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Florida House Passes 15-Week Abortion Ban Bill; Battle in Colorado School District Over Superintendent Firing; Russian Media's Spin on Crisis with Ukraine; LBJ's Triumph and Tragedy to Air in a New Documentary. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired February 17, 2022 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It would ban abortion after 15 weeks into a pregnancy with no exemptions for rape, for incest or for human trafficking. There are -- a woman would be allowed to get an abortion if her own life was at risk well into the pregnancy however.
Democrats had tried to put other restrictions into the bill repeatedly and were rejected over and over again. Republicans controlled the House, the Senate, the governor's mansion and the Supreme Court in Florida, and they have made this a priority and it is moving quickly.
It's important to note that this bill could have potentially a profound impact not just in Florida and for Florida women but really across the southeast. You know, as states have gotten more restrictive in the south on abortion, a lot of women have traveled from Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, even to Florida to get this procedure done.
Abortion rights activists are worried that this would affect those women as well but it's moving quickly through the Senate or through the legislature, it goes to the Senate next week. Governor DeSantis has signaled that he is supportive of the legislation and is likely to sign it, and so, Bianna, that probably means Florida is joining other Republican states that are directly challenging "Roe v. Wade" this year.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and this is something that abortion rights have been warning about, that we would see more of these copycat bills in states -- Republican states throughout the country, and that appears to be the case.
Steve Contorno, thank you, we appreciate it.
We turn to Colorado now where a school board battle is unfolding just south of Denver in Douglas County. The district there is searching for a new superintendent after firing their former leader without explanation. Corey Wise was widely known for supporting COVID mitigation efforts and diversity programs. Now his dismissal is infuriating some teachers and parents.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov joins me live from Denver. Lucy, this happened so quickly. Explain for viewers how this all unfolded.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianna. I mean, the Douglas County School District has been mired in controversy for several weeks now. The new conservative school board fired former superintendent Corey Wise without cause earlier this month despite him being voted unanimously by the previous board and serving with the district for 25 years.
During a public Zoom meeting on January 31st, the three minority members of the board said that they were informed that the conservative majority members secretly sought his resignation which they claimed was a violation of their contract and state law. Hundreds of teachers have called out sick on February 3rd after that news leaked out and on February 4th the majority members of the school board voted 4-3 to oust Wise, a superintendent, without hearing public comment. Now some parents were in support of this decision but others were outraged. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The new board will fit in someone that has great leadership skills and someone probably with a proven track record. And I expect nothing less from them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We now are sitting back watching four people who actually many of us did not vote in, and we feel like we have been taken hostage to their politics.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV: And things sort of escalated from there. Someone, and we don't know who, filed a Colorado Open Records Act to get the names of all of the teachers who called out sick. They were going to publish those names. Governor Polis tweeting, quote, "The doxing of elected officials, journalists and now teachers is always wrong and dangerous."
The other issue is that under Colorado's Open Meeting law, school board members do not have authority to act on their own without informing the entire board. So we now have a lawsuit filed by a parent who wants a judge to nullify the firing of that superintendent and to bar the local school from conducting these closed-door meetings.
And then yesterday, there were these bizarre flyers left on teachers' cars telling them they were bad and to get out, but what some parents say is this is, you know, a microcosm of what's happening more broadly across American where elected conservatives are making sweeping changes, getting rid of longtime employees that they don't feel will advocate for their agenda -- Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Lucy Kafanov, I know you'll continue to cover this developing story for us. Thank you.
Well, there's the truth of the tense situation at Ukraine's border and then there's what Russian state media is reporting. We'll take a closer look at the spin and how some Western outlets are fanning the propaganda flames. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:39:03]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Two major developments from Moscow just this morning. President Putin says he is now preparing to address both Houses of Russian parliament. This as Moscow has now expelled the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. That's the second highest ranking diplomat there. The U.S. calling that an escalatory step.
GOLODRYGA: Joining us now to talk about all of this and how this is being received among Russians is Ekaterina Kotrikadze, host and news director for Dozhd TV in Moscow, one of the few remaining independent news networks in Russia today.
