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Trump in Court for Classified Documents Hearing; First Ship Carrying Aid to Gaza; U.S., Iran Hold Indirect Talks over Houthi Attacks; #MyFreedomDay; U.S. Evacuating Non-Essential Staff from Haiti; Italy Fines TikTok $11 Million; Senate Majority Leader Labels Netanyahu a "Major Obstacle to Peace" and Calls for New Israel Election. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired March 14, 2024 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome back, second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi, where the time is 6:00
in the evening, 10:00 am on the East Coast of America.
And these are live pictures from outside a Florida courthouse. Donald Trump is going to attend a hearing in his classified documents case. We are
expecting that his team will ask the judge to throw out the charges. Let us see what happens.
Also this hour, Cuba's Guantanamo Bay has a dark reputation. Why that may change. The Biden administration could turn it into a haven for migrants
fleeing the Haiti chaos and its gangs.
And have a look at this.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, it really was a remarkable sight, SpaceX's Starship, officially the most powerful rocket ever to reach orbital speeds.
And the crew who built it were absolutely delighted with the success that happened in the past hour.
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ANDERSON: Well, more on that a little later. But as we start this hour, Donald Trump is back in what has been a very familiar venue for him these
past few months. A courtroom, the former U.S. president's motorcade arriving at the courthouse in Florida a few minutes ago.
Trump will watch as his lawyers argue the classified documents case against him should be thrown out. They contend he has virtually unlimited authority
to claim any documents from his presidency as personal and that the Justice Department should never have prosecuted the case to begin with.
Well, judge Aileen Cannon, who, as we have repeatedly noted, is a Trump appointee, has set aside the entire day for arguments. If the case
continues, she may, just may announce a trial date.
Joining me now is Bradley Moss. He is an attorney who specializes in national security matters and security clearance law.
Sir, it's going to be a long day likely.
What can we expect and why does it matter?
BRADLEY MOSS, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: Yes. So this is by far, of the two federal cases that are currently pending against Donald Trump, this is
the cleanest one. This is the most straightforward case if it makes it to trial, unlike the January 6th election interference case. This one is
pretty clear. He had classified documents in his possession. He didn't return them. He obstructed efforts to recover them.
That should, even in Fort Pierce, Florida, which is a very conservative area of Florida, even there, that should in theory result in a conviction
at trial.
But this is all being tied up in these pretrial motions that he, that Trump has filed. And we're waiting to see where Judge Cannon goes with this.
Does she find any credence to this?
Even if she rules against Donald Trump, does she take a while, does she take a long time to issue a ruling?
Everything is about timing right now.
ANDERSON: And remind us why.
MOSS: Sure. So Donald Trump goes on trial in a little over a week in Manhattan on March 25th, in the hush money case tied to the 2016 election.
If we can all remember back to that timeframe and everything was Stormy Daniels.
Then he's -- that case will go into some time in mid-May. There's only a few months after that before the election in November. There's three cases
that still have yet to go to trial.
This case in Florida, the D.C. case, which is waiting on the Supreme Court to rule on immunity, and the case in Georgia, which is waiting on a ruling
on potential disqualification of the prosecutor.
You can't have three cases going on at once. It is likely only one, if maybe at most two of those cases will be able to start and get to trial and
get to a result before Election Day, if the judges even let them go on during the fall campaign.
There's no precedent for this. We have no guideposts, no understanding of how to handle a presidential campaign in the midst of the -- one of the
nominees being on trial. It's going to be a wild time and no one knows for certain what's going to happen.
ANDERSON: So we can expect to see president Trump in a Florida court today.
[10:05:03]
Should we expect to hear from him?
MOSS: My expectation is no. He hasn't really done his usual, you know, outside the courtroom spiels like he does in Manhattan. I don't think that
courthouse really allows for it as much as he was able to pull off in New York.
But there's only so much for him to really talk about. If he does, he might make some remarks, do his usual shtick about how this was a politicized
case, never should've been brought. He has total immunity, total discretion, et cetera, et cetera.
But he's liked so far what's going on in Florida. He's liked how Judge Cannon has generally approached handling that case. I don't expect to see
him say very much and certainly not in an antagonistic way like he's done in New York and D.C.
ANDERSON: Super having you on, sir. Thank you.
Joining me now, live from Fort Pierce, Florida, is CNN senior crime and justice reporter, Katelyn Polantz.
