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CNN International: Ukraine Slams New Russia-North Korea Defense Pact; Biden and Trump Prepare Ahead of Presidential Debate; Trump and Biden Battling for Votes in Virginia; Kenyans Protest Proposed Tax Hikes. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 20, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren, in for Max Foster today. Here are some of our top stories.

The first named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Alberto, is set to make landfall in the coming hours near the Gulf Coast city of Tampico, Mexico. More than two million people in southern Texas are under tornado watch right now due to this huge storm.

Electricity has been restored to 95 percent of Ecuador. A nationwide power outage on Wednesday left the country of some 17 million people in the dark for hours. The public infrastructure minister blamed the outage on faulty transmission lines and a lack of investment in the country's electrical system.

More than 250 deaths have been reported among Hajj pilgrims making the annual journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Some are due to heat stroke, with temperatures in the kingdom as high as 49 degrees Celsius or 120 Fahrenheit. Others have died from diseases or other medical conditions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Vietnamese leaders today in Hanoi. He thanked the government for its balanced position on the war in Ukraine, and he's also hoping to show that efforts by the West to isolate Russia are not working. His visit comes after a stop in North Korea, where he signed a trade and mutual defense pact, which some experts say may be an attempt to justify the reported use of North Korean munitions in the war in Ukraine.

For more, let's go to Clare Sebastian, live for us in London. Clare, this mutual defense pact that was signed in Pyongyang, what does this mean for the war in Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anna, I think if you look at this in the context of the not at all subtle rhetoric that we saw in the lead up to this trip and during this trip from both Putin and Kim on confronting the West, what Putin called the imperialist policies of the U.S. and its satellites. And if you look at Putin's criticism right before he talked about this defense pact of the U.S. and the West supplying weapons to Ukraine, including F-16s, of the lifting of some restrictions on using them to hit Russian territory, it's pretty hard not to see this as some kind of counterpoint to NATO's Article 5.

North Korean state media also released the full text of this agreement later in the day, and it did clarify that if one side was attacked, the other would provide assistance, including military.

So, it does look like some kind of collective defense pact, but we don't have much flesh on the bones as of yet in terms of what that would actually mean. Would it mean that Russia's formidable nuclear deterrent now extends to North Korea? Would it mean that they're going to hold joint drills, perhaps set up joint forces of some kind?

Would anyone else be invited to join the pact in future? It certainly raises a lot of questions.

And this is why Ukraine, in terms of the more immediate danger of what it would mean for weapons transfers between the two countries, is very concerned about this.

COREN: Clare, we know Moscow and Pyongyang, they deny trading arms, obviously banned under U.N. sanctions on North Korea, but U.S. intelligence believes there have been thousands of containers of weapons sent to Russia specifically for its war against Ukraine. Is there a fear that this will further escalate under this new defense pledge?

SEBASTIAN: Yes. Yes, there definitely is. South Korea has also said that North Korean factories are working at full speed to provide weapons for Russia to use in Ukraine.

Debris from North Korean missiles has been found in Ukraine. U.S. intelligence has analyzed it, and the meeting certainly left the door open for this. You know, President Putin talked about the agreement, he said, does not rule out the development of military-technical cooperation between the two sides.

They also railed publicly against what Putin called politically motivated sanctions. U.N. sanctions, don't forget, on North Korea explicitly prohibit the transfer of weapons. And don't forget that Russia had already, back in March, vetoed the extension of the mandate of a panel of experts at the U.N. that was monitoring North Korean sanctions violations.

So look, it's one thing to rail against sanctions, it's another to stand up there having already denied that this is happening and publicly dismantle them. But certainly this meeting left the door open that this kind of trade, if it's already begun, could continue.

COREN: Clare Sebastian, joining us from London, we appreciate the reporting. Thank you.

In just one week, U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off in a live debate right here on CNN. Both men are preparing for the pivotal showdown in what could be a defining moment in this year's presidential race. The White House press secretary said this about Mr. Biden's preparations.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That is squarely in the camp of the campaign. So I have to keep that there and I'm not going to speak in details about that.

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COREN: Well, Trump, who skipped all the Republican primary debates. He's ramping up his preparation for this high stakes moment. CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman explains.

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MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Trump is taking this more seriously than people allow publicly. Right. I mean, in public, his aides often downplay the prep that he does.

He's been doing not standard debate prep. He doesn't have stand ins as of now for Biden.

They are focusing on various issues that could come up. Abortion, health care, energy, COVID. And then very specifically, and this was one thing that came up last Thursday. What Trump will say when asked January 6th related questions.

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COREN: And the race remains tight. A new Fox News poll shows Mr. Biden has inched ahead of Trump for the first time since October. As you can see, it's still a close matchup.

The campaigns are clearly eager for the showdown with the Biden team marking the Juneteenth holiday by tearing into what he calls Trump's flagrant racism. His campaign also released this ad.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We celebrate freedom, freedom to live, breathe, play, choose, marry, vote.

We are the culture. We blaze trails. We define our future. We are the heart and soul of America. And we must ask ourselves in this moment, how will we continue our legacy?

How will we continue to define America with our hard earned rights under attack from those who look to divide the nation?

