Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. President Joe Biden Apologizes To Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy For Delay In Aid; French President Emmanuel Macron To Host Biden For State Visit; Benny Gantz Could Quit Israeli War Cabinet; U.S. Jobs Blow Past Expectations; People Don't Feel Benefit Of Improved Economy; U.S. Supreme Court Justices Reveal Gifts, Book Deals; Former U.S. Officials Band Together Against Biden's Approach To Gaza War; Ukraine Concerned About POWs In Russian Captivity; Prosecution Rests In Hunter Biden Trial; Pat Sajak Retires From "Wheel of Fortune". Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 08, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching around the world. I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, President Biden is spending the last day of his D-Day trip to France with his host, Emmanuel Macron. Just ahead, we'll find out what's likely to be on the agenda when the two leaders meet in Paris later today.

Harrowing accounts from Ukrainian POWs and those forcibly deported to Russia. We will speak with an officer of a global advocacy campaign determined to help tell their stories.

And dozens killed following a Sudanese militia attack on a village south of the capital as civil war rages and the Sudanese army is vowing retribution.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: The U.S. and French presidents are set to showcase the long- standing relationship between the countries in the hours ahead. Emmanuel Macron will play host to Joe Biden with a parade procession in Paris and a state dinner. It's coming on the heels of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

And the day, after Mr. Biden met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris, where he apologized for months of delay in delivering U.S. military aid. Mr. Biden also went to Pointe du Hoc, the site of a brutal battle during the D-Day invasion in World War II.

He used it as a backdrop to send a message about threats to democracy, saying that's what U.S. soldiers died for in Normandy

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're not asking us to give or risk our lives but they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves. They're not asking us to do their job. They're asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: For more on this, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us now live from London.

Nic, tell us the reaction to Biden's speech and also his apology to President Zelenskyy about the delay of U.S. funds and weapons.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This is a speech that really was designed to resonate with a U.S. audience, in particular, appealing to the young and their sort of need to recognize the threats that exist to the democracy, that the World War II vets fought for.

And therefore, that they will probably need to step up to that challenge during their lifetime.

There was that, there was really a message there that isolationism doesn't work. That was perhaps a domestic message to Republicans and Donald Trump, who perhaps will seek to cut ties with NATO partners, which is something that has a lot of concern in Europe.

But this was a message really that was intended for a domestic audience. But the message for President Zelenskyy was that one that you heard, an apology there.

And President Zelenskyy, for his part, also spoke about the importance of the political challenges in the United States to him, saying that bipartisan support is important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: And our meeting here is very symbolic. It's very important that you stay with us, this bipartisan support with the Congress. It's very important that, in this unity, the United States of America, all American people, stay with Ukraine, like it was during World War II.

How United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: This is really the big message that's come across through the weekend of commemorations or the week of commemorations of D-Day, because it's analogous with what's happening today.

And that's something President Zelenskyy has brought up. President Macron's brought up; President Biden, too.

COREN: And, Nic, we know that President Biden, he's meeting with his host, Emmanuel Macron, in the coming hours to be followed by a state dinner. This is obviously a very resilient relationship. But there are differing opinions amongst these two leaders, especially with the war in Gaza.

[03:05:00]

ROBERTSON: With the war in Gaza; in particular, President Macron has been much more of an advocate for an immediate ceasefire and a pressure. He would like to see United States put greater pressure on Israel to bring that about. There are differences over Ukraine as well.

President Macron, when he met with President Zelenskyy yesterday, one of the things they discussed was a coalition of trainers, military trainers from NATO nations, to be placed actually inside Ukraine, to train Ukrainian forces there.

President Macron has mentioned that in the past. The United States has been very careful to say that's not a position they have at the moment. And President Macron will be very mindful of the fact that the next time he meets a president on French soil, it could be president Donald Trump.

Again, remembering that when Donald Trump came into office, President Macron hosted him and carefully tried to sort of build that relationship. But it was still very bumpy and difficult.

And for President Macron, there's a clear recognition that an isolationist United States, which is something that Donald Trump, a Donald Trump presidency, could bring, leaves, countries like France and Germany and the U.K. very much in the lead and alone in supporting Ukraine.

