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David Petraeus is Interviewed about Ukraine; Nebraska Attempts to Change Electoral College; Clark Wins Naismith Award; Potent Nor'easter Brings Snow; Solar Eclipse Safety. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 04, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:08]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a controversial new move by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to bolster his military and add recruits. He signed a law lowering the draft age from 27 to 25. Now, it's not yet clear exactly how many men this will affect. Ukraine desperately needs to bolster its forces in advance of an expected Russian offensive this spring.

With this now from Kyiv, former commander of U.S. CENTCOM and chairman of KKR Global Institute, retired General David Petraeus.

General, always great to see you.

What does the fact of this move from President Zelenskyy tell you, and what are you seeing on the ground there?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), CHAIRMAN, KKR GLOBAL INSTITUTE: Well, it tells us that they recognize the imperative of generating additional forces. So, entirely new brigades and also a lot of replacement personnel for the casualties that they had been taking.

It's a tough situation here. And this reflects their appreciation of how difficult it is. The Russians have made adjustments. They're going very aggressively after civilian infrastructure, electrical generation plants and transmission. And they've figured out some tactics that are very difficult for the Ukrainians to defend against, especially as the U.S. pipeline has run out.

So, that twin challenges for Ukraine this year, number one, to generate additional forces that's facilitated by the reduction of the age from 27 to 25. They have a very different way of going about recruiting than we do. Our average age in the frontlines is 18 to 21. Theres is over 40. So, they have to go through that process.

And again, that was very important. It was very emotional, as you note, very controversial in Ukraine. But, you know, we've had good meetings with the minister of defense, chief of defense staff, the parliamentarians and so forth. They all realize this is absolutely necessary.

The other big issue, of course, is to get the U.S. assistance resumed. T

[08:35:00]

his is a huge challenge for them. Even though all the European countries have piled on, they've done their part, the EU pledge another 50 billion euros, it's really the industrial strength capacity of the United States with munitions and additional weapons systems. More of the air defense systems that are so important right now as Russia is going after these different elements of infrastructure. And if that all comes together, then I think they can - they're going to make it through a difficult year. We've got to get going in the U.S., though, as quickly as we possibly can.

And they are heartened to know that the speaker of the House does intend to put this on the floor early next week.

BERMAN: You've used words like "tough," "difficult," "challenging." What chances do you see of Ukraine actually retaking some the territory it's lost over the next six months?

PETRAEUS: Well, they may have some tactical opportunities that present themselves to retake some of the territory. But I think the general consensus is that this is going to be a year in which they're going to do an awful lot of defending. They tried the offensive last year. In fact, you know, a lot of people characterized the overall course of the war so far as, you know, being overly pessimistic the first year, as you'll recall, Kyiv is going to fall within, you know, a week or two. Then the second year, a degree of over-optimism as the anticipation of the offensive loomed. And now this year it's much more realistic. It's just a very sober appraisal of what is becoming quite a long war. There's still the absolute determination. There's still the reverence for the Ukrainian military. Everyone is still going about their efforts with an enormous sense of purpose.

But Russia has generated very substantial additional forces. They don't care about the casualties that appears. They take colossal losses for small pieces of ground. But that's the situation on the front lines at this point in time.

BERMAN: General, President Biden has a very important phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel today. We understand the president is angry and frustrated over how Israel is conducting the war currently against Hamas in Gaza.

If you were on that phone call today, if you were speaking to the Israeli prime minister, how would you tell him to best achieve success or his strategic goals?

PETRAEUS: Well, I'm not sure I'd use quite the same words that President Biden would because I actually still believe that Israel does have to destroy Hamas.

Now, look, that was an egregious, horrible, tragic mistake. And at least the prime minister acknowledged it, accepted responsibility for it and so forth. But Jose Andres has ever reason to be outraged. But these things do happen in war. We had terrible episodes at various times and - when I was commanding in Iraq or Afghanistan. The key here is keep your eye on the overall objective and then make sure that the way you go about achieving it is appropriate. And that's where I think the challenge is.

