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CNN Inernational: Princess Of Wales To Appear At Trooping The Color Tomorrow; Pope Francis Speaks At G7 On Artificial Intelligence; Hezbollah And IDF Exchange Fire Across Israel-Lebanon Border; Bump Stock Ban Enacted After Las Vegas Concert Shooting Killed 58, Wounded 500+. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired June 14, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:35]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 9:00 p.m. in Munich, 10:00 p.m. in Beirut, and 3:00 p.m. here in New York.
I'm Julia Chatterley. Thank you for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get right to the news.
And we begin with an update from Buckingham Palace. Catherine, the princess of Wales, will appear tomorrow at the king's birthday celebration, also known as the trooping of the color. It will be her first public events since stepping away in January originally for abdominal surgery we later learned lead to a cancer diagnosis.
And we know the princess is undergoing chemotherapy and say she is making, quote, good progress in her treatment, which is expected to continue for a few more months, quote.
Max Foster joins us now from outside Buckingham Palace.
Max, good to have you with us.
Another very personal statement from the princess of Wales, but good to know. We do get to see her for the first time in many months in an official capacity tomorrow.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In the statement, she said, I'm making good progress, as you say, but as anyone go through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and there are bad days. On those bad days, you feel weak tired, and you have to get into your body resting. But on the good days when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.
My treatments ongoing will be going on for a few months. And she also feels ready to appear in public for the first time this year. So she will be here appearing here at trooping the color, which is king's birthday celebration, a big spectacular event as you know, Julia, and well see her throughout the morning really, we'll see her in the carriages, going up to horse guards, parade with the children was here coming back and also on the balcony behind me.
So there will speculation we might see her, but, you know, they were just -- they're just trying to treat it as carefully as possible. She might not even appear tomorrow. They're making very clear she is committing to engagements now, but they're going to take each one as they come. And if it's a bad day, I think everyone will say to her, including her medical team, it's not -- it's not worth it.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah. You do get that sense I think that it is going to be day by day, and they're not going to make any promises, which makes perfect sense given how I think honest she's been in this statement to your point about some days are good and some days are bad and we all just have to understand that, Max.
Has the British press and certainly social media been better behaved since this? And how do you expect them to react tomorrow when we finally do get as I said, an official appearance from her, fingers crossed?
FOSTER: Well, I could be sitting here looking at the princess on the balcony and social media will be telling me she's not there. I'm fully expecting all of that, you know, all of the conspiracy theories. You know, there's a lot of people making a lot of money off the back of them.
I think, you know, the palace is really appeal to us, CNN, and all of the mainstream broadcasters to just stick to the facts as we have been doing all along. It's not as interesting, maybe to some people, but she, she I think Kate feels that she is updating the public as much as she can.
You know, in the past, they wouldn't give us any medical details. They have at least told us that she has cancer. She's going through this therapy and it'll be going on for many months ahead. So actually for the palace, they've been quite open and they feel that they have a duty to do that.
But the same time, they want this privacy, and part of that privacy and part of her treatment as she sees it, is trying to get back to normal life behind the scenes, there are paparazzi pitchers of going about her normal day. We haven't been showing them. They want her to have that privacy so she can progress and spend time with her family and get better mentally as much as physically.
And, then the deal is that she will appear in public every so often. So we do get updated. So that's the way they're treating it.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And everyone needs to be behaved and not click on these pictures even when the paparazzi take them. I think that's the point.
We do, obviously, wish her well, and we look forward to seeing her again, fingers crossed tomorrow.
Max, good to chat to you. Thank you. Max Foster, there.
Now, we're joined by CNN royal commentator Sally Bedell Smith.
Sally, good to speak to you, too. It is going to be a huge moment, a great celebration, I think, for
King Charles III and for the entire country to see her not just to celebrate his birthday.
SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, absolutely.
