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Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) is Interviewed about Russia; Airlines Brace for Busy Travel Weekend; France Mobilizes Police Ahead of Suspected Unrest; Supreme Court to Rule on Key Cases. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 29, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:07]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: As we await significant decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court today, federal judges in two states have made key rulings on efforts to ban gender affirming care for minors. In Tennessee, the court decision will allow transgender youth to still receive treatments, like hormone therapy and puberty blockers from now, but the ruling keeps the bans on surgical procedures in place. In Kentucky, a judge put a temporary hold on a similar law taking effect as it works its way through court challenges.

All right, starting Saturday, in Connecticut, babies born into poverty can receive $3,200 in what is known as a Connecticut baby bond trust. Once they turn 18, they can access the money to help buy a house, or pay for education, start a business or start job training. Supporters say this will help level the playing field for children who would otherwise lack opportunity.

A Florida murder suspect on the run for almost 40 years is now finally in custody. Donald Santini was wanted in the murder of a woman found strangled in a canal in 1984. He was featured several times on "America's Most Wanted." This month he was finally found in San Diego, California. He has been extradited to Florida and charged with first degree murder.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the latest developments from Russia. President Putin is trying to assert his authority once again after the weekend's insurrection by the Wagner group and by its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin spoke this morning in Moscow. On Wednesday he traveled to southern Russia, greeting supporters, even taking selfies with some of them.

But beyond the photo-ops there are real questions today on the whereabouts of a top Russian general, for one, General Sergei Surovikin. "The New York Times" reported Wednesday that U.S. officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plans. "The Moscow Times" is now reporting that he is under arrest. There are also indications that other Russian generals may have supported the rebellion. One pro-war blogger claims a military purge is now underway, though CNN has not independently confirmed that report.

Joining us now for all of this and where this leaves things in Russia and in Ukraine, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He's the co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here.

What do you make, first and foremost, of this mystery there seems to be right now surrounding the whereabouts of General Surovikin? The Kremlin is pushing questions about him to the ministry of defense at this point saying they're not going to be talking about it. What do you think?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): I think we use our common sense when we assess the situation. After a dramatic coup attempt like this, there will be lots of speculations and rumors. It'll take some months to really figure out. But let's ask ourselves what happened. An operation like this, of this significance, would have taken some time to prepare and a lot of coordination. And probably troops massing and moving over to the east where they eventually went. It's hard for me to imagine that the regular Russian army wasn't aware of the mercenary army moving about and making plans. and if they were aware of it, why didn't they let others know? It's also hard to imagine at least some of them didn't at least think about participating.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, Putin is making moves, it seems, to try and make clear that he is still the man in charge. Where do you think this rebellion leaves Vladimir Putin?

QUIGLEY: Well, look -- look at the Russian people. This is the guarantor of security and stability for 23 years in Russia. That was the deal, right. They had to go along with the repression, the propaganda system. But, you know, in return what they got was security and stability. Well, not so much.

And the day in question, what happened? He called Prigozhin a traitor and then he disappeared. And then he apparently agreed to a deal that Lukashenko had to broker to let the guy off the hook. I think that's just too much for him to handle. And I think the videos you see of him, taped mind you, meeting Russians after being in recluse, is a response to the fact that the Wagner group was greeted in the south and this apparently went along so quickly. And that he needed - he needed Wagner in the first place to do his really dirty work, I think it shows weakness within his country. I think the criticism that Prigozhin had of the war effort, of Shoigu, and more importantly the justification for the war, that has to be getting to the rest of the Russian troops.

[09:35:05]

That has to scare Putin.

BOLDUAN: The EU's top diplomat today made some remarks and in it said a weakened Putin is a more dangerous Vladimir Putin. Do you see that?

QUIGLEY: Oh, absolutely. Putin can't afford to lose this war or even falter. His life's on the line. And it's pretty much all he cares about. He puts his own people as cannon fodder in this war. So, he's all in.