So what to your mind happens over the next coming hours, Katelyn?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Becky, we're going to be hearing arguments from both the Trump side and from -- Donald
Trump's side that will articulate exactly what is so important about this case.
If the Justice Department is believed by judge Aileen Cannon and that she goes with their arguments, they are making the case that these records
Donald Trump had after the presidency were so crucial to national defense that they should not have been in his hands. And he did not have the right
to take them with him.
They are not just presidential records, they're national defense secrets, things about defense and weapons capabilities, U.S. nuclear programs, the
U.S.' vulnerabilities in a foreign attack and how the United States would respond if we were under attack.
So that is what the Justice Department is going to be arguing, Donald Trump should not have been able to take these documents. And then, on the other
hand, Trump's team will be arguing he was president. He wanted them, he wanted to call them personal and thus, he should have been able to.
So we're going to have to see exactly how this goes because, at 10:00 am, just a few minutes ago, that's when the judge was set to take the bench. We
don't have any ability to communicate with what's happening inside the courthouse.
And so we're waiting to see exactly when the hearing will start. We're hoping that our producers will be able to make it across this four-lane
highway to get us word about how things are going in there. But once that hearing starts, it's going to be arguments and we're not expecting a ruling
today.
ANDERSON: By just showing up to court, is Donald Trump sending a message to this Trump-appointed judge?
I'm not the first to have asked that. I wonder what your response to that is.
POLANTZ: Well, Becky, I've actually heard from sources who worked with Donald Trump around his strategy, that they want to send a message to the
judge by having him there. He is a criminal defendant.
And so it's often expected that a criminal defendant will take a case against them quite seriously and will show up but in court. But the judge
has said that Donald Trump doesn't need to come to these hearings before his trial, hearings like this today.
But this is at least the third time now that Donald Trump has shown up to one of these hearings voluntarily before judge Aileen Cannon. You don't get
to see him. The public doesn't get to see him coming in and out of the courthouse.
He -- no one gets to see him inside unless you're in that courtroom or watching in an overflow room on closed circuit cameras. And so he is there
today because it fits into his legal strategy, to carry the import of his role as the former president. That's part of this strategy.
Although, I will note, while there are judges in these criminal cases that have referred in the courtroom to him as Mr. President or the president or
the former president, judge Aileen Cannon did not at the last hearing, where we were here watching. She referred to him as, I believe, the
defendant.
She didn't call him by the name that he has wanted his attorneys to call him in court.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Stand by, it's going to be an interesting day. Thank you.
Well, Hamas confirms that one of its commanders was killed in what Israel has described as a precision airstrike on a U.N. building in Rafah. The
U.N. relief agency for Palestinian says least one of its staff members is also among the dead following Wednesday's strike.
It comes as the first ship carrying aid to Gaza is set to arrive today. World Central Kitchen, the group that launched the ship from Cyprus on
Tuesday, says it is carrying roughly 500,000 meals' worth of food. CNN's Jeremy Diamond live in Jerusalem.
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Jeremy, what do we have as the latest on that ship?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand that that ship could arrive as soon as today in Gaza. We know that crews have
been hard at work, building out a jetty to receive the goods once they arrive.
There are more than 500,000 meals of food aboard this ship that the World Central Kitchen in coordination with volunteers and other contractors on
the ground will begin to distribute. Much needed aid, of course, particularly in northern Gaza.
And even as they are preparing to receive that ship, the World Central Kitchen is also starting to load pallets onto a second ship in Cyprus that
would carry another 300 tons of aid for Gaza as well.
A World Central Kitchen spokesperson actually confirmed to CNN that they're expecting to have the pallets screened and loaded onto the ship by the end
of today. But we are learning more as well about that strike, that the Israeli military carried out yesterday on a U.N. building that was serving
as a food distribution point.
Yesterday, we learned that five people were killed, according to Palestinian health authorities. But today, the Israeli military says that
that strike actually took out a Hamas commander, Mohammed Abu Hasna, who the Israeli military says was involved in coordinating combat activities of
various Hamas units.
The Israeli military saying that the targeting will, quote, "significantly damage the operational capabilities of various Hamas units in Rafah."
And, of course, the fact that this strike happened in Rafah, this is where we are looking for the potential next Israeli military offensive. That
hasn't happened yet. There's no sense that it is imminent.
But in the meantime, we are seeing the Israeli military carrying out these types of what they call persistent precision strikes.
ANDERSON: Yes.
