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FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill; No Suspect Identified in White House Cocaine Investigation; President Biden Holds Press Conference With Finnish President. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 13, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:01]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not only has the West, but China and the rest of the world has said, that's -- don't go there. Don't go there, number two.

Number three, I think that determining what happens to Prigozhin, what happens to Vilnius -- I mean -- excuse me -- what happens when we discussed this in Vilnius is -- God only knows what he's likely to do. I'm not even sure, we're not even sure where he is and what relationship he has.

If I were he, I'd be careful what I ate. I'd be keeping my eye on my menu.

But, all kidding aside, I -- who knows? I don't know. I don't think any of us know for certain what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia. And so I don't know how to answer that question beyond that.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And if I could also ask you something about happening back home, you're seeing the GOP grappling with tying abortion rights to defense issues, including a block on military promotions by Senator Tuberville.

What does this say about U.S. military readiness? And would you be willing to talk with Tuberville to try to work out some solution?

BIDEN: I'd be willing to talk to him if I thought there's any possibility of him changing this ridiculous position he has.

He's jeopardizing U.S. security by what he's doing. I expect the Republican Party to stand up, stand up and do something about it. They have -- it's within their power to do that.

The idea that we don't have a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the idea that we have all these -- all these promotions that are in abeyance right now, we don't know what's going to happen, the idea that we're injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what, in fact, is a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre.

I don't ever recall that happening, ever. And it's just totally irresponsible, in my view. And I just think that -- I mean, I'm confident that the mainstream Republican Party no longer -- does not support what he's doing, but they got to stand up and be counted. That's how it ends.

SAENZ: And for President Niinisto, you have been working on fortifying the fence along the border between Finland and Russia. Is there anything that you're seeing recently that concerns you?

And, also, as a leader who shares a border with Russia, what more do you want to see done to deter Putin?

SAULI NIINISTO, PRESIDENT OF FINLAND: During the beginning of our application process, surely, we had to make sure first trying to figure out every possible negative action we might meet and surely how we respond on that.

And we were very careful on that work. So, at the moment, the situation is quite calm. Hope it remains as such.

But I just want to tell you that Finnish people do feel more secure at the moment. We have 80 percent of population supporting NATO membership, and more than 80 percent who say that we will also protect our allies. That's the Finnish position.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. This concludes the press conference.

BIDEN: Thank you very much.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right, we got some news at this news conference, the Finnish president and the president of the United States.

I thought it was significant that President Biden quickly said Putin has already lost the war. There's no possibility, he said, of Putin's winning this war in Ukraine. I thought that was significant. There's no real prospect, also, he said, of Russia using nuclear weapons in its desperation to try to win this war. He said that doesn't look like it's even possible, no real prospect, his words, of using nuclear weapons.

And he was very, very forceful, President Biden, in defending the expansion of NATO, including Finland and Sweden now, and making sure that there's an opportunity for Ukraine to become a member of NATO as well.

We have got an excellent group of analysts who are here to assess what we just heard, very significant statements indeed, CNN's Nic Robertson, David Chalian. Alex Marquardt is with us as well. He's in Ukraine, and CNN military analyst retired General Wesley Clark.

General Clark, you're the former NATO supreme allied commander. Give us your sense of what we just heard right now.

[11:05:05]

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Really strong support by the president of the United States for NATO.

Really strong message to Vladimir Putin: Back off. You have lost.

I thought it was a great ending for what's been a very successful week for the administration and for NATO.

BLITZER: And you think Putin will back off? Do you -- or do you think he will escalate the military invasion of Ukraine?

CLARK: So, I think that what you have in -- is Russia that's still mobilizing its military.

I think Putin is concerned about angry moms in Russia, because the casualties are mounting. I think there's disarray in the Russian forces. But I'd be surprised if we don't see another Russian attempt to push back Ukraine somewhere and gain an advantage in whatever negotiations ensue at the end of this.

So I don't think it's over, despite the fact that we don't believe that -- or the administration has said that Putin has already lost. I'm not sure he accepts that. I think he does recognize there are limits to what he can get done in the near term.

BLITZER: Important point as well.

Nic Robertson, it was clear to me, based on the questions we heard from the Finnish journalist, there's concern over there, especially these countries that border Russia, that the political instability in the United States going into an election year could undermine U.S. support for Finland, for Sweden, for other Nordic countries right now.

