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CNN International: Khan Younis Residents Return After Israel Withdraws; Netanyahu Says Date Set for Rafah Ground Operation; Total Solar Eclipse Sweeps Across North America; UConn Beats Purdue for Back-to-Back Championships; Greene Intensifies Efforts to Oust U.S. House Speaker. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 09, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We've just seen two huge explosions over there coming from Khan Younis area. It's clear this is still a very active battlefront. Return is not victory here. It's resilience.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would sign off on a national abortion ban. Let's be very clear about that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you think of it all? What did you two?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought it was incredible. This, though, was the best I've ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to warm welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Tuesday, April the 9th, 9 a.m. here in London. 11 a.m. in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a date has been set for a ground operation into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite strong international opposition to such an offensive.
More than a million displaced Palestinians are seeking shelter there. And the U.S. State Department says Israel hasn't presented a credible plan for evaluating those civilians or providing a date for an invasion of Rafah. A source says CIA director Bill Burns has presented a new proposal to try to bridge the gaps in the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas during weekend talks in Cairo.
Hamas says its leaders will review the latest proposal from Israel, even though it doesn't meet their demands. Here's Mr. Netanyahu's reaction to that news. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today, I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals, primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen. There is a date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, those comments come just days after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Khan Younis. Palestinians are slowly returning to the southern Gaza city to find stunning scenes of devastation.
CNN's Nick Robertson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Khan Younis' highway of hell shattered witness to four deadly months of Israeli occupation. Nothing untouched.
The Jaffa Mosque reduced to rubble. The Affah (ph) gas station destroyed. Spreading out from the thoroughfare, a city-sized stamp of destruction.
Almost every building in the southern Gazan hub once home to 420,000 Palestinians wrecked by Israeli troops searching for Hamas.
The scale testimony of the ferocity of the fight. The graffiti left behind. Venom Gaza for the Jews, it reads. The IDF's sudden departure over the weekend, opening the way for residents to return to what's left of their homes.
Our house was bombed and bulldozed, Alia says. I got these clothes and this toy, pointing to a brother. The toy means a lot to us. It's a memory from home.
What are we to do? Mohammed Ahmed says. I'm pulling out a few clothes, looking through the rubble. Maybe I'll find something. That was my washing machine. And that was my fridge.
Return is not victory here. It's resilience. Salim going back to his destroyed home.
I will put a tent on it. Even if they destroy all of Khan Younis, we will stay here and we are steadfast.
At first, just a trickle of people coming back. Many wary. The withdrawal, not what it seems. And with good reason.
A drive along the border fence where the troop pulled out, showing just that.
ROBERTSON: We've just seen two huge explosions over there coming from Khan Younis area.
[04:05:00]
Looking along the horizon, I can see other detonations and hear the fighter jets pulling off into the distance. It's clear this is still a very active battlefront.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A mile away, scores of recently withdrawn tanks and fighting vehicles parked up. The IDF saying the surprise move marks an end of ground operations in Gaza in their current form. Warning though, troops out to recuperate and prepare for future operations.
LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): The war in Gaza continues and we are far from stopping.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Whatever next for the people of Khan Younis, these days are a respite. Impossible to say if the IDF withdraw, an inflection point towards a ceasefire and an end to the destruction and killing.
Nick Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Scott McLean joins us with more on the ceasefire talks. Because it's pretty negative, isn't it, the outlook right now if Hamas won't agree to it.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's not looking great at this stage, Max, and it all boils down to the fact that Hamas has been very clear in its demands and it doesn't seem like there's any indication that the Israelis are going to agree to its demands anytime soon.
They want a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary one, not one that will last weeks or months as the Israelis are proposing. They want a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, but of course we know that Israel's plans for the day after involve Israel having full security control over the Gaza Strip. And they also want full freedom of movement for Gazans who have been displaced to the southern part of the territory back to the north.
That is something that the United States is also pushing for, but so far the Israelis have insisted on security checks for anyone moving and limitations on the numbers who are moving north.
And look, it seems, Max, that the United States and Israel are starting to see eye-to-eye now more on the aid issue. The Israelis have really ramped it up. Yesterday, case in point, more than 400 trucks were able to enter the territory. That is nearing the levels that we saw pre-war.
But they are nowhere near seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to the military invasion of Rafah that the prime minister of Israel says is pending. And this is despite even more renewed pressure from the international community, including an op-ed written in the Washington Post from the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and France, who wrote this about the potential invasion of Rafah.