DIAMOND: Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. And the threat had been if the hostages weren't released by Ramadan, of course, that that Israel would effect that assault on Rafah. We
haven't seen that and there's no evidence of a buildup at this point for an assault, a full-scale assault on Rafah.
But Israel does say that it plans to move about 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah to what it calls humanitarian enclaves.
So what do we know about this planning at this point?
Obviously under huge pressure from the United States; Joe Biden has called Rafah and an assault on Rafah a red line without a plan.
DIAMOND: Yes, that's right. U.S. officials have been very clear that a military offensive into Rafah that doesn't take into account of the
civilian population there -- about 1.5 million Palestinians who are currently living there -- that that would be a red line, that that is a no-
go for -- as far as the United States is concerned.
And so we know that the Israeli military, Israeli officials have said that they will evacuate the civilian population. But we haven't heard many
details about what exactly that will entail.
But yesterday, Daniel Hagari, the spokesman for the Israeli military, telling us that they are preparing a plan to move Palestinians from Rafah
to what he's calling humanitarian enclaves that will be created in coordination with the international community.
These enclaves will have food, they will have water, housing, as well as field hospitals. But he's making clear, Hagari is making clear that, even
as they prepare for that, that that -- that they will go into Rafah, saying that it is, quote, "something we need to do."
As you mentioned, U.S. officials have expressed serious concerns about this and also concerns about the viability of actually moving so many people and
ensuring that these enclaves, where the Israeli military says it will move people, actually can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.
So starting to get some sense of what the Israeli military is preparing for here. But still a lot more details obviously to be shared.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, sir. Thank you.
We are now learning the U.S. held indirect talks with Iran over the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. A U.S. official says that those talks happened
earlier this year in Oman. While possible further engagements were discussed, the two sides have yet to move ahead with further meetings.
This marks the first known engagement between the U.S. and Iran since the two countries swapped prisoners in September, the culmination of years of
grueling negotiations. For more, let's bring in Kylie Atwood, who is joining us from the U.S. State Department.
We know these talks, these indirect talks happened. And what we don't know is what came out of those talks at this point.
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Is there any more detail on those meetings?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well just to point out how this went down, I mean, you know, they were indirect talks. So
that's what we have seen before when it comes to U.S. officials and Iranian officials engaging, they're not meeting together.
They're basically meeting in the same place in this situation, it was in Oman in January at the same time. And they had Omani officials going back
and forth bringing the messages from one side to the other.
The question of how productive this meeting was remains a bit of an open question, particularly given that this -- these indirect talks took place
in January. And since then, of course, we have seen a number of U.S. strikes on Iranian-backed proxies in the region in Iraq and Syria in Yemen.
And of course, the beginning of those strikes actually began in January against the Houthis after those attacks on ships in the Red Sea. And so the
question as to how productive these engagements actually were -- the U.S. felt like they needed to go ahead with these number of strikes -- remains
open.
It's significant, however, that they even were able to resume dialogue, because there had not been this type of dialogue between the U.S. and Iran
since that prisoner swap back in September.
And the State Department is not commenting on specific channels of communication, with Iran saying that they have multiple options for
channels of communication and also pointing out a spokesperson saying that, since October 7th, the dialogue, in their word, has, quote, "been focused
on raising being a full range of threats emanating from Iran and the need for Iran to cease its across-the-board escalation."
ANDERSON: Important stuff. Thank you.
Just ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, the shocking number of children forced into labor and what students around the world are doing to help raise
awareness of what is the modern-day scourge.
Plus more troubles for social media giant TikTok. Why Italy has slapped the app with an $11 million fine. That story up next.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This process is for every (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A child should be free from child labor. Against rights to be free. They got their own life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, freedom is to lend a hand to others in need to make a positive difference in the world. Thank you all (ph).
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ANDERSON: It's CNN's eighth My Freedom Day, a day of action led by students around the world to raise awareness of modern-day slavery.
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An estimated 50 million people worldwide are living in modern-day slavery. That includes situations of forced labor, of sex trafficking and forced
marriage. And today students in more than 100 countries are taking part in activities, ranging from art projects to organized walks.
All to shine a light on what is this global scourge, which, unfortunately, is on the rise. For more on what students are doing to raise awareness
today, Lynda Kinkade joining me from Atlanta in Georgia in the United States.
Julia Vargas Jones is in Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Lynda, let me start with you.
What sort of activities are students there with you doing to help shine a light on this issue?
