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One World with Zain Asher

President Biden Takes Aim At Trump For His Comments On Countries Not Meeting NATO Obligations; Texas Law Enforcement Prepare Appropriate Arrest Warrants For Don Steven McDougal For The Disappearance And Death Of Audrii Cunningham; FBI Revelation Raising New Questions About Russian Interference; Passengers Aboard An American Airlines Flight Rush To Stop A Man Trying To Open The Plane's Emergency Exit Door; United Airlines Flight Diverts Due To Damage To One Of Its Wings. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired February 21, 2024 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:44]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Why does Donald Trump always blame America? Joe Biden on the attack refuses to speak out against Vladimir

Putin.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: "One World" starts right now. The front-runner of a President has yet to condemn the man many hold

responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, how he managed to make the situation once again all about him.

ASHER: Also ahead, panic in the skies. Passengers say that this man tried to wrench a door open In the middle of a flight.

GOLODRYGA: And who doesn't like a little braised pork with their coffee? Starbucks unveils their latest concoction. Skeptical right there. Hello

everyone live from New York, I'm Bianca Golodryga.

ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are indeed watching "One World". It has been five days since Russian officials announced the death of Vladimir Putin's

most prominent critic out there and since then the mystery has only deepened. We still do not know where exactly Alexei Navalny's body is. We

don't know how he died and we still do not know what actually happened.

GOLODRYGA: And now, his mother is taking legal action She has filed a lawsuit with the Russian court over the authorities in action, their

refusal to release her son's body from the morgue where it is supposedly being held.

Now, this comes as the international fallout over Navalny's death continue. The U.K. has now sanctioned six senior officers of the Siberian prison

where the Russian opposition leader died and the U.S. says it is preparing a new round of sanctions against Moscow.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AT THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: That President Putin and his government are responsible

for Mr. Navalny's death. In response at President Biden's direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold

Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny and quite frankly for all its actions over the course of this vicious and brutal war.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ASHER: And the death of Alexei Navalny has of course become a key issue in the U.S. presidential race. At a fundraiser in Los Angeles, Joe Biden

blasted his Republican rival Donald Trump, obviously, accusing him of cozying up to Russia and Vladimir Putin.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, he posted a social media video criticizing Trump for what he said were dangerous comments about NATO and Russia. President Biden

expressed disgust that Trump has not called out Vladimir Putin for the death of Navalny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: After Putin's most fierce opposition leader, Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison last week. The former President

Trump and other Republicans, refused to hold Putin accountable for his death. Instead, Trump said Navalny's death made him realize how bad America

is.

He said and I quote, "We are a nation in decline, a failing nation", end of quote. Why does Trump always blame America? Putin is responsible for

Navalny's death? Why can't Trump just say that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Trump held a town hall last night where he spoke about Navalny who

refused once again to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin and instead somehow -- somehow tried to compare Navalny's death to his own legal

troubles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But it's happening in our country, too. We are turning into a communist country in many ways and

if you look at it, I'm the leading candidate, I get indicted.

I never heard of being indicted before. I was going to -- I got indicted four times. I have eight or nine trials, all because of the fact that I'm -

- and you know this, all because of the fact that I'm in politics.

LAURA INGRAHAM, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" HOST: It's a lot of bloodyville (ph).

TRUMP: A form of Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: It is the form of Navalny. Elena Treene has latest from the Trump campaign. Arlette Saenz is following this story from the White House.

Elena, Let me start with you.

So, his reluctance to call out the Putin regime, his comparison -- comparing his own legal troubles to what happened to Alexei Navalny. I mean

it goes back to this sort of age-old perception that Donald Trump has of himself as a martyr -- as a political martyr. It might not be accurate --

that comparison, but it certainly does work with his followers. Walk us through that.

[12:05:07]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: It does and it's the same type of messaging strategy that we've heard from the former President time and time again as

he continues to try and attack the legal battles that he is facing.

And what we saw and that clip you just showed is essentially Donald Trump co-opting Navalny's legacy and trying to compare the political persecution

that he faced to the political persecution that Donald Trump argues that he is facing.

And I do think it's important to note that Donald Trump has been consistently trying to link all of his legal cases together, something we

know is false. I mean a lot of the battles that he is facing, some are in federal court, some at the state level, some are criminal, some are civil.