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The public has not seen her since the royal family was together at Christmas, at Sandringham. We had those kind of peculiar sightings and then she came forward with that very brave video in the middle of April, in which she disclosed her cancer and her chemotherapy without being any more specific. But the nature of what she said, and this sort of the vulnerability, that strength that she projected I think was what was necessary then to break the fever. And as Max pointed out, the mainstream press has resisted indulging in any kind of speculation or getting, you know, putting on the air, presenting in any way photographs that may have been surreptitiously taken. She bled verge time and space and privacy and that is what she has gotten.
And I think the interesting thing about the statement today is that it was very personal and it dealt with her feelings and also the feelings of other cancers sufferers and it I think that was a wise thing to do. Obviously, there are a lot of people clamoring to know what kind of cancer she has and what stage it was, and what form of treatment. And it may be that down the line we'll know all that. But I think for the time being for her to have what she said today and even more importantly, for her to appear tomorrow in one of the carriages with her children I think is just going to make a huge impact. And I'm sure the crowd size will probably double or triple as a result, because people will be so eager to see her again in the flesh, and it will be hard for social media to say that she is an avatar herself.
CHATTERLEY: I was about to say, yeah, between the carriage possession and the balcony shot, I think many of our viewers will perhaps remember a year ago when we saw this moment and her son Louis, of course, her youngest son, stole the spotlight with all his facial expression on his hands, over his ears and screaming obviously, Catherine beaming smile as well.
So I think -- I do think though will obviously be a comparison made with what's happened in the past year as well.
Just very quickly, Sally, what do you make if the picture because I think what defined the video when she told the world that she had cancer and that's what she's been suffering with, was that she chose to do that alone. And again, this is a very poignant picture, contemplative. I would call happy to just what do you make of that delivery once again, and the choice to me alone to do this.
SMITH: What is the message?
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
SMITH: Yeah. I mean, it was it is fascinating and I'm sure lots of people be deconstructing it, but it shows her in nature with a tree, and this is all part of the approach that the king has taken to do dealing with disease and how nature is something that people should -- you know, should derive strength from, and that's kind of how I saw it.
The other thing, of course, about tomorrow is the regimen that is that is presenting the colors is the Irish guards, which she is the honorary colonel, and I think that will add a second layer of poignancy to it. And, of course, the king will be not riding on horseback, but in a carriage which probably will see from now on, we tend to forget the queen stopped riding on horseback, when she was 60- years-old? And Charles is 15 years older than she and she never had to wear a bear skin on her.
So I think he's wise to be doing it in a carriage even if he is wearing a bear skin, whether you will or not, we'll see. But I -- getting back to the picture. I think there was probably meant it was probably meant to convey some symbolism and it was a beautiful picture and very appropriate for the moment.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And a show of strength I think that she is.
SMITH: Yes, yes.
CHATTERLEY: You know, an independent woman and as much as she is surrounded by family and people are asking questions, she's doing our best to protect a family and handle it her own way and in her own brand.
SMITH: Yeah.
CHATTERLEY: Quietly powerful I think, too, which is -- which is also important.
Just a reminder for our viewers that are probably thinking what on earth is the trooping of the color, Sally?
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Just quickly, just a bit of -- a bit of understanding of what actually is going to happen tomorrow because they're all going to be a lot of people I think now watching this that probably wouldn't have done otherwise. No offense to King Charles III, of course. And what are they going to see?
SMITH: Well, it is -- it is a ritual that goes back centuries and it takes place in the horse guards' parade. And it is each year, a different regiment will present its colors. It goes back to the time when they, when they raise their colors during battles, and it's fascinating. I was there two years ago when the Irish guards also did the parade and the king, the monarch reviews them and they go through a whole series of intricate formations.
And there are bands and it's a thrilling thing to watch. And the per -- the birthday parade is actually the precession of carriages that goes down the mat, to the Whitehall to the horse guards parade where they -- where they do the all of the very tightly choreographed maneuvers with soldiers on horseback and also the foot and yards and the Irish guards or foot. There are guards.
But they are all part of regiment that are under the ages of the monarch as he bows the mounted and the foot guards and the guards will do it.
CHATTERLEY: The end of that is the balcony shot where we all look for Louis and fingers crossed.
SMITH: Yes, yes. And they all go back to the Buckingham Palace and they do every time, yes. It will be wonderful.