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Becky. Well, here at the Atlanta International School, there are two activities this hour
involving the youngest at the school, 5- and 6-year olds.
And as you know, Becky, you're never too young to learn about the rights of a child. So here they're going to play two games, learning about what it's
like to be a child and why you deserve a right to an education, to health care, to good nutrition.
And hosting this game is 12-year-old Samira.
Just explain how this game works.
SAMIRA DAVE, GRADE 7 STUDENT, ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: So this game is the game with all of our youngest grades. And what we're going to do is
the kids are going to go into the hula hoop. And they are going to talk about the right that is inside the hula hoop, what that means to them and
why that is important.
KINKADE: Excellent, so we're going to start that game in just a moment. The other game they're playing today involves handprints and Yasmin is
running this game.
What does it involve, Yasmin?
YASMIN KHAN, GRADE 7 STUDENT, ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: We're having the kids make handprints. And so what we're going to do is they're going to
write like their favorite right on it. And we're going to stick it up on something like this back here. And so the hands represent like child labor
and kids having to work.
KINKADE: Excellent. Excellent. So we're about to start the hula hoop game first.
Who's ready to play this game?
All right.
Samira is going to take it away.
DAVE: OK, guys, so on the -- when I say go, you are all going to walk to a hula hoop with the bubbling you guys this mouth (ph) and then we're going
to talk about our hoop. So go.
KINKADE: So as you can see, Becky, they're each picking a hula hoop. Each has a right. Now these students have landed on -- what's this right?
Who can tell me?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family.
KINKADE: What does it mean to the right to have a family that loves and supports you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right (ph). Right to -- right to family means to me to be tough (ph) -- to see your family anywhere you go. What family means
to me is help your fight (ph), your children, what everything and love each other.
KINKADE: And over here we have the right to a home.
Who's got a lovely home?
Yes?
What does it mean to the right to have shelter?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so if we don't have a home, we don't get anything. So we can (INAUDIBLE) we don't mean it and we don't like him. We
just spot it (ph). And we just breathe outside for ever -- for homeless people to eat.
KINKADE: Yes. Nice to have a nice cozy bed, good. Another right to the family.
And the right to play, who likes to play?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me!
KINKADE: What's the best thing about playing as a child?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can play with my sister.
KINKADE: Yes?
What do you like about playing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like to play tag.
KINKADE: Should kids have to work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. No.
KINKADE: No? Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we need to -- we need to go home. Then we are -- then we can play.
KINKADE: Yes, go home, play, to your nice, cozy beds.
So obviously these are the youngest students today here, Becky, those 5- and 6-year olds, learning about the rights of a child.
But throughout the day, there will be a film festival, debunking the myths around human trafficking. So we will have plenty of activities throughout
the day and this school is quite unique in that they have an antitrafficking group that these 12-year olds are involved in running
today's activity.
So a lot happening here, at the Atlanta International School.
ANDERSON: That's terrific. Lynda, it's always a pleasure. Thank you.
Let's get you across to Brazil.
What kind of thoughts, feelings are the students expressing there as they work on action to bring awareness to what is this global problem?
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, JOURNALIST: Becky, students here are a little bit older than those that you just heard from. I'm here with middle schoolers
at the Red House International School in Sao Paulo. I want to introduce you to one of them.
Tell us your name and your grade.
BRUNO, YEAR 8 STUDENT, RED HOUSE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: I'm Bruno and I'm from year 8.
JONES: And Bruno, tell us, what was this wonderful timeline project, life- size timeline that you guys worked on?
BRUNO: So we did this timeline to show the landmark laws regarding child labor throughout the years and how it has been limited and eradicated
through the whole world.
JONES: Where are we starting here?
BRUNO: So we start right there at the Factory Act at 1833, which was a set of laws and restrictions regarding children's working hours and children's
minimum working age. And then we come here to 1847, which has stated a law that children under 18 could not work more than 10 hours a day.
Then we come here to 1901, which said that children under 12 years old could not work at factories anymore. And then we go at 1919, where the Save
the Children's Fund was created in London and became the first global movement against child labor.
JONES: Becky, this is all about understanding how we got to where we are today.
This is Ali (ph) --
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ALI, YEAR 8 STUDENT, RED HOUSE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: I'm year 8 as well. So yes, following what Bruno said, in 1946, right after World War II, the
U.N. created the UNICEF, which was a global organization against child labor, to protect children and teens throughout the world.
