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CNN International: Trump Pushes Early and Mail-in Voting Initiative Despite Casting Doubt on Voting Methods for Years; Modi Wins a Historic Third Term but With Smaller Majority; Italian Court Refuses to Overturn Amanda Knox's Slander Conviction; World Leaders in France for D-day Events in Normandy; Major Asylum Restrictions Now in Effect at Southern Border Following Executive Order by Joe Biden; Shots Fired Outside U.S. Embassy in Beirut; Thousands Attend Candlelight Vigil in Taipei on Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre 35 Years Ago; Gun Trial of President's Son to Resume in Minutes; U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Warns of AI Risks in the Finance Sector; Southwest U.S. Set for Dangerously High Temperatures; Rising Danube River Prompts State of Emergency in Passau, Germany; Boeing Starliner Mission Set to Make Third Attempt at Launch; Bank Notes Featuring King Charles Enter Circulation in U.K. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 05, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:15]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I am Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, an Italian court upholds a slander conviction against Amanda Knox, the American who spent four years in jail after being wrongly convicted of the murder of her roommate. Plus, President Joe Biden arrives in France where he will look to deepen ties with the European leaders as D-Day memorials get underway. And then political uncertainty in the world's most populous country, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is searching for coalition partners after a tighter than expected election.
We begin with a mysterious murder case that has fascinated Europe and the U.S. for years. That is back in the news today. American Amanda Knox, who was convicted and then acquitted of murdering her roommate in Italy almost two decades ago, was back in an Italian court, hoping to get a slander verdict overturned. The conviction stems from a controversial police interrogation of Knox back in 2007 when she implicated her boss in the murder of Meredith Kercher.
Now, Knox told the court she was sorry for that false accusation and that she was in an existential crisis when police questioned her without a lawyer present. But the court refused to throw out the slander conviction and Knox left court upset and refusing to speak with the media. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is at the courthouse in Florence, Italy. Barbie, what does this mean then for Knox?
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, you know, I mean, it is a big disappointment for her. Her lawyer said she was expecting to speak there and set up a podium. She was going to comment on this because, of course, the European Court of Human Rights had ruled that this conviction for slanders should be thrown out. So she had every confidence to think that the local court here in Italy would do that. So what it means for her is really nothing. Her lawyers can appeal after 60 days, after the judge's reasoning comes out, but it could just end up going back and forth between this appellate court and the high court, going back to the European Court of Human Rights.
So for her though, it means that she remains a convicted criminal in the eyes of the Italian law. That doesn't mean that she can't come to the country, she can. She's been banned from serving in any sort of public capacity here in Italy for five years. She is sentenced to three years in prison, which the court ruled that she had already served when she spent those four years when she was originally convicted before, that was absorbed. But, it is a big disappointment. She was very, very visibly disappointed with the outcome today, Amara.
WALKER: And Barbara, you were in court this morning when Amanda Knox testified about her experience during that investigation in 2007. This is where the slander conviction stems from. What did she say?
LATZA NADEAU: She said she was sorry. She said that she was a young person under a lot of stress and the fact that she was rendered homeless because the murder occurred in the home she was sharing with the victim, Meredith Kercher, that she was stressed out, that there was just too much to bear. And so, when she made that false accusation and then signed two separate statements from the Italian police that said that she had admitted to being in the house and also that her former boss, Patrick Lumumba, committed the crime, she said she didn't mean to do that. And she was very sorry she didn't try harder to retract that.
What she did instead at that time was write a sort of a diary entry about the night in question, in which she said she wasn't sure if Patrick Lumumba had committed the crime or not, and that was considered in the court. But, I've read that document, a lot of people have read that document and she doesn't sound like she necessarily knew what was going on that night. She said she didn't know where she was and things like that, so to have that be the one document that the court was considering stands to reason they would have found a question with that, say the lawyers.
WALKER: All right. Barbie Nadeau, good to have you out there. Thank you so much.
World leaders are arriving in France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the allied landing in northern France that laid the groundwork for the defeat of Hitler's Germany. U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Paris earlier. He will head to Normandy Thursday, attending events to pay tribute to the heroism of allied troops.
In Normandy, Mr. Biden will hold talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And Britain's King Charles attended a D-Day ceremony in the English city of Portsmouth before heading to France. It will be his first overseas visit since he revealed his cancer diagnosis. We have team coverage of CNN reporters covering this event.