But the whole goal of that is to try and argue that President Joe Biden and Democrats are doing whatever they can to try and prevent him from becoming

President once again, and that's what he's doing with this the death of Alexei Navalny. He's arguing that everyone's upset about Navalny.

Everyone's calling out Russia. But look this is happening to me.

Of course, it's, it's pretty much an absurd claim that a lot of people are pointing out and that's why you're seeing Joe Biden, as well as Nikki Haley

his lone rival in this primary really attacking him for this language.

And it's given them further ammunition to go after Donald Trump and try to argue that perhaps This is an example of why he shouldn't be President once

again.

ASHER: All right, Alayna Treene, live for us there. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: And out of the White House where our Arlette Saenz is right now. It's worth-noting, Arlette, that over the weekend, "The New York Times"

published an article in which there were correspondence letters between Alexei Navalny from his time over the past three years in Siberian prison

with a friend talking about the dangers he felt Donald Trump would bring to the world and to the U.S. if he were in fact re-elected.

And now, you hear the President comparing himself to Alexei Navalny -- the former President. Meantime, the current President Biden is expected to

announce new sanctions on Friday. What more are we learning about what these sanctions can entail?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, the White House has said that these will be substantial sanctions that the U.S. will be

implementing in the wake of Alexei Navalny's death that occurred in a Russian prison.

The President, yesterday, or two days ago, told reporters he was considering additional sanctions and yesterday said that he, in fact, will

announce those sanctions that are coming on Friday.

The White House has been quite careful not to detail exactly what these sanctions will be but yesterday, the National Security Advisor Jake

Sullivan said that it -- they would be substantial, that they would in part be targeting the defense industrial base in Russia, as well as key sources

of revenue for Russia's economy that Sullivan says are responsible for funding the, quote, war machine that is currently playing out.

But it comes as the President had previously warned Putin that there would be devastating consequences were Navalny to die in Russian prison. This --

these sanctions were actually already under consideration, already in play before the death of Navalny.

But certainly Navalny's death has taken this to a new level added a new significance to the fact that the U.S. will be announcing these sanctions.

The U.S. has also been working with European partners to discuss the way forward. We will see whether any allies will follow suit in implementing

sanctions, as well.

But it really comes at a moment where the President is trying to use a series of events relating to Russia to make his case against former

president Donald Trump. There is the death of Alexei Navalny. The fact that Trump has yet to condemn Vladimir Putin for his death.

Also, the President has taken aim at Trump for his comments suggesting that he would encourage Putin to do whatever the hell he wants to countries that

aren't meeting their NATO obligations.

And then, there is the whole policy debate playing out on Capitol Hill as House Republicans so far has refused to consider a vote on additional aid

for Ukraine at a time when the war between Russia and Ukraine is about to hit the two-year mark.

President -- former President Trump has been lobbying Republican lawmakers to oppose that bill and this is all adding on to the list of the

President's arguments that he is making against the former President as the 2024 race is heating up.

We know that he personally really wants to start elevating these attacks on Trump. He's directed his campaign team to do that and everything

surrounding Russia and Ukraine adds fodder -- that's coming from Trump, really adds fodder to the President's case as he's making these re-election

arguments.

GOLODRYGA: All right, White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz. Thank you so much.

ASHER: All right. A stunning revelation from the FBI is raising new questions about Russian interference in U.S. politics as under Smirnoff,

the man charged with lying about corruption within the Biden family has told FBI Investigators that he got his information from Russian

intelligence officers. GOLODRYGA: Yeah, here we go again.

[12:10:00]

Smirnoff's now debunked claims that Hunter and Joe Biden were paid bribes by people in Ukraine caused Republicans to launch an impeachment inquiry

into the U.S. President. Well, it now appears those claims were fed to Smirnoff by Russian operatives.

In other news, passengers aboard two different flights across the U.S. dealt with some terrifying moments.

ASHER: Gosh.

GOLODRYGA: First, United Airlines has a flight from San Francisco to Boston had to be diverted after damage to one of its wings was discovered. You can

see the damage right there. It's on a movable part of the wing. My God.

ASHER: And shortly after takeoff from Albuquerque, passengers aboard an American Airlines flight rushed to stop a man they say tried to open the

plane's emergency exit door. Both flights landed safely, but obviously these are majorly sort of scary incidents. Nonetheless, let's bring and see

an aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.

So, Pete, the good news is people who might be afraid that attempts to sort of open emergency exit doors in the middle of a flight usually fail and

that is because of the difference between the air pressure inside the cabin and the pressure outside. So, that is good news.