CHATTERLEY: Sally, great to talk to you. It shall. We're very excited on that, too, especially excited.
Sally Bedell Smith, thank you.
SMITH: Yes, thank you.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Still to come today at the G7, Pope Francis issuing a warning about artificial intelligence. Don't put too much power in the hands of machines. That story, next.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.
Artificial intelligence will contribute to a new social system, quote, that according to the pope. The pontiff who made history by being the first pope to attend the G7 summit, address the leaders on the ethics and ramifications of A.I.
He stressed artificial intelligence must never be allowed to get the upper hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH: We need to guarantee and protect a significant area of control for human beings over the process of decisions of A.I. programs. The human dignity itself depends on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And world leaders have now wrapped up that summit.
International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Italy for us.
Nic, the pope's presence certainly made this a rather unusual an eventful day. And he's not new to A.I. I think there are call for A.I. ethics came out back in 2020. How did leaders receive the message, though?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think he really energized it. You know, this is a summit that covers a lot of topics. And it would have been easy to imagine how A.I. could have been and sounded a very dry topic or not really perhaps engaged much debate or, or much sort of interests more broadly outside of the G7.
But as soon as you bring the pope into the equation on this historic visit, you know, his charisma, the weight that he brings to any conversation, he has that just boost sit all up, and that's exactly what happened. He talks about A.I. as being a tool and he talked about it as being a function of the human mind, you know, God-given, if you will, to -- that we have the ability to have scientific discovery technological discoveries, and this tool, A.I., is just the latest of those, he said, the good, and the bad directions, and he laid them out.
The bad -- he gave the example of an automated weapon, a gun that could choose a target by itself, aim at the target by itself, shoot the target by itself. He said, there should never be a situation where a machine can kill a human.
He went on to say that also that this should benefit everyone, that there should be not just for the benefit of one country or the rich countries, they shouldn't benefit the haves over the have-nots, and that really sort of chimed with the discussion that was held to his opening remarks. We heard from a White House official who said that there were two things is in essence.
One, the global governance, the G7 trying to find a combined way to govern, put guardrails on A.I. It's obviously, you know, a global phenomenon. It's available everywhere, so you have to work together as the rich, powerful democracies, but also making sure that, you know, the scientific developments, their health care benefits that come from it, the agricultural developments, they benefit poorer nations as well. And that's something really.
So I think that the pope push the conversation in the direction he really wanted to take it.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, and we need to see more agreement between these leaders on how to regulate this, and certainly so. Good job to the pontiff today.
Nic Robertson, thank you for that.
All right. Here to discuss, the pope speech and the risks of A.I. is Nick Reiners. He's senior technology analyst at the Eurasia Group.
Nick, good to have you with us.
The pope is no stranger to the dangers of A.I. If you're -- everybody remembers that deepfake, that was created of him wearing that Balenciaga white puffer jacket. Why does this matter so much to him? Because this is now years in the making, where he's been focused on A.I. ethics specifically.
NICK REINERS, SENIOR GEO-TECHNOLOGY ANALYST, EURASIA GROUP: Hi, good afternoon.
Oh, as you say, the pope even though you might not be the first person you would associate with A.I. has been very active on this topic with the Rome call A.I. ethics framework, having been published in 2020, I think it's something to do with A.I. are having a quasi god-like powers and some things to do like that.
And the pope I think takes very seriously these debates around existential A.I. risk and the possibility for A.I. to, in some sense, takeover.
CHATTERLEY: Quasi god-like powers, which is interesting.
One of the spheres that he picked up upon, and Nick talked about it as well was defense and it's an area too where we know there is global competition. He talked about the prospect of seeing some kind of need for an urgent ban on lethal autonomous weapons. And yet it's the great example the situation where one nation will say, look, we can't suppress our innovation in this sphere because our enemies will.
And that encapsulates the challenge that we have on regulating this on a global basis.
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Is it possible even with the pope behind it? Is it possible?
