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First Move with Julia Chatterley
ICC Seeks Arrest Warrants For Hamas, Israeli Leaders; Israel-Hamas War; Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi Dies In Helicopter Crash; Trump On Trial; Prosecution Resting Its Case; Taiwan's New President; New Taiwanese President Takes Office; A.I.-Powered Personal Computers; New A.I. Laptops; Autonomous Racing League Driverless Cars; Usyk-Fury Fight; Celebrations For Manchester City. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired May 20, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ITERNATIONAL HOST: You can follow me on Facebook, on Instagram, on Threads, X, formerly known as Twitter, on the TikTok,
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podcasts.
I will be back on air tomorrow morning for more coverage of that wild Trump trial. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, right next door in a
place I'd like to call "The Situation Room." I'll see you tomorrow morning.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ITERNATIONAL HOST: It is 6:00 a.m. in Singapore, 8:00 a.m. in Melbourne, Australia, and 6:00 p.m. here in Atlanta. I'm Lynda
Kinkade in for Julia Chatterley. And wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
A warm welcome to "First Move." Here is today's need to know. The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court tells CNN that he is seeking
arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for possible war crimes.
Reaction from around the world after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi dies in a helicopter crash.
And stop intimidating Taiwan. The message from the island's new president to China as he takes office. He says a glorious era for democracy has
arrived. All that and much more coming up.
But first, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrants for leaders of both Israel and Hamas on charges of war
crimes and crimes against humanity. That includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
A panel of judges will now decide whether to issue the warrants. Prime Minister Netanyahu calling the move an outrage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The absurd and false order of the prosecutor in The Hague is not only directed against
the prime minister of Israel and the minister of defense, it is directed against the entire state of Israel. It is directed against the IDF soldiers
who are fighting with supreme heroism against the vile Hamas murderers who attacked us with terrible cruelty on October 7th.
Prosecutor in The Hague, with what audacity do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the
world?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden saying, "Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas. We
will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.
Well, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, detailed the charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We're here at the ICC. You are today announcing that you are applying for arrest warrants for top
military and political leadership in the Israel Gaza war since the October 7th events. First and foremost, explain to me exactly what you're asking
for and who you are charging.
KARIM KHAN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: Today, Christiane, we've applied for warrants to the pretrial chamber of the
International Criminal Court in relation to three individuals that are Hamas members. Sinwa, who's in charge on the ground.
AMANPOUR: That's Yahya Sinwar.
KHAN: Absolutely. Deif who's in charge of the Al Qassam Brigade. And Haniyeh. who's one of their political bureau based in Doha.
AMANPOUR: What are the charges?
KHAN: The charges are extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape, and sexual assault in detention. So, these are the key crimes that are alleged
to have been committed by these three individuals. The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their
homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel and people have suffered enormously. And we have a variety of evidence to support the applications
that we've submitted to the judges.
AMANPOUR: You have also issued warrants against the top political and military leadership of the government of the State of Israel.
KHAN: We've applied for warrants. Of course, the judges must determine whether or not to issue them. But we've applied today. We'll apply for
warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and also Minister of Defense Gallant for the crimes of causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of
war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Christiane joins us now live. Good to have you with us, Christiane. A great interview there. And what struck me most about your
exclusive interview is that the prosecutor not only thinks that they have enough evidence to pursue this, but that they have enough evidence to get a
conviction.
[18:05:00]
AMANPOUR: Yes, Lynda, he brought that bar in when he became the chief prosecutor and he used it in the arrest warrant that he submitted against
President Putin, for instance, over their illegal abduction of, you know, Ukrainian children from occupied areas in Ukraine. And so, he believes he
has the same and has achieved the same evidentiary bar to try to seek these arrest warrants and believing that the evidence would lead to a conviction
in court.
And he has an independent panel who he has assembled of very distinguished global jurists, very diverse, who have unanimously given him their support
as well. The next step is to put this request formally to what they call the panel of trial judges at the ICC to see if they agree and if they
actually do issue these warrants.
And beyond that, he said very clearly to me, and then I had it reiterated by the office after the some of the comments and criticisms that came, they
said that the ICC mandate and the Rome Statute upon which it was created are solely focused on victims, on putting victims at the heart of their
strategy. And they are not putting perpetrators or alleged perpetrators on any kind of equivalent or equal footing. They say it's just the victims on
all sides who must be treated as equal and that justice must be seen to be done no matter who is the perpetrator.
