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One World with Zain Asher

Biden Delivers Remarks About Russia Events, Says U.S. Will Continue To Support Ukraine; Prigozhin's Location Remain Unknown After Deal; Search For Titan Submersible Implosion Debris Continues Using Underwater Robot; Transwoman Shares Her Journey To Help Her Parents Understand Her Sexuality. Aired 12:15-1p ET

Aired June 26, 2023 - 12:15   ET

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

[12:15:00]

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I may be speaking to him later today, early tomorrow morning, to make sure we continue to remain on the same page. I

told him that no matter what happened in Russia, we say it again, no matter what happened in Russia, we, the United States, should continue to support

Ukraine's defense and its sovereignty and its territorial integrity. He and I agreed to follow up and stay in constant contact.

I'm also in constant contact with our allies to maintain our coordination. I'll be speaking with the head of state right after this meeting today and

making sure we're on the same page. I didn't get a chance to speak with one head of state yesterday. We're going to keep assessing the fallout of this

weekend's events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine.

But it's still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about where this is going. The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen. But no

matter what comes next, I will keep making sure that our allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we are reading and responding to the

situation.

It's important we stay completely coordinated. And now I'd like to turn to today's announcement, begin by asking a question. Did you lay all that

cable? She's a wonder woman. I was watching in the other room. But I didn't realize --

ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You just listened to President Joe Biden speaking at the White House there, he made very brief remarks about

the events in Russia over this weekend. He said that he's spoken to America's key allies to ensure that they are coordinated in their response.

Also saying that it is very important that we are all aware that even if Moscow tries to blame the West for the events over the weekend, that the

U.S. is reiterating they, of course, had nothing to do with the attempted insurrection by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Of course, that is straight out of Moscow's playbook to blame the United States. He said that he also spoke to President Zelensky and reiterated

that, listen, regardless of what happens in Russia, the U.S. will continue to fully support Ukraine.

All right, we are also following breaking news this hour about the events over the weekend. Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin released an audio tape in

the past hour outlining the two factors, he says, led to his troops turning around some 125 miles from Moscow. He says, first, his mercenary group

wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed. Second, he says, the march was just a protest and not a move to overturn power in the country.

As the dust settles after that very short-lived insurrection, a number of questions are still swirling around this weekend's extraordinary events.

Among them, what exactly will be President Vladimir Putin's next move? The Kremlin has released a prerecorded video of Mr. Putin that does not

reference the rebellion at all, but experts say that the revolt was pretty much the most serious challenge to his authority in his 23-year rule.

For now, Moscow remains quiet, with the mayor saying all security restrictions have been lifted. But observers warn the rare uprising could

certainly have consequences down the line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: The monster that Putin created with the Wagner, the monster is biting him now. The monster is acting

against his creator. The political system is showing the fragilities and the military power is cracking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: NATO Secretary General says that whatever it is, the world should not underestimate Moscow. His comments came during a meeting with

Lithuania's president. Here's his take on the failed revolt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: It is hard to predict exactly what will now happen in the next days and weeks, but we should not make the

mistakes that we are underestimating the Russians. So, we need to continue to provide support to Ukraine, and that's exactly what NATO and NATO allies

are doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: I want to bring in Retired Army Colonel Liam Collins. He is a Former Defense Advisor to Ukraine and Co-Author of the book, "Understanding Urban

Warfare". Colonel, thank you so much for being with us. I want to talk about the events over this weekend, because for any military operation to

work, there has to be cohesion. There cannot be dissonance. And when you think about the level of infighting between the Wagner Group and also the

Russian military, it's astounding.

I mean, Prigozhin leveled so much criticism at Shoigu, talking about the Wagner group not having enough ammunition. Also, Prigozhin was told to sign

a contract that would bring the Wagner group's operations under Russian military control. Prigozhin refused.

[12:20:00]

Obviously, so much infighting. The two groups were never quite singing from the same hymn sheet. What does Putin learn from this? And also, what does

Shoigu learn from this, as well?

LIAM COLLINS, COLONEL, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: Yeah, I mean, as you mentioned, right, one of the principles of war is unity of command. And the Russians

never had that with Prigozhin with his private military there. And I think Putin, what he learned is, he's been playing a dangerous game since the

start of the war because he has not felt that he has the political ability to do a mass mobilization of the populace.

