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Connect the World
Hamas: Prepared to Release U.S.-Israeli Hostage; Passenger Evacuate Jet After Engine Fire at Airport; Man Who Says He's a Veteran Escorted Out of Town Hall after Shouting at Republican Congressman; Europe Sends Nearly $5B of Wine Per Year to U.S.; ICC Holds First Hearing on Duterte Charges. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired March 14, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, this is the scene at the White House on the morning of Donald Trump's expected speech at the Justice
Department laying out his sweeping law and order agenda. It's 09:00 a.m. there, it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. You're
watching "Connect the World" from our Middle East programming headquarters.
Also coming up, Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is due to appear before The Hague Any moment now, in his first court appearance since
his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity for his years long war on drugs campaign. And Hamas says it is willing to release a U.S.-Israeli
hostage and the bodies of four dual nationals after receiving a proposal from mediators.
Well U.S. stock futures pointing to a bit of a breather on Wall Street. It has to be said today when it opens in about 30 minutes, it has been another
turbulent week, of course, for stocks, especially for the S&P 500. It closed in correction territory, as it's known, on Thursday, down more than
10 percent from its record high in February.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatens new tariffs this time on the European Union. Well CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joining me now from New York. What can
we expect from the last day of this tumultuous trading week, Vanessa?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, futures are pointing higher this morning, but that's kind of what we've seen all
week, that they've been in the green, and then as the trading day opens, they are up and down. And just yesterday, as you noted, the S&P ended in
correction dropping 10 percent off its record high, which it just hit in February.
The NASDAQ was already in correction last week, down more than 14 percent after it hit its record high in December, and the DOW is on track to have
its worst week since June of 2022. So, this is all playing out, of course, because of Donald Trump's tariffs and this trade war, the escalation of
this trade war and the uncertainty of this trade war that has rattled markets all week.
You see it right there, though, futures pointing slightly higher, but again, something we've seen all week, a little bit of a reset or a breather
in the morning before markets open, and then off to the races, Becky.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you. We will keep our eyes firmly on those markets which open at 09:30 of course, New York time. Thank you for that.
Well, to breaking news now, and Hamas saying a short time ago that it is prepared to release the U.S.-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, as well as
the bodies of four dual nationals who had been held hostage in Gaza.
This is part of a proposal that Hamas has been discussing via mediators from Qatar and Egypt, of course, with Israel. CNN's Jeremy Diamond
following this story for us from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what do we know at this point?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hamas says that it is prepared to release the Israeli soldier, Edan Alexander, who is also an
American citizen, the last living American hostage being held by Hamas inside of the Gaza Strip. They also say that they are willing to release
the bodies of four dual nationals.
Israelis and some other citizenship who are also being held hostage by Hamas. They did not specify that those four dual nationals would be
American dual nationals. But we do know, of course, that there are the bodies of four American citizens still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
And so that number is notable there.
Now what is also important to underscore here is that even as Hamas is saying that they are responding positively to the American proposal that
was put on the table, what they are outlining here in terms of releasing Edan Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages, is not what the
American proposal on the table was.
As we reported yesterday, the Americans have put forward a proposal that would see the release of a handful of living hostages from the Gaza Strip,
as well as an unclear number of bodies of hostages as well, in exchange for, you know, at least a months' long ceasefire, the resumption of
humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
And for now, it doesn't seem like we are close to an agreement, despite the tone of this Hamas statement and the fact that they have specifically named
this Israeli-American Edan Alexander.
[09:05:00]
The prime minister's office here in Israel has just put out a statement saying that while they accepted the Witkoff outline, meaning the outline
from the U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, they say Hamas remains steadfast in its refusal, and they say that they have not budged a millimeter.
They accuse Hamas in -- of engaging in psychological warfare, as we understand it, the Israeli negotiating team that has been in Doha for much
of this week is indeed expected to return to Israel tonight. And then tomorrow night, the prime minister will convene his ministerial team to
meet with the negotiating team and decide on next steps.
So very clear that major gaps still indeed do remain between these sides, but at least at this stage, we now have a very firm proposal that was put
on the table by the Americans, which the Israelis have indicated they would go along with. Hamas has now responded with what looks like a counter
proposal.
