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Navalny's Wife's Twitter Account Briefly Suspended; Barbara Collura is Interviewed about the Alabama Frozen Embryos Ruling; Capital One Buying Discover Financial. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 20, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You were just in Michigan yesterday for the campaign. Rashida Tlaib, Democratic congresswoman, she put out a video calling on Democrats in Michigan to vote uncommitted in the Michigan primary.

To do so in protest of President Biden's handling of Israel's war against Hamas.

I want to play for you what the Democratic congresswoman said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): Right now we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What does that mean for you all in Michigan?

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, as you said, I was in Michigan yesterday. I was with Senator Stabenow. I was with Congressman Kildee. We have a huge amount of support in Michigan. Michigan's a critically important state.

I had the opportunity to meet with representatives from teachers. I met with representatives from law enforcement, both of whom were very thankful to the president for the commitments that he has made there. I spent time with Local 324, a lot of the guys that are actually building all of the projects that the president has funded through the bipartisan infrastructure law, creating 350,000 jobs. I was in Flint, Michigan, yesterday with the mayor talking about the work that the president has done to make sure that people have clean air and clean water with the lead pipes. And the response was really, really good.

I respect Congresswoman Tlaib. It's a very complicated, difficult problem right now. The Israeli-Gaza conflict, as you know, is complicated. It's hard. The president hears them, understands them, is working very hard on trying to get the hostages released and getting humanitarian aid into that conflict. It's just very, very difficult. He feels them. He sent three senior officials there the other day, and that conversation is going to continue. And the president is going to continue to work to protect America's interests, while at the same time being open, an empathetic to the thoughts and feelings that have been expressed by the congresswoman.

BOLDUAN: And, look, a protest vote in a Democratic primary in this - in this cycle, it might not have a real impact. But if that bleeds into and becomes a, I'm not going to show up to vote in a general in Michigan, that could have real impact for sure.

I want to ask you also before I let you go, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, he was on CNN just last night and he announced -- well, for one, he announced that he is not going to run for president. He's not going to launch a third-party bid, though that had been rumored, you know, rumored, and he kind of toyed with it.

He also said that he is not ready to endorse President Biden for president. He did call Donald Trump an extremist in the next breath. But on the question of endorsing President Biden, he just kept saying, I'm not endorsing anybody yet. Quote, "we'll see what happens." What do you read into that?

LANDRIEU: Not much. I mean, that's - look, I've known Joe Manchin a long time. We've served as lieutenant governors together. I worked with him when I was the senior adviser to the president on infrastructure. I would remind everybody, Joe Manchin, at the end of the day, has a 90 percent --

BOLDUAN: Yes, you were - you - you spoke to him a lot during that - those infrastructure talks.

LANDRIEU: I talked to Joe - I talked to Joe Manchin a lot and I - and I - and I haven't talked to him in the last couple weeks, but I know him well. And Joe Manchin always holds his cards close to his vest. His view is that, you know, the sensible middle needs to rule. I would just remind everybody, he's got a 90 percent voting record. He's been a -

BOLDUAN: I know, but what's the cards? What are the cards he's holding? There's - there's - there's basically one real Democratic candidate.

LANDRIEU: But - but - but let me - but let me - Brooke (ph) - Brooke (ph) - let me - let me finish.

Joe Manchin -- this is what Joe Manchin does. He does this all the time. He waits until the end.

But I want to remind everybody, it's - we're in February. The election's in November. To expect everything to be the way it is on November 7th is unrealistic, and the bedwetting just gets exhausting over some period of time. The president has to make his case to the American people. Joe Manchin is going to make his case to the American people from the perspective that he is.

I feel fairly confident at the end of the day, whether Joe Manchin says he's going to endorse the president or not, when he goes in that booth he is not voting for Donald Trump and he is not not voting. And so you can conclude from that what you think is going to happen. And my full expectation is that at the end of the day when Joe Manchin, knowing his character and what he thinks about, sees the choice between Donald Trump, who thinks about himself, and Joe Biden, that thinks about the American people, he will be there when it works for him.