REINERS: Yes, I think you summed up the problem really. It's very difficult in this situation to ask everyone to stop using A.I., really the train has left the station when it comes to A.I.'s integration in weapon systems. You see A.I. being deployed in Ukraine and Israel, even if sometimes they might deny it's completely autonomous in practice, the difference between fully autonomous and the reality is, is almost nothing.
And we have the misfortune in the world that A.I. has really blown up at a time of extremely high geopolitical tensions, the highest we've seen since the Cold War. So in such a geopolitical environment, it's very difficult indeed, to try to get such an agreement on fully autonomous weapons systems.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, that's just one aspect of this.
I spoke to a fintech player called cloner this week and he told me that they were used to be hiring 600, 700 call center workers and they've completely replaced them now with A.I., and they're getting higher customer satisfaction than they were before. And as a business in general, they'll never have the same headcount in terms of employees that they've had in the past.
Nick, on a -- on a sector by sector basis, governments need to be thinking just for their own people what sectors are most vulnerable in the next two to five years arguably, and looking at retraining, I just -- I don't see this level of immediacy actually anywhere in the world. Do you agree?
REINERS: I think that the issue of A.I. and its impact on the labor markets is actually becoming more prominent in fact if you take a look at the communique just issued by the G7 leaders, they are going to ask the labor ministers to come up with a labor action plan to make sure that workers can be re-skilled and retrained and so the A.I. doesn't undermine human dignity, doesn't destroy jobs and so on. So I agree it hasn't had enough attention so far, but I think that's starting to change. It's also an issue that the U.N. is looking at as well.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah. But a communique is an action by -- I do agree with you, at least it's a starting point and thank goodness we're talking about it.
Nick, good to get your wisdom, sir. Thank you.
All right. Let's move on. Tensions are escalating on Israel's northern border as it exchanged rocket attacks with Hezbollah. Israel's military said it had hit targets in southern Lebanon after dozens of rockets were fired from Hezbollah. It's a third straight day in Israel and in the Iranian-backed military group have exchanged fire.
Iraq's foreign minister warned the conflict is a danger for the entire region. And Israel's defense minister said it would not participate in French proposed framework to deescalate tensions with the group.
The militant group and Israel have exchanged fire almost daily now since October 7th, the latest spike in attacks comes after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander earlier this week.
Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Lebanon for us tonight.
Ben, for tensions on various fronts for Israel, we know this is a critical hotspot that only seems to be escalating are either side looking for ways to de-escalate at this moment.
I think both sides for their own reasons, do want to de-escalate, Julia, because for one, Israel is already bogged down in the quagmire of Gaza. And certainly to go in, jump from that to the fire of Lebanon would be a military challenge several degrees higher than what they're dealing with in Gaza.
And here in Lebanon, Hezbollah until now has always been limited in its fire inside of Israel for its political -- domestic, political reasons. It wants to avoid a full-scale war with it Israel and all the destruction and disruption and death that would come with it, because there are many Lebanese who are not supporters of Hezbollah and definitely do want to stay out of a war.
And we see there are efforts ongoing particularly by the United States and France to head up -- head off any sort of full-scale war.
Now we know that Amos Hochstein, who's the senior energy advisor at the White House, but who is basically been given the responsibility by the U.S. to deal with tensions between Israel and Lebanon. He's going to Israel early next week.
We assume he'll also be coming to Lebanon, not to speak with Hezbollah because the United States won't speak to Hezbollah, but certainly to talk with other Lebanese officials and politicians to try to see if there are ways to calm down the situation, because on both sides of the border, you have tens of thousands of people on the Lebanese side, almost 100,000 people on the Israeli side, more than 60,000 people who have essentially had to flee their homes along the border because of the exchanges of fire that began on the 8th of October last year.
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But have certainly been intensifying in the last ten days or so. What we've seen, for instance, today, 17 reported strikes by Hezbollah on Israeli targets, at least nine Israeli artillery barrages on the Lebanese positions. They're fires burning on both sides. Overnight, there was an Israeli strike on a building about 20 kilometers inside Lebanon, that left two women dead and more than ten people injured.