Again, Hamas does need to be destroyed. There are at least four battalion size elements still that are down in the south around Rafah. They have to go after those. The other - the challenge though is how to do that without civilian casualties, without these kinds of mistakes. And, by the way, while flooding that area with humanitarian assistance, which they have not been doing. They've got to get much more serious about that. At the end of the day, hearts and minds matter. They're not going to love the Israelis, but you can't have the entire population against them when - when ultimately Hamas is destroyed. You want to make their lives better. There should be a commitment to that, even as they go about the very challenging operations in an area that has 1.1 million displaced persons that have to be moved somewhere else and have to be taken care of much more effectively.

BERMAN: General David Petraeus, in Kyiv this morning, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, some Nebraska lawmakers will try once again today to attach a Trump back effort to change the state's electoral rules to an unrelated bill after that bill failed Wednesday. Former President Donald Trump and his allies are demanding Nebraska change its Electoral College system to a winner takes all approach. It's one of only two states that assigns votes based on proportional representation. This hints that Trump campaign realizing just how close this presidential election could be.

CNN's Daniel Strauss joins us now.

There are, what, two weeks left in the legislative session. Is there a chance that this goes forward? This could - this could be a game changer, like they know, because things are really, really tight at this its point in time.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: There's a chance, yes, Sara, but also there are a great deal of hurdles. And some of those are just very technical legislative measures.

[08:39:55]

The fact that this push by Trump and his allies to move a bill and to change how the process works for awarding electoral votes is being met right now with legislative hurdles, like which bill to attach it to, and how much time there is left in Nebraska legislature's session to consider a new proposal of this stature.

Now, it's important to keep in mind here that even though Nebraska's a very red state, this is a late minute, last-minute push by Trump and his allies here. And that's causing a fair amount of chaos and disorganization in the lead up to.

But you - it's pretty clear that this is something Trump himself wants. He's posted on social media and Truth Social about this. And it's clear that in a close election this could be a game changer for the former president.

SIDNER: Daniel Strauss, thank you so much for that reporting. Really interesting this morning.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about this. Joining us right now is Republican strategist, former communications director for the RNC, Doug Heye, and former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.

Jim and I were just watching that report together from Daniel Strauss. What do you think of this? I mean how important could one electoral vote out of Nebraska be?

JIM MESSINA, CEO, THE MESSINA GROUP: Incredibly important because it, in combination with other states, allows Biden or Trump to get to 270 electoral votes. The easiest way for the Democrats to win the White House is the midwestern three states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Those are states that Democrats won six out of the last seven elections. It's the easiest way. The problem is, that gets you to exactly 270 electoral votes if you include the one seat in Nebraska. So, that one electoral vote could be the key to one of the major maps as for the Democrats.

BOLDUAN: I mean down to one electoral vote out of Nebraska, Doug. I mean, as a Republican who is not necessarily a big supporter of Donald Trump's, seeing how this is going down in Nebraska, is this good for Republican politics?

DOUG HEYE, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think ultimately it could be. But just on the margins, really, again, we're talking about one congressional seat. This is what's called in politics the blue dot. It's the one blue dot in the state of Nebraska. But this shows how I think nip and tuck this election is going to be, Kate, for the next eight months. Think of what our conversation has been over the past week or two. Donald Trump is up in this poll. Joe Biden's up in this poll. The Biden campaign is making moves in North Carolina. Kamala Harris is there today. The Biden campaign is making moves in Florida. We're going to hear a lot of back-and-forth. This is going to be a very long, very depressing game of ping pong.

BOLDUAN: I was trying to work at how we're going to add nip tuck into the next question. I don't think I'm figuring it out.

This week, Jim, I wanted to ask you about something that Donald Trump started up with this week, and one could expect that he's going to - this is going to become a reoccurring theme in his campaign speeches. And it has him talking about wanting to debate Joe Biden, calling to debate Joe Biden.

