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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Deadly Colombian Earthquake Kills At Least 111; Israel Rejects U.S. Gaza Plan, Demands Hamas Disarm First; Trump Signs Order to Reduce Number of Childhood Vaccines; The Economic Case Against Tariffs; Ukraine Strikes Deep Inside Russia; Trial for Tupac Murder Suspect. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 10, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton in New York. Jim

Sciutto is off. You are watching "The Brief."

Just ahead for us this hour, a powerful earthquake strikes Colombia. We'll bring you the very latest on relief efforts. Russia says a Ukrainian attack

has killed 13 people east of Moscow, the deadliest such attack in two years. The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine will join us live and nearly

30 years after the shooting death of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, jury selection begins for the man accused of orchestrating the murder.

Now, rescued workers are digging through the rubble of a powerful earthquake in Colombia desperately trying to reach survivors. At least 111

people have now been confirmed killed since the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit. It struck in the early hours of the workday with an epicenter west of

the capital Bogota. Colombia's president says dozens of people have been injured with homes damaged and more than 60 buildings destroyed.

Our Stefano Pozzebon spent years reporting from Colombia and he has more on what happened when the quake hit and how it's challenging the country's

brand-new leader.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a scene of complete chaos as travelers in Matecana International Airport in Pereira seek cover

and run for their lives as a deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit much of western Colombia on Monday.

It is the strongest quake to hit the country in over a decade according to the Colombian geological survey and was followed by two aftershocks. The

epicenter hit in the northwestern department of Choco, less than 200 miles west of the capital Bogota. The area, known as the country's coffee region,

was heavily damaged and multiple people were killed. In the city of Manizales, a cathedral tilted after the ground shook for almost a minute.

Extensive damage has also been reported in Bogota, where debris from this building plunged to the ground.

An early crisis for the government of President Abelardo de la Espriella, the self-styled Colombian tiger who entered office just on Friday, the new

head of state counseling all commitments and calling an emergency cabinet meeting to declare a national disaster.

Colombia has a president who cares deeply about its people and who will do everything in its power to help them during this most difficult time.

Governments around the world have offered support, including Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates at least 2 million people have been impacted by the tremors. This comes less than two months after a

devastating double earthquake hit neighbor in Venezuela, with the death toll only destined to rise in the upcoming hours and days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON (on camera): And several countries we were saying -- are sharing support for Colombia, among them is of course the government of Venezuela.

It's just dramatic to see how in less than two months those nations, so similar but also so far apart politically, have been hit by almost the same

catastrophe. Paula.

NEWTON: Our thanks to Stefano there. Now, as the death toll rises in Colombia, the need to help the survivors will of course grow as well. More

than 1,500 homes and several hospitals and health centers have been damaged. People in the areas hit hardest by the quake will desperately need

food, shelter, health care in the weeks to come, maybe even months to come.

Joining me now is Ethan Forhetz. He is Vice President of Public Engagement and National Spokesperson for the International Disaster Relief

Organization, Convoy of Hope. I'm thankful to have you here as we continue to really assess the damage in Colombia. The rescue effort is underway at

this hour.

[18:05:00]

But when you look at the scale of the damage, people have had their homes are collapsed, they're still trapped. What is the most urgent need you

believe in the coming 12 hours, let's say?

ETHAN FORHETZ, VP OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND SPOKESPERSON, CONVOY OF HOPE: Well, it's going to be life-sustaining items, food, water, hygiene items.

Many people left their homes or their homes were destroyed. They left without all of those things. Many stores damaged and destroyed. So, people

won't be able to get the things that just sustain life. That's the first thing that Convoy of Hope is moving in with, giving the survivors the basic

tangible items that they need to survive today and get to tomorrow.

NEWTON: The Colombian Army, we just saw the president there speaking as well, but the Colombian Army is deploying five platoons, they say, of

rescue soldiers. Bogota sending additional rescuers. I mean, we saw this with Venezuela just a few weeks ago, right? At this stage, how critical is

the response time?

FORHETZ: Oh, it's ultra-critical. We did see that in Venezuela just several weeks ago. I was able to be in Venezuela, see what was happening on

the ground there, and there were some survivor stories that happened weeks out. Those are not the common stories. So, the more quickly that you can

get in and get to the people who may be trapped under rubble, it is every second counts at this stage, and it could make a huge difference in keeping

that death toll as low as possible.