And that will undoubtedly be somewhat of the conversation as they discuss those dual challenges of peace in the Middle East and how to bring stability to Ukraine. But more importantly for Macron, what can be sealed in any deals now, with a -- inside a Biden presidency, that can last and endure during the next American presidency.

COREN: Nic Robertson, joining us from London. Thank you.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: New developments in the Israel Hamas war. First, a key member of Israel's war cabinet could quit today. Benny Gantz has threatened to leave the cabinet and the government and says he'll take his party with him. We'll have more on that in just a moment.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is adding the Israeli military, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to a blacklist of groups that harm children. Gaza's ministry of health says more than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted this on social media, "The U.N. put itself today on history's blacklist when it adopted the absurd claims of Hamas. The IDF is the most moral military in the world. And no "flat earth" decision by the U.N. secretary general can change that."

Also on Friday, Israel struck several locations across Gaza, including a school. Well, Gaza civil defense says that the school was being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. Three people were killed.

Israel says it used precise munitions to target a container on the school grounds that Hamas was using. Next week, U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East next week to increase pressure for a ceasefire and a hostage release deal.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has more now on Benny Gantz's threat to leave Israel's war cabinet and the government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Saturday, June 8th, is the day, that the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu may find himself even more isolated, both domestically and internationally.

It is the self-imposed deadline that Benny Gantz, the former defense minister and a key member of the war cabinet, gave himself. He gave conditions to Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that if those conditions weren't met on June 8th, he would walk away from the coalition.

He wanted a definite plan on how to get the hostages back. He wanted to know what the day-after plan was from Netanyahu and he wanted to know how he was going to calm the situation on the northern border so that tens of thousands of residents could move back there.

Now these conditions have not been met. We do understand that U.S. officials have tried to persuade Gantz not to walk away at this point because they are concerned about what that could mean for the hostage- ceasefire deal. That is according to U.S. officials, familiar with those conversations.

We don't know, however, whether that has had any bearing on what Gantz will do. So at 8:40 pm local time on Saturday night, he will make an announcement and decide whether or not he is going to be walking away from that coalition.

Now if he does decide to walk away, it doesn't mean the coalition collapses, because Netanyahu still has a majority although it is a slimmer majority. What it does mean is that Netanyahu is a lot more isolated with Gantz out of the war cabinet.

It could make decisions more difficult within that key war cabinet as well. And it comes just days before the U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken is coming back to the region.

[03:10:04]

We know he will be meeting with Egypt, Qatar and also Israel, trying to push this hostage deal forward -- Paula Hancocks CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: The American economy looks strong. It's creating more jobs than expected.

So why is Wall Street less than enthused?

We will take a look.

Plus the lavish gifts, trips and book deals going to U.S. Supreme Court justices.

What new filings are revealing coming up.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: The Secret Service is preparing for massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Washington, D.C., today, putting up extra fencing to protect the White House. They've also blocked off access to the White House gates.

A service agent tells CNN they're expecting up to 12,000 protesters. U.S. President Joe Biden will not be at the White House. He's on a state visit in France.

Well, surprisingly, strong jobs growth in the U.S. is dashing hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon. The U.S. ECU added 272,000 jobs in May, far more than expected. And American workers are earning more as well with wage growth coming in stronger than expected.

Average hourly earnings are now up 4.1 percent on the year, outpacing inflation. On the flip side, unemployment rose to 4 percent for the first time in over two years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Ryan Patel is a senior fellow at Claremont University Drucker School of Management. He's joining us via Skype from Los Angeles.

Ryan, always good to see you.

Tell us, what do these numbers say about the U.S. economy?

RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Confusion. I guess, right?

You're looking for these reports to come out and say this is the direction that the economy is going. But the numbers kind of show both pictures, where unemployment kind of continues rise, wage growth rises but jobs are actually increased as well.

So what I mean by that, what it means is we're looking at the Federal Reserve, so they can choose, to decide to decrease interest rates. But this jobs report does not help the case. It also shows -- it painted a picture that is kind of divided on both

sides. And so I don't want -- the word is confusion, I guess, for those looking from the outside, looking in.

