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South Korean President Arrested; Hostage-Ceasefire Deal Details Still Under Discussion; Strong, Gusty Winds Prompt New Red Flag Warnings in Southern California. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 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)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested. He is expected to spend the night in jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a mother of a young boy, I'm scared that he won't be back home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We shouldn't be all that excited about what's happening right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is still very dangerous for the next 24 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our top priority is a safe return back home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just chaos out there, and I promise you all the firemen did their best. We worked all night, we worked really hard, and we tried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM, with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Wednesday, January 15th, 9 a.m. here in London, 6 p.m. in South Korea, where suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested for questioning over his failed martial law decree last month.

FOSTER: He was taken into custody by anti-corruption investigators just a few hours ago. Ushered away from the presidential residence in his motorcade, Yoon faces multiple inquiries and an impeachment trial. He denounced the investigations in a pre-recorded message released after his arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Unfortunately, the law is all broken in this country. It is truly deplorable to see a warrant issued to an agency that does not have the right to investigate, a court that does not have the right to examine the warrant issue, an arrest warrant, a search warrant, and to see an investigative agency forcefully proceed with this illegal act of deceiving the people by issuing false official documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Yoon said he was surrendering to authorities now in the hopes of preventing bloodshed. Hundreds of opponents and supporters turned out in Seoul as authorities moved in to detain him. Let's go live now to CNN's Mike Valerio, who is in the South Korean city of Gwangcheon, not far from the capital of Seoul.

Mike, tell us the latest with what is actually happening with Yoon now he's in detention, but also a little bit about how this arrest happened, because apparently it was all fairly dramatic, with investigators reportedly scaling the walls of the presidential compound.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Scaling the walls and scaling buses, Christina and Max. Good evening to you from here in South Korea.

It wasn't a sure thing. It was not a sure thing whether this arrest was going to happen, because we go back to December 3rd, almost two weeks ago. That was the first time that investigators tried to detain South Korea's now suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol. He's a suspended president because he's going through this impeachment process to hold him politically accountable for declaring martial law on December 3rd.

So what we see here, this is an effort to hold him potentially criminally accountable for declaring martial law on December 3rd. Perhaps criminal prison penalties for declaring martial law. What we have in our background, these are the supporters who were outside the presidential residence in the video that we were seeing earlier, who have now moved about an hour outside the city to Gwangcheon, behind this iron gate.

This is a secure government facility where the corruption investigative office is headquartered. And this is where suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol is taking a break from some questions. And behind the iron gate, you see a little bit in the distance, every now and then, a "Stop The Steal Sign," an echo of American conservatism now finding its way here in Korean conservatism.

And protesters who are saying that you know what, some of them are OK with the martial law declaration. And they're staying with suspended president Yoon because from their perspective, the liberal side of South Korean politics, it's unpalatable for them. So what we're watching for, Christina and Max, is to see how much longer suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol is going to be questioned here in this headquarters of the corruption investigative office.

So far, he has responded to no questions, pleading the equivalent of the American Fifth Amendment, reserving his right to remain silent. So we will see whenever questioning wraps up, perhaps tomorrow when he goes back to his residence, will he be indicted? [04:05:00]

Most likely analysts tell us yes, he'll go to trial. And that is a parallel track to him also facing impeachment. So will he be removed from office and also potentially face criminal penalties for declaring martial law -- Christina and Max.

FOSTER: We're following it, Mike. Thank you so much.

Now, though, to Doha, Qatar, where negotiators are ironing out the final details of the hostage ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The militant group Islamic Jihad, which also holds hostages in Gaza, says a senior delegation will be in Doha to take part in the final arrangements.

And Israel's foreign minister says the majority of Israel's government will support the deal. The Qataris, who've been hosting these marathon discussions, are hopeful about the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATARI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: Until there is an announcement, there will be no announcement, and therefore we shouldn't be overexcited about what's happening right now. But certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Joe Biden seemed to echo that optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, is Hamas about to say yes to the ceasefire? Mr. President, what do you think? Is it going to happen?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, the first phase of the potential agreement could see 33 hostages freed, including children, women, the elderly and the sick, and a 42-day ceasefire implemented. And Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released in six rounds. Now, of the 251 people taken from Israel during the October 7th attacks, more than 150 people have been returned, and nearly 100 are still in Gaza, and dozens among those are presumed to be dead.

FOSTER: CNN's Becky Anderson is in Doha, where the talks are currently underway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR CONNECT THE WORLD: We understand those talks will continue today, and sources tell us that they continue to feel optimistic that they are closer to a deal to end this 15 months of fighting than they have been for 15 months, effectively. Let's have a look at what this emerging deal looks like, as we understand it. Here's what we know at this point.