So the tensions are higher than they've ever been before. And I think both sides, as I said before, one to avoid a full scale war and would probably welcome some sort of mediation by France and the United States to head that off.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, all avenues must be explored to try and bring that down now.
We came into the week in some way cautiously hopeful of some breakthrough with ceasefire negotiations. And then we had the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, saying that all Hamas had to do was say yes this week. And, of course, they proposed their own amendments to this deal.
Ben, you did sit down with a senior Hamas official this week. What did they tell you about the prospects of this and more?
WEDEMAN: Well, I think if we were to sum up what he said, apart from all the other things relating to hostages and whatnot, is that Hamas is worried that after an initial 42 days ceasefire, which both sides seem to basically agree on during which there would be an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, that the question is, what happens afterwards?
Hamas is worried. Israel has yet to commit to -- I mean, according to the proposal put forward by President Biden, there would be negotiations during those 42 days for what comes after the 42 days? Hamas is worried after those 42 days, Israel will go back to full- scale war in Gaza.
Anyway, let's listen to what he had to say, Osama Hamdan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA HAMDAN, HAMAS POLITBURO MEMBER: Well, we said that from the first time when this slogan was raised by the administration. When the United States talk about day after that, they have to understand the second day, day after is supposed to be a Palestinian day.
The Palestinians, they don't need someone to dictate what they have to do. They don't want someone to supervise them, how to manage their own issues.
WEDEMAN: But does this mean that the day after, Hamas remains in control of Gaza?
HAMDAN: I think the most important that the Palestinian nation have to achieve them in gold to liberate themselves, to deliberate, to liberate their lands, and then they can decide who can control them.
WEDEMAN: You know, "The Wall Street Journal" recently published an article which it said had messages to Yahya Sinwar. And one of the messages that supposedly he sent was the death of the civilians in Gaza was a necessary sacrifice were the words they used.
HAMDAN: Well, I can assure you that was fake source, and we know exactly who sent those messages towards "The Journal".
WEDEMAN: But as a concept, the idea that --
HAMDAN: No one can accept the killing of the Palestinians, of his own people.
WEDEMAN: This article says that for instance, that he liked in the Palestinian struggled to the situation in Algeria during the war against the French occupation. That they're more than 1 million people died in order for Algeria to be liberated.
Is this an idea that he would --
HAMDAN: I assure you that this is not any idea in Hamas. No one is saying that. I assure you that that wasn't a message from Yahya Sinwar.
WEDEMAN: Now, CNN spoke to one of the doctors who treated the four Israelis who were freed on Saturday, and he said that they suffered mental and physical abuse and were beaten every hour.
What do you say to that?
HAMDAN: Well, he's an Israeli, has to say what the Israel authorities are asking him to say. If you compare the images of both before and after releasing, you will find that they were better than before.
I believe if they have mental problem, this is because of what Israel have done in Gaza because anyone can't handle what was Israel is doing, bombing each day, just killing civilians, killing women and children. I think they live with that. They know that. They saw that by their own eyes.
This is why, if they have some mental problems, this is why they have the mental problems.
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WEDEMAN: Now, Israel says that there's currently 120 hostages still held in Gaza. Four of whom were held from, before. How many of those 120 are still alive?
HAMDAN: I don't have any idea about that. No one has any idea about this. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Wow, Ben, very important takeaways on both the messages and, of course, the hostages as well. Great to have you with us. Thank you for that. Ben Wedeman there.
All right. When we come back, six years ago, the U.S. experienced its deadly mass shooting in history after a gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the gun safety measure put in place after that horrific night. The details, next.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
Today, at the U.S. Supreme Court, the gun safety measure enacted after the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history was struck down. That ruling delivered on 6-3 ideological lines eliminates a Trump era ban on bump stocks which allow the shooter to convert a semi-automatic rifle into one that can fire hundreds of rounds per minute.
The Trump administration ban bump stocks categorizing them as machine guns after a shooter them to target an outdoor concert in Las Vegas back in 2017, firing over 1,000 rounds and killing 58 people and injuring 500 more. Today, the conservative majority on the court ruled bump stocks cannot be regulated as machine guns.