He's had to rely on people like Prigozhin and private militaries to bulk up his military effort. Because he doesn't want to -- if he does a mass

mobilization, effectively he is calling out all the Russian population then to wage the war and he's afraid that they will not support that we're a

bulk of the wars being kind of fought by the Russians on the periphery the South, the West, kind of like, as opposed to their middle class like in the

U.S. for an example would be.

And so, Putin's learned this is what happens when he plays that dangerous game and allows Prigozhin to run like that.

ASHER: Is Prigozhin a dead man walking?

COLLINS: It remains to be seen. I mean, we've seen Russia, you know, do nerve agent attacks on British soil against former Russians. We've seen

them do, you know, other radiological attacks. So, I really wouldn't Prigozhin to have a have a long lifespan, if you look historically, what

Putin's done to those who oppose him.

ASHER: Right, the one thing he demands is loyalty. I mean, you look at what happens when there's any kind of dissent in Russia, any kind of opposition

protests, and you think about that compared to what Prigozhin tried to do. What happens to all of the Wagner troops now? I mean, the Wagner group was

founded by Prigozhin. Who are they taking orders from now in Ukraine?

COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, that's I think that's a question that everybody's wondering. I think, the most likely, the most likely outcome is that

they're going to nationalize all of these fighters, right. Russia will give them the choice of right imprisonment or nationalized into the military.

And with that choice, many of them will be nationalized in the military.

And then what are they going to do? They demonstrate that they are, you know, arguably one of the most capable combat forces. Send them back into

Ukraine, send them into the thick of the fight where many of them will die, given that's how Russia has waged this war to date. And many of them dying

wouldn't be a bad thing for Putin or of military perspective because it would solve the problem of many pretty, potentially disgruntled fighters.

So, I would expect to see them sent back to Ukraine into potentially the most dangerous places. And this is how Putin's dealt with separatists back

in 2014 and 2015 in the Donetsk and Luhansk, how he dealt with some of those fighters.

ASHER: When you think about sort of how Putin's personality type and how he handles this kind of humiliation, I mean, obviously, you know, he didn't

expect this sort of a challenge, but what does it mean for the actual battlefield? I mean, do you think, I mean, people say, listen, Putin was

never going to compromise anyway. But now that he's been humiliated in this way, that makes any kind of compromise that much less likely.

COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, in terms of the battlefield in Ukraine, I don't think it's going to make a significant, you know, impact on it, right? This

only lasted a few days. Russia did not reposition any troops from -- from Ukraine back to Moscow to protect the capital. And so, I don't see it

impacting that, right? If you go back, Prigozhin's, right, his call out was really to relieve some of the military leadership. It wasn't so much of a

direct attack on Putin as it was really to relieve some of those militaries who had demonstrated, I mean, he wasn't wrong on that, right?

This has been a massive blunder by the military. It's surprising that Putin has actually not relieved some of those military leaders that have hollowed

out his military after two years of corruption. And so, but even if Putin does change some of the leaders, I mean, the entire military regime is

corrupt. And he's just going to replace one bad leader with another bad leader. So, even if that happens, it's not going to make a significant

change on the battlefield.

ASHER: Despite it possibly not making a difference in the battlefield, you have to, you know, think that obviously Zelenskyy is planning in the wings,

behind the scenes, thinking about how on earth he can capitalize on the instability in Russia right now. Colonel Liam Collins, I have to leave it

there. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back with more.

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[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Hello and welcome back to ONE WORLD. Let's catch up on the headline. Sierra Leone's main opposition Presidential Candidate Samura Kamara says

the headquarters of his party was riddled with gunfire in Freetown on Sunday, one day after national elections. Reports say one woman was badly

injured, and there are reports that she later died. Sierra Leone is on edge as it awaits the results of Saturday's presidential elections and

parliamentary vote.

Greek Prime Minister -- the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has won a second four-year term, defeating his main rival by a huge margin.

With nearly 100 percent of the votes counted, his center-right New Democracy Party received more than 40 percent of the vote. The main

opposition, the leftist Syriza Party, received some 17 percent.

