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French President Emmanuel Macron To Host Biden For State Visit; U.S. President Joe Biden Honors WWII Troops And Calls For Defense Of Democracy; Former U.S. Officials Band Together Against Biden's Approach To Gaza War; Benny Gantz Could Quit Israeli War Cabinet; Putin Threatens To Arm Enemies Of Western Nations. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired June 08, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to all of you watching in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. President Joe Biden vowing to defend democracy during his visit to Europe for the 80th anniversary of D- Day. How he's being pushing diplomatic efforts during this historic trip.
Back home, the president faces mounting pressure from within his administration over his policies toward the war in Gaza. You'll hear from just some of those who quit in frustration.
Meanwhile, a deadline from within Benjamin Netanyahu's own war cabinet expires in the hours ahead. What a key member is demanding when it comes to the conflict and what could happen if he carries through on his threat.
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COREN: We begin this hour in Paris, where the close ties between the U.S. and France will be on full display as U.S. President Joe Biden continues his official state visit with a full day of events.
French president Emmanuel Macron will welcome Mr. Biden and the first lady with a formal ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe. There will be a parade procession to the Elysee Palace followed by a working lunch.
In the evening the Macrons will host the Bidens at the Musee d'Orsay for a state dinner. It's coming on the heels of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Well, President Biden honored the Allied troops of World War II during a speech on the cliffs of Normandy on Friday. He evoked the legacy as he called on the world to defend democracies under threat.
(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, to stand up aggression abroad and at home be part of something bigger than ourselves.
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COREN: For more on this, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us now live from London.
Nic, obviously President Biden spending a full day really with his hosts. It's testament, I guess, to the bond between these two countries.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think it is and it's testament in a way to how comfortable President Biden feels in France. He has been there, it will be probably -- by the time he leaves, expected to leave on Sunday, he'll have been there for five days.
I don't think a U.S. president in recent history has spent so much time in one single country outside of the United States for some time. This is a relationship that's important to President Biden. He needs strong allies and partners in Europe.
It's a relationship that's important to President Macron who courted Donald Trump when he was president, hosted him -- the dinner I think it was in the Eiffel Tower. So Macron has always been careful to try to have a strong working and solid relationship with U.S. presidents.
Particularly now Britain is outside of the European Union. France is one of the strongest partners. If you will, that the United States can look to, to have influence in Brussels within the European Union.
There are differences, of course, between the two countries but today will be full of sort of ceremony and the symbolic nature of that relationship, attending a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, a parade then to the Elysee Palace, a working lunch and then back for a state dinner at the Elysee Palace in the evening.
So this really is the French state, the French president laying on the best of what France has to offer to visiting world leaders. So President Biden is really getting the treat of the French today.
COREN: Nic, yes, as we know, over these last few days, President Biden really has been front and center on the world stage during this trip to commemorate D-Day.
What impact will this have on U.S. foreign policy?
[04:05:00]
Particularly on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
ROBERTSON: Well, when you talk about Gaza, there are obvious differences between President Macron's position and President Biden's position. A stark contrast can be seen.
When the International Criminal Court, the ICC, called for -- the request for arrest warrants for prime minister Netanyahu and Hamas leaders, the United States condemned that.
Even there was talk from within the United States of a challenge to the ICC. But what we heard from France, which is a signatory to the Rome statutes, which supports the ICC, what the ICC is doing.
And if there was an arrest warrant for prime minister Netanyahu, if he was to go to France, then the French would be obliged to arrest him if that was to happen. So and the French said that they supported the move by the ICC.
So clearly President Biden and Macron see differently on Israel. France is much more forward leaning and wanted to see a ceasefire in Gaza. But it supports the United States' position that, calling for an independent Palestinian state or recognizing an independent Palestinian state.
Right now it's not the right course of action. And on Ukraine as well, President Macron is more forward leaning than the United States. He wants to form a coalition of countries that will send international military trainers, military trainers into Ukraine to train NATO, to train Ukrainian soldiers.
No NATO nation has done this, at least publicly, yet. And this is much more than the United States wants to do. When Macron has talked about this in the past, the United States has been very careful to say no. That's not where we are on this.
So will it, how will it change and shape that?
Well, Macron is going to do his best to push the United States forward. But we know that President Biden is constrained not just by his own world view but by domestic politics at home. He is unlikely to take a strong position that France wants on the war in Gaza.
And he's going to be very cautious about how he approaches involving U.S. troops potentially on the ground in Ukraine. The domestic appetite for that is perhaps not in the same place as domestic appetite in France is.
COREN: Nic Robertson there, joining us from London. Many thanks.
Well, back in the U.S., Mr. Biden faces mounting pressure from within his own administration to change U.S. policy over the Israel Hamas war. CNN's Kylie Atwood has more.
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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.
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.
[04:10:00] 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.
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COREN: Well, that frustration is being fueled by reports that are coming out of Gaza, it seems, daily. The director of Rafah's Kuwait Hospital says two workers there were killed and five others wounded by an IDF strike last month. Kuwait Hospital was forced to close after continuous Israeli strikes. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.
Well, the coming hours could be crucial for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's facing pressure from the United States to accept a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Now a key member of his war cabinet could quit. Benny Gantz has threatened to leave the cabinet and the government. And he says, he'll take his party with him.
Well, meanwhile, the United Nations is adding the Israeli military, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to a list of groups that harm children. The U.N. secretary general's spokesman says the list will be presented to the Security Council next week.
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. CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman joins us now live from Beirut.