[08:05:00]
Max Foster is in London, but let's begin with CNN's Kayla Tausche, who is in Paris, traveling with the president.
Hi there, Kayla. So, what can we expect from Biden's trip?
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a lot of expectations, Amara. There are both the micro expectations where -- which is a package of deliverables that were expected later on this week from the state visit portion of the visit, but there are lofty goals for these next few days where President Biden is seeking to draw a through line from World War II to the situation in Ukraine today.
National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan said that dictators again are attempting to March through Europe and that President Biden wants to sound the alarm of that possibility. Once again, this time from a backdrop as powerful as Normandy, he is going to be delivering his speech on the power of democracy from Pointe du Hoc, which just the 100-foot cliff that allied troops scaled to destroy the German lookout positions 80 years ago. So, this is a tall order for President Biden, but it is of course against the backdrop of these two hot wars going on.
There is of course, as I mentioned, the war in Ukraine where Biden and Zelenskyy will discuss the state of play on the ground and in the air there, with Ukraine now using American-made missiles to strike inside Russia for the first time. And then there is also the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas with administration officials currently in the region to try to move that ceasefire deal forward. Several allies who are here this week have broken with Biden on that conflict, so we will see whether they can, again, find some common ground there.
But, it is important to note, Amara, this is legacy building stuff for Biden because this is the last time that he will be attending a D-Day celebration in this term, the last time that he will participate in a G7 Summit as he is next week, and the NATO Summit the following month. So really, they are trying to shape the president's legacy as he closes out the first term, Amara.
WALKER: All right, Kayla, thank you. And to Max now in London. We've also seen Britain's King Charles and his son, Prince William out and about this morning. Max, how are the U.K. royals marking the day?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was really a moving service. He is down in Portsmouth where many of the boats left on D- Day to head over to France. And we saw the king and the queen, his first major event since his cancer diagnosis, and then William also joined them. So we don't often see them together because it is a very slimmed down monarchy these days, and they try to separate up, but this is something that they really wanted to mark 80 years after the event.
There were veterans there from D-Day who were just 18 when they went over and the family really wanted the veterans to be the stars of the show. So whilst they were onstage and giving speeches, they've made most of -- they've made as much time as possible to go over and bring the cameras over to the actual veterans as well. Prince William read a letter from a young serviceman who wrote to his wife on the morning of D-Day. So there were some really big poignant moments and not least the fact that many of these veterans, there are less and less than every year.
So, their chances to go over to Normandy are dwindling, but many of them will be heading over tomorrow and you'll see the royals over there as well. So, this is a big moment for showing really the allied effort. And there are obvious references, as Kayla was suggesting, to current events. We've had both William and Charles speak quite strongly about the invasion of Ukraine and the threat of tyranny and the threat to democracy, and some of these words actually came into the speeches today.
So, I think the optics here are, it was all about what happened then and the heroism of those servicemen and women. But also, we need to remember it because it could happen again.
WALKER: Max Foster, appreciate you. Thank you so much.
U.S. President Joe Biden is addressing one of his key political vulnerabilities this election year, and it is receiving pushback on both sides of the aisle. The president signed a sweeping executive order on Tuesday that severely limits the number of migrant crossings at the southern border, effectively banning those who are crossing illegally from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met. CNN's Rosa Flores has more.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Joe Biden announcing his toughest immigration policy, an executive order barring asylum when daily migrant apprehensions at the U.S. southern border hit a seven-day average of 2,500, a move that could result in the deportation of some migrants in a matter of days, even hours.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They choose to come without permission and against the law. They will be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.
FLORES (voice-over): The measure clamps down on unlawful crossings between ports of entry since migrant apprehensions at the U.S. southern border are now about 4,000 per day. Biden appearing to take a page from former President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration playbook.
[08:10:00]
Trump tried implementing a similar policy in 2018. The ACLU led the challenge that caused courts to strike it down and says it plans to sue the Biden Administration too.
LEE GELERNT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ACLU IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT: We do not believe that any provision, whether its 212(f) for any other provision allows an administration to shut down the asylum system.
FLORES (voice-over): Biden Administration officials defended the executive order, say it includes humanitarian exceptions for unaccompanied migrant children, for some medical emergencies, and for victims of severe human trafficking.
FLORES: The timing of the announcement -- the number of migrant apprehensions right now is very low.
NORMA PIMENTEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY: Extremely low.
