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Biden: "Putin Is Responsible" For Alexei Navalny's Death; College Student Found Dead, GA Police Suspect Foul Play; Odysseus "Upright And Starting To Send Data" From The Moon. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 23, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Pulling no punches. Calling him an SOB, which I would say, you know, we're -- we learned last week that Putin is murdering dissidents in his own country. If that person isn't an SOB, I'm not really sure who is. So, I imagine most Americans probably agree with President Biden on that.

But you know, you also see it in his policy. I mean, you see that he has been tough. He has -- he has stood up to Russia. He has stood up to Putin. He has worked to bring all of our allies together to stand strong over the course of his two years since the invasion of Ukraine.

And I think that the contrast to that that draws with Donald Trump who is out there saying you know, if I were president, I would let Russia do whatever the hell they want, well, you know, that's going to have incredibly real security implications, that is going to have an impact on you know, stability in the west and around the world. You know, those are not -- that's not just a glib-off-the-cuff thing for Donald Trump to say. That is an incredibly frightening thing to say.

And so, I think the difference in the contrast that you see between Trump and Biden on this issue is incredibly important. And he speaks privately about Vladimir Putin in the same way he speaks publicly about him.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You were at the White House two years ago when Russia invaded Ukraine. If I had said to you then that two years later, there would be an aid package for Ukraine, sitting in Congress not even getting a vote, what would you have said?

BEDINGFIELD: Disheartening, demoralizing, frightening, scary to see the leadership of the Republican Party walk away from defending freedom around the world, from defending the best interests of the United States of America. You know, incredibly troubling. You know, if you had told me then, Donald Trump would be the presumptive nominee of their party at this stage, I might have said, well, you know, that I'm maybe not so surprised that that's where they're going to be.

But I would have found it incredibly disheartening --

BERMAN: Yes. BEDINGFIELD: Because this is the moment where, you know as Americans, we need to stand strong. We need to continue to stand up to Putin. We need to stand up to autocracy. And it's frightening to see the leadership of a major political party in the United States walk away from that responsibility and essentially, abdicate that leadership role -- America's leadership role on the world stage.

So, quite the trajectory for a Republican Party that used to be for a strong America on the world stage. But that's where we are.

BERMAN: You can sense the president's frustration with this. You can also sense, perhaps, that he's not making headway. What do you think he could do to win over more votes? What more can he do to convince at least Mike Johnson to put a vote on the floor?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, he's got to continue to call it out directly, which he's doing. We obviously just heard him do that. I think what you heard him say encouraging you know, Republican and Democratic governors to work with their constituents at home, to encourage their constituents, to make their desires known to their leaders on Capitol Hill. I mean, some of this is about a more aggressive you know local strategy. You know.

And I think just continuing to underscore the stakes. I mean, another kind of component of this message that you've seen the president and his team lean into, is the economic artillery is built here in the United States.

BERMAN: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: And you know, by American workers. That's another way to sort of explain to people -- (AUDIO GAP) why this benefits them, why this has an impact on them, why it's not just about this abstract notion of you know, a fight -- a war happening halfway around the world. So, you know, he continued to lean in on that, but I think he's just -- he's got to continue to call out the stakes. And people need to let their elected officials know where they -- where they expect them to go and where they want American leadership to be on this.

BERMAN: Yes. Well, from the Ukrainian perspective, time is running out. Kate Bedingfield, great to have you on this morning. Thanks so much. Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, John. At the University of Georgia, a body was found on campus and now classes are canceled. We're learning new information about the victim, and why authorities are now saying they believe there was foul play involved. That's ahead.

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[11:38:56]

SIDNER: This morning, students at two Georgia universities are on edge. Classes have been canceled after a 22-year-old student was found dead after going for a run on campus. Authorities at the University of Georgia located the body of Laken Hope Riley, who attended Augusta University's nursing school in Athens.

CNN's senior national correspondent Ryan Young has the very latest on this story from campus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A Georgia community is devastated by the news they've heard. Look. This trail is something that many people use throughout the community. They bring their dogs. They run. Students use this all the time.

You take a look this direction. It is set here along the lakeside. Now, we've walked many parts of this trail. We don't see any signs of any sort of trouble here, but we do know this is where police found Laken Hope Riley, 22. She was a student at the Augusta University College of Nursing.