Millions -- also, millions of Muslims are converging on Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. This is the first year since 2019 without COVID-19

restrictions. More than two million worshippers are expected. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. All able-bodied Muslims are required to make the

trip at least once in their lifetimes.

All right, back to breaking news. At this hour, not a single soldier on the ground was killed. We're finally hearing from the man at the center of a

short-lived revolt in Russia. Wagner Chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, released an audio tape in the past hour outlining the two factors he says led to his

troops turning around some 125 miles from Moscow. He says first, his mercenary group wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed. Second, he says the

march was just a protest, and not actually, in his words, a move to overturn power in the country.

Earlier, the Kremlin had said Prigozhin agreed to a deal to end the uprising and leave Russia for Belarus. Here's a translation of Yevgeny

Prigozhin's audio tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): At this time, Alexander Lukashenko extended his hand and offered to find solutions for the further work of Wagner PMC and the

legal jurisdiction. The columns turned back and left for the field camps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Let's get the view now from Ukraine. CNN's Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us live now from Kyiv. So,

Nick, initially we heard the charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin would be dropped. Now, that doesn't appear to be necessarily the case.

[12:30:00]

What happens to Prigozhin now?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is still unclear. And this 11-minute audio message, it's unclear

precisely when that was recorded or clearly after he struck a deal, it seems, to leave for Belarus or where Prigozhin was when he recorded it.

Now, that may be a side issue because I think the major thrust of it appears to be a bid to try and claw back some of the mess that Prigozhin

has made over the weekend, being very clear that his march on Moscow was a protest action about the misconduct of the Russian top brass, how

catastrophically they prosecuted Putin's invasion of Ukraine and not directly aimed at removing Putin himself.

Remarkable, I think, that Prigozhin could have misread the situation quite so badly, particularly given the strident statement that we heard from

Vladimir Putin about how he and those marching with him should face inevitable punishment. It seems that the Kremlin has washed away that

statement from Putin and is willing to allow Prigozhin to leave.

But he also paints a picture of a Wagner PMC that says it can possibly find a way forward in Belarus, that maybe it may find a legal way through the

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, permitting them to continue to exist there. But also, a Wagner which said that it had essentially been

asked to disband itself by the end of the month and that only one or two percent of its fighters are willing to join the Russian Ministry of Defense

because the rest of them realized how catastrophic that would be for their ability to fight on the battlefield.

Essentially, the core of this message was to say, I was not looking to necessarily confront Russian President Vladimir Putin even though that's

overtly clearly what ended up happening on Saturday, and also suggesting that Wagner were acting to keep itself functioning and may continue to do

so in the future. But still again, over 11 minutes to remind the Russian people listening to this message that it's the conduct of Russia's top

brass, Putin's generals that he has really launched this to try and confront.

So, he's alive. He's looking to possibly calm things down with the Kremlin head. He may be in Belarus or certainly thinks his organization may have a

future there, but startling to see him march on Moscow, retreat, maybe we don't know the full story about why he chose to do that.

Putin threatened him and his men with punishment, turned that idea around and now appear to offer amnesty and still Vladimir Putin functioning out of

public view at this time, re-releasing pre-recorded statements. So, a lot of questions still circulating, and I think a view here that only gives us

about 60, 70 percent of the full story.

ASHER: We have so many questions we still don't have answers to. Nick Paton Walsh, live for us there. Thank you so much. There are growing doubts about

Vladimir Putin's grip on power after the Wagner Rebellion. Mr. Putin has been left reacting silently at first, then bombastically promising

inevitable punishment.

A former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine suggests this may be the beginning of the end of the most dramatic challenge to Putin's 23-year rule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN E. HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: This is not a 24-hour blip. It's like Prigozhin is the person who looked behind the screen at the

Wizard of Oz, and so the great and terrible Oz was just this little frightened man. Putin has been diminished for all time by this affair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Time now for The Exchange and a closer look at Russia going forward. Masha Gessen is an Author, a Writer for the New Yorker and an outspoken

critic of President Vladimir Putin. Masha, thank you so much for being with us. Information is obviously restricted in Russia. It is at the very least

extremely watered down. How will the Russian people interpret, do you think, the events over this weekend?

