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Trump Silent on Lewd Comments from North Carolina Gubernatorial Candidate; Kamala Harris Takes on Michigan in a Virtual Rally Hosted by Oprah Winfrey. French Judges Begins Questioning 50 Men who Accused Gisele Pelicot of Rape; L.A. Dodgers Star Shohei Ohtani Adds to the MLB's 50-50 Club for the First Time. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 20, 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]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Shocking comments from a Trump-backed candidate for governor in North Carolina. What CNN has learned about Mark Robinson's internet posts.

Vice President Kamala Harris visits the battleground state of Michigan. Her thoughts on democracy from the event Oprah Winfrey hosted.

And Hezbollah threatens a crushing response following attacks in Lebanon.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin this hour with the U.S. presidential race. With just 46 days until the election, the nominees are moving full speed ahead with their campaigns.

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is set to travel to Georgia to deliver remarks on reproductive rights while Republican nominee Donald Trump campaigns in the swing state of North Carolina on Saturday. Now his visit comes as scandalous revelations about his ally, a candidate for governor there, rocks the campaign.

On Thursday, a CNN K-file investigation revealed Mark Robinson's history of disturbing, lewd comments on a message board for a porn website. Trump has praised and endorsed Robinson, but his campaign isn't saying whether Robinson should drop out of the race. But the Harris campaign has been sharing video and photos of Trump and Robinson together. Robinson denies making the comments. The deadline for him to quit passed about three hours ago, but he's refused to leave the race.

We get more on the CNN investigation from CNN's Diane Gallagher. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mark Robinson, the controversial and socially conservative Republican running for governor here in North Carolina, made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website between 2008 and 2012 on a message board in which he referred to himself as a black Nazi, expressed support for reinstating slavery, as well as other lewd and degrading comments about women, according to a CNN-K-file investigation.

Now, despite a recent history of very anti-transgender comments, Robinson said on the website, which was called Nude Africa, and included a message board that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography. He also referred to himself as a perv.

Now Robinson denies making these comments and they do predate his entry into politics where he is currently serving as a lieutenant governor of the state. They were made under a username that CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address as well. Many of those comments were again gratuitous and sexual, lewd nature. They were made on that website. CNN is reporting only a small portion of Robinson's comments given the nature of them.

Robinson did tell CNN on Thursday that quote, "This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me. I'm not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this. These salacious tabloid lies."

He also put out a video statement, getting ahead of the CNN story before it was published, saying comparing himself to Clarence Thomas, calling it a, himself a victim of a high tech lynching.

Now Robinson's camp opponent in the gubernatorial campaign, the current attorney general here, Democrat Josh Stein, his campaign released a statement saying, quote, "North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone."

Now Robinson has been endorsed by just about every Republican in the state of North Carolina, as well as former president Donald Trump, who at one point called him Martin Luther King on steroids and better than Martin Luther King.

The Trump campaign has said that it is focused on winning North Carolina and the presidential race. The fallout with Republicans here in the Tar Heel state does continue as many Democrats try and link their opponents today to Mark Robinson and those comments that he made.

Diane Gallagher, CNN, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:05:00] BRUNHUBER: North Carolina is one of several swing states that could prove crucial in the presidential race. Now the state hasn't been won by a Democratic presidential candidate since Barack Obama in 2008, but the latest poll shows a tight contest there with Harris at 49 percent to Trump's 46 percent. Political analysts disagree about whether the turmoil in the governor's race will have an impact on North Carolinians' choice for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARET HOOVER, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: A lot of Republicans, especially in these southern states, this has happened in Georgia, this has also happened in Arizona, they will leave Trump off the top of the ticket and vote down ballot for Republicans. They will also likely sometimes do the opposite. So I don't think we should necessarily think that Donald Trump is toast here because the terrible Republican candidate for governor is on his way to being toasted.

AISHA MILLS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Donald Trump at the top of the ticket has actually been found liable for sexual assault. Donald Trump has said a lot of really off-the-wall things that are not dissimilar from what this guy has said. So the fact that they're bedfellows really is, you know, I'm excited to see that the Kamala campaign is actually making that connection. Because this is not an isolated incident in North Carolina. This is symptomatic of who the Republican Party is right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now Donald Trump didn't comment on the Robinson Report while addressing an anti-Semitism event in Washington on Thursday, but he did make some alarming remarks about Jewish voters.

