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Obama's Executive Orders Lay Groundwork for Sanctions; Ukrainians Against Crimean Independence; Congressional Black Caucus Criticizes Issa; CNN Original Series "CHICAGOLAND" Premieres Tonight; Mayors Meet in Chicago to Discuss Issues

Aired March 06, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour, you are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Here's what we know on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Just a short time ago, President Obama issued a harsh, new warning that any new referendum in Crimea to decide whether to rejoin Russia would violate international law.

The president also urged Congress there in Washington to hurry up and support American aid to Ukraine.

Over the Atlantic Ocean just a couple of minutes after the president spoke, we saw this man, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, talking about the diplomatic impasse with his Russian counterpart.

Kerry said he and Russia's foreign minster, Sergei Lavrov, agreed to keep talking and to try to find a solution to end this standoff, this military standoff between the pro-Russian forces and Ukrainian troops in this tiny peninsula of Crimea.

All of this talk today is aimed at an audience of one, the man in the black here. This is Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, the only man who can immediately diffuse the tinderbox that is Crimea. The big question, is Vladimir Putin listening?

Let's talk money. Freezing Russian assets, blocking financial assets, President Obama's executive order really lays the groundwork for sanctions against Russian individuals or companies the administration views are complicit in the crisis in Ukraine.

The U.S. and European Union are considering much further reaching sanctions if Putin does not roll back pro-Russian forces in Crimea.

Who would the sanctions hurt the most? You have to understand that Russia and Ukraine are economically intertwined. All the red lines here, look like veins, these are the gas lines. These are the gas pipelines that crisscross Ukraine.

So, right now, pressure is rising for the U.S. to start exporting natural gas immediately in case Russia decides to limit its natural gas supply as a possible punishment on Ukraine or farther into Europe. Here is Richard Quest, host of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," in New York. And, Richard Quest, when we talk about the sanctions against Russia and potential maybe second-round sanctions, how damaging could they be on Russia's economy?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": They could be damaging if they become full-throttle trade sanctions, but we are so far away from that that we really need to keep that well and truly on the back burner.

What you are talking about at the moment is the soft pressure. I wouldn't describe them as sanctions. They are measures.

They are actions, a trade -- for example, visa bans, making it more difficult for Russians to visit the E.U. or the United States, bans on travel for a certain key member of the Russian administration.

You've got all this sort of pulling out of trade talks. The United States has regular trade talks at the moment with Russia.

And then the E.U. and the Russians have a regular summit meeting.

Now, look, Brooke, I can hear you say, Oh, well, that's really going to Vladimir --

BALDWIN: I'm thinking how effective is this really and how much longer will it take to really have some sanctions not just measures.

QUEST: Right. Right, but it will have an effect because it's known as the "soft power," and what happens is the oligarchs, the powerful business men, those who made their billions under Putin and Yeltsin before, they are the ones who start to put the pressure.

Now, if the E.U. and the U.S. were to go full throttle and trade sanctions and banning products and the panoply of those whole measures, well, then you'd get tit for tat and then you get the gas switched off.

And then you get all those sort of much more dramatic effects that would damage the economy in Russia very badly, but would also damage the European economy at the moment.

BALDWIN: Wasn't -- just thinking back off the top of my head, wasn't the gas switched off, was it threatened to be switched off in Georgia in 2008?

QUEST: Yes. Oh, the gas has been used at least three times in the last 10 years. And through Ukraine, as well, it's been switched off as well in the past.

One interesting thing, this story that's going around now about the U.S. providing liquid natural gas. Let's ignore the fact that it's extremely expensive to liquefy natural gas, put it on a boat and send it across Atlantic to make up any shortfall.

The U.S. doesn't have the correct or necessary facilities to do it on any large scale, so everybody I've spoken to on this story is perplexed.

They have approved, they are building, but there is no big -- if you are like export terminal that would satisfy the need to send liquefied natural gas to Europe.

BALDWIN: I was wondering how that would even work. You just answered my question for me.

