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President Biden Touts Electric Charging Stations; Parents of Michigan School Shooting Suspect in Court; Interview With White House Economic Adviser Jared Bernstein; Efforts Continue to Avert Russia- Ukraine War. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 08, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:17]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: I'm Alisyn Camerota.

There's growing concern in the Biden administration about the human fallout if Russia invades Ukraine. A senior administration official says the biggest worry is mass casualties and a refugee crisis in Europe.

Officials estimate there could be between 25,000 to 50,000 civilian deaths and up to 35,000 troops killed.

BLACKWELL: And there's more of this shuttle diplomacy to try to de- escalate things that's happening today.

Fresh off his meeting with Vladimir Putin. French President Emmanuel Macron met with Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.

And CNN's senior national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, is in Kyiv.

Alex, what are you learning about this meeting between Macron and Zelensky?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Victor and Alisyn.

Well, as you said, this meeting with President Zelensky comes on the heels of his meeting with President Putin in Russia and ahead of his meeting in Berlin with the German chancellor, this flurry of diplomatic activity aimed, of course, at de-escalating the situation along the various borders of Ukraine. We are hearing some positive sounds from President Macron, who said

today that he does believe that there are what he called concrete practical solutions to ease this crisis. He said he is positive, but, at the same time, he is realistic, and that this would take months of perseverance, months of tough, tough work, but that there are primarily two things that need to happen that would lead to peace.

The first is to solve the fighting that has been taking place in Eastern Ukraine, that has been raging for years. And that, he says, needs to be done through what's called the Minsk agreements. That's a series of agreements that were put into place after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.

So, end the fighting there through those agreements. The second, he says, is through more discussions about security in Europe, cooperation and guarantees. Of course, this is something that we have heard repeatedly from President Putin, that Russia feels threatened by what's happening with NATO countries and European countries.

And so work on some sort of European security cooperation and guarantees there with Russia.

Here's a little bit more of what President Macron and President Zelensky had to say today at their joint press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): President Macron and I have a very common position the security threats for Ukraine and all of Europe and the whole world. They need new positions, new approaches from the European leadership. We stand for the de-occupation of our territory.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We had an exchange with the president, who told me that he would not be the cause of an escalation.

The second important element is that there will be no fixed base or deployment of sensitive equipment in Belarus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Now, the Kremlin did take issue with some of what Macron says took place in Moscow.

The Kremlin says that they did not agree to a military de-escalation, and they did not agree on a date on when to pull their troops out of Belarus.

Alisyn, Victor, you will remember that exercises between Belarus and Russia are due to take place, start later this week. Of course, you would expect at the end of exercise that Russian troops would be pulled out, the Kremlin today saying that they don't have a date for when those troops will be pulled out, those troops among the many tens of thousands, over 100,000 threatening Ukraine with a potential invasion that, as you said, could lead to tens of thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Ukraine -- Alisyn, Victor.

CAMEROTA: Alex Marquardt, thank you for the update from Kyiv.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Moscow for us.

So, Nic, how does the Kremlin view this meeting between Ukraine and France?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They are seeing this perhaps through the prism of President Putin and some of his sort of, I think you can only describe it as most undiplomatic language that he used to describe Ukraine and President Zelensky late yesterday evening.

This is language that you wouldn't expect to normally hear in this sort of forum. But it is the sort of language that President Putin has used in the past. He was talking about the Minsk talks that Alex was just explaining there, and saying that he expected Ukraine and the president there, despite whatever they think, whether they like it or not, he said, essentially, get on with it, darling.

This was sort of overload -- overtones of gross sexual innuendo there from President Putin, although the Kremlin denies that. But it creates -- what it does is gives a very clear impression of the way that President Putin views Zelensky and Ukraine at the moment, in very derogatory terms.

[14:05:02]

Now, of course, a journalist did ask Zelensky about this, and Zelensky was sort of able to parry it back in a much more diplomatic style. And he said, oh, well we can't -- President Putin's right. Ukraine is a beautiful place. He said that, when President Putin says it's my Ukraine or implies it's my Ukraine, which is what more or less what he said, then he's wrong. That's a mistake.