MASHA GESSEN, AUTHOR, "SURVIVING AUTOCRACY": Well, the propagandists were tongue-tied for the weekend. It was really left to Vladimir Putin and

members of his administration to try to message anything out. And Putin initially said that what had happened was an act of treason, that it was a

stab in the back. Now, the propagandists are back in play, and what they're saying is that this was something vague incited by our enemies abroad.

This is their standard line on protest. This is how they reacted to Alexei Navalny's protests, to protests for fair elections a decade ago. This is

all NATO's fault. It's all funded by the U.S. State Department, whatever it is that they're trying vaguely to say.

They're a bit lost and the reason they're a bit lost is because the President hasn't decided what he's going to do. He is stuck. He's got two

huge dilemmas. One is what to do with the Minister of Defense, who has been diminished by this escapade of Prigozhin, who was unable or unwilling to

stop Prigozhin.

[12:35:00]

And Prigozhin is bearing down on that in his statement today. The other is what to do with Prigozhin himself. Is he going to live in a situation where

he has a former close friend, now perhaps an enemy in Belarus, which is itself an unstable member of the so-called Russian-Belarusian State Union?

So, he has to figure that out.

ASHER: And in terms of -- yes, you mentioned obviously what he does with Shoigu and what he does with Prigozhin. Putin's obviously deciding in terms

of how he handles both of those men. But just in terms of how his leadership style changes, I mean, you think about how Putin normally

responds to humiliation, to opposition, to any kind of dissent.

I mean, I imagine that he's going to have a tighter grip on power or attempt to have a much tighter grip on power and on information out of

Russia at this point in time. How does he respond more broadly beyond how he handles both of those men?

GESSEN: Well, it's not really how he responds more broadly. The biggest threat to his power right now is in fact, Prigozhin, right, and so -- and

of course, the precedent set by Prigozhin and by acting with both acting politically and using force visibly to Russians. Putin has had a monopoly

on political action and of course a monopoly on violence for more than 23 years, right.

So, one way for Putin to handle this would be to bring Prigozhin back into the fold. Prigozhin never wanted to leave the fold. Prigozhin, it should be

noted, never meant to stage a coup. He was going, he was marching on Moscow in order to talk to Putin, in order to get Putin better informed, in order

to restore justice as he sees it.

So, the option is open for Putin to bring Prigozhin closer in, and this has generally been Putin's MO, is to keep his friends close and his enemies

closer within the elite circles. Nobody leaves that Maatia family alive. In order to do that, he would have to get some contrition out of Prigozhin. He

would basically have to get Prigozhin to go and say that he went a little overboard, but his conflict was only with Shoigu, the Minister of Defense,

not with Putin. But if Putin did that, he would become essentially hostage to Prigozhin. So, he is a bit stuck there.

I mean, I think in the immediate future, he is going to try to crack down on information even further in Russia. Information is already hugely

restricted. But that's really not his biggest problem, not.

ASHER: So, just in terms of, you know, how we got to this point. I mean, obviously, Vladimir Putin never imagined that this would happen, what we

saw happen on Saturday. But we all know that the Yevgeny Prigozhin is notoriously difficult to control. He has been releasing audio rants for

quite some time about, you know, the war in Ukraine, about Shoigu, about the fact that the Russian -- just talking about the sort of rivalry, I

guess, between the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian military. He's been releasing all of these rants, sort of criticizing the war in Ukraine.

Why did Vladimir Putin allow for that? Why was Vladimir Putin so forgiving with that kind of behavior coming from Prigozhin?

GESSEN: Well, in a way, Putin has become victim of his own paranoia. Part of what makes dictators effective at holding onto power is being paranoid,

is always being a couple of steps ahead of the threat. So, Putin was always very diligent about reacting to threats that he perceived coming from

protests, coming from grassroots organizing. He has jailed people for decades for, you know, the mildest of protest.

He has sent his political opponent, Alexei Navalny, who really had no way to access power and certainly had no access to violence. He has sent him

away, probably at this point, for as long as Putin is alive. And yet he allowed Prigozhin to exist. And part of the reason is that Putin, as

dictators also often do, carved up the Russian armed forces.