And it means that the Fed, the Federal Reserve, will continue to hold pat on not decreasing interest rate because the numbers are not still fighting inflation as it wants to.

COREN: These 272,000 jobs added, I mean, the numbers are misleading, as you say, because of the way that the surveys are conducted. Payroll obviously focuses on large companies. But the broader household surveys suggest that unemployment is ticking up.

So why are they not aligned?

PATEL: Well, I think also there's a couple of things capturing.

Think about these surveys, how they're capturing it, where they're capturing it, at what time is it being captured?

I also think that the gig worker is not being captured in this as well. People choosing not to come back into the workforce. There's another thing.

So where do you categorize those types of folks in those?

And also companies choosing -- think about small businesses. If wages starting to go up, they're going to have less employees on W-2, which means that they're going to probably go contractor roles.

And so that gets reported differently as well. And then you think about some of these industries, where you think of that job growth out of that report.

It was health care, government, leisure and hospitality. These are consistent with the trends that are growing, where the other sectors are not.

COREN: And then there is this, I guess, confusion on the stock market. You've got the magnificent seven, these big companies outperforming, making record profits. Their hiring, obviously, remains strong, where small to medium enterprises are suffering.

PATEL: Yes, no, I think it was clear in this report, in the last couple of reports, that small businesses are struggling. I think when you mentioned the magnificent seven, you have to call out Nvidia of this, the record growth it had and it's holding the market, I would say.

And the word AI for companies or AMD and others are pulling the market up so that trend goes hot. It brings a market go up. Now mind you, when the market goes down, typically, who are those -- who are the tech stocks that are taking the town with them, is these very, very sudden that you mentioned.

So I think that's where you see the market. But I think small businesses are really feeling it because of wages are becoming more expensive, supply chain costs to goods are expensive.

And I think that's part of why I think the Biden White House is trying to, before the -- before the White House, before the November election, to do more at the consumer level or they can keep the consumer spending at a high. And so it'd be interesting to see what happens next.

COREN: Employment is strong. I mean, that suggests that the economy is in good shape. But I guess not everybody is feeling that. And then you mentioned President Biden.

I mean, this is a big problem him selling his economic performance, the strength of the economy because inflation is hurting poor people the most.

PATEL: Yes, you've got the economic fundamentals. You see the numbers and you look at the back end. Then when you see where prices have increased in what parts of the country, what types of demographics it turns to be, when you see these numbers, then you see your bank account.

I think the word they had been using is vibes. You don't feel that you're getting the economic benefit out of what the market is doing.

[03:20:02]

And I think for President Biden it is a uphill battle for him to face these type of vibes or feelings that people are feeling, because they're not spending as much even, though consumer spending overall has been there.

But that doesn't mean with all the different groups that are there. And even certain companies, they are sitting on the sideline and holding cash instead of investing it furthermore, because they don't -- they're still not sure where the market is.

And things are expensive because of interest rates being high. So people are not taking loans out. They are, waiting and waiting to see when that occurs. And so it does cause this buildup where you see shelter prices, rent increase and wages don't always keep up with that.

And so it is interesting the dilemma that the president, President Biden, the White House needs to be talking about the rhetoric. It has been interesting and it hasn't been really working when it comes to some of these exit polls and surveys.

COREN: Then I guess the biggest question in the markets is, when will the Fed cut rates?

And I guess that's not going to happen while employment remains strong.

PATEL: I'm with you. Now, the market, the market wants, as of today, the market thought over 60 percent of the trend or the guesses were that they -- the future market was saying that they were going to see a rate cut in September.

Well, we'll find out next week when the Fed meets, when -- what the rhetoric looks like.

But I can tell you this, I'd hard pressed to think that they're going to make a cut in September, right before election. And if they did, it's 25 basis point and it doesn't mean very much. And that would mean that they would start cutting it down.

And as of today, I don't see them doing that based on the data that we have. Things can change until September. But it seems like maybe we'll get a rate cut by the end of the year. And then going into next year, have a better plan.

But to me it doesn't look good for September, even though the market, future markets are saying it's still over 50 percent chance that occur. But I think it's still coming down that percentage when we get closer.

COREN: My money is on Ryan Patel, any day of the week. Ryan Patel, always a pleasure. Lovely to speak to you.

