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Ukraine Takes Credit for Attack on Crimea-Russia Bridge; Russia Ends Critical Grain Deal With Ukraine; Today, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) Speaks at No Labels New Hampshire Town Hall. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A new strike in Crimea taking out critical infrastructure. Ukrainian forces for the second time attacking a key bridge vital to Russia and its military. Large chunks of that bridge are now at the bottom of the sea.

JOHN BERMAN: CNN ANCHOR: So, what will Russia do now? Well, overnight, they terminated a crucial grain agreement with Ukraine. The global impact on hunger could be grave.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: At least five people are dead after the torrential rains from this weekend. Dangerous heat is melting other parts of the United States, the extreme weather that just won't quit.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Happening right now, Russian officials are assessing damage to a bridge in Crimea critical to its military after Ukrainian forces attacked that bridge overnight. This morning, Ukraine is admitting the strike was part of a joint operation.

The Kerch Bridge, 12 miles long, it's the only link between the peninsula and Russia, a vital logistical crossing for Moscow to support its troops as they fight in Ukraine. It's also a critical artery for supplying Crimea with civilian goods.

Russian officials say there is severe damage to the roadway. You can see it here partially collapsed. Railroad tracks running parallel to the road, however, are still intact.

I want to bring in CNN's Senior National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt. He is in Odessa, Ukraine, right there on the sea. That was a critical target for Russia. What might this mean going forward for their ability to perform in that area?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, could significantly impair their ability to get people across, to get food and fuel and military equipment. They still have a number of other ways. That railway that you mentioned now, they can do it via land because of the land bridge that they occupied early in the war. But, Sara, no doubt this is an extraordinary attack by Ukraine, not just because of the logistical implications but also what it represents in terms of symbolism. Right after Putin annexed Crimea back in 2014, he ordered that this bridge be built. And when it finally opened four years later, he personally drove across it himself in a truck.

So, this really is a blow, not just to Russia because of how it is supplying the Crimean Peninsula and its military, but also because of what it represents.

Significant damage to the roadway, there are two lanes of roads we have seen both in video and in photos on social media damage to that roadway. The trails appear to still be running, but we were told earlier that they're running on a delayed schedule.

Ukraine claiming responsibility, saying it was that joint operation between both the Navy and the security services. A rare claim of responsibility by Ukraine, we should note, which often is simply coy after these kinds of brazen attacks.

Russia much more direct, calling this a terrorist attack, saying that it happened around 3:00 in the morning that Ukraine used sea or surface drones. This comes just nine months after a very similar attack on that same bridge, which took months to repair.

So, we wait to see what the Russian response is. Of course, it could be significant. After that last attack, we saw the biggest missile strikes across Ukraine since the war began in February of 2022. Sara?

SIDNER: Alex Marquardt, thank you so much, live for us there from Odessa, Ukraine. John?

BERMAN: All right. Perhaps connected to this, Russia says it is terminating a year-long deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain. The Kremlin says it will no longer guarantee safe passage in the black sea, where Ukraine had been moving critical grain supplies through Turkey's boss for a strait and then to the open market. The U.N. has estimated that blocking Ukrainian grain could create food insecurity for as many as 47 million people.

The White House just put out a statement saying they too believe that food insecurity will be heightened based on this decision.

Our Scott McLean is with us now. This is an agreement that had been in place. It was actually this strange outcropping of this conflict between Russia and Ukraine for the last year. Now, Russia says no more.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. And this wasn't entirely unexpected. There have been plenty of signs over the last few days and weeks that this was not going in a good direction. In fact, one Ukrainian diplomat said last month that she was 99 percent certain that the Russians were not going to renew this deal. And, obviously, that has turned out to be true.

Still, you mentioned the White House reaction. There's plenty of reaction to this from the western world, the E.U. calling it cynical, the Dutch foreign minister Sir calling it utterly immoral.

But from the Russian point of view, John, they think that, look, the U.N. was not living up to its end of the bargain. So, in exchange for allowing Ukrainian grain to go through the Black Sea to market, it was supposed to get help from the United Nations in getting its own grain, its own fertilizer to market.

Of course, there are no sanctions on Russian grain or on fertilizer, but, of course, there are plenty of sanctions on Russian banks. And so that has complicated the payment part of this. And so one of the key demands that the Russians had was access to those international payment mechanisms.

What the U.N. had offered was access for the Russian Agricultural Bank. Obviously, that's been rejected. The U.N. says that it will continue to work to try to find a deal. They also acknowledge, though, according to one official, that the Russian position is pretty final. The Russians say that they will, though, go back to this deal if their conditions are actually met.

And whether or not this has anything to do with the Kerch Bridge explosion, John, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, was asked about this earlier today, and he said this, and I quote, these are absolutely unrelated events. Even before this terrorist attack, the position was declared by President Putin. And I repeat again, as soon as the part of the Black Sea agreements concerning Russia is fulfilled, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal.