KINKADE: And of course, Christiane, the U.S. is a major ally of Israel. We know just a few months ago that Biden had warned Netanyahu not to let
revenge and retribution cloud his judgment when responding to this terror attack. Joe Biden spoke a short time ago. How is the U.S. responding to
this decision by the ICC chief prosecutor?
AMANPOUR: Well, the U.S. has come down very harshly against this move. They accused the prosecutor of false equivalence in terms of naming both Hamas
and Israeli leadership. But as I said, the ICC does -- disputes that characterization. It says it is not putting the leadership on the same
level, but the victims of each side on the same level. And to that end, they intend to pursue as far as they can.
Now, given the question that Israel is a democracy that, you know, they could do it themselves, the system could take care of this themselves. A
prosecutor says that he's been warning publicly and in meetings that he would have to take steps if they didn't heed the warnings that actually
have come from the United States as well throughout this war to protect civilian life as they seek to protect themselves from the crimes that Hamas
created and that might create again.
So, in other words, self-defense, also requires, under the rules of law, the international rules of law and war, to protect civilians. And as you've
heard, both the president and all his top leaders have called on the Israelis to protect civilians, for instance, if they were to go into Rafah.
That's why they've advised them not to go into Rafah.
And the national security adviser said quite recently that they had not yet received a credible plan from Israel to protect the civilians of Rafah. But
the other big issue is -- so that's for the, you know, the intent and the care of civilians in war. The other big issue is using starvation as a
weapon of war.
And again, as we know, there have been comments by major Israeli leaders, including Yoav Gallant, the defense secretary -- defense minister, right
after October 7th that they would impose a total siege on Gaza, which they did. And to this day, not enough food and clean water and medicine and all
the other stuff, but certainly food and what sustains basic life and water have been going through. And there have been deaths attributed to
starvation and malnutrition, including amongst babies.
So, this is a new charge that would be leveled and prosecuted if it came to that, because they've never actually -- it would be unprecedented to use
that starvation charge in any kind of international criminal tribunal.
KINKADE: All right. Christiane Amanpour, well done to you and the team on securing that interview with the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC. Thanks so
much.
We will have more on that story later in the program. Right now, I want to move to another story. The leaders of course of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and
Turkey are among those sending their condolences after Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
The U.S. offered what it called official condolences through a State Department spokesperson later that said this.
[18:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: We regret any loss of life. We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that
doesn't change the reality of his record both as a judge and as the president of Iran, the fact that he has blood on his hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, that helicopter crash also killed the country's foreign minister. Iran's first vice president has become acting president with an
election set for late June. Well, our Frederik Pleitgen has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran's presidential helicopter completely destroyed after crashing into a
mountain in the remote north of the country. Dense fog, frigid conditions making the recovery efforts difficult.
President Ebrahim Raisi, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian and seven others were killed in the crash. Rescuers having to carry the bodies away through the rugged terrain.
A CNN Turk journalist showing how challenging the conditions are.
FULYA OZTURK, CNN TURK CORRESPONDENT (through translator): This place is a very difficult terrain with dense trees, deep valleys, and steep mountains.
We can say that this is the most challenging terrain of Iran.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Raisi inaugurated a dam with the president of Azerbaijan and was traveling to nearby Tabriz. The chopper, a decades old
American made Bell 212, a model developed for the Canadian military in the 1960s.
The chopper crashed in poor visibility. Iran, under heavy sanctions, has been unable to acquire more modern helicopters.
President Ebrahim Raisi was rumored to be a possible successor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who's 84 years old. As the chopper
went missing, the supreme leader taking the reins, chairing a meeting of Iran's Security Council and vowing the country's government will continue
to work.
AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (through translator): Be assured that there will be no disruption in the country's affairs.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Black flags have been hoisted across Iran as the country's leadership has ordered five days of mourning, canceling most
public events.
Also deeply mourning the country's foreign minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, who was instrumental in the past months as Iran and Israel came to the brink of full-on war and traded missile strikes. Abdollahian
also challenging the U.S. in a recent interview on CNN's "OutFront" with Erin Burnett.