But in terms of you will have to endure this, you will have to take it was essentially what President Putin said, Zelensky said, look, we're good at patience. We do this.

So that gives you the sort of understanding of the tone that exists from President Putin towards President Zelensky, but the Kremlin today really dismissing, really, I'd say, pretty much moving off the table any sense that they're about to reduce their troop strength around Ukraine at all.

BLACKWELL: All right, Nic Robertson in Moscow for us.

Thank you, Nic.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, President Biden is vowing to cut off that critical gas pipeline between Russia and Germany if Putin invades Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: But after the president's meeting with the German chancellor yesterday, it's unclear if Germany is on board with that. Germany is heavily dependent on Russian energy.

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is with us now.

So, the president said that he could -- quote -- "bring an end to the pipeline" if Russia invades. How can he -- and he didn't offer many details, at least yesterday -- guarantee that?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And that was the big question, is, how specifically can you do that if Germany, in and of itself, given the chancellor would not commit to it yesterday, is not also in agreement with that statement and supportive of the U.S. position that if Russia does invade Ukraine, then Nord Stream 2 will not go forward?

Because, right now, it's basically under review. It is not operational, but it could easily become operational pretty quickly. And so that is the big question for the president, because he did say yesterday he is quite clear that he believes it would not become operable if that happened, but he's not really saying how.

And, of course, that's been a big question here. They could certainly impose heavy financial sanctions on people associated with the pipeline. Whether that remains -- whether that happens remains to be seen, because, of course, that has been a path that you have seen lawmakers pursue for several months now, trying to go after Nord Stream 2. It's been a point of contention at times.

And it's something that you have seen Secretary Blinken, officials here at the White House say that they believe Nord Stream 2 was a bad idea. He said that during his confirmation hearing almost a year ago up on Capitol Hill.

And now it's, of course, still back at the center of this issue and the big questions, of course, over what's going to happen. I think the larger picture of this, Victor and Alisyn, is, of course, still what Russia is going to do. That is something that President Biden says he believes that President Putin only knows what he wants to do here. And it's not something that they believe is really something that's being shared with even other senior Russian officials.

And so that's really still the big point of question here at the White House, which is all of these threats that they are making of sanctions, of making sure Nord Stream 2 would not go forward, it all, of course, is dependent on what Russia does.

CAMEROTA: Kaitlan, President Biden is also set to speak soon manufacturing in the U.S., so do we know what he's going to say?

COLLINS: Yes, this is -- they're going to be talking largely about the president's desire to bring back manufacturing and revive it here in the United States, but also talking about this Australian company that plans to build a manufacturing facility in Tennessee, to build those chargers for electric cars.

That has been a big part of the president's plan here is to put more of those chargers throughout the United States to inspire more people to use electric vehicles, because, of course, that has been one of the aspects, challenges, I guess you would say, of this, is that people say there needs to be more of those.

That's part of the president's infrastructure plan, something they have talked about. And so you will see the energy secretary appearing alongside President Biden and the transportation secretary here when he speaks in just a few moments.

CAMEROTA: OK, we will be watching.

Kaitlan Collins, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Jared Bernstein is a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Good to see you again. Thank you for your time.

JARED BERNSTEIN, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So the president today is going to be touting these charging stations. Of course, he wants to boost manufacturing, but the overlap there, we have got a U.S. automaker, Ford, that is pausing or altering manufacturing at four of its North American plants because of the shortage of semiconductor chips.

Commerce Department says that the shortage could lead some factories in several areas to close. Where's the administration on this and how are you going to help solve this problem?

BERNSTEIN: It's a great question for which we have a very solid answer.

But, before I get to that, let me just say that, when we talk about building manufacturing jobs, that's not just a future-looking thing. That's something that's occurred since this president took office, 367,000 manufacturing jobs since President Biden took office. That's the most in 30 years. So there's a bit of a renaissance already going on there.

[14:10:00]

You heard a -- the company you're talking about named Tritium, Australian company, going to build 30,000 E.V. chargers here in the U.S. in Tennessee, hundreds of jobs, good jobs, good-paying jobs.

