the election of the European Parliament, which is the only directly elected body of Europe is so important.
Policymaking in Europe is more complex, and the election of the European Parliament is only part of that.
As a result, usually we record lower turnout than in national elections.
NADEAU: Creating a functioning parliament when Europe is making a hard rightward shift won't be easy.
The first difficult task of the parliament is choosing the president of the European Commission, with the current president, center-right German Ursula von der Leyen leading most polls. For the incumbent to win, she has to slalom between her center-right European People's Party and the increasingly popular far-right parties of Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen to secure the newly-elected parliament's support.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are preparing to work together with the ECR with - -
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: That's not what I've said. I want to be very clear. This is not what I've said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok.
VON DER LEYEN: I'm speaking about members of the European Parliament. I want to see where they group themselves. And then, we work with the groups that are clearly, clearly pro-European, pro-Ukraine against Putin and for the rule of law.
NADEAU: A far-right with more members could greatly influence how Europe deals with political priorities, like how to share the burden of irregular migration and what exactly to do about artificial intelligence and regulating big tech against a more assertive China and (ph) the United States.
The European Union will need the parliament to set a clear path, but with balancing the wide-ranging needs of voters against the goals of divergent parties.
Approving legislation with a fractured parliament will be complex. The stakes for Europe and beyond couldn't be higher.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Much more ahead on the migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border. While President Biden has used executive action to enact sweeping changes to slow illegal immigration, one California man has made patrolling the border his own personal mission.
[01:38:59]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: More now on our lead story. Strict new measures now in place to curb the number of asylum claims from those who cross into the United States illegally.
It's all part of a sweeping executive action announced Tuesday by President Joe Biden. The restrictions come into effect when daily illegal crossings are more than 2,500 on average, over a period of a week.
Some migrants already on route to the border seemed less than concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, this news has already been given before.
They'd been saying the same thing for a long time since Trump was there. They are saying that the border is going to be closed. They built a fence, they built the wall, but still the amount of people that come from our countries is too large.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CNN's David Culver traveled to San Diego in California to meet a man on a mission. He's patrolling the southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Keeping up with Cory Gautereaux is a challenge, especially on dirt roads as the sun sets on the California- Mexico border. He's gotten word migrants have just crossed.
We're watching this. You can actually see it if you (INAUDIBLE) they just brought up a border patrol van, and they'll load them up on that van and continue on to processing centers.
I mean, you see this pretty regularly, I assume, too, because this is your community.
CORY GAUTEREAUX, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: New people that come out and see this firsthand, it's a shock to them. It's very confusing. It's still confusing to me, but it's not necessarily a shock. This is just everyday life here now.
CULVER: Here is San Diego County, and Cory is not border patrol, but an Army veteran who admits he's become obsessed with understanding this migration surge.
GAUTEREAUX: And it's very frustrating to watch this stuff happen in my backyard when we have veterans in our country who don't have homes, who don't have health care. I feel like we should prioritize some things.
Cell phone.
CULVER: The cell phone. Connection --
CULVER: Cory's begun collecting what migrants leave behind, most surprisingly, passports and IDs.
It's Mexican immigration.
Altogether, you said hundreds of IDs?
GAUTEREAUX: Yes.
CULVER: Where do you keep them?
GAUTEREAUX: Secret location.
CULVER: Can we see it?
GAUTEREAUX: Yes.
CULVER: On the way there --
GAUTEREAUX: 10-4.
CULVER: Cory stops and points out vulnerabilities in the border wall, places he says smugglers direct migrants to cross, and he shows us remnants of recent campsites.
So this is, as you see it, a collection that represents the migration crisis impacting the U.S. right now?
GAUTEREAUX: Yes. The San Diego sector specifically.
CULVER: So you've got a group from China, you've got other parts of South America, Central America, South America here. Credit cards as well. What do you make of all this?
GAUTEREAUX: It -- I don't know. I don't know what you make of it. It's just kind of insanity that people would leave these personal documents behind.
CULVER: And why collect them?