FLORES (voice-over): Raising eyebrows among advocates like Sister Norma Pimentel (ph), because migrant apprehensions on the U.S. southern border have plummeted from nearly 250,000 in December to about 120,000 in May, a source familiar with the data told CNN.
FLORES: So, why do this, Sister Norma?
PIMENTEL: I would think it is because of the fact that we are having an election very soon. And if he doesn't show a different uptick picture then they have -- they are losing.
FLORES (voice-over): The appearance strategy by the Biden Administration pointing the finger back at Republicans who failed to support the Senate's bipartisan border bill. Republicans fired right back, saying it is too little too late.
REP. STEVE SCALISE, (R-LA) HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Joe Biden with a pen could fix the problems that he created and he chooses not to. He doesn't want to fix the problem.
FLORES (voice-over): Caught in the middle of this political battle playing out on the border --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Foreign Language].
FLORES: He says that during his journey, he saw all cycles of life from newborns to the elderly to people who died along the way.
FLORES (voice-over): Migrants like Raphael (ph) from Venezuela, who wants to go only by his first name for fear it could impact his case.
FLORES: Do you think migrants are going to go back to their country?
FLORES (voice-over): In my years of covering the Biden Administration and his immigration policy, President Biden's immigration policy, I can tell you that I've heard from the law enforcement, from officials, from voters on the border saying that they wanted the president to do something significant.
And that they were waiting for him to do something significant, that they felt abandoned by the federal government and that they would even say that while they did not agree with everything that Texas Governor Greg Abbott was doing when it came to his hard-line immigration policies, they would say he's doing something.
Well now, the federal government has actually done something. We are just going to have to wait and see what the actual effect is.
Rosa Flores, CNN, Hidalgo, Texas. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: And he has done something significant as has asked for. Rosa Flores, thank you. Arlette Saenz is now live from the White House with more on this executive action. Arlette, so this -- these new border restrictions went into effect at midnight. What is the reaction you've been seeing?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, President Biden has faced some pushback from some members within his own party. Progressives have expressed frustration that what Biden is doing with this executive action is essentially drawing from the Trump playbook. The president in this executive action is tapping into a pre-existing authority that former President Trump tried to use while he was in office.
At the time, it was decried by Democrats and ultimately, was shot down in the courts. Now, here at the White House, as the president unveiled this plan, he was joined by some Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona from a border state, who praised the president's plan. He was also joined by mayors who represents cities along the U.S. southern border.
And here was President Biden's response to some of those critics who have said that his policies are simply going too far. Take a listen.
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BIDEN: For those who say the steps I've taken are too strict, I say to you be patient and goodwill of American people are going to -- wearing thin right now. Doing nothing is not an option. We have to act, we must act consistent with both our law and our values, our value as Americans. I take these steps today, not to walk away from who we are as Americans, to make sure we preserve who we are for future generations to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, President Biden argued that he had no choice, that he needed to act especially after Republicans had tanked those bipartisan border talks up on Capitol Hill a bit earlier this year. They did so at the urging of the former President Trump. But the Biden Administration is also bracing for the potential that there will be legal challenges. One senior administration official said that they expect challenges from across the political spectrum.
We've already heard some organization, like the ACLU, saying that they plan to sue the Biden Administration over this policy, but ultimately, administration officials believe that they do have the legal standing for this executive action to proceed.
WALKER: I've heard the comparison that immigration to Democrats is what abortion is to the Republicans for this upcoming election.
[08:15:00] We know that the Democrats are not exactly united on immigration policy as we saw with those failed votes a few weeks ago. How is the White House -- how is President Biden, I guess, preparing for, or is he receiving blowback from fellow Democrats regarding this executive action?
SAENZ: Yeah, we've heard from several progressive Democrats who expressed frustration with the president's plan, saying that it is too similar to what Trump had adopted when he was in office. Of course, when Biden was a candidate, he had argued that Trump's immigration policies were inhumane. Now, yesterday, senior administration officials were trying to make that distinction between the current policy that Biden is adopting and the approach that Trump had taken.
They said that Trump's approach was inhumane, but they also noted that there were elements that Biden is not addressing, things like Trump's calling for bans on people of certain religion, trying to separate families from their children. So, the White House is trying to balance a lot of these concerns that progressive have, but also there is this rising sentiment among some American voters that immigration is of top concern.