Let me play how he did it earlier this week. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have an empty podium right here to my right. You know what that is? That's for Joe Biden. I'm trying to get him to debate. I'm calling on crooked Joe to debate any time, any place. We'll do it anywhere you want, Joe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump didn't take part in any of the Republican primary debates.

MESSINA: Right.

BOLDUAN: Reminder. But what - what do you think he's setting up with a stunt like that to do, and do you think there is a chance that there will not be a debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump? What would that say?

MESSINA: Look, I think there is a very good chance, because I don't think Donald Trump really wants it. I mean he didn't debate at all, as you said, in the primaries, and now he's trying to say, oh, I wanted a debate, but he's already saying, I won't live by the existing rules of the presidential debates.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MESSINA: Because remember last time he broke all those rules. So, he's setting up, in the end, to not debate because I don't think he really wants to. So, this is all a game of chicken, or as Doug correctly said, ping pong, back and forth, and I don't think Trump really wants a presidential debates.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what Joe Biden and the campaign will say next.

Doug, the DNC is taking their kind of mobile billboard campaign against Robert Kennedy Jr. to a new level now. Not only have they been putting these billboards like these mobile billboards targeting campaign events, but now they're putting these mobile billboards outside private fundraising events where Robert Kennedy is expected to show up in, in Florida.

You helped, and I remember this very well, you have - you helped craft some very creative targeting campaigns from your time at the RNC. What is this one likely to do?

HEYE: Well, as Jim knows, one of the things that we all often say in politics, Republican or Democrat, yard signs don't win campaigns. Neither do billboards. And I can tell you, driving through North Carolina last month, I saw a lot of billboards, video and other kinds of billboards, targeting various members of Congress, targeting Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Those are completely ineffective.

[08:45:01] What they're - what the DNC is doing is, because we're talking about it, trying to drive up a lot of media coverage so that that's how the message gets out. Nobody's going to see the billboards except they're going to see them on TV and that they're in clever places.

But I think the more important thing, Kate, is, how this wage - or how does battle will be waged against RFK? This is going to be overwhelmingly through the media and especially through digital. And they just brought on at the DNC, Liz Smith, an old campaign pro. I know Liz. She's an assassin. And if I'm - if I'm RFK Jr., I'm pretty worried about having her down my neck.

BOLDUAN: She - she - and she would love that moniker. Knowing Li, she'd love being called an assassin, no question about it.

MESSINA: Yes, she would. She would love that.

HEYE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Looking forward to seeing her back in it.

This adds to kind of an overall question I wanted to ask you, Jim, because there's a lot of - there is growing concern amongst some about RFK Jr. pulling votes from Joe Biden. You've got polls out saying Joe Biden is down in six - Trump is beating him in six of seven battleground states today. Yes, there's a long campaign to come.

Prominent Democratic strategists, not named Jim Messina, but another one, Simon Rosenberg, he's being profiled in "The New York Times" saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, he is not worried about Biden's chances. He is optimistic about Democrats winning in November. Which gets to conversations you and I have had for a long time.

MESSINA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Which is the so-called fear - the Democratic bedwetting that you've been trying to push back against for a long time. What do you see here?

MESINA: Look, I think it is true that Democrats are in general picnickers, and that's good. We've lived through these things. Third parties really have changed elections for us. Al Gore, in 2000, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 lost enough third party votes where they lost the election. So, it is a real concern.

But if you just look at the underlying metrics, don't look up polls because you and I know polls are usually wrong. Look at actual electoral results in the last two years were Democrats have over- performed polls by almost 10 percent. That's why people like Simon and I are optimistic about what's going to happen 214 days from now.

BOLDUAN: Do you see how zen he is? There's so many people that are not zen. Not nearly as zen as Jim Messina.

It's good to see you, Jim. Thanks for being here.

MESSINA: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Doug, it's always great to have you. Thank you.

John.

