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Netanyahu To Address GOP Senators In Closed-Door Meeting; Medical Records For Princess Of Wales Allegedly Breach; Today: Federal Reserve's Decision On Interest Rates. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired March 20, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Later this afternoon, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to address Senate Republicans from Jerusalem in a closed-door video meeting. It comes as we learn Secretary of State Antony Blinken will actually head back to Israel on Friday, and that President Biden has asked Netanyahu to send top Israeli officials to Washington next week to discuss what are described as alternatives to a military offensive in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

And in northern Gaza right now, the Israeli military raid of the enclave's largest hospital where thousands of people are actually sheltering in dire conditions is in its third day. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us from Jerusalem right now. Jeremy, what are the latest developments first of all in this raid?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as this Israeli military operation stretches into its third day, the Israeli military claiming to have killed 90 people whom they describe as terrorists. They also say that they have now detained and taken 160 suspects to Israel for further questioning after they detained hundreds of individuals at Al-Shifa Hospital, including, as has been reported previously, an Al Jazeera reporter and his crew. Now, the Israeli military says that they've located weapons in addition to having killed those Hamas fighters.

They also claimed to have been taking significant precautions as it relates to the civilians and the patients and the medical staff at that hospital. But witnesses on the grounds have indicated that there is rampant fear of Israeli snipers, indicating that some civilians have indeed been shot by Israeli forces. The Gazan civil defense for its part says that the situation around Al-Shifa Hospital is "very difficult," saying that those who are still inside this hospital, a hospital where around 3,000 people were believed to be sheltering, that they are facing severe shortages of food and water.

The civil defense also says that they have been unable to reach the vicinity of that hospital where there are still believed to be injured people some of whom may be trapped under the rubble following Israeli airstrikes in the surrounding neighborhood around Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military is also pursuing major military operations in central as well as in southern Gaza. All of this, of course, with the backdrop of those ongoing negotiations to try and secure a ceasefire, which we know is desperately needed as far as the humanitarian situation in Gaza is concerned.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken arriving in the region today. He is set to arrive in Israel on Friday to pursue further discussions with Israeli leaders as they consider Hamas's latest counterproposal and prepare one of their own, Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem, thank you very much. I want to bring in right now Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut. He's the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. First of all, on this continued raid of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, do you believe Israel is operating in line with international law? How do they keep the thousands of civilians trapped there out of harm's way?

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REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Well, Wolf, you know, the -- none of us really know exactly what's happening today right there. But I will tell you this, which is that if Hamas, as a military entity, is using that hospital to shelter equipment, to shelter their men, then you know, the hospital ceases to have the protection that a hospital typically would have -- would have. That does not mean of course -- and again, we don't know exactly what's happening. That does not mean that just because the Hamas is using that hospital as a launching point or whatever it may be that the Israelis can ignore the other elements of international humanitarian law. They still need to adhere to the protection of civilians, to proportionality, and all of those rules.

BLITZER: A group of top Israeli officials, as you know, they're expected to visit here in Washington next week to hear the Biden administration's so-called alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. But Prime Minister Netanyahu is insisting Israel will still press ahead in Rafah. So, do you expect Israel to heed these new U.S. warnings?

HIMES: Well, to date, Wolf, as you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not paid a lot of attention to the concerns of the president and the secretary of state. But at the end of the day, that's not the critical story. That's the way it often gets framed.

But the critical story and the critical question is, can Israel go after Hamas and the remaining battalions in a way that is considerably more humane than the way the war has been conducted in the last couple of months? That's the question. And the reality is -- and this is why I'm glad to hear that this meeting is about plans. And the reality is from the tactical level, right up to the strategic level, from the private to the general, decisions get made, what kind of munitions to use, what timetable to use, what mechanisms of the evacuation of the civilian populations are there, what ability is there to get humanitarian aid, all of those things need to be paid attention to if Israel is going to, in fact, go into Rafah. BLITZER: Secretary Blinken is also set to press Israel on getting more aid into Gaza right now as the United Nations says famine is looming very large there. Is the U.S. doing enough to help surge humanitarian aid when children and civilians are starving right now, according to all the latest reports?