They said it would only bring more death and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass displacement of the people of Gaza, and threaten regional escalation. They also wrote that when it comes to aid, quote: Consistent with international law, Israel is under an obligation to ensure the flow of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, a responsibility it has not fulfilled.
Of course, all of this, Max, could become somewhat of a moot point if there was some kind of a ceasefire deal agreed to, but as you pointed out, it doesn't seem like there's one imminent at the moment.
FOSTER: Getting word that Turkey's getting pretty serious now about cutting exports to Israel. What more can you tell us about that?
MCLEAN: Yes, so this is something that President Erdogan's critics have long called for, and it comes in response to Turkey saying that its request to airdrop aid into Gaza using its own cargo planes was denied by the Israelis. And so the foreign minister last night said that there was no excuse, in his words, for Israel to do that, and they would be taking actions against Israel.
And we've just gotten word this morning from the trade ministry that they are now cutting off exports to Israel, of exports of more than 50 categories. Most of them are sort of construction or industrial- related, things like steel, aluminum, electrical components, cement, ceramics, the list goes on and on, and this is something that the Turks have sort of long pushed to the side.
Of course, President Erdogan has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel since the outset of the war, but I recall in December, I asked his chief advisor why Turkey was continuing to trade with Israel, and at the time, he said, look, this is not a state-to- state issue, this is a private business issue. But now it seems, perhaps, because of the message that was sent to President Erdogan in the last round of local elections just over a week ago, that many people want to see Turkey take a harder line when it comes to Israel, that Ankara is now listening and now, obviously, it's putting its money where its mouth is -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Scott, in Istanbul, thank you.
In a significant step, the UN Security Council's president has referred the Palestinian Authority's application to become a full member of the world body to its membership committee.
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VANESSA FRAZIER, MAITA'S AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Accordingly, unless I hear a proposal to the contrary, I shall refer to the Committee of Admissions of new members the request that renewed consideration be given to the application of the observer state of Palestine during the month of April 2024.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the Palestinian mission first put in a request in 2011, but was granted only a non-member observer state status in 2012.
Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the U.N. criticized the move, saying the U.N. would be establishing a, quote, Palestinian terror state.
Well, in the coming hours, Britain's top diplomat will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an effort to push for more funding for Ukraine. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was scheduled to meet with former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. CNN hasn't confirmed if that meeting actually happened, but both men have recently criticized Israel's war in Gaza.
Cameron has also urged U.S. lawmakers to pass additional aid to Ukraine. His visit comes as a Ukraine aid bill has stalled in the U.S. Congress, as House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to hold a vote on passing the package.
U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking the Supreme Court to reject Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity. Smith is leading the prosecution of Trump for inciting the January 6th Capitol riot and for mishandling classified documents. The Supreme Court is set to decide whether Trump's claim of presidential immunity is legitimate.
Smith's prosecution is based on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads in part: No person shall hold any office who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.
A New York appeals court judge has rejected Trump's petition to delay his hush money trial. The former president wanted a change of venue, claiming he can't get a fair trial in Manhattan, and we're getting our first look at the juror questionnaire as well.
CNN's Paula Reid has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump lawyers argue that pre-trial publicity is making it impossible to get a fair trial, but prosecutors said, look, it's too late to do something like that. And the way we will weed out biased jurors is through jury selection, and that's where the jury questionnaire comes in.
And you look through this, the questions, some of them are similar to the questions we saw during jury selection in the E. Jean Carroll case. They ask where jurors get their news. They ask if they or anyone close to them has ever worked for Trump or attended a Trump rally.
They also ask about membership in extremist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Now, again, these are questions that we have seen before. Then they get more specific about, in this case, about feelings about Trump himself. This is the process prosecutors insist will help them weed out anyone who has a bias. Now, a question I'm getting a lot is, how long is this going to take? Well, remember, in this case, it's only four days in a trial week because court is off on Wednesdays. We also have a couple religious holidays over the next few weeks.
So this process of selecting a jury for this, the first criminal prosecution of former President Trump, could take a few weeks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Millions of people across North America, meanwhile, witnessed a spectacle in the sky on Monday. It was, of course, a rare total solar eclipse.
Large crowds gathered to share the incredible moment as the moon obscured the face of the sun. Mazatlan on Mexico's Pacific coast was the first city to experience that total totality, if I can call it that. The eclipse then moved across more than a dozen states, from Texas to Maine, ending in Canada.
NASA says those lucky enough to be in the middle of the path of totality saw an eclipse that lasted between three and a half to four minutes, seen as Bill Weir has more on the celestial phenomenon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day, the shadow of the moon bounces willy-nilly across the lifeless Milky Way. And when it hits Earth, it mostly darkens ocean or ice, with no human witnesses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The darkness has settled into Kerrville, Texas.