CNN's Alayna Treene has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Adjusting Jewish supporters at a pair of events in Washington, D.C. Thursday evening, the former president suggested that Jewish Democrats would be partially to blame if he were to lose the election in November. He also repeated a frequent line that Jewish Democrats, or Jewish Americans, I should say, that vote democratically should have their heads examined. Take a listen to what he said.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to call this as a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss. If I'm at 40 percent, if I'm at 40 percent think of it, that means 60 percent are voting for Kamala, who in particular is a bad Democrat.

TREENE: Now, to be clear, Donald Trump has repeatedly used this anti- Semitic trope to argue that Jewish Americans who did not vote for him or who plan to not vote for him and instead vote for the Democrats are not sufficiently Jewish, while also simultaneously arguing that he is the most pro-Israel president in U.S. modern history. Now, Donald Trump also claimed on Thursday that Israel would cease to exist if Kamala Harris were to win in November and not him. Again, this is something we have heard from Donald Trump.

He also continued to argue that he would end the war between Israel and Hamas without offering any specifics. But look, the goal of the pair of events on Thursday evening was for Donald Trump and his campaign to really try and court Jewish Americans who are feeling disaffected by the way that the Biden administration and Kamala Harris as vice president are handling the war in the Middle East.

That was the goal of this tonight and it also comes on the heels of Donald Trump having had a tiff with Miriam Adelson, a major mega donor over the summer where one of his top aides had sent a series of angry texts to her.

Since then they have repaired their relationship. You saw Miriam Adelson introduce Donald Trump at both events, but this is a very important moment for Donald Trump in a key voting bloc that he is really trying to shore up support with just 47 days left until Election Day.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Kamala Harris brought out the star powers of the campaign trail in the battleground state of Michigan. Oprah Winfrey hosted the "Unite for America" virtual rally on Thursday for the U.S. Vice President. During their discussion, Winfrey said it felt as if a veil had dropped after President Joe Biden suspended his presidential bid. Winfrey then told Harris that she appeared to have stepped into her power as Democratic nominee. The Harris campaign called the event a big moment to reach a broad range of voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, there's so much at stake in this election. And ultimately the question before us is what kind of country do we want to live in? And the beauty of a democracy, as long as we can hold on to it, the beauty of a democracy is each of us has the power, each of us has the power to answer that question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Gun ownership was another hot topic discussed during the live stream and the nominee got very candid about being an owner. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I'm a gun owner. Tim Walz is a gun owner.

WINFREY: I did not know that.

HARRIS: If somebody breaks in my house they're getting shot.

WINFREY: Yes, yes. I hear that. I hear that.

HARRIS: Probably should not have said that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:09:57]

BRUNHUBER: All right, joining me now from London is Leslie Vinjamuri. She's the head of the U.S. and the Americas program at Chatham House. Thanks so much for being here with us again. So let's start there with that Oprah event. What do you make of its potential impact?

The fact that it's Oprah and streaming, you know, she herself has such a wide reach and it's sort of an innovative way to reach even more people. It was supposedly aimed at undecided. So do you think it would actually convince anyone who's on the fence or is it just sort of another turnout generator?

LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF THE U.S. AND THE AMERICAS PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: I think it's certainly a turnout generator for those who are already either registered Democrats or, you know, sort of are deciding how enthusiastic that they are. And we've seen since Kamala Harris was top of the ticket that enthusiasm amongst Democrats has really arisen. It sort of, you know, went a little bit flat after the Democratic National Convention and came right back again after the debate. So I think it's about keeping that enthusiasm up, hoping that people register, that they go to the polls.

The undecided voters, you know, it's very difficult to know how they'll be influenced by this. They might, if you look, unfortunately, at the racial divides in polling in the United States, there is a very significant racial divide in this election.

Some people will look at that and feel like it doesn't represent them. Others might. And Kamala Harris, of course, as we know, is trying very much to play to the middle ground in American politics. The fact that she talked about guns in the way that she did was very nuanced, trying not to be too left.

And her economic policy is, again, playing to the middle, her desire to cast herself very much as a candidate for all people is very important in a race where you have fifty three percent of white Americans are coming out in favor you know according to the polls for Donald Trump and obviously that that's it you know that's a data point that doesn't tell us what we need to know because we're worried about swing state voters and how they will move this election in either direction, but it's still constraints that you know that the race is a very significant issue in this election.