So, in case people are afraid of that, it is very unlikely that someone's going to be able to pry the door open. But still, the fact that somebody

attempted to do this is terrifying, nonetheless, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION AND TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT: It's so terrifying and you know, no shortage of aviation news lately You point out

the really interesting part of the physics problem here -- very difficult to open a commercial airliner door in flight, these unruly passenger

problems.

And we've heard of passengers trying to open the door and even in some cases storm the cockpit were a really big issue back in 2021. And a large

part brought on by the federal transportation mask mandate continues to be a problem though in 2024.

And passengers tell us that this man on this flight -- this American Airlines flight was sitting in the emergency exit row, tried to open the

emergency exit when passengers started yelling and then tackled him.

Flight attendants came in with tape and flex cuffs. This was on American Airlines flight 1219 between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Chicago O'Hare,

diverted back to Albuquerque because this happened only about 20 minutes into the flight.

You can see in some of the video, this man being led away by police down the stairwell there off of the jetway at the gate. Not clear if he was

arrested, although we know the FBI is investigating this, they've acknowledged that to us. Also, the FAA investigating.

They point out that there's been about 254 incidents, so far, this year of unruly passengers on commercial flights. Compare that to the more than

59000 reports of incidents back in 2021, the rate of incidents is really key though and the rate has actually gone way, way down. But it did go up a

little bit last summer.

Here is the big takeaway here. You just don't want to act out on a plane. There are so many federal charges that you could face not only from the

Department of Justice. They are often referred these cases by the FAA because they can only bring civil penalties.

GOLODRYGA: And you don't want to be sitting next to someone or flying with someone who is acting out on a plane as well. By the way, Pete who would

have known that that my brilliant co-anchor here is both in aerodynamics and physics expert in addition to brilliant journalist.

MUNTEAN: I think a lot of people are winged out by emergency exits now because of the Alaska Airlines incident So, it's a very, very good point,

Zain. Kudos to you.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, exactly, I learn from Zain every single day. Pete, quickly, while we have you if I can go back to the Delta flight with the

damaged wing. I mean, you get on airplanes all the time. We know that these -- some of these planes are quite old, nonetheless, are safe. But what do

we know about the damage to that wing and the potential fall out that initially --

MUNTEAN: You know, it came up on Reddit and a passenger actually posted on Reddit in real time asking should I mention this to the flight crew? That's

exactly what that passenger did. And passengers, I think, are watching things like this especially parts on their airplanes more closely since the

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 door plug blowout last month.

That incident was on a new Boeing 737 MAX-9 versus this, a 30 year old Boeing 757. It was a United flight actually, Flight 354. It was going from

San Francisco to Boston. They diverted to Denver, that's a big United maintenance base.

Uneventful landing back in Denver, so far. One hundred sixty-five 165 people on board, okay. United called it an issue with a slap. That's the

part that you can see there. It is a movable piece of the wing that essentially changes the camber of the wing, the shape of the wing.

So, it generates more lift when the airplane is at low airspeed like during takeoff and landing. This has happened before. There is a bit of precedent

here. July 2010, this happened on another 757, an American Airlines flight. Same scenario, passenger noticed this, alerted the crew. This is known as

delamination. So, a known issue on the 757, these planes are getting older.

[12:15:00]

The 75 is pretty old these days. A little bit of a silver lining here, the average age of the airplanes in the commercial airline fleet in the U.S.,

only about 13 years old according to cerium and as that number, and that number will likely change as some of these older planes like 757s get

retired.

ASHER: Delamination.

GOLODRYGA: You're also an expert on aviation.

ASHER: That's the word. See, I learned from him again. Pete, thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Pete.

MUNTEAN: Anytime.

ASHER: All right, I want to turn to Texas now where the search lasting nearly a week for a missing 11 year old girl has ended in heartbreak.

Police say the body of Audrii Cunningham was found in a river on Tuesday. She disappeared on her way to school last week.

GOLODRYGA: Tragic news. Authorities have named a suspect in Audrii's disappearance as Don Steven McDougal, a friend of her family, they say

McDougal was supposed to drop Audrii at school bus stop the morning she disappeared.