GAUTEREAUX: Each one of these people has a story, whether that story is coming here for asylum or coming here to have a better life, or coming here for nefarious reasons. They've all got a story.
CULVER: In recent weeks, Cory, along with friends who don't want to be on camera, have documented what they've seen. This thermal camera video, appearing to capture a smuggler dropping off a large group, then taking off.
Here, the desert nightfall brings freezing temps. Migrants often burn whatever might bring them some warmth.
We join Cory after just a few hours of sleep. He's heading out at 4 a.m. to see what might happen in the hours leading up to Biden's executive action, aimed to limit border crossings.
GAUTEREAUX: I'm trying to keep my finger on the pulse, because it changes so rapidly.
[01:44:52]
CULVER: With the sun up, Cory drives us to a path where most migrants are now believed to be entering here, through Brian Silvas' (ph) property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the weekends, like, just like, two or three big, big groups come through.
CULVER: Through where -- which way?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're probably on my way and they come down.
CULVER: Still the same way.
He even pointed out to us signs that have gone up in recent weeks. You can see in different languages, "asylum", and the arrow pointing this way.
And then along the way, there are these ribbons, you can see one in this bush, that then give migrants an indication of which direction they should keep going.
Just after we part ways with Cory, we see one migrant who's taken that path walking alone.
CULVER: Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from Turkey.
CULVER: From Turkey.
He tells us the direction he's going.
Here we see a group that's now pulled over there by this truck. They're getting in this truck.
We drive on and find dozens more staggered along the dirt road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Egypt. Egyptian. Egypt. Welcome to USA.
CULVER: Egypt, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, China.
This mom and her young daughters waving us down, hoping we might be border patrol.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turkish.
CULVER: Turkey. From Turkey.
They're all headed the same direction.
CULVER: He says he's going to walk up here in (INAUDIBLE).
He's -- he acknowledges it's hot, but he says he's got to hurry along because he's going to then continue on to an immigration official to start the process for asylum.
Brian says life in Ecuador was becoming unbearable. Instability, which we've seen firsthand, driving him northward. He and the others joined several dozen more migrants lined up and following instructions from CBP agents.
They fill the van, which drives off as more migrants march in.
So what's next for most of those migrants, especially with this executive action now in place. It remains to be seen.
In theory those who are above that threshold limit would then be put on vans or buses and sent back over the border to Mexico.
I wondered if a lot of the folks that we caught up with were even aware of the executive action. Most told us they had no clue about it. And similar to what we heard last year with the lifting of Title 42, people saying they can't determine their journeys based on the U.S. president, congress, or the U.S. courts. All of it as they portray it, too unpredictable.
David Culver CNN -- San Diego.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S. attorney general forcefully defended the work of his Justice Department in a five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Some are the most tense exchanges came when Merrick Garland was grilled by Republican lawmakers, who claimed the department is being weaponized against conservatives. And they press Garland over the departments role in high-profile criminal cases including those against Donald Trump and Hunter Biden. Garland set the tone early in his opening remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: These repeated attacks on the Justice Department are unprecedented and they are unfounded.
I will not be intimidated. And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to work, do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Day 2 of testimonies just hours away for Hunter Biden. The son of the U.S. president is on trial on federal gun charges. On Tuesday, prosecutors argued Biden was actively using drugs when he purchased a gun. Under federal law, those suffering from substance addiction are not permitted to buy or own a firearm and prosecutors used Biden's own words against him.
Here's CNN's Evan Perez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic day in Hunter Biden's gun trial.
Prosecutors displayed his infamous laptop. They also showed the jury dozens of text messages, photos and videos showing the depths of Hunter Biden's struggle with drug addiction.
Prosecutors began today arguing that no one is above the law, no matter what your last name is. However, it was Hunter Biden's own voice that filled the courtroom and had the attention of the jury. Prosecutors played excerpts from his audio book where he discussed efforts to get clean eight different times that he went into recovery centers. And each time he relapsed.
The point of the prosecution is that at the time that Hunter Biden bought a firearm, he had -- he knew he was addicted to drugs and had no reason to believe that he had a right to be able to buy that gun.