And then, now, in 1990, the statuto (INAUDIBLE) from the king of (ph) Brazil, which is a statute for -- to -- also to protect children and
teenagers but exclusively here in Brazil.
And then in 2021, a little bit more recently, the U.N. declared 2021 the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor. And just -- we're
just like a callout to solve this issue.
And even though like hundreds of thousands of children are still working and may be enslaved nowadays, it's gotten a lot better.
JONES: Becky, 1.9 million children in 2022, according to the Department of Labor here in Brazil, have engaged in labor from ages 5 to 17. So it is a
pretty big issue here. I just want to leave you with just the message from the younger kids.
These are sixth graders, these two that have a little message.
So you learned about different kinds of slavery and forced labor.
Can you tell us why that is bad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I think slavery is bad in general labor because it prevents people from having freedom, right. Everyone should have freedom.
Everyone needs to have freedom.
JONES: That's enough (ph) for you guys. Thank you so much.
This is Red House International School here in Sao Paolo, sending the message, the importance of ending child labor. Becky.
ANDERSON: What terrific work, fantastic. Thank you very much indeed.
And folks, look, you can post your message to boost the fight against forced labor using the hashtag, My Freedom Day on your social platforms or
go to cnn.com/My Freedom Day for more for information.
Right, still ahead. Former U.S. president Donald Trump back in court today at a hearing to try and get the classified documents case against him
dismissed. What his lawyers and the special counsel are saying about it.
Plus, U.S. may use Guantanamo Bay to respond to a potential mass exodus of migrants from crisis-ridden Haiti. A live report on that is just ahead.
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ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're with CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Time here in Abu Dhabi is half past 6. It is just half past 10 on the East
Coast of the States, where we return to, with Donald Trump back in court today to hear debates over his most cited legal argument in the classified
documents case, whether, as president, he could keep any document that he wanted.
Well, this is footage from earlier today of Trump arriving in court in Florida. His legal team is arguing that the charges against him should be
dismissed. Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon, who may later announce a trial date, has set aside the entire day for arguments.
Joining me now, live again from outside the courtroom in Fort Pierce is CNN senior crime and justice reporter, Katelyn Polantz.
And for those who may just be joining us and just learning this news, I think it's important to set this in context.
What can we expect and why does today matter, Katelyn?
POLANTZ: Well, Becky, Donald Trump wants to dismiss the case against him. He's making a lot of different bids with different arguments to do so.
Today, the arguments are focusing on what he says was his ability to claim records as personal records, take them out of the White House and keep them
at Mar-a-Lago after the presidency.
The Justice Department says that is not how the law works. It is so clear that these were national defense records, things about defense weapons,
defense capabilities, the responsibilities of the United States, if there were a foreign attack, that those should never have been able to be
personal records.
They're government records and national security records at that. But, Becky, we're still waiting for any inkling of news to come out of this
fortress of a federal courthouse behind me.
There are no cameras inside. There are no electronics allowed inside. The hearing would have started about a half an hour ago with the judge on the
bench. And so at some point we will be able to get a little bit more flavor of how those arguments are going today.
But there's a lot to cover, not just in these arguments but in this case moving forward.
ANDERSON: It's tough when it's dark, isn't it?
But you're in the right place. You will -- you will get the information we need eventually. Thank you.
Now to the election subversion case against Donald Trump in Georgia. The judge who is ruling on whether the prosecutor in that case should be
removed tells CNN he still expects to make the decision this week.
This is Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who says, quote, "I plan to stick to my timeline."
Well, Fani Willis is the direct -- the district attorney directly responsible for prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants. Willis is accused
of having a conflict of interests because of a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to help prosecute the case.
On Wednesday, the judge dismissed several of the charges, saying they lacked detail.
Well, the U.N. is reducing the number of its nonessential personnel in Haiti due to the volatile situation there. Haiti plunged into a crisis
after powerful gangs started carrying out coordinated attacks inside the country, prompting prime minister Ariel Henry to resign this week.
[10:35:00]
The chaos has also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes and left Haiti with a growing shortage of basic essentials.
Well, meanwhile, the White House is discussing ways to respond to a potential mass exodus of people from the country. This includes expanding
capacity at a migrant center in Guantanamo Bay, located about 320 kilometers from Haiti on the southern coast of Cuba.
The center has been used for years, of course, to process migrants and is separate from where terror suspects or terrorist suspects are being held.
CNN White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez joins us now.