NEWTON: You know, we're seeing a lot of damage in Cali, it is Colombia's third largest city, and this includes reports of dozens of buildings there

collapsing. In fact, we had an overview of the city at one point, and we could see debris and smoke popping up in different locations.

You know, the population there is very vulnerable because so many of these homes were built without permits. I myself have seen that on the ground in

Venezuela, not since the earthquake, but you can certainly see how these homes pop up. What are the specific challenges when you're a rescuer and

you're engaging in a situation like that?

FORHETZ: Well, the rescuing we leave to the rescuers. Convoy of Hope responding with the supplies. But you have to be very careful everywhere

you go. Even our teams going in with the food and the water and hygiene items, delivering that aid to many of the first responders who were doing

the searching.

Everything is so tenuous, and I got to see that in Venezuela. At one point, we were standing delivering water and food to people, survivors, and we

were standing outside of 13 story building, and everybody started running because they heard the building make a noise. We all started running. We

got out of the way because you didn't know if the building was coming down or not.

And my guess is that's going to be the situation in Colombia as well for the days and weeks to come before engineers can get in and secure the

buildings. Make sure that those buildings will stay standing. It's a very tenuous situation because one more aftershock, you don't know if it's going

to be the one that brings the building down.

NEWTON: You're in Springfield, Missouri right now. In terms of what you can do to deploy, what are you doing and how much of an impact do you think

you can have in the coming days?

FORHETZ: Well, Convoy of Hope was on the ground there. We do a lot in Colombia on a regular basis. We have a regular children's feeding program

at schools throughout the country. We have a women's empowerment program. We teach agriculture all throughout the country.

So, Convoy's presence is large there. We had 25 or so team members ride out the earthquakes and survive the earthquakes, so they immediately were able

to begin our response, delivering these supplies to people, figuring out what's needed next so Convoy of Hope can be ahead of the game.

In Venezuela, that became tense because there are so many tense cities. Likely that will happen to a degree in Colombia as well. Hygiene items,

baby supplies, all the things that people just can't run to the store and get like they can now. So, Convoy of Hope has a presence there in Colombia

on a regular basis. That allowed us to be really on the cutting edge of this response, responding very, very quickly with the supplies that people

need.

NEWTON: And even just to check everyone that works for you is accounted for. They're OK, and they were able to start helping others that needed to

help?

FORHETZ: We are blessed in that regard. All of our people are OK. They survived. And, now they can immediately begin to render the help and aid

that people need.

NEWTON: You know, Ethan, I am wondering whether it's Colombia or Venezuela, given you were just on the ground in Venezuela as well. How this

really is a devastating earthquake. I haven't seen anything like this in 10 years, and this one was quite widespread in terms of the urban centers that

it hit. Is this a matter of months, at least in terms of people even needing the basic supplies? And you know, you reference the tent city, that

has its own challenges.

[18:10:00]

FORHETZ: It does. And that's what we're expecting to some degree in Colombia as well. People living intense without the basics because they

can't -- either their home was destroyed or it's unstable enough where they can't go back, or they're waiting for the engineers to check it out.

So, there are challenges with tent cities. It requires a lot of food. There is waste to dispose of. All of the things that happen when a lot of people

congregate, not to mention the need for shelter. So, Convoy of Hope has been providing the tents and the tarps and the bedding that people need to

be able to at least get a decent night's sleep as best they can, knowing that it could be months before they get back into a home.

So, Convoy of Hope still working in Venezuela, and we expect to be working in Colombia for the extended future.

NEWTON: Important for us. We'll continue to keep an eye on this again. Only a few hours since that earthquake struck. We appreciate it. Ethan

Forhetz for us at the Convoy of Hope.

Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly rejected President Trump's Gaza peace plan. Mr. Netanyahu says Israeli troops will

not make any withdrawal until Hamas fully disarms. Now, the risky challenge to President Trump comes as the prime minister's right-wing coalition faces

a political fight at home to win reelection.

Joining us now is Mara Rudman. She's executive director of the Vital Center Network. She's a former U.S. deputy Middle East envoy and deputy national

security to both Presidents Clinton and Obama.

