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Abortion Rights Battle; Supreme Court Positioned for Mixed Decision on Abortion Bill; Interview with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; Russia's War on Ukraine; CNN Covering Ukraine's Counteroffensive from the Front Lines; Wildfires Prompt Evacuation of Some Northwest Territories; $8 Million in Advertising Budget for Tim Scott's Campaign; Tim Scott's Popularity Boosts His Poll Numbers; Iowa, the Focus of Tim Scott's Campaign; Tim Scott Maintains Positive Tone in Campaign Message. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired August 17, 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]
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has been very clear here that he's going to fight that, the vice president has been very clear as well, his administration has been very clear that women should have the freedom to make their own decision as it relates to their health. And this is unfortunate --
SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Karine, how will he fight that?
JEAN-PIERRE: -- millions and millions of women --
SIDNER: How will he fight that if that --
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, the department --
SIDNER: -- if that's what comes to be?
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, the Department of Justice, obviously, is going to -- is leading the way on the legal approach here. We're going to let them do that. We're going to continue to be very vocal here. As you mentioned, the president has put forth some executive actions that he can -- that he has been able to take to protect a woman's right to choose, a woman's right certainly to make decisions on their own health care.
And so, that's what we're going to continue to do. We're going to speak very loudly. We're going to be very, very clear about this. And we saw, we saw what happened in the midterm, Sara. I know you reported on this and what the American people want to see. They want to see their freedoms protected, and we cannot forget that. As far as the legal process, the Department of Justice certainly is going to take the next steps and make sure that we protect, continue to fight for those freedoms.
SIDNER: Karine Jean-Pierre, thank you so much for coming on today and discussing --
JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you, Sara.
SIDNER: -- these really important issues. Appreciate it.
JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you for having me.
SIDNER: Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Coming up for us. CNN gets exclusive access to the front lines in Ukraine, embedding with troops as they enter a town just liberated from the Russians. You don't want to miss this video. We'll be right back.
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[10:35:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: So, this morning, a firsthand look at the fighting on the front lines of Ukraine. Our CNN crew had exclusive access with Ukrainian fighters in areas just retaken from Russian forces.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was with those troops. He joins us now from Dnipro. Nick, tell us what you saw.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, John, I mean, being no doubt, the Ukrainians accept this is slow and hard fighting, but they are certainly making progress. In the village we saw recaptured yesterday, the first -- Urozhaine, was the place that just about two weeks ago the Russians dug into to shell the Ukrainians from. A sense of definite achievement amongst them, but also hard losses in fighting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH (voiceover): There may be ruin around them, but their direction is forward. We're with the 35th Ukrainian marines, the first reporters to get to the outskirts of Urozhaine, yet another village announced liberated, Wednesday. The victories maybe small, but are constant.
WALSH: So, just down here, Urozhaine, yet another town taken as the counteroffensive does move forward. We were just seeing the neighboring village taken last week, but they keep moving.
With that much incoming, we're getting out of here as quick as we can. While they control Urozhaine, the Russians do everything they can to make it a nightmare for the Ukrainians to be there.
WALSH (voiceover): The unit showed us the intense fight captured by drone. This is their tank advancing, dropping a string of anti-mine explosives behind it, they said, which then, once it turned, detonated. The unit released a video of them in the town, Wednesday, of how they turned their fire power on what was once a Russian stronghold that shelled them. The company commander recalls many more Russians hidden there than he expected.
Very many died, he says. Especially when they started to run. And when they held houses, lots of them died there.
But they were caught as they fled. The smoke around Russians, likely made by cluster munitions. Ukraine has said it is already using some rounds controversially supplied by the United States. We cannot confirm if these fired here were the new American cluster bombs, but the losses suffered were clear. And they say, their use is less of an ethical dilemma when you're in this brutal fight.
I don't understand it, he says. That side is using whatever they want. Our people are dying from all this and it's OK. When the other side die, it's not? I don't understand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).
CROWD: (Speaking in a foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in a foreign language).
WALSH (voiceover): This footage shows how young some in the assault were. He has no time for western analysts who say this should be moving faster.
I would say they can always come to me as a guest and fight with me, he says. If someone believes that you can fly over the minefield on a broom like in "Harry Potter", it doesn't happen in a real fight. If you don't understand that, you can sit in your arm chair and eat your popcorn.
Out here, the last month of advances feel both empty and grueling, littered now with Russian dead. They haven't moved perhaps as far as it is felt.
[10:40:00]
WALSH: These just empty farm fields in which many have died to take each kilometer.
WALSH (voiceover): The Russians mined so hard here. They used this machine to do it. So much damage done, it's hard to imagine what plans Moscow had for here at all had they kept it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH (on camera): A key part of the resources Ukraine desperately wants is some way of turning around Russian air superiority, which makes their advances so slow. Russians can drop bombs at will on Ukrainian troops. Today, Ukraine accepted an air force spokesman that it isn't likely to get the F-16s they urgently want from the U.S and its allies by the end of the year, citing training problems. We know there's a logjam in getting that very complex task to happen.