HOSSEIN AMIR-ABDOLLAHIAN, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I do think that America must pay closer attention and focus on the adventure
seeking regime in Israel so that such a crisis will not happen in Gaza. Because Netanyahu showed he will not respect any of the red lines.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Tehran has launched an investigation into the crash that killed two key figures of the Islamic Republic's leadership while
vowing that the nation will carry on.
Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, it was an eventful day in Donald Trump's hush money trial, with the prosecution resting its case against the former president.
But it was the prosecution's key witness whose credibility was hemmed by Trump lawyers. During his fourth day on the stand, Michael Cohen, Trump's
former fixer, admitted that he had stolen money from the Trump organization. CNN's Kara Scannell has more from New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After four weeks of testimony, prosecutors rested their case in Former President Donald Trump's
criminal trial. Just after their star witness, Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, concluded more than 17 hours of dramatic testimony over four
days.
Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, intensely attacked Cohen's credibility over multiple days, trying to paint him as a liar who's motivated by money.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: I just want to get through this so that I can start my own life again.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Blanche got Cohen to admit that he stole from the Trump Organization. Cohen confirmed he paid a tech company $20,000 instead
of the $50,000 it was owed by Trump. But Cohen asked Trump to be repaid the full amount, which was doubled to cover taxes. Ultimately, Cohen admitted
he kept around $60,000 for himself.
Blanche asked, so you stole from the Trump Organization? Yes, sir, Cohen replied. Cohen said he was angry about getting a low annual bonus.
Earlier in the trial, Cohen told prosecutors he requested the full reimbursement because that's what was owed and I didn't feel Mr. Trump
deserved the benefit of the difference. On Monday, Cohen admitted it was wrong to have taken the money. Cohen defended his character during
testimony to Congress in 2019.
COHEN: I understand. I have lied. But I am not a liar. And I have done bad things. But I am not a bad man.
SCANNELL (voice-over): After cross-examination concluded, prosecutors tried to clean up some of the damage done to Cohen's credibility.
[18:15:00]
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked about repayments Cohen received from Trump for the $130,000 in hush money he provided to adult film star Stormy
Daniels, which is the crux of the case.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is why I'm here because we called it illegal expense payment to a
lawyer.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Cohen testified that despite the 11 checks referring to a retainer agreement, he said, no agreement existed because there was no
legal work that I was to be paid for. Prosecutors played an audio clip for the jury of Cohen talking about Trump to Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson
about the payment.
COHEN: And I can't even tell you how many times he said to me, you know, I hate the fact that we did it. And my comment to him was, but every person
that you've spoken to told you it was the right move.
SCANNELL (voice-over): After the prosecution rested, the defense started calling witnesses, including Robert Costello, who once served as a legal
adviser to Cohen. Costello was visibly frustrated as the judge sustained several objections from the prosecution, audibly saying geez and rolling
his eyes. Judge Merchan became so angry, he briefly cleared the courtroom and addressed Costello.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Our thanks to Kara Scannell there. Well, still to come on "First Move," your latest weather and sport.
Plus, Taiwan's transition. We'll go live to Taipei, where a brand-new president has been sworn in. China's reaction to his inaugural speech, and
much more, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back to "First Move." I'm Lynda Kinkade. Topping today's "Money Move," U.S. stocks began the new trading week mixed with the Nasdaq
hitting fresh record highs. A.I. chip maker Nvidia leading the charge, up more than 2 percent ahead of its earnings report out Wednesday. The Dow
pulled back after a sizeable fall in shares of financial giant JPMorgan. Shares fell 4.5 percent after the CEO Jamie Dimon ruled out new repurchases
of company stock at current prices and suggested that he might be closer to retirement.
Well, meantime, shares of Donald Trump's media firm fell almost 5 percent after the closing bell reported a loss of $300 dollars in the first
quarter, and it said it generated less than $1 million worth of revenue. In Asia, green arrows across the board with Chinese stocks hitting fresh eight
months high.
[18:20:00]
Well, staying in Asia and the new president of Taiwan delivered a strong message to China on his first day in office on Monday.
Lai Ching-te called on Beijing to stop intimidating Taiwan and said, "A glorious era of Taiwan's democracy has arrived." Well, China, which never
recognized Taiwan as an independent nation responded that the island remains "an unalienable part of China." And it criticized foreign
governments for sending representatives to that event.
