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President Biden Gives His First Address at U.N. General Assembly; Source Says, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Tells Dems They Must Unite to Get Bills Passed. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 21, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:07]

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The future will belong to those who embrace human dignity, not trample. The future belong to those unleashed the potential of the people, not those who stifle from it. The future belong to those who give their people the ability to breathe free, not those who seek to suffocate their people with an iron hand. Authoritarianism, the authoritarianism of the world may seek to proclaim the end of the age of democracy but they're wrong.

The truth is the democratic world is everywhere. It lives in the anti- corruption activists, human rights defenders, the journalists, the peace protesters, on the frontlines of this struggle in Belarus, Burma, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, and everywhere in between. It lives in the brave women of Sudan who withstood violence and oppression to push a genocidal dictator from power and to keep working every day to defend their democratic progress. It lives in the proud Moldovans who helped deliver landslide victory for the forces of democracy with a mandate to fight graft, to build a more inclusive economy. It lives in the young people of Zambia who harnessed the power of voting for the first time turning out in record numbers to denounce corruption and chart a new path for their.

And while no democracy is perfect, including the United States, we'll continue to struggle to live up to the highest ideals to heal our divisions, that we face down violence and insurrection. Democracy remains the best tool we have to unleash our full human potential.

My fellow leaders, this is a moment where we must prove ourselves the equals of those who come before us, who had vision and values and determined faith in our collective future built our United Nations, broke the cycle of war and destruction and laid the foundations for more than seven decades of relative peace and growing global prosperity.

Now, we must again come together to affirm the inherent humanity that unites us is much greater than any outward divisions or disagreements. We must choose to do more than we think we can do alone so that we accomplish what we must together, ending this pandemic and making sure we're better prepared for the next one, staving off climatic climate change and increasing our resilience to the impacts we're already seeing, ensuring a future where technologies are a vital tool to solving human challenges and empowering human potential, not a source of greater strife and repression.

These are the challenges that we will determine what the world looks like for our children and our grandchildren and what they'll inherit. We can only meet them by looking to the future.

I stand here today for the first time in 20 years with the United States not at war. We've turned the page. All the unmatched energy and commitment, will and resources of our nation are now fully and squarely focused on what's ahead of us, not what was behind. I know this, as we look ahead, we will lead, we will lead on all the greatest challenges of our time, from COVID to climate, peace and security, human dignity and human rights, but we will not go it alone. We'll lead together with our allies and partners in cooperation with all those who believe, as we do, that this is within our power to meet these challenges, to build a future, to lift all of our people and preserve this planet.

But none of this is inevitable. It's a choice. And I can tell you where America stands. We will choose to build a better future, we, you and I. We have the will and capacity to make it better. Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot afford to waste any more time. Let's get to work. Let's make our better future now. We can do this. It's within our power and capacity. Thank you and God bless you all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the president of the United States of America for the statement --

[10:35:04]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: To our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world, U.S. President Joe Biden just completed his first address to the U.N. General Assembly as president, a message of unity there from the president, saying the world can, must work together with alliances, friends and adversaries to solve problems that cannot be solved by force of arms, he says.

And he singled out the pandemic, the issue of climate change. He said the next decade will be a decisive one. The next decade, he says, will determine our future.

Two notes there. He says the U.S. not looking for a cold war, perhaps with a nod to China. Also says the U.S. is willing to return to full compliance with the Iran nuclear deal if Iran were also to return to full compliance. We might note a sharp contrast in the language. The rhetoric we heard today from this president as compared to his predecessor, perhaps more boilerplate than hyperbole that we've heard in recent years.

We're joined now by Jeff Zeleny, Dana Bash, Kylie Atwood, Nic Robertson and David Sanger to run through the most important points of Biden's address there.

And, Jeff, if I could begin with you, the key messages here seemed to be, one, alliances are necessary, they work, they're really the only approach that can work with global challenges today, but also noting that -- he said at the end there this is the first time a U.S. president addressing the assembly in some 20 years where the U.S. was not at war.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And perhaps that's the headline that President Biden would have wanted to come out of this, Jim. This is really a historic time here, 20 years on after the longest war. He sought to turn this moment into a pivot forward approach to draw a collective strength.

But, of course, it is punctuated by so much more, the fight against COVID-19. It's almost as though the longest war in American history is merely an afterthought, which is extraordinary in and of itself given, you know, this huge toll it was taking.

But I think big picture here, we should pause. Yes, there is a skeptical audience. Yes, there is scrutiny. But this is a different U.S. leader. The tone here is dramatically different from President Trump, of course, who came here and effectively put his thumb into the eye of the U.N.

And so President Biden did not do that. But he also said, I thought, interestingly, we will not shy away from competition but we will avoid conflict. So, sort of imbued imbued in all of this are the issues of our time. And he did not mention France specifically.

But I think one of the biggest takeaways, yes, it's a different moment, but he has to prove it, and his record already is suspect in many of these regards.