Katya, thank you so much for joining us and giving this perspective for our viewers.
EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE, HOST AND NEWS DIRECTOR, DOZHD TV: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: You know, I've been watching your network for many months now throughout this crisis and one thing that stood out is that you and your colleagues just couldn't wrap your heads around the possibility of another major war in 2022 on European soil. I'm just curious, given the latest developments, are you now thinking that it is indeed very likely?
[10:40:01]
KOTRIKADZE: It is possible. It has always been possible. And, you know, this date when Vladimir Putin and other representatives of Russian government were declaring that Russia is not planning anything and they are just laughing on the statement from the Western politicians and, you know, they are laughing at the publications in the Western media saying that, you know, this is all false and this is all disinformation.
But still, you know, we can see that there is a concentration of Russian forces at the border. We can still see that the statement of the Russian representatives, they include this word of military technical answer to what's going on in Donbas and they are really threatening Ukraine. They are really threatening European Union and the United States of America. This is a blackmailing position which is still -- it's still going on. And nothing has changed so far.
SCIUTTO: In Russian state media, do you see preparations for the Russian public for the potential cost of an invasion of Ukraine because, frankly, predictions are it'd be bloody for both sides and in the past, you've seen propaganda include something of a warning of that to prepare the population for that. Have you seen that yet?
KOTRIKADZE: We can see that Russia is actually saying that NATO is a threat to Russian federation, is a threat to Russian security. They are saying that NATO is coming very close to the border and, you know, Vladimir Putin keeps claiming that rockets from Ukraine, if NATO is based in Ukraine, they will reach Moscow, Russian territory in five minutes. So this is all going on 24/7 on Russian state networks, television channels, and so on and so forth.
What they say is, you know, about the cost that Russia will be obliged to pay is that sanctions are not going to be necessarily so heavy as they say in Washington because some representatives of European Union are not ready to impose these kind of sanctions that, you know, Germany is not ready for the serious threat and Germany is not ready to cut the ties with Russia because of gas and oil and Nord Stream 2 and so on.
So, you know, they are -- their logic is that West is not as united as they tried to show and that we have all seen the sanctions before. You know, starting from 2014, we have seen the sanctions. What has changed, they say, and this logic is kind of, you know, people take it. People understand that it's not going to be so hard.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
KOTRIKADZE: It's not going to be as severe as they say. This is the propaganda.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And Russia has been living under sanctions, as you said, since 2014.
Katya, can you explain for our viewers, we talked about Vladimir Putin affinity and ties, historic ties, and he keeps referencing between Russia and Ukraine, but just from the Russian population in general, talk about the relationship between the two countries and the people there. There are so many Russians I know that have family that live in Ukraine. So while they may say yes from all of the propaganda we're watching, if there is a war, it's the West's fault. This would be a very difficult struggle, right?
KOTRIKADZE: No one actually thinks about going to Kyiv seriously. I mean, as I see, there's a very small part of the population in Russia which is ready to, you know, take over Ukraine as a whole. But the idea that Russia and Ukraine and also Belarus are the part of one nation, Russian nation, comes from Vladimir Putin and a lot of people here, they do feel the same as Vladimir Putin because, you know, they don't believe that Ukraine has a state.
They think that Ukrainian language is kind of Russian, but ridiculous Russian and they think that Ukraine should be a part of this big Russian world, this big mother Russia. Kyiv was the capital of the whole Russia historically. So that's why a lot of people here, they do feel the same as Vladimir Putin. But definitely people are not ready for the huge war with dead bodies and dead soldiers, and, you know, it would be terrible for all of us. GOLODRYGA: Yes, and a reminder that it's not going to be anywhere near
what we saw in 2014 in Crimea. Not one shot was fired and that was very --
KOTRIKADZE: Absolutely.
GOLODRYGA: A very popular, you know, incursion, though illegal on the part of Vladimir Putin.
Ekaterina Kotrikadze, thank you so much for joining us and all the work that you and your network does.
KOTRIKADZE: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you.