Well, Will Ripley joins us now from Taipei. Good to see you, Will. So, cease intimidation is what Taiwan's president is saying shortly after being
sworn in. What can we expect from this new president?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lynda. Good morning. Yes, Lai Ching-te was actually the vice president here in Taiwan
since 2020, and he ran on a continuity ticket saying that he would continue the policies of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, policies that have made him
popular in places like the United States and certainly unpopular in places like Beijing, particularly, which has slammed a live speech. Beijing has a
Taiwan Affairs Office. They said that the speech was sending dangerous signals of seeking independence and provocation.
Lai Ching-te himself, six years ago, made a statement that he was a worker for practical Taiwan independence. And that statement, even though he's
softened his stance in recent years, and certainly when he was running for the president of Taiwan, Beijing has essentially never forgiven him for
that. And so, they openly despise him. They despise his vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, who up until the election was Taiwan's top envoy in
Washington.
But this is the team that has to lead Taiwan through what could be, some analysts say, a tumultuous four years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan begins a new era with a new leader, Lai Ching- te. The island democracy's 64-year-old president steps into a political minefield. China's communist leaders loathe Lai and his government.
RIPLEY: How's Beijing likely to respond?
WEN-TI SUNG, FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S GLOBAL CHINA HUB: Beijing is likely to play a hard ball towards Taiwan. More military exercises from Beijing,
likely targeted, become sanctions against Taiwanese economic exports to China.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Just hours into his presidency, Lai called on the communist mainland to stop its military and political intimidation and
recognize the sovereignty of Democratic Taiwan, using the island's official name, the Republic of China.
LAI CHING-TE, TAIWAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China's existence and respect the
choices of the people of Taiwan.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Lai faces rising tensions at home and across the Taiwan Strait.
RIPLEY: This is the first time in the history of Taiwan's democracy that any political party has won a third consecutive presidential term. But the
next four years could be even more challenging for the new president.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Challenges like chaos in a fiercely divided parliament. A brawl broke out last week over legislative reforms to give
more power to Lai's political opponents, champions of more China-friendly policies.
SUNG: The opportunity, however, is that there's always possibility for the ruling party and the opposition body of Taiwan to kind of play good cop,
bad cop towards Beijing.
RIPLEY (voice-over): At a closed-door briefing in Taipei, a senior official telling CNN, Taiwan's new president is bracing for a turbulent tenure.
Taiwan is spending billions to bolster its military defense, forging friendships with likeminded democracies, despite a dwindling number of
formal diplomatic allies. One of many huge hurdles facing President Lai Ching-te, as democratic Taiwan prepares for an uncertain future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY (on camera): Taiwan actually lost 10 formal diplomatic allies at the U.N. under Lai Ching-te's predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen. They only have 12
formal allies remaining, some of them nations currently experiencing civil unrest, like Haiti, that analysts fear could be vulnerable to financial
offers from Beijing that have in the past lured some of these tiny countries to switch their formal recognition.
Of course, that gives Taiwan a smaller and smaller voice in places like the United Nations, even though Taiwan, of course, has a lot of friends, albeit
not formal allies, including the United States. But you have the upcoming U.S. election in November.
And, of course, we're being told here in Taipei, CNN attended a closed-door briefing that, you know, some of these arguments in the U.S. politically
about the United States' involvement in overseas affairs. Those could pose unexpected challenges for Taiwan after the next president is decided by
American voters. And then, of course, you have China saying all along they will never tolerate, never condone any form of Taiwan independence. And
they look at this president as somebody who has spoken out vocally in the past about that very red line topic for Beijing.
[18:25:00]
So, a lot of uncertainty, also a lot of excitement though here on the streets of Taipei from supporters of Lai Ching-te happy to see him take the
reins and they're hoping that he can bring prosperity and most importantly, they say peace to this part of the world, Lynda.
KINKADE: Interesting term ahead. Will Ripley for us. Good to have you there in Taipei. Thank you.
Well, from stormy politics to stormy weather. Taiwan and Southern China is set to receive even more rain, which could lead to floods. For more on
this, I'm joined by Chad Myers. Good to see you again, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good to see you, Lynda.
KINKADE: What's expected?
MYERS: Well, especially where that reporter just was, it's going to be a very rainy day tomorrow in Taipei. No -- without a question, Will is going
to need a raincoat. And so, will many people, anywhere from Hong Kong on up the east coast of China.