A friend called over around noon, and they were trying to tell police that they hadn't seen their friend in quite some time. Police came out here. They did an investigation and found Riley's body around 12:38. This is very much an active investigation with three agencies involved trying to find whoever did this.

[11:40:07]

JEFF CLARK, CHIEF, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA POLICE: Officers located the individuals in the area behind Lake Herrick at approximately 12:38. The individual was unconscious and not breathing and had visible injuries.

ALENA WIGGINS, UGA STUDENT: It's usually really busy. People bring their dogs and their friends. It's usually a super social place. So, it's definitely not somewhere that I ever thought was unsafe.

YOUNG: Yes, this remains a very active show behind me. There are people who are still jogging at this time. What we know is police said they do have surveillance video of this area. They're going to review it.

But as we walk this trail, there are not a lot of cameras that appear to be seen as we walk more than a mile of the trail this morning. I do know from police that it's been more than 20 years since a murder has happened on campus. There's a lot of people who are shocked here. Classes have been canceled until Monday. A lot of questions as this investigation moves forward. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Ryan Young, thank you. In Georgia for us.

Coming up still for us. Police officers are now called before a grand jury as the investigation into the law enforcement response to the Uvalde School massacre. That investigation takes a turn.

A new legal loss for Donald Trump. A New York judge is denying his request to push off a massive payment. We'll be back.

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[11:45:56]

BOLDUAN: Multiple law enforcement officers in Texas have now been ordered to testify before a grand jury. This grand jury is investigating the failures of the law enforcement response on the day of the Uvalde school massacre. Now, they're facing questions nearly two years after that horrific day at Robb Elementary School. The day it took 77 minutes for officers to move in to actually stop the killing. The day 19 children and two teachers were killed.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is back with me. Shimon, a grand jury on this after the DOJ investigation at this point means what?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE REPORTER: So, to see if there are any criminal charges that can be brought against the officers for their failures. It's a really difficult burden on the part of a prosecutor to try to bring charges against any of the officers. Specifically, what they're looking at is some of the commanders that day, that the bosses that day, like the police chief -- the school police chief, the Uvalde school -- the Uvalde police chief, and then any other commanders that day on scene where we know they were the ones essentially that have been held responsible for the failures by the DOJ report, by other law enforcement officials and that they took no action that day to force the officers to go in and kill the gunman.

So, now, we have a grand jury process that's underway. It's been underway for about a month now. People have already testified. And now, the grand jury wants to hear from additional officers. And what this sounds like based on some conversations I've had from folks is that it's some of the first responding officers that came to the school after reports --

BOLDUAN: Am I wrong if I think this is a big deal? I -- to me, I heard this, and I thought this is -- this is a big deal.

PROKUPECZ: No, it's significant, of course. The fact that there could be potential criminal charges here and the fact that there is finally a grand jury nearly two years later, for the families, this is very significant. And it's an important step. What happens is, no one knows what could possibly happen.

BOLDUAN: Right.

PROKUPECZ: And the D.A. there is in full control of this. And she's not been very forthcoming. And she's not necessarily been very cooperative with the families, which has been very difficult for them. And certainly, it's been very difficult to get information.

But we know the process is underway here. It's a step in the right direction. Certainly, what happens is anyone's guess really.

So, they're going to start hearing from more witnesses. You know, the other key thing is I've spoken to some of the family members to see if any of them have gone in to testify. So far, none of them have, or if any of the victims, the kids that were inside the classroom waiting for the police to come in if they've gone in. None of them have gone in yet to testify.

That would be much more significant if that happens. But right now, it just sounds like there's a process. The process is underway. The officers are going in. The grand jurors are hearing testimony. And we'll see what happens.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. I kind of didn't even thought about some of the kids being called and answer questions.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, it's possible. Yes.

BOLDUAN: Oh, God. I talk about that. It's great to see you, Shimon. Thank you.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. OK. Yes.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Just ahead, a feat decades in the making. The U.S. returns to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. What we're learning about the status of the historic spacecraft? Coming up next.

Plus, a record-breaking night for NBA star Nikola Jokic. Why he's joining the likes of superstar LeBron James and Russell Westbrook? We'll discuss.