Still gaps remaining, but at least there are negotiations happening. We will see where this all ends. In the meantime, Israel is indeed keeping up
its blockade of not just humanitarian aid, but all goods and supplies into Gaza, which they say is a step intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to
better terms for an extension of the ceasefire. But of course, Israel has been accused of violating international law by doing so, Becky.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you. Well, a message through a mediator. The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is saying, quote,
additional signals to U.S. President Donald Trump about a U.S. plan for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine. This comes after U.S. Special Envoy Steve
Witkoff met Putin last night in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesperson says there are grounds for cautious optimism about the proposal on news conference on Thursday. Putin described the plan as
promising in principle, but he also laid out tough conditions for any future Russian acceptance. Fred Pleitgen is with us today, with more
reaction from Moscow. And can you just explain the Russian position here, Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russian position is actually one that's quite interesting. It's sort of
been unfolding over the past couple of hours, since that Putin press conference, where they've been sort of coming forward with information as
to how they want to move this process forward.
And of course, one of the interesting things that happened overnight was that Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin, the U.S., saying that the
meeting lasted for several hours. And then the Russians, as you pointed out, saying that they got additional information from Witkoff and sent some
signals as well.
But by and large, if you break it down, it seems as though the U.S. and Ukraine have signed on to a ceasefire proposal that calls for an immediate
30-day ceasefire and then wants to sort out all of the issues that are underlying this conflict. Whereas the Russians are saying that they want
all of these issues to be solved before a ceasefire could be in place.
That's one of the things that we heard yesterday at that press conference from Vladimir Putin, where he said, yes, of course, the Russians are in
favor of a ceasefire. He's in favor of a ceasefire. But at the same time, he said that there are still conditions that would need to be met and
things that the Russians want sorted out.
Some of the things that he mentioned would be, if there is a ceasefire, where would the line of contact be? Who would monitor the ceasefire? Who
would enforce the ceasefire? Of course, there are certain things that the Russians have said, Becky, that would be red lines for them, like, for
instance, NATO troops or foreign troops on Ukrainian territory as security guarantees, which is, of course, something that the Ukrainians had been
looking for.
And at the same time, the Russians also want to exclude the whole complex of the Kursk Region, which is that little foothold that the Ukrainians
still hold on Russian territory. They don't want that to be any sort of bargaining chip in any sort of negotiations, because they say they want to
oust the Ukrainians from their militarily, and indeed, are saying that they are close to doing that.
So, for the Russians, there are still a lot of issues that need to be addressed, they say. And they say that a ceasefire should not be in place
unless there is the prospect of a longer-term peace settlement at the same time. And this is something Vladimir Putin also said yesterday as well.
He believes that he needs to speak directly to U.S. President Donald Trump. But as of today, hearing from the Kremlin, they said that right now they
cannot say when such a phone call would take place, Becky.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. I want to bring in thank you, Fred. Alayna Treene, who is also covering this story for us. You just getting new
reporting as I understand it, about Steve Witkoff's meeting with Vladimir Putin. What do we know at this point?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Becky. I spoke with some Trump Administration officials this morning. They told me that meeting
between Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was last night, but it went for several hours, I'm told, into the early morning of
Friday.
[09:10:00]
And then shortly after that meeting had wrapped, Witkoff ended up leaving Moscow, leaving Russia altogether, and flying to the capital of Azerbaijan,
Baku is where he is now all to say, though. It's still unclear exactly what the specific details of the conversation are.
Of course, they discussed the ceasefire, and we know that Witkoff is planning on bringing back some of the things that Putin laid out, that the
Russians laid out, and some of those priorities to the president, but still waiting to hear on exactly where things stand following that meeting.
However, we do know as well that last night, we heard from Trump National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who went on Fox News after that meeting had
wrapped and said that they are cautiously optimistic the administration, I should say, is cautiously optimistic about these negotiations moving
forward, and also in large part, where the ceasefire talks stand.
Now I also want to point out, Becky, that we just recently heard from the president himself addressing some of these talks with Russia when he posted
a true social just moments ago, I want to read you just some of what he wrote. He said, well, he first of all labeled Joe Biden, the former
president, as crooked Joe Biden, he said that he got us into, quote, a real mess with Russia, but that he's going to get them out.
He said that millions of people had died, and there would be many more to follow if Russia does not agree to this ceasefire deal. He went on to talk
more broadly about some of these talks, but look, it's very clear in my conversations with Trump White House officials and administration officials
more broadly, that they are optimistic that they could find an off ramp to this war.
Of course, negotiations, and the tone that we've heard the White House used in recent days is very different from where it was just a little over a
week ago, when they argued that Ukraine was being more difficult to negotiate with. Now they have agreed to their own temporary ceasefire, and
they're really trying to see what it is that Russia needs in order to agree to this temporary ceasefire as well.