This is what China looked like just a couple of days ago, 175 millimeters of rain, about seven inches in six hours. And so, any place is going to
flood with that. More rainfall in those same places. So, the ground is already saturated, no place for that water to soak in. And like we always
say, when it runs off, we are going to get some more flooding. And again, another 150 to 200 millimeters of rainfall there where it has already been
raining.
Look at Hong Kong, rain for the next seven days. Where would they like some rain? New Delhi. They need the monsoon and it's not on its way. 46 on
Saturday. That's 115 degrees Fahrenheit. So, red alerts there for New Delhi.
It's still going to take some time, probably another before we finally get that monsoon up there with the cloud cover in the rainfall, keeping things
cool. Looks like we're going to get significant rain over the corral area over the next couple of days, probably 150 to 200 millimeters here. That's
between four and eight inches of rain. They'll take it because it will cool things down. It's going to -- can't get it too quickly because all of a
sudden there you have the mountains there and obviously the potential for some flooding. So, we'll try to slow that monsoon down for them and hurry
it up for New Delhi. Lynda.
KINKADE: All right. Chad Myers staying across the entire region for us. Good to have you. Thanks.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. We have much more news still ahead. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:20]
KINKADE: Welcome back to "First Move." I'm Lynda Kinkade. Back to our top story now. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is
seeking the arrest warrants for leaders of both Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Prosecutor Karim Khan is accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHAN: Israel has every right not to give succor to Hamas. That is not contested. Israel has every right and needed an obligation to get hostages
back, but you must do so by complying with the law. The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn't justify denying water from all the civilian
population of Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, Israel and the U.S. are calling the move outrageous. The U.S. State Department held a press conference a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: There should be no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. None. There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a
member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the prosecutor and had made that clear.
In fact, the prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli
government. The prosecutor's staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit, and instead, Israel was informed that the
prosecutor's staff didn't get on their flight around the same time that the prosecutor himself went on television to announce these charges. These
circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, joining us now is Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Good to have you with us.
DANIEL BYMAN, SENIOR FELLOW CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: So, the criminal court's chief prosecutor outlined the reasons for going after both the leaders of Hamas and Israel. And in short, he said if
you remove the name of the country and you see a crime, you should pursue it. I just want to play some of that sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHAN: The way I very simply try to do things is look at the evidence, look at the conduct, look at the victims, and airbrush out the nationality. And
if a crime is being committed, we should move forward.
Nobody is above the law. No people by dint of birth or passport, religion, nationality, or the color of their skin have a get out of jail free card,
have a free pass to say, well, the law doesn't apply to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Daniel, does he make a fair point there?
BYMAN: The principle that no person should be above the law, that countries should be treated equally is, of course, fair. Israelis would make that
argument in saying that Israel is actually being singled out. They would point to numerous countries where there have been far worse crises, for
example, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and say that the court did not take action there. So, the question really is not the overall principle, but how
consistently is it being applied?
KINKADE: I mean, the chief prosecutor, of course, ran this case passed eight advisers who spent many months going through all the evidence,
including human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, and a Holocaust survivor. And they put out a statement today when they published their legal report that
said, in short, the prosecutor's work was rigorous, fair, and grounded in the law and the facts. He wanted to ensure that he had a solid case before
pursuing this.
Do you think, Daniel, that those facing these arrest warrants should be worried?
BYMAN: The Israeli leaders and Hamas leaders both right now are not going to focus on the court. They, in different, ways have much bigger things.
The Hamas leaders, of course, are facing an onslaught from the Israeli military, but Israeli politicians have consistently rejected the court's
jurisdiction. They will simply see this as part of the broader international double standard that many Israelis feel is regularly applied
against them.
KINKADE: And you speak about the jurisdiction, because assuming these arrest warrants are issued, there are 124 member countries of the ICC. So,
if these Hamas or Israeli leaders were to travel to any of those countries, they would face a threat of arrest.
But that aside, what does this all mean for Netanyahu? Considering that before this war, he was already quite polarizing. There were mass protests
over his efforts trying to weaken the judicial system. He was facing corruption charges, still is, it's just obviously not being discussed right
now. And since this war we've seen families of hostages come out and criticize his response to the terror attack, saying that he's not putting
the hostages first. What do you make of the impact of this on Benjamin Netanyahu?
[18:35:00]
BYMAN: You're absolutely right that Netanyahu has been an exceptionally divisive leader and his unpopularity has grown considerably since the
October 7th attacks for a variety of reasons.