I am wondering what you made of Netanyahu with his comments. Fairly blunt broadcast to the entire country for political reasons, I'm sure. But right

now, he's saying that there will be no withdrawal until Hamas disarms and Hamas says it won't disarm unless Israel withdrawals. It is a pretty

classic stalemate. Do you see a way that that stalemate can be broken, let's say, in the coming weeks?

MARA RUDMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VITAL CENTER NETWORK, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY MIDDLE EAST ENVOY AND FORMER U.S. DEPARTMENT NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I

think it's tough to imagine this stalemate being broken prior to the elections that are coming in Israel at the end of October, which you

alluded to in terms of the reasoning for president -- for Prime Minister Netanyahu making a stark statement as he did.

My one route for hope on this, that there might be some ability to break through in some way between now and then is the very skillful negotiation

and leadership and credibility of Nikolay Mladenov, who is the high representative to the Board of Peace, has lots of experience on the ground

with all the parties involved and made a very clear statement back in May of 2026 to the U. N. Security Council that really laid out what President

Trump then announced about a week ago.

NEWTON: And I hear you on that, and he has been quite dogged about trying to get all parties on side here. But the gulf between Hamas and the Israeli

government seems so large right now, and the political situation in Israel can't be ignored, right?

RUDMAN: Sure, that's also not news or surprise. In other words, the gulf between the Hamas and the Israeli government has been significant forever.

And what the roadmap does and what you always do in these situations is find out how to slice down those differences to get the essentials

accomplished. And that is generally in a step-by-step process with a great deal of verification involved.

And yes, Prime Minister Netanyahu's politics holding together a coalition that involves far, far-right-wing ministers has continually been a problem,

and we're seeing the starkness of it now.

NEWTON: Mara, when you're confronted with this, though, in your prior position, if you were at the table right now, and you look at the political

situation in Israel, it is, to use a word, complicated. And not the least of which because it isn't just the far-right, right? A majority of Israelis

really fear for their security right now. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to square in terms of the election, but they're not happy with a

ceasefire in Iran. They do not believe that Hamas will ever disarm.

So, how do you bridge that? Because if this is supposed to be a first step, it seems that confidence-building measures with the Israeli voters is

something that is just not happening right now.

RUDMAN: Well, I think, again, in these situations, it is always a challenge. I think it's particularly so in Israel in the gap between

perceptions for Israelis and Palestinians, and even within Israel, for the 80-odd percent that are Jewish Israelis and the 20 percent or so that are

Arab Israelis. There are some fundamental differences in perception, even on what security is and what security means. There are many people who

believe, as Nikolay Mladenov has laid out, that the long-term security of Israel requires getting to some sort of agreement in Gaza that will

decommission, will rid Hamas of its arms.

[18:15:00]

And it also takes leadership from the Israeli side, from actors in the region, from the United States, from Europeans, to be able to explain and

lay out and bring along understandably skeptical Israelis and Palestinians.

NEWTON: Again, as we point out, the elections are at the end of October. We'll see if anything can get done, at least, as you said, incremental

steps on that peace process and on that deal in Gaza in the interim. Mara, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

RUDMAN: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now, a new executive order from President Trump could shake up child vaccinations in the United States. The order looks to reduce the

total number of shots recommended for young children. It also advises that the MMR vaccine, measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, be split into three

different shots, even though that's against scientific consensus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I saw this early on, and I've seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of

soda poured into a little child's body. And bad things happen in many cases, too many cases, because this is an explosion. This is an epidemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, to check that, we have Alayna Treene in the White House. I mean, look, Alayna, what the president said, again, is not based on

scientific fact. I am wondering, though, what this executive order actually does in terms of, does it mean that there's going to be any difference in

the schedule of vaccinations in the United States?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, these are the recommended guidelines. And I think that is important to note here. And

then you did hear the president say and kind of acknowledge during that Oval Office event that this needs to be discussed with their physicians.

But still, this reverses longstanding policy within the health community, within the scientific community about what is actually recommended for the

immunizations for children.

I will get into what is that exactly in this and what it does, though, to answer your question, Paula. Just to reiterate what you said, the order

advises that measles, mumps and rubella MMR vaccine be separated into three different shots. Essentially, you take your child to the doctor three

separate times to get these shots in three different ways. That's obviously different than what has been going on and what the recommended guidelines

have been for years on this.