You've seen repeatedly, Trump and Republicans trying to paint Biden as weak on the border. This is likely something that will come up in this upcoming debate. Biden in many ways really trying to head off some of that criticism by rolling out this executive action, but it is clear that the administration, the campaign has recognized that immigration has quickly risen as a top concern for many voters. And what they are trying to do is show that Biden is trying to take some type of action to address this situation and trying to pin some of the blame on Republicans, trying to turn the tables on them heading into November.
WALKER: Yeah. Yeah, that is the strategy, it seems. Arlette Saenz, appreciate you, live for us there at the White House, thanks so much.
And we have developing news in Lebanon where a man has been arrested after shots were fired at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. This is according to Lebanese officials. The prime minister says investigations are underway into the incident and what the motive may have been. Not many details just yet though about any casualties, but the U.S. embassy staff says they are all safe. An official tells CNN the gunmen appeared to be acting alone.
Ben Wedeman is on the story for us. Ben, what do we know about this incident?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we understand is that it happened at around eight 8:30 a.m. local time, when people are on their way to work. Now, the U.S. embassy is not in Beirut itself; it is in the town of Awkar, which is northeast of Beirut. It is a very fortified facility. Now, the small arms fire happened, as I said, around 8:30 a.m. Now, according to a statement put out by the U.S. embassy, Lebanese Security Forces, and there are lots of them around the U.S. embassy, as well as Embassy Security reacted quickly to this gunman. The gunman, we've seen some social media video of him. He does seem to be wearing body armor and a mask as well. Now, we don't know anything about his identity other than this statement from the Lebanese army that he was injured and is undergoing surgery. However, the National News Agency, the official news agency of Lebanon has said that his brother has been detained by Lebanese Security Forces. And according to that report, his brother is Syrian, although we don't know the nationality of the injured gunman at this point.
Now, the embassy put out a statement saying their staff is safe and the facility, the embassy was not damaged in any way. It is worth noting that tensions have been very high in Lebanon since the beginning of the war in Gaza. In the opening weeks of the war, we saw some fairly chaotic demonstrations down the hill from the U.S. embassy. They were kept back by Lebanese Security Forces, but it really underscores the level of tension in Lebanon. Of course, let's keep in mind also that there have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah on the border between Lebanon and Israel. So situation, generally, very tense. This incident outside the U.S. embassy underscoring just how volatile the situation in Lebanon is. Amara?
WALKER: It sure is. All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much. Still to come. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a historic third term, but his party falls short of an outright majority. What this means for the country and his leadership ahead. Also, security is tight in Beijing as the world remembers the massacre China wants the world to forget.
[08:20:00]
We look at the effects of the deadly crackdown at Tiananmen Square 35 years later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: In the most populous country on the planet, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a rare third term in office, but with a smaller majority than he had hoped for. The final results from India's elections show Modi's BJP party secure 240 seats. That's falling short of the number needed to secure an outright majority in parliament. So that means Modi is now reliant on longstanding local coalition partners to keep him in government. Now earlier, Modi met with India's president to tender his resignation as prime minister. That's a procedural step to form the next government.
CNN's Ivan Watson reports now on what the election results mean for the country.
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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 suggests (ph) he'll govern with a weaker electoral mandate.
WATSON (voice-over): At a rally in the capital, 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 they have 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.
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (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.
[08:25:00]
The weakened Modi is still the most powerful and polarizing politician India has seen in generations.
Ivan Watson, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Tuesday marked the 35 years since the bloody crackdown on pro- democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Four people were arrested in Hong Kong where the event can no longer be safely commemorated after China imposed a new national security law. In Taiwan, around 2,000 people attended an annual candlelight vigil. The self-governing island remains the last corner of the Chinese-speaking world were the victims can be publicly honored. Here is CNN's Will Ripley.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's no surprise that every single time we mention the words Tiananmen Square massacre on CNN, our signal inside China is cut off. It goes to bars and tone. This happens whenever we cover controversial stories in China. But on this anniversary, the 35th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 massacre of hundreds or perhaps thousands -- we don't know the number because there was never an official number released -- of protesters, many of them students, young bright minds in China who were fighting for democracy, fighting for an end to government corruption and then brutally suppressed and silenced by the People's Liberation Army in Tiananmen Square.
The history of that moment for the more than one billion people who live in China has essentially been erased. I have friends who grew up in China and didn't even know about Tiananmen Square until they left the country and attended university in other places with an open internet, unlike the heavily restricted internet in China. But they certainly don't forget Tiananmen Square here in Taipei. And in the Taiwanese capital, on the evening of the June 4th anniversary, 2,000 people gathered for a moment of silence. They lit candles in the numbers eight, nine, six, four, of course, a reference to June 4, 1989, saying we will not forget what you did.