Richard Quest, thank you so much.

Coming up next, President Obama, answering Russian President Putin's occupation of Crimea with diplomacy and the soft pressure, to quote Richard Quest here, the measures.

How is President Obama measuring the crisis, so far. We will take a look at that and the administration, next.

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BALDWIN: Is the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, seeking to redraw old map, reclaim a remnant of the Soviet empire's glory days, and the real question now, will he be successful.

President Obama says no, calling Russia's actions in the Ukraine a violation of international law, stopping short of the word invasion, calling it, instead, an intervention, but sticking closely to the threats and imposed sanctions against Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning, I signed an executive order that authorizes sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukraine or for stealing the assets of the Ukrainian people.

According to my guidance, the State Department has also put in place the restrictions on the travel of certain individuals and officials.

These decisions continue our efforts to impose a cost on Russia and those responsible for the situation in Crimea.

And they also give us the flexibility to adjust our response going forward based on Russia's actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS," and, Fareed, it's interesting the different words that people are using to describe -- we heard the president say sanctions. I've heard measures, soft pressure.

Just talk to me first about this -- it really is this delicate, diplomatic dance from the administration.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": There is a good reason for it, which is, at the end of the day, Russia lives next door to Ukraine. There are Russian troops in Crimea.

Remember, one of the reason why it's complicated whether or not to call this an invasion or not is there were Russian troops in Crimea to begin with. That is the home of their naval fleet.

BALDWIN: The port.

ZAKARIA: So, any solution that will work is going to involve the Russians in some way or the other. You just said -- you can see it on the map.

Ukraine is not going to be able to live freely and independently if Russia is not in some way supporting it or part of the solution or living with it, right?

So, what the president is trying to do is to place a cost on Russia, deter it from any further military action in the Ukraine, but also make clear that, look, we -- you know, as he keeps saying, we can adjust these -- what he is trying to say is, if you come forward and there is a political solution here, we will also deescalate.

BALDWIN: Minutes after we heard from the president, we heard from Secretary of State John Kerry across the Atlantic Ocean in Rome. Let's take a listen.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States also has choices to make, and President Obama has been clear that we cannot allow Russia or any country to defy international law with impunity.

There is no place in the community of nations for the kind of oppression and steps that we have seen taken in Crimea in Ukraine in these last days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Diplomatic somersaults. Again, he, too, has to be very, very careful, calling it Russian aggression.

I wanted to ask you just your thoughts on his relationship with Sergei Lavrov, his counterpart in Russia.

He was asked by our own Elise Labott if he feels mislead by him. He said, listen, I talked to him many times in the past. Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we disagree. And clearly this is one of those times when they're disagreeing.

How do they break this, what seems to be, an impasse?

ZAKARIA: Lavrov is one of the most skilled diplomats in the world. He dates back, as does Mr. Putin, from the Soviet days, but Lavrov was a very important diplomat in the Soviet days. He knows how to carry the brief for his country.

And what's going to make the question you just asked more complicated is events on the ground. It is very likely that there is going to be a referendum in Crimea. It is quite possible that the Crimean people will vote to become part of Russia.

And if that happens -

BALDWIN: Then what?

ZAKARIA: -- and the government in Kiev says this is not OK, you now have competing claims. And the United States in some cases in the past has supported those kinds of claims.

So, when the Kosovars wanted to be independent and create an independent Kosovo out of the former Yugoslavia, they said it was OK.

So, now, the Crimeans say, well, we want to create a -- we want to determine our own future.

So, those events on the ground are going to be much more important than the personal relationship between Kerry and Lavrov.

That's fine. They are both pros and they'll be able to handle it.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the Soviet days, and I just wanted to end with asking you about this, because it was '91, it was the end of the Cold War. Russia still has much of his -the "Evil Empire" sheen if you will.

And I know, Fareed, you wrote an article saying that Russian President Putin's 19th century tactics do not bode well for Russia. What did you mean by that?