They also have this new policy stating that children are recommended to receive a number of different vaccines, but again, space them out. And that

includes, I mentioned MMR, but also tetanus, pertussis, polio, HPV and chicken pox.

One of the things that is quite different from the past is that it's recommending that only high-risk populations are now advised to receive

RSV, the RSV vaccine and other vaccines against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B. The list goes on. That is a markedly different type of

schedule than has been recommended in the past.

One thing as well that I think is just important to know from what you've heard from the president and even people at HHS, like the health secretary,

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is this idea that perhaps the number of vaccines that have been used for children in the United States could potentially

have some sort of link to autism. I mean, you just have to debunk that.

There's been a number of research studies, different scientists looking into this. There's never been any sort of link between vaccines and autism.

Trump kind of insinuating that perhaps there was today, but that has been something that has been debunked many, many times by the experts, by the

scientists, by the different health care organizations. So, I think that's important to make very clear here.

I also think the context around some of this is important. We know that President Donald Trump had really been pushing R.F. Kennedy, RFK Jr. to

come out with a new child vaccine schedule for months now. And he actually had tried to do something similar earlier this year, but was sued by a

number of different groups, medical groups who challenged that revised schedule. And ultimately, the judge in that case did side with the group.

So, interesting that they're now doing this via executive order than what they were trying to do earlier this year.

And another thing as well, even though, of course, the politics of this are, you know, a lot of people in the health community, you're not really

worrying about the politics of this. But this is there's a political component to this. There's been some deep reservations, I can tell you,

within the White House among some advisers who have argued that this is a very unpopular order and that it could perhaps, you know, hurt Republicans

come November. We'll see if that's actually the case.

But clearly, the president was showing he was very passionate today when talking about this and really wanting to move forward with this order to

revise the schedule.

[18:20:00]

NEWTON: OK. Alayna Treene for us, following all of us in the White House, appreciate it.

Still ahead for us, a stark warning to the Trump administration on trade. We speak to economist Carl Benedikt Frey, who says tariffs will lead to

U.S. economic stagnation. He's also got some surprising and intriguing thoughts on A.I.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: And welcome back. In today's Business Breakout, it seems like many people took the day off on Wall Street today. The Dow and the S&P finished

Monday's session a little changed. Pressured by a 5 percent rise in oil prices, the NASDAQ fell more than a quarter of a percentage point.

Investors eyeing a big week of economic data ahead, including the release of the all-important U.S. consumer inflation report on Wednesday and

wholesale inflation numbers on Thursday.

Now, the latest trade talks between the U.S. and Canada are heading down to the wire. New 50 percent U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods are set to take

effect next Wednesday if the two sides can't reach a deal. A source familiar with the talks tells Reuters that a prospective deal is in the

works where Canada would agree to many U.S. demands if Washington drops its tariff threat. As part of a possible deal, Canada would, among other

things, remove tariffs on U.S. autos and some provinces would lift bans on U.S. alcohol sales. The U.S. would reduce existing tariffs on Canadian

steel and aluminum, which has been a sticking point not just in Canada, but for U.S. buyers as well.

Economist Carl Benedikt Frey joins us now. He has written about the long- term effects of President Trump's tariff policy and has been weighing in on the societal impact of artificial intelligence. Good to see you.

We got a lot to go to talk about, especially on AI. It's becoming more integrated into our daily lives and we spend a lot of time talking about

the negatives, the risks. But one of the things that you point out, you say A.I. is driving a movement toward self-service, giving people the ability

to do things they once had, professionals do. You wrote an intriguing piece about this in the New York Times a few months ago. I'm wondering what kind

of feedback you got from that, because this would be a dramatic shift.

[18:25:00]

CARL BENEDIKT FREY, ECONOMIST AND ECONOMIC HISTORIAN: Well, it is, I think, a dramatic shift. If you look at the data, what people actually use

A.I. for, less than 20 percent of the time spent using A.I. is for work. Most people use A.I. for other activities. Some of that includes doing

things around the house, such as fixing the boiler, such as filing their tax returns, such as contesting healthcare bills. And so, many of the

things that we would have hired a professional for previously, we're now doing ourselves.