But these charges are actually briefly likely to unite Israelis behind them. Israelis, in general, are skeptical of international bodies. They
believe that they are always singling out Israel. There is broad support for the war in Gaza. There is a debate about whether or not to do a
ceasefire for hostages, but very few Israelis believe that Israel is being too harsh in Gaza.
So, all the problems Netanyahu has are going to continue, but for a moment at least, Israelis of all political stripes are coming together behind him,
which is probably the opposite of what I think many in the court thought might happen.
KINKADE: Daniel Byman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Good to get your perspective today. Thanks so much.
BYMAN: I appreciate you having me.
KINKADE: Well, I want to return now to the death of Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi. It leaves a major hole in the country's leadership at a
precarious time for Tehran and both at home and abroad.
Well, under Raisi's leadership, Iran had faced nationwide protests and heightened conflict with Israel. His passing begs the question, what impact
will it have on Iran's politics, if any? Firas Maksad, the senior director for Strategic Outreach at the Middle East Institute joins us now from
Washington. Good to have you with us.
FIRAS MAKSAD, SENIOR FELLOW FOR STRATEGIC OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: It's a pleasure.
KINKADE: So, Iran has, of course, suffered a crisis of legitimacy in recent years, not just the widespread protest, but also the fact that last
election had a very low turnout. Could this incident open up the possibility of a move away from the hardline control to more moderate or
reformist policies?
MAKSAD: Yes, there's a very little chance of that happening. In fact, the supreme leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, are
firmly in control of politics in Tehran.
The presidency is, in many ways, a fig leaf in Iran. It holds a significant administrative and maybe to some extent political stature, but the wheelers
and dealers are not in the presidency nor the foreign minister that was all -- that also lost his life in that crash. It's with the supreme leader and
the IRGC.
If anything, in the medium-to-long-term, this might -- the death of President Raisi might upset the succession. He, after all, was one of the
two candidates that was slated to perhaps become supreme leader one day for the current 85-year-old passes away.
So, in the medium-to-long-term, there might be some difficulties for the regime trying to construct who might come after Khamenei once he passes
away. But in the short-term, I don't think that this will have much of an impact.
KINKADE: And Firas, how would you describe Mohammad Mokhber, who is stepping in as the interim president of Iran?
MAKSAD: Yes, he's the first vice president. He's a relative unknown. Politically, he's certainly an unknown on the regional scene and the
international scene. And I think his primary -- we have to keep in mind that there were elections -- presidential elections that were due to take
place in roughly a year from now anyway. So, this will be an interim figure. His role is to prep for the upcoming elections now announced to be
on June 29th.
And then whoever fills that post, whoever is elected will only fill that post for a year. So, there will be a period of transition in Iran, and I
think that will raise questions whether Iran will be consumed by domestic issues, and that perhaps might dampen its appetite for regional
adventurism, particularly at a time when they sponsor militias across the region in Iran -- and sorry, in Yemen, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Syria. And
there's an ongoing conflict in Gaza, Hamas also being one of those beneficiaries of Iranian largesse.
KINKADE: Yes, and you mentioned that we will see this election at the end of June, because under Iran's constitution, it requires that there must be
an election within 50 days of the death of a sitting president. At this point in time, are there any standout contenders?
MAKSAD: I mean, there are some obvious names Jalili, Rouhani, a former president, others. But really, I mean, these contenders have to first be
put through a filtering process where there's a higher council that essentially will push out anybody that the supreme leader or the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard -- the Islamic Revolutionary Guard do not want to see to come to the presidency.
And it's a highly engineered process, and that's why we see quite a bit of popular dissatisfaction over the past years, because at the end of the day,
the Iranian citizens, the voter, does not really have much of a choice. These are carefully selected candidates by the supreme leader in a
carefully choreographed election.
[18:40:00]
KINKADE: Firas Maksad, senior director for Strategic Outreach at the Middle East Institute, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much.
MAKSAD: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, still to come calm Microsoft's A.I. future coming further into focus after a brand-new product announcement. Can new laptops with
artificial intelligence capabilities help lift PC sales. And what does actress Scarlett Johansson have to do with any of this. Stay with us. Much
more coming.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back. Microsoft is hoping to jumpstart global PC sales with a new lineup of powerful laptops that can perform complex A.I. tasks.