Many officials saying the ball is now in Russia's court. So, I think we just have to stay tuned for more details on what was actually specifically
discussed in that meeting between Witkoff and Putin. And then also, I think we can expect, as we've been hearing, the President himself, to engage with
the Russian President directly in the coming days.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you. In Denver, in Colorado, an engine on an American Airlines jet caught fire just after it made an unscheduled
landing there. On Thursday, the flight from Colorado Springs to Dallas-Fort Worth with 172 passengers on board, was diverted after the crew reported
unusual engine vibrations.
Well, you can see passengers coming down a slide as smoke paused from what is the Boeing 737. Dozens of those passengers had to stand on the wing as
crews put out the fire. Everybody got off safely, although airport authorities say 12 people were taken to hospital. CNN Aviation
Correspondent Pete Muntean has more.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The big headline here is the National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating this incident.
And investigators will have some pretty big questions about how this fire precipitated and why passengers were seen standing helplessly on the left
wing as the fire raged only feet away from them, below the right wing.
We know, at least initially, according to the FAA, that this fire broke out on the right engine of this Boeing 737, as it was taxiing into the gate.
The bigger narrative here is that this flight was having problems earlier as it took off from Colorado Springs, and about 20 minutes into the flight,
according to flight aware, the flight was diverted from its initial destination of Dallas-Fort Worth to the Denver International Airport.
American Airlines says 172 passengers and 6 crew were on board. And the crew, the pilots reported initially a vibration coming from one of the
engines. And I want you to listen now to the audio from live ATC.net in which the pilots described very calmly that this was not an emergency
situation, as they diverted into Denver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American 10,006 -- 1006 just to verify not an emergency still, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nah, we just have a high engine vibration, so we are cruising slower than normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: The latest from the Denver International Airport is that 12 people were hospitalized for minor injuries in this incident. The Crash Fire
Rescue crews responded relatively quickly and got the fire out on that right engine, and we know at least one of the emergency slides was deployed
in the back of the airplane.
But some pretty interesting questions here, because it seems like this fire primarily occurred at the gate, with so many people in the terminal taking
video, watching helplessly as those passengers waited helplessly on the left wing for help to arrive.
[09:15:00]
Investigators just now digging into this, and the Federal Aviation Administration also looking into this as well. American Airlines says it is
thanking the first responders who put this fire out very fast.
ANDERSON: That was Pete Muntean reporting for you. Well, from Philippine prosecutor to populist president and now a defendant at The Hague Rodrigo
Duterte facing his first hearing at the International Criminal Court this hour. And we're going to take a look at what is happening today and what
comes next.
Plus, many Democrats on Capitol Hill are upset with the party's top-ranking senator for backing the Republican spending bill to avoid a government
shutdown. A closer look at that is up next.
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ANDERSON: Right now, the U.S. Senate is under pressure to pass a Republican spending bill that would fund the U.S. government through September and --
government shutdowns from happening in the coming hours. The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has agreed to vote for that bill, despite strong
opposition from some members of his own party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away
for free when we've been sent here to protect Social Security, protect Medicaid and protect Medicare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, veteran Democrats privately believe Schumer's decision to back the Republican bill was inevitable, but many others like Ocasio-Cortez
there were ready for him to lead them into their first big battle against President Donald Trump. Well, CNN's Saenz joining us now from Capitol Hill.
And there is no doubt there are Democrats on the Hill who are outraged. They feel betrayed by the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. And what
more can you tell us at this point? And to a degree was that sort of sense of inevitability, the kind of underlying sort of story out there?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this reversal from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has certainly left many Democrats up on Capitol Hill
stunned. They really had felt that this debate over government funding and a potential shutdown really provided Democrats with their best leverage
point to date as they tried to counter Trump's action.
A lot of people had hoped that Democrats in the House and the Senate would be united and take a stand and stand firm to oppose this government funding
bill that extends funding into September. And Schumer's decision to come out and say that he will personally back it will now open the door to the
potential that more Democrats will go down that path as well. You are seeing really in this episode.
[09:20:00]
It illustrates the very deep fissures and divide within the Democratic Party, as if they have been pushed by their Democratic base to really do
more to try to fight Trump's actions. Now you have people who have spoken out about this, like as you heard right there, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.