The 'Tank Man' photo remains an iconic image to this day and getting that photo to the world was an ordeal in and of itself 35 years ago. CNN journalists actually had to hide the tapes in the U.S. embassy before they could be smuggled in a suitcase to Hong Kong. And Hong Kong at that time was much more free than it is today. There used to be large gatherings for decades, commemorating Tiananmen Square, sometimes with more than 100,000 people. But on the day of the anniversary, Hong Kong police out in force arrested four people, two men and two women, ages 23 to 69, a sign of just how quickly things have changed in that Chinese territory, even as here in Taiwan, they insist that they will, as a Chinese-speaking democracy, remember the past.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
WALKER: Mediators are trying to keep hope alive for a ceasefire deal in Gaza, even as an overnight strike kills dozens of Palestinians. We'll have a live report on the Israel-Hamas war when we come back.
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WALKER: The Israel-Hamas war has seen another deadly night. Health officials in Gaza say at least 65 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes overnight in central Gaza. Earlier, the IDF released a statement saying troops were striking terror targets. This as mediators are trying to keep ceasefire talks alive. U.S. officials say top officials, including CIA Director Bill Burns, are heading back to Doha. The U.S. is urging Israel and Hamas to accept the latest proposal outlined by President Biden on Friday.
CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments for us from London. Nada, let's start with this strike in central Gaza. What do we know?
NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you mentioned, Amara, at least 65 people were killed in these overnight strikes according to health authorities on the ground in Gaza, dozens more injured. And we have seen a dramatic footage once again of morgues at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah at central Gaza overflowing with bodies. The mourning outside the hospital's grounds, among them, of course, many children and we have seen graphic and disturbing images emerging from the central city.
We've been hearing from eyewitnesses on the ground who said that the strike took place in the early hours of the morning that people were killed while they were sleeping. In fact, one woman said that her daughter and her son had been killed while taking shelter in a residential building in the city. They had received no warning of an incoming air strike on the region. And just in the last few minutes, the NGO, Doctors Without Borders has issued a statement regarding this latest strike in central Gaza.
One doctor who was present at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital putting it in this statement saying, the odor of blood in hospital's emergency room this morning was unbearable. There are people lying everywhere on the floor, outside, bodies were being brought in plastic bags. The situation is overwhelming. And of course, this is a situation which is reflected across the Gaza Strip as we continue to see airstrikes in both central and indeed in southern Gaza where so many of displaced Palestinian civilians have been crammed into these displacement camps. Of course, that repeated warning that we are hearing from the United Nations, from other humanitarian organizations that there is simply nowhere safe for civilians.
WALKER: We should mention, Nada, that Israel is marking Jerusalem Day, which is a national holiday. It has a lot of historical or religious significance to the Jewish people. What can we expect on that front?
BASHIR: Well, Amara, typically we do see some violence on this day. This is a day in which thousands of Jewish nationalists are expected to march through the old city, marking the capture and occupation of east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. This is an occupation, of course, which was not internationally recognized. East Jerusalem for many proponents of a proposed two-state solution would form the capital of a future Palestinian state.
And what we have seen in past instances is acts of violence. We've seen and heard anti-Palestinian rhetoric and slurs being used. At this stage, we haven't seen a huge bout of violence as we have done in the past, as we saw last year. In fact, there has been some acts of aggression documented and we have seen, of course, some provocation right now. But at this stage, no huge amounts of violence has been expected. We know that there is an increased police presence there throughout the holy city.
WALKER: All right. Nada Bashir, we'll watch this closely with you. Thank you very much, Nada.
Slovenia has formally approved recognizing an independent Palestinian state, making it the fourth European country to do so in recent weeks. The country's parliament approved the move with a majority vote on Tuesday. Slovenia's prime minister called it a message of hope and peace and urged a two-state solution. Spain, Ireland, and Norway formally recognized Palestinian statehood in late May. The Israeli prime minister has said recognizing a Palestinian state in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks only empowers the militant group.
We are just minutes away from the second day of testimony in Hunter Biden's gun trial. The president's son is accused of lying when he purchased a gun in 2018 while he was addicted to drugs. The first day of testimony included some lurid details about Biden's life at that time. CNN's Paula Reid has that.