And, you know, you can't push people on that timing. So, it didn't surprise me at all. I'm surprised that you're surprised given -- given how much you know how this -- given how much you know about how this system works.

BOLDUAN: I'm not saying I'm surprised. I'm just saying, when you get a chance to say you want to endorse the Democratic candidate when you're a Democrat, sometimes you might want to take it.

It's good to see you, though, Mayor (ph). Thanks for coming in.

LANDRIEU: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Kate, new this morning, Alexei Navalny's mother has released an emotional video appealing directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Standing in front of the penal colony where her son died, she pleaded for the release of his body.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUDMILA IVANOVNA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI Navalny's MOTHER (through translator): Behind me is the IK3 Polar Wolf Colony where my son, Alexei Navalny, died on February 16th. I haven't been able to see him for five days. They won't give me his body. They don't even tell me where he is. I'm addressing you, Vladimir Putin. The solution to the issue depends only on you. Let me finally see my son.

[09:35:01]

I demand that Alexei's body be immediately handed over so that I can bury him humanely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Also this morning, Alexei Navalny's younger brother has been added to Russia's wanted list for unspecified charges. And in the last hour we've learned that Alexei Navalny's wife had her Twitter account suspended and then restored.

CNN's Melissa Bell joining me right now.

So, Melissa, there's a lot there. What do you know?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka, a lot going on this morning in the wake of what we heard from the Kremlin, which was again pushing back on any suggestion Alexei Navalny's death might have been caused by authorities or might have had anything untoward about it in the shape of Dmitry Peskov's comments this morning. And in the wake of that, so much happened.

We saw that extraordinary video appeal from Alexei Navalny's mother, nearly 70, standing there outside the penal colony in Russia's far north, where her son is now known to have taken his last breaths at the end of last week, demanding the release of his corpse. Something that had been reflected as well in a message posted to X by Alexei Navalny's now widow. Again, pushing back on the comments that have been made by Dmitry Peskov at the Kremlin earlier that morning, accusing the Kremlin of twisting her words and, again, calling for the urgent release of her husband's corpse. And it was shortly after that, that her account was suspended.

Now, we haven't heard - we've reached out to X to try to figure out why for a while it was indicated that her account didn't meet the standards of X, to figure out what had gone on. It's now been put back up. And as soon as it was, she immediately posted her mother-in-law's video from outside the penal colony.

So, on one hand, you have these two women, his wife, his mother, standing firm, continuing to relay his message, again with a great deal of courage when you consider where physically the mother is standing, and what appears to be a fairly relentless campaign by the Kremlin, this time targeting Alexei Navalny's brother, Oleg. He'd already served time in jail. Once again, Russian authorities are out to get him.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alabama's state supreme court decides frozen embryos are children under state law. How that decision is creating a great deal of uncertainty and worry about the future of IVF treatments in that state. We'll have more on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:52]

SIDNER: Today, an unprecedented court ruling is sparking worries about the future of in vitro fertilization treatment in the state of Alabama. Here's why. The state supreme court ruled that frozen embryos are children and therefore would be protected under Alabama's wrongful death of a minor act. The ruling stems from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by three couples after their frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed. A lower court has dismissed the lawsuit, saying embryos were not children, but the Alabama State Supreme Court overruled that. The decision comes as states across the country try to define when life begins. All of it is part of the abortion argument. In the majority opinion, Alabama Supreme Court Associate Justice Jay

Mitchell wrote, "carving out an exception for the people in this case, small as they were, would be unacceptable to the people of this state who have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in his image." Justice Greg Cook wrote a dissent, saying, "no court anywhere in the country has reached the conclusion the main opinion reaches. And, the main opinion's holding almost certainly ends the creation of frozen embryos through in vitro fertilization in the state of Alamba."