SCIUTTO: For some. France certainly making its differences known, but other allies, I've spoken to diplomats from Europe and the U.K. who say that that not threatening at least other European allies' view of the U.S. commitment to its alliances.

As we're speaking now, the presidential motorcade preparing to leave the U.N. General Assembly following the president's remarks there. Things move very quickly here.

Dana Bash, it was notable I thought that the president mentioned a big piece of the domestic agenda there as well, build back better infrastructure. I want to ask you where his leadership is abroad and at home given the challenges he has faced, differences with allies over Afghanistan, for instance, but also difficulties at home getting his legislative agenda too, which in the president's own words has global consequences, right? You have to address infrastructure here for American strength abroad.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And what the president tried to do is take the message that he has been making since he was inaugurated and even before that to intertwine the notion of infrastructure with climate crisis, with COVID-19, that they are all related, and explain why they are related.

He's been doing that on the domestic front and he wanted to take that to the world stage to encourage allies and, you know, adversaries alike to take to heart the need for infrastructure because of the climate crisis, infrastructure for other reasons primarily what he talked about was giving people jobs at home. And I did think that that was very interesting.

And I also think that the fact that he talked about Afghanistan after COVID-19 and the effort that the U.S. is making not just in America but more importantly to get the vaccine to countries that need it most, the fact that he talked about the climate crisis and the amount of money that the U.S. is trying to gather to give from the U.S. but also to try to galvanize the world to get money for countries that are developing to protect from the climate crisis.

[10:40:09]

That is clearly where he wants his legacy to be, to start this conversation in an earnest way and to change the perception of America on the world stage.

But the fact is Afghanistan is still very much on people's minds and this speech isn't going to change that anytime soon.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And similar to his position on Afghanistan at home, sticking to it, right, defending it. Confident it seems that he made the right decision, and as he noted there, as I said earlier, saying this is the first time the U.S. president has addressed this assembly in two decades, right, without the U.S. at war, referring, of course, to Afghanistan but also Iraq and his plans there going forward.

David Sanger, notable to hear the president express at least some residual hope of coming to an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. You and I have reported this would extensively and those talks have not been going really anywhere as Iran has continued to build its supplies and enriched uranium. The president saying the U.S. would return to full compliance if Iran returns to full compliance. Is that a realistic expectation?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we thought about a month or two ago, Jim, that it would be, that the new Iranian government would pick up these talks where they left off in June. We may know more by the end of the week. The Iranians are showing up here, not their new president but their foreign minister. We may get a sense of whether they're ready to do this or whether they are hoping for a bigger price.

I thought, Jim, that the most notable thing about the speech was that China was the subtext throughout in his discussion of human rights, of climate and so forth. But he never actually mentioned China straight on, which is interesting, because Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, will be speaking later this afternoon.

And at one moment, and I think you referred to this before, he said, we are not seeking a new cold war or a world divided into rigid blocks. But, clearly, his fear is that's where we are headed. I mean, he's talked a lot about autocracy versus democracy. He tried to avoid the stark choices today, but that was underlying all of the themes, particularly his human rights discussion.

SCIUTTO: No question and, frankly, not too far below the surface when he talks about freedom of navigation. That is an issue with China. When he talks about the rule of law, when he talked about adherence to treaties, and he did explicitly talked about the Uyghurs, of course, Xinjiang, where China continues reeducation, really mass incarceration there, but deliberately not stating Xi Jinping or China or Beijing by name.

Nic Robertson here with us. Nic you speak to some European diplomats, and they will note that there is less daylight between some of Biden's foreign policy positions than Trump's on a number of issues than some of them had hoped. And with this, for instance, the brewing dispute with France, one of the issues there was not letting an ally know what you were about to do, similar to the criticism we heard following the U.S.' swift departure from Afghanistan.

I wonder from your position there, what is -- how does Europe hear these comments today and do they believe Biden's commitment to alliances?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think when we think of Europe, we're used to sort of think of the United Kingdom included with Europe. Of course, geographically, it is. But I think what we're beginning to see is a U.K. separating out from Europe, which leads to its own tensions and the United Kingdom having what it likes to see as a special relationship with the United States.

I thought it was interesting that President Biden talked about the fact he had reassured NATO allies that he had rebuilt alliances. You know, I think there would be a few in Europe at the moment that, you know, President Trump very clearly set an agenda of America first, but this is still America first.

And the concerns about Europe's future, its own defense, its ties to business connections to China, are all now falling out of the frame of business, as it was since the Second World War during that period. And I think France and its feelings right now, particularly under this president, who's very outspoken, who likes to be big on the world stage, he went to Beirut, you know, to try to sort of sort out Lebanon's problems, he likes to be seeing doing good around the world, likes to carry that popular message, to be so shunned by the United States at the moment, Europe takes that on the chin.

So, I think when President Biden talks about those alliances, the NATO Chapter Five Commitment, it is ringing hollow.