Phase 1 -- and this is a multi-phase deal. Phase 1, 42 days, during which 33 of the remaining 94 hostages taken on October 7th and held in Gaza. And remember, importantly, you point out that Islamic Jihad may be here in Doha as part of these negotiations.

It's not just Hamas in Gaza that is holding hostages. It is other groups as well. So, 33 of the remaining 94 hostages taken on October 7th, held in Gaza, will be released in this first phase. That is children, women, the injured, and hostages over the age of 50, as we understand it. Israel believes most of those 33 are alive, although that number could include some of what we believe is 34 who are thought to be dead.

Now, on day 16 of this first phase -- and again, extremely important -- negotiations will start for the second phase of this deal, which is intended to end the war.

During that first phase, six weeks, as we understand it, Israel will retain a presence in what is known as the Philadelphi Corridor but will slowly begin to withdraw from areas where there is dense population and eventually withdrawing to what they describe as a buffer zone, which is a zone on the Gaza border that the Israelis will use for security purposes. Unspecified security arrangements over these phases, as far as the Israelis are concerned, and that is important to note.

The Philadelphi Corridor was a major sticking point for Hamas in these deals in the past. There may be some concessions from Hamas in these final stage negotiations on the presence of the Israelis here.

What's changed, I think, is what's really important here. Because our viewers will be forgiven for thinking that this is a sense of sort of deja vu that we've been here before, and frankly, they will be forgiven for that because the parameters of this deal look very like a deal that was presented by Joe Biden back in May that was effectively not backed by the Israelis at that time. It was presented again in July and never completed on.

[04:10:00]

So the parameters look very like a deal that we've had on the table effectively for eight months now. What's changed, effectively, is the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump because his team, particularly a man by the name of Steve Witkoff, who is Donald Trump's incoming Middle East envoy, has been shuttling around this region, involved in these talks with the Biden administration.

Remember, the U.S. are mediators in what are these indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. Steve Witkoff's been on this since the end of November, as we understand it, putting a lot of pressure on the Israelis to effectively sign up to this deal.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MACFARLANE: Our new red flag warnings go into effect in the next few hours for parts of Southern California as strong gusty winds could bring a new fire danger. More than six million people in the area are under critical fire threat today. Twenty-five people have been killed and at least 13 are unaccounted for.

FOSTER: We know the dry brush and winds help fuel the flames. You can see here just how fast the Palisades Fire grew. What started more than a week ago has burned nearly 10,000 hectares, which is almost 24,000 acres. At least 5,000 structures have been destroyed and the fire is only 18 percent contained.

MACFARLANE: And the Eaton fire has burned close to 6,000 hectares or 14,000 acres and is 35 percent contained. And while firefighters are making some progress, city leaders are already talking about rebuilding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. TONY MCHALE, VENTURA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: The way I like to describe it to people, it's kind of like a blowtorch, a really powerful blowtorch and trying to put it out with a squirt gun. So the conditions are extreme. So when we face those extreme conditions, you know, it's for firefighters, it's the ultimate challenge.

KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: We want to begin to think about how we rebuild the massive destruction that I saw from the air. We don't want people burdened by red tape and bureaucracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Investigators are searching for the causes of all those infernos. According to CAL FIRE, the Eaton and Palisades fires are now the most destructive in Southern Californian history. CNN's Nick Watt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We know what sets the scene for these fires -- dry brush, low humidity, high winds. But what about the spark? Bottom line, we are usually to blame.

DAVID ACUNA, BATTALION CHIEF AND PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CAL FIRE: 95 percent of all fires are started by humans. But that's not all arson. It can be accidental.

WATT (voice-over): A cigarette butt, a campfire, fireworks, or a spark from a power line. It's the infrastructure of human life that's often to blame. After the Eaton Fire just devastated Altadena, the electric company already being sued for allegedly starting it by mistake. So Cal Edison denies this. Investigators still do not know.

CHERYLL KU, EVACUATED ALTADENA HOME: We did see the embers flying. It was almost like snow flurries.

WATT: 6:19 p.m. Tuesday, the Ku family doorbell cam captured fire at the base of a power line pylon in Eaton Canyon.

JEFFREY KU, EVACUATED ALTADENA HOME: It was burning bright and it was the base of the tower on fire.

WATT (voice-over): Above the Palisades, a puff of smoke on a satellite image taken 10:37 Tuesday morning. And this video shot by hikers high on a hillside of trails and bone dry chaparral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was probably only about 50 feet away from us. We started to hear the fire crackle, like right behind us. And the wind started to pick up really fast.

WATT (voice-over): Arson investigators and sniffer dogs searching for any sign of accelerants here. Should those trails have been closed when fire danger was so severe?

JOHN LENTINI, PRESIDENT, SCIENTIFIC FIRE ANALYST: You might argue that it would prevent a spark. But when you've got this much dry vegetation and this much wind, preventing all the sparks is pretty hard.