We may also see some efforts by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to reach out to President Putin. He suggested that he may call. And, of course, given that Ukraine is responsible for perhaps 10 percent of the world's grain markets, this is important and it affects millions of people around the world, John?

BERMAN: Yes, tens of millions. Scott McLean, thank you so much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And joining us now for more on this, CNN Contributor Jill Dougherty, adjunct professor at Georgetown University and former CNN Moscow bureau chief. It's good to see you, Jill.

So, Putin has been unhappy with this grain deal for some time. What do you see in this new move? How does it help Vladimir Putin?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: In a way, it doesn't help him, obviously, because you have a U.N. report coming out showing that 30 percent of the world population doesn't have access to enough food. So, you would say that could hurt Russia. However, at the same time, Russia has really been romancing diplomatically a lot of the developing countries, especially in Africa, and saying, we are on your side. It's the big, rich countries that are not. So, they're trying to insulate themselves. But this is a move that could backfire, and we'll have to see where it goes. But this is all part of this war in Ukraine, which is not just the military fighting but all these economic and other issues that really affect the entire world.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, because the impact of the decision, it really does go way beyond Ukraine. You were talking about kind of the estimates from the U.N. I mean, the ripple effects of cutting off Ukraine's grain exports, it really is huge.

DOUGHERTY: Oh, it is. Because you have developing countries primarily, let's say Africa, Middle East, who really need this food, and eventually maybe it will get out, but it's very difficult to ship it out by rail or by land. So, they're going to suffer. And then -- this is the time that the harvest is beginning in Ukraine. So, that's another factor. Then you have around the world global warming and crops being hit. This is really very bad then for developing countries. Wheat prices, grain prices can go up. So, it could potentially hit everybody.

BOLDUAN: And then also, I want to ask you about this attack on the Crimean Bridge. I mean, the fact that Ukraine has taken the rare step of speaking up and claiming responsibility for it, what do you think it says? Why would Ukraine raise their hand on this one?

DOUGHERTY: I think that is an interesting question but they have increasingly made the point that Ukraine believes that that is a military target and Russia specifically has said, no, it's a civilian target because our tourists are going into Crimea. And that's exactly what's been happening. Those people were killed were average Russians, unfortunately.

But Ukraine does say it's not only the cars on top but the train below on that bridge that are bringing in supplies.

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Therefore, it's a legitimate target. But I do think this shows stepping up by Ukraine and saying, yes, we did it, and we did it for a reason. Usually, as Alex said, they're kind of coy about it.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And why does this bridge mean so much to Vladimir Putin? What does this represent? Alex was kind of laying out some of the history of seeing Putin himself leading a convoy of trucks over the bridge when it was first constructed. Why does it mean so much to him?

DOUGHERTY: Well, physically, it means a whole lot, because if you look the alternate routes to get to Crimea from Russia, you have to go around land for a very big expanse. So, if you can go across that bridge, it's much easier. Then it was also Vladimir Putin trying to show symbolically that Russia does control Crimea and that area. It's a gigantic project. It costs an estimated $4 billion. And there actually have movies been made, propaganda movies, like romance, I forget the name of it, but it was basically a romcom about coupled, you know, crossing the bridge.

So, this is kind of part of the folklore. And having that happen is just really -- propaganda-wise, is really galling. I'd say, to Putin.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and which leads then to the unknown right now, which is how is Putin going to respond on to this.

It's good to see you as always, Jill. Thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: Ahead, a manhunt for the gunman who killed four people in Georgia ends in a shootout. Details on that ahead.

Also, Senator Joe Manchin stoking speculation about his political future as he holds a no-labels event today. Is he flirting with a possible third party presidential run? We'll talk all about that.

And there could be new hope for people living with Alzheimer's disease. Much more ahead.

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SIDNER: On our radar this morning, the suspect in a Georgia mass shooting is dead. He died in a hail of bullets in shootout with police. Authorities say Andre Longmore fatally shot four people in Hampton, Georgia, about 30 miles south of Atlanta.

Police say Longmore exchanged fire with police in two gunfights before he was killed. Two officers were injured, including one whose injuries are described as severe.

Here it comes again, the choking smoke from wildfires. Smoke from Canadian wildfires is producing unhealthy air across the Northern U.S. Forecasters say about 70 million people will be affected by it. The smoke is so thick, it's also causing decreased visibility in some places. Residents of Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis and Cleveland are all facing air quality alerts.

And if you're feeling lucky, you might want to buy a Powerball ticket. The jackpot in tonight's drawing is $900 million, the third largest in the game's history, according to Powerball. The jackpot rolled over after no one matched all six numbers Saturday night. That's generally how it works. And Powerball is not the only game with a massive payout. The Mega millions jackpot, a mere $640 million. John?