And so, if we wanted to understand why so many people feel so negative about A.I., I think this is really a big part of that story, because we're

not seeing A.I. making us wealthier quite yet. We're not seeing it in the productivity statistics, but we're seeing people doing more unpaid work

with it.

NEWTON: I am wondering as well, what so many of us experienced just with the internet and then with email. Of course, it's supposed to be a boon to

productivity, and you can certainly see that in some applications, but perhaps not in our personal lives, right? There seems to be a lot of busy

work with A.I. Would you agree with that?

FREY: I would agree with that, but I mean, I don't want to minimize the upsides. I think there are upsides that are real. And so, if I use A.I. to

fix the boiler myself, I save paying the heat engineer. And so, that's a meaningful cost saving. But in the end of the day, the way that we grew

rich as a society was specializing in things, not doing everything ourselves anymore, right? We used to have, you know, a world of home

production.

And so, as we're moving back from the trend that we're seeing for the past two centuries, potentially if, you know, we actually begin to see more and

more people taking on work themselves, that's not going to be good development for the economy. It's not going to be a good development for

most people personally. And it, I think, poses challenges to how we measure the economy as well, because when you begin to transfer work into things

that we do onto consumers instead, well, that becomes unpaid. It becomes a part of what might call the shadow economy without measure.

NEWTON: Right, right. We'll all be gig workers one way or the other pretty soon. I do want to turn to tariffs. You know, President Trump has been, it

doesn't matter that the Supreme Court has really taken so many of them out of the equation. And in fact, the Treasury has had to give refunds,

substantial ones to companies, and yet there are new tariffs being employed around the world. What do you believe will be the effect of this on the

American economy itself?

FREY: Well, first of all, the most immediate effect is that it's driving up prices for consumers. It's driving up prices for inputs for various

firms. But I think an underestimated part of this has to do with its impact on technological progress and innovation.

And so, if you go for a run and somebody is breathing down your neck, you're going to run a little bit faster. And the same is true of innovation

and competition. Competition is really important for innovation. What we're seeing in the United States over the past couple of decades is rising

market concentration, less competition domestically. And now, in addition to that, with new introductions of tariffs, that means that American firms

are facing less competition from abroad as well.

And so, I live in Britain. It's hard to imagine these days, but Britain used to be a technology leader once. And what happened in the post-war

period when Britain actually was then for the first time overtaken by France and by Germany, which had long been feared, well, a key part of that

reason was barriers to trade towards with the European economic community. So, manufacturing output was a large share of it, was cartelized.

And then in addition to that, you had barriers to external trade. And that really contributed to a slowdown in productivity in Britain and British

stagnation. Of course, the American market, internal market is larger than the British one was, and that's going to help the U.S., but it's still

going to be a drive on the economy. It's going to be a drive on technological progress too.

NEWTON: We don't have a lot of time left, Carl, but I am wondering what you think about the issue of industries that are of national security

importance. There is a point there, right, in terms of trying to onshore more. Does that seem to be working for the Trump administration?

FREY: So, it's a bit early to tell. There are certainly domains where there is a case which is supporting certain industries for national

security reasons.

[18:30:00]

But putting on tariffs across the board and harming consumers is not the best way of doing that. And so, I think, you know, depending on the

objective, the goal is to support certain technology fields, renewable energy, for example, which is clearly not the priority of the Trump

administration, but nonetheless, if you want to support particular technology fields, you're better off giving subsidies and supporting those

particular businesses directly rather than putting on tariffs across the board.

NEWTON: All right. And there are many economies around the world who have done that to great effect, in fact, in years past. Carl Benedikt Frey for

us. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you again soon. Appreciate it.

FREY: A pleasure. Thank you.

NEWTON: Now, checking some of our other business headlines. Tech giant Meta is throwing its weight behind smaller, cheaper, open-weight A.I.

models. The company releasing a new model called Glimmer that can be run on PCs instead of being hooked up to powerful data centers. CEO Mark

Zuckerberg says in a new essay that the U.S. should support open models to better compete against A.I. in the A.I. race.

Intel shares fell more than 4 percent today on news that it will be selling an additional $15 billion worth of stock to help fund its A.I. build-out.

The chimp giant says it needs to boost spending because client demand for A.I. computing power has soared. Many investors are worried that the

billions currently being spent on A.I. will not, in the end, pay off.