Joining us now is Barbara Collura, the CEO of RESOLVE, a national infertility organization.

Thank you so much for joining us.

First off, can you tell us how this ruling, in your opinion, effects couples who are seeking in vitro fertilization treatment in the state of Alabama?

BARBARA COLLURA, CEO, RESOLVE: THE NATIONAL INFERTILITY ASSOCIATION: Well, first of all, Sara, thank you so much for covering this story.

And we -- our hearts break for those couples who lost their embryos. We have tremendous empathy for them.

But for the people in Alabama today who need IVF treatment, who may even have frozen embryos stored in the state, we are very, very concerned. We are concerned if the physicians, the health care providers, will be able to continue their care. We don't know what the -- what the likely outcome is going to be for care in this state, but we are very, very concerned. And people in the state of Alabama should be concerned about their future ability to get IVF treatment.

SIDNER: You know, even the Alabama Medical Association has said that it will have an impact on people who want to do in vitro.

I want to ask you this. The way the court is ruling on this has to do with the abortion debate, where life begins. Here's a little bit more of what the court said. It said, "it applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation." The court continued, "it is not the role of this court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the people of the state have adopted a constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding unborn life from legal protection."

How concerned should couples be in this state if they want to go -- if they're in the process of IVF or if they want to take part in using IVF to try and have a baby?

COLLURA: They should be very concerned. A frozen embryo, which is a clump of cells, Sara, you can't even see it with the naked eye, you need a microscope.

[09:45:06] So now the court is saying that that's a person. Can we freeze embryos? I don't know. Can you freeze the person? What will happen to all of those embryos? What will happen to people who need this care?

Our advice right now to folks in Alabama is they need to talk to their health care providers. They need to be very concerned about the future of their ability to get care in this state. And potentially we might see this spread into other states as well. Right now we're focused on Alabama. We have a lot of questions. But to consider that -- that group of cells a living human being is -- flies in the face of science and everything we know about this process.

SIDNER: For people who are unaware, can you just give us some sense, just as we end here, of how the process works, because once you have the embryo, do people have more than one embryo that are -- that is created? Can a couple basically say, look, we've had one child, we do not want the other embryos. What happens to them? How does it work before the supreme court made this decision there in Alabama?

COLLURA: Yes, you're exactly right, the goal of IVF is to create as many embryos as possible so that you have the greatest number of attempts at pregnancy. Remember, not every embryo results in a live birth. So, we need to get as many embryos as possible. We transfer one at a time into the woman's uterus. Once they are done with their family building, those embryos are the rights of the people who created them. They may decide to donate them to someone else. They may decide to donate them to medical science. They may keep them frozen. But they are their choice to do. Now we simply don't know who has the rights here.

SIDNER: Barbara Collura, it sounds like there's a lot more questions and there are answers when you're dealing with the actual work of IVF and now what to do after the supreme court ruling there in Alabama.

Thank you so much for coming on and explaining all of that to us. We appreciate your time.

COLLURA: Absolutely. Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Two of the largest credit card companies in the United States joining forces. The deal that could impact hundreds of millions of credit card holders very soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:09]

WHITFIELD: On our radar this morning, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is making a last-ditch attempt to avoid extradition to the U.S. to stand trial. His lawyers are in a London courtroom right now arguing that he should be allowed to keep appealing his extradition to face charges he leaked military secrets. And if he loses, Assange could be in U.S. custody within weeks. Assange is not at today's hearing because his lawyers say he's not well. The Kelce brothers, Travis and Jason, are speaking out on social media addressing last week's Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting. Jason Kelce said, quote, "we just wanted to say, our hearts go out to all the victims, their families, Chiefs' Kingdom, and really all of Kansas City that was really there on a day to try and celebrate the community. It's unfortunate and deeply tragic the events that occurred," end quote. The brothers went on to say how much Kansas City came together and rallied around those affected by the shooting. One woman was killed and more than 20 others were injured.