[08:35:00]
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In their opening, prosecutors told the jury, we are here because of the defendants lies and choices. No one is above the law, it doesn't matter who you are or what your name is. Prosecutors also had to address the sensitive and ubiquitous topic of addiction, an issue central to this case and one that the majority of potential jurors said they had experience with either directly or with a loved one. Addiction may not be a choice, but buying a gun is.
Defense attorneys tried to shift the focus to Hunter's state of mind. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunter knowingly violated the law, inferring that if Hunter was going through periods of sobriety amid his addiction, it could be reasonable for him, did not know he was breaking the law by indicating on a federal gun buying form that he was not using or addicted to drugs.
His defense attorney said Hunter didn't have much interest in buying a gun and the salesman led Hunter to guns while he was browsing other items. At least one juror was seen dabbing her eyes during the defense opening. And during the testimony of the first witness, an FBI agent, the jury heard long portions of Hunter Biden's memoir, which he narrated detailing his addiction to drugs.
HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I possessed a new superpower. The ability to find crack in any town at anytime, no matter how unfamiliar the terrain. It was easy.
REID (voice-over): Prosecutors also introduced electronic evidence, including the infamous laptop and text messages from several devices. Some of those text messages said to be about his efforts to get drugs and meet with dealers in 2018, were also shown to the jury. In one text, Hunter allegedly wrote "ASAP, if you can." Another reading, "Can you come this way now?" And a text from another alleged contacts to Hunter saying, "You want 10 grams?"
The jury also saw several images of drugs that the FBI agent testified were found on Hunter's devices. They also saw the ATF form where Hunter allegedly lied to purchase the firearm. Prosecutors also spent time detailing the large amounts of cash Hunter withdrew on a daily basis in 2018, around the same time he purchased the gun at the heart of this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: That was our Paula Reid reporting. With more on the Hunter Biden case, CNN's Marshall Cohen is outside the courthouse. Hi there, Marshall. What are we expecting to hear today?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Amara. Well, first things first, we are still waiting for the president's son, Hunter Biden to arrive here at the federal courthouse in Wilmington. The proceedings will resume at 9:00 a.m. The first thing that they will be doing once they are back in session, is more testimony from an FBI agent. She spent a lot of time on the stand yesterday. Prosecutors have been using her testimony to bring in a lot of those text messages and other digital pieces of evidence that you just heard about from Paula.
Now, once this FBI agent is done, the next item on the agenda for the prosecutors, they said is going to be Kathleen Buhle. She is the ex- wife of Hunter Biden. They divorced in 2017, but according to the prosecutors, she would occasionally check his car for drugs in 2018, tried to make sure that that stuff was kept away from their children. That's important to this case, Amara, because the prosecutors want to connect Hunter's drug use to the gun that he bought in 2018. If they can convince the jury that he was using drugs when he bought that gun in October 2018, then they may find themselves on the path to a conviction. So its day three here, Amara, in Wilmington.
WALKER: So, I know you've been in the courtroom, Marshall. We also saw Paula Reid's reporting about some of the jurors getting emotional. Tell us more about what you've seen in terms of how the jury has been reacting?
COHEN: It is important to remember who this jury is, who are the members of this jury? They come from all across Delaware and in order to get on the jury, they have to swear that they can be fair and impartial, and they have to answer questions from both sides, and some of those questions were about addiction. Do you know anyone who was struggling with addiction? Have you lost anyone? There are members of this panel who said that they have lost friends and family to alcoholism and to overdoses.
And while they were listening to those excerpts of Hunter Biden's memoir, where he was baring his soul about his struggles with crack cocaine, some of the jurors were listening very intently. I saw several of them taking notes and following along closely. It was pretty compelling to hear Hunter Biden's own voice while he was sitting right there in the courtroom with his -- with the first lady, just a few rows behind him, Jill Biden. So it is emotional, it is powerful stuff.
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And I'm being told that Hunter Biden maybe has just walked in here at the courthouse, so things should be getting underway very soon, Amara.
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WALKER: We'll let you get back to work.
COHEN: (Inaudible) super emotional there.
WALKER: Yeah. COHEN: This is a heavy, heavy topic.
WALKER: Absolutely, it is. And again, it seems to affect so many people around the world. CNN's Marshall Cohen, thank you very much. We'll let you get back to work.
Still to come, scorching conditions for millions in the western U.S. We'll take a look at how long they will be under the sweltering heat dome. And a different -- a threat of a very different kind as the U.S. sounds new alarm bells over the risks of AI.
