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White House Warns U.S. Aid Delay Will "Kneecap Ukraine" On Battlefield; Former Us Ambassador Charged With Being Spy For Cuba; Undefeated Florida State "Infuriated" By Playoff Club. Aired 11:30a- 12p ET
Aired December 04, 2023 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00]
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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the White House is sending a stark warning to Congress. Without new approvals for funding, the U.S. will run out of money to send weapons to Ukraine and risks kneecapping Ukraine on the battlefield.
CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House this morning. As I said this is a stark warning. They're basically saying time's up, Arlette.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they really are. And the White House issuing this blunt message to lawmakers as they're trying to build some momentum to get funding for Ukraine and other measures including aid for Israel passed up in Capitol -- on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has -- had indicated he was hoping to have a vote on national security funding measures this week, but it remains unclear whether the votes to get that pass exist.
[11:35:10]
And the White House today, OMB Director Shalanda Yang, wrote in this letter to congressional leaders talking about how not inaction would essentially kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield without the ability for the U.S. to provide more weapons and equipment in their fight. She wrote this letter saying. "There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money and nearly out of time."
Now, one of the issues in these talks has been that Republicans want to see policy changes when it comes to border security tied to any funding request. And House Speaker Mike Johnson actually stressed that, responding to this letter in a tweet saying one, that the administration hasn't offered a clear outline of the path forward for Ukraine. That is something he says Republicans want to see better answers about. And that he also added. "House Republicans have resolved that any national security supplemental package must begin with our own border."
Now, our colleague Lauren Fox, reports that over the weekend negotiations to try to come to some type of agreement when it came to policy changes for border security broke down. So, those talks remain stalled. Real -- stalled, really leaving it up in the air whether they can get this Ukraine and Israel pass -- funding passed up on Capitol Hill.
BERMAN: Yes. No signs of progress yet. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much. Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Joining us now, Punchbowl News co- founder, John Bresnahan is with us. Thank you so much for being here, John. Lots to talk about.
You have some new reporting about the fight over funding the government. And I guess my question to you is from what you can tell at this point, should Americans be worried, should Ukrainians be worried, should Israelis be worried that they are not going to get the funding that they want and need from the United States?
JOHN BRESNAHAN, CO-FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yes. I think -- in the case of Ukraine, I think it's a really serious issue right now. As you guys reported, and we scooped this morning, these talks broke down. There were some bipartisan Senate talks on trying to do something about the U.S.-Mexico border.
And Republicans were trying to attach that to any Ukraine funding saying, we're not going to vote for Ukraine money unless we get this border money. That's -- they made a very explicit link between these two. And that broke down.
There's been growing sentiment among especially House Republicans in opposition to Ukrainian funding. You can see a majority -- probably a majority of House Republicans are opposed to any more money from Ukraine, that we've given 60 billion-plus to Ukraine. They say that's enough. We've got to secure the American -- U.S. border. So, there's growing opposition to that.
That's also growing in the Senate. There's still a majority for Ukraine in Congress. The issue is that Republicans control the House. And as Speaker Johnson said, he's not going anywhere unless he gets some border security money. This is something that Democrats -- the proposal that the Republicans are calling for basically going back to the Trump era, that's not something they're going to agree to.
Yes, I think it's a very serious problem right now. I do think Israel's money would pass easily. But again, House Republicans passed a bill for -- to give $14 billion to Israel, but they attached it to IRS spending cuts that the Democrats are not going to agree to.
So, we've got some real political maneuvering here. We got 2024 is just around the corner. Is this -- these are very, very serious issues.
SIDNER: Speaking of very serious issues, and 2024, now that you've brought it up. On the campaign trail, we've heard Donald Trump, who himself has been accused twice -- not once, but twice in court of subverting democracy. Trump's now accusing Joe Biden of being the destroyer, as he put it, of democracy. His comments, however, are coming after a lot of people are weighing in here and some Republicans, including longtime conservative, Republican Liz Cheney. She's got words from her book that are extremely strong. Let's listen to a little bit of what she says is the biggest threat.
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LIZ CHENEY, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: People who say, well, if he's elected, it's not that dangerous because we have all of these checks and balances, don't fully understand the extent to which the Republicans in Congress today have been co-opted. One of the things that we see happening today is a sort of sleepwalking into dictatorship.
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SIDNER: And she is clear who she thinks that dictator is. Donald Trump. Does this sway voters in any way hearing from Liz Cheney or other Republicans who have weighed in?
BRESNAHAN: Yes, I think it's an important message. I mean, Liz Cheney was the number three you know, House Republican at one point. She -- people have talked about her for being a speaker.
People had talked about her for being a Senator. People -- you know, running for president. I mean, she's this -- she's the daughter of the -- of Vice President Dick Cheney.
I mean, I think this is a -- this is -- I think this is, you know, very serious stuff. Of course, she was part of the January 6 committee. And I was there on January 6.
[11:40:09]
I mean, Cheney sees that everything through the fulcrum of that day that you know, you can't -- that's where Trump is going to start. He's not going to start -- he's not going to be the Donald Trump of January 2017. He's going to be the Donald Trump of January 2021.