I completely agree, this crisis in Russia is an opportunity for the west, for the Ukrainian army, for a bunch of reasons. But what does a desperate Putin do? The fact that he does these presses in front of guys with big hats, goes out and meets the public. I think you saw just the beginning of the possibilities with another missile attack on a civilian target. We're pretty sure, in my mind, that he blew up this dam. When I was in Bucha in Ukraine a year ago I saw evidence of war crimes and mass graves. What else is he capable of doing? It makes me worry very much about the nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It makes me worry about what other extreme measures Putin would take, not just to show his strength, but -- to the Russian people, but to the rest of the world.

BOLDUAN: You know, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, he was on CNN talking about an opportunity that he actually sees that this presents in this -- after this rebellion and where it -- this - where this leaves Vladimir Putin and the Wagner group. Let me play what he says. He thinks this is an opportunity for the U.S. and the west.

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ADAM KINZINGER CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If I was still in Congress, I would implore the administration to use this moment not to sit back and say, oh, we don't want to provoke anything, but to actually push back against Russia in other areas.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: What does that look like?

KINZINGER: You may not want to directly take on Russia and Ukraine, but you can push back harder on Russia and Libya, for instance, push back harder on them in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you agree? Do you see this as an opportunity for the Biden administration?

QUIGLEY: You know, I do. And I think Adam Kinzinger showed himself to be an American hero. Probably has more military expertise than I do. Certainly does. But on the other hand, let's just say, Putin is weakened. I don't think if Putin leaves there's any guarantee that we're going to see a blossoming democracy there. You know, if Putin is gone, we're going to see probably someone from the security services, the Soliviki (ph), the hard right nationalists take his place. Those that weren't angry with the invasion. They were angry that it was bungled. And they're probably furious at this point in time how Russia looked to the rest of the world. So, I think there's opportunities there.

But we also have the realization that a desperate Putin is a very dangerous one. And if Putin is gone, the person who takes his place is very likely going to be worse. And that would result in danger not just in Ukraine and Russia, but in the rest of the world, in the places that my friend, Mr. Kinzinger, points out.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Congressman, thank you so much for coming in. Congressman Mike Quigley.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Kate, it is a big morning. We are standing by for major rulings at the Supreme Court just a few minutes from now. Big cases that we've been waiting on, including affirmative action, student loans, gay rights. At least one of those issues, a ruling will come down in just minutes.

France is mobilizing thousands of police as protests turn violent after the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

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[09:43:22]

BERMAN: This morning more than 100 million Americans are facing air quality alerts and being urged to stay indoors due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. It is a hazy Chicago skyline this morning. Chicago now has the worst air quality in the world this morning. Five U.S. cities crack the top ten right now with Chicago, Washington D.C., and Detroit, number one, two and four on the list. That is according to IQ Air. Canada is currently experiencing its worst fire season ever, and officials say they see, quote, no end in sight. In the U.S., rain and storms rolling through the Midwest later today could help improve the air quality there.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, holiday travel is in full swing and off to an unfortunately rocky start already. Travelers being met with these long lines, lost luggage. Even some folks sleeping on cots. And today is expected to be one of the busiest travel days for the holiday. Air travel is set to break records this weekend with more than 4 million Americans expected to fly. That is according to AAA.

United Airline says it's, for them, all hands-on deck to get operations back into full swing after they experience some major disruptions, worse than other airlines.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now from Reagan National Airport this morning.

Pete, I've got folks coming in. Are they going to arrive angry?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they probably will depending on the airline they're on at least. You know, we're not just out of the woods quite yet. And the busy period is still ahead of us. Today, the FAA says it will handle 52,000 flights across the country.

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That's the highest number going into the July 4th holiday weekend. The big thing to underscore here is that the problems, the mini

meltdown happening in slow motion at United Airline. So far today they're doing a little bit better than they were earlier this week. So far, they have canceled about 300 flights, delayed about another 177. Ten percent of its flight schedule canceled today. But they canceled, since Saturday, 2,500 flights in total, about 5,000 flights delayed.