House Democratic leadership put out a statement last night saying that they would not be complicit with this Republican government funding bill. But in
Schumer's point of view, he believes that allowing a shutdown to occur would simply embolden President Trump and Elon Musk to do even more damage
make even more cuts to the federal government. Here is how he explained a bit of his decision just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It's not that the CR is good, it's horrible. And all things being equal, we should have opposed it, but the alternative
being a shutdown makes things worse. I knew I'd get criticized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
SCHUMER: But I felt obligated, for the country, for my Democratic caucus, to the people, to explain how bad a shutdown would be, and if we had, if we
went into a shutdown and everything bad happened, I had to give people this warning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, Senate Republicans need the support of 8 Senate Democrats in order to clear a procedural hurdle to get to this government funding bill.
We expect that vote to play out a bit later this afternoon, but last night, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would not say whether enough
Democratic votes are there to get this across the finish line.
So, this will be a major test heading into the afternoon as that government funding the government shutdown deadline now looms at midnight here on the
East Coast. And for Democrats, it's just another moment where you're seeing the disagreements within the party about the tactics, about the way they
combat Trump really come to light all over this government funding debate.
ANDERSON: Let's see what happens next. Thanks for joining us. Well, boos, cursing and scathing questions. Anger erupts at a Republican lawmakers Town
Hall over President Trump's dramatic government downsizing. Tariff threats and Ukraine policy also on the agenda.
Well, those were furious constituents outside of Congressman Chuck Edwards' Town Hall in Asheville, North Carolina, on Thursday, inside, there was even
more outrage over the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE's sweeping federal cutbacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are people losing their jobs at record numbers?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: CNN's Isabel Rosales, live in Asheville, North Carolina, with the latest. And you were in the room last night, just describe what happened
and the atmosphere, if you will.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, the congressman's office motto is first in constituent services, and he certainly heard from constituents
last night. It was fiery. It was highly energetic. There were jeers, there were boo standing ovations for some of the questions from the constituents
in the 11th district.
And for around an hour and a half, Edwards stood there and endured all of these searing questions about DOGE, about our relationships with allies
like Canada, about Ukraine, about especially the federal cuts that certainly struck a nerve with these constituents and went across political
aisles.
I heard from Republicans to registered Republicans there who demanded that the Congressman stand up to Musk and reminded him they say that he is there
to represent them the 11th district, Western North Carolina, and not the interests of Washington. Now I want to play for you this heated exchange
that happened with a man who described himself as a veteran, and he was shortly escorted out after the town hall started, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're lying. I'm a veteran. You don't give a f--k about me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the f--k up. You want to take away my rights. You don't get to take away our rights -- get off me. You don't get to do this
to us. F--k you, f--k you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: Yeah, incredibly fiery there.
[09:25:00]
But Becky, I also heard appreciation from some of his constituents giving him credit, Edwards' credit for holding an in-person town hall to begin
with, because a reminder here that GOP leadership have advised Republicans across the nation to either skip out on town halls altogether or to make
them virtual town halls in light of all these viral moments across the nation of constituents confronting these congressmen, Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you. Well, just ahead on "Connect the World", all eyes on Wall Street. We will bring you the open and what is the final trading day
of a turbulent week, and ask an expert what could happen next as Donald Trump's trade war escalate. And he once boasted about killing drug dealers.
Well now he is facing justice at The Hague. We are tracking Rodrigo Duterte his first appearance in court.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Wall Street will start trading about 90 seconds from now, futures indicating a stronger open after what has been another wild ride this week.
It's worth noting a key measure of stock market volatility, dubbed the fear gauge, has surged to its highest level since December.
And it's all about the Trump Administration's escalating trade wars. And now the U.S. president threatening to slap a 200 percent tariff on wine,
champagne and other alcohol products from Europe, pronounced by the U.S. President on his Truth Social site. Iganacio Sanchez Recarte is the General
Secretary, or Secretary General of Comite Europeen des Entreprises Vins which represents the European wine industry. And he joins us now live from
Brussels. How surprised and concerned were you when you read of this 200 percent tariff, sir?
IGANACIO SANCHEZ RECARTE, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF COMITE EUROPEEN DES ENTREPRISES VINS: Becky, thank you very much for the invitation and great
pleasure to be today with you today, we were shocked. I mean, we start to shake.
[09:30:00]
We could think about President Trump and -- administration raising some tariffs, but 200 percent that was a surprise. 200 percent tariffs means
that the U.S. wine market will be close to us.
ANDERSON: That is the opening bell, sir. I'm just letting our viewers know that Wall Street is out of the gate and on its sort of last trading day
today, and will be digesting this news, which is, of course, in addition to the sort of tit for tat escalation that we have seen of late, you talk
about the real concern about the impact of these tariffs.