And I think that's where she's -- that's where her emphasis is. And I think there is -- there is concern that if Trump were elected, that the -- that the Republican conference in the House and the Senate would be so you know, enthralled by him and into him, especially if they're in the majority that they would do whatever he wanted. So, when we saw that a lot during his presidency, there were -- you know, there were times when he -- you know, did things that in the past, they would have gone crazy if a Democratic president had done that -- if Joe Biden had done it. But they let Trump get away with it.
So, yes, I think this is serious. I do think this is something that we're going to see that the -- you know, Biden-Harris campaign will play up and Democrats will play up, and anti-Trump Republicans will play out throughout 2024.
SIDNER: Yes. This is going to be one of the big huge clashes and talking points throughout the campaign. John Bresnahan, thank you so much. You are the best of the best at this. Appreciate it. Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us. A former United States Ambassador now under arrest accused of being a secret agent of Cuba's government. We have the new reporting coming up.
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[11:45:55]
BOLDUAN: So, this just into CNN. A former U.S. ambassador has now been charged in federal court with acting as a spy for the Cuban government. Court documents until just this morning.
CNN's Evan Perez has more details on this. Evan, what is going on here?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, Kate, this is a very extraordinary case. We're told that this is the highest-ranking U.S. government official who has been infiltrated by foreign governments. So, it represents a major case for the FBI which has been investigating Victor Manuel Rocha since 2022, when they received the tip that he was an agent of the foreign -- of the -- of a foreign government, in this case, specifically the Cuban government.
And he served as an ambassador from 1999 to 2002. U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia. You can see there some of his resume. He is retired. More recently has been working at a law firm in Miami.
But according to prosecutors here in this -- in this court document, Rocha was -- they did an outreach pretending to be someone who was connected to the U.S. -- to the Cuban government. He was an intelligence person reaching out to him. And that's where this investigation picks up.
According to prosecutors, he had a meeting with this person who he believed was working for the Cuban government, and agreed to help provide information to the Cuban government, according to prosecutors. Again, right now he is charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government, a couple of other legal violations. We expect that he is going to be appearing in a federal court in Miami in the next couple of hours, Kate, and then we'll see what happens to him after this.
But this is an extraordinary case certainly for the FBI. It appears, they believe, that he was doing this for many, many, many years during his many diplomatic posts, including the Dominican Republic. He worked in the Cuban intersection in Havana for some time in the previous years. And so, it was after he -- they received the tip that he was doing this, that they decided to introduce an undercover agent. Kate.
BOLDUAN: Wow. Much more detail. Can't wait to hear more details about what they -- what they believe they've uncovered here. Evan, thank you so much for bringing that to us. Sara.
SIDNER: It's fascinating. All right, coming up. Florida State University won every single football game this season. So, why aren't they going to the college football playoffs? A controversial call by those off the field. The story of their dreams. We'll talk all about it.
And CNN is live in Iowa just weeks before the first major Republican presidential primary test. A new alarm bells though, over what a possible 2024 Trump election victory could mean for the future of democracy in this country. That is still ahead.
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[11:53:16]
BERMAN: So, what's the point of playing games? That is the question Florida State's coach is asking after the Seminoles were snubbed by the college football playoffs despite a perfect 13 and 0 season. Instead, these are the four teams playing for a shot at the national championship, Michigan, Alabama, Washington, and Texas.
Coy Wire joins us now. Coy, I know you deal with this issue a lot. How can you be better than perfect?
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh my, God. You just shave it all off. You'll never have a hair out of place, John.
Look, these 13 College Football Playoff committee members, they have all the power, right? And this decision was a matter of what's rational and what's right. And rationale says that Alabama would be huge favorites over Florida State given the Noles are missing their star quarterback.
Many though feel the right thing to do, John, it would be to put those undefeated Seminoles in because they went undefeated. They still have loads of talent. Still win their conference. Still, John, it wasn't enough.
Some of the looks on these Seminoles players as they found out this news, they -- some burst it out in anger, were punching their fists in the air, and others were glued to their seats just in shock, right? And they just become the only undefeated team ever from the Power-5 Conference to not make the college football playoff.
The chair of the playoff committee said that losing their star quarterback Jordan Travis to that season-ending leg injury two weeks ago was the reason. Two one-loss teams, Alabama and Texas, they made it instead. Travis, he tweeted in part, you know.
I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so you all can see this team is much more than the quarterback. I thought results matter now. His coach, Mike Norvell, echoing that same frustration. Here's a bit of that.
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MIKE NORVELL, FLORIDA STATE HEAD COACH: You know, as it was just players. I mean, to be honest with you that was -- it was one of the tougher moments I've had to experience. And your truest identity shows up in times of great adversity. And we faced it.
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WIRE: John, many feel that Florida State deserved -- earned the chance to go for the national title. Good thing though, that they are moving to the 12-team playoff next year. So, hopefully, we won't have this in any sort of fashion again.
BERMAN: Yes. You can't lose fewer than zero games. I don't think.
BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely.
BERMAN: All right. Coy Wire, thank you very much for that. Quickly turning to basketball. Eight teams remain. Which will survive?
Coverage of the NBA in-season tournament knockout round, it's the first time we've seen this and it's thrilling. It begins tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on TNT and Max. The right team to root for is the Celtics.
BOLDUAN: What?
SIDNER: No.
BERMAN: Against Indiana. Who likes Indiana?
BOLDUAN: Oh, I don't know.
SIDNER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: No one, apparently.
SIDNER: Thank you, guys, for joining us. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
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