And Ben, let's start with the ultimatum by Benny Gantz. Word is that the United States is trying to get Gantz to stay.
What more are you learning?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
Well, he, last month, has said that, on the 8th of June, today, he would resign if Benjamin Netanyahu did not come out with some sort of post-war plan for Gaza.
Well, that hasn't happened. It's the 8th of June. And it is suspected that this evening at around 8:00 pm local time, he will be giving a press conference. And all indications from the Israeli media is that he will indeed carry through with his threat.
Now, what does that mean?
Well, his party is actually not a member of Netanyahu's coalition, which has 64 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset. So it's not like Netanyahu's government is going to collapse.
But Gantz is considered to be sort of one of the adults in the room, an experienced military figure, who was chief of staff for the Israeli army, later a defense minister. He is someone who is perhaps, according to the Israeli media, trying to keep the government on an even keel. Pull him out. and that means sort of -- that sort of level of control goes.
And Netanyahu now will be under the pressure, more pressure from the extremist ministers in his cabinet. But fundamentally, for instance, Gantz does not support the creation of a Palestinian state.
He does not support the idea of the Palestinian Authority going into Gaza to administer it in the post-war phase. So basically, the difference between Netanyahu and Gantz is tone, not necessarily the actual action on the ground. No, Gantz has been in favor of some sort of rapid end to this war.
We are now beginning the ninth month of this war. Netanyahu doesn't seem to be quite as eager for that. But at the end of the day, I think the expectation is the war will continue.
[04:15:03]
Netanyahu's made it clear that, despite the 31st of May Biden peace proposal, that his goal is the complete destruction of Hamas. Difficult, if not impossible, as that may be, Anna.
COREN: And Ben, the U.N.'s designation of Israel as a state that harms children, the Israelis are incensed. Tell us about the announcement and this reaction.
WEDEMAN: Well, every year, the United Nations puts out a report on entities and countries that harm children in war.
And now Israel joins Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and ISIS on that list. As you mentioned in the introduction, Israel has, according to the ministry of health in Gaza, killed more than 15,000 children.
It's a lot of children. And certainly what we're seeing on our screens, what we're hearing from the ground is, yes, many children have been killed as a result of this war in Gaza, where the death toll is approaching 40,000.
And therefore it's not necessarily a surprise. It was a surprise to the Israelis. The chief of staff of the U.N. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. to inform him before this announcement was made.
The Israeli ambassador recorded, video recorded that conversation and described the Israeli army as the most moral army in the world. Now this is something that the Israelis have repeated for decades. But certainly this war in particular brings that claim into doubt.
COREN: Yes, 15,000 children certainly is a huge number.
Ben Wedeman, joining us from Beirut, thank you.
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.
We are getting word of new Russian strikes on Ukraine. The French president spells out the timeframe, the starting to train Ukrainian pilots on French fighter jets.
That story ahead.
Plus Putin is bragging about having many more nuclear bombs than the U.S. and Europe.
But that's not all he said at the St. Petersburg economic forum.
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COREN: For a second straight day, Ukraine is reporting a wave of Russian strikes across the country. Officials say one person was killed and at least six others injured in
overnight attacks that included drones and artillery. Some of the strikes caused more damage to the power grid and critical infrastructure.
That's coming on the heels of a U.N. report that says May was the deadliest month for Ukrainians in almost a year. More than 170 civilians were killed last month, about 30 percent more than in April, and close to 700 were injured.
The increase is blamed on the growing number of strikes in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow launched a new offensive last month.
Well, meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron says his country will start training Ukrainian pilots and mechanics in the coming days. He met with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday a day after pledging to send French fighter jets to Kyiv.
Well, meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin repeated threats to warn adversaries of Western nations that are supporting Ukraine. He also boasted about Russia's economy and military strength during a speech at the St. Petersburg economic forum on Friday. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Vladimir Putin speaking at the St. Petersburg economic forum, which, of course, is extremely important for Russia and extremely important for the Russian president, remains bullish both on the Russian economy and also on the war in Ukraine.
As far as the economy is concerned, the Russian president saying that, despite the fact that Russia is, of course, under immense Western sanctions, that its economy is still going strong.
Essentially, what Putin did in his keynote speech is he outlined what he believes could be a new world economic border with, of course, Russia being at the helm. Now as far as the war in Ukraine is concerned, Vladimir Putin once again pointing out that he believes Russia right now is on the offensive.
He said that Russia, since the beginning of this year, has managed to take from Ukraine some 47 towns and settlements near the front lines. So clearly he believes that the Russians right now have the momentum.
Some other key developments as well, he says right now there is no need for more mobilization on the part of the Russian military because, of course, he believes that they have enough troops for the front lines and also for the rear echelons as well.
The other thing that we also saw was Vladimir Putin, once again, essentially telling Western nations that Russia has a huge nuclear arsenal and to be aware of that.
[04:25:00] But he did also elaborate on some remarks that he had made earlier, where, in light of the fact that Western nations, some of them are now saying that Ukraine can use Western-supplied weapons to hit Russian territory in a limited way, that the Russians, he believes, could also have the right to supply the same classes of weapons.
As he put it, to adversaries of the West, to put them under military pressure. The Russian president now qualifying that somewhat, saying that that is not something that is imminent -- his exact words there. That is not something that's going to happen, quote, "tomorrow" -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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COREN: Thank you for your company. I'm Anna Coren. For those of you watching internationally, "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS" is next. For those of you in the U.S. and Canada, I'll be back with more news in just a minute.