Fans of 7-Up Soda are in a citrusy -- in a for a citrusy surprise. The Keurig Dr. Pepper Company is changing the drink's recipe for the first time

in 15 years. It slightly reduces the soda's lemon flavor for what's being called a lime-forward taste. No idea what that means. It says younger

people now prefer lime. Well, there you go.

Straight ahead, a Ukrainian strike hits deep inside Russia as both sides increasingly take to the air. We speak to a former U.S. ambassador to

Ukraine about the changing nature of this war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

NEWTON: And welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Paula Newton. Here are the international headlines we're watching today.

The Colombian president says at least 111 people have died after a powerful earthquake. The 7.4 magnitude quake hit early in the morning and was felt

right across the country. It comes just weeks after twin earthquakes hit neighboring Venezuela, killing thousands of people there.

Israel says it rejects U.S. President Donald Trump's disarmament plan for Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli troops will not

withdraw until after Hamas is disarmed. The U.S. plan calls for those steps to happen together in phases. Hamas says it remains committed to the plan,

which also calls for an end to all attacks in Gaza.

Russia says a Ukrainian drone strike has killed 13 people east of Moscow. Videos geolocated by CNN show flames and plumes of smoke near what appears

to be an oil facility. The strike comes as both Ukraine and Russia intensify their aerial attacks. July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian

civilians since April 2022.

And just in, over the last hour, air raid sirens and explosions have been heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Officials say a Russian missile

attack lasted just under 40 minutes, and warehouses were set on fire. Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv were also attacked.

Joining us now is Steven Pifer. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and an affiliate at Stanford University's Center for International Security

and Cooperation. And I want to welcome you to the program.

Not surprising at this hour that, again, Kyiv, Ukraine in general, is coming under attack. We have seen this cycle over and over again. I want to

deal with what we know about what Ukraine has been doing and what the different tactics are. They are now hitting deep within Russia.

How significant do you believe these attacks are, especially given the civilian death toll that Russia says they've suffered in the last 24 hours?

STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE AND CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND COOPERATION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Yes. Well,

Paula, a couple of points. First of all, for perspective, the Russians have been striking military and civilian targets throughout Ukraine going back

to February 2022 when they launched their major invasion.

What's changed in the past year or so is that Ukraine is now developing longer-range capabilities to hold targets in Russia at risk. And you have

seen in the last two or three months, Ukrainians focusing on, for example, oil refineries, which are legitimate military targets. The Ukrainians are

trying to disrupt the flow of oil, gasoline and diesel fuel, which fuels the Russian military machine. And it's unfortunate that people were killed,

but they were killed working at a military target.

NEWTON: And that is understood. In terms of the long-range plans, though, for Ukraine, what their actual goals are, the target, as you point out, was

this TANECO oil refinery. I mean, this is a significant hit for Russia, but what impact do you expect this long-range drone campaign to have in terms

of it actually changing the trajectory of this war?

PIFER: Well, we've seen the campaign focus, I think, really on two sets of targets in the past three months. One is oil refineries, which, again,

they're reducing the fuel that can be available for the Russian military. They're also bringing home to Russians that the war is having an impact on

Russia.

And that undermines Vladimir Putin's narrative. He's been saying for over four years now, this is not a war, it's a special military operation, it's

limited, it will have no impact on you. And I think Russians now are beginning to understand that, in fact, this war will have an impact on

them.

You've also seen the Ukrainian campaign against the Wildberries warehouses. That's sort of Russia's equivalent of Amazon, but those warehouses are used

to move military supplies to the front. And again, I think the Ukrainians see this as a way to tell the Russian population, this is a real war and

it's going to have an impact on you unless Russia stops it.

NEWTON: Mr. Pifer, you know, you've said that Russia has no magic bullet left that can suddenly win this war, but you have seen the destruction that

they have done with their ballistic missiles and the fact that many times Ukraine has absolutely no, no defense against those kind of weaponry.

I mean, I'll state a very fine point to you. I lived in Russia for four years, went to Chechnya several times to cover that war.

[18:40:00]

I do not believe that President Putin will change his mind on this. So, where are we? What gets us more to any kind of a ceasefire? Because we know

how much the Ukrainians are suffering right now, right now in shelters on those Russian bombs.