Discussions to expand capacity, as I understand it, at Guantanamo Bay appear to show evidence that there is growing concern from the White House
about people fleeing Haiti.
What more do we know at this point?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely a sign that the White House is deeply concerned about the aftermath of what is
happening on the ground in Haiti and that there very well could be an exodus of Haitians leaving the country and making their way to the shores
of south Florida.
This is something that the administration has seen before, back in 2022, there were a number of Haitians who were arriving to south Florida in big
numbers on these makeshift vessels, with more than 100 people on board for a days-long journey.
So that is what could happen in a situation like right now. And that is what the White House and the administration is preparing for. And so they
are discussing expanding capacity at this little-known facility in Guantanamo Bay.
It's a migrant center, one that has been used to hold and process migrants before they are repatriated to their origin country. So in a case like
this, if migrants were apprehended or interdicted at sea, they could be taken to this facility, processed, then either repatriated to Haiti or a
third country.
Now I asked the White House about this and this is what they told me.
They said, quote, "We are clear-eyed that economic, political and security instability are key drivers for migrants around the world. We are closely
monitoring the situation and the routes frequently used by migrants to reach our borders.
"And at this time, irregular migration flows through the Caribbean remain low."
And I spoke to a Customs and Border Protection official down in Florida, who also told me that they are monitoring this. They have preparations
underway in the event that they do see more of these vessels arriving to their shores.
This often takes days or weeks before we see it. Again, the journey itself takes days. It is perilous. It is dangerous and we're in a unique position
right now where the administration is fighting for more funding, for money for the Department of Homeland Security, which would be at front and center
at an operation like this.
They're already strapped because of what's happening at the U.S. southern border. So there are a lot of logistics that need to be sorted out in the
early phases of this before they were to move forward, if they do move forward in expanding this facility.
But clearly, Becky, just a lot of concern about what is happening in Haiti and where Haitians then go should they decide to leave the country.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Good to have you. Thank you.
Could the widely popular app, TikTok, get new ownership?
Well former U.S. secretary -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that he is putting together a team of investors to make a bid to buy
TikTok. Now this comes just a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it doesn't divest
itself of its Chinese ownership within about six months.
Italy also has issues with the social media giant. The country's competition authority has fined TikTok $11 million for failing to monitor
content that could threaten the safety of minors. Well, Anna Stewart following this story closely for us and joins us now live.
There's two separate stories here, ultimately. Let's start with Italy, slapping an $11 million fine on TikTok. Just tell us about what's happening
there and why they've come to this conclusion and fine.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's not the biggest fine for a company like TikTok but it certainly sends a message and it shows that
Europe's really taking it seriously when it comes to making sure social media companies take responsibility for harmful content on their platforms
and how that spreads.
So this is an example in Italy, where regulators started an investigation last year. The communications regulator forced them to take off some of the
harmful video. This relates to the French scar trend you may have seen on TikTok, which involves people pinching their cheeks until it leaves a
bruise. It's considered harmful content.
And then the competition regulator has now fined them $11 million. They say TikTok didn't do enough in terms of the algorithm to stop it actually
spreading.
[10:40:00]
Now, TikTok has come out and said that they disagree with the decision and they've also suggested that all of the interest around this and the
investigation itself may actually have caused there to be more interest in the harmful TikTok trend than there was before.
ANDERSON: The other thing I want to talk to you about is this -- is the possibility of new ownership for TikTok.
In the House in the U.S. -- and this hasn't gone to the Senate yet -- a bipartisan vote for legislation that says the following, either divest this
company from its owner, ByteDance, which American legislatures and lawmakers agree is significantly influenced by the Chinese government -- or
this app will be banned in the United States.
It begs the question, who would it be divested of or hived off to?
Who would buy it from ByteDance?
Now we've got some ideas. Tell us.
STEWART: I mean, it's fascinating. There's already some buyers, some hungry investors eyeing up TikTok and its, you know, 100+ million users in
the U.S. It's not actually for sale yet.
Not only has the legislation not gone through but actually the government in Beijing and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, have made really clear that
they really don't want to sell it.
Nonetheless, today on CNBC, we heard from former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN MNUCHIN, FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I understand the technology. It's a great business and I'm going to put together a group to
buy TikTok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're trying to buy TikTok?
MNUCHIN: I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: I mean, he didn't say who the other investors are in the group that he plans to sort of team up with to buy TikTok, which has been
estimated to be valued at around $100 billion, Becky. So it's pretty pricey.