But it's another sign, really, here of while the west expresses support, moves what it can forward, Ukrainians are suffering daily because of those delays, John.
BERMAN: Nick Paton Walsh in Dnipro. That was a view I have not seen yet, ground level on the front lines as one of these villages is being retaken. Such an important perspective, Nick. Our thanks to you and your team for that.
Sara.
SIDNER: Coming up, it looks like a hellscape from Maui to Canada. The danger of wildfire is increasing. New evacuation orders in Canada as hundreds of wildfires are burning there. What officials are now calling a crisis situation and how this might also impact the United States.
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[10:45:00]
BOLDUAN: Canada is facing a crisis situation is how it's being described, that has already impacted the United States. Hundreds of wildfires are burning across parts of Canada's northwest territories. Now, officials are evacuating the capital city of Yellowknife after declaring a state of emergency. Residents have until noon tomorrow to get out.
One woman shared her terrifying drive on Highway 1 while evacuating. Just look at that. You can't see anything. She tells CNN, the smoke and the flames made it hard for her clearly, not only to drive, but also made it hard for even -- for her to even breathe.
The situation on the ground literally has also turned the skies red over Fort McMurray. Look at that image. It's so eerie. Some residents had to be airlifted from remote villages as the flames got dangerously close.
CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking all of this for us. He's joining us now. Derek, the impacts from Canada's fires, we've already known previously, they have been felt and have impacted the United States. What are you expecting to see here?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: Well, with this level of smoke billowing up from these hundreds of wildfires you talked about in the northwest territory, we will likely feel the impacts in the form of poor air quality across parts of the U.S., and I'll explain exactly where.
We're already picking up satellite signatures of the smoke with the wildfires that are threatening the town of Yellowknife, the capital city of the northwest territory. And we also have air quality alerts in place for central Canada extending across our border into the United States throughout portions of the upper Midwest. So much of Minnesota, into the State of Wisconsin under air quality alerts, and that lasts through the rest of the workweek. As these over 100 wildfires continue to burn out of control across the entire country of Canada, several now impacting the Yellowknife region with, of course, mandatory evacuations.
Now, what does the weather hold for the next 36 hours? Well, a cold front is going to come through and this is going to, not only bring chances of rain and thunderstorms, we don't want to see lightning sparking additional fires, but it's also going to pick up the winds out of the northwest. We have wind gusts from forecast wind gusts here anywhere between 15 to 25 miles per hour, so that could complicate efforts regardless of the rain that helps douse these out.
Check this out, Kate. This is incredible. An astounding devastating year for wildfires in the country of Canada, nearly 34 million acres burned so far. That is nine times the amount of acreage they burned last year, and it has eclipsed the past 40 years in terms of acreage burned year to date.
BOLDUAN: Holy cow, that comparison from the -- your priors.
VAN DAM: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Remarkable --
VAN DAM: Off the chart.
BOLDUAN: -- just looking at that.
VAN DAM: Right.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, Derek. Keeping a close eye on it for us.
John.
BERMAN: Literally, off the charts there from Derek Van Dam.
So, how far can deep pockets and a sunny disposition take you on the road to the White House? Senator Tim Scott leaning into cash and kindness.
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[10:50:00]
BERMAN: This morning, big spending by someone who wants to be a big player in the Republican presidential primary. We got word that Senator Tim Scott is shelling out $8 million on new ads. Last quarter, Scott reported the second highest fundraising total of any Republican hopeful after former President Trump.
CNN's Eva McKend is in Iowa on what the senator hopes is Scott-mentum or Tim-mentum, whichever. Eva?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning to you, John. Listen, it is clear Senator Scott is having a moment on the campaign trail. He's able to talk about his faith with a certain level of fluency that seems to connect him with the Christian evangelical voters here. Lots of well-wishers for him at the Iowa state fair. And even those that didn't explicitly support him, so someone who appeared to be a Democrat, another person who appeared to be a Trump supporter, telling him they liked him and that he is a good guy.
He also campaigned in Cambridge, Iowa. Speaking at a Republican dinner. And there he recited parts of his campaign ads. And what we heard was people in the audience actually finished his sentences. So, an indication that they are seeing these ads. He joked with them that the money here, evidently, is being well spent.
Something we don't hear is Scott going after the former president when he's asked about these indictments. He just talks about how the systems of justice, he argues, are being weaponized in this country. He defends Trump.
[10:55:00]
He also shows no appetite for going after any of his other Republican rivals. He's a disciplined campaigner. We hear him time and time again talking about backing the blue and really advancing this pro-law enforcement message. We don't hear him so much here in Iowa to these groups talking about his criminal justice reform work, for instance.
Next week presents a huge opportunity for Senator Scott on that debate stage. His team has long maintained that the more people that see him, that get to know him, like him. Time will tell if that is, in fact, the case, and it can translate into more success here in this pivotal state in the next five months before the Iowa caucus. John.
BERMAN: All right. Eva McKend, thank you so much for that.
Sara.
SIDNER: A thousand people are still missing, and the death toll is still growing. Wildfire survivors are demanding answers now about what started the deadly fire in Maui.
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[11:00:00]