WEIR (voice-over): But on this day, random fate sent that shadow on a North American tour like no other. And from Mexico to the Maritimes, that shadow moved people to weep and cheer --
WEIR (voice-over): -- Marry --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.
WEIR (voice-over): -- and propose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you marry me?
WEIR (voice-over): It moved animals, triggering both flamingos and penguins at the Dallas Zoo to bunch their flocks tighter for nighttime safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The penguins are all clustered together.
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The flamingos are all clustered together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, all the birds are joining together.
WEIR (voice-over): The swath of darkness over 100 miles wide moved clouds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's amazing.
WEIR (voice-over): And dropped temperatures by 10 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chill in the air is getting cooler and cooler.
WEIR (voice-over): But for science lovers --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you think of it all?
WEIR (voice-over): There are chills for other reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was incredible. You know, I've seen several solar eclipses. This, though, was the best I've ever seen. You saw the diamond ring effect, and then Bailey's Bees, you know, the sun coming through the mountains.
WEIR (voice-over): And with the sun less blinding than normal, this was also a rare chance for NASA to use high-flying planes and rockets to study the sun's corona and the massive eruptions of plasma happening as the sun cycles through its most active phase. Solar storms have the potential to destroy satellites and fry entire electrical grids. So scientists are hungry for clues that could help predict space weather.
WEIR: If it is the sun's errant energy that hits Earth, much like that shadow, the results could be destructive. Elon Musk lost a couple dozen satellites to a solar storm recently. It can affect power grids.
So understanding what triggers that, what kind of notice we will get, vital these days as well. But there was a lot more wonder than worry on this one. And just for perspective, newborns today will be old enough to drink the next time a full solar eclipse hit the United States 22 years from now.
Bill Weir, CNN Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The UConn Huskies have claimed the biggest prize in men's basketball -- men's college basketball, rather, winning their second consecutive championship. Tristen Newton scored 20 points for Connecticut in the 75-60 victory player of the year.
Zach Edey led all scorers with 37 points in a losing effort for the Purdue Boilermakers. CNS Coy Wire spoke to UConn's coach, Dan Hurley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Coach, what's that mean cutting down those stats this time? DAN HURLEY, UCONN HUSKIES COACH: Oh man, unbelievable. Feels like last
year.
WIRE: Any different?
HURLEY: I mean, just incredible. Incredible performance. To beat a team like Purdue the way we did, just incredible.
WIRE: And you've dominated every team along the way. How? Why?
HURLEY: We're -- yes, we're the best program in the country right now. We've got all the right players. Hold on. You need to get that coat.
WIRE: What do you have to say to all the fans watching back home?
HURLEY: Oh, I know they can't wait for us to get back. We'll see them at the airport. We'll see them in Gampel. And I cannot wait for the parade. The parade, man.
WIRE: How are you going to celebrate tonight, coach?
HURLEY: We're going to have some cocktails, I think.
Let's go, baby!
WIRE: Coach, what do you have to say to all your seniors who poured their hearts out for you?
HURLEY: I mean, incredible. The legacy. They're leaving in a place that's hard to leave a legacy.
Just a place that's impossible to be historical players and to have legacies that are as good as anyone that's ever put the uniform on. It's hard to do at UConn, so couldn't be prouder. And, you know, we're going to miss them a lot.
WIRE: Congrats, champ. Times two.
HURLEY: Let's go, man.
WIRE: All right, baby.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, the ratings record for women's college basketball, meanwhile, just got shattered yet again. The championship between South Carolina and Iowa drew nearly 19 million viewers on Sunday.
South Carolina overcoming Iowa 87-75 to win their third national title and finish the season undefeated. Prior to the championship, superstar Caitlin Clarke's Hawkeyes were part of the three most-watched women's basketball games of all time.
Ahead, a far-right Republican warns that God is sending signs to repent and threatens to cause chaos in Congress as she pushes to oust the Speaker of the House. Plus, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mountain pressure home and abroad as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month. CNN speaks with a former Israeli prime minister and gets his take on the current situation.
And the Vatican issues a new declaration on what it considers threats to human dignity. And what the Catholic Church has to say on the topics of gender, gender theory, surrogacy, and gender-affirming surgery as well. After this break.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The Kremlin is accusing Ukrainian forces of attacking the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant with self-exploding drones.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the plant's main reactor took three direct hits on Sunday. Ukraine adamantly denies the allegations, saying they take nuclear safety very seriously. They accuse Russian-installed officials at the plant of creating incidents themselves as a form of nuclear blackmail.