[10:45:03]

There is no way of getting around that. We are in a different place. You know, this separation, commonality in some areas, but this separation I think is something that we're witnessing and perhaps Europe didn't expect it as much under a President Biden.

SCIUTTO: It's interesting. I was speaking to a European diplomat yesterday who noted in the midst of all this that, yes, every nation operates in its national interest but perhaps the U.S. does so with a little more confidence and agency and we're certainly seeing that play out. We should note, however, Kylie Atwood at the State Department, a very sharp contrast here in that under President Trump, there was genuine concern of him pulling out, pulling the U.S. out of the NATO alliance, perhaps withdrawing U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula, withdrawing, in effect, from another key alliance here.

While there are questions about how far Biden will go, that is a major and stark difference between this administration and their predecessor.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, of course it is. I mean, you heard President Biden reiterate time and time again throughout this speech that working alongside allies is the only path forward here. You heard him talk about the fact that this is an inflection point when it comes to if universal values are going to be upheld or if they're going to be trampled, of course, an indicator that there that China is trampling some of those universal values, even though, as we've noted, he didn't discuss china specifically.

But, of course, there is some tension in the background here. This is the environment that he has walked into. And when it comes to the decisions that the Biden administration has made over the course of the last six months or so, that have created that tension with allies, President Biden made a point, either explicitly or sort of between the lines, to defend those decisions that his administration have made, right. So, talking about Afghanistan, he talked about the need to focus on the challenges of the future, not the challenges of the past in terms of withdrawing U.S. troops and ending the war in Afghanistan.

When it comes to the new U.S./U.K./Australia effort here, this new partnership that left out some countries, namely France, he talked about the need globally to focus on consequential areas of the future, noting the indo-Pacific as one of those, even though he didn't talk about that new partnership.

And then, lastly, when it comes to COVID vaccines, there have been some countries that have been frustrated that the U.S. hasn't shared more, that they are starting with booster shots at home while many poor nations don't even have vaccines, President Biden made the point to remind the world that the United States has shared over 160 million vaccines globally.

SCIUTTO: Kylie, as you were speaking there, we saw President Biden's motorcade living the U.N. here in New York following his remarks.

We should note at the end of the president's remarks there, his call for international unity, working together on these global challenges, his comments there met with some applause from those world leaders present.

Thanks so much to all of you, Dana, Jeff Zeleny, David Sanger, Kylie Atwood, Nic Robertson, and thanks to all of you watching this hour.

And still to come this hour, a critical vote coming up in the U.S. House to keep the government simply funded, suspend the debt ceiling, as required to do so, the serious showdown looming on Capitol Hill, that's next.

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[10:50:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN NEWSROOM: This just in. A source telling CNN that Speaker Pelosi is emphasizing to Democrats they need to unite. They need to unite to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion economic spending package, and all of it by Monday, that, the source said, or they risk getting nothing done.

The Democratic infighting is putting President Biden's agenda in jeopardy. The White House pressuring Congress to take this over the finish line or face a harsh midterm election.

Let's talk through it all with CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood. John, look, there's a clear divide here when it comes to congressional Democrats, also perhaps Democrats in the White House. What I found fascinating though about the comments by Speaker Pelosi is her also noting everything is perishable, we have to get this done in time, and she was telling those in her caucus to stop making public pledges because it's making it difficult. It seems like that advice may be a little late.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a little late but this is, as those remarks suggested, and as you suggested, Erica, a mutually assured destruction situation. Each faction can bring down the most cherished goal of the other side and bring the entire agenda down.

That's the biggest thing that is promising for the administration, which is that, ultimately, people will see their fates bound up together not only in getting what they want legislatively but also surviving in the midterm elections.

And I think the white House remains cautiously optimistic that in the end this is going to be posturing and grinding of legislative gears, and in the end, they'll come together. However, as Pelosi's remarks suggested about not digging in too much, if you play a game of chicken long enough, people can miscalculate at the end, collide and have very bad consequences.

[10:55:06]

That's what the White House is concerned about. That's what Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are concerned about.

How much is the White House weighing in at this point behind the scenes?

HARWOOD: Oh, I think they've been there every step of the way. They're devoting a lot of trust in Nancy Pelosi. Joe Biden is a creature of the Senate. He's been trying to work on those two holdout, Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. But, of course, in the Senate, as in the House, you have got left/right divides within the Democratic Party. So, this president knows that there's nothing more important other than getting the pandemic under control, which is job one, this is the second priority for him both for his long-term goals for the country and also for his political success. So, he's going to be very, very involved in this trying to get this over the finish line, not going to be easy at all.

HILL: No, it certainly won't be. We'll continue to follow all the developments. John Harwood, always good to see, thank you.

And thanks to all of you for joining us today. I'm Erica Hill.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts after this quick break. Stay with us.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN AT THIS HOUR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Here is what we are watching at this hour.

[11:00:01]

On the world stage, President Biden delivers his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly, as he faces a major diplomatic rift --