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WH: New Sanctions "Just The Start" Of Response To Navalny Death; Netanyahu Reveals Israel's Post-War Plan For Gaza; Agencies Prepare For Partial Govt Shutdown Next Week; Trump Says He Supports IVF In Response To Alabama Ruling. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 23, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Biden says it's just the start. He's ramping up the pressure on Vladimir Putin and Russia with more than 500 sanctions targeting Russia's military and its access to key goods.

Plus Israel's prime minister rolling out a post-war plan for Gaza as the families of those still held hostage by Hamas urgently push for a deal to get them home.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And police in Georgia say they now have a person of interest in the death of a young nursing student on the UGA campus.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: The White House is cracking down on the Kremlin with the single biggest batch of sanctions targeting Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. The new measures spurred by the death of jailed Vladimir Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, targeting everything from Moscow's war machine to officials connected with Navalny's imprisonment.

But there's a huge question about whether Ukraine can afford to wait for all these sanctions to trickle down and degrade Russia's battlefield capabilities and economy. Now two years into the war, Kyiv is set to launch a new counteroffensive and is desperate for the U.S. to pass more military aid.

We're covering all of the angles starting with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez who is at the White House for us.

Priscilla, what's the administration saying about these new sanctions?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the White House argument is that this is a way to apply pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin following the death of Alexei Navalny and also to mark the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion in Ukraine. This is a way, they say, where they can choke off Russia, try to slow down their ability to obtain certain goods but also their ability to build weapons.

Now these over 500 targets include multiple items. It includes hundreds of entities involved in Russia's military industrial base. It's also 26 third country entities facilitating Russian sanction evasion. That includes firms in China Serbia and the United Arab Emirates. We should also note that the State Department imposed sanctions on three prison officials that were linked to the death of Alexei Navalny.

Now leading up to this weekend, U.S. officials were already preparing a sanctions package to mark the two year anniversary of the war in Ukraine and then supplemented that sanctions package with what we're learning today after the death of Alexei Navalny. But this is still only one part of the larger equation according to the White House and that is that Congress also needs to pass funding for Ukraine. The $60 billion that the White House asked for last year and that remains stalled in the Republican-controlled House and the President taking direct aim at Republicans in a gathering of governors earlier today.

KEILAR: And Priscilla, Biden said that he'd talk to G7 leaders today. What's his message to them?

ALVAREZ: Well, his message is going to be that he's going to try to do everything that he can and that is in his power to continue to support Ukraine. I asked National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, what assurances if anything can be provided to these allies when Congress is still on recess and that - and there hasn't been any funding passed. And he maintained that the President is going to continue to apply pressure on Republicans as they come back from recess to try to get this funding across the finish line.

But there is no doubt Brianna that the world is watching as the White House says and that there is still immense pressure and urgency to get this funding across the finish line in addition to the sanctions that were announced today.

KEILAR: All right. Priscilla Alvarez at the White House, thank you.

[15:05:01]

And now to CNN Chief International Security Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Ukraine for us reporting.

Nick, the question will be what is the effect on the front lines because it seems that it will take some time before this will trickle down to the capabilities of the Russian military.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, we've got to be honest about these sanctions, a huge number of 500 speak targets. But the Russians have become exceptionally adept when certain vehicles they use to get round sanctions to get the chips, to get the certain parts they need for their missiles, for their drones are finding a new means to import them through third parties too. So these may be well targets that may be thought through.

But remember too, the Biden administration has been burrowing deep into its toolbox of sanctions for two years now and may slowly be running out of stuff they can do without actually impacting U.S. economic needs at the same time as well. So really we've not heard much of a reaction here in Ukraine to those sanctions.

They don't - they're not in the competition for economic convenience at the moment. They're in a flat out war and they need that $60 billion as soon as they possibly can. And so we've seen President Zelenskyy give an interview to Fox News. I mentioned that media outlook because this is clearly Kyiv directly appealing to a part of the Republican Congress that is holding that money up. And that money is already in its absence having a huge impact on the front line, Avdiivka lots of the weekend; pressure in Kherson; pressure in Zaporizhzhia near where I'm standing; Pressure all across the front line.