Russian forces took over the plant in 2022. Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of using the plant and the threat of nuclear disaster as a weapon of war.
Ukrainian officials say at least six civilians were killed meanwhile and dozens injured in Russian airstrikes from northeastern Ukraine all the way down to Kherson.
Guided aerial bombs caused the damage in the northern Sumy region that you see here, according to Ukraine's interior ministry. Yet another deadly instance of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. On Sunday, Ukraine's president warned that his country will lose the war completely if the U.S. doesn't send aid.
A Republican congresswoman known for her inflammatory stunts and conspiracy theories is ramping up attacks on the U.S. House Speaker and warning him not to approve any new funding for Ukraine. Marjorie Taylor Greene is demanding Mike Johnson be ousted for working with Democrats to pass a spending bill and protecting the U.S. from default.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I will not tolerate a speaker of the House that I voted for to sell us out. I will not tolerate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, this comes as Greene posts about the recent New York earthquake and eclipse being, quote, strong signs to repent. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty picks up that story.
GREENE: This majority is a failure.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brazen --.
GREENE: Why don't you f*** off?
SERFATY (voice-over): Brash. And ever the provocateur.
GREENE: No, I reclaim my time. You're a liar.
SERFATY (voice-over): Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is holding the reins at the center of the effort to take down Speaker Mike Johnson, threatening to throw the Republican Party into chaos.
GREENE: It's more of a warning and a pink slip.
SERFATY (voice-over): Since filing the motion to vacate, Greene only intensifying her attacks.
GREENE: Mike Johnson has, has, he's literally turned into Mitch McConnell's twin. And worse, he's a Democrat.
SERFATY (voice-over): Slinging political arrows directly at the leader of her own party.
GREENE: He is a damn fool, Steve. And he's, he's a liar.
SERFATY (voice-over): Greene set off by the spending package Johnson negotiated to avoid a partial government shutdown.
GREENE: The current speaker of the House we have right now is getting rolled in every single meeting. He is negotiating from weakness and we have lost full confidence in him.
SERFATY (voice-over): Johnson calling her move a distraction.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: She's trying to send a message. I respect the message. I, I share her, again, her, her frustration about the process.
SERFATY (voice-over): With some Republicans dismissing her as unserious.
REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): Nobody cares what Marjorie Taylor Greene says or thinks. And she's a one-man show. She's grandstanding. She wants attention.
SERFATY (voice-over): The congresswoman has trafficked in some of the most debunked conspiracy theories, bringing the most questionable views and wild opinions to the U.S. Capitol.
[04:25:00]
Greene claiming this weekend that today's eclipse and Friday's earthquake in New York are a sign from God to repent and warning about things to come.
Yes, eclipses are predictable and earthquakes happen and we know when comets are passing by, however, God created all of these things and uses them to be signs for those of us who believe.
Greene is an election denier.
GREENE: Today, I'll be objecting to a stolen election. We can't allow this to happen.
SERFATY (voice-over): And before coming to Congress was a QAnon sympathizer, promoting conspiracy theories about the September 11th terror attacks.
GREENE: The so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
SERFATY (voice-over): And mass shootings.
GREENE: You guys are being used. You're being used by the left because you're young and you're being tricked into having your Second Amendment slowly chipped away and taken away from you.
SERFATY (voice-over): And anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about Jewish space lasers? Tell us about Jewish space lasers.
GREENE: No, why don't you go talk about Jewish space lasers?
SERFATY (voice-over): Once claiming that the deadly wildfires in California in 2018 were caused by a laser from space, possibly controlled by the Rothschild investment bank. Conspiracy theories she was forced to apologize for after taking office in 2021.
GREENE: These were words of the past and these things do not represent me.
SERFATY: And the next big question is, will Marjorie Taylor Greene follow through with her threat to get rid of Speaker Johnson? Now that she has filed a motion to vacate, she next has to bring this to the floor.
After that, she will have two legislative days to try to force a vote against him. But she has so far not revealed the timeline for all of this.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still ahead, leave it up to the states. Trump punts on abortion and manages to anger both the left and the right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here are our top stories.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the start of the Israeli military invasion of Rafah is officially scheduled, though he didn't release the date. This announcement comes despite repeated warnings against the move from U.S. President Joe Biden and other White House officials.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on a week-long visit to the United States. He's set to meet with President Biden Wednesday to discuss several topics, including economic growth and the war ...
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