BRUNHUBER: All right, well speaking of swing states, I want to go back to the Mark Robinson story which is making so many waves. What effect do you think it might have? I mean, Democrats are trying to tie him to Donald Trump. We heard, you know, various opinions from some experts a few minutes ago about whether it will affect Donald Trump in that state or whether its impact could be mainly felt down ballot in that hotly contested governor's race.

VINJAMURI: Yeah, I mean very difficult to know. It is a very significant and difficult story, certainly for the Republicans, but it's 46, 47 days away from the election and a lot will happen in 46 days. It might depress some of that turnout for Donald Trump people who just find it unpalatable his endorsement of this kind of candidate.

But at the end of the day, I think the stakes in this election will feel so high to so many people because it is such, you know, according to pretty much all the polling, it is such a phenomenally close race, that those people who simply don't want to see a Democrat, or, or and don't want to see Kamala Harris might set those concerns aside and still vote for Donald Trump.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Another group which might have to do that depending on how they view his comments. Donald Trump's comments to Jewish supporters blaming them if he loses. I mean one can imagine that those comments would be helpful when he's -- when he's trying to appeal to that group.

VINJAMURI: Yeah, I see these comments again is clearly trying to attract some of the Jewish voters that have, you know, really primarily and the Democratic Party, but possibly also speaking to his base, rallying his base. So much of the tactics that Donald Trump uses are intended to really stoke division. And it's shored up, that 46 percent that he has of the U.S. electorate.

So it's difficult to see how this attracts, it's sort of a threatening language to attract Jewish American voters. But again, there's something about Donald Trump's appeal that is difficult to read. It's difficult to understand often in logical and rational terms why people make the choices that they do given the policies that he enacted that didn't support the interests of many people who voted for him.

So much of the appeal is to a certain kind of politics, a certain kind of division.

[03:14:56]

And -- and trying to really build up in this case is the president who is, you know, would be undoubtedly in support of Israel at a time when Kamala Harris is trying to draw more of a line when it comes to Israel-Palestine and the war of course between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

BRUNHUBER: Alright. We'll have to leave it there. I appreciate your analysis. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much for joining us.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Right now we want to go to a shocking story in Kentucky where an officer sworn to protect the public. A sheriff is alleged to have shot and killed a judge in his own chambers. A state trooper says district judge Kevin Mullins was alone in the room with Letcher County Sheriff Sean Steins during an incident on Thursday. A shooting is said to have followed an argument between the two but still not clear what it was about. The sheriff turned himself in and was arrested at the scene. No other injuries were reported.

Alright, still ahead, fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah ramp up their fighting. We'll have the latest from the region, next.

Plus, Hillary Clinton weighs in on the Israel-Hamas war, what the former U.S. Secretary of State says surprised her about the situation in Gaza. That's all coming up. Stay with us.

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[03:20:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Israel and Hezbollah are ramping up their fighting in the wake of the twin device attacks in Lebanon earlier this week. Hezbollah's leader is vowing to retaliate for the attacks. When thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across the country, the blasts killed at least 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000. The threats are raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

Israel's military carried out dozens of strikes in the past 24 hours, hitting what it says were about 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers, a weapons depot, and other sites in southern Lebanon. Iran-backed Hezbollah said it launched at least 17 attacks on Israeli military sites in northern Israel using drones and rockets. Israeli authorities say at least eight people were hospitalized.

All right, we're going to go live now to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who's following developments from Abu Dhabi. So Paula, in the wake of those device attacks, how is Hezbollah reacting?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, we did hear from the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, last night, and he said that Israel had crossed all red lines when it came to this attack, unsurprisingly condemning the attack, saying that there were civilians that were affected as well, and medical personnel with pagers.

But what he said was acknowledged that there was a damage that was inflicted on Hezbollah. He did say that the attacks on the group were unprecedented. He also said there's no doubt we have suffered a major blow, clearly having to acknowledge that this was a very significant attack which would have had an impact on the group.

He did say that the infrastructure was robust, it was intact, and that the leadership were not affected, he said, because they had older versions of the pagers, we can't clarify whether that is in fact the case and they weren't affected, but he did point out that there would be retaliation. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN NASRALLAH, HEZBOLLAH LEADER (through translator): The reckoning will come, its nature, scope, when and where, that's something we will definitely keep to ourselves within the tightest circle, even within ourselves because we are in the most precise, sensitive and deeply significant part of the battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So it is a very tense moment at this point over the months since October 7th. We have seen tension spike along the border and there have been questions about whether this was going to be the event that was going to make this a wider regional conflict. And there are certainly great concerns at this point that this could be the case.