Ukraine today announcing a small victory perhaps claiming it had taken down a Russian spy plane, an A-15 near the Sea of Azov, the second multimillion dollar such plane in the last month or so. So they're trying to project strength and gains, but be in no doubt too, they're also trying to remind the world that the absence of that $60 million means the death of Ukrainian soldiers day by day.

So this sanctions package from the Biden administration work (ph) because as I'm sure it will be in a bid to try and close those loopholes Russia has to try and economically inconvenience. Now remember Russia is still making tens of billions of oil money from selling directly to a U.S. strategic partner, India. That's not against any sanctions, but it's certainly something that has many people raising their eyebrows.

Lots of more potentially that the U.S. could do to reduce U.S. - Russia economic might. But they have to bear in mind the impact that could have on the U.S. economy as well. Ukraine needs that money frankly, not 500 extra sanction targets. Back to you.

KEILAR: Tell us about this new counter offensive that the Ukrainians are planning, Nick.

WALSH: Yes, it's not clear really quite what stage this planning is at. This is in response to a question by Fox News saying that they're going to plan another counter offensive. There have been hints in the past after the last counter offensive which had billions of dollars of NATO aid and NATO intelligence assistance and planning as well. And that really didn't go at all as anybody had planned. Ukraine very quickly said we'll do it again and we're not going to tell you more about it.

So clearly Ukraine does want to go on the initiative again. But with the absence of that 60 billion dollars and the slowdown in ammunition the problem they're all facing across the front line in terms of sheer personnel, they're often outnumbered in extraordinary ratios by Russian forces that are willing to throw thousands of men, it seems, that often targets of limited strategic use.

Ukraine isn't really in a position right now to go on the active offensive. It's often playing catch up in various areas along the front line. And, of course, they're keen to project success in the Black Sea against Russian naval targets and other areas too while they can. But the news has been persistently bad for the last week. Maybe that's a bid by Kyiv to remind their Western allies how urgently they need help, but it's also backed up by a sheer loss of territory and lives too across the front line, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it certainly is. Nick, thank you for the latest from Ukraine. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now from former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty.

Jill, great to see you as always.

Nick brought up a very significant point here. The Russians have proven adept at ducking and weaving these sanctions and finding ways around them. So how effective is this new set of sanctions as a form of punishment.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well we don't know yet and punishment may not be exactly the template here. I mean, let's think of it in big terms. The Russian government right now has created essentially a gigantic military industrial complex. I mean their economy right now is militarized. That is what they do. Even regular people now are getting jobs with the government because that's where the money is.

So how do you know attack that and mainly stop the evasion, that's the problem. Because they're, as we know, for years there have been a lot of sanctions but they're evaded. So what they're trying to do is damage the war machine, as they put it, by looking at every aspect.

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And you can see it there on the screen, entities that are tied to the industrial base. Things like you know robotics and lasers, try to crack down on that, banks and networks - financial networks that bring money into the system. And so now this is all in connection with Ukraine.

And then you have the second thing, of course, which is the death of Alexei Navalny. And that's kind of a separate thing where they're going after individuals. In fact, three people associated with that as it's called penal colony, the prison up in Siberia on the Arctic Circle where three people who, it's believed, were directly involved with the arrest and the detention of Navalny. They are being penalized as well. So they're going at it in kind of two different ways.

SANCHEZ: And Jill when it comes to other ways to approach the Kremlin's aggression in Ukraine, sanctions are obviously one aspect of it, but is there much the White House or the administration can do without Congress?

DOUGHERTY: Well, at this point I don't think so because you really need to get that $60 billion into the pipeline. And the problem here is the case has been made. That money, most of it, is actually spent in the United States to produce these weapons and equipment, et cetera. But that apparently still is not making the case. It's just a very politicized situation right now. Because if that vote were held, it is believed that it would pass because a lot of people in Congress support it. But right now it's stopped and you have to say that Putin really does want that - wants to exploit those divisions in the United States right now to keep any type of help for Ukraine from getting there.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Jill Dougherty, always appreciate your analysis. Thanks much.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

SANCHEZ: Brianna?

