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South Korean President's State Visit Welcomed by President Biden; House GOP Leaders Anticipate Today's Vote on Debt Limit Bill; Washington Banned Sale of Most Assault-Style Weapons; Nebraska Legislators Pass Permit-Free Concealed Carry Weapons Bill. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 26, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Those veterans are the reason we can stand here today. Two, vibrant and innovative democracies, we stand as strong, proud and free because of them. And so, many of them, Mr. President, to visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial with you last night to lay a wreath of remembrance, to fulfill a sacred obligation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).

BIDEN: On September 1, 1950, Corporal Luther Story performed acts of bravery above and beyond all measure, defending his brothers in arms on the Pusan Perimeter in the Korean -- on the Korean war. The last anyone saw of the corporal, he was wounded fighting off the hostile assault to protect his company's withdrawal. In 1951 his heroism was recognized with a Medal of Honor. The Corporal Story's body was never accounted for until now. The Republic of Korea and the United States worked together to identify Corporal Story's remains among those buried as a Korean war unknown -- as a Korean war unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Today, we can return him to his family and to his rest with all of the honors he deserves because we never forget our heroes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).

BIDEN: Mr. President, over the past seven decades, our alliance has grown stronger and more capable. And the cooperation between our people, our commitment to one another has grown deeper across every aspect of our partnership. Today, our economies are on the vanguard of technological development, our nations, our powerhouses of innovation, and our people united still by our Democratic values are taking on the challenges of the world and we're taking them on together.

We are standing strong against Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine, advancing an Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, building secure and resilience supply chains and pioneering the clean energy economy. Investing together to ensure our future will be grounded in the values that we share which have always, always made us strong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).

[10:35:00]

BIDEN: Mr. President, ours is the future filled with unimaginable opportunity and endless possibility. Nothing, nothing is beyond our ability to reach when our nations and our people stand united. We have proven that time and again over the last 70 years. As our troops say, who still proudly serve together and they are OK to this day, we go together. May we continue that refrain of the Republic of Korea and the United States for all the days ahead. We go together. God bless our nations and God protect our troops. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, now speaking. We just heard from President Biden welcoming the South Korean president to the White House, noting this is the second state visit of President Biden's administration. Also, noting that President Biden had been to South Korea with Jill Biden earlier in his administration.

One thing that president Biden did note, and it is interesting, for this trip it was just announced this morning that the remains of a Medal of Honor winner had been identified on the Korean Peninsula, Corporal Luther Strong who --

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Story.

BERMAN: Luther Story, sorry. His incredible service on the peninsula in the battle around Pusan, the Pusan Perimeter, earned him the Medal of Honor. His remains just identified now, which is a pretty remarkable story, all these many years later.

Jeff Zeleny, the formality happening now, the speeches laying out what they will cover in the next couple of days. What happens next today, though, I think is what political watchers are watching very closely. Yes, all of the diplomatic correspondents want to know the agreements that have come out of this. But there is going to be a meeting in the Oval Office where reporters will get in and they'll shell questions, and maybe we will hear from the president there. And then a news conference, there aren't a lot of them for President Joe Biden. And this one is the first time he will answer questions since his announcement that he is officially running for re-election.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. And there are, of course, so many things to ask the president about. But you're right, there are not a lot of them. The White House will say, oh, he engages with reporters every day, but the fact of the matter is this is one thing that you can measure objectively from administration to administration, president to president. And President Biden simply has not had as many formal news conferences or informal news conferences as his recent predecessors in modern history. It is simply a fact of the numbers.

So, he will be taking questions today. And, of course, this coming on the heels of his re-election announcement yesterday. There are so many questions, of course, you know, swirling in the political atmosphere here. Is he, sort of, anticipating a rematch with Former President Donald Trump? The White House would absolutely welcome that. But that is far from certain at this point.

The Republican presidential campaign also is just getting underway here as well. But in the three-minute video that was released yesterday from the Biden campaign, certainly Former President Donald Trump, front and center in that. Also, a cameo appearance for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

So, the president is going to run against all of them. He's going to run against the MAGA agenda and he calls it. But he does have some questions of his own to answer as well and that is, first and foremost, why do seven in 10 Americans want another choice? Why do even Democrats and Independents want a fresh choice in 2024? That is something that he is going to have to make that argument, make the compelling case why he still is the man for the job.

[10:40:00]

But perhaps most surprisingly in all of this, he's been able to succeed without having a Democratic opponent, a major Democratic opponent in the nomination fight. That is a huge advantage as we've seen from history. We know what happened to Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, they had both primary challenges. President Biden has escaped that, that is monumental.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Paula, folks are also interested to see if there is any -- what is said today or if there is any sign of any lingering damage from what has -- what the Pentagon -- the leaked Pentagon documents amongst other things suggested that the United States was eavesdropping and spying on allies, including South Korea. Reporting some of -- the documents reporting out a conversation purportedly between top South Korean officials about, kind of, the bind that they were in or the debate over sending artillery rounds to Ukraine. And I'm curious if what you're hearing from there, if there is lingering damage, what the -- what President Yoon has said about that since?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was certainly quite a lot of controversy about that over here. The embarrassment, really of the Pentagon leak. And what we heard from the presidential office was denial, effectively saying that they believed much of what was reported was fabricated. So, of course, that is quite a strong statement in itself.