Also "The Wall Street Journal" reports that the founder and former CEO of Activision Blizzard might be interested as well. It's interesting to
consider, if was for sale -- and let me make clear, it is not.
Who would buy it?
Because the obvious buyers would be the Big Tech companies like Meta, like Google. But of course, they would face antitrust issues. So it's going to
take an investor with a lot of pow to be able to do this. And perhaps it will be like a star investor or a group of them -- if, if it ever goes for
sale.
ANDERSON: If.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: Very good point, if it ever goes for sale. This is such a fascinating story. Some say this is grandstanding by lawmakers. There's no
evidence that TikTok is a national security issue. That is certainly what the Chinese say. Let's see where this goes. It is an absolutely fascinating
story. Steve Mnuchin, it seems, is on a real acquisition sort of journey at the moment. So keep an eye on him as well. Good stuff. Thank you.
Still to come, successful liftoff for the world's most powerful rocket. But a data blackout minutes before planned touchdown in the ocean. We break
down what SpaceX's nail biting day means for the future of space exploration. That is up next.
And stick with us because these images are remarkable.
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[10:45:00]
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ANDERSON: The Major League Baseball season is about to begin in the United States and ballparks around the country preparing to welcome fans for
opening day. Well, today's "Call to Earth" explores how Boston's Fenway Park is changing the game in a different, greener way. Here's CNN's Coy
Wire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hours before the gates open on a Red Sox game day in late August at Fenway Park in Boston, a different team is hard at
work.
CHRIS GRALLERT, PRESIDENT, GREEN CITY GROWERS (voice-over): As these crops continue to come out, we'll plant in fall greens, we'll plant in lettuces.
WIRE (voice-over): This is Fenway Farms, a 5,000 square-foot garden area on a section of rooftop at the oldest active Major League Baseball Park in
America.
GRALLERT (voice-over): You know agriculture happens everywhere, we're just bringing it up off the ground and putting it up on a roof.
WIRE (voice-over): Chris Grallert is a farmer and the president of Green City Growers, which operates this farm in some 200 other locations,
including at 40 Boston public schools. But none are as visible and perhaps surprising as Fenway Farms.
GRALLERT (voice-over): There's a desire for people to have more locally grown, fresh produce and interact with the people who are growing and
distributing that fresh produce. And I think, when you have such high visibility like you do at a garden like this, people start to see that it's
possible.
And it can really be the seed to start the new revolution toward food system transformation.
WIRE (voice-over): The garden first opened in 2015; recycled milk crates formed the raised planters.
GRALLERT (voice-over): These are fingerling type potatoes.
WIRE (voice-over): Irrigated by a special system that delivers the precise amount needed to each plant.
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WIRE (voice-over): The produce doesn't have to travel far, just a short walk to Chef Ron Abel and his team, operating the restaurants and
concessions at Fenway.
GRALLERT (voice-over): Produce delivery.
RON ABEL, SENIOR EXECUTIVE CHEF, FENWAY PARK (voice-over): How you doing, buddy?
GRALLERT (voice-over): Good to see you as always.
ABEL (voice-over): What do you have?
GRALLERT (voice-over): Beautiful onions, right off -- look at the size of those.
ABEL (voice-over): I have the best chef job in the city. Well, actually, maybe the country, where I've got a rooftop garden, that the food travels
100 feet, gets washed and gets served to everybody.
And then this dish that Sean's putting together is simple. Potatoes we harvested this morning, we've got purple potatoes, we've got fingerling
potatoes, heirloom carrots of different colors. And he just steamed them lightly and they get seasoned lightly.
WIRE (voice-over): Green City Growers estimates Fenway Farms reduces the need for produce to purchase at the venue by 20 percent.
ABEL (voice-over): Mostly we look at quantities and what we can go through and we also look at perishability. So there are challenges here. We can't
predict what Mother Nature is going to give us.
WIRE (voice-over): Anything left over, along with what's harvested from a smaller designated area next to the main farm, is donated to a local food
rescue and distribution organization, called Lovin' Spoonfuls.
GRALLERT (voice-over): We can produce anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 pounds of fresh produce a year, depending on what we're growing. And so the range
of vegetables, asparagus to zucchini.
WIRE (voice-over): Produce from A to Z, making the iconic green of Fenway Park even greener.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: CNN's Coy Wire reporting there.