PATEL: Appreciate you. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: New financial disclosure forms filed by U.S. Supreme Court justices are revealing the lavish gifts some of them have received, from a vacation in Bali to Beyonce tickets sent by the superstar herself. CNN's Brian Todd takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas finally discloses one of his controversial trips, a 2019 trip to Bali, Indonesia, paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. That vacation was at the center of controversy surrounding travel by Thomas and his wife, Ginni.

The investigative news outlet "ProPublica" reported last year that Thomas and his wife accepted luxury trips and gifts from Crow for decades, most of which went unreported on Thomas'' financial disclosures. Thomas'' reporting of that Bali trip was among several new financial disclosures by the justices published today.

Among them, four tickets to a Beyonce concert last year that the pop star gave to liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The gift was not illegal or unethical under the courts rules.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Justices are required to report gifts over a certain amount, about $400. They have to report them and in this case, these tickets its where worth more than about $4,000. So that's why they were reported.

TODD: A Supreme Court spokeswoman referencing an early hit song by Beyonce sent CNN a statement saying, quote, Justice Jackson is crazy in love with Beyonce's music, who isn't?

Jackson also reported that she received artwork valued at more than $12,000 from artists Lonnie Holley and Dr. Kathy Earls Ross (ph). The justices' new disclosures of book deals are also raising some eyebrows.

Jackson, a liberal justice who's the first African-American woman on the court, received a payment from a publisher last year for almost $900,000.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch reported book royalty income of $250,000. Fellow conservative Brett Kavanaugh, who is writing a memoir, listed a payment for $340,000.

BISKUPIC: Justices are allowed to have some outside income but most of their outside income is kept around $30,000, except you do not have to have a limit on book royalties and fees. So these justices who signed these multi-million dollar contracts are not subject to any cap and they can make as much as they can from these book deals.

TODD: But critics say all of this as well as the recent reporting that conservative Justice Samuel Alito and his wife flew flags at their homes that were also flown by January 6, rioters doesn't present the best optics for the court.

Alito had previously drawn criticism for going on a luxury fishing trip on the private jet of a conservative hedge fund manager, a trip that was not initially disclosed.

GABE ROTH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FIX THE COURT: There is a crisis of confidence of the Supreme Court. It starts with their jurisprudence but clearly continues with their ethical issues.

TODD: These new disclosure reports are the first of their kind to be issued since last fall.

[03:25:00]

TODD: When the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct for the first time in its history. That was in response to the travel scandals.

But ethics watchdog groups and some Democratic lawmakers are skeptical of that new code because it doesn't contain any enforcement mechanism -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, voters are casting their ballots in Slovakia today for elections to seat the next European Parliament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (voice-over): Well, this is video of people voting earlier in the capital, Bratislava; 27 European Union countries are holding elections over a 4-day period. Czech Republic and Ireland voted Friday but most will go to the polls on Sunday to make choices that will shape the bloc's political direction for the next five years.

Well, CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more on what's at stake in this round of elections.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This concludes this unique, transnational democratic exercise.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 a 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: Ninety-nine amendments by the committee responsible as a bloc voters in favor.

NADEAU (voice-over): 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.

Policy making in Europe is more complex and the election of the European Parliament is only part of that.

As a result, usually we record a lower turnout than in national elections.

NADEAU (voice-over): 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 van der Leyen leading most polls.

For the incumbent to win, she has to slalom between her center-right European Peoples 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 VAN DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, 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.

VAN DER LEYEN: I'm speaking about members of the European Parliament. I want to see where they group themselves and then we work with a group that are clearly, clearly pro-European, pro-Ukraine against Putin and for the rule of law.

NADEAU (voice-over): 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 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)

COREN: Ukraine is raising a red flag over the condition of its soldiers released by Russia.

Still ahead, we'll talk about what Ukrainian prisoners of war have had to endure in Russia's captivity.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: Welcome back. The U.S., secretary of state, is set to travel to the Middle East next week to push a proposed ceasefire in the Israel Hamas war. The announcement comes amid a backlash among U.S. officials, who are quitting in protest over the conflict and U.S. policies.