All right, a hearing in the case against Alec Baldwin for the shooting on the set of the film "Rust" is set for 2:00 p.m. Eastern today. Baldwin was indicted by a New Mexico grand jury in January on charges connected to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's a megadeal that could impact hundreds of millions of credit card holders. Capital One is announcing that it will by Discover Financial Services. The deal would combine two of the largest credit card companies in the United States. And it almost goes without saying, of course, that this is a huge industry we're talking about. In 2022, 82 percent of U.S. adults had at least one credit card. Discover alone has 305 million credit card holders. And look at that number, Americans hold a record $1.1 trillion in credit card debt.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is here with much more on this.

You were just on a company call as this is really all still kind of rolling out in terms of their announcement. What did you hear?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Capital One has three clear reasons why they wanted to make this purchase. One, the amount of customers that they're about to get.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

YURKEVICH: Three hundred million additional customers. Many of those internationally. And that's a huge asset for Capital One.

Also, merchant fees. This is what I thought was really interesting. Capital One just issues the credit card, but Discover issues the credit card and then processes all the fees. So, they got all those merchant fees. So now Capital One is about to make a ton of money off of those fees.

BOLDUAN: A ton of money off of those fees.

YURKEVICH: A ton of money. And, obviously, they want to remain -- these two companies want to remain competitive in this landscape where they're not that many credit card companies. They believe that this merger is good for shareholders ultimately. But for the consumer, all of us who may have a Discover Card or Capital One card -

BOLDUAN: Yes. YURKEVICH: Nothing is going to change just yet because this does have to go through regulatory approval. Capital One optimistic that this deal will close at the end of this year, maybe early next year.

But for consumers, we pick credit cards probably based on perks. People are obsessed with their credit card perks.

BOLDUAN: For sure.

YURKEVICH: Capital One saying that if you're a Discover card holder, you're probably not going to lose any of those perks you really love. You may actually gain some perks through what Capital One offers, through cashback. You may see a change in the name of your credit card in about a year or so if this deal goes through, but ultimately, if this merger happens, Discover, Capital One will have to give all of us a 45 day heads up for any changes that may be coming. So, the consumer does have an opportunity to make a decision about whether this is right for them.

BOLDUAN: And, Vanessa, yes, they may be optimistic the deal is going to go through.

YURKEVICH: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I would not expect them to say they're not optimistic, right?

YURKEVICH: (INAUDIBLE), right.

BOLDUAN: Right. Exactly.

YURKEVICH: Right.

[09:55:01]

BOLDUAN: But there is very likely to be real regulatory scrutiny on this. Any kind of big merger like this, it obviously gets to the question of competition, and they have a lot of eyes on it. What are you hearing about it?

YURKEVICH: Absolutely. There is some concern that because you're having these two companies, these two huge credit card companies, merge -

BOLDUAN: Yes.

YURKEVICH: There's talk of monopoly. That could be concerning. It really depends on just how much the FTC wants to put their feet to the fire. They say that they've done a lot of due diligence. They say that their financing is in place here. But, ultimately, it is up to the FTC. And Discover and Capital One, while they are remaining optimistic that this is going to be good for them in their customers, we have to wait a year to find out if this deal is really going to go through.

BOLDUAN: You know, hope springs eternal for all.

YURKEVICH: Optimism is wonderful. BOLDUAN: It's a beautiful thing when it can be achieved.

It's good to see you, Vanessa, thank you.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: What is happening and what are you guys drinking?

BOLDUAN: I don't know. It must be the flats. What is happening over here?

SIDNER: I know.

BOLDUAN: Why am I in such a good mood? I know. I know. I don't know what to say.

SIDNER: So optimistic. It's - it's nice to see, ladies.

All right, just ahead, there is the latest from Spain where officials are now searching for a missing American woman. The details on that case just ahead.

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