You know, we're hearing from customers who have been stuck in these long customer service lines trying to get on new flights. But the problem is, the flights are already full, so some are not able to get a seat until Monday, if you can believe it.

United Airline's CEO Scott Kirby said this meltdown really started because of the FAA, because of air traffic controller shortages at its big hub in Newark, New Jersey.

But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is putting some of that blame back on United Airlines. He says, sure, there are air traffic control shortages, but United really needs to look in the mirror here at its own problems.

Listen.

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PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: United Airlines has some internal issues they need to work through. They've really been struggling this week, even relative to other U.S. airlines.

But what we do agree is that there needs to be more resources for air traffic control.

The staffing levels there are not at the level I want to see there. They don't leave us with a lot of cushion. If you have a few people call in sick or if you have an unusual event it really spreads the system thin. And so we need to see higher staffing levels there.

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MUNTEAN: United Airlines, in a first statement, addressing this meltdown says it is all hands on deck right now, pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, baggage handlers, all sort of banding together to work tirelessly, it says, to try and get the airline out of this nosedive going into the holiday weekend. It insists the operation will be back to normal by the July 4th holiday.

United anticipated handling 5 million passengers in total. Its biggest July 4th period since 2019. Although we'll see if those numbers finally come to pass here, Sara, because of all of these cancellations.

SIDNER: It says a good thing about the economy and how people feel about going to travel again, but it seems like there is a problem across the board with staffing. I know a lot of people, including myself, there wasn't a pilot.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

SIDNER: There weren't people to fly the plan, so the plane couldn't take off even though it was there.

Pete Muntean, thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right now France is mobilizing tens of thousands of police officers as violent protests erupt across the country. Fiery demonstrations are unfolding after a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

Let's get over to CNN's Melissa Bell. She's live in Paris for us.

Melissa, what is happening?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you these images coming to us from Notel (ph), this neighborhood just to the northwest of Paris where the young Nahel, a French boy, 17 years old, of Arab descent, was so brutally killed on the morning of Tuesday by a police officer at a police stop. It is the video, Kate, of the incident that has caused such controversy. The policeman himself now officially suspended, but being investigated for culpable homicide. And very chilling video to watch. And it has, of course, caused all this anger for the last couple of days.

Even now what you're seeing on those images are clashes that have begun at that march. It was a march that had been called for by young Nahel's mother. It was to begin at the police station in Notel (ph). And it, in fact, has moved now into the city, into the neighborhood itself, where there's clashes beginning even now.

What authorities are bracing for is a third night of extreme anger. It began on Tuesday night, very quickly in Notel (ph), spread to the rest of France last night with 150 people arrested and really state institutions being targeted very violently. Schools burned down. Police stations taken over.

What they're bracing for tonight is even more violence. Forty thousand policemen and women will be out on the streets of France to try and bring calm and order. But again, as you're seeing in those images, even now it's just coming up to 4:00 p.m. here in France, extreme anger that is the result, Kate, of years of allegations of police brutality and specifically racism at the hands of the police.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it seems like it's shaping up to be a potentially very violent - very violent night in Paris and outside of Paris as well.

Melissa, thank you very much for that. We're going to stick close to this one.

John. BERMAN: All right, Kate, major action at the Supreme Court just minutes away. We are expecting rulings on everything from affirmative action, gay rights, student loans, as soon as this morning.

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We will deliver the breaking news as soon as those opinions are read.

Stand by.

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BOLDUAN: Happening right now, the Supreme Court is about to release major decisions. Here is what we are watching for as it's going to be coming down this hour.

Potentially a very big case challenging affirmative action and higher education. The justices have heard two similar cases on this issue. Both brought by the same plaintiff. A conservative group called Students for Fair Admissions. One case was against -- brought against Harvard, another against the University of North Carolina. The end result here could determine whether colleges and universities, both public and private across the country, can continue using race as a factor in admissions. This case also is key as it's taking on decades worth of precedent.