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COREN: The Biden campaign released a statement marking Juneteenth and attacking Trump.

It reads in part, quote: Donald Trump has spent his entire life denigrating Black Americans. He spent his entire presidency harming Black communities. And he's spent his entire campaign this cycle engaged in empty racist gimmicks instead of meaningful outreach. Black Americans haven't forgotten his lifetime of racism.

The comments come just days after Donald Trump tried to court Black voters as he campaigned in Detroit over the weekend.

Well, a contentious Republican primary in the state of Virginia could be heading for a recount. Congressman Bob Good is locked in a tight race with state Senator John McGuire. They're a little over 300 votes apart. And there's one man who could cost the incumbent his seat. CNN's Brian Todd explains.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republican Congressman Bob Good in a nail-biter as he fights to retain his seat in Virginia's 5th congressional district. After Tuesday's primary night, Good trails his opponent by a razor-thin margin and the race could be headed for a recount. Good normally checks all the boxes for being a far-right MAGA Republican. He's an election denier, supports strict immigration measures, opposes all abortions. But he now could lose because of one move.

REP. BOB GOOD (R-VA): I just want to congratulate and thank Governor Ron DeSantis.

TODD (voice-over): Good initially endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary, drawing rage from the man who ended up dominating the race.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bob Good, who is actually bad for Virginia and who will stab you in the back like he did me.

TODD (voice-over): It didn't matter to former President Donald Trump that once DeSantis bowed out, Bob Good went back to endorsing Trump. Good even made a pilgrimage to Trump's hush money trial to curry favor.

GOOD: We are President Trump's boys. We have his back.

TODD (voice-over): None of it mattered. The marker of betrayal had been laid down.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR: I think it's safe to say that Donald Trump holds a grudge. And we've seen that if anyone, whether they're inside of his administration when he was president or they're a Republican in Congress, that if they do anything that he considers disloyal, then he will go after them.

TODD (voice-over): Trump endorsed Good's challenger for the nomination, Virginia State Senator John McGuire, a former Navy SEAL known for his expertise in commando tactics.

But Good also drew the wrath of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy by being one of eight House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy from the speakership last fall.

BARRON-LOPEZ: And so because of that, Kevin McCarthy put some weight into this race as well behind Bob Good's challenger.

TODD (voice-over): The Good-McGuire race isn't the only battle drawing attention to Virginia and the Trump dynamic in the state. Eugene Vindman, a whistleblower who served in Trump's White House and raised alarms about Trump's infamous 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that led to the then president's first impeachment, will win his Democratic primary in Virginia, CNN projects.

Both presidential candidates are focusing attention on the Commonwealth, even though President Biden handily won Virginia in 2020.

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Biden held a fundraiser there Tuesday night that included Bill and Hillary Clinton, at which Biden implored attendees to support abortion rights. Trump recently campaigned in the state.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Republicans really want to -- really think that this is a state that is ripe, that if there is a wave or if there is a strong Republican birth in the 2024 election, that will include Virginia.

TODD: Donald Trump's reach in this primary season seemingly extends everywhere. Brian Jack, a former aide to Trump in his administration and his campaign, and Wayne Johnson, a former Department of Education official in the Trump administration, have both just won Republican nominations for U.S. House seats in the state of Georgia.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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COREN: And be sure to watch as CNN hosts the U.S. presidential debate next week. It's on Thursday, June 27th, 9 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. That's 2 a.m. Friday in London and 9 a.m. here in Hong Kong.

A new battle over religious freedom and what could be government overreach is brewing in the United States after Louisiana's Republican governor signed a law requiring schools to put a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

It applies to any school that receives state funding, from kindergarten to universities. Civil liberties groups immediately vowed to challenge the law in court. They say it violates longstanding Supreme Court precedent and the U.S. Constitution itself, which prohibits the government establishment of religion.

Well days before signing the law, the governor spoke at a Republican fundraiser where he said, quote: I can't wait to be sued.

Suggesting he'll take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if needed.

Well coming up, Kenya's government responds after massive protests break out over proposed tax on a variety of goods.

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COREN: Well protesters in Kenya are demanding the government scrap a controversial tax bill. Huge crowds marched in several cities, including the capital Nairobi, with police there reportedly arresting hundreds of people. Well Kenya's government has announced amendments to the bill, saying they would drop some of the new taxes on products such as cars and bread. But as the cost of living soars, many Kenyans say that's not good enough.

Well CNN's Larry Madowo joins us now from Nairobi. And Larry, describe to us where you are and the level of public anger against this tax.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Anna, we're outside Kenya's parliament where protesters expect to come here. They're calling the protest Occupy Parliament and Reject the Finance Bill. This is where they hope to come and present the petition and have their elected leaders hear them.

But the police have sealed this area off. They have water cannon trucks here. They have SWAT teams around here. No one can access this part of the road that's usually public ahead of these protests that should be starting any time now.

There's been a heavy security presence around this just to make sure that anybody who gets this far does not make it all the way to the elected representatives. This all started from the proposed finance bill that the government of President Ruto brought forward that included higher taxes on basic commodities including bread and eggs and milk and sugar and financial transactions. A lot of the important things that people use in the day to day.