Microsoft is calling the new computers Copilot+ PCs. It's new as surface laptops will have artificial intelligence features, as will some other
machines built by other firms. Investors seem to like the news. Microsoft shares finished Monday's session up by almost one and a quarter percent
near record highs.
Well, Clare Duffy joins us now with much more on this. Clare, good to have you with us. So, this is a fascinating development and it has this ability
to help with recall and memory. Just explain how it works and what are the risks?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Lynda, we really are entering the A.I.-powered computing -- personal computing era. This is a really
fascinating development.
How this recall feature is going to work is when you have one of these new Microsoft devices, the computer will essentially keep a log of everything
you do across every program on the device, and then you can ask the A.I. to go back and search for a specific piece of information.
So, for example, you could remember a tidbit from meeting notes, but not remember exactly where you saved it, you could ask the A.I. to go and find
it. You could also ask it to go and find a link for something that you were searching for. And you can ask it in this really natural language where you
won't have to know exactly what you're talking about and the A.I. will still have a pretty good sense of what it is that you're looking for.
Now, I mean, many of us can think about how this would be really useful. But to your point, it also sounds kind of creepy that your computer would
be keeping a log of everything that you do, but Microsoft says that none of the information will be leaving a person's personal device.
[18:45:00]
So, none of this log, none of this information, the data that this A.I. is accessing will leave the device. It will all be done on that person's
computer. And none of that information will be used to train the larger artificial intelligence model.
Now, this is only possible because we've reached this point, we're at a sort of confluence of a couple of really important tech advancements. You
have these A.I. models, these large language models that are trained on a lot of data that create the software that make this possible. And you also
have these really powerful and efficient computer chips that make it possible to run these really, really intensive programs all on a person's
device without connecting to the internet, Lynda.
KINKADE: And of course, Clare, Scarlett Johansson, the actress well known for her role in the film "Her," as this A.I. voice that became a love
interest. Well, now, there's an A.I. platform that has been accused of having a voice that sounds a little bit too much like the actress. Take us
through the fallout.
DUFFY: Yes, Lynda. So, OpenAI today announced that it plans to roll back this ChatGPT-4o, their latest version of ChatGPT. This voice that users
could use to converse with ChatGPT that did sound a lot like Scarlett Johansson in this movie, which is really interesting because that 2013 film
was sort of dystopian. And when it talked about this sort of relationship between humans and technology, OpenAI has said that that voice was not
based on any -- was not based on Scarlett Johansson, I should say. It was based on another actor whose name they haven't revealed.
But Scarlett Johansson actually, just minutes ago, put out a statement saying that nine months ago, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman approached her about
being the voice of ChatGPT-4o. She said, no. And yet, we have this voice that has come out, but they've teased over the past week, that sounds so
much like her. And she said that she actually wrote to -- her legal counsel wrote two letters to the company ahead of their decision to pull the voice.
So, the company had positioned it as though they pulled the voice because they've received some backlash. It sounded flirty. It sounded sort of too
personal, but it sounds like it may have more to do with the fact that Scarlett Johansson was not so happy with how it sounded. She's really just
like her, Lynda.
KINKADE: Exactly. And if they're going to use a voice, or a voice that sounds like her, she'd want to be compensated for that. But interesting the
way it's come to bear. Good to have you with us, Clare Duffy. Thanks so much.
Well, still to come here on "First Move," Manchester City makes it four English Premier League titles in a row. Can anybody find a way to stop
them?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back. Once a year, Abu Dhabi hosts a Formula 1 racing event, but the city's track recently hosted a race with no drivers at all.
Instead, teams used artificial intelligence to make crucial decisions on the track. Veronica Miracle shows us how it works.
[18:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the past 15 years, the Yas Marina Circuit has played host to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, one of
the most anticipated events on the Formula 1 calendar. But last month, drivers were replaced by artificial intelligence, as eight university teams
from around the world came head-to-head in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, the first of its kind in the region.
TOM MCCARTHY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPIRE: We believe that there's a potential in autonomous robotics and A.I. to combine these with the average
driver in order to bring about greater safety on our roads. We thought the best way to do it is demonstrate its capability in the most extreme
conditions you can. The fastest one design race car in the world.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Each team races using identical super formula cars. What sets them apart is the coding. Software algorithms that allow these
vehicles to travel autonomously on the track.