CNN's Kylie Atwood has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost a dozen U.S. officials who have resigned in protest of the Biden administration's approach to the Israel-Hamas War --

STACY GILBERT, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I want us to abide by our own laws.

ALEXANDER SMITH, FORMER USAID OFFICIAL: There's a real disconnect between what we and USA are saying and every humanitarian agency is saying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why should the rest of the world look to is as a leader?

ATWOOD: -- are banding together to explore how to use their voices effectively from the outside.

GILBERT: It's kind of like an underground railroad. When I was having questions about when it seemed like I cannot work on this anymore but what do I do?

ATWOOD: Stacy Gilbert, who worked at the State Department for more than 20 years, said she turned to members of the group when she was considering resigning. Now she wants to help those who are fighting the system from within.

GILBERT: If we can be a resource to help others find their voice, find a way to try to affect some policy change that would be useful.

[03:35:00]

ATWOOD: Gilbert and the others who have left the U.S. government in protest, like Alex Smith resigned from USAID last month, are also in public events and statements to shed light on all they've seen.

SMITH: Now that I'm no longer at USAID, I can speak publicly and loudly about what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza and I can try to get attention pointed toward me but people who are suffering there now.

ATWOOD: Gilbert's resignation came after her office at the State Department, which focuses on global humanitarian crises, found that Israel was impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, only for the final version of the report to say that Israel was not to blame.

What are the implications of a report like this for the U.S. government globally?

GILBERT: To say it undermines our credibility is an understatement. And for this report to say, conditions in Gaza are dangerous and these organizations don't have the capacity is just patently false. It is absolutely dangerous. And it is difficult to do the work. But these organizations can do it. They are not being allowed to do it.

ATWOOD: The State Department says it stands by its final report.

MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We want to hear their opinions. We want to hear the expertise that they bring to bear but ultimately, it is the president, the secretary, other senior officials that make the decisions about what the policy of the United States ought to be. ATWOOD: But Gilbert says that many of her colleagues still working on the Biden administration's policy and are seeing the death toll of innocent Palestinians rise harbor same frustrations and continue urging policy changes from within.

GILBERT: If I were the only one who thought this way, I would stay in the government.

ATWOOD: But you're confident they'll continue to fight.

GILBERT: Absolutely. Absolutely.

And I will -- I will be a voice for them on the outside but I really am -- I am determined to do all I can to help from the outside because it's -- it's very, very hard doing this on the inside.

ATWOOD: Now these former officials say they expect resignations and dissent from within to continue.

And one thing we'll be watching to see is if the pressure that President Biden and his administration are putting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to a ceasefire agreement, to do anything to quell this mounting dissent, this mounting frustration.

But from our conversations with these former officials, it would actually take the Biden administration cutting off the flow of U.S. weaponry to Israel in order to do that -- Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: "A horrifying state."

That's how Ukraine is describing the condition of some of its prisoners of war released by Russia a little over a week ago. Ukrainian officials say some of them suffered severe weight loss during captivity and endured beatings.

The Ukrainian government's body in charge of POWs even made comparisons with Nazi concentration camps.

Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy says time is running out for Ukrainian children, taken by Russia, to be brought home. Kyiv estimates that some 20,000 children suffered that fate. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over those deportations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: For more we're joined by Khrystyna Shkudor, an advocacy manager for Where Are Our People? That's an NGO trying to uncover forced deportations of Ukrainians during the war. And she's speaking to us from Kyiv.

Khrystyna, good to see you. We have seen some horrific images of these POWs, these skeletal frames, severely malnourished.

What are other POWs saying about the way they were treated by the Russians?

KHRYSTYNA SHKUDOR, ADVOCACY MANAGER, WHERE ARE OUR PEOPLE?: Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Anna.

Thank you for paying so much attention to Ukraine and this topic because this is extremely what (ph). Actually, what these people are telling civilian hostages that were back from Russia, this is just horrible.

If you saw the pictures, it just covers the small piece of what's going on with those people in the captivity. The main thing is the Russia has no more (ph). They don't care about any international law or any international core issue.

And even this warranty you were talking about previously, doesn't mean anything to them because they have a law inside the Russian Federation that they don't have to follow any, any international core issue or any international law.