HEYE: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, Caitlin Clark is a record breaker and a cultural icon, but can she become a national champion?

And what to wear next Monday for the solar eclipse. It is important to look good. But to be safe, you might need something more than this.

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[08:51:58]

SIDNER: Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark is adding yet another piece of hardware to her mantle. Last night the basketball phenom was named the Naismith National Player of the Year for the second straight season. And now, as Clark sets her sights on a national championship, the entire sports world is trying to lock her in.

Get this, according to ESPN, 12.3 million people tuned in on Monday to watch Clark and the Hawkeyes knock off the reigning champions, LSU. That's a record for women's college basketball. And a bigger audience than last year's NBA finals and the World Series.

Joining us now, CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan.

Christine, just for a moment, when you look at this moment for women's sports, can you just put into context what Caitlin Clark, and, frankly, LSU's Angel Reese, have done for women's sport?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Sara, it was just three years ago that famous Oregon women's basketball video during the pandemic that showed the weight room for the women compared to the men. It was a couple of weights sitting in a corner versus what the men had at their final four. Three years. And in those three years, the outrage was so strong, it was one of the lead stories on the news for a few days. The NCAA had to apologize. The NCAA had to admit that they had not allowed women's basketball to use the branding "March Madness" for all these years. We didn't even know that. And there's a new contract. And there was - they were really shamed, frankly.

You're, obviously, you were a great athlete. A volleyball player. I played sports. We know what it was like back in the day. And those days really do seem - seems as if we've turned a page. But it took a lot of work by wonderful young women to point out the inequalities and inequities to the point where the nation was outraged enough. Meanwhile, there was a point guard in Iowa, who we really hadn't heard of yet, who is about to explode on the scene.

SIDNER: Yes, it - she's incredible. I - you know, speaking about the men versus women, this is what LeBron James said about all that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: I don't think there's, you know, much difference between the men and women game when it comes to college basketball. I think the popularity comes in is the icons that they have in a woman's game. Because you're able to build, you know, like a real like iconic legacy at a - at a program. And that's what we all love about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It is what we all love about it.

Can we all just sort of admit, the women's tournament and the women's final could be the more exciting game than the men's, no?

BRENNAN: Oh, I think so. I'd actually thought that from the beginning just because of the fact, as LeBron was saying, Sara, that the women stay. You know, a lot of the men, it's one and done. Great for them, but terrible for building the program, for building familiarity for fans at specific universities. Versus the women. Caitlin Clark, four years. JuJu Watkins, we know her name, of course, only a freshman.

[08:55:03]

Of course, Angel Reese, now has just said she's going to the pros. But on and on it goes. UConn and Paige Bueckers, who was Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark, and then injuries hit her. On and on it goes. These are women who are sticking around for three, four, five years with the Covid year and the nation is getting to know them. And that's exactly the recipe for success, I think, for women's sports moving forward, where you get to know them and you fall in love with them, kind of like the 1999 women's World Cup soccer team where the nation fell in love with what it had created.

I think Caitlin Clark is an individualized version of that 1999 women's soccer team that barnstormed the nation, just as, of course, Caitlin Clark has been barnstorming the nation and filling arenas now for a couple of years.

SIDNER: Yes, and if you look at some of those NIL deals, Caitlin Clark's doing pretty - pretty well.

Christine Brennan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, bracing for a nor'easter that could bring two feet of snow in some places. Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is with us now.

Where and why is this happening?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It feels like an April Fool's joke, right? This is actually a live picture right now in Maine. I mean it looks like a winter wonderland with all of that snow. And it's actually causing a lot of power outages. Last check, over 600,000 customers, most of them in Maine, without power because this snowstorm is also coming with wind that's knocking down trees and power lines.

High wind warnings continue along the Massachusetts coastline from Boston to Cape Cod through the day today for 65 mile per hour gusts. That could create some localized blizzard conditions.

Here's a look at the radar with all of the snow across Maine, upstate New York, New Hampshire and Vermont. And some of that snow even swirling around the Great Lakes as well.