PIFER: Right. Well, for more than 18 months now, there have been multiple proposals for a ceasefire. Ukraine has accepted most of those, the Russians

have not. And I think the Ukrainians are in a situation where, and I was in Kyiv about three months ago, Ukrainians would like to find an end to the

war. You know, they're weary of it, they would like to get it over with, but they're not prepared to capitulate to Russian terms, which amount

basically to Ukraine's surrender. And so, they're prepared to fight on until there's a chance of a reasonable settlement.

The problem here is that Vladimir Putin still thinks he can achieve his goals on the battlefield. And I think the Ukrainians are trying to do now

is to basically show Putin that he's wrong, that if he continues to try to win on the battlefield, he will fail. And the cost, the political, economic

and military costs to Russia are only going to grow. And you've seen it now in Russian casualties, almost one and a half million Russian soldiers

killed or severely wounded in action. You now see it in the economic consequences of Ukrainian strikes on targets deep inside of Russia.

So, I think the Ukrainian hope here is to make this war so painful that Putin changes course and begins to negotiate in a serious way, which he has

not done for the past four years.

NEWTON: And yet the price being paid by Ukrainian civilians each and every day is just so profound, given where we are in this conflict. Mr. Pifer,

we'll continue to check in with you. We -- go ahead.

PIFER: Just, you know, it's horrible. But again, my conversations when I was in Kyiv as Ukrainians, it's a horrible price. But Ukrainians are

prepared to pay that price because they do not want to live under Russian domination. And that's the point that I think at some point, the Kremlin

needs to understand.

NEWTON: Yes. And, you know, Ukraine also wants Europe to understand that their security is European security. So, we'll see if that message after

all of these years gets through to anyone. Again, Steven Pifer for us, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Now, advocates allege a former U.S. Marine is near death and has been tortured while held in Russian custody. Robert Gilman was arrested in 2022

after Russians allege he had an altercation with police. His family and advocates deny the charges. Advocates warn that he's been unresponsive for

weeks and has been fed through a tube. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told that information to our Jennifer Hansler, who has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The U.S. government is, quote, "deeply concerned" about Gilman's health and

continued detention in Russia. The spokesperson told me that they have raised his case repeatedly with the Russian government and they have

pressed for that humanitarian release because of the concerns for his health.

The family also said that they were told that Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised his case in a recent meeting with Russian Foreign Minister

Sergey Lavrov. Now, according to Eric Lebson, who works for Global Reach, which is the organization advocating on behalf of the family, Gilman has

undergone psychological and physical torture while he has been detained in Russia. Lebson said that he has been giving mind-altering drugs, that he

has been told lies about his family, that the Russian government had tracked them down and beat them up, and he was told that the U.S.

government had forgotten him.

Now, Lebson said more than six weeks ago, Gilman flipped into a, quote, "dissociative stupor" and was moved from the hospital in his prison at some

six hours outside of Moscow to a local civilian psychiatric ward. In that time, neither his local Russian lawyer nor his mother had been permitted to

see him. And that part is significant because, according to Lebson, his mom flew from the United States to Russia with a Russian court order that was

meant to allow her to visit her son, and she was blocked from doing so.

Because of this development, Lebson said they are seriously concerned that Gilman could potentially already be dead or could be in such a poor state

of health that they could end up having that as the likely outcome here. They're very concerned that this could be a situation similar to Otto

Warmbier, who was a U.S. college student who was detained in North Korea some year-and-a-half before he was released into U.S. custody with severe

brain damage, and he was then died shortly thereafter. So, there's a lot of concern here about Gilman's health and safety.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Our thanks to Jennifer there. Now, three decades after the killing of Tupac Shakur, the case that captivated America is heading to court. Jury

selection started today in the rap icon's murder trial.

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[18:45:00]

NEWTON: Nearly 30 years after the shooting death of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, jury selection is now underway for the man accused of orchestrating

that murder. A Clark County grand jury in Nevada indicted Duane Davis in 2023. He has entered a not guilty plea. Shakur was 25 years old when he was

killed. His murder has been the subject of conspiracy theories and huge public interest ever since.