ZAKARIA: If you think about it, leaders are divided into two groups, those who think about the past and are trapped by the past and those who are thinking about the future.

What Russia needs is a modern economy. It needs rising living standards, which means it needs peace and stability with its neighborhoods. It wants -- it needs trade and commerce. It needs to develop industry.

Having -- you know, getting Crimea, this is like the 19th century where you thought of the world as a chess board and you thought if I got to hold more squares, it makes a difference.

BALDWIN: I get to win.

ZAKARIA: Right. They got Crimea, but they've scared off Ukraine. Ukraine has slipped their grasp. And, most importantly, the people of Ukraine are now deeply suspicious of Russia.

The people in Poland and Hungary and the Czech Republic, or probably in places like Kazakhstan, are all now fearful because they are watching their Russian neighbors behave -

BALDWIN: A domino game, potentially.

ZAKARIA: Right, and so the Europeans are going to trade less. The Americans are going to trade less.

So, Putin got this little half piece on the chess board, but really it's a huge economic cost for Russia in terms of its efforts to become a modern economy.

BALDWIN: Fareed Zakaria, as always, thank you so much. Love having you on, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS," the host.

Coming up, Anderson Cooper is in the capital of Ukraine. He is Kiev. We will take you there, live, show you what he's seeing on the ground and what those are telling him about what's happening in Crimea.

That's next.

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BALDWIN: In Ukraine, there are threats of international sanctions, numerous diplomatic meetings, all because Russia moved troops into Crimea, but what if the people of Crimea want to join the Russian Federation?

Today, the parliament there voted in favor of that, and in a matter of 10 days, the public will have a chance to do so, as well.

But international leaders say this referendum violates Ukraine's constitution, the president, specifically saying it violates international law.

Anderson Cooper is live in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. And, Anderson, what kinds of conversations -- he's on the phone. What kinds of conversations have you had with people there, obviously watching very closely what is happening in Crimea?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC360" (via telephone): There is widespread dismay, certainly among people here, ordinary people here in Kiev, protesters who are in Independence Square, who are still camped out there, and Ukrainian leaders, as well.

To a man and woman, they will tell you they cannot imagine a Ukraine in which Crimea is not a part of Ukrainian territory.

In exactly what capacity, that may be open to some sort of negotiation, but the idea of Crimea leaving, of joining the Russian Federation, that is something here that is just met with widespread scorn, dismay, anger, confusion, as well.

I was down in the Independence Square throughout the day talking to people who said it's just unimaginable and it's not what the people in the square fought for and died for a little bit more than a week and a half ago.

BALDWIN: The word I've heard to describe the tone there after all those protests was somber, somber over what has been happening.

Anderson Cooper on the phone, Anderson, thank you. Make sure you tune in to watch Anderson, "AC360," live from Kiev, 8:30p.m. Eastern. Let's get you back to some news here in the United States today, specifically in Washington.

I want to talk about the heated clash between Congressman Elijah Cummings and committee chairman Congressman Darrell Issa during this IRS hearing, because members of the Congressional Black Caucus, they are demanding that Speaker John Boehner strip committee chair Issa of his leadership role after this happened yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), RANKING MEMBER, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. You just cannot do this.

I want to ask a question. What are we hiding? What is the big deal? May I ask my question? May I state my statement?

REPRESENATIVE DARRELL ISSA (R), CHAIRMAN, OVERSIGH COMMITTEE: You're all free to leave. We've adjourned. But the gentleman may ask his question.

CUMMINGS: For the past year, the central Republican accusation in this investigation --

ISSA: We're adjourned. Close it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joe Johns has been following the developments since that heated exchange.

And, Joe, just curious, has there been any kind of response from House Speaker John Boehner over the calls to remove Darrell Issa?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think you could say disagreement at the highest level on this.

Minority Leader Pelosi had a news conference calling the behavior totally disrespectful toward Cummings. House Speaker Boehner was asked about it, and he said in his view Chairman Issa acted appropriately and he supports Issa.