Certainly given what we saw overnight, significant cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel. In fact, Lebanese state-run media, NNA, said that between 9 and 10 p.m., there were at least 52 Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Now, we've heard from the Israeli side that the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying this is a new era in the conflict, saying that as time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, Paula Hancocks. Thank you so much. I Appreciate that.

And CNN's Fareed Zakaria recently sat down with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during their wide-ranging discussion. Clinton talked about the war in Gaza and where it's heading.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Secretary Clinton, when you look at the situation in the Middle East right now, what do you think is the principal driver of this, of what's going on? The fact that you have Israel in a war in Gaza, the escalation or seeming escalation in the north. How do you -- give us a sense of how you understand that conflict?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Yeah. Well, it's tragic. The attack last October 7th on Israel was outrageous and they had a right to defend themselves think anyone who understands what happened would agree. And I've also made it clear that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Israel does have that right to defend itself, but Israel has to abide insofar as possible by the laws of war.

And this conflict has been so intractable for several reasons. I think. On the one hand, you have Hamas, especially under the leadership -- the continuing leadership of Sinwar, that has not wanted a ceasefire. I've tried to follow this very closely.

[03:25:03]

They have been betting on a larger conflict. They thought they might trigger a larger conflict. The timing of their attack, I think it's fair to say, was meant to send a message to Saudi Arabia about the potential normalization. So Hamas is not just continuing the war because they are on their back heel and they are worried about what will happen to them, the Hamas leadership and fighters, but because they are hoping to spark something bigger.

And then Israel, which has been, you know, waging a ground invasion in large measure because of these tunnels, which I was surprised by. I mean, we knew when I was Secretary of State that you had to keep an eye out for tunnels coming from Egypt that were bringing in contraband goods, even weapons, but 450 miles of tunnel. And places that are staging grounds, command and control, obviously hiding places. It's very difficult for the Israelis to figure out how the war can end if they have a couple thousand Hamas fighters still hiding in the tunnels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And you can see the full interview with Hillary Clinton this Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria GPS." That's at 10:00 in the morning Eastern Time, 3 p.m. in London.

The upcoming winter will put Ukraine's power grid through its toughest test yet. That's the word from the International Energy Agency after Russia recently ramped up its attacks on Ukraine's electric system. It's already been battered so much that power blackouts are now part of daily life. But the energy agency says those destructions could become severe when temperatures drop and demand for heat rises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATIH BIROL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY: Because of the previous attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, two- thirds of the power generation capacity of Ukraine was lost. And we are coming to winter. As you know, when the temperatures drop, energy demand increases and this could be a major issue for electricity and for heating in Ukraine.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: 80 percent of Ukraine's thermal plants have been destroyed, and a third of the hydropower capacity. So this is where we will concentrate our repair efforts with the aim to restoring 2.5 gigawatt of capacity this winter. That is approximately 15 percent of Ukraine's needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The European Union will contribute more than $100 million to accomplish that goal. Among other things, Lithuania will dismantle one of its thermal power plants, which will be reassembled in Ukraine.

A diplomatic rift has opened between China and Japan, and the stabbing death of a young Japanese boy in China has just made it worse. We'll have that story ahead.

Plus, it was a crime that shocked France and the world. Now, French judges hear from one of the men behind years of abuse of a woman of an update on the story that sparked massive protests after the break. Stay with us.

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[03:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

Diplomatic tension is heating up between Tokyo and Beijing. This after the second knife attack on a Japanese citizen in China in recent months. A 10-year-old Japanese boy died Wednesday after being stabbed on his way to school in the city of Shenzhen. Nationalism and anti- Japanese sentiments are on the rise in China, often fanned by state media. Now Japan is demanding an explanation from Beijing.

For more, Hanako Montgomery joins us from Tokyo. Hanako, a really disturbing story here. So take us through what happened and the reaction.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kim, as you rightly described, a very disturbing story and a tragic murder that occurred just 200 meters away from where this boy went to school. Now, Chinese authorities are still investigating the incident, but we now have some more details about the suspect that were released earlier Friday afternoon local time that I'd like to share with you.