What was your reaction when you heard the questions on that and the answers from the president of the United States and the president of Finland?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think a lot of people in Europe, in the Nordic nations, in particular, are asking that question, and, of course, in Helsinki, where they saw President Trump set with the Russian president, President Vladimir Putin.

Putin even gave him a football. And President Trump at the time said that he took President Putin's analysis that there was no interference by Russia in the U.S. elections, he took that over and above what he was hearing from his own -- his own intelligence advisers.

So the Finns have seen this firsthand. So yes, there is this concern about what can happen, but I think what we heard from President Biden there in explaining in Congress and in Senate, and there's a lot of support, and we heard that echoed by the Finnish president as well, that would sort of lay some of those concerns to rest.

I think the one other takeaway I had there as well, Wolf, was President Biden's analysis here that perhaps Ukraine -- or is -- this is an implicit analysis -- that perhaps Ukraine is not going to take back all of its territory, because he said there will be a war, and then there will be negotiations. If Ukraine was actually able to force Russia entirely off of its territory, then what need for negotiations because the war would be over, Russia would be gone? I thought that was an interesting insight. I'm not sure if the president implied that, but that's what came across.

BLITZER: Yes, that's an important point as well.

Arlette Saenz, our White House correspondent, is in Helsinki, traveling with the president right now.

Arlette, you had a chance to ask a question yourself. But what was your reaction to what we heard from these two presidents?

SAENZ: I think President Biden just once again tried to stress the unity of the NATO alliance.

And he was specifically asked a question about some of the political differences within the U.S. and how he could guarantee that the U.S. would stand by NATO, of course, that being a reference to the fact the president is running for reelection, there could be a change in power if it -- coming in 2024, but the president trying to stress that the U.S. would continue to stand with NATO allies throughout the process that is ahead of them.

Of course, he also reiterated his support for Ukraine. But I also had the chance to ask the president specifically about some of the things that have been happening within Russia, as you have seen some disarray amongst the Russian generals, this recent rebellion led by Prigozhin.

And he told me that he -- one thing that was noteworthy, he said they don't know where Prigozhin is at this moment. That has been a vague question. And he also -- when I asked him about the possibility that this could drive Vladimir Putin to take greater steps, he said that he does not believe that nuclear weapons will be used.

Of course, that has been a concern, is that, if Putin is feeling that he is getting pushed into a corner, of what lengths he might try to take things. And I also had the chance to ask the president about that military -- that block on military promotions that is being led right now by Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

[11:10:00]

The president had said he would be willing to sit down with him, but only if it actually seemed that he'd be open to discussing a change with us. Of course, Tuberville is holding that up due to abortion policies within the Defense Department.

The president also issued a call for Republicans as a whole, the party, to stand up and speak out against this. But, really, the president is now heading home from this summit, trying to once again stress that the NATO alliance has been reinvigorated, that it is standing and it's emboldened in its resolve against Russia, and that they are firmly committed to continuing support to Ukraine down the road. BLITZER: And all of this is unfolding as the political environment in

the United States is escalating right now looking ahead to 2024.

David Chalian, you're our political director. Give us a sense of how President Biden will be returning to the United States tonight, in the aftermath of what has been achieved, as far as the NATO summit is concerned, this news conference, some of the other developments.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, he's going to be returning with some wind in his sails, simply because of the way this week played out.

It sort of fits into what President Biden had promised the American people. He was going to bring Donald Trump's so-called America-first approach to foreign policy to an end and make it America with its allies as the primary approach.

And that got stronger this week, obviously, with Finland participating in the first time as a member of NATO, Sweden, going forward in the process with getting the agreement with Turkey, and showing a unified force in this battle that Ukraine is engaged in with Russia.

All of that was completely within how Joe Biden has presented his view of America's role in the world to the American people and a direct contrast from his predecessor, Donald Trump, Wolf, who may be his Republican opponent next year round -- next time around, including when Arlette had asked him about potential election interference from Russians.

I mean, could you get a stronger contrast? In the very same place where Donald Trump sided with Putin over America's intelligence community, you had Joe Biden say flat out that Russians have interfered in American elections, and so trying to do so again would be nothing new, a complete contrast that Joe Biden and his team were eager to draw throughout this week with his predecessor.