In order to make sure that he wouldn't become the target of a military coup, he needed to ensure that he was in command of several different

military branches. The Defense Ministry forces, the official military, the residential guard or the Russian Guard, which is basically Putin's own

personal army.

[12:40:00]

And then Prigozhin, who served a dual purpose, which was to have plausible deniability when Russia was in Africa, in Syria, and could always claim

that it wasn't Russia, it was some mercenary force, or they don't know who it was. But also, a force that Putin himself could wield in case he had

enemies. So, I think the answer to your question is, he fully trusted Prigozhin. He thought this was the one guy he could control, even if he

sometimes allowed himself to rant.

ASHER: And what, overall, just in terms of the events, you know, this weekend, what was more alarming to Vladimir Putin, the fact that Prigozhin

had the gall to attempt to march towards Moscow, or the fact that that march wasn't met with as much resistance as perhaps, you know, some of us

outside viewers had been anticipating?

GESSEN: I mean, it's very hard to say what was more alarming to Vladimir Putin. I think Vladimir Putin, more than anything else, is always afraid

for his own life, which is why he left -- he left Moscow on a plane when the Prigozhin's troops were several hundred miles out of the city and the

plane disappeared from the radar. Moscow was clearly gearing up for the Battle of Moscow. So, I think that's what Putin found most alarming.

It's an interesting question, you know, why Ministry of Defense troops didn't put up much of a fight against Prigozhin. It appears that they hit

it from the air -- hit Prigozhin's troops from the air a few times, although we don't know this for sure. But there was no resistance on the

ground.

And one possibility is not so much that they were scared or passive as that Prigozhin is perceived as being so well connected to Putin, as being -- as

having his ear that going up against Prigozhin may not be the best thing for any given general or especially colonel, right? So -- so I don't know,

first of all, how much Putin knows, and second of all, what kind of conclusions he can draw. But we can see that it is much easier than we

might have thought to stage an armed rebellion in Russia.

ASHER: Right. Masha Gessen, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. All right, still to come here to come here on ONE WORLD. One of our

other top stories, the latest on the Titan submersible implosion, the search for answers underwater and above, as well. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:00]

ASHER: An underwater robot is coming to the sea or combing rather the sea floor of the North Atlantic for debris from the implosion of the Titan

submersible. This is the Odyssey 6K, the same robot that found the subs debris field last week. Meantime, the U.S. Coast Guard has formed an

investigative board to determine the cause of the implosion and, quote, pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary. Five people on board were

killed in the disaster.

CNN Senior U.S. National Correspondent Miguel Marquez is live for us in Canada in St. John's, Newfoundland. Miguel, what more can you tell us?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so those recovery operations are continuing. The submersible isn't able to lift

heavy parts of the Titan, but it may be able to bring up some of it. And then they have other gear out there that, if they want to bring up larger

pieces of the Titan, they probably can. But it's going to be a very, very difficult process at those depths and with those pressures down there.

This is the investigations are underway. Six different investigations or inquiries by four different countries. The TSB, the Transportation Safety

Board of Canada, is really kind of taking the lead right now. The Polar Prince, this was the ship that took the Titan out to the wreckage of the

Titanic. It was docked up across the harbor at a Coast Guard dock for the weekend where the TSB got in, spoke to people, took data, voice recordings,

video, any sort of evidence they wanted. It also documented everything on the Polar Prince, as well.

But the U.S. Coast Guard now has announced an investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The British and

French Maritime Safety Boards will investigate. And then the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, say, sort of the national police force here

says that if there's an indication of criminal wrongdoing, that it will then launch its own investigation, as well.

So, moving into a very investigative phase now of this disaster, all of these agencies hoping to avoid something like the Titan happening again.

Back to you.

ASHER: All right, Miguel Marquez, live for us there. Thank you so much. And we'll have much more news after this short break. Don't go away.

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[12:50:00]

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ASHER: There were rainbows everywhere on Sunday as a number of American cities hosted pride parades. The events are a celebration of LGBTQ rights.

And were held in major cities, including New York, excuse me, San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago. It comes at a time of rising anti-LGBTQ

legislation and rhetoric among Republican lawmakers in the United States.