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Justice Clarence Thomas writing: A bump stock does not convert to semi-automatic rifle into machine gun, anymore than a shooter with a lightning fast trigger finger does.
With me more -- for more is CNN justice correspondent, Evan Perez.
Evan, good to have you with us.
The majority rules here, but the was searing descent. I think we can call it that on this decision.
Just explain the impact and also what it means for the 17 states I believe that also passed laws on bump stocks and once we had the ruling from the ATF?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Julia, one of the things we heard today was to dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who really tried to eviscerate what the majority wrote in this opinion that she took on a couple of things. She said, essentially that this will make everyone on safe in the United States and she also said that the Congress's regulation of machine guns is going to be eviscerated by this action. It means that people will be able to essentially have these more deadly versions of guns as a result of this ruling.
But as you pointed out, what this does is it invalidates a regulation that was written by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and it was done in 2017 frankly, we covered at the time, at a moment of cowardice by the U.S. Congress. You had a Republican president who did not want to put Republicans on the spot to have to vote for something in that period.
And so, what he did is he instead had the ATF issue this regulation so that Republicans didn't have to vote on something like this. And so what you have now is Congress, I'm sorry, you have the conservative majority on the Supreme Court saying that you can't do things this way, that if you want to pass a ban, then you have to go through it by passing a law in the United States Congress, which, of course, doesn't want to do that. They don't want to touch gun issues at all. And it's not even clear whether that would even survive a further challenge.
And one other thing, you know, there are a number of states that pass laws that mirror some of these regulations from the ATF. There are a number of states that passed their own bumps stock bans.
So, for now, those are still standing, but you can bet that as a result of this ruling today, that there will be some challenges which will go back to the Supreme Court and well see where the conservative majority lies on this in previous. In the last few years, what they've attended to do is to say that the United States Second Amendment means that anything that wasn't around at the time of the framing of the Constitution, that any of that -- any of those restrictions should not stand. So, we'll see when this comes back, but you can bet that this will come back to the Supreme Court at some point.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, there's going to be more challenges to this at the state level.
Evan Perez, thank you for the context there.
PEREZ: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: All right. For more on the court's decision and how gun safety groups plan to respond, we're joined by Makennan McBryde. She's a legal associate for March For Our Lives, a gun safety advocacy organization established after the Parkland school shooting in 2018.
Welcome to the show.
Just give me a sense of your feelings, your reaction as a result of this Supreme Court ruling.
MAKENNAN MCBRYDE, LEGAL ASSOCIATE, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: First, thanks for having me, Julia.
Of course, I have many thoughts and many reactions, I sum it up and that I'm shocked, but not at all surprised knowing this court. This decision is just one in a long line of the Supreme Court choosing semantics over reality and cherry picking over rule of law. I mean, if we're looking at this from a legal standpoint or even a logical one, this decision doesn't make sense. It spends its time on semantics. So whether or not automatic weapon outfitted with bump stocks, that action wreaks havoc, like automatic weapons, should be considered rather than looking to the actual effect of these weapons. And so far as they cause just as much damage, wreak just as much havoc
as an automatic weapon, we're just ignoring that. And there was especially thinking about how this law came to be or how this ATF ruling came to be from the Las Vegas shooting festival. There's a lot the lives of over 60 people and hundreds of others that were injured and change forever that day, and the largest mass shooting in American history, that's what will happen as a consequence of their decisions.
SCOTUS has blood on their hands from this and this decision flies in the face of Americans, especially Las Vegas shooting survivors, and it essentially seals the fate that another tragedy of this kind will happen in the U.S. And I mean, while this decision is a egregious and dangerous and so wildly out of touch, we really can't say we're surprised at March, the NRA's spent $2 million to help place ideological extremists on the bench. And this bench's conservative super majority of justices has done nothing but bend over backwards to serve that gun lobby.
The recent audio recordings of the justices depict exactly what we already knew, that they are extreme, that they are ultra conservative partisan and rely on their own personal beliefs to make decisions rather than settled constitutional jurisprudence.
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I mean, it's unthinkable to thank that the court would listen to the NRA over survivors, but that's exactly what's happened.