Can you just break this down for us, for those that you represent? How consequential could this be if indeed these tariffs are for real, and they
are slapped on European alcohol?
RECARTE: So, but -- yeah, what that means these 200 percent tariffs? This means that EU wines will not be shipped anymore to the European to the
United States. Why because that 200 percent tariff is just immense gap difference. So, you will think that a wine that used to be at declare at
customs at $15 will go out of the customs at $45.
So, there is no price elasticity, assessment will make acceptable for the U.S. customers to pay three times -- more than three times the price of
what they used to say, that means that the market will be close to us. And -- not --
ANDERSON: How big the market are we talking about here? Yeah. How big a market is this?
RECARTE: The U.S. is the biggest wine market for us of exports. We are sending to the U.S., 27 percent of our exports. So, it's huge, and the
value is great, because U.S. consumers love our wines, and they love good wines. So, it -- there is no alternative market. So, if from day one we
stop shipping, there is no place we can put this wine.
There are no alternative markets. Some people talk about the future of Brazil, et cetera, but it takes years to build up a market that recognize
your wines, the quality that appreciates and is ready to pay for it. So, in value, we're talking about around 5 billion euro.
ANDERSON: Do you want to see retaliatory measures from Europe?
RECARTE: Well, not at all.
ANDERSON: -- 5 billion euros annually.
RECARTE: Yeah --
ANDERSON: You don't want to see retaliatory measures slapped on by Europe. You don't want to even hear that narrative.
RECARTE: No, absolutely. We have an extremely good relation with the U.S. wine industry. We believe that we need to build up the wine market for all
of us, for the wine culture. And there is absolutely no point in, for the EU to retaliate on U.S. wine. We have been defending this for years now,
because when all the steel aluminum trade dispute started certain point, the commission consulted, European Commission consulted on, should we put
tariffs also on U.S. wines?
And we say, no, we don't want tariffs on U.S. wines. We don't want wine to be included in this, in related trade disputes.
ANDERSON: How concerned are those that you represent? I mean, I hear a clear concern from you as their representative.
RECARTE: Yeah.
ANDERSON: I mean, what are you hearing from those that you very specifically represent. Are we talking about an existential threat to some
of the producers?
RECARTE: We used to think that the wine sector is quite resilient, but when we look into the detail of the wine sector. Tell the companies they
represent. They represent more than 90 percent of the exports of wine. So, they are all of them, they are concerned. And for those wines is normally
family and small family-owned companies, small companies.
So, when you are losing between 25, 30 percent of your exports, the high value and you have prepared, you have invested for years in commercial
partnerships. We enjoying ventures in building your brand, you will be losing, not just the immediate sales you will -- we will be losing all the
investment in the U.S.
[09:35:00]
And all the relations we have with our U.S., partners producing auction in the wine sector, we cannot stop producing because we have the wines. We
have the grapes there. We cannot just leave the grapes on the wine and stock production and came three months later. We need to continue to invest
in our business.
So existential threat, I will say no, but there will be a lot of people suffering very, very much. We the wine sector in general, globally, it's in
a delicate situation. So obviously there will be closures. One company is closing and getting out of the business.
ANDERSON: It's very good to have you. We talk a lot of politics these days, and it is so important that we get the sort of consequence and impact of
decisions made around the world on those who are at the sort of sharp end of this. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.
The CEO of America's largest bank appearing to be shifting his focus on tariffs. Jamie Dimon, and let me just fill you in here, folks, Jamie Dimon,
who runs JP Morgan Chase, says U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are causing uncertainty for companies back in Davos in January.
He said, get over and I remember being there I was in Davos at the time. He said, get over it, when discussing tariffs at the World Economic Forum,
will Jamie Dimon certainly changing his tune at this point, look the market throughout the gate, they are up. And let's be clear about this, the NASDAQ
and the S&P are up quite considerably.
The NASDAQ is up 1.5 percent. The S&P over 1 at this point. But again, check back in with us. Keep an eye on these markets. They've been all over
the place for a couple of weeks now. Do not expect them to necessarily close as they have opened today. Sir, thank you very much indeed for
joining us.
And we are getting, expecting to get our first pictures soon from a hearing at The Hague this hour where former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is
charged with crimes against humanity. The hearing largely procedural, but the details of this case are extraordinary.