LAWRENCE WALTER, TEAM PRINCIPAL, CODE19 RACING: For a team of race engineers, world class robotics, researchers and scientists, bringing all
of their expertise to get this car to go at high speed around the track without crashing. It's a very difficult thing.
Every day you're fighting for time, fighting to keep your car where it can still run on the track. It's just a thrill. It's literally like a
playground for A.I.
MIRACLE (voice-over): From understanding grip levels to predicting opponent movements, A.I. will gradually learn to replicate the mind of a racing
driver. But could it change the future of motorsports?
MIRACLE: How do these Formula 1 drivers, or at least ones that you've talked to, feel about this?
MCCARTHY: Just because it's a machine doesn't mean there aren't human elements in it. We're not trying to get rid of drivers. We always want the
gladiatorial contest of the driver. Well, we're bringing an extra dimension into this. Remember, it's people that are doing the programming here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, heavyweight boxing finally has a new undisputed champion after Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk defeated Britain's Tyson Fury in Saudi
Arabia early Sunday. The highly anticipated bout went the distance. And after 12 rounds, Usyk claimed a split decision win. He becomes the first
undisputed heavyweight champion in more than 20 years, meaning he holds all four major heavyweight belts at the same time.
As for Tyson Fury, it was his first fight loss as a professional. The sporting world now waits for his next move with talks of a rematch or
possible retirement.
Well, Manchester City has extended its reign over English football, claiming a fourth straight Premier League title on Sunday. City went into
the final game of the season two points ahead of Arsenal and the possibility of last day drama quickly evaporated, as Manchester City scored
two early goals on their way to a 3-1 win over West Ham.
It's Manchester City's eighth Premier League title overall. And I want to bring in our Don Riddell as we look at those celebration pitches. And, Don,
this is also Manchester City's sixth victory over the past seven seasons. Pretty unbelievable run.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, it is unbelievable. The Premier League is slightly more competitive, Lynda, than some of the other top European
leagues. And this was close. This was close this season. As you say, it went down to the final game. But in the end, it didn't feel that close, did
it? City finishing two points ahead of Arsenal.
This is, as you say, six in seven, four consecutive Premier League titles. Nobody's ever done that in history. And it really is getting harder and
harder to see how any team can get the better of them, especially when you consider that for significant periods of this season, Manchester City
without their star players, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland were both injured for big chunks of the year, and yet, they still came out on top.
Pep Guardiola is certainly thoroughly enjoying his time with this team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEP GUARDIOLA, MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER: And the people tell me, next seven years you're going to win six Premier Leagues. I would say you are insane.
So, no, it's not going to happen. It happened. So -- and it is -- you know, belong to Liverpool, with all the managers, Grimsons (ph), Iron Rush, all
these players. Nigel Vassar (ph), Ferguson (ph), Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Scoles (ph), Roy Keane, of course.
Mourinho with the Chelsea and been (INAUDIBLE). Now, is our period. We are part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: Yes, Manchester City won the treble last year. They could follow it up with a double this year. They're also in the FA Cup final against
Manchester United this weekend. Lynda, they're going to be heavily favored to win that as well.
KINKADE: Yes, no doubt, Don. And of course, Liverpool bid farewell to Jurgen Klopp. Quite an emotional send off. A man who's considered much more
than just a manager.
[18:55:00]
RIDDELL: Yes, very, very emotional. Jurgen Klopp's been at Liverpool for nine years. He's led the team to everything that they wanted to win, they
did. And he announced a couple of months ago that this was going to be his final season there and it really was a long goodbye. Very, very emotional
for everybody concerned.
And you're right, he was much more than just the Liverpool manager. He really did emerge as a community figure, a community leader in a city that
really felt as though it needed somebody to represent the people of the city, and Jurgen Klopp absolutely did that.
So, there is no doubt he is going to miss his players, he is going to miss the fans in the city, and the fans are going to dearly miss him too. He's
exhausted. That's why he's moving on. He just can't handle the kind of intense nature of Premier League management at a club like Liverpool, but
he absolutely gave it his best shot and has left an incredible legacy there.
KINKADE: Yes, no doubt. Nine seasons, an incredible run. Really.
RIDDELL: Yes.
KINKADE: Don Riddell, good to have you with us. Thanks so much.
And that just about wraps up our show. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thanks for joining us today for this edition of "First Move." We appreciate your time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
