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New Day
Kansas Wins Title; Romney and Murkowski to Vote for Jackson; Andriy Moskalenko is Interviewed about Bucha; Concerns for Trevor Reed's Health; Bombardment on Kharkiv. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired April 05, 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]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Men's college basketball after the biggest comeback in championship game history.
Andy Scholes was there in New Orleans and with some blurry eyes this morning has this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a little sleepy, John, but, man, what a night here in New Orleans. The Final Four coming to an end with just yet another amazing, emotional game full of runs. And for the fourth time in their history, the Kansas Jayhawks are national champions. But it certainly wasn't easy.
North Carolina was just on fire in that first half. Brady Manek making three threes. The Tar Heels went on a 16-0 run led by 15 points at halftime. But Kansas just came storming back in that second half thanks to a 31-10 run. Now, they were down one with under 90 seconds left and that's when the Jayhawks big man, David McCormack coming up huge. He hit back-to-back buckets to give Kansas a three-point lead. Tar Heels did have one last chance in the closing seconds to tie this game, but their three was no good. Kansas wins 72-69, completing the largest comeback in championship game history. Head Coach Bill Self gets his second title at Kansas, first for the school since 2008.
And I caught up with him on the floor during the celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Coach, how amazing is this moment?
BILL SELF, KANSAS HEAD COACH: It's great for us. We played a terrific team. They played their butts off the first half. We had no answer. Somehow the switch flipped the second half and our guys were unbelievable.
SCHOLES: How happy are you for them with that kind of a comeback?
SELF: You know, it's -- it would be unbelievable to win at all, but to win in that way, that will be one that not too many people forget very soon. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes, and those are the fans back at the watch party at Allen Field House after the win. What a roller coaster of a night for them, down so much in the first half, then coming all the way back to win. It certainly made it much, much sweeter.
All right, meanwhile, in Augusta, things continue to trend towards Tiger Woods playing in the Masters. He was back on the practice range yesterday and he played nine holes with Justin Thomas and Fred Couples. Fans giving Tiger just huge ovations as he made his way around the course. Couples saying afterwards, Tiger looked phenomenal in the practice round.
Now, we're going to have some bad weather in Augusta today, John, so there's not going to be much practicing going on, but Tiger is expected to meet with the media at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. So, who knows, maybe he'll come out and say he's playing, or he'll maybe say he's still a game-time decision. We'll wait and see.
BERMAN: He's playing. He's playing.
SCHOLES: Yes, Yes, he is.
BERMAN: I've announced it right there. I made the announcement right there for him. So, don't be surprised when he comes out and says it today or announces it Wednesday or Thursday at this point.
I have to say on the finals, Andy, I love watching the big men in the pivot. The fact that it came down to pivot play there is just -- it's great. I just loved it.
SCHOLES: Yes, McCormack came up huge. That's for sure.
BERMAN: What a final.
All right, Andy. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.
Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has won the support of Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney. They join Republican Senator Susan Collins who pledged last week to vote for Jackson's confirmation. She is on track to be the first black female Supreme Court justice by the end of the week.
CNN's Laura Jarrett joins me now.
We didn't know what Romney and Murkowski were going to do.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": We didn't. We had seen Susan Collins say she was going to be in support of Judge Jackson, but Murkowski, Romney, others were a little bit of a wildcard.
Murkowski, I think, is the most interesting because she perhaps has the most to lose, at least theoretically. She's up for re-election. She says she knows this is a risky vote but she's doing it anyway. There -- all of these are sort of votes of conscious instead of political choices.
Interesting, Murkowski says her support of Judge Jackson rests on her qualification, which no one questions. She also says she's concerned about the corrosive politicization of the Supreme Court process, which I also think anybody who has watched these hearings in recent years also wouldn't question. She said she decided only after a phone call with her this weekend. So, sort of a last-minute game-time decision there. And she understands that, you know, some may view this as sort of a risky, political choice but it's a choice that she's willing to make.
BERMAN: Yes, she went out and said it with words. Mitt Romney, I felt like alluded to all of it in his statement.
JARRETT: He did. But his -- his was a little bit more sort of toeing the usual lines of well qualified. She's somebody who -- a person of honor, he said. She's -- he -- I don't expect to agree with every decision she may make on the court, but I believe that she more than meets the standards of excellence and integrity.
And as you and I were talking in the break, that used to be the standard.
BERMAN: Right.
JARRETT: But, no longer, of course, right? Like, all of the Supreme Court justices that were nominated under Trump were mostly along party lines. And it wasn't as if Democrats were going to vote for Neil Gorsuch or Justice Amy Comey Barrett, even though if on paper they were qualified. The politics were different than the Democrats wanted and so they didn't vote in favor of them.
