Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

Supreme Court Nominee To Meet With Schumer On Wednesday; Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Landmark Climate Change; Putin Grows More Isolated As Ukraine War Intensifies. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 28, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D-CA): Put the acts out to hit back against them and also to continue to tell Americans why we have to care about this. I met Miss Yasko at the Munich Security Conference with my colleagues Ruben Gallego and Seth Moulton, we were so moved by her call to service and her belief in our own country where they have their own culture, their own language, their own democracy.

And we have to understand in America that history shows that evil like this, what Vladimir Putin is carrying out will come to us eventually. And so we have to stand with Ukraine. And Kate, I'm a big believer with someone as evil as Putin, you don't take options off the table. That doesn't mean we have a no-fly zone yet but he needs to understand that we don't take options off the table.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Congressman, thank you very much, a significant statement from you. And Miss Yasko, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Well, we definitely stay in touch. Thank you both so much.

Coming up for us, the Supreme Court, we're going to turn there because they're hearing arguments right now in what could be the most important environmental case before that court in more than a decade. We're going to lay out what's at issue and what is at stake, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:00]

BOLDUAN: There are two major stories coming from the U.S. Supreme Court today. President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, will begin meeting with lawmakers this week. The meetings are the first step in her confirmation process that will play out very soon before a divided Senate. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live on Capitol Hill with more on this. You know, Jeff, the White House obviously hopes this will be a quick confirmation process, so what are they planning for?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kate. The White House hopes that the confirmation vote happens by mid-April, so that means that things are accelerated and those meetings are going to begin on Wednesday.

We are learning that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be here on Capitol Hill for her first meetings on Wednesday with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as the top leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will, of course, conducted the confirmation hearing. She shall be meeting with Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa.

I am told all of those meetings individually will happen on Wednesday. And then other meetings with senators will continue as the week goes on and into next week. But again, the hope here is to have the confirmation hearings later this month and a full vote in April.

That is why Judge Jackson was at work at the White House on Saturday beginning this preparation phase. And the White House says that she will meet with any senator who opens their office doors to her. So, Kate, certainly a busy time for her as she comes to the Hill for those first meetings the morning after the President's State of the Union address tomorrow night. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Great to see you, Jeff thank you so much. So there is also this. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments right now in a landmark case about the crisis -- climate crisis, at issue, is the EPA's ability to regulate power plant emissions, and the outcome here has the potential to really cripple the Biden administration's plans to fight -- to fight climate change. CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington with much more of a closer look at this issue. Rene, tell us more.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, you know, this is one of the most important climate change cases before the Supreme Court since 2007. That's when the court ruled that the EPA actually has the power to regulate carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. But today's case is being argued by a group of Republican attorneys general led by the state of West Virginia, and they're arguing that Congress should have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants, not the EPA.

The power sector, as you know, is the country's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. So if the court does not rule in the EPA's favor, it would profoundly undercut the agency and really the federal government's ability as a whole to address this climate crisis and that includes the Biden administration's climate agenda.

I mean, you need only look at the stalled legislative action on climate change in Congress to understand why scientists tracking the climate crisis are so alarmed by this possibility of moving the authority from the EPA to Congress to regulate these emissions.

And I want to -- this is from CNN's Ella Nilsen, who is monitoring oral arguments that began about an hour and a half ago, and she says that right now, the liberal justices have been highly skeptical of West Virginia's Solicitor General's arguments questioning effectively, how would this practically work? Those oral arguments are continuing today, but truly, truly lots of states care as it relates to the climate crisis, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's great to see you, Rene thank you so much for that.

MARSH: Sure.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Putin puts his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. Now, some are starting to question the isolated leader's mental state. What does this mean to the world order as we have long known it? CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins me next.

[11:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin, putting his nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, a serious escalation as his invasion into Ukraine grows bloodier by the day. The move also is reportedly raising alarm for another reason among longtime Putin watchers. David Sanger, reporting this in the New York Times. His outburst highlighted a new question coursing through the American intelligence community about the state of mind of the Russian leader, a man previously described as pragmatic, calculating, and cunning.

[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: And here's former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I personally think he's unhinged. I really worry about his acuity and balance right now. And you know, here's a guy that really has a finger on the potential on the nuclear button, so that's, to me, bears close watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me now for more on this is CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour. You know, Christiane, we've also heard some suggesting that this all could be part of a Putin chess match, trying to give the impression he's unhinged in order to -- in order to make the West nervous. What do you think of this?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, honestly, Kate, I think that's really wishful thinking right now. I'm not saying what he's going to do, but the idea that somehow Putin is still rational, still pragmatic, still playing games simply has to be put aside, given the fact that he lied to the world about all his aims during the last several weeks and months of negotiations by telling them he had no intention of going into Ukraine.