Nick Watt is in Los Angeles for us and has been following this case. I mean, Nick, for those who weren't alive when so many people wondered if

anyone would ever be prosecuted over this murder, kind of explain the significance of the fact that this is going to court now.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was alive, I do remember. And yes, listen, this has rarely kind of left the consciousness over the past 30 years. Just

heard from inside the court, by the way, they've seated the fifth juror. That process ongoing right now.

So, here's the thing. Las Vegas homicide detectives said that pretty much in the months after the murder, they knew what had happened, but they just

didn't have the evidence. It was Keffe D, Duane Davis's own words, they say, that have landed him now at the age of 63 in that courtroom. He

brought out a book in 2019 detailing his involvement.

Listen, it was kind of opaque, but detailing that he was there and involved and perhaps a motivation. He also made a few appearances on documentaries

and podcasts. And those words are what detectives say have now landed Keffe D in the courtroom.

So, what they say happened back then, nearly 30 years ago was -- there was a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand in Vegas and Tupac Shakur and Suge

Knight, who was the boss of his record label, "Death Row," they were there with some gang members. There was another gang and that other gang was

Keffe D's gang.

They met in the lobby of the hotel after the fight. And allegedly Tupac, Suge Knight and others beat up a young guy, Baby Lane, who was Keffe D's

nephew. That in the book is what Keffe D says was the impetus for this attack.

So, Suge and Tupac got in a black BMW, were driving to a party. Four men, Keffe D, his nephew, a couple of others, allegedly got in a white Cadillac,

followed them, stopped at a light. Tupac was shot and died six days later.

[18:50:00]

So, the challenge for prosecutors is going to be evidence. This is almost 30 years ago. It's unclear how much actual physical or forensic evidence

they have. And of course, back in those days, there weren't the surveillance cameras. There weren't the camera phones that there are today.

And that's actually something that the defense has been bringing up in jury questioning, that they're saying, you know, listen, this is going to be a

steep hill to climb for the prosecution. So, it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out.

It seems, Paula, like Keffe D and his defense are going to say, you shouldn't believe anything I wrote in that book. I didn't really write it.

And the prosecution is going to be saying, you should believe this guy who we say was a gang so-called shot caller. They don't say that Keffe D pulled

the trigger. They say his nephew pulled the trigger. But it was Keffe D who was in charge. Paula.

NEWTON: It is going to be a captivating trial. Even these 30 years on. Nick Watt, grateful to you to be covering it. Appreciate it.

WATT: Thanks.

NEWTON: Now, coming up for us, new pressure on Gianni Infantino. Three major football federations on an open letter accusing FIFA of deception

over a failed plan to sell off a piece of the World Cup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Three major football confederations are calling for an open investigation into the now-defunct plan to sell a stake in FIFA events that

includes the World Cup. They're accusing FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, of deception. CNN World Sports Patrick Snell has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, it may be a new week, but it seems there's still so much scrutiny upon the embattled FIFA president Gianni

Infantino. Last week in Rabat, football's world governing body acknowledged mistakes had been made and apologized for the manner in which a

controversial proposal to sell off a portion of its commercial and operational rights of the World Cup and other competitions to private

investors was sprung upon its members. That in turn followed a threat from European football's governing body, UEFA, that it was prepared to boycott

all FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, over the matter.

Now, FIFA is being accused of deception in Monday's open letter signed by the presidents and general secretaries of UEFA, North and Central American

and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, who have called out FIFA and its leadership for threatening the integrity

of the game regarding its handling of the now scrapped project.

The letter reading in part, leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding or demanding power to be held. It is a duty of service

to the football family that entrusts it. It went on to add, when trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the

collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.

Infantino does have some support, though the Confederation of African Football has backed the president in recent days alongside the Argentine

and Mexican Soccer Associations. And with that, it's right back to you.

[18:55:00]

NEWTON: Now, in today's Good Brief, they aren't the fastest runners, but they may be the cutest. Look at them go. Dozens of dogs raced for glory at

the Corgi National Sprint Series in California. Some of them charged straight ahead. You can see it there. Others paused, you know, break, bump,

tussle. Maybe there was a little bathroom break in between two with rivals before they crossed that finish line. A total of 40 dogs competed in these

heats, semifinals and finals. I love it. We could not resist. Who doesn't love those corgis on the run?

Thanks for your company. I'm Paula Newton in New York. You have been watching "The Brief." Stay with CNN for more news.

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