WATT (voice-over): Midnight last night, as winds whipped up, the Angeles National Forest was closed to the public. That's more than a thousand square miles of wilderness north of the city. Late Thursday, this man was arrested in Azusa accused of trying to set a tree on fire. He did not start a major blaze.

LENTINI: California seems to have a large number of crazies who get off on setting fires.

DANIEL BERLANT, STATE FIRE MARSHAL, CALIFORNIA: In fact, just last year, we arrested over 150 arsonists who started wildfires intentionally here in California.

WATT (voice-over): But power lines and equipment are the most common culprit, sparking some of the most devastating fires in the state. The Woolsey Camp and Tubbs fires. Live cables get hit by branches in the wind fault and spark. That's why more than 20,000 households face power shutoffs today, which --

CHIEF ANTHONY C. MARRONE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: -- are going to prevent our next fire from starting.

WATT (voice-over): But who or what exactly sparked these current fires?

BERLANT: At this point is just too early to determine what that or who that might be.

[04:15:00]

WATT: So up on this hillside behind me is the general area of origin. Investigators trying to narrow that down to a specific area, maybe even just the size of a dinner plate. They do that by examining every pebble, every blade of grass to figure out which way the fire was moving. Now, arson obviously on the table. Everything's on the table. A couple of power poles up there, also a potential issue. Also, there was another fire here New Year's Day in this same area. So there's a possibility that something could have remained smoldering underground that was then reignited when those winds picked up. But it's going to be months, perhaps before we really know what happened here.

Nick Watt, CNN, Pacific Palisades, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: For more on how you can help those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, go to CNN.com/impact.

FOSTER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia targeted energy infrastructure in a new strike overnight, using dozens of missiles and drones to hit gas and energy facilities. He added that air defense systems destroyed most of the missiles and drones, preventing any damage.

MACFARLANE: This comes as Moscow vowed to retaliate after Ukraine launched one of its largest ever missile and drone attacks on Russia since the war began. Russia's defense ministry says it shot down 12 Western-made missiles and 146 drones on Tuesday. Ukraine says it successfully struck military and industrial targets as deep as 1,100 kilometers inside Russia.

FOSTER: Families of hostages are hoping their loved ones will come home soon as negotiators continue to work on a deal. Ahead, we'll hear from some of them.

MACFARLANE: And a rescue mission is underway in South Africa, where potentially hundreds of miners are still trapped. Ahead, what led to this desperate situation?

FOSTER: Also ahead, the Princess of Wales makes her first solo appearance of the year and an emotional announcement about her recovery from cancer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: As they wait for news of a possible ceasefire deal, civilians are still suffering and dying each day in Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli tanks killed at least 54 people across the enclave.

MACFARLANE: This house in southern Gaza was hit, people rushing to dig their loved ones out from the rubble. According to eyewitnesses and Palestinian officials, nine people were killed here, including women and children.

Advocates for the ceasefire deal in Israel are urging the government to end the war and secure the release of hostages in Gaza.

FOSTER: Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. However, some family members of the hostages worry that a ceasefire deal will not ensure the safe return of every hostage, or the deal could collapse entirely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERUT NIMRODI, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE TAMIR NIMRODI: As a mother of a young boy, I'm scared. I'm scared that he won't be back home, and it will take time until we get another deal done.

[04:20:00]

And I don't know if there will be anyone to bring back home, and it scares me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Antony Loewenstein joins us now from Sydney, Australia. He's an independent journalist and author of the book "The Palestine Laboratory." Anthony, it's really good to have you with us. Thanks for your time.

I mean, those fears that we just heard there from the hostage families are not unfounded, are they? Because, you know, we're in such a precarious position right now, but also the way that this ceasefire deal is being proposed in a phased rollout. I mean, if a deal is signed and agreed to, do you expect it to hold?

ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: Well, history would suggest no, and I say that even based on what's happening in Lebanon, the country next door, where Israel's been breaching that ceasefire every day, and indeed they're occupying parts of Syria.

Look, the ceasefire, which hopefully happens, in some ways I think a lot of Israelis who would want a deal have reason to be skeptical of their own government. I mean, just in the last 24 hours, Ben-Gvir, one of the far-right members of Netanyahu's government, came out and openly said proudly that he had scuttled ceasefire arrangements in months past.

So what is on the table now is remarkably similar to what Hamas agreed to seven, eight months ago. There are differences here and there, but essentially Hamas has agreed to this. The issue primarily has been Israel, Netanyahu, not wanting the war to end for his own nefarious reasons.

And what's so outrageous is that in fact the death toll amongst Israeli soldiers in Gaza is going up. There's been four, five, six soldiers being killed every week, and obviously even worse, hundreds and hundreds of Palestinian civilians continue to be killed.