In fact, the House voted on a resolution brought by Democrats to have Issa removed, that was tabled on a straight, party-line vote earlier today.

Republicans control the House. Issa is a Republican. Boehner knows the power of tea party politics in this country, tea partiers very concerned that some of them may have been targeted by the IRS, and that is the nucleus of the controversy.

BALDWIN: Joe Johns, thank you very much.

Coming up next, mayors from some of the largest cities here in the country meeting today in Chicago to talk about how they're facing the challenges within their own cities and towns.

One of the biggest issues still facing Chicago? Violent crime. The steps mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking to solve the problem, next.

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BALDWIN: Before I let you go, I just wanted to remind you that CNN is airing a new original series called ""CHICAGOLAND"," tonight.

It's an in-depth, extremely intimate examination of Chicago's critical challenges, executive produced by actor/director Robert Redford.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fenger High School Principal Liz Dozier is on a mission, to give her kids a shot at a better future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "CHICAGOLAND" also looks into some of the major issues confronting major urban centers.

So, later tonight, the University of Chicago, hosting several big city mayors, CNN's Don Lemon, once a Chicagoan himself, joins me there with more on the discussion. And so tell me more about this, Don. What are the big factors here in these cities?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're going to meet a little bit later on this evening, but having viewed ""CHICAGOLAND"," having lived here, of course, the four mayors that you mentioned, I've lived in three of those cities, Atlanta, New York and here.

The big issues, of course, they're outgunned. They're outgunned on the streets, more guns, bigger guns, by gang member. Number two, money. And number three, again, the school systems.

Chicago school system had a $1 billion shortfall. They had to vote to close 50 schools. That's a big issue here, and they have come to "CHICAGOLAND" on the same day that it premieres on CNN to try and figure out some solutions and what those big cities, other big cities, can learn from Chicago.

One person we spoke to lived in this very neighborhood. This is a Hyde Park neighborhood. I'm on the University of Chicago campus, not far from where the Obamas used to live.

But also, do you remember, Brooke, Hadiya Pendleton? She was the high school student who was gunned down --

BALDWIN: Of course.

LEMON: Just over a year ago in this very neighborhood, right in this very neighborhood?

I spoke to her father. He's planning on attending this forum tonight. And here's what he said the issue was for him. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What do you want people to learn from "CHICAGOLAND" or get out of "CHICAGOLAND"?

NATHANIEL PENDLETON, FATHER OF HADIYA PENDLETON: Michelle made a comment on there. She said that there's a lot of inner-city kids that live maybe a block away from some of the greatest educational institutions in the world.

LEMON: The first lady, you're talking about.

PENDLETON: Yes. And I want people to know that Chicago is a great city, but it's only as great as we can make it.

We have to stand up. We have to be responsible for our kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He is talking about, Brooke, the first lady speaking at Hadiya Pendelton's funeral after she was gunned down not far from here.

And what she said was, you know, you can be one block from here in the shadow of this great university and not even know it's here.

It may as well be a world away because you don't feel you belong, and you don't feel that you have access to this great institution.

And also you don't feel comfortable even leaving your home sometimes to go to school.

They're going to talk about those issue. We're going to interview some of the mayors. We'll have it for you a bit later on here on CNN, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We look forward to it. It's such an important issue and I'm glad to see these mayors all coming together to share their own experiences and hopefully find solutions.

Don Lemon in Chicago, thank you so, so much.

Just a reminder to you, as you look at this screen, tonight's premiere of the new CNN original series, "CHICAGOLAND." It follows the struggles and successes facing this quintessential American city.

Do not miss it, "CHICAGOLAND," tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 9:00 Central, here on CNN.

Just always a quick reminder, you can check the blog, the Brooke Blog, if you missed any interviews that you'd love to see again, pass them along to your friends, go to CNN.com/Brooke.

Thank you so much for joining me here.

Of course, the continuing coverage of the crisis in Ukraine continues right now as I send things off to my colleague in Washington, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.