BERMAN: I'd still come to work if I won.

SIDNER: Lies.

BERMAN: An event in New Hampshire today that many Democrats think has a chance to torpedo President Biden's chances at re-election, not the event exactly, but what it signifies. Later today, Senator Joe Manchin is set to attend a town hall hosted by the group No Labels. That group is actively considering running a third party candidate in the presidential race and pushing for what they call a unity ticket featuring one Democrat and one Republican.

CNN's Alayna Treene following these developments. And, honestly, you don't have to talk to many national level Democrats to hear alarm at what's going on today.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's exactly right, John. Manchin's appearance at this No Labels town hall in New Hampshire later today has a lot of Democrats on edge. Manchin has not yet announced whether he's running for re-election next year for his Senate seat and he also has not rolled out a potential presidential bid.

And that is the thing that has raised alarm bells among Democrats who worry that a third party presidential candidate would draw support away from President Biden and potentially tip the scales in favor of former President Donald Trump or another Republican nominee.

Now, Manchin is going to be appearing today alongside former Utah Governor John Huntsman. He's a Republican and someone that Manchin considers a friend.

And I should also point out, John, that Manchin has been associated with this group No Labels for years now. He's a former honorary co- chair, and he deeply believes in their message of bipartisanship as well as their effort to put forward a more centrist candidate.

Now, of course, Manchin's Democratic colleagues in the Senate do not agree with him. They think that what No Labels is trying to do is a threat that will land a Republican in the White House next year.

And we heard a similar sentiment echoed by Senator Mark Kelly yesterday with Jake Tapper on State of the Union. Let's listen to what he had to say.

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SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I don't think No Labels is a political party. I mean, this is a few individuals putting dark money behind an organization. And that's not what our democracy should be about.

I'm obviously concerned about what's going on here in Arizona and across the country.

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TREENE: Now, John, I should also point out some of Joe Manchin's motivations for appearing at this event today. One, he could raise a ton of money from this group, especially if donors think that there's a chance that he would run for president.

We also know that this will keep him in the spotlight, something that covering Joe Manchin for years now, I know that he loves. And he can use both of those things to fuel a potential re-election bid if he ultimately decides to run again next year. And, lastly, Joe Manchin uses the word bipartisanship like a verb, an adjective, and a noun. And being the bipartisan guy in West Virginia does nothing but help him. And so there's a lot of upside for him to doing this event and not a lot of downside. John?

BERMAN: No. The downside might be for the Democratic Party and for President Biden's chances at re-election, but that is something that we will discuss going forward.

Alayna Treene, great to see you, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Evangelical voters have long been a cornerstone of the Republican pathway to winning the White House. And today, some Republican presidential candidates will be making their pitch to the voting bloc in Virginia.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, he will be speaking. And former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence will also be there today. But notably not attending, former President Donald Trump.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on this. She's joining us now. Kristen, what is going to be happening there today, and why isn't Trump going to be showing up?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. Now, I do want to apologize just to start off that I'm going to be talking very softly. I'm not sure if you can actually tell from the shop but this is a very small room, and it is very quiet right now, so we don't want to be rude.

But as you noted, Donald Trump will not be here today. The reason this is notable, it's because he wasn't invited, and he's been invited in years past. And this is also significant given the fact that he did not turn up to another large evangelical event in Iowa on Friday, one he was invited to, but his advisers said there was a scheduling conflict. However, I was told by people close to Trump, because Trump doesn't want to do these large scale events.

Now, as you noted, the evangelical community is a community that has been a cornerstone of Republican politics. It is a group that is much sought after and, as you noted, really helps propel candidates to be the nominee and eventually win the White House.

It's also a group that, when you're talking to some of these campaign strategists that are not Donald Trump, they believe that they can actually make inroads with this community. They believe that there is a big group of evangelicals who is looking for an alternative to Donald Trump. And that's what we're likely to hear today, people making the pitch for them to be the alternative to Donald Trump.

Now, Kate, the thing I do want to point out here is that he is still widely popular among evangelicals. And as you know, he is still the party frontrunner right now for that nomination. But this is an opening for these candidates to try and make their case to appeal to such a critical group.

And it comes again at a time in which it seems Trump himself snubbed them on Friday. And that's what we heard from some of those evangelicals who are at that event and something we heard from those candidates saying that that's what Trump was doing.

So, something important here happening. But, obviously, we'll be keeping our ear to the ground to see what exactly the voters are saying and the candidates.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's great to see you, Kristen. Glad you're there. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: Joining us now to talk all about this and the state of the race, CNN Political Commentator and Political Anchor from Spectrum News Errol Louis. Always a pleasure to see you.