Now, you raise a great question about semiconductor chips. There is very important legislation. It's moved through the Senate. In fact, it got 68 votes in the Senate. What gets 68 votes in the Senate these days? Not much. But the USICA bill did. That became the COMPETES bill in the House, which has also passed, so that has to go to conference.

The president wants that bill on his desk as soon as possible. It invests $50 billion in domestic production of computer chips. It's critically important to help mend the medium-, longer-term supply chain issues that you raise.

When it comes to nearer-term issues to help ease price pressures, we have done a lot there as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: But on the chips, those investments are already being made in this country.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about gas prices, a gallon of regular now up to $3.46, on average, a new seven-year high, up more -- it's up $1 almost from a year ago.

The president ordered the release of 50 million barrels from the reserve. That was back in November, I believe it was, hit the market in December. OPEC is not ramping up increases to the desires of the U.S.

What is the plan to control gas prices? This is something that's hitting people every single day.

BERNSTEIN: A three-part plan coming from President Biden, who, first of all, starts out by being very clear about precisely the stressors you just mentioned.

Anyone -- and that's most of us -- who've had to fill up their tank understands what you're talking about. Number one, we are engaging internationally, both with oil-producing and oil-consuming countries.

In terms of oil-producing countries, we want them to live up to their supply commitments. And we're engaged in diplomatic measures to make that happen.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Well, OPEC says they're going to stick at 400,000 barrels a day. They're not ramping up in the way that you're asking them to.

So you may be approaching them, but they're not responding as quickly as you would like.

BERNSTEIN: So, let's talk about what we can do.

So, oil-consuming countries have strategic reserves. And the last time we released 50 million barrels, many of which are still in train, by the way, the price of gasoline -- it wasn't just the strategic release, but it helped. The price of gasoline actually fell by 10 cents a gallon.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: For a very short time. Are you going to do that again?

BERNSTEIN: That is certainly an option that can be put on the table as needed. Finally, we have got to protect consumers from any abuse. And the

president is making sure that every legal and regulatory authority we have is going to be tapped to make sure that any price gains are being -- any price decreases are being passed along to consumers.

We're seeing very high profitability in these oil companies, lots of stock share buybacks. This president wants to make sure that, in a period of such strong demand, that some of those benefits are being passed along to consumers.

And he will look at the regulatory authorities to make sure that happens.

BLACKWELL: Jared, the last time you were on with me, it felt like you were softening the blow for a disappointing January jobs report, where you were saying that some people were saying there were going to be a loss of jobs.

Man, were you wrong, I mean, 467,000 jobs in January.

BERNSTEIN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: The question is, how is the administration -- we're seeing the adjustments at the BLS. These private banks are getting it wrong. How are they, you all, getting this so wrong month after month?

BERNSTEIN: Well, first of all, let me say that I have never been happier to be more wrong...

BLACKWELL: I bet you are.

BERNSTEIN: ... as you would imagine. Yes.

Secondly, we are learning -- and, in fact, this isn't our first lesson by a long shot -- that when it comes to the kind of uncertainty created by a pandemic upon the land, a situation we really haven't had in this world for about 100 years, it makes these kinds of forecasts extremely difficult.

That's why it's probably most important for us to do what we have really tried to do every time I have talked to you and others out here, Victor, which is not to take one month, but to look at the trends, OK?

So we know that GDP grew last year across the whole year, adjusting for inflation, so even with elevated prices, at the fastest growth rate in almost 40 years. We know that 6.6 million jobs were created over the year, not one month, over the year, the fastest job gain on record.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: Unemployment falling faster than it has before.

And so those are baked in the cake. They're longer-term trends. They get away from the monthly bits and bobs. But, yes, that forecast was certainly off.

I will say this about it. We were worried about the extent to which people were absent from work and unpaid wouldn't be counted on payrolls.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: And many of them managed to power through and get on those payrolls.

[14:15:00]

But, at the same time, January was a tough month for a lot of families dealing with Omicron. And we don't want to lose that thread either.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it certainly was.

Jared Bernstein, thank you so much for your time.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you, Victor.

CAMEROTA: OK, Victor, we're told that we are just moments away now from President Biden at the White House talking about manufacturing. So we will go back to that.