Now, we've been hearing from officials that they don't believe that this is going to play into any of the conversations or have any impact on what's happening today. But what it did show us was exactly how difficult the situation the South Korean officials and government find themselves in. The fact that it was a remarkable -- remarkably detailed view of senior South Korean officials debating about how they were going to get around the fact that the United States wanted South Korea to send them ammunition and artillery, which they could then send on to Ukraine. Now, South Korea has this policy that they don't provide weapons to any countries at war, but they are coming under increasing pressure, not just from the United States, but from other countries. The NATO chief came to South Korea to speak to President Yoon to try and push him to give weapons to Ukraine.

And so, it is becoming a point of contention. There is public debate as to whether or not South Korea should now start to do more and start to give more than just the humanitarian aid and financial aid that they've been giving to Ukraine. Because the fact is, South Korea is becoming a significant arms and weapons exporter. And we know that they have a lot of ammunition which Ukraine needs at this point.

SIDNER: All right. Our Paula Hancocks there, thank you to you. Jeff Zeleny and Arlette Saenz who is there watching all this happen at the White House. We just saw both President Yoon of South Korea and President Biden going back to do the work that we all want to know what happens after this. So, we will be right back. There's much more on "CNN News Central" ahead.

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[10:45:00]

SIDNER: We are keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill where House Republicans just wrapped up a key meeting on Speaker McCarthy's $1.5 trillion debt ceiling plan. Overnight, McCarthy agreed to two key changed and it appears that the changes may be enough to get the bill through the House, possibly as soon as today.

CNN's Manu Raju is live on the hill with the latest. You have been talking to lawmakers as you do so well. What are you hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it sounds like the Republican leaders will have the votes later today to pass their debt limit package, something that the Democratic-led Senate says, it is dead on arrival in that chamber. Something that the White House has threatened to veto. But something that the Republicans say will show them moving forward to raise the national debt limit by -- for one year, including a slew of spending cuts in order to win over conservatives who had been skeptical.

But last night, overnight, changes were made in order to win over some skeptics. Including subsidies for ethanol, that is something that the initial bill would have repealed subsidies for ethanol. That is now included in the package in order to win four Iowa GOP members who had planned to oppose it over this issue, as well as some other midwestern Republicans.

Also, changing how new proposed Medicaid work requirements for beneficiaries to that program. There had been a push among some on the far right to make those work requirements implemented quicker under this proposal. The Republican leaders agreed to that. And as a result, the expectation is that they will get the votes to actually pass this today. But in talking to some members, some members are still concerned and warning that they'll vote no. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: These last-minute changes didn't win you over?

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): No. No. I am still leaning no on the bill.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): No, they haven't changed my mind. I, you know, I had -- we had a meeting and then you all were all waiting for me after the meeting and then they didn't show.

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): Now, what's going to happen if they don't do it? Let them shut the government down. Let the Senate shut the government down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, that last member is Congressman Ralph Norman, someone who had previously was uncertain whether he was going to support this bill. He does plan to support this now going forward. And the expectation is that they can limit those defections to less than four Republican members.

Remember, four Republicans vote no, that's OK. But if five vote against it, that's enough to sink the bill and we do expect at least there. As you can see, there have raised concerns, may vote against it. Matt Gaetz told me he's not certain he's going to vote for this bill yet. So, uncertain but the expectation at the moment is if they can get the votes, get this out today as the debt default looms as soon as June. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Lots hanging in the balance. Thank you so much, Manu Raju there on Capitol Hill.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Washington state taking on assault-style weapons, banning the sale, manufacture or import of this type of gun. Where the push and pull over more restrictions on assault weapons now stands across the country. That's ahead.

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[10:50:00]

BERMAN: This morning, drastically different gun legislation signed into law in two states. In Washington, Democratic Governor Jay Inslee banned the sale of most assault-style weapons, with an exception for law enforcement and armed forces. While Nebraska became the 27th state to eliminate conceal carry permits for most adults, in other words, you can carry guns without permits.

CNN's Zach Wolf joins us now. So, Zach, let's start with the assault weapon ban in Washington, because at the federal level, let's be honest, the assault weapon ban doesn't seem to have much hope of passing at the federal level, but some states are doing it piece by piece. ZACHARY WOLF, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: Yes, states have been working on this and its mostly blue states doing it on the west coast, in the northeast, and Illinois. These are all subject to court challenges. So, I think, there's a real question about how long these assault weapons bans will be in place. None of them has been, you know, stayed yet, but I think that there's a serious court battle to keep an eye on.

Washington state's become -- becomes the most recent, but we also have places like California, Hawaii. And then in the northeast we have, you know, New York and New Jersey and states up there.

BERMAN: And in the flip side of this are laws like the ones that we are now seeing in Nebraska, eliminated conceal carry, eliminating the need for permits there. How much of that are you seeing around the country?

WOLF: Well, it's a majority of states now. We have the 27th State to essentially end a requirement for any sort of gun permitting with Nebraska. These are mostly southern states, primarily red states that are making this move. And you've read a lot about this. I think population-wise, most of the country still requires permitting.

[10:55:00]

But, you know, this move, primarily in the south and with red states, means that there's a large portion of the country, more than half the states, where you don't need it anymore.

BERMAN: Zach Wolf, thanks so much for being with us on "CNN News Central." Appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. An urgent manhunt is underway for four detainees who escaped from a Mississippi jail. Details on that ahead. Plus, Republicans seem to have the votes on Capitol Hill to pass their debt ceiling bill today, but some major changes had to be made to that bill. All the details ahead.

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