According to Chinese state media, the suspect, 44 years old, has been detained twice before, once in 2015 and another time in 2019, both for non-violent crimes. According to the police, the suspect, who is unemployed, has also confessed to killing this young boy and has also reportedly acted alone.

Now, Chinese authorities haven't given any more details about the exact motive behind this attack. But of course, there's been an outpour of grief, both in Japan and in China. In fact, in the southern city of Shenzhen, where this young boy was from, locals have been laying down flowers to mourn his life and also to commemorate his bereaved family members. Here's what one local had to say about this tragic loss of life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): -- resident in Shenzhen, as the Chinese people, we oppose this behavior. We oppose this teaching of hatred. Many of us have been under such hatred education for a long time, which has led to such evil consequences. This is the evil consequence of persisting in hatred education for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: Now, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida echoed these concerns at his press conference on Thursday, where he described the crime as, I quote, "a despicable crime and a serious and grave matter." He adds, quote, "such an incident must never be repeated. We strongly urge the Chinese side to ensure the safety of Japanese people."

Again, there have also been concerns about whether or not Chinese authorities are properly protecting the lives of foreign nationals in the country. Even though violent crimes like this are quite rare in China, there have been a spate of recent stabbing attacks that have been concerning for the international community.

For example, in June, four American college instructors were stabbed in China. And just two weeks after that, a Japanese mother and her son were stabbed at a bus stop. And a Chinese bus operator who tried to intervene during that attack later died from the injuries she sustained.

Now again, Chinese authorities still don't yet know what exactly the motive was behind this attack, but some people on Chinese social media have speculated that it could have been fueled by anti-Japanese sentiment, as you described there, Kim.

[03:35:08]

Of course, the timing of this attack is also very important to note, given that it happened on the anniversary of the highly sensitive 9-1- 8 incident, which is a day that many in China acknowledge as the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China back in 1931. But again, this is unconfirmed. We still don't yet know what the motive was behind this attack. But either way, of course, both in Japan and in China, people are very distressed about this tragic loss of life. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Alright, I appreciate that, Hanako Montgomery.

On Thursday, French judges began questioning the first of 50 men accused in the mass rape of Gisele Pelicot. Prosecutors say for nearly a decade she was drugged and made unconscious by her then husband, Dominique Pelicot, who then allowed dozens of men to rape his wife. Lionel Rodriguez is one of a small number of the accused who admits to the crime. He apologized to the victim despite acknowledging he'd been wrong and cowardly. Rodriguez and his lawyer tried to shift the blame to the husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOUIS-ALAIN LEMAIRE, LAWYER FOR LIONEL RODRIGUEZ (through translator): The question is not whether Mrs. Pelicot could have consented. She obviously was not consenting. She is obviously the victim in this case, and the only problem is to know how the men who, in particular Mr. Rodriguez this morning, initially interpreted the proposals and the request made to him by Mr. Pelicot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: As the case continues, support for the victim and tensions in the courtroom are both on the rise. Saskya Vandoorne has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SR. PRODUCER (voice-over): Lashing out at a journalist, he's one of 51 men on trial for allegedly raping Gisele Pelicot. The French woman, whose ex-husband, drugged her and invited strangers online to rape her. The case has sparked outrage across France and tensions in the

courtroom are high, leading to increased security.

With many rallying behind 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot. Dominique Pelicot, her husband of 50 years, told the court this week, I am a rapist like everyone else in this room. On Thursday, Ms. Pelicot hit out at claims that she was complicit after one defense lawyer reportedly accused her of being an exhibitionist. Ms. Pelicot saying she was comatose at the time and therefore not able to consent.

By giving up her right to anonymity, Ms. Pelicot has become a symbol against sexual violence, with thousands taking to the streets in support of her.

GISELE PELICOT, ACCUSED OF RAPE (translated): Thanks to all of you, I have the strength to fight this battle until the end.

VANDOORNE: Gisele Pelicot's defiance and resilience and bravery in speaking out has captivated France and the world.

Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Germany imposes new border controls to send the tide of migration into the country, but the move provokes pushback from neighbors and a dismissal from critics. Well that story, ahead.