HIMES: Yes, that's right, Wolf. Look, the humanitarian situation inside Gaza is untenable. And every party involved here needs to do more.

Hamas, of course, which has a long history of stealing aid needs to stop that in the interest of the people that they purport to represent. The United States is, of course, doing everything we can. There's airdrops happening. There's a pier being constructed in the ocean.

The Israelis need to commit themselves to inspecting land cargoes a lot faster than they are doing. It does not serve anybody's purpose to have Gazans starving. It is both a moral affront. And it's ultimately not in the long-term interests of -- long-term solution to this problem. So, I would answer your question by saying every single party involved needs to stretch a lot more than they are right now to make sure the humanitarian aid is delivered.

BLITZER: Yes, they got to get that food and medicine in to Gaza as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, as you know, said the United States will not let Ukraine fail. I know this is a subject you've been working on, what's going on in Ukraine right now. But it seems as though this -- the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, isn't going to bring new Ukraine aid to the House floor until April after both Easter and Passover. How much is this delay impacting Ukraine right now on the battlefield?

HIMES: Well, Wolf, I'm glad you quoted the defense secretary because the fact of the matter is for the last couple of months, the United States has been failing Ukraine, and thanks to the inability of the Republican majority House to bring up a bill that had you know, 70 senators supporting it in strong bipartisan fashion in the Senate. We have failed Ukraine. There are dead Ukrainians who don't need to be dead. There's a humanitarian situation in Ukraine that does not need to be as bad because for months now, we have been dithering.

Now, the good news is I do actually believe that once we get through the budget negotiations of this week and come back after the Easter break, I do see a path. I think the speaker is serious about moving into it. But make no mistake, we've already been negligent, to use a benign word, in our support of the Ukrainians and of our support for the fight of democracy against authoritarian regimes. We've already done a lot of damage, and we got to fix this as soon as possible.

BLITZER: And as you pointed out, there is a Friday deadline to keep the federal government actually funded just ahead of a partial government shutdown. Do you think Congress can make it happen, and when will something more than the stopgap measures that we've seen be put in place? HIMES: The vibes are good around here, Wolf, I would tell you. I think the Speaker has sort of settled the issue that he needs to settle every time he tries to do anything, which is how is he going to you know, survive and placate you know, his 30 or 40 hardcore MAGA members who you know, are social media personalities, who have a vision for this country that is radical and extreme.

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And all indications are -- and remember we are talking about 30, 40, maybe 50 members in the majority. All indications are that we're lined up to hopefully get this done by Friday, if not by Saturday, and therefore avert a government shutdown

BLITZER: It is so important to keep the government operating. So many millions of Americans are counting on it. Congressman Jim Himes, thank you very, very much.

Still to come. An investigation is underway after a hospital staffer allegedly tried to access the Princess of Wales's medical records. Were live in London. That's next.

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BLITZER: In London right now, a British watchdog group says it's assessing a breach of confidentiality of Princess Catherine's medical records. CNN Royal Correspondent Max Foster is joining us from London right now. Max, I -- it's been what, more than two months since she had abdominal surgery. What more have you learned about this investigation?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the hospital she was having that surgery in in January has found that someone in the hospital tried to access her medical record. Someone that clearly shouldn't have had access to it. This comes from the investigation in the Daily Mirror, which as you say the Information Commissioner's followed up on their assessing the report.

We've also just heard from the hospital saying they are investigating it at every level. This is -- could be very damaging for the hospital, of course, if this sort of thing happens. It's a private hospital, very high end, they treated lots of royals, confidentiality is extremely important. So, very shocking.

And I think you know the princess has been told about it. I'm sure it'll be very shocking to her. They've been very careful about keeping her medical details private. And they haven't told anyone what the surgery was for.

And I think the palace would say it is very unfortunate if it leaked out in this way. But there's no evidence that there has been a leak. But it does appear that there was an actual breach in the hospital.

BLITZER: Yes, very disturbing, indeed. What else have medical officials -- medical officials there said about their concerns?