BLITZER: And, David, I thought it was interesting that President Biden also said Russia is still interfering in U.S. elections. You heard him suggest that, right?

CHALIAN: Yes, indeed, he said, it happened in the most recent one.

I think, more famously, we think about it back in 2016. And he said, you're right that, if Russia is doing that, it wouldn't be a new approach from Moscow and Putin to try and interfere in American elections.

So I think we will have to learn more about exactly what the president believes Russia is up to as it relates to U.S. elections currently, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes.

Alex Marquardt is with us as well. He's reporting from Ukraine, inside Ukraine, right now.

Alex, Putin has already lost the war. That's what President Biden said. There is no possibility of Putin winning this war in Ukraine.

I wonder how the folks in Ukraine are going to be reacting to those words.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think Ukrainians, Wolf, certainly would like to hear that Putin has lost this war, and he may have in the eyes of the U.S. president.

But that doesn't mean that Ukraine has won this war. I thought it was very interesting that he brought up the concept of a negotiated settlement. And I think what that does is put even more pressure on Ukraine in this critical moment during this counteroffensive.

This counteroffensive, Wolf, is being seen by many Ukrainian officials and many U.S. officials as their best shot, as one shot to essentially turn the tide. What -- if the president believes that Putin has lost, we have to note that Russia still occupies some 20 percent of this country.

Now, they have done very poorly in the past 17 months. They have been pushed back. And they do not appear to have the capability of moving forward. But I think General Clark would agree that it is much easier for Russian forces to defend than it is to go on the offense.

And what we are seeing right now is Russia firmly defending the territory that they have and doing it quite well. We are seeing fierce resistance to the Ukrainians trying to punch through those Russian lines in the south and in the eastern part of the country. They're facing huge minefields. They're facing ferocious resistance from those Russian fighters, who have been digging in for the past few months.

So, President Biden there essentially saying that this counteroffensive is going to set the scene for a negotiated settlement. I don't think there's any do you want you could find, Wolf, who's going to say that the Ukrainians, in this counteroffensive, are going to be able to push the Russians out of Ukraine, out of the south of Ukraine, out of the east of Ukraine, and certainly not out of Crimea.

[11:15:10]

So, what Ukraine is looking to do right now is to basically try to get the best result they can, so that, eventually, when they have to get -- come to the table, perhaps under U.S. and American pressure, which for now is not there, but may come eventually, that they certainly have the upper hand, or at least have some kind of leverage.

And that's why you're seeing all these weapons pouring into Ukraine, an immense amount of training and weaponry that has gone into this counteroffensive. And then, of course, over the past few days, you have seen even more commitments to Ukraine from NATO members, hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of new military hardware, because NATO right now wants to see Ukraine do as well as it possibly can in this counteroffensive, so that, when the time to negotiate comes, that they can -- they can get the best deal possible.

But, for right now, Wolf, this counteroffensive is very slow-going. Ukraine has made some gains, but they're extremely modest -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're absolutely right. You're there in Ukraine. Stay safe over there, Alex. We will get back to you, for sure.

General Clark, and you're a retired four-star general, the former NATO supreme allied commander. What was your reaction to when the president said he would be willing to talk with Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama about Tuberville's actions to prevent Senate confirmation of senior military officers, generals and admirals, from moving up in the command because he doesn't like the Pentagon's policy in allowing women who serve in the U.S. military to travel to other states and potentially get abortions at the Pentagon?

The military would pay for those travel expenses, wouldn't pay for the abortions, but would pay for the travel expenses. What's your reaction to what Senator Tuberville is doing? Because the president said this undermines U.S. national security in preventing these generals and admirals from moving up?

CLARK: Well, I think it's appalling what Senator Tuberville is doing.

I think it's way out of line of anything that responsible senators should be doing. Whatever his views are on the use of the military and how the military can engage in taking care of its people and meeting their needs, that's a separate issue.

But to block these promotions, to mess with the chain of command to make an issue like this, it's pure political stunting. It may be great for some of his funders back in Alabama,or someone from the extreme right wing. It's harmful to the United States of America.

I'm delighted the president is willing to speak to him, but it shouldn't take that. The Republican Party should certainly stop this. This is really an outrage against the United States armed forces and against our national security interests.

BLITZER: Yes, I spoke with the defense secretary earlier today. He made exactly that same point, that this undermines U.S. national security in preventing the senior admirals and generals for moving up the chain of command.