CHATTERLEY: And yet if we look at this and actually what the justices that decided this, the majority, they did say, look, Congress needs to act on that, and that's something that we're all very aware of in this country.
It was a decision that was taken on bump stocks during the Trump era. Does that give you any hope that perhaps even just on this specific issue, Congress perhaps could come together and decide to act to limit this in some way? Do you have any hope of that?
MCBRYDE: You're right. As Alito, it is now up to Congress to clarify this role and then bump stocks. But look, we're in a Congress that is constantly gridlocked, in the partisan gridlock, and we know the uphill battle that it takes to pass to gun control in this country. March for Our Lives is fighting that every single day.
And got the first gun round prevention bill to pass through Congress in three decades, after Uvalde and Buffalo, and we haven't seen anything since. It's very hard. We're fighting every day, but most basic common sense, some safety measures. But for some reason, Republicans just cannot get onboard to protect the American people.
So while it's great that the Supreme Court didn't outright say, no, we -- bump stocks cannot be banned, but that it's now referred to Congress that basically is a death sentence. The justices knew what they were doing. They knew that bump stock bans would never pass through the Congress that we're facing now. So, I would like to say that there's hope because March for Our Lives is invigorated and we are fighting for it tooth and nail.
And I think it'll take an election that some congressional turnover to do so, but it really was a calculated move by the Supreme Court to delegate this to Congress.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, it takes people to make this issue the primary reason for voting. I think because that's what it comes down to, and that's what Congress is there in place to do and to represent the people.
Your organization March for Our Lives was set up after the tragedy that again, and I'm sure of many of our viewers will remember the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting of 2018, where 17 students and faculty lost their lives. And we've been reporting today that the building where that tragedy took places is now being demolished.
Do you -- do you have any thoughts today whether it's the families, the friends those people involved. I know it's a day of mixed emotions.
MCBRYDE: Uh-huh. Certainly, in my personal capacity, I haven't and I will defer to the families and survivors that are most intimately touched by that. But yes, it is a difficult thing, indeed.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah. Makennan, keep fighting. We appreciate your work.
Makennan McBryde, thank you so much.
We'll be right back with more. Stay with us.
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[15:45:54]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back with a reminder of our top story today.
Catherine, princess of Wales, says she's making, quote, good progress in her recovery from cancer but is not out of the woods yet. In a statement released just a short time ago, Princess Kate said she was experiencing good days and bad days while undergoing chemotherapy. This new photo was released with that statement.
Saturday, the princess is expected to make her first public appearance in months at the trooping of the color. The king's official birthday parade, and King Charles said he's, quote, delighted that the princess is now expecting to attend, fingers crossed.
We see her looking well and happy tomorrow.
Now, still to come, 24 teams competing in Europe's biggest soccer championship, among them, war-torn Ukraine. Football is not the most important thing in Ukraine right now, obviously, but arguably, the job of this team never more important. That story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.
And some good news for football or soccer fans. The 2024 European championships is underway as host country, Germany, is facing Scotland. Less good news if you're a Scottish fan because they are currently down two goal against Germany, but we'll say there's time yet.
Ukraine's euro tournament kicks off on Monday and it comes after a unique qualifying journey. Russia's 2022 invasion meant the team could not train or play at home. Instead, Ukraine secured its spot in the competition as nomads.
Don Riddell spoke to the team's coach about how football is not the most important thing in Ukraine right now, but the job of this team has never been more important.
[15:50:11]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-four teams will line up for the European championships in Germany. Most are playing for personal glory and national pride. But for Ukraine, it's different. Their country has been fighting against a Russian invasion for more than two years, the state of war has changed everything for everyone. And it's given the players and their coach a unique perspective on football and life.
SERHIY REBROV, MANAGER, UKRAINE MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: Thanks to our defenders, who is who have been defending of our freedom and our independence. I think this is important, comparing with our fighters, there are cannot be great difficulty in our life.
I think now we have a good place, good team, but they are not really concentrated on the football because most of them lost of a friends, some of the friends, and defending with the families. And, of course, they are not 100 percent for the football team.