In a social media post reportedly by McDougal, he said he's not guilty and did everything he could to help find Audrii. Rosa Flores has more details

from Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BYRON LYONS, SHERIFF, POLK COUNTY, TEXAS: I sadly announce that Audrii's body was located at the Trinity River on the U.S. Highway 59.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six days of searching, praying, hoping, ends with a grim discovery. Authorities say a cell phone

analysis as well as video and social media helped them to pinpoint her location. The spot was also one of several given to authorities by Don

Steven McDougal.

SHELLY SITTON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, POLK COUNTY, TEXAS: Based on all of the evidence that law enforcement has collected, they are in the process of

preparing the appropriate arrest warrants for Don Steven McDougal.

At this time, we believe the appropriate arrest warrant is going to be for capital murder in the death of Audrii Cunningham. He is currently still in

jail under an unrelated felony charge.

Audrii was last seen in this Livingston, Texas neighborhood about 70 miles northeast of Houston at about 7 A.M. Thursday state police say, but she

never got on the bus and never made it to school that day.

McDougal lives on the Cunningham family's property. The Polk County Sheriff says they believe McDougal was the last person to see her and says he

admits to leaving the house with her Thursday morning around 7 A.M.

LYONS: And they would have made it to the bus stop which is relatively just a little under a mile in the same community, real close.

FLORES: Did anyone see her at that bus stop?

LYONS: No.

FLORES: No other witnesses saw her at the bus stop.

FLORES (voice-over): Sheriff Lyons says when Audrii was reported missing and the community started searching, McDougal joined in appearing to help.

LYONS: He was helping in our search.

FLORES: What does that tell you?

LYONS: Well I mean, to me, it simply tells me is that he's trying to give the appearances that he has no play or he's not at fault in her

disappearance and that I am part of the concerned party -- parties who were trying to locate her.

FLORES: Do you believe that?

LYONS: No, I don't.

FLORES: Sheriff Lyons took CNN to the area where authorities recovered a key clue in Audrii's disappearance. He says authorities located the girl's

bright red Hello Kitty backpack near this dam, Friday.

LYONS: Just a little west of us here.

FLORES: Is it in the water?

LYONS: No, it was on the riverbank. There was enough in it to lead us to believe strongly that it is Audrii's backpack.

FLORES: That it was hers. What about signs of struggle or blood or any other DNA?

LYONS: No, ma'am. There was no signs of struggle there.

FLORES (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Audrii has touched the hearts of many including law enforcement in this community.

FLORES: You cried over this?

LYONS: Several nights, several days. Yeah. I have kids of my own. I feel that pain that they're feeling.

FLORES: I'm in the area of the Trinity River where Audrii's body was recovered. According to authorities, McDougal, the suspect, told them about

several areas that he had been on the day of her disappearance. This was one of those areas according to the sheriff.

The water levels of the Trinity River had to be lowered in order for the body to be recovered. And according to authorities, cause and manner of

death is not available at this time. I should add that we have exhausted efforts to contact McDougal's attorney and family for comment and we have

not been successful. Zain. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Just the worst possible outcome in this story. Our thanks to Rosa Flores. Coming up for us an exclusive CNN investigation into what

happened to a truck carrying much-needed humanitarian supplies to people in Gaza.

ASHER: Also, a disturbing new account of the brutality and the sexual violence carried out by Hamas on October 7th. We will speak to the director

of the Israeli organization that compiled that report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:22:41]

ASHER: All right, there is growing alarm, so much concern right now about the safety of aid workers in Gaza. I want to show you the desperate scene.

This was earlier today as aid workers handed out clean water to a lot of people who had been displaced in Rafah.

Doctors without borders says that two of its own -- two of its own were actually killed in Israeli shelling on a shelter housing the organization

staff and family in Khan Younis. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment about this.

GOLODRYGA: Meanwhile, in northern Gaza where conditions were already particularly alarming the U.N.'s food agency announced this week that it is

pausing aid deliveries because it is not safe.

And these developments come as CNN has exclusive new reporting on that U.N. food convoy that was attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this month.

GOLODRYGA: CNN has seen correspondence between the U.N. and Israel's military that shows both parties agree on the convoys route before the

strike. Now, the IDF has not responded to CNN's repeated requests for comment. CNN's Katie Polglase reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voice-over): This is how desperate the people in northern Gaza are. This aid truck filmed at the end

of January is one of the last to enter the region. And here's why aid so often caught in the fighting.