In the meantime, there's a critical Supreme Court decision that will allow a new congressional map drawn by Republicans to remain in place, even though critics say it spells bad news for black voters.

BLACKWELL: And NFL commissioner Roger Goodell met with civil rights leaders to talk about hiring practices after a lawsuit alleged racial discrimination.

We will speak to one of those leaders in that room for that meeting next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:08]

CAMEROTA: The parents of the alleged Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley appeared in court today for a preliminary examination.

Acquaintances of the couple testified and shared text messages exchanged with Jennifer Crumbley, the mom, on the day of the shooting. One witness said she was -- quote -- "alarmed" by an image that Jennifer had shared that Ethan had drawn.

And a former boss said Jennifer was concerned about losing her job in the aftermath of the incident.

BLACKWELL: James and Jennifer Crumbley are charged with four counts each have involuntary manslaughter for allegedly ignoring warning signs their son was a threat.

Shimon Prokupecz has been following this case. So, what did we learn from these text message?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Well, the key thing now is, we're getting a window into the prosecution's case and why they feel that they should take this to trial and get a conviction.

And some of the text messages from that day certainly very troubling, prosecutors trying to show that the mother here was more concerned about her job than about what was going on with her son.

And then, when we look at some of the text messages that authorities here have reviewed, it goes into the fact that some of the warning signs perhaps, perhaps may have been ignored, and that the mother texts a friend, a woman who owns a horse farm owner, saying that: "I wish we had warnings," saying that he's a good kid, and ultimately just surprised that something like this would happen.

But then there are more texts between the mother and her boss, where it is certainly very damning for the defense, in that she says that the gun is gone, gone. This is the gun that was allegedly used in the shooting, and so are the bullets.

And then she says, "He must be the shooter." And then a short time later, there's a response from her saying, "Ethan did it," and that she's going to need a lawyer.

And then she also talks about how she hopes this doesn't affect her job, that she really needs to keep her job, and her boss telling the prosecutors here that he was really surprised that that is what she was more concerned about than the fact that what had just happened, which involved her son.

CAMEROTA: Yes, great point.

We had also heard in a previous court appearance that the parents were behaving really inappropriately, all of this PDA that they were exchanging.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, and kind of whispering "I love you" to each other and kind of touching each other.

So what happened is, the prosecutors asked the judge, and there was a motion filed on this, to tell them to cut it out. And so far, from what we can see from our cameras, none of that has really been going on. They have kind of just sat there quietly, and helping their lawyers out through the examination of some of these witnesses.

But, again, the key here is that we're getting a real window into what the prosecution's case is ultimately going to be. There's a detective on the stand now.

And we will see what else...

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

I want to thank Secretary Granholm and Buttigieg and Gina McCarthy for being here today, and Congressman Jim Cooper, an old friend who did an awful lot to get this to go in Tennessee.

And Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, he deserves credit as well. He wasn't able to be here today, but he worked hard to help make this happen.

Another example of what America can achieve when we come together, Democrats and Republicans, to get things done. The new manufacturing facility of Tritium is -- that's announced today is more than just great news for Tennessee. Yes, it's going to create more than 500 good-paying jobs in Tennessee, but it's going to deliver greater dignity and a little more breathing room for workers and their families.

And it's going to have a ripple effect beyond and far beyond the one state. This is great news for workers across the country, for an economy, and, frankly, for the planet.

When we wrote the -- and passed the bipartisan infrastructure law, we included $7.5 billion for electric vehicle chargers, like the one Jane brought along today. It's a little thing here. You can see.

But all kidding aside, Secretaries Granholm and Buttigieg have been helping lead this effort from our administration,. And later this week, we're going to announce a state-by-state allocation for $5 billion of the funding for these chargers, so states can start making plans to build out what will become a national network of electric vehicle chargers.

Tritium's new facility is going to produce up to 30,000 of these chargers every year. They will use American parts, American iron, American steel, and they will be installed up and down the highways and corridors in our communities all across the country by union workers from the IBEW and the electric worker -- and the electrical workers union.