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WALKER: Well, there is a new warning surrounding the rapid development of artificial intelligence. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will deliver a speech tomorrow, warning bankers and tech executives of the new dangers posed by AI in the finance sector. That is according to speech excerpts that have been shared with CNN. All of this after a group of insiders from the leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI, who are calling for more transparency about the serious risks of the technology.
Let's bring in our Matt Egan in New York. Hi there, Matt. Tell us more about what kind of warnings we will hear from the U.S. treasury secretary.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Amara, tomorrow's speech by Janet Yellen will be her most extensive remarks to date on artificial intelligence, a technology that has the power to really reshape the economy. And during this speech before bankers and academics and tech executives, Yellen is expected to say that there are "tremendous opportunities and significant risks associated with the use of AI in the financial sector."
And she is going to lay out some of the major concerns here, including what's known as the 'black box' problem, which is that we don't really know how a lot of these AI models work, which makes it basically impossible to know how safe they are and how safe they will be when introduced into the financial system. There is also this risk around crowded trades if everyone is using the same models, the same AI data, then you could have everyone move in the same direction in the market and that could actually amplify moves up and down.
Yellen is also going to mention this concern that some AI model spit out biased results. Now, that could obviously be problematic when it comes to financial decisions, imagine getting denied loan because a robot doesn't like your gender or your race, or your zip code. And then what is interesting is that Yellen does not plan to address, at least according to the excerpts that I've seen, she does not plan to address this problem where some AI models have the tendency to make stuff up in a really believable way. It is a problem known as hallucinations, and it has gotten some lawyers in trouble who've actually cited case law that turned out not to exist.
[08:45:00] Now, recently, U.S. regulators have formally designated AI as an emerging vulnerability to the financial system. And tomorrow, Janet Yellen plans to say that AI has moved toward the top of the to-do list for regulators. Amara?
WALKER: Hallucinations? That's frightening. I mean, especially amidst all the misinformation, disinformation that we've been dealing with over the past few years. But well, let's focus on the positive as well because we know that Janet Yellen will also focus on some of the opportunities that AI is opening up.
EGAN: Yeah absolutely. I mean, AI can be a game changer for this U.S. economy. It could make all of us more efficient and Yellen does plan to get into some of these opportunities here. She'll note that AI models are already being used to help investors and bankers for forecasting, with fraud detection, with customer support. And then in the future, generative AI and the fact that AI can recognize images, that could help lower costs and make banking and finance more efficient and a treasury official even told me that Janet Yellen herself has experimented with some of these AI chatbots.
And I mean, why wouldn't she? They can do some incredible things. And the government is even using AI. I mean, the IRS has deployed AI to detect tax cheats. Treasury has launched AI to fight fraud, when fraudsters are stealing from taxpayers. And tomorrow, Janet Yellen does plan to say for the first time that U.S. officials are working with the private sector to understand how AI can be used to fight money-laundering, sanctions evasion, and even terror financing. I think at the end of the day, it is just going to come down to trying to strike the right balance, right, between embracing the potential of AI while guarding against some of these risks, especially when it comes to AI in finance. Amara?
WALKER: Yeah, it is all about the balance, as you say. Matt Egan, appreciate you, live for us there in New York. Thank you.
And from feeling the heat online to feeling the heat here on earth, millions are at risk from dangerously high temperatures, as a heat dome has descended on the southwestern United States. Look at that, it is a weather phenomenon that happens when hot air gets trapped due to high atmospheric pressure over an area. So, you have people in California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona who could see temperatures in the triple-digits along with, of course, a high risk of wildfires.
Elisa Raffa is that the World Weather Center with more. So, what is the forecast for the parts of the U.S. that will be affected, Elisa?
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got some extreme heat warnings, excessive heat warnings in effect for places like Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Phoenix that go through the next several days. Some of these warnings go through Friday because we are expecting temperatures to be so incredibly warm that we are looking at 100 or so daily temperature records, both high temperatures and overnight low temperatures that could fall over the next couple of days. And yes, a lot of these areas do have an extreme heat season going into the summer, but this is early even for them. The average daytime high in Las Vegas is 96 degrees and we are looking at temperatures getting up to 110 to 115 from Vegas down towards Phoenix, again, 10 to 15 degrees above average, even temperatures up near 100 in Albuquerque. Again, when you look at how much hotter this is, in average, we are talking 15, 20 degrees, even temperatures in the 90s spanning as far east as Denver, temperatures staying pretty hot. So, we are looking at major and extreme impacts from this when it comes to heat sickness. It is dangerously hot for early June. We are not quite acclimated to it yet for the summer season, so we'll want to check on children, elderly, and pets just to make sure everybody is all right. Those are the groups that are most vulnerable to heat sickness.