Now, CNN can exclusively reveal that this truck carrying vital food headed for northern Gaza was hit on February 5th by an Israeli shell despite an

agreement to provide a safe route. CNN has seen the internal U.N. incident report and the correspondence between the U.N. and the Israeli military

that show the route of this convoy was agreed upon in advance.

And with starvation imminent for many across Gaza, experts say hitting a food truck is a potential war crime.

JANINA DILL, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE FOR ETHICS: Looking at it with the available facts, it's really difficult to see how this could be a legal

attack. And so, at minimum, it would look like a very serious violation of international humanitarian law, whether it's also criminal then depends on

questions of intent.

POLGLASE (voice-over): The truck set off as part of a U.N. marked convoy of 10 up al-Rashid Road in the early hours. It reached an IDF holding point at

4:15 A.M. Stationary for over an hour, it was then hit at 5:35 A.M. Fortunately, no one on board was killed.

[12:25:00]

The U.N. says they were hit by Israeli naval gunfire and in satellite imagery taken just two hours after the attack. CNN identified ships that

could only be Israeli naval boats. They've been deployed along the coast and are attacking Gaza from the west.

JULIETTE TOUMA, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, UNRWA: We share with the Israeli army the coordinates of the convoy and only when the Israeli army

gives us the OK, the green light, does UNRWA move. And the purpose of this deconfliction process is to make sure that aid convoys don't get hit.

POLGLASE: It's not the first time this has happened. Many other aid trucks have been hit since the beginning of this conflict. The U.N. says northern

Gaza is still home to reported 300,000 civilians. UNRWA says half of its mission requests to the north have been denied since January. And since

this latest attack, they have taken the painful decision to stop trying to deliver aid to the north at all.

The IDF says it's helping to coordinate humanitarian relief in Gaza but aid agencies say they face repeated delays while some staff are detained and

even tortured. A U.N. mission in December described one aid worker who said he was stripped, beaten and blindfolded.

Even when convoys are allowed through, some routes are simply not passable. This large crater blocking al-Rashid road just weeks before it was

designated by the IDF as the main route permitted for humanitarian vehicles.

UNKNOWN: Such large percentages of the population are at such dire need, it's such immediate risk of starvation. From that perspective, it's really

hard for me to understand what kind of potential military rationale could be advanced to justify actions like this.

POLGLASE (voice-over): As the humanitarian crisis deepens, the question is whether Israel will be held accountable in a court of law for depriving so

many in Gaza, of aid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: That was Katie Polglase reporting there.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we want to turn now to an extremely new and alarming report about the Hamas terror attacks on October 7th. We have previously

reported on the rapes and sexual assaults on that dark day.

Well, now, there's a new account from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. It's said to be based on confidential and public

testimonies as well as eyewitness accounts and interviews with victims and first responders. A warning, some of the details are indeed graphic.

ASHER: Extremely graphic, in fact, the report says the Hamas terrorists, quote, employed sadistic practices aimed at intensifying the degree of

humiliation and terror.

It also says the violence was often carried out in front of family and friends in order to increase the pain that was endured. In other findings,

the report says that the genitals of both men and women were brutally mutilated.

GOLODRYGA: So, let's bring in Orit Sulitzeanu, the Executive Director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. Orit, thank you so much

for joining us.

This is really just devastating to read through your lengthy reports as we now approach five months since the horrific attacks of October 7th, and

clearly you've been able to gather more and more details and testimony and eyewitness accounts.

And you write in this report, the terrorist organization Hamas chose to harm Israel strategically in two clear ways, kidnapping citizens and

committing sadistic sexual crimes you go on to say Silence will be remembered as a historical stain on those who chose to remain silent and

deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas.

I know this report now was submitted to the U.N. Pramila Patten, the U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in

conflict spent a couple of weeks in Israel earlier this year. Talk about where the investigation moves now.

ORIT SULITZEANU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE ASSOCIATION OF RAPE CRISIS CENTERS IN ISRAEL: Well, first of all, I want to say something about, you know, how

we feel now in Israel because I just heard your report about Gaza, which is very hard to hear that.

But you know, as an Israeli woman and I also want to share with you and your audience that I myself, my mother was a survivor from Auschwitz. And

she was a young girl in Auschwitz.

And I know I'm a second generation of the Holocaust Survivor. And as an Israeli and I worked for many years in the women's movement to help women

to see women.

To see women suffering from Holocaust for me, it's a Holocaust, smaller in scale, but horrific and very sadistic, especially it's very hard and you

know, most of the victims are dead, are not with us.