So, the benefits are going to ripple thousands of miles in every direction. And these jobs will multiply in steel mills, small parts suppliers, construction sites, all over the country in the years to come.

And it's going to help ensure that the American -- America leads the world on electric vehicles. China has been leading that race up to now. But this is about to change, because America's building convenient, reliable, equitable national public charging networks.

[14:25:04]

So, wherever you live, charging an electric vehicle will be quick and easy. And the foundation will help build -- help American automakers set the pace for electric vehicles, which means even more good-paying jobs producing batteries, materials and parts. It's also going to save hundreds of billions of gallons of gasoline

over time, serving -- saving an average driver who chooses an electric vehicle up to $1,000 a year on fuel, making our country more economically competitive, lowering air pollution and keeping families healthier as we tackle the climate crisis.

Here's the key point. Announcements like this don't happen by accident. They require a vision and a commitment to build a future that's made in America. I made it clear from day one, when the federal government spends taxpayers' dollars, we're going to buy American, American products made in America, including American component parts.

That's why I established the Made in America Office at the White House led by Celeste Drake. She's here on the stage.

Where is Celeste? There she is, Celeste Drake.

To ensure that the trillion dollars we're investing in infrastructure is spent on American workers and American manufacturing. On the way over here, by the way, I was talking with Gina. We were talking about, we have how many vehicles in a fleet, Gina, roughly?

GINA MCCARTHY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL CLIMATE ADVISER: Six hundred thousand.

BIDEN: We have 600,000 federal vehicles that we -- the federal government owns. They're going to end up all being electric vehicles, electric vehicles.

That's what it means to finally make buying America a reality and not an empty promise. It means bringing manufacturing jobs back and building supply chains here at home, so we have better jobs at lower prices. And it means a federal government that just doesn't give lip service to buy American, but actually takes action, investing in innovation and manufacturing, which powers up companies like Tritium to do what they do best, create great products and good-paying jobs.

That's been my approach from day one. And now we're seeing the results, beginning to see the results. My first full year as president, the economy created 6.6 million new jobs, 6.6 million. That's never happened before in American history.

And that includes 375,000 manufacturing jobs; 2021 saw the highest increase in U.S. manufacturing jobs in nearly 30 years. And let me give you one example. A few weeks ago, the CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, came to the White House to announce a new $20 billion semiconductor factory that they're going -- they call a campus outside of Columbus, Ohio.

I had the two senators from Ohio here standing with me, one Republican, one Democrat, creating 7,000 construction jobs at that facility, and 3,000 permanent jobs running the facility with an average salary of running the facility at $135,000 a year.

Those semiconductors, microchips power virtually everything in our everyday lives, cell phones, automobiles, refrigerators, the Internet, the electric grid. Without semiconductors, those things are not -- cannot fully function.

So, the spinoff of this is that we're going to create thousands of additional jobs, helping build America's products here in America, manufacturing automobiles and appliances and so much more.

BLACKWELL: All right, you have been listening to President Biden discussing boosting manufacturing here in the U.S. and also the shift to electric vehicles, and complimenting this Australian company and the bringing of these charging stations.

And he's going to see those pop up more and more across the country. We will continue to monitor that event, but we also have this just in to CNN.

White House officials have begun reaching out to President Biden's potential Supreme Court picks. They're gathering more information about their records, and as part of the normal vetting process, the FBI has conducted friends and former colleagues of potential nominees.

There are about three weeks until the president's self-imposed deadline to announce his final choice.

CAMEROTA: OK, now to a consequential ruling from the Supreme Court that will impact voters in Alabama.

The justices have allowed a redistricting map drawn by state Republicans to stay in place. The map had been criticized for racial bias against black voters.

A lower court ruled that the map likely violates the Voting Rights Act. But in a 5-4 decision, the nation's highest court decided to keep the map in place for now, which means it will be used for the state's primary in May.

Let's bring in Melanie Campbell, the president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

Melanie, thanks so much for being here.

So, Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissension for the minority. She wrote: "Black Alabamans will suffer clear vote dilution."

So, what does this mean in everyday terms for black voters there?

MELANIE CAMPBELL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION: The -- thank you. Thank you for the invitation to join you.