And let us know what you are doing to answer the call with the # Call to Earth. Back after this.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:00]
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ANDERSON: You are watching CNN. I'm Becky Anderson and this just coming in. U.S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer speaking about the situation
in Israel and Gaza, saying, "Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a major obstacle to peace," and I quote him there, who has, quote, "all too
frequently bowed to the demands of extremists."
Well, Schumer is also calling for new elections in Israel. Let's listen to what he had to say just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: Now as a result of those inflamed tensions in both Israeli and Palestinian communities, people on
all sides of this war are turning away from a two-state solution.
Including Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in recent weeks has said out loud repeatedly what many have long suspected by outright
rejecting the idea of Palestinian statehood and sovereignty.
As the highest ranking Jewish elected official in our government and as a staunch defender of Israel. I rise today to say unequivocally, this is a
grave mistake for Israel, for Palestinians, for the region and for the world.
The only real and sustainable solution to this decades-old conflict is a negotiated two-state solution, a demilitarized Palestinian state, living
side-by-side with Israel in equal measures of peace, security, prosperity, dignity and mutual recognition.
Both Jews and Palestinians have long, historic claims to this land, contrary to the unfounded, absurd and offensive claims by some that the
Jewish people are colonizers in their ancestral homeland.
Jewish people have lived in the homeland continuously for more than three millennia, 3,000 years. For centuries, Jews have made Aliyah and gone to
the land of Israel to live and settle. For centuries at Passover, Jews at every corner of the globe have prayed, "Next year in Jerusalem."
A Jewish homeland in Israel is no 20th century contrivance. Israel's our historic home, a home for people oppressed for centuries. Now the
Palestinians, too, have lived in and on the land for generations. And in past centuries, they have formed their own distinct culture, identity,
cuisine, literature.
The idea espoused by some, quote, "There is no such thing as Palestinians," unquote, is inaccurate, offensive, unhelpful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is the majority leader of the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer, speaking there. Joining us now is chief congressional
correspondent, Manu Raju.
Manu, what do you make of what he said?
And its significance, if you will.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is significant because Chuck Schumer is the highest ranking Jewish member that's ever
served in this body. In fact, the first ever Jewish Democrat. So what has actually been a Democratic majority leader or Republican majority leader
for that matter.
But Schumer's been someone who has been a hawk on Israel issues for much of his career. He has aligned himself with Benjamin Netanyahu for some time,
including in 2015, when he was opposed to the Iran nuclear deal that Barack Obama, as president then, cut with Iran. That's something that Netanyahu
sharply criticized.
Chuck Schumer voted against that, despite the president of his own party pushing that forward. And Schumer has not been anywhere near where the
progressives in his caucus have been in calling for an immediate ceasefire and been sharply critical of that Netanyahu government and the president's
handling of this.
This is a shift for Schumer to go as far as calling for Benjamin Netanyahu to essentially step aside, to have new elections in Israel. That is not
something that we have heard from him before.
But it really speaks to the growing concerns within the Democratic Party in particular about the -- how this war has being waged and what the U.S.
response should be. We have seen the -- particularly on the Democratic side during the presidential primary season.
[10:55:00]
Voters come out and protest for Joe Biden to vote uncommitted in Michigan, in particular, more than 100,000 voters voting uncommitted in a
presidential primary, which is largely uncontested with Joe Biden, because they were registering their opposition to the president's handling of this
issue with Israel.
And there are demands that much more needed to be done to provide relief, humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza. So it just speaks to the
moment that Democrats are in.
And with the Senate majority leader here coming out very strongly, criticizing the Israeli government's opposition to a two-state solution and
criticizing the current makeup of the Israeli government.
He is calling for new leadership. That will definitely get attention here, Chuck Schumer making clear is not happy where things are -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Manu Raju on the story, good to have you.
And to other breaking news now coming in to CNN, right as we speak, we've been following the launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket this hour. SpaceX has
now confirmed the loss of that vehicle near the end of its test flight.
After two catastrophic midair explosions last year, it had seemed like third time lucky for testing this Starship rocket. And in many ways it was.
This is the most powerful rocket ever built, launched successfully today, proving these incredible views of our planet -- providing these incredible
views of our planet and making it further into a test flight than ever before.
But as we speak now -- and more on this news, as we get it -- it does appear that the rocket has been lost.
Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD, for me at least, here in Abu Dhabi and the team working with me. Stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" with Rahel Solomon
is up next.
END