Guys, thank you very, very much, Arlette Saenz, Alex Marquardt, Nic Robertson, David Chalian, General Wesley Clark. We're going to continue this conversation throughout the day.

I will be back later today in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I will be reporting from here in Vilnius, Lithuania. We will have a lot more. All of my exclusive interview, by the way, with the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, we will share that with you during the 6:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

In the meantime, I will send it over to Kate and Sara for more in New York.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Wolf, thank you so much. Thanks for being there. Thanks for covering that very important press conference between the two leaders.

And, again, as Wolf said, much more to come from his sit down with Lloyd Austin later in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Yes, a lot of news being made there. It's incredibly interesting.

All right, now to economics here at home, a key inflation measure hitting its lowest level in nearly three years. What this shows about the state of the U.S. economy and what this means for your family, potentially.

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[11:23:56]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, in a briefing on Capitol Hill, Secret Service is revealing to House lawmakers that their investigation is now closing, wrapping up into that bag of cocaine that was brought into the White House West Wing earlier this month.

A House lawmaker telling CNN the Secret Service does not have a suspect.

Jeremy Diamond back with us, more reporting on this.

Jeremy, you have got the new reporting here. What more are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, well, the Secret Service is concluding its investigation into this matter.

They have not identified a suspect, despite combing through hundreds of potential individuals who walked through that lower-level West Wing entrance where this small baggie of cocaine was found a little less than two weeks ago.

Lawmakers were told that this was less than a gram of cocaine that was found here, but Secret Service officials were not able to identify a suspect. And I'm told by two people familiar with this investigation that they have concluded their investigatory efforts.

Now, one of these sources familiar with the matter says that the leading theory remains that it was likely one of these individuals who was a visitor on a West Wing tour who likely left this baggie of cocaine.

[11:25:05]

And that's in part because where this -- of where this baggie was found, not only at this West Wing entrance where these tour groups go through, but also because it was found inside one of these cubbies where West Wing visitors are asked to leave their phones before going on these tours.

Now, one detail that my colleague Priscilla Alvarez has also learned is that, apparently, despite the fact that there are security cameras, surveillance cameras in that West Wing hallway, those cubbies are a blind spot. And so they did not have cameras directly trained on those cubbies.

And that made identifying who may have left it there that much more difficult. So, at this hour, Kate, this investigation has concluded, effectively. Lawmakers have been informed and no suspects identified -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting. Good to see you, Jeremy. Thank you for the update -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

An historic approval this morning. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the United States. It's called Opill.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more on this for us.

Jacqueline, can you give us some sense of the efficacy of Opill and when it will be available to people?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Well, Sara, we could see Opill available in the first quarter of 2024.

That's what we're hearing. So, in early next year, Opill could be made available in grocery stores, on drugstore shelves, even online. So that's the timeline that we can expect.

And to tell you a little more about Opill, it is an oral contraceptive. We do know that it contains only progestin. And this is the first time that the U.S. FDA has approved an oral contraceptive pill for over-the-counter use, so you don't need a prescription.

Now, I should clarify this is not an emergency contraception. This is, again, a daily birth control pill. The idea here, Sara, is, this will be made more accessible for people. And it's just similar to the other progestin-only oral contraceptives that are available under prescription.

So, we have seen this drug before, and now this will be the first time that it is made available without a prescription.

SIDNER: Jacqueline, how many women could this potentially impact?

HOWARD: The FDA announced just this morning that we do know almost half of the six million pregnancies here in the U.S. are unplanned. So the idea here is that Opill will be just another option for women out there.

And we already know it's estimated about two-thirds of women already use some form of contraception. So, again, this is one other option made available for women here in the U.S., Sara.

SIDNER: Easier to get it not having to go to the doctor to get the prescription and all of that.

HOWARD: Exactly.

SIDNER: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for your reporting -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: I don't know why that is so shocking to me that half of the pregnancies -- that Jacqueline just said half of them are unplanned. That seems -- that's -- that is really shocking.

SIDNER: It's a big number.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: It's great that they're having this over-the-counter pill now made available.

Coming up for us: Not since Ronald Reagan led the Screen Actors Guild have we seen a strike of both actors and writers at the same time, and that is what is about to likely happen. What is behind this halt in the entertainment industry is coming up.

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