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[11:53:29]

SIDNER: The judge in Donald Trump's New York civil fraud case has rejected the former president's request to delay enforcement of the judgment. Trump wanted an extra 30 days before he had to start shelling out the $354 million fine, plus approximately a hundred million in interest. But the judge said his lawyers simply failed to justify any basis for delay.

All right. Jurors are now deliberating for a fifth day in the NRA civil corruption trial. The New York Attorney General's Office accused the organization's top executives including former CEO Wayne LaPierre of spending millions of dollars of NRA money on private flights, vacations, and other perks. Defendants' attorneys say their clients are the victims, you've heard this one before, of a witch hunt.

And a historic performance in the NBA. Last night, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic became just the third player ever to record a triple- double against every NBA team opposing him in his career. I know you know what that's like, John. That's what a player tallies double figures in three statistical categories.

The two-time MVP led the Nuggets to a win over the Wizards, finishing with 21 points, 19 rebounds, and 15 assists. Jokic ranks fourth in NBA history with 121 regular-season triple-doubles. You can't beat that, John.

BERMAN: I'm trying. Every day I try. All right, new updates and maybe pictures soon from Odysseus. This is the unmanned spacecraft that made the first American landing on the moon in 50 years.

CNN's Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher in from her day off just to give us this important update about what is happening on the lunar surface. Kristin.

[11:55:18]

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: So, John, the more we learn about this mission, the more remarkable it is that it did indeed, actually succeed. I was talking to the NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, shortly before landing. And he said, you know what, this is like the Apollo 13 but for a robotic lander because, of course, there's no humans on board. So, the stakes are a lot less.

But what he meant by that was essentially that they were having to fix this on the fly. There was a problem with the lander's navigation system. Just so happened there was an experimental NASA payload that could theoretically do the same thing.

They didn't know if it would. They patched it through from the ground. And lo and behold, it worked. That is just incredibly difficult to do. And the fact that the company says it landed successfully and upright, is a very big deal.

Now, in terms of the pictures. That's what everybody wants, right? We are working to get them. The way I would kind of describe it, John, is you know, when you look at your phone sometimes and you have a bad signal and you can see that there's an image there, but it can't download, that's kind of what they're dealing with right now. Intuitive Machine says they can kind of see the data, they have data, they're getting data from the lander, but they just haven't been able to downlink, upload, download, whatever kind of phrase you want to -- you want to use there.

So. we're hoping we're going to get the images today, but I just don't have an exact update on time. And, John, they may be trying to save it for a press conference. They're having a press conference at 5:00 p.m. tonight, Eastern Time. So, hopefully, we'll get it before then. But maybe they're saving it for that. Who knows?

BERMAN: The excitement builds. Kristin Fisher, thank you very much. Great to see you.

BOLDUAN: And as we go today, friends, we are on the move. Me, slowly but you know, we're moving. Starting next week, this terrific and terrible trio. We're waking up earlier for you. So, please join us from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Same NEWS CENTRAL. Just a bit earlier.

BERMAN: You might say we are reimagining the CNN NEWS CENTRAL schedule, but we're sure you know that because you've seen all the promos.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE)

BERMAN: This is called a soft launch because we don't want to set expectations too high. But we are allowed to say --

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) soft. Do we?

BERMAN: We are allowed to say it will be a revolution in morning television.

SIDNER: What --

BERMAN: CNN NEWS CENTRAL more news, less waiting, fewer chairs.

SIDNER: What you're saying basically is that this will be as exciting as going back to the moon. Right? I think that's what you're saying.

BERMAN: Much like it.

SIDNER: OK. Various --

BOLDUAN: 50 years in the making.

BERMAN: With just as many robots, Kate Bolduan.

BOLDUAN: And just as good of math.

BERMAN: All right.

SIDNER: I do want to say a big thanks to our crew here in New York and in Atlanta for their really hard work dealing with us and launching with NEWS CENTRAL. We're really excited for this new chapter. Thank you to Poppy (PH) and the crew there. And Phil. We love them. And we're going to be getting up early, me with you, guys.

BERMAN: See you Monday.

BOLDUAN: Bye.

SIDNER: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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