Winter storm warnings continue through the day today for an additional six to 12 inches of snow in the - in the - in the pink that you see there. And this is on top of six to 12 inches that they already got. So, again, not quite feeling very springlike in New England today.

BERMAN: Not at all. We lost power overnight.

Elisa Raffa, thanks so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: In just four days, millions of Americans will be treated to a visual feast. The view of - a view of a lifetime is the solar eclipse sets in. And with the good, also the warning, the spectacular sight is also dangerous if you do not do it correctly.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is here with much more.

How do we safely celebrate this eclipse?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, this is really important. The only time it is safe to look up at the sun during the eclipse is in the few minutes of totality. And, of course, only some people in the United States are going to actually be within the path of totality. And totality itself, which is when the moon blocks all of the sun's light, only lasts for a few minutes. Everybody else needs to wear safe eclipse glasses.

BOLDUAN: Those look like 3D glasses I would get at the movie theater.

TIRRELL: They do. Yes, I mean, try them on.

BOLDUAN: But they're not, right?

TIRRELL: You can see how different they are from like a pair of sunglasses. They are incredibly dark.

BOLDUAN: Oh, they're -

TIRRELL: You can't see essentially any light.

BOLDUAN: And here it's OK. Like, I can't see you and I can't see the camera. That's wild.

TIRRELL: That is a sign of glasses that are going to work for you.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE). TIRRELL: And the reason that's really important is, if you think about the sun's light coming into your eye.

BOLDUAN: Right.

TIRRELL: Think about it like a magnifying glass that is actually focusing the sun's rays. You can actually burn stuff with that. That's kind of how your eye works with the lens. The sun's light's coming in. It's getting concentrated into the back of your retina. If you look at the sun for too long, it can actually burn your retina and cause damage. This can only take a few seconds, so you have to be super careful.

BOLDUAN: Seconds is when you can - wow.

TIRRELL: Seconds. So, you do not want to look directly at the sun.

So, what you need is these eclipse glasses, or similar eclipse glasses. The American Astronomical Society has some that are safe on its website, so you know that you're getting good ones. They are --

BOLDUAN: That's what that ISO stands for? We were kind of joking about it yesterday. ISO compliance is what you need to look for in these glasses.

TIRRELL: Yes. Well, that stands for an international standard.

BOLDUAN: Got it.

TIRRELL: And so you want this number, 12312-2. But, of course, that's not going to be enough on your glasses alone because if somebody's trying to counterfeit, they could also print that number on your glasses.

BOLDUAN: True.

TIRRELL: So, what you want to do is put them on and make sure inside they block out everything except the absolute brightest light. If that's good, you take them outside and you look at something that might be shiny, like a reflection off the car from the sun. And that should be the only thing you can see. If that's good, then take a brief glance at the sun. It should be comfortable to look at. If you're still not absolutely positive that you have real eclipse glasses, only look at the sun for two to three seconds at a time every five minutes. Eclipses don't move that fast. You are not going to miss it. You will get to still see the cool crescent shape. But you should be really careful. I mean real injuries can happen. These have been documented during eclipses before. And the damage can, unfortunately, be permanent.

BOLDUAN: What - there - you also have seen some studies of there are other safety risks with eclipses. What are they?

TIRRELL: Yes, there was one recent study that just came out looking at traffic accidents and fatalities around the 2017 eclipse. And this is really sad. I mean they actually did see that in the three days around the 2017 eclipse, the number of traffic fatalities went up. That's not because -

BOLDUAN: Because people are looking at this sky?

TIRRELL: Well, because it seems to be more because people were traveling to try to get to a place where they'd be able to see the eclipse.

BOLDUAN: Oh, OK.

TIRRELL: So, they compared it to a traffic weekend like Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day.

[09:00:01]

You should know, a lot of people are going to be driving to see this eclipse and you've just got to be more careful on the road.

BOLDUAN: I underestimated how dark these glasses actually are.