KEILAR: For the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began more than four months ago, we're getting a detailed sense of what Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, envisions for Gaza when the fighting is over. He's calling for a complete demilitarization of the Palestinian enclave and he wants Israel to take over security of its entry and exit points. All of the entry and exit points.

In the meantime more high stakes hostage negotiations are underway in Paris as families of those held captive in Gaza stage more protests in Tel Aviv. An Israeli delegation is there meeting with CIA director, Bill Burns, in Paris along with representatives from Egypt and Qatar.

For more on these developments, let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson. He is in Tel Aviv for us.

Start us off, Nic, with some of the details of this plan that Netanyahu has unveiled.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, some of the details we've heard before like there would be the complete freedom of military movement for the IDF within Gaza. That's right at the top that Israel would control all the borders and now this includes the border with Egypt which means Israel is going to have to take control of a strip of Gaza right along that border about six and a half miles long. So it will own a new length of border.

The idea is that Israel would work with Palestinian officials inside Gaza to help run Gaza. But that's really not a lot of specificity around that, so it's really not clear who they're talking about or how that would actually work. Who would come forward in Gaza to fill that role.

It would be financed. All of this would be financed and the rebuilding in Gaza would be financed with partners from the region. Arab partners in the region that Israel specifies don't have ties to terrorism. They are rejecting again UNRWA, the big U.N. agency that does most of the heavy lifting for aid inside Gaza. They say and they want to shut that down.

And they're also rejecting any unilateral recognition of an independent Palestinian state. There's a lot of things here that fly in the face of what the United States wants of what European partners of Israel want to see as well. One of those points and Secretary Blinken picked up on it earlier today would be the border around Gaza, actually inside Gaza, a security border that Israel wants.

And I think another point that you can look at here that really questions this idea that eventually there can be a path to a Palestinian state that would bring in these Arab partners that Israel is talking about. Israel says it wants to de-radicalize the schools, the universities, the welfare infrastructure inside Gaza.

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That kind of language is not going down well with the - with Palestinians. They just see that as a reoccupation. It doesn't give them the kind of independence that an independent state would have to set its own education curriculum and all these things.

KEILAR: All right. Nic, thank you for taking us through that very important developments with this new plan.

And CNN has some new numbers that show a razor thin margin for a potential Biden-Trump rematch in November.

Plus, Congress is once again on the brink of a government shutdown, but with lawmakers out on recess what's being done to prevent it?

And part of California's Death Valley is looking anything but right now. What is that right there? That is a lake in what is usually one of the driest hottest places in the country. We have those stories and many more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: It's the funding fight that's all too familiar. The federal government is on the verge of a shutdown again. Today agencies and departments began preparing for when the money runs out. There are two deadlines that the nation is facing, the first one hits in a week. This is the fourth time since September that lawmakers couldn't come to an agreement putting the government on the brink.

We have CNN Capitol Hill Reporter Melanie Zanona here with us.

All right, Melanie. The last three times a funding extension spared the nation. Are we going to see that again this time?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well the leadership in both parties are really eager to avoid yet another stopgap spending bill. But Brianna, as you know, Congress does have a tendency to kick the can down the road. And the topic of government funding has been a very vexing issue particularly for House Republicans. Let's not forget that Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership because he put a stopgap spending bill on the floor.

Now just to set the stage for you a bit here, four agencies are set to run out of money next Friday. The rest of the government agencies will run out of money the following week on March 8th. And right now the House is not even scheduled to return from their recess until next Wednesday, so not a lot of time really to figure this out.

But we are being told that the leadership is hoping to finalize a bipartisan deal to fund the government and release it by Sunday with the idea being that then they could try to jam it through both of the chambers next week in time for that Friday deadline. But even that would carry some risks for House Speaker Mike Johnson. And that is because he is under immense pressure to fight for a number of conservative policy wins, and everything from abortion to guns to DOJ funding all of which would be non-starters with Democrats which means in order to secure a deal he is going to have to drop those demands which could land him in some hot water with his right flank.