After a huge public outcry and Tuesday's protests, a lot of those proposals were dropped. But some of them remain. For instance, a fuel maintenance levy hike that will make fuel more expensive. And those who oppose this finance bill have said if fuel is more expensive, almost everything else will be expensive.

It's been extraordinary to see these protests. I've been covering protests in Kenya since 2007. I have never seen this level of youth participation largely led by young people, by women, by Gen Zs organizing on TikTok to have their voices heard, encouraging their peers to come out. And that is why you see this kind of heavy-handed response to it.

If you look around here, you see a huge security presence in this road that's completely blocked off. They have riot gear. They have tear gas canisters. They have all forms of other equipment, I guess, to make sure that if they have to disperse the people, they can do so easily. They're starting to mass in parts of the capital here in Nairobi, so

they might still try and get here anyway. During Tuesday's protests, we saw about 300 people, maybe more than 300 people arrested in different parts of the city.

Today, these protests are happening not just here in Nairobi, but also in other parts of the country, in some major cities, smaller towns, where people still feel that they're getting overtaxed by President Ruto since he came into power in 2022.

Now, his government's argument is that he inherited a lot of debt, and the only way to generate revenue is by increasing taxes, so that he can pay for government, pay salaries, build infrastructure and all that. So this is something that is impossible to avoid.

But the criticism is that all of these are regulations, these extra taxes required by Bretton Woods Institutions, like the IMF.

And so there's been a big push for the government of President Ruto to respond to the hustlers. When he was running for president, he said he was a hustler. He understood the plight of the common man. And now that's the call on the streets here for him to respect that.

What's happening inside the National Assembly right now is that the members of Parliament are discussing some amendments and proposals. But the call outside is not to amend this finance bill, it's to abandon it entirely -- Anna.

COREN: Larry Madowo, we know you'll be covering the protests throughout the day. We thank you for your reporting.

Well, still to come, Argentina will defend their title when Copa America gets underway today in Atlanta.

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COREN: The environmental activist group Just Stop Oil has struck again. A new video shows two of its members using a saw to cut through a fence at Stansted Airport near London. Then they sprayed orange paint on private jets. Well, both were arrested and the airport says no operations were disrupted. The protesters claim they were targeting Taylor Swift's jet. She has shows in London this weekend for her Eras Tour. But police say the pop star's plane was not there.

Just Stop Oil has been demanding the U.K. government end the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

Well, this comes one day after two protesters from the same group covered Stonehenge in orange paint. They were also arrested. The vandalism coming just as huge crowds are expected to the monument for the northern summer solstice.

Copa America 2024 kicks off tonight when Argentina faces Canada in Atlanta. All eyes will be on Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina. The country has already won the title 15 times. Matches will be held across 14 cities in the U.S. This is the second time the tournament has been hosted outside South America.

Well, there's just 36 days until the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympic Games. Thousands of athletes are expected to attend. And that includes the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal. Despite defecting and facing difficulties in a new home, she isn't giving up on her Olympic dreams. CNN's Don Riddell has this report.

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DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kimia Alizadeh made history by becoming the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal. And now she's on her way to Paris, hoping for gold.

KIMIA ALIZADEH, TAEKWONDO OLYMPIC MEDALIST: I am targeting the gold medal in Paris which is our main goal. And I wake up every day for the gold medal in Paris. And I am trying my best and I am going 100 percent to achieve this goal.

RIDDELL (voice-over): The 25-year-old Taekwondo athlete won a bronze medal representing Iran in Rio's Olympic games back in 2016.

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Four years later, she defected from her home country due to oppressive conditions saying in a statement quote: I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing for years.

Later that year, she competed in the Tokyo Olympics as part of the refugee team. Alizadeh will now be representing her new home of Bulgaria in Paris.

ALIZADEH: Of course, it's hard when you leave your country and you face a lot of new things, such as new language, new culture and new people. And it is hard. It's a new start.

I have to start it from the beginning. I felt like home and I really liked the warm welcome. And I was really comfortable and I felt, yes, here is my second home. And I want to represent Bulgaria in my competition from now on.

RIDDELL (voice-over): She's become a role model to many Iranian women since her Olympic debut and is now set to inspire people in her adopted country as she becomes Bulgaria's first taekwondo Olympic athlete.

Alizadeh did have other offers from other countries including Belgium and the Netherlands but ultimately she said she went with her heart and chose Bulgaria.

When asked if competing against Iranian athletes would impact here, she seems to have her head in the game.

ALIZADEH: This is the fight. This is the game. And every athlete is doing their best to represent their country. RIDDELL (voice-over): Don Riddell, CNN.

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COREN: Well, they say wine gets better with age, but this one may be the exception. A 2,000-year-old wine believed to be the oldest ever found in liquid form. It was unearthed five years ago from a tomb in southern Spain.

The wine, which researchers determined was a white wine, was found inside an urn along with human remains. They say it's an almost impossible discovery because wine tends to evaporate quickly, but it was somehow hermetically sealed, keeping it preserved all this time.

Well, thanks so much for your company and for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after this short break. Stay with us.

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