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CNN This Morning
First Visit to Snake Island; Russ Buettner is Interviewed about Trump's Tax Returns; China's Zero-Covid Exit. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 20, 2022 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Gap in his - gaps in his resumes. We're going to talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A little peek right there at the sun coming up.
Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING, everyone.
Coming up, they put their middle fingers in the air in defiance against the Russians. Now CNN is first to visit Snake Island, what it looks like now.
Plus, House Democrats planning to vote on whether to publicly release years of Trump's tax returns. What should we expect?
And China's Covid surge could cost nearly 1 million deaths. That is according to a new study. What else does the data tell us? We're live in Beijing straight ahead.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: But we start with that remarkable story that Don mentioned there.
You know Snake Island, where Ukrainian soldiers did not hold back when at the beginning of Russia's invasion, a Russian warship threatening to bomb them in the early days of the invasion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am a Russian military ship, repeat I am a Russian military ship, proposing to put down arms immediately to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths.
[06:35:10]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Russian warship, go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That moment became a symbol of defiance. Ukrainians celebrating the resistance by creating a stamp even showed a soldier flipping off the Russian forces. And now,, in a CNN exclusive, we had the chance to actually visit the island for the first time since that infamous exchange.
CNN's Will Ripley is live in Odessa.
Will, tell us what it was like to go there, because this has become such a mainstay of the key moments of this invasion so far.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Kaitlan, Snake Island really has almost achieved legendary status here in Ukraine. And CNN has been working for months with our excellent team on the ground here to try to make this trip happen, to show people what it's like on this remote piece of rock, in the middle of the Black Sea, that is strategically crucial for Ukraine because it allows them to bring cargo in and export cargo out. If they don't control Snake Island, Russia could barricade the whole place, especially this port city of Odessa. But the Ukrainians are there. They're holding down the fort. And they told us their remarkable story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY (voice over): As the saying goes, whoever controls Snake Island controls the Black Sea. The safest way to get there, the Ukrainian military's inflatable speedboat with seating for six. It's small enough to stay out of sight.
RIPLEY (on camera): We are really getting tossed around out here, but we need to take a small boat because we need to stay out of the sights of Russian reconnaissance aircraft.
RIPLEY (voice over): Safer than a helicopter, but no protection from the Black Sea's big waves, bitter cold and whipping winds, not to mention the vines (ph). By the end of our stomach-turning journey, Snake Island's craggy cliffs are a welcome sight. Up close, a pier in pieces, previews the destruction we're about to see.
We enter Snake Island by climbing up a pile of half-sunken, slippery sea blocks. We're the first journalists allowed here since Ukraine recaptured Snake Island five months ago. Russia blanketed the island with boobytraps before bailing out.
RIPLEY (on camera): The soldiers told us we need to follow in their footsteps exactly and we need to be very careful where we step. This whole island is littered with land mines, unexploded ordnance. Basically a powder keg.
RIPLEY (voice over): A powder keg with plenty of cats wandering through the wreckage of ten brutal months of war. Not a snake in sight. On February 24th, the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion, Russia's Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, aimed its arsenal at Snake Island, demanding dozens of Ukrainians surrender or die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am a Russian military ship. I propose that you lay down your weapons immediately or you will be bombed.
RIPLEY: What happened next is how legends are made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Russian warship, go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.
RIPLEY: Five words, seen at the time as a final act of defiance. Everyone on Snake Island presumed dead. Russian bombs raining down. The island's radio went silent. Those five words telling the Russian warship where to go. Instantly iconic. Inspiring t-shirts, postage stamps, pop songs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Russian warship, go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.
RIPLEY: Ukraine later learned Snake Island's defenders were alive, prisoners of war. Some released in a POW swap earlier this year, others remain in Russian captivity.
RIPLEY (on camera): Is it intimidating to look out and see a giant Russian warship and know that you guys are a small group here?
RIPLEY (voice over): If anybody tells you it's not intimidating, he's a liar says Fortuna, a volunteer soldier. It was chaos. The garrison here was small. Russia captured the island quickly. Taking the island back took a long time.
On Snake Island we find a graveyard of Russian weapons. The result of relentless Ukrainian attacks for several months earlier this year.
RIPLEY (on camera): This is one of Russia's most expensive anti- aircraft weapon systems. As you can see, not much use anymore.
RIPLEY (voice over): In April, Ukraine says its missiles sank the Moskva. Where did it go? The bottom of the Black Sea. A humiliated Kremlin says their flagship caught fire, sinking in stormy weather.
In May, a Ukrainian drone strike on Snake Island turned this helicopter into a fireball.
RIPLEY (on camera): This is what's left of that Russian helicopter, pulverized along with its crew of about eight people.
RIPLEY (voice over): A twisted relic of Russia's ill-fated plan to transform this remote Black Sea outpost into a permanent aircraft carrier.
RIPLEY (on camera): What's it like to live out here?