[06:35:06]
Here, obviously, we have a different situation with Judge Jackson, but plenty of Republicans came after her hard in the hearing. It's something that Senator Murkowski seemed particularly bothered by. She said that she found her temperament noteworthy and the fact that she handled those attacks with such grace and sort of calm under fire, which, of course, what other choice did she have, but it was something that Senator Murkowski noted and she said tilted her in favor of voting for her.
BERMAN: Yes, it seemed like it may have backfired. The Republican attitude may have backfired with Murkowski there.
JARRETT: Yes.
BERMAN: But I just felt Murkowski and Romney were trying to make a statement for posterity. They're trying to tell the world, we should try to fix this going forward.
JARRETT: Yes.
BERMAN: We'll see.
JARRETT: We'll see.
BERMAN: Laura Jarrett, thank you so much. Nice to see you.
JARRETT: Thanks.
BERMAN: Ukrainian officials warning the atrocities seen in Bucha, there could be far worse, as Ukraine retakes more territory and reveals the carnage that Russian troops left behind. We're going to speak with the deputy mayor of Lviv, next.
Plus -- oh, too close. Much too close for CNN's Ben Wedeman and his entire crew who found themselves under assault from Russian artillery fire. We're going to join him live on this harrowing ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:40]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: The mass killings in Bucha, Ukraine, are just the beginning of Russian crimes and the tip of the iceberg. That is according to Ukraine's top diplomat as President Biden calls for a war crimes trial after those horrific images have surfaced.
I'm joined now by Andriy Moskalenko. He is the first deputy mayor of Lviv.
Sir, thank you so much for being with us here today.
You, like so many Ukrainians, have friends and family in the center and in the east of Ukraine. What are your worries for those areas as you see these atrocities being revealed as Russian forces leave the area around Kyiv?
FIRST DEPUTY MAYOR ANDRIY MOSKALENKO, LVIV, UKRAINE: So today is like what we see last days. So, it's really a (INAUDIBLE) of 21st century. And so when Russian troops killed civilians, when they killed photographers, and so they want to do to show this very publicly in order -- I don't know what to demonstrate. Demonstrate they are -- that they not humans because only non-humans can do such awful things when they simply killed children and -- so, that's what we -- the whole world sees that they really wanted to publicly show for the whole world how much they are non-humans.
And we do have colleagues, friends, relatives in almost all our Ukrainian cities. And today -- today we're all aware and know why they kill journalists, why they kill photographers in order then shows this --
KEILAR: You're referring -- you're referring to Maks Levin (ph).
MOSKALENKO: Yes. Yes, yesterday was funeral. He was and is huge friend of our city. A lot of photographers from our city where yesterday on this funeral. And so he dedicated huge his part of life in order to show what real war -- what real invasion from Russia site (ph) is, was, because we have in our country war still more than eight years. And so right now it's new peak of war. And so today we have to appeal to the whole world that we, right now,
do need not only humanitarian help, we do need really military help because more weapons which will be provided to our country, so less civilian victims (ph) will be in our country.
KEILAR: What is your worry about what we are going to see? Because, we should be clear, Bucha, it's not as if these atrocities happened yesterday. They have been happening over the last month or so. They have only just now been revealed. We are going to see other places where Russian troops have just left and the eyes are just getting in to see. What are you worried we'll see?
MOSKALENKO: So, today we have also o be aware that it's -- this war, it's not only about Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv. We worry today about our Ukrainians who right now in east of Ukraine, about our militaries who heroically defend our country, but also we have to be aware that last week in our city was a lot of politicians, European politicians, and they -- it's quite important they are right now aware and also they have courage to say publicly because today military of Ukraine defend not only Ukraine, they defend the whole Europe because that's what we see in Mariupol, in Kharkiv, in capital in Kyiv, one of the biggest European capitals in Europe. So it can be in each city, in Europe and even all over the world. Because we can't find any words how to describe what it was.
And so we saw that they can kill children. They can kill civilians, can kill woman. And even that humanitarian corridors, you know, that every day we have several trains from east of Ukraine, from center of Ukraine. And so our hospitals provided service for wounded people.
So, they simply can kill the people who in humanitarian corridor. And they tried to show evacuation and to push this Russian propaganda that they have equated Ukrainians to Russians. They don't want accept this, yes. And no one Ukrainian city non-accepted Russians because they're not humans.
[06:45:03]
They are killers. They are simply even -- I suppose that's what they do even they can't explain what they do. They simply -- and today is what Russian propaganda tried to sell, that there are some like good Russians and bad Russians. No, when they killed Ukrainian children, so they're not divided, civilians, militaries, they -- and so they also have responsibility for all that what happened in our country.
KEILAR: Andriy, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us this morning. Thank you so much.
MOSKALENKO: Thanks.