And at some point this week, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a closely watched case involving gay rights. It involves a graphic designer

who says her religion prevents her from producing websites that celebrate same-sex couples and while the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and

Republican lawmakers present sources of concern for many LGBTQ advocates, sometimes the biggest hurdle for the community is gaining acceptance from

their own families. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus brings us the story of a transwoman and her journey to help her parents understand her sexuality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYA JOHNSON, TRANSGENDER WOMAN: This was when I first made Sephora Squad.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that's when Kaya Johnson identified as a gay man.

JOHNSON: When I was a little boy, people would always call me gay. And I didn't even know what that was.

GINA JOHNSON, MOTHER OF TRANSGENDER WOMAN: This is Kaya back then.

KAYA JOHNSON: Heza Kaya.

GINA JOHNSON: Heza Kaya, back then. And then now, Kaya.

BROADDUS: That's Kaya in South Korea.

KAYA JOHNSON: This is making me so emotional.

BROADDUS: Preparing for gender affirming treatment.

GINA JOHNSON, MOTHER OF TRANSGENDER WOMAN: This was really hard for us as parents because Kaya was our only son.

BROADDUS: Gina Anante Johnson raised three children.

GINA JOHNSON: I was so afraid of what people were going to say about us as parents. Us, being my husband, a minister.

KAYA JOHNSON: I wouldn't choose to be trans. If I had a choice, I would not choose it because of all the hell that I've through. Being a preacher's

kid, I was taught that, you know, homosexuality is a bad thing.

ONTAY JOHNSON, FATHER OF A TRANSGENDER WOMAN: This hasn't been an easy transition as a father. You know, there's a difference between agreement

and acceptance. And for me, nope, I don't agree.

BROADDUS: Ontay went live on social media after finding out Kaya is transgender.

ONTAY JOHNSON: People were wanting me as a father to pivot with you know the pronouns and all that it's like, oh, whoa, you know, I'm just learning

this. I just heard this.

GINA JONSON: I said, Kaya, you have to give your dad time because that's a hard pill to swallow. I'm human. Oh. Forget the trans. I'm just a human

that just wants to live their life. I was extremely suicidal. I was scared.

ONTAY JOHNSON: And for me, that's just not, that's a non-negotiable. I'm not going to lose my child. But here's the power of transformation. The

Lord spoke very audibly to me, until you got to let love lead. How would Jesus, how would he handle this? What would he do? And so, that's really

challenged my theology and my perspective. I'm still growing. I'm still learning.

BROADDUS: Growth is a journey.

GINA JOHNSON: During the time in Korea, I went through a whole grieving process for that whole month. And I said to myself, I said, you know, you

have to let your children live and you have to let your children do what they want to do. She's happy.

BROADDUS: Do you think you ever will call Kaya, she or her, or say my daughter?

ONTAY JOHNSON: I'm not sure. That's something that I'm struggling with.

BROADDUS: Another struggle, bills targeting the LGBTQ plus community. Nearly 500 across the country introduced this legislative session according

to the ACLU, including a record number in Indiana where Kaya's parents live.

ONTAY JOHNSON: It's foolishness. So, is justice just for some people and not for everybody?

KAYA JOHNSON: All I want for my parents, my dad, my mom, is their love.

ONTAY JOHNSON: My baby has taught me to really, really reevaluate and reimagine love and what love is.

[12:55:00]

KAYA JOHNSON: Love is so sweet. It knocks me right off of my feet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: So grateful to our Adrienne Broaddus for bringing us that very powerful piece. All right, finally, this hour, NASA has begun preparing

astronauts for what life would be like on Mars. Four researchers were chosen to live in a new habitat here on Earth to stimulate or simulate

rather what it would be like on the Red Planet. The crew will spend the next 378 days isolated in this 158 square meter space called an analog

locator at the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

It's designed to recreate what they might face on Mars. They'll be taking part in simulated activities and science work, eating like astronauts, as

well, and dealing with maintenance and equipment failures, all as they undergo strenuous psychological and physical testing. The mission will be

followed by two more with different crews.

All right, thank you so much for watching ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher. Amanpour is up next. You're watching CNN.

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