[12:30:00]

But there are still some women that survived this horrific attack. And one of the things that you know -- you know, I deal for many years with

fighting sexual violence and helping survivors.

I'm an NGO -- is that I don't get any money from the government and my only obligation is for the survivors. And -- and and I see that it's my

obligation and our rape crisis centers in Israel obligation to speak and to shout for these who are not alive, but suffered, tortured sadistically.

This is what we found out that it was not one place. Not one kibbutz. Not one little town. It happened in many places the same way as if someone gave

instructions to the Hamas terrorist and this is unspeakable, you know and you know again I represent victims of sexual violence and I fight for that.

And it's very hard, you know, you asked me what's going on with the investigation, you know The world is asking us to prove as you know as a

woman who is a victim of rape has to prove that she is raped. How can you prove that you were raped because it doesn't leave stains on your body.

But in Israel and in many of the first responders and many of the volunteers who collected the bodies -- some naked woman bodies, mutilated I

don't want to say too graphically but mutilated genitals. Some of the genitals were just cut off -- cut off, you know, it's -- it's a terror for

us.

Now, for a woman living in Israel, it's -- it's a nightmare what happened and it will take us years to overcome that and we're terrified You know, I

know I myself and my friends and also the men we all have dreams about terrorists coming to our houses and raping us or our children.

And so, as you said, we gave this report to Pramila Patten and her staff when we were in Israel, but they're having quite what that I understood

from them at the report, they're having a big report about Americans and Israel is just one of the countries.

So, their ability is -- it's not such a -- they don't have such a big mandate -- mandate to do everything They collected a lot of information.

They were very serious when they were in Israel but one of the big problems that we suffer from.

And you know, it's like people who work with survivors of sexual violence is that the survivors and there are survivors cannot speak now. They are

devastated. You know, imagine a survivor of a gang rape. How can she speak?

ASHER: I mean, Orit, as you point out, listen. Because so many of the victims are no longer with us, we will never know the actual extent of the

atrocities that took place on October 7th. But what we do know is horrific in and of itself and I do have to say that as I read through this report I

mean, I found it gut-wrenching.

I found it extremely sort of painful to read especially as a woman, I just want to ask you, what do you want the world to take away from this report?

If there's one thing you want the entire world to take from this report, what would it be, Orit?

SULITZEANU: Again, it's very personal for me because and I have to say that my mother had a Band-Aid here on her arm, hiding her number from Auschwitz.

And you know, today, the world people say no Holocaust, you know. I don't want our survivors to be with Band-Aids on them.

I want the world to understand that no matter what -- now, Gaza, what's going on Gaza is one thing. But I am NOT a politician and I don't deal with

that. I deal with the suffering of the woman and the victims of rape.

I want the people in the world to understand that this atrocities are not human and it happened to our people in Israel but extreme Islamics are all

over the world and they can do it in -- in other areas of the world.

And the world cannot stay quiet. U.N. woman, Dr. Sima Bachos, that's the head of the U.N. woman. Every day, they post about the woman in Gaza and

it's fine. It's fine. It's their job to post about these women.

But now, one day they posted a post in their Twitter or Instagram about the -- our hostages, 18-19 years of age like my daughter who are raped in

captivity every day. How can someone be quiet about that? This is horrific. Not one post about that.

So, I really want the audience -- audience of CNN to understand this is not human and the world, no matter politics, there is no but, cannot accept

atrocities and cannot accept woman, daughters, children being abused, raped, having grenades in their vaginas having their parts of the body cut

off, mutilated while alive and then killed, raped beside their husbands or friends or family and be quiet.

[12:35:00]

You cannot be quiet. We have to fight atrocities We have to live in a normal world -- in a world, in a human world. This is our what you have to

do all of us who are human beings

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and I will say, Orit, this report serves I think two really important purposes. One is to put an end and close the door for

those that still deny that these atrocities took place. There are testimonies here. There are multiple accounts from eyewitnesses of what

occurred and what was perpetrated by Hamas.

But the other, it relates to the hostages who remain in Gaza because your report details the assaults that were committed against men and women that

are held and then that that continue to be held in Gaza from those that have been released and reported back what they saw, what they heard and

that's why it is so important to get these hostages home as soon as possible.

Because according to your reports, published testimonies indicate that both men and women were sexually assaulted during captivity. Orit Sulitzeanu,

thank you so much for the time and thank you so much for talking to us about this really important report that you issue today.