So they have only their law inside the Russian Federation. And actually, I've been talking to those people or civilian hostages that were back from Russian activity.

[03:40:00]

And these are really heartbreaking stories. For example, I'll just be very brief with one woman's story that broke my heart.

She was the wife of actual military, of Ukrainian armed forces. And her neighbor told it to Russian soldiers. She was captured like a civilian hostage. She was in a slavery in Russian Federation for eight months. She was raped multiple times.

And she was doing the work from very early morning to very early evening. And the only reason she survived and came back from this slavery was one of those hostages also with her, she -- he was like official governor with a local governor.

And he -- in eight months he got the phone and was able to call one of his officials that he knew in Russian Federation, I mean. And they -- he came and took them all. So that was the only reason she survived.

And this is like the small story I can -- but there is freedom (ph). Right now, we don't know even how many hostages, civilian hostages are in Russian Federation. But we are talking 20,000-plus.

Some of the like lawyers are telling me that they have 65,000 civilian hostages. They are building even new persons in Crimea, because there is no place get those oldest hostages. There is no place to keep them. So they need more prisons.

(CROSSTALK)

COREN: Khrystyna --

SHKUDOR: -- (INAUDIBLE).

COREN: -- if I can just jump in, let's talk about the children.

What are they saying about their time in Russia?

SHKUDOR: OK, all those children that came back -- and this is for the moment, its 386 children that we were able to return between almost 20,000 that we know the names of.

And actually Russian Federation is telling that they took 744,000 of Ukrainian (INAUDIBLE). But the story is almost the same. When they work to -- by Russia, they were told the day of parents refused from them, that they, their families don't need them, that now they are Russian. They need to talk Russian language.

They need to be -- they will be happy in Russia. So they are telling them they will bring them all to Russian Federation and be -- they're going to be adopted by Russian families and there they have -- happy life is waiting for them all in there.

And also, they are like -- I mean, I want all of viewers and everybody to understand, Russia does not need Ukrainian kids. They need just new soldiers in their future wars. So that's what they are doing to Ukrainian kids. And also they are filling the demographic gap.

COREN: The Russians have released some children, though, Khrystyna.

Why are they doing this?

Do they see children as a bargaining chip?

SHKUDOR: Yes and no, because this is not an accident. This is what they planned from the very beginning. So there is a few reasons they are doing this because, first of all, they want to -- they want to fulfill the demographic gap they had inside the Russian Federation.

And the second thing, they -- they just -- I don't know if you ever heard about military children camps, what they created. This is Russian know-how, I mean. And they put Ukrainian kids to those military camps from 6 until 16 years old.

And they train them to be soldiers. So nowadays, the children that were in Donbas in 2014 when all this started in Ukraine, right now, they are fighting against Ukraine, being the part of Russian Federation army.

And this is already a war crime, which is, we were pointing on when we are talking to all our international partners and all our (INAUDIBLE). So we are trying to point this because this is why they are taking Ukrainian kids.

COREN: OK. Khrystyna Shkudor, we will have to leave it there but we thank you for

the work that you're doing and for bringing this very important story to light.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREN: Prosecutors in Hunter Biden's federal gun trial finished presenting the evidence on Friday and the defense called Hunter's daughter, Naomi, to the stand.

The son of the U.S. president is accused of having a gun while abusing drugs and lying on a form about his use of the contraband.

CNN's Paula Reid has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The government rested in its federal gun case against Hunter Biden, immediately after Hunter's lawyers began their defense, which included emotional testimony from his 30-year-old daughter, Naomi.

When she entered the courtroom with her husband, Peter Neal, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, motioned for him to sit next to her in the front row with approximately a dozen other Biden family members.

Once Naomi was on the stand, Defense Attorney Abbe Lowell asked her about the two times she saw her father in 2018. He seemed like the clearest that I had seen him since my uncle died and he just seemed really great.

She testified that she had not seen her father for a long time.

[03:50:00]

When she and her then-boyfriend, now husband, met him at a coffee shop along with Hunter's sober coach. I told him that I was so proud of him and I was so proud to introduce Peter to him.