We'll start where Kristen Holmes left off, the Evangelical Family Leadership Summit. As I look through it, the head of that summit is basically telling his flock that you need to start focusing on one candidate other than Donald Trump. What are we learning here? Does it mean the evangelicals are saying, you know what, Trump might not be our guy?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, yes, that's very possible. And keep in mind that evangelicals and Iowa voters in general did not give Trump their first place finish in 2016. He's always been a little bit on the outs with it. You have to keep in mind that the Republican Party leadership is really a constellation of power centers. You've got elected officials like the Republican Governors Association, the elected leadership in the Senate under Mitch McConnell, then you've got interest groups like the Federalist Society or some of these evangelical groups and they're all sort of contending for power.

Trump has never really sort of been aligned with the evangelical faction, although they certainly have supported him. And he takes great credit for naming the Supreme Court justices who gave them their big win in the Dobbs decision. But other than that, it's politics. You've got to sort of tussle a little bit. He's polling so well right now in Iowa, he may not need their help, and that's really what they're trying to negotiate now.

SIDNER: Speaking of polling so well, Donald Trump really hasn't made up his mind as to whether he is going to join these debates with his Republican challengers. Who does that help and who does that hurt?

LOUIS: Well, same point. There's a Republican power center called the Fox News Empire, right, and they're sponsoring this debate and they're not too friendly with Trump, and Trump is not too friendly with them and --

SIDNER: Which is a huge change, we should point out.

LOUIS: A very big change. They've gone disillusioned with him, and Trump in particular thinks, as any leading candidate would think, why am I going to lift up these other people?

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If I come there, they're all going to attack me. There will be a bunch of knives in my back by the end of the night because that is what some of the lower polling candidates have to do, Chris Christie in particular. He's already signaled his strategy will be to get Trump on the debate stage and just attack him. Who's going to sign up for that? Donald Trump says, maybe it's not worth my time.

SIDNER: It's interesting, though, because Chris Christie is the only one really attacking hard, going straight up against him, whereas the others are a little softer in their jabs. They're not as clear.

I do want to ask you about the person who's in second place at this point in the Republican race, Ron DeSantis basically putting out what kind of money he has in his war chest. He's burning through it. What's happening with him? He was the heir apparent, a lot of people thought.

LOUIS: That's exactly right. There's some disillusionment. Ron DeSantis is spending 40 cents of every dollar that he has raised. That's a pretty quick burn rate. They've recently announced that they're going to trim some staff. They're going to have a little shakeup at the top of the leadership, which is exactly what you have to do. If you start out at 30 percent in the polls, spend 40 cents on the dollar, and then end up at 20 percent in the polls, all of the numbers are going in the wrong direction. So, he's sort of trying to recapture some momentum.

But there are some people who are expressing disinterest, some of the donor class. You see high-profile donors who are meeting with Tim Scott. They're talking to other candidates. He started out in a very good position. He's wobbling a little bit. We'll see if he can sort of get back on his feet.

SIDNER: Yes, we'll have to watch that, and I know a lot of people will be watching that.

Let me ask you about a conservative Democrat, Joe Manchin. He is having this leadership meeting with the No Labels group. What does that tell you about where his mind is? Is he really flirting with the possibility of being a candidate in this race?

LOUIS: Sure, he's looking for leverage. We've seen him do this in the legislative context. He certainly now, it's very possible, he'll do this in the political context. He's sort of counting on the kind of a split where everyone comes to Joe Manchin and asks what is it that you want, where are you planning to take us, will you lend your support to one side or the other. It's what he does best. It's what he's always done.

I think, however, this whole No Labels effort, if you think about it, they're saying, we want to chart a new path forward. And so, what, the fresh face of 75-year-old Joe Manchin is supposed to be the future of American politics? I don't think so. I think this is more of more simply understood as a power play by Joe Mansion. SIDNER: Okay, so a political ploy. If he were to take that step, what would that mean? Why should Democrats be concerned about this?

LOUIS: Well, Democratic candidates should be very concerned, and, in fact, they are, because, look, we've had a couple of really close elections in 2020 and certainly in 2016 that were decided by tens of thousands of people spread across states. I mean, it's the peculiarity of our Electoral College system. But if Joe Manchin can move 20,000 votes or 30,000 votes or 40,000 votes in Arizona or Wisconsin or Georgia, it could spell the difference between success and failure. And so it really is a high leverage point.

They're going to kind of lay back. No Labels, I think, is going to wait and see what develops before anybody makes a move. But it's a valid concern by Democrats.

SIDNER: And at this point, you see this as a power play on Manchin's part. So, we will have to see what happens.

Errol Louis, thank you so much. Always great to talk to you.

LOUIS: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: John?

BERMAN: Wheat prices jump after Russia terminates this critical grain deal with Ukraine, the global implications this could have.

And a new Alzheimer's drug to slow the disease progression could be approved in the U.S. this year.

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