FOSTER: Well, it's going right up to the government. This morning, the health minister was speaking to the media and couldn't avoid questions about it. And she really expressed how serious this was. A very strict data rules here in the UK.

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MARIA CAULFIELD, BRITISH HEALTH MINISTER: So, these rules apply to all patients. So, there are very strict rules about which patient notes you can access. You're only allowed to access the patient notes you're caring for with their permission. And there's really strict rules.

The Information Commissioner would take enforcement action against trusts or primary care practices. But also, as individual practitioners, your regulatory body served me, it would be the N.M.C. would take action as well. So, it's pretty severe.

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FOSTER: She has spoken to the police about it as well who would -- who would be the ones to prosecute? They haven't though yet launched a formal investigation. It's down to the Information Commissioner for now.

BLITZER: Max Foster in London for us, thank you very much. Meanwhile, here in the United States, all eyes right now are on the Federal Reserve as we await a decision on interest rates. How will this impact you, and why Goldman Sachs's chief economist now says the country is nowhere near a recession?

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[11:52:22]

BLITZER: Happening now. The Federal Reserve is meeting just ahead of its decision on rate cuts. That decision should be coming in just a few hours. And it is widely expected that the Fed will leave interest rates here in the United States unchanged.

CNN Reporter Matt Egan is following all these developments for us. We'll be hearing directly I take it back from the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell later today. What can Americans who are watching right now expect?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Wolf, Jerome Powell is not ready to give borrowers a break. Not yet. And no doubt. It is a very expensive time to borrow.

Mortgages, credit cards, car loans, all of them are very expensive. Now, remember, the Fed started spiking interest rates at almost an unprecedented pace two years ago, trying to get inflation under control. And really since last May, the Fed has been in a holding pattern, keeping interest rates at 23-year highs. That might be good news for savers who've got money in the bank. But for everyone who's borrowing, this is added to some of the pain here. Now, Fed officials have said they're not going to start lowering interest rates until they get more confidence that inflation really is going back to normal. And so that's why investors, they place almost no chance of a rate cut today. Very little chance that the next decision on May 1. And really Americans are probably going to have to be waiting until June, July, or perhaps even later before borrowing costs start to come down.

We could get some hints today from Jerome Powell. Also, importantly, Federal Reserve officials, they're going to issue new projections on where they think interest rates are going. The big question here is whether or not the Fed is still penciling in three interest rate cuts this year, or if they become concerned by higher-than-expected inflation readings and they've had to change their plans.

And, Wolf, I think the ramifications here are really significant not just the Wall Street, but to Main Street, the economy at large. And you could see this playing a factor as well in the race for the White House in November.

BLITZER: And you know, Matt, I know you had a chance to speak to the Goldman Sachs's top economist earlier who said the U.S. economy is nowhere near a recession. So, what's the basis for his argument?

EGAN: Yes, that's right. I'm talking about Jan Hatzius. He was early to call for a soft landing back when a lot of people thought the Fed was going to cause a recession. And Jan Hatzius, he told me that he is standing by that soft landing call. Take a listen.

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JAN HATZIUS, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GOLDMAN SACHS: If I look at the news flow overall over the last year, it's still very, very positive. Inflation has come down very substantially over that period. And more importantly, it's come down without significant weakness and activity.

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We haven't seen a recession. We haven't been close to a recession. The labor market is still quite strong. Employment has continued to increase at a -- at a rapid clip. So, I think the overall news over the last 12 months has been extremely positive.

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EGAN: Now, not even close to a recession. That, of course, will come as music to the ears of officials in the White House because all five sitting presidents who had a recession during the year that they ran for reelection, all five of them went on to lose reelection. Most recently, Donald Trump. Of course, Wolf, the longer the Fed keeps interest rates high, the greater the chance that eventually, they'll start to do some real damage to the economy.

BLITZER: We'll watch it together with you. Matt Egan reporting for us, thank you very much. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me here on the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll be back later tonight, 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Stay with CNN. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts right after this short break.

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