And A.I. scammers are searching social media and using what they find to replicate people's voices and identities. We'll have the story and a warning from a British bank after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Germany has completed a U-turn in its policy on migration this week. The country introduced new controls on all of its borders, which is a far crime from its migration-friendly approach of the last decade. The government has been under pressure to tackle the problem, even though it has recently stepped up deportations. As Fred Pleitgen reports, the move is putting European unity on the line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cars lining up at a border crossing where they normally breeze through. But Germany has brought back document and vehicle checks not just here in Frankfurt an der Oder at the border with Poland, but at all of its borders with E.U. countries.

Officer Tom Knie says they regularly find people trying to enter Germany illegally. It's daily business here that people don't meet the entry requirements

for Germany, he says, and perhaps even for the Schengen area, and then have to be subjected to further police measures.

Germany's problem, many people from around the world continue to flee to Europe and many of them want to come to Germany, even though they should register in the countries where they first crossed into E.U. territory. But those countries, Berlin says, aren't doing enough to stop migrants from moving on to Germany.

PLEITGEN: The new border checks are extremely controversial with other European Union member states that Germans are saying they absolutely need to do this to stop the threat of terrorism, but also illegal migration. Other European countries, though, say that this destroys the very essence of a unified Europe.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The wave of mass migration to Germany started in 2015. Millions of people fleeing the wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan crossed into the E.U., welcomed by then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who boasted that Germany would manage the huge influx of people from abroad.

But after nine years, many Germans are saying enough. Following a string of attacks carried out by former asylum seekers, leaving several people dead, voters are flocking to the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, AFD that promises to stop migration and start mass deportations of migrants. Severely sliding in the polls, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz now says he's getting tough.

We will utilize all possibilities to carry out entry refusals within the framework of the law, he says, and we've put a concept for effective entry refusal on the table, where we are prepared to do this with the opposition.

While the right-wing anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gleefully posted on X, Germany has decided to impose strict border controls to stop illegal migration. Bundeskanzler Scholz, welcome to the club.

Other European leaders have vowed to combat Germany's new border regime.

This type of action is unacceptable from the Polish point of view. Poland's prime minister said, after all, I have no doubt that it is the internal political situation in Germany which is causing these steps to be implemented and not our policy towards illegal immigration on our borders.

And some migration experts believe Germany is not only putting itself at odds with the E.U. but that these checks will do little to stop illegal border crossings.

RAPHAEL BOSSONG, GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND SECURITY AFFAIRS: I don't think the effect is going to be dramatic. I mean, it's mostly a political signal now to show, obviously, that the government is doing something and also to other European countries that they should shoulder a larger part of the responsibility.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Whether or not the measures work, they're already having a big political effect in Europe, putting the E.U.'s unity to the test.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:45:10]

BRUNHUBER: A U.K. bank is warning that scammers can use artificial intelligence to replicate a person's voice with just three seconds of audio pulled from online videos. Fosters can then target friends and family using the voice cloned by A.I.

Online lender Starling Bank says this kind of scam has already fooled hundreds of people and has the potential to fool millions. The bank is encouraging people to make plans with loved ones to counteract such scamming attempts.

Alright, for more, I'm joined from San Francisco by Josh Constine, venture partner at V.C. firm SignalFire and former "TechCrunch" editor-at-large. Great to have your expertise on this disturbing story here. So we're all basically familiar with the old school type of scam where someone calls or emails the victim and claims that the family member is in trouble or in jail or something and needs money. So how does this one work exactly?

JOSH CONSTINE, VENTURE PARTNER, SIGNALFIRE, AND FORMER EDITOR-AT- LARGE, "TECHCRUNCH": I mean, the question is, am I even really Josh Constine? It used to be that you couldn't believe everything that you read, and now you can't believe everything you hear or see either.

These new form of social engineering attacks, which are hacks where instead of attacking the computer system, you trick a human being into actually helping you with the scam, are becoming more and more powerful thanks to A.I.

And so essentially what's happening is, scammers will take a clip of your voice from social media, a YouTube video, a podcast, maybe even a news broadcast like this. They'll create a clone of that voice, and then they'll use that to call your loved ones or business partners to try to scam them out of money.

And oftentimes, hackers will actually lie in wait. They'll get into your email through a phishing scam. They'll wait till there's a moment where it sounds like you're going to transfer some money or you've got a family member in need and that's when they're going to jump in with a phone call that sounds just like one of your family members or colleagues. And that's why people need to come up with new ways to thwart these threats.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, unbelievable. Just so sophisticated. And it seems to be becoming more common. A recent survey by that bank found that more than a quarter of respondents said that they'd been targeted by an A.I. voice cloning scam in the past 12 months. 46 percent of them weren't aware that type of thing existed, and 8 percent said they would send over as much money as requested by a friend or family member. So just give us a sense of how big a problem this is already right now.