Here's an excerpt that prosecutors played in court today.
[01:49:48]
HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No honor among us crackheads. In Nashville, I was a bloodhound on the scent. Like everywhere else I'd bought crack. I knew I could go there cold and in no time, assess what highway to get on, what exit to get off at, what gas station to pull into. And what unsavory-looking character to choose as my newest, most-trusted associate.
PEREZ: During cross-examination, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney managed to get an FBI agent who was part of this case to acknowledge that there were periods where Hunter Biden was sober, that he was not actually using drugs.
We expect that agent's testimony to continue on Wednesday and then Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle is expected to take the stand. Again, part of the prosecution's effort to show that Hunter Biden was using drugs during the period that he bought this firearm.
Evan Perez, CNN -- Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Hundreds of supporters of Alexei Navalny honored him on what would have been his 48th birthday. Those close to Alexei Navalny held a concert in Berlin featuring Russian bands and readings of Navalny's letters.
He died back in February in a Siberian prison. Supporters say Russian President Vladimir Putin is directly responsible for his murder. Navalny's widow gave a short speech at the end of the concert and posed for some photographs.
Organizers say proceeds will be donated to Russian political prisoners to remind them they are not alone.
In a moment here some of the last living veterans of World War II are returning to France, marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, an emotional moment for many.
Our report coming up in a moment from Normandy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: 80 years ago, they stormed the beaches of Normandy and France. Tens of thousands of young men from the United States, Britain, Canada, and other countries as well. An allied invasion, which was the beginning of the end of Hitler's Nazi Germany. If they failed, there was no Plan B.
Now, those young men are old veterans, the ones who are still alive. And now they're returning to France to observe D-Day.
And CNN's Melissa Bell is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the other side of the Atlantic, they returned to the continent they liberated a lifetime ago. Some of the last living American World War II veterans struggling with their steps but not with their memories of June 6, 1944.
ARLESTER BROWN, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I felt that mankind had lost its way.
BELL: 80 years on the veterans arrived to a hero's welcome and with a distinct twinkle in their eye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful day. Nice girls like you to greet us. We're satisfied.
BELL: These are the shores where the men landed taking the first faltering steps towards the liberation of France and of Europe.
The very youngest veterans expected here this week are 96, which means they were just 16 at the time and had to lie about their age in order to be allowed to fight.
The first of the more than 100,000 men that landed in Normandy on June 6, came by air, ferried through the darkness into the unknown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We took off at 2:30 in the morning, completely black out, take off. You remember things like that.
BELL: The paratroopers' planes still fly today. The memories of the men who've now passed kept alive on recordings like these.
[01:54:52]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was very quiet. No conversation, no jocularity. Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always thought God was with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the green light went on we went out right then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 18 men are going out that door in 11 seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm lucky in my mind.
BELL: But even for those who survived, the cost has been unimaginable.
NEAL MCCALLUM, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: My mother and father gave you my four elder brothers. We lost one and he's buried in Lorraine (ph). Beyond those few returning here this week, the last living witnesses of what happened here, the 80th anniversary of D-Day is mainly about those who never left.
Their memory honored with sand taken from the beaches where they landed and died for the freedom of people they'd never met in a country they've never seen.
Melissa Bell, CNN -- Normandy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, a portrait of Britain's King Charles is now in circulation on British bank notes.
His image, which has been on coin since 2022, can now be found on the 5, 10, 20 and 50-pound notes. The Bank of England says, the notes will appear gradually among existing bills between the late Queen Elizabeth.
The approach aligns apparently with the guidance from the royal household to minimize the environmental and financial impact of this change.
Archeologists have unearthed and intricately decorated blue room in the ruins of Pompei. The walls feature female figures thought to depict the four seasons as well as allegories of agriculture and shepherding.
The blue color is considered rare and Italy's cultural ministry says it would have been used for ritual activities.
The discovery is part of a project to expand the excavated parts of the Pompei Archaeological Park. The southern Italian City was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a short break.
Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.
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