KEILAR: Some new concerns about the health of Marine Veteran Trevor Reed, who is in a Russian prison following a hunger strike. What the State Department and Reed's family are saying about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:02]
BERMAN: There is growing concern this morning about Trevor Reed, the 30-year-old Marine veteran who has been detained in Russia since he was arrested in 2019. The State Department and Reed's family fear his health is deteriorating by the day.
CNN's Natasha Bertrand live in Washington.
Natasha, what have we learned? He was on a hunger strike. His family claims he's been mistreated for months. What's the latest now?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, John.
So, Trevor Reed's family did release a statement yesterday saying that he has actually lost seven pounds in five days as a result of that hunger strike. And the reason he has been on the hunger strike is largely because he's exhibiting signs of active tuberculosis and his family has said that he has not received any kind of medical treatment for TB. Now, the Russians have said that they have transferred him to a prison facility, to a prison doctor's office essentially. But that is not satisfying his family because they say he has never received medical care when he has been transferred to those kinds of prison medical facilities in the past.
And so the State Department now is expressing a lot of concern over his safety, over his health, especially because of the weight that he has lost and, of course, because of those signs that he is exhibiting of TB.
The Reed family did meet with President Biden last week at the White House after weeks of trying to set up a meeting with the president. And they say that they were encouraged by what they heard. But, of course, they are saying that Trevor Reed is not running out of time. He is actually out of time.
If you'll recall, Trevor Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for allegedly assaulting police officers when he went there. And he's been in prison now for over 950 days, John.
BERMAN: That's a perilous situation. He's coughing blood. The family says he's never received the treatment he needs.
Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much.
The breaking news this morning, Ukraine warns that Russia's atrocity worse than what we have seen in Bucha.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen just established a connection from a town the Ukrainians recaptured from the Russians. He's live, next.
Plus, CNN speaks to the Ukrainians who are not leaving the country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:56:21] BERMAN: The city of Kharkiv is in northeastern Ukraine, very close to the Russian border. It's a city the Russians thought they would capture in the first days of war. They didn't. It's been under constant bombardment, though, for weeks. Life has been hell there.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour and her team made it to Kharkiv and filed this report. We want to warn you, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice over): Here in Kharkiv, former Ukrainian capital, second biggest city, and one of the most important cultural sites, the great 19th century poet, Taras Shevchenko, is hunkering down for the rest of this war. Workers cover him in sandbags against the kind of destruction that's pounded this city's center since the start.
The most spectacular strike was this one a month ago, a Russian missile slams low and hard, straight into the corner of the regional administration building.
AMANPOUR (on camera): The missile struck right here. And the idea of hitting a building like this is to deny the legitimacy of the state. But the terror against civilians continues, playground by playground, mall by mall, park bench by park bench.
AMANPOUR (voice over): Which is what we find in this residential neighborhood. People were sitting outside chatting on a Sunday afternoon. Kids were playing. We find the telltale pattern of a mortar that landed right here. Authorities say seven people were killed in this neighborhood, many more were injured.
Kharkiv sits 40 miles from the Russian border. It is the last major city before Donbas, where Russia is directing its war effort to the east. Just last week, the nearby village of Molarohan (ph) was liberated from the Russians.
This civilian says he was captured and held.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was taken hostage and they too me to the officer for interrogation. The officer said, you are a saboteur. No, I am a civilian, see all my documents, my registration. I live here. I came just to ask, don't shoot at our houses.
AMANPOUR: When dusk falls, children are outside playing and getting the last bit of fresh air before descending underground into one of the capital's many subway stations. After 40 days of war, they have turned their temporary homes into a neighborhood. Some have even decorated with fresh flowers.
Zena (ph) says she's been living down here since the beginning.
ZENA: Oh, this is my house.
AMANPOUR (on camera): Yes. ZENA: This used to be my house. Now we cannot live here, obviously, because it has been bombed three times in a row.
AMANPOUR: But this is a safe space for you?
ZENA: Yes, absolutely.
AMANPOUR: And for the kids?
ZENA: Yes, absolutely.
AMANPOUR (voice over): Kids do what kids do, homework and handicrafts. Even this is organized. Marina (ph) works for an organization that plans ways to keep the children busy, entertained and their minds off the trauma.
MARINA: Here we equipped the playing grounds, the space for kids, where they can play with toys, with (INAUDIBLE) made puzzles and to do the things that they did in their usual life before the war.
AMANPOUR: But the trauma is never far away, as we found in this underground station where civil defense are teaching kids how to protect themselves, how to recognize weapons and ordnance and to remember never to touch. The adults are shown how to protect themselves in case of a chemical weapons attack.
Even this maternity hospital was damaged in a mortar strike.
[07:00:00]
Now the basement has been turned into a shelter and delivery room, if necessary. Birth, life continues.