And what I find incredible about this is the last time Las Vegas had a record cold low temperature was 1999, 25 years ago. Most of their records, especially on the overnight, have been for heat over the last 25 years, and that is the trend. Summer has been warming since 1970 in Las Vegas. It has been about five to six degrees warmer since 1970 on average. What that means is that we are adding more warm days to the summer season, about 40 more warm above-average days through June, July, and August. And it is not just the daytime temperatures, overnight is not really cooling off at all. We'll get these overnight temperatures in Las Vegas, getting down to the low and middle 80s, average is 73 degrees at night. So again, not getting any relief at night that exacerbates that risk for heat sickness, Amara.
WALKER: All right. Elisa Raffa, thank you so much.
Meantime, the southern German city of Passau has declared a state of emergency, following days of flooding that has killed three people and forced thousands of people to flee.
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The water level at the Danube River, which runs through the city, has reached ten meters. That is almost 33 feet. However, a local water management agency representative says she believes -- he believes that this is the peak.
Still to come, third time lucky. After two failed attempts, the Starliner mission prepares for lift off once again.
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WALKER: If at first you don't succeed, you got to keep trying to get it, right? In a couple of hours from now, Boeing Starliner mission will make a third attempt at launching its first flight with the crew onboard in what would be a major landmark for the company. Weather conditions are looking 90 percent favorable. The project has been in the making for a decade as Boeing aims to develop a spacecraft to compete with SpaceX.
Kristin Fisher is at Cape Canaveral with the very latest. I'm not going to comment on the weather because I feel like I jinxed it last time. You tell me how things are looking for the mission this morning. KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, it wasn't the weather last time, that was any sort of issue that caused that scrub on Saturday. The weather was a little bit windy on Saturday, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was with a faulty ground computer. Part of the ground system that is responsible for telling the rocket when to lunch, and it was really something as simple as just going in and swapping out a part. So, the United Launch Alliance, which is responsible for the rocket that propels the Boeing Starliner spacecraft into space, they say that they have successfully troubleshooted that problem and that we are now go for launch.
So, it is really important to point out that despite all of these delays and all of these issues, that Boeing has had with this Starliner spacecraft, the last two scrubs have not been Boeing related at all. They've been issues with either the ULA rocket or the ULA computers.
But as you said, as of now, things are looking really good. They've fixed that computer problem. The weather is looking good. The rocket is fully fueled. And the two NASA astronauts, the Commander Butch Wilmore and the Pilot Sunny Williams are now strapped in inside the Starliner spacecraft and we are now exactly one hour and 58 minutes away from launch. I can see the countdown clock right there.
And so, if all goes according to plan, these two astronauts are going to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:52 a.m. Eastern Time. Then, they will spend the next eight days up at the International Space Station before returning to earth. And it is really important to remember this is a flight test. The first time that people have ever flown inside this spacecraft, Amara, and it is such a rare thing. I mean, this has only happened five times. This would be the sixth in American history. You've got Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the Space Shuttle, SpaceX's Crew Dragon, and now Boeing Starliner.
So, to be one of these two astronauts in the cockpit or in the capsule, selected for this mission, a really big honor. They are two of NASA's most experienced astronauts. They've been in quarantine or some form of a modified quarantine for over a month now. But they do get out a little bit, as much as you can when you're in quarantine, Amara. They spent yesterday -- Butch, the commander, spent yesterday fishing and the pilot Sunny Williams took a nice run along the beach. So, that's how they decided to spend their final few minutes on planet earth before blasting into space.
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WALKER: I hope it is truly their final few minutes, fingers crossed, toes crossed, everything is crossed. Kristin Fisher, thank you so much. Good to see you.
Banknotes featuring a portrait of Britain's King Charles are now in circulation in the U.K. His image, which has been on coins since 2022, will now appear on GBP 5, GBP 10, GBP 20 and GBP 50 notes. The Bank of England says the notes will appear gradually among existing bills, featuring the late Queen Elizabeth. It says this approach aligns with guidance from the royal household to minimize the environmental and financial impact of the change.
All right, that's my time. Thank you so much for yours. I'm Amara Walker. "Connect The World" with Becky Anderson is next.
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