She then testified she saw her father again in New York City in October of 2018. During the time, her father owned the gun at the center of this case. She said she met him to give back his car she had borrowed for a move and she testified the car was in good shape and had no evidence of drugs, adding that he seemed hopeful.

But on cross-examination, Naomi and defense attorney seemed caught off guard when prosecutors presented texts between her and her father during that trip when he appeared erratic and went dark for long stretches. One of her texts reading, I don't know what to say. I just miss you so much. I just want to hang out with you. And from him, one saying, I'm sorry I have been so unreachable. It's not fair to you.

Naomi testified that she returned the car on October 19th and that at that time, she didn't see any drug paraphernalia in it. A few days after that, her aunt, Hallie Biden testified earlier in the trial that she found drug paraphernalia in that same car.

Prosecutors seizing on this and suggesting that the drug residue and drug paraphernalia must have been put in the car after she returned it.

Timeline crucial, as Hunter is accused of lying on federal gun buying forms about his drug use at that time.

REID: Now the defense team has a weekend to decide if they want to put Hunter on the stand. And this is a risk/reward calculus. A source familiar with their thinking tells me they think Hunter could provide additional context for those text messages.

He said Hallie Biden, where he suggested he was on a car doing crack or meeting someone named Mookie (ph), presumably to buy drugs. He would like to testify that he was just trying to avoid seeing Hallie and he wasn't actually using at that time.

They also believed that putting him on the stand could help to build some sympathy or empathy from members of the jury. But there is also a risk for these prosecutors and they are at the top of their game. And as we saw with his daughter, Naomi Biden, they will look for any opportunity to undercut a witness' credibility -- Paula Reid, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Roaring Kitty, real name Keith Gill, promised that we would hear him roar as he returned to live streaming on Friday.

Well, the roar, however, was more of a whimper.

Shares in the financial analyst's most touted stock, GameStop, tumbling throughout his broadcast and on the company's poor earnings, which it reported earlier in the day.

The popular stock investor appeared wearing a sling and fake bandages on his head, an apparent nod to the rough day of trading, while many of his hundreds of thousands of viewers wondered how he was holding up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH GILL, "ROARING KITTY," MEME STOCK INVESTOR: Am I OK?

Oh, that would be -- am I OK?

I don't know. I will say, I'm probably not. I'm

probably not. I mean, I'm clearly cuckoo, you know?

Clearly, right?

I'm off. That should be apparent now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Again, stock shares finished the session down almost 40 percent. The stock is still up 38 percent since he first returned to social media with this post on X last month.

A YouTuber is facing federal charges after posting footage that looks like it's straight out of the video game, Grand Theft Auto. The post is called "Destroying a Lamborghini with fireworks."

Prosecutors say it was filmed in Southern California without any permits. The YouTuber has been charged with putting an explosive on an aircraft. He could face up to 10 years in prison.

Friday night saw a long-running chapter in American television history come to a close. Pat Sajak spun the wheel one last time on "Wheel of Fortune" after 41 years as host. He's 77 now and wants to work on other projects.

Cohost Vanna White is staying on and next season will be joined by Ryan Seacrest as the new host. Here's what Sajak told viewers before signing off for the last time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT SAJAK, HOST, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE": It's been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes, night after night, year after year, decade after decade. And I've always felt that the privilege came with the responsibility to keep this daily half hour a safe place for family fun.

No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game. But gradually it became more than that. A place where kids learn their letters, where people from other countries hone their English skills, where families came together, along with friends and neighbors and entire generations.

What an honor to have played even a small part in all that. Thank you for allowing me into your lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:55:00]

COREN: Sajak says he'll work behind the scenes as a consultant for the show. Wishing him all the best.

There's a strange visitor at a beach in Oregon. A rare hoodwinker sunfish, all seven feet plus of it, washed ashore earlier this week. It's usually related to live in the Southern Hemisphere. The local aquarium says the enormous creature caused a buzz on social media as people flocked to see it.

New Zealand-based researcher Marianne Nyegaard checked out samples and images of the fish and said this may be the largest specimen ever sampled. The creature is expected to stay on the beach for a few more days.

How extraordinary.

Well, that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren. I'll be back in just a moment -- just a moment, I should say, with more news. See you shortly.