BERMAN: We could also get a ruling on President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan. This was the order he gave last year to forgive debt for tens of millions of Americans.

[09:55:02]

It has been stalled. It's never actually gone into effect. But, obviously, now the Supreme Court will get to weigh in. There are two separate case here, trying to block up to $20,000 of federal student loan forgiveness from taking effect. The people suing here claim the Department of Education exceeded its authority in implementing the program.

SIDNER: And we are also expecting a major ruling on LGBTQ rights. The case is called 303 Creative v. Elenis. It centers around a Colorado website designer named Laurie Smith who says her state's nondiscrimination law is a violation of her free speech. She claims she was unable to enter the wedding website business because she didn't want to potentially face legal consequences if she refused to work with the same-sex couple. Civil rights groups have argued that if the law is struck down, it could open the door for businesses to simply refuse to serve members of groups they don't agree with, including those of different races or religions.

BERMAN: Let's begin with CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider. Jessica, obviously we are now, what, like four minutes and 15 seconds away from getting a ruling on something big.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I'm going to have to make it quick, John, so I can make sure I don't miss those first opinions. But, yes, we are in the final stretch here. Just a handful of opinions left. We have an opinion day today beginning at 10:00. Likely tomorrow we'll find out a little bit later.

But you guys highlighted really two major cases, affirmative action and student loan forgiveness. The reason why they're so major is that they will affect millions and millions of people.

Affirmative action has been allowed in the country for more than 40 years. There are nine states that do prohibit affirmative action in colleges and universities, but the rest of the states allow universities and colleges to consider race as one factor in the admissions process. And it's possible that this conservative court will say no longer. Colleges and universities can no longer consider race as a factor. That's something that we're waiting for because the conservative justices seemed very skeptical that race was still needed as a factor for colleges to sufficiently diversify. So, that's a big case that we're waiting for that would obviously affect students, people applying to colleges all across the country.

The other big one, with a big number, 44 million students - student loan borrows who are waiting on this, is the future of President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. He tried to get this program into effect over the Covid period. He was blocked by lower courts. Now he's waiting to see if the Supreme Court will give him a green light. This could forgive student loans -- up to $20,000 in student loans, for about 40 million student loan borrowers. However, the conservative court was very skeptical here that the Biden administration even had the power to enact this program because this is a program that would amount to a $400 billion price tag for the government. So, there's a lot of questions here about whether the Biden administration - whether they'll be able to let this plan go into effect and give significant loan relief for millions of Americans.

So, guys, we are waiting for those opinions coming down any minute now.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And you'll be bringing it to us when they do. Thank you so much, Jessica. We will be getting back to you.

Joining us in the meantime, CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates, CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig, and CNN political director David Chalian.

Laura, let's start with affirmative action. Walk us through what you see in all of - what you see happening here today.

LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is, first of all, an extraordinary moment in time. The idea of this issue being revisited yet again in very recent times. As of now, it's been a very big talking point about whether there should be race considered in any realm of our society. We've heard of that in voting cases, about a so- called post-racial society. We've heard about the need for diversity in the military and military preparedness. We've heard about the DEI initiatives when we're talking about the corporate space. This focus - these cases focus on the educational space. Here is where things stand today. You cannot have quotas where you set

aside a certain number of seats based on ones race. You cannot have a plus system where somebody is assigned an additional point based on their race. And yet and still we do acknowledge that race and diversity has a place in our society and it has a stronghold in many respects. And so the question for this court is, do we truly live in a color blind society, do we operate as such in the admissions process?

And, remember, even though a student couldn't, for example, if this were to go in effect and say, you cannot consider race at all in admissions, what does that practically mean, everyone? You can't have a box that says what race you are. But what about a student who writes an essay based on their lived experience or personal experience as a racial minority?

[09:59:56]

What about how the holistic factors that Jessica spoke about as race, but one of many factors, well, how does it compare to say somebody who's a veteran, someone who is a legacy student, whose parent went to the university.