SULITZEANU: Thank you.

ASHER: We'll be right back after the break with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right, welcome back to "One World." I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. A final hearing that could determine if Julian Assange is extradited from Britain to America has just wrapped

up.

[12:40:00]

ASHER: Yeah, and it ended with no decision yet from the judges, lawyers for the U.S. government argued that the jailed WikiLeaks founder should be sent

to the U.S. and stand trial for publishing classified material related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange's attorneys presented their case on Tuesday. If the court denies him a fresh appeal, the U.K. will have to extradite Assange within 28 days

to the U.S. where he is facing espionage charges.

GOLODRYGA: To Ecuador now where one of the most notorious gang leaders in that country is said to have lived like a king while behind bars. With a

queen-size bed and mini fridge, his prison cell looks more like a hotel room.

ASHER: Yeah, his recent jailbreak is shining a spotlight on the country's penal system with experts saying prisons have turned into basically

headquarters for criminal groups. CNN's David Culver has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's as though they're stepping into a war zone. Ecuador's military and national

police trail an armored vehicle in a raid of one of the country's 35 prisons.

Inside, prisoners stripped down, hands tied. Scenes like this have played out across Ecuador over the past few weeks. The armed forces making a very

public show of force attempting to reinstate order within their own prisons.

It's part of Ecuador's effort to neutralize terror groups and weed out gangs which have unleashed chaos nationwide from a live TV studio armed

takeover, to random shootings in the streets.

This most recent surge in violence sparked by the suspected escape of this man Jose Adolfo Macias known as Fito. On January 7th, officials reported

that while serving a 34-year sentence for murder and drug trafficking, the notorious gang leader vanished from this prison in Guayaquil.

A Drones view allows us to grasp the scale of this complex. It is sprawling.

UNKNOWN: Not really much of a prison uniform, They are all kind of in their own clothes.

CULVER (voice-over): Officials tell us it's made up of five different prisons through military and prison sources, we get a sense of the layout.

We learn the women are kept here. These buildings house the men and they range from minimum to medium security and over here maximum security known

as La Roca or the rock.

With a military escort we go past the first of three perimeters. Any farther, we're told, too dangerous even with armed soldiers. We're told

inmates are separated based on gang affiliation and are essentially self- ruled.

CULVER: And you can see behind one of these gates, folks kind of moving comfortably and casually from cell to cell. It's kind of an indoor outdoor

complex CNN obtaining these videos from inside. By prison standards, they reveal a life of luxury for Fito, the drug kingpin.

The images captured last year by members of Ecuador's military. They appear to show Fito's cell. Messy but complete with home comforts -- a mini

fridge, a queen bed, upscale shower fittings artwork featuring an image of Fito himself with guns and cash.

He lives like a king you can hear one of the soldiers say in this video obtained by CNN and verified by Ecuador's military Outside his own

courtyard and a half-dozen fighting roosters believed to be his.

A military source tells us Fito had a fresh fish imported for his meals and somehow even managed to shoot a music video from within the prison walls.

CULVER (voice-over): Ecuavisa showing these images of Fito's 42nd birthday in 2022. The prisoners reportedly enjoyed cake, music and drinks. The night

capped off with fireworks. He had more power outlets than a Marriott hotel room.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said late last year, so why escape? Ecuadorian security experts believe that Fito was tipped off that he was

going to be transferred in the same complex, back to "The Rock", maximum security.

Fito spent a few weeks in the rock last year moving him there involved an estimated 4000 police and soldiers. His sudden disappearance suggesting he

wasn't ready to leave the comforts of his cell.

The government's focus now is to reassert control within but it won't be easy. Prison raids have turned up everything from laptops to guns. Noboa

also announcing the construction of new prisons designed by the same company behind El Salvador's notorious mega prisons where thousands of

suspected gang members are locked up. Back outside of the prison in Guayaquil

CULVER: You can hear there's church services going on, some sort of religious ceremony loudspeakers

[12:45:00]

CULVER (voice-over): Soldiers and police stand guard on the perimeter knowing that it's often the gangs who still dictate what happens on the

inside. David Culver, CNN Guayaquil Ecuador.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right, still to come here North Korea is opening its doors to tourists for the first time since the pandemic. But they're not just any

visitors. Ahead, we'll look at who exactly is being allowed in and why?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Earlier this month, a group of tourists was allowed into North Korea for the first time since the coronavirus Pandemic when the country

closed all of its borders.