RIDDELL: Just 12 years ago, Ukraine co-hosted the Euros with Poland. Now its national team cannot even play or train there. So they qualified the hard way, nomadically hosting games on neutral territory in Slovakia, Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Can you give me an idea of what you might say in a team talk as the players are about to leave the dressing room and go onto the field?
REBROV: I think given we sometimes saw the videos from the kids -- from kids who stays with the defenders of Azovstal. They make some videos for several minutes, of course, the place was crying. And when you're watching this video, of course, you come in for the pitch with different kinds of motivation.
RIDDELL: It's not just the Ukrainian football team which is flying the flag for a nation under siege. The undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk is also a huge source of national pride, and many others just like the tennis star Elina Svitolina, often highlight the challenges faced at home.
REBROV: If you're asking people in the Europe and America, and who they know from Ukraine, I think first will be Zelenskyy, but who is the next? And I think it's very important through the sportsmen for the big sports remind in Europe, in America, that, unfortunately, war is continuing.
We are very pleasure for our partners, our supporters, of support countries, who is helping up, but we still need the help.
RIDDELL: Just as the Ukrainian military is fighting hard on the battlefield, so, too the football team show grit and determination in the qualification playoffs coming from behind with late goals to beat Bosnia, Herzegovina and also Iceland.
Coach Serhiy Rebrov describes it as a hugely symbolic achievement.
REBROV: After the game, when we go through in Iceland, I saw the faces of the place in the change room. They were just happy. They really enjoyed that they did something for the people, they need something for our defenders.
The target is different, not only winning the match. I think it's very important during the game to show patient, to show character, same like showing our defenders.
RIDDELL: Ukraine will now play in the European championships for the fourth consecutive tournament. The group games will be against Belgium, Slovakia, and Romania. Only once before if they made it through to the knockout phase, and for many reasons they'd hoped to do it again.
Football is not the most important thing in Ukraine right now. But arguably, the job of this team has never been more important.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And Don Riddell joins us.
Don, such an important conversation that you gave me goose bumps for morale, for the people back home, the dream lives on. Their group, though, is a little tough, Belgium.
What are their chances of advancing well?
RIDDELL: I think given the fact that Belgium are in their group here, Julia, there'll be happy if they can go through in second place.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
RIDDELL: They should have a good chance in their opening game against Romania, you would think, and they are ranked higher in the FIFA rankings, than both Romania and Slovakia. So, they may be cautiously optimistic about getting into the latter stages, but given that this would be their fourth European football championship in a row, and only once have they even made it out of the group, that was last time around when they got to the quarterfinals. I think they will be happy just to get out of their group.
But as we were saying in that report, it is so important for them not -- not just from a football perspective, but it's about so much more than that.
A lot of their players have just taken part in the video that's been released talking about how their hometowns, their home villages have been shelled, destroyed, or occupied in the last couple of years, and they are saying that you just cannot separate football from war. Every single player in this team, in one way or another has been impacted by it. And for as long as they are in the tournament, they are going to be, you know, kind of living proof of what is happening to their homeland.
And they are going to be raising morale back home, but raising awareness on an international stage about what is happening.
[15:55:02]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, they're fighting for their home nation and fighting for a lot more than just a soccer tournament trophy.
Who is the favorite? It's got to be France, surely.
RIDDELL: Well, yeah. I mea, France, of course, were just a whisker away from being back-to-back world champions, just a couple of years ago.
The favorites in many eyes are actually England --
CHATTERLEY: Oh.
RIDDELL: -- which, as an England fan, kind of makes me a little bit nervous because that's too good to be true. We'll see.
I mean, kind of the usual suspects, England, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain. Germany are the tournament hosts, they're in action as we speak, they are three-nil up against Scotland at halftime in the opening match. So Germany already off to a flyer and looking very, very good well.
CHATTERLEY: Well, you never know England. Miracles may happen. We'll see.
Don, good to have you. Thank you. Don Riddell there.
And thank you for joining me today. I'm Julia Chatterley.
"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next. Have a wonderful weekend.