And just finally, in the last 24 hours he had the outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the U.S. acknowledging remarkably and outrageously that Hamas has essentially replenished all its fighters that had been lost in the last 15 months. The obvious question is what's been the reason the war has been going on then for so long? To achieve what exactly?

FOSTER: In terms of this timeline that Chrissie was talking about, there's some cynicism, isn't there, in Israel that we'll even get past the first stage of it. And this has all been calculated by, you know, those right-wingers as well. It's a bit of a compromise. You get to the first stage but you don't continue.

LOEWENSTEIN: Well, the Israeli press has been saying in the last 24 hours that one of the apparently carrots, so to speak, that the Trump administration has offered Netanyahu is a few things. One, you can break the ceasefire deal in the coming weeks and months if you really want to or need to. The possibility of being able to massively expand and annex parts of the West Bank and violence there against Palestinians has been off the chart for the last month.

And also to remove the sanctions on Pegasus, which is an Israeli spyware tool that I've spent years investigating that Israel wants to keep selling to authoritarian states. So that's apparently the carrot that the Trump administration has offered to Israel.

But ultimately, in the end, what a lot of Israelis, I think, are thinking -- I'm talking about the ones who are not pro-war is -- what exactly have we achieved?

Hamas is still standing. They are bloodied and beaten, to be sure. Their leaders have been killed. But as a fighting force, they are now a guerrilla army. They're no longer a government of Gaza, but they still control parts of Gaza. And I think ultimately, yes.

MACFARLANE: Sorry, go ahead, Antony. I didn't mean to interject there.

LOEWENSTEIN: No, I was just going to say, and I think increasingly you find in some Israeli discourse that you have all these reports in the Israeli press, which often don't get attention in the Western press, of Israeli soldiers themselves talking about the gross human rights abuses, the war crimes they've been committing in Gaza, killing civilians for no reason. That's their words.

And I think ultimately what I think a lot of Israelis are worried about is that when international journalists and NGO workers and others can get access to Gaza, they will see that the death toll, which is apparently at least 45,000, probably tens of thousands more than that, is so devastating to achieve what, apart from mass destruction of Gaza?

MACFARLANE: I just wanted to ask, Antony, on that point of that stunning admission you mentioned about Antony Blinken yesterday, he also talked about his vision for the future governance of the, you know, of the state, saying that Israel would have to accept reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of the reformed Palestinian Authority.

I mean, given what we've just said about the, you know, the replenishing of Hamas fighters, I mean, that's pie in the sky, isn't it? That is so unlikely to be agreed on by Israel, and that is part of this ceasefire deal being proposed.

LOEWENSTEIN: Yes, it's a pipe dream. I mean, not least in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has spent the last month literally going after and fighting Israel's occupation, which essentially is its job, killing huge amounts of Palestinian civilians. Indeed, the Gazans are going to want to have the PA as their leaders is delusional.

[04:25:06]

I mean, what I fear is there'll be some kind of Arab-style autocratic regime, a combination of various states maybe putting in some money, but to rebuild Gaza will take decades, and without accountability for war crimes committed, particularly by Israeli leaders and soldiers and others, nothing will change. Without an impunity ending for Israel, this situation, I fear, will just fester for years, especially with the Trump administration coming in.

FOSTER: Antony Loewenstein, I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you so much for joining us from Sydney.

LOEWENSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

FOSTER: Four months after Catherine, the Princess of Wales, announced she was cancer-free, she now says she's in remission. In a social media post on Tuesday, the British royal said she was relieved and continues to stay focused on her recovery. She also returned to the hospital where she received her treatment.

A source close to the princess told CNN she wanted to personally thank the staff for what she described as their exceptional care, support and compassion over the past year. She also wanted to show support for other patients currently going through the same treatment that she received. She announced she had cancer last year, so she could raise awareness of the disease, although she still hasn't revealed exactly what type of cancer she had.

So that was basically a huge health update around that visit.

MACFARLANE: Yes, but I thought she did it in a very sensitive and, you know, a really good way in highlighting her new patronage, right, which is of this hospital, and then therefore shining a light on the people who are still suffering.

FOSTER: Yes, and William is already a patron there because his mother was a patron there.

MACFARLANE: Oh, I didn't know that.

FOSTER: So they've got some pretty strong patrons. It's a world- leading center for cancer research, and, as I was saying, this is all about -- I mean, Kate, you know, she didn't have to reveal that it was cancer at all, but she says she wanted to, because she wanted to sort of raise awareness, really, of the disease and how people suffer and the people around them suffer.

MACFARLANE: Well, we look forward to seeing her back in public life if she's able to do that more often this year.

FOSTER: Still ahead, South Korea's president reportedly refusing to speak to investigators following his arrest for questioning. We'll have the latest on the investigations that he is facing.

MACFARLANE: Plus, several of Donald Trump's picks for Cabinet positions will be on Capitol Hill today. Details on who will be in the hot seat coming up next.

[04:30:00]