ASHER: And in fact, the visitors were a group of 100 Russian tourists, another sign of growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. CNN's Will

Ripley spoke to some of the travelers about what they were allowed to see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY; CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After years of near total isolation, North Korea is rolling out the red carpet

for Russian visitors. This group of 100 believed to be the first post- pandemic tourists visiting Kim Jong-un's hermetically sealed nation amid its deepening ties with Russia.

They flew from Vladivostok to Pyongyang on a vintage Russian plane operated by Air Koryo, North Korea's only airline. I've flown it more than a dozen

times when Westerners were still allowed in. Diplomacy with the U.S. collapsed in Hanoi in 2019, when observers say Kim made a strategic pivot bolstering his nuclear arsenal, prioritizing ties

with Moscow and Beijing both protecting Kim from fallout at the United Nations for his unprecedented missile testing binge. Russia is reportedly

releasing millions of dollars in frozen North Korean assets, facilitating access to International banking networks.

"The New York Times" reports setting the stage for a new chapter of Kim's nuclear ambitions possibly with the help of Russian rocket scientists. This

Russian tour and perhaps more to come is about more than sightseeing. It's about the bigger picture of international relations. Russia and North Korea

strengthening ties icing out the West.

[12:50:00]

Ilya Voskresensky is a travel blogger from St. Petersburg, a tough job these days. Many European nations ban Russian tourists, the result of

Putin's war on Ukraine.

ILYA VOSKRESENSKY, TRAVEL BLOGGER (through translator): I signed up for this tour the moment I heard about it. It's like stepping back in time,

reminiscent of the stories my grandparents told me about life in the Soviet Union, the empty streets, the lack of advertisements. It's surreal. Ilyana

Vichkova is a marketing professional from Moscow.

ILYANA VICHKOVA, MARKETING PROFESSIONAL FROM MOSCOW (through translator): The meticulous preparations for our visit felt like being in a theater

production. But amidst the choreographed scenes, I couldn't shake the feeling that there's another side to North Korea, one that remains hidden.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Beneath the carefully controlled facade, encounters with North Korean children revealing curiosity, genuine interest in the

outside world.

RIPLEY: Tourism is one thing but what the United States and its allies are truly concerned about is this deepening military cooperation between North

Korea and Russia. At least 24 North Korean ballistic missiles fired on Ukraine responsible for at least 14 deaths according to the Prosecutor

General of Ukraine.

And an investigative organization out of the U.K. says that a North Korean ballistic missile launched just last month by the Russian military onto

Ukraine contained hundreds of components from the U.S. and Europe, all of them made reportedly within the last three years. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks to Will for that report. And this, just in, an update to the story brought you earlier this hour. Don Steven McDougal, the family

friend accused of killing 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham in Livingston, Texas was officially charged with capital murder on Wednesday according to

court documents filed in Polk County. So just moments ago, he was officially charged with murdering Audrii.

ASHER: All right. We'lI have much more don't have news after the short break, Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Okay, so here's a story Zain and I have been waiting for. How about some braised pork in your latte, Zain?

ASHER: No, thanks. I've thought about it and no, thanks, but Starbucks begs to differ. They are betting coffee drinkers in China are going to be going

for it. They've released the new flavor to mark the Lunar New Year saying that eating meat means prosperity in the coming year.

[12:55:00]

Look at that.

GOLODRYGA: Looks like a chip.

ASHER: Here's CNN's Marc Stewart with his own taste test in Beijing for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So much anticipation and we're here to try this new pork inspired latte unique to Starbucks Reserve

here in China. Let's go.

Okay, all right, let's give this a try. All right, so let's take a closer look You've got coffee. You've got milk and you've got some barbecue style

sauce on top. We don't have the garnish of the -- of the piece of pork, what you see in the promotional materials. But all right, let's give this a

try. One more sip. All right.

So, it pretty much tastes like a latte with a little bit of like a sweet, savory topping. I can see why people may like it. It's kind of that sweet

savory -- savory mix. This costs about $9.50 U.S. I think for me, personally, I'm going to stick to an almond latte. Marc Stewart, CNN,

Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: We agree.

ASHER: We agree with you, Marc.

GOLODRYGA: That's expensive coffee, too. Okay. That does it for this hour of "One World". I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: -- the barbeque sauce in there. I'm Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching. Amanpour is up next.

END