Duterte swift arrest this week does mark the first substantial attempt to hold him accountable for a ruthless campaign his opponents say against
drugs and drug peddlers. Civil rights groups say as many as 30,000 people were killed while he was in office, including civilians caught in the
crossfire?
Well, our Senior International Correspondent Melissa Bell joining me now with more. This is the first hearing since Duterte's arrest. Exactly what
is happening in court today?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is going to be very little beyond confirming the identity of the man accused of these
crimes, and listing the crimes of which he's accused, essentially laying out the prosecution's case against him.
But it is going to be a remarkable image, Becky, because he's not the first former leader of a country to appear before the International Criminal
Court. Others have before I'm thinking, of course, of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic. There was Liberia's Leader as well. You'll remember also long
back boo, it's happened before, but it's relatively rare.
And the particular difficulty with getting Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague, was that the Philippines had actually withdrawn in 2019. So, the period,
the argument of the court being that the period that they're looking at goes from 2011, 2019 and crimes allegedly committed when Rodrigo Duterte
was both the Mayor of a Southern Filipino City and then when he became president in 2016.
And we will hear more in a moment when we get these images from The Hague of the precise details of those alleged crimes. But it was in 2019, that he
himself had withdrawn the Philippines from the International Court. And for a long time, the current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Becky, simply
refused to play ball with the ICC, calling it even a threat to Filipino sovereignty.
So, there has been a remarkable about turn from the current president that has allowed this to go ahead, because remember that ICC warrants can only
be executed with the cooperation of local authorities. And that about turn, we believe, comes from the changes of the political equation in the
Philippines and the falling out of the president with the vice president, who happens to be the daughter of Rodrigo Duterte, Sara Duterte.
So, there's been a remarkable series of events in the Philippines that have allowed this to happen. But of course, for the very many families of the
victims of some of these extrajudicial killings, and again, Duterte denies that they were extrajudicial killings.
What the campaigners say is that these tens of thousands, they say it's 6000 according to the police figures, the official figures, they say tens
of thousands of people were killed.
[09:40:00]
Not just low-level drug pushers, Becky, but drug users and say campaigners and human rights organizations, people bystanders who happen to be caught
in the crossfire of this very ruthless war on drugs that he carried out. So remarkable images really coming to us from The Hague that have to do with
accountability and justice.
Say those who are happy to see the former Filipino President stand before the court. But there is also a great deal of controversy back in the
Philippines about the political decisions that allowed for this appearance of Duterte to take place in The Hague. And I'm thinking here, of course, of
his very many supporters, he remains extremely popular, specifically in the southern part of the Philippines where he's from, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. And the -- let me just let our viewers know we haven't got the pictures coming into us as of yet, but as I understand it,
Duterte has arrived in court and the hearing has begun. He has been reaching out to those supporters, and there are millions of them from The
Hague via social media. What did he have to say?
BELL: Well, he has been expressing, as has his daughter, repeatedly since his arrest, the -- what he regards, what the family regards as the
injustice of this. And believed, I think, very clearly for a long time, given that the current president had not just stood on a political ticket
with his daughter, but until they're falling out, this had been a functioning political reunion of two political dynasties.
He had felt Rodrigo Duterte that he would not have to go to The Hague. He thought he would get away with it. He thought he would be protected and
allowed to stay in the Philippines. It was, in fact, we understand, a trip that he made to Hong Kong over the weekend, and it was on his, really, on
his return from Hong Kong to Manila, that he was arrested.
And I think he himself surprised by how quickly events have unfolded. So, you're hearing from him a great deal of indignation and the sense that he
feels that he is in The Hague injustly, unjustly and is questioning the legal basis of his extradition to that court in the Netherlands.
But again, you've seen his supporters out campaigning and protesting at his sending to The Hague. But you've also seen, and even in The Hague, a lot of
the people who are very happy to see him find the answer for these crimes, also coming out to celebrate the fact that he is now there.
It was a particularly brutal crackdown, and it began, Becky, when he was the Mayor of Davao. And he's never actually said anything beyond justifying
this war on drugs and the killings that took place. As recently as October, he spoke to a congressional hearing saying he had no apologies to make, no
excuses to make, and even boasting of the gang of thugs that he kept around himself as mayor to go and target criminals directly.
So, it gives you an idea of where he's coming from about the war on drugs. And as we hear the details, I think in a moment of the case being made
against him, we're going to hear a lot more about just how brutal it was, Becky.
ANDERSON: Melissa Bell is in Paris. Thank you, Melissa. We're going to take a very short break. Back after this.
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