RIPLEY (voice over): We need to be on guard 24/7 Fortuna says. So, we never get bored.
[06:40:01]
We notice his Russian accent. It turns out, Fortuna was born in Russia. He moved to Ukraine and got married before the war. Now, part of a Russian volunteer corps protecting Snake Island for Ukraine.
RIPLEY (on camera): How do you feel about Russia now?
RIPLEY (voice over): For us, they're enemies, no matter what. Most of the Russian volunteer corps lived in Ukraine before the invasion, he says. We were living life, had families, good jobs. And here comes Russia, attacking us. If some other country attacked us, we would fight, too.
Life on Snake Island means almost total isolation. Soldiers tell me the simple act of switching on a cell phone brings Russian rockets within 40 minutes. They say Russia attacked the island just last month.
RIPLEY (on camera): We are now out of time. We've been on the island just about an hour. And it's important that we get off before the waves get too big and before the Russians know we're here.
RIPLEY (voice over): The Ukrainian say Russia blew up Snake Island's historic lighthouse and museum on the site of an ancient Greek temple. Evil spirits are rumored to roam these 46 acres of rock and sand, bearing witness to centuries of bloodshed.
Ukraine is not the first nation to control Snake Island, but vows it will be the last.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY: Those defenders of Snake Island were presumed dead. People mourned them. And then they found out they were alive and now they've been awarded as national heroes. How did they do it? How did they muster up that bravely in the face of that Russian warship? It was teamwork. It was being there together in the brutal cold. Something that, you know, my photojournalist, Peter Runin (ph), our local producer, Sosia Hock (ph), and our producer, Pier Groen (ph), we all certainly got a little taste of that. I've never been more cold in my life. I think I can speak for the other guys. They feel the same way. And yet it makes you feel alive. It makes you stronger. And it was that strength that got those Ukrainian through such a horrific ordeal.
Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, this small island but - but so important to this overall.
Will Ripley, thank you.
LEMON: Yes, fighting for every bit of territory that they can hold on to and they're doing a good job there.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes.
All right, Harvey Weinstein, switching topics, has been convicted of rape again. The disgraced movie mogul is now facing even more prison time. We have more for you ahead.
LEMON: Plus, Donald Trump is a focus of another House committee meeting today. This one is about his taxes. Yes, there is another one today. This one about his taxes. What could be at stake here? We're talking about it. That's next.
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[06:45:55]
COLLINS: All right, breaking news just in. A northern California county is on high alert this morning after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook Humboldt County, near the city of Ferndale. More than 55,000 people have lost power this morning. The video is from a resident showing the damage inside her house after the tremors. So far no reports of those -- there are no reports of a tsunami linked to the quake, but we will keep you posted with the latest developments as we learn more.
LEMON: We'll keep you updated on that one. We're following it.
It has been a years' long battle full of contradictory promises over former President Donald Trump's tax returns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I have a great company. I've done a great job. Which, if I run, you'll see what a great job because I'll do a full disclosure of finances. And I will tell you -
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Including your tax returns?
TRUMP: We'll look at that. Maybe I'm going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate.
If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely.
The answer is, yes, I would do. I mean I would do something.
HUGH HEWITT: Three years? Five years?
TRUMP: But I will tell you - I will tell you up front, as a private person, Hugh, I would be - and I'm -- you know, I'm very proud of this, I want to pay as little taxes as I can as a private person.
HEWITT: Of course. Of course.
TRUMP: When the audit is complete, I'll release my returns. I have no problem with it. It doesn't matter. Let her release her emails and I'll release my tax returns immediately.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. So if he's paying --
TRUMP: That makes me smart.
Actually, I pay tax, but -- and you'll see that as soon as my tax returns are - it's under audit. They've been under audit for a long time. The IRS does not treat me well. I called my accountants. Under audit. I'm going to release them as
soon as we can. I want to do it. And it will show how successful, how great this company is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Promises, promises. And then, more excuses.
And today, with only two weeks of control left, the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee is likely to hold a vote on whether to release several years of the former president's tax returns.
So, joining me now, investigative reporter for "The New York Times," Russ Buettner, who has been looking into Trump's taxes for years.
Russ, good morning to you. I'm so glad you're here.
As you saw in, you know, the clip that we put on there, promises, promises, promises, as I said, and then more excuses. He has done everything possible to stop people from seeing his tax returns. So today could possibly be worse for the former president than even yesterday's criminal referrals from the January 6th committee because this is something I think that concerns him the most, his wealth and whether he was accurate about his taxes, which will show what he's actually worth.
RUSS BUETTNER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, that's a good point, Don. I think this really goes to the heart of not only his -- how he's presented himself to voters and the public at large, but how he sees himself as well, which is a man of incredible wealth, can never seem the find other (ph) ranges of the billions just goes up and up and up every time he talks about it.