And straight ahead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to speak this hour at the United Nations. We will bring those remarks to you live as soon as they begin. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:49:40]
GOLODRYGA: Lyndon B. Johnson entered the White House during a national crisis after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He used the office to enact a historic expansion of civil rights and social support programs but his accomplishments are often overshadowed by his escalation of one of America's most controversial wars.
Now the now CNN Original Series "LBJ: TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY" provides a captivating look at one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history. Here's a preview.
[10:50:11]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the oath, LBJ embraced Mrs. Kennedy, and he kissed Mrs. Johnson. They wanted us to get out of Dallas, to get back to Washington as soon as possible. So Johnson said, let's get airborne. These Democratic congressmen started to move toward him and they had their hand out to shake his hand, and I saw it. President Johnson and his hands below his belt, you couldn't see him on camera but he went like this.
Everything about that he did on that airplane was directed toward Mrs. Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson had many wonderful days but that day in Dallas, he was magnificent.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Joining me now is CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali.
Tim, I just can't wait to watch this special. So much focus now on the president, President Biden, and the challenges facing him around the world, right, right now between Russia and Ukraine. We had the botched exit out of Afghanistan, at a time when President Biden had really been wanting to focus on domestic agendas coming out of the pandemic.
Some similarities there between the domestic wins, right, that we saw from LBJ, the giant, the master of the Senate, and clearly, those were overshadowed by what happened in Vietnam. Talk about the relation between the two and perhaps some lessons that this administration can learn from that.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, LBJ comes to office after winning a huge landslide in 1964 and he wants to put in place legislative achievements and the opportunity to do it at that time. And so Biden, I believe, felt that there was a moment, an opportunity for him to do for the United States at home what LBJ had managed to do in the mid-1960s. The difference, of course, is that LBJ had the numbers in Congress.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
NAFTALI: He had a working liberal majority. Biden, President Biden has never had a progressive working majority in Congress.
GOLODRYGA: Do we do ourselves and current presidents a disservice then by comparing them to previous presidents given all of the comparisons that we saw last year with President Biden coming in, you know, many saying this is the right time for him, comparing him to -- excuse me -- LBJ and yet knowing the differences that you just laid out right there. That the numbers were not on President Biden's side nor are the times. The society is just more polarized today.
NAFTALI: Part of the problem is that President Biden and some of his advisers and some of his cheerleaders in Congress welcome the comparison. Representative Jayapal, who's very important, very influential as the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spoke of this as a progressive moment. A populist moment. The president himself said that, in the sense, I'm paraphrasing him, the problem is not going too big, it's going too small.
So to some extent, I think the president himself raised expectations. Now he has had great achievements in Congress, but they were bipartisan achievements. They were reflective of the power he does have. The infrastructure bill, the largest contribution or investment in our infrastructure in a generation and a half, that's an achievement. The COVID stimulus package or American Relief Act, that too is a great achievement.
But he wanted more. Unfortunately, he did not have the votes. Keep in mind, Lyndon Johnson not only had 68 senators, Democratic senators in the Senate, but he had 30 Republicans who voted for the Voting Rights Act in the Senate. 117 Republicans voted for the Voting Rights Act in Congress, in the House. You had Republicans voting for Medicare. Those were bipartisan initiatives. (INAUDIBLE) a large contingent of Republicans supporting for major transformational change at the federal level.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. A very different time indeed. Listen, I think viewers will have a lot to digest in watching this and learn a lot, even if they think that they already know everything there is to know about LBJ, clearly there is not. They're going to learn more watching.
Tim Naftali, thank you, we appreciate it.
NAFTALI: Thank you, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: An all-new CNN Original Series "LBJ: TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY" premieres with back-to-back episodes Sunday at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.
And still ahead, you're looking at live pictures of the United Nations where Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak at any moment.
[10:55:04]
We'll bring you his speech. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: This just in to CNN. We're learning the House Oversight Committee wants the government to terminate the lease for Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. and former President Trump barred from profiting from selling the property. Now this comes in light of allegations that the Trump Organization submitted false financial statements to the federal government.