CONSTINE: You know, a quarter of them, that sounds pretty paranoid. I think a lot of people are just assuming regular scams were actually A.I. powered, but you know, spear phishing and phishing scams like this are a $1 trillion per year business. Actually 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent every day and that's increasing 150 percent per year. It's getting worse fast.

And spear phishing where a specific person is targeted rather than just blanketly sending as many of these scam emails as possible, where you target a specific person are actually 500 percent more effective because they seem really authentic. These scammers are going to a lot of work to find out exactly how do you sound, what do you talk about so they can fool your loved ones. You could say that they're spearing no expense.

BRUNHUBER: Unbelievable. So how worried, given the numbers that you've given us there and how much money the conventional sort of scams like this bring in, how worried should we be that this will spread even more and become even more sophisticated?

CONSTINE: The same way that we had internet literacy programs in the early 2000s to teach you how to Google search or know that Wikipedia isn't always reliable, we need A.I. literacy programs in schools and businesses to teach people about these types of scams.

And one of the biggest ways that people can protect themselves is to create a secret password for you and your friends and family or your business partners that you don't share online. You don't even text it to each other. You agree to it in person.

And then if somebody's ever making a suspicious request, Oh, what's the last four digits of your social security number? Or, oh, can you just send this wire transfer to a different location or a different address? That's when you can ask for that password. And even if they've faked somebody else, you know, voice or even their face, they won't have that secret password.

Luckily, there are also some great new startups that are focused on this problem. Companies like Dune Security from SignalFire's portfolio, these companies specifically use AI to counteract A.I. or fighting A.I. with A.I. And they act as a watchtower, overseeing your communication channels, flagging potential attacks and even offering real-time training to help you prevent future breaches by teaching you what to do and not to do.

[03:50:03]

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, great advice because we know this will only get more and more common, as you said. Josh Constine, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.

CONSTINE: My pleasure. Stay safe out there.

BRUNHUBER: Japanese major league baseball superstar Shohei Otani goes where no player has gone before making history and breaking his own record allowed that when we come back. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Imagine this. One minute she was doing the dishes, the next she was fighting off a massive python. A 64-year-old Thai woman is likely to be alive after being wrapped up by the snake for more than two hours. It took rescuers about half an hour to free her. After the ordeal, she described what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARROM ARUNOJ, SURVIVED PYTHON ATTACK (through translator): While I was washing the dishes, I was also scooping water. As soon as I sat down, the snake bit me. At first, I thought it was a cockroach. But when I saw it was a snake and it started constricting me tightly, I fought with it for a while.

[03:55:01]

At first, I grabbed its head, trying to make it let go, but it wouldn't. It just kept squeezing tighter. When I saw it start to slither, I let go of its head and it slithered away. Then came back and finally went down below.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Police say they couldn't catch the python. Snakes are common in Thailand. Officials say there are some 12,000 people treated for venomous snake bites last year. Now pythons aren't venomous, but they do kill their prey by suffocating.

Well some very cute four-legged friends stole the show Thursday during Chile's military parade. Have a look. These adorable police pups have been the stars of the annual event for going on eight years. They're known for their exceptional skills in detecting drugs and explosives. 65 puppies marched alongside or were carried by their handlers. They had extensive training to perform for the crowds of adoring fans along the parade route.

Well, a zoo in China is causing quite a pandemonium. Have a look at this here. So the Strange Animals and Cute Pets Paradise, that's its actual name of this zoo. It's gone viral after painting two chow chows, a Chinese dog breed to resemble the country's beloved national animal. Oh, my gosh. The video was first posted on a Chinese social media platform on Monday and has since been shared over 1.4 million times. You can imagine why. You can see people just can't get enough of these pooches.

A historic day for Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Otani. He's become the first major league baseball player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season. The Japanese phenom became the inaugural member of the 50-50 club. He smashed a home run and stole two bases on Thursday against the Miami Marlins.

Otani, who also pitches, has a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. The Dodgers are in first place in the National League West division and Ohtani is the odds-on favorite to win the league's most valuable player award.

Alright, thanks so much for joining me. I'm Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta. More CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster in London, coming up.

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