But at this point no one wants to shut down including Mike Johnson. He knows that's bad politics particularly for his own more vulnerable moderate members. But at this point nothing is certain. We'll have to see what they come up with if they come up with anything on Sunday, Brianna.

KEILAR: They do like to keep it interesting there on Capitol Hill.

Melanie Zanona, thank you for that report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: After days of not commenting, Donald Trump is now weighing in on Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are children. Moments ago, he posted on Truth Social that he supports IVF. He also called on Alabama's legislature to "act quickly" to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in that state.

His comments come just a day before the pivotal South Carolina Republican primary. The Alabama decision quickly becoming a dominant issue on the campaign trail. And on this election eve, polls show Donald Trump with a commanding lead over Nikki Haley. But Haley's campaign says it knows the odds and what's at stake and that she is looking beyond her home state.

Another poll is also giving us fresh looks at what a potential rematch could be like between President Biden and Donald Trump and it is very close.

CNN Senior Data Reporter, Harry Enten, is here to break down the numbers for us.

Harry, where do things stand right now? Is there a clear leader outside of the margin of error?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: No Boris, there isn't. So one time - one thing we often do right when you get differing poll results is you try and average them, and that's what we're doing here with the CNN poll of polls. And what do we see? We see Donald Trump at 48 percent. We see Joe Biden at 47 percent.

But Boris, the clear thing here is for the first choice for president is this wording right up here, no clear leader. Well within the margin of error. And we've seen numerous polls come out over the last week that kind of give us an idea of how close this race is, right? You get the Quinnipiac University poll that has Biden up by a little bit. But then a few hours later, you get the Marquette University Law School poll that has Trump up by a little bit.

And so when you average all of the data that we have together, essentially what we have is a very tight race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden well within the margin of error "no clear leader," Boris.

SANCHEZ: No clear leader. Harry, when you compare this polling and how it stacks up with previous races what do you see?

ENTEN: Yes. So this to me is an interesting sort of trend line that we have here, all right. So we're looking at the presidential poll margin at this point. So essentially in late February over the last few cycles as you mentioned earlier, right, we have Donald Trump with that one point "advantage," but again no clear leader.

But that is significantly different than the last two times that Donald Trump was the likely Republican nominee at this point. So you go back to 2020, we saw Joe Biden up by about four points at this point in my average of polls. You go back to 2016, you saw Hillary Clinton up by about three points in my average of polls.

So yes it is true that Donald Trump and Joe Biden are currently within the margin of error. But at this particular point, Donald Trump is in a better position than he was in either of the last two cycles.

And the other thing I point out Boris, yes we have months and months to go until the election. But the polling at this point in the last two cycles actually came pretty close to what we ultimately saw in November.

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No guarantee that will happen this time around, but it's something to keep in mind when you're seeing this very, very close race with Donald Trump in a slightly better position than he was the last two cycles.

SANCHEZ: Yes. As you noted plenty more time to go, eight plus months ...

ENTEN: Plenty.

SANCHEZ: ... before Election Day, yes.

ENTEN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So when you look at the polling what does it say about why this race is so close.

ENTEN: Yes, why is it so close. I would really go down to - it's not the strength of the two major - potential major party candidates. It's the weaknesses, so Biden and Trump's big weaknesses. Trump is not ethical according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 68 percent, more than two thirds of the voters said that Trump is not ethical. But Joe Biden has his own problems, right? Biden's too old to effectively serve another term. Look at this, 67 percent. And so voters are kind of weighing this in their minds two candidates that they certainly don't adore and they're kind of going back, which is the negative. That's more of a negative and makes me - forces me to vote for the other guy.

At this point, two-thirds of voters say Trump is not ethical, two- thirds of voters say Biden's too old to serve another term and voters are weighing that in this particular point. What that's leading to is a very, very tight race with, as we've said multiple times, no clear leader.

SANCHEZ: Yes. A lot of negatives you just alluded to. Harry Enten, great to see you as always.

ENTEN: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

So a non-binary teenager's death in Oklahoma is rippling through the state and across the country as LGBTQ advocates are pushing back on laws that they say target their communities.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL returns in just moments.

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