And his tax returns, the 20 plus years' worth that we reviewed showed a very different story, that the bulk of his money has come from entertainment, from "The Apprentice," from licensing deals that required no real business expertise on his part and from an inheritance from his father. And the businesses that he has run have kind of suffered or been consistent at best. And if there's a report that comes out of this, the returns themselves, I think it will probably show what -- the same thing that we found.
LEMON: Did - did they show that $11 billion or so dollars in assets, the billionaire that he claims to be, that -- when you look at those tax returns, did they actually confirm that?
BUETTNER: Tax returns don't show the value of assets. They'll have a book value, which is just, how you kind of handle the accounting over the years. There are ways that businesses can be valued based on their revenues, and I don't think he would --
LEMON: They can give you an indication though?
BUETTNER: It is an indication, you're right. I mean if you're valuing a golf course at $5 million and your profits on it aren't enough to keep the - doing anything but, you know, sort of keep it afloat, that sort of suggests it's maybe not worth what you're saying it is.
[06:50:07]
LEMON: So, Russ, what happens if the committee releases some, or all of the tax data? And what should we expect to see? How is this going to work?
BUETTNER: Well, I think they're going to vote today on what they're going to do. Whether they're going to try to release a report out of this or the returns themselves. If they're going to do that, it's obviously going to happen very quickly because the Democrats are about to lose control of that committee. And then we should see -- one of the more interesting things is he's had - he talked about the audit and the great clips that you ran at the start of this. He's had an ongoing audit by the IRS for more than ten years of a $73 million refund he requested and received in about 2010. That was all taxes he had paid for most of the last 20 years on the initial windfall from "The Apprentice."
So, we'll see whether he's resolved that, I think. Whether it's still outstanding. We'll see the nature of any audits the IRS may have done for him. We could, if they chose to release that. We'll see, again, how much taxes he's paid. When we looked at it, he hadn't paid any taxes in 10 of the prior 15 years, and in two of those years he's only paid $750.
LEMON: Yes.
BUETTNER: So that's a lot of stuff. We could also see how Covid impacted his businesses. His businesses, the once he owns outright, are largely hospitality businesses. He had banquet facilities at his golf courses, hotels. Those sorts of things really suffered during that - during that bad time. And we could see part of the pressure that forced him to start selling off assets, including his kind of crown jewel, the hotel in Washington, D.C.
LEMON: The hotel in Washington, D.C.
Listen, I got to ask you real quickly, if you can, because I'm running out of time here, sorry about that. But, listen, he has spent the bulk of his time, he and his, you know, allies, buffering him from accusations. He has attacked the Justice Department. He's attacked the FBI. He's attacked the media because the lies don't - are not in his favor.
If the committee found that Trump didn't pay taxes or did something wrong, what do they do? Do they ask the IRS to do something about it? I mean do they alert the DOJ, because he's also attacked the IRS as well?
BUETTNER: Either one of those things. I mean he's attacked the IRS in part because of this very audit. So, yes, I would expect -- of course he started that last night. He started trying to spin what he expected people to see on these returns as not important and he's always said the IRS is out to get him. There's no hint that's going to change course. LEMON: Russ, thank you very much. We appreciate you joining us early
this morning.
BUETTNER: Thank you. Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Thank you.
Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried to continue his extradition hearing after a chaotic day in court. When will he - when will we finally see him return to the United States, straight ahead.
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[06:56:36]
COLLINS: All right, this morning, a new study says that China's sudden exit from its zero Covid policy could lead to potentially nearly a million deaths after three years of incredibly strict lockdowns, mass testing. Experts are warning that the country is extremely unprepared for an unprecedented wave of infections.
CNN's Selina Wang is live in Beijing with more.
Selina, what are officials saying now there about whether or not they feel that they're prepared for this?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, some public health experts in China have even admitted that they've been, quote, unprepared in certain aspects. But that estimate of nearly 1 million deaths, that's coming from some new studies, that is a worst-case scenario. The researchers are saying, if China can adequately increase the vaccination rate, they can boost the anti-viral treatments, that it could reduce the death numbers by hundreds of thousands.
But what health experts are really worried about is what happens when Covid spreads to these rural areas with a much weaker health infrastructure. We're already seeing the hospital system under huge strain in major cities. Hospitals say they've been dealing with outbreaks among staff. Long lines like these are forming outside of hospitals in big cities, like these videos from Hangzhou and Wuhan, you can see the lines snaking as far as the eye can see.
Now, China has also only announced a few Covid deaths since reopening. But what we see on the ground tells a different story. Just today I went to a major crematorium in Beijing. And you can see the long line of cars waiting to get to that cremation area. The parking lot was full of cars as well. Several people told me their loved ones had died from Covid. An employee told me that they are swamped with dead bodies.
COLLINS: Wow. Selina Wang, we'll be following it closely. Thank you.
LEMON: And still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, the big question now hanging over Washington and the country, will the DOJ make a move against the former president?
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