So most people believe, and certainly here in Europe, you can imagine that the level of fear and anxiety, and alarm, is incredibly high given how close one is to the situation. And so it is something that's causing a huge amount of anxiety. Neither the French government nor other NATO leaders will talk about what they will do in response to this. If anything, it is considered something that is not ever discussed in public, that they are, you know, watching this situation very, very closely. But they don't immediately come out and say, oh, well, you know, we're going to match this for that. That is not what's happening right now.

In fact, President Macron of France has today had a one-hour and 30- minute call with Vladimir Putin, where you can absolutely imagine that he brought this up and talk to him -- tried presumably to talk him down. But again, that is not in the readout. Instead, we're told that he got President Putin to agree, whether he follows through on that, we don't know, to stop hitting civilian targets, to maintain civilian infrastructure, and to create safe passage zones, certainly around Kyiv for refugees and those under this terrible war to be able to leave safely.

He's asked for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, particularly since Putin and under Ukrainian delegations -- Putin's delegation, along with the Ukrainian delegation, a meeting or has been meeting up near the Belarus border. At the very least, there should have been a ceasefire in place while this was going on. Instead, there's a sword of Damocles with this so-called, you know, nuclear deterrent on high alert, which the world has been reckoning with for the last 24 hours, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And there's also, Christiane, a ban of significant shift just since Friday because you're talking about Europe, and from Germany's about-face on Nord Stream 2 and also on its own defense spending. Today, we've got Switzerland putting aside the Swiss neutrality, saying that it will also be imposing sanctions in line with what the EU is doing. What do you think the impact of this is?

AMANPOUR: Well, it's huge. And again, the head of the EU a sort of underline is here talking with President Macron as they keep trying to bolster and sharpen the pain from these sanctions. As you know, both the EU and the United States have cut off Russia's central bank from the so-called sanctions proof windfall that he's apparently been accumulating some $650 billion over the last several years.

Now, he will have no access to the dollar version of that, at the very least, and that is going to hurt a lot. In fact, he called his own government to talk, again, across that very long table again, and said, we -- you know, I'm calling you to talk about the state of our economy, and how these -- I think he said, based on an -- on an empire of lies, the governments are trying to hurt my country.

By the way, talking to his own people about my country, which again gives you something of a state of mind. What is happening, given the fact that the Germans have completely now down to 180, and their military posture since the end of the Second World War, they never used to send lethal weaponry precisely because of their terrible history during the Second World War. This has changed completely. And who do they ascribe that to? Not Russia, but to Vladimir Putin.

Switzerland, Sweden, again, studiously neutral because of one person, Vladimir Putin, not Russia have they changed their posture and they are sending lethal weaponry as well. As is the EU as a group, for the first time in its history is paying and sending lethal weaponry to defend the Ukrainians -- to defend themselves against this war of choice, this unprovoked war by Vladimir Putin. So all of this is happening, and it's assumed because his reaction is catching Putin off guard.

[11:50:00]

AMANPOUR: He never expected to face a consistently united Europe and NATO Allies. He just never did. His whole modus vivendi, since certainly the last 14 years or so has been to try to divide them at every single turn. It has not worked this time. Even the most unlikely of countries have come together. He expected to be you know, welcomed by with rose petals in Ukraine. He obviously hasn't been.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: So this is what's you know, underway right now in this now five-day invasion of the country.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. It's great to see you, Christiane. Thanks for jumping on. I really appreciate it. Coming up still for us, the world as Christiane was just really pointing to, the world is united in its support of Ukraine and against Vladimir Putin and his invasion. What you can do to help? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: Over the weekend, hundreds of people are lining the streets in Houston to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The rally -- that rally is just one of so many around the world in support of the Ukrainian people. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is one of them, who is a descendant of Ukrainian refugees, offering his support and a blunt message at a rally in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER, (D-IL): And screw Vladimir Putin. Time and again throughout history we have seen tyrants like Putin use false propaganda to claim some righteous cause in furtherance of their vicious agendas. Instead, righteousness is in the cause of freedom and sovereignty, and peace. And righteousness is with the people of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: For more information on how you can help the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, go to cnn.com/impact. Thanks for being here. INSIDE POLITICS with John King starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)