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Trump Praises "Genius" Putin For Moves On Ukraine; Pentagon Holds Briefing As U.S. Warns Ukraine That A Full-Scale Russian Attack Is Imminent. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 23, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Former president Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in a radio interview on Tuesday as Russia threatens the sovereignty of Ukraine. Trump spoke fondly of Putin and his game plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said this is genius. Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying it's independent. A large section of Ukraine. I said how smart is that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Let's discuss with CNN political commentator, Charlie Dent, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. Also with a CNN senior political correspondent Abby Phillip, anchor of CNN "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY." Great to see both of you.

Congressman, I mean honestly, ever since his embarrassing performance in Helsinki when he was so obsequious to Vladimir Putin, you know, former President Trump loves Vladimir Putin. We know that. He wants to be pals with him. I'm using his words. And so, nothing should surprise us but he's a former president at an incredible volatile time. So, is there a downside to him saying all of this now about Putin?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, there is. I mean, these comments are reckless, unhelpful and unpatriotic. They are clearly advancing Putin's interest. You know, remember Nikita Khrushchev, the former Soviet premiere who was a Ukrainian, he had a term for American's who is spoke against their country's interest. He called them usable idiots. The former president is behaving like a useful idiot for Vladimir Putin right now. Putin has been --

BLACKWELL: We got to interrupt. This is John Kirby, spokesman at the Pentagon.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: All right. Just a couple of things to start with, everybody. As the president mentioned in his remarks yesterday. At his direction, Secretary Austin ordered the additional movement of some U.S. forces that were currently stationed in Europe to continue our support for NATO allies and the defense of the eastern flank.

Now these forces compromised of aviation elements and some ground forces will move within -- inside the European area of operations to NATO's northeastern and southeastern flanks in the coming days and we expect them to be in place later this week. They include an infantry battalion task force of approximately 800 personnel. They'll be moving from Italy to the Baltic region. It's a movement up to 8 F-35 strike fighters from Germany to several operating locations along the eastern flank.

A battalion of attack aviation. Specifically, 20 AH-64 helicopters from Germany, again to the Baltic region. And an attack aviation task force which is 12 AH-64 helicopters will move from Greece to Poland. The additional personnel are being repositioned to reassure NATO allies, deter any potential aggression against NATO member states and train with host nation forces. And of course, they'll report in -- continue to report to Gen. Todd Walters, the commander of U.S. European Command.

These moves are temporary. I want to stress that. Temporary in nature and they are part of the more than the now 90,000 U.S. troops that are already in Europe. That are both there on rotational as well as permanent orders. And of course, as you know, the U.S. maintains significant numbers of combat capable forces in Europe.

Relatedly, U.S. Army Europe and Africa will be kicking off exercise Saber Strike 22 later this month. The exercise will run through March with approximately 13,000 participants from 13 countries. Saber Strike has been held every two years since 2010. This is the next year for it. It is scheduled during the winter time to help demonstrate the ability to operate in austere conditions. The fifth Corps, Army Fifth corps will provide commanding control for the exercise.

And conducting Saber Strike now we believe demonstrates that U.S. forces in Europe can simultaneously support ongoing operations and regularly scheduled training without any degradation in support tornado allies and partners. Training events like Saber Strike are planned well in advance and this one was an demonstrate that NATO allies and partners are stronger together and through training and in operability exercises, get stronger together.

Lastly, I think you may have seen that the secretary did approve a couple of requests for National Guard support here in the capital region. Through that request yesterday there was a request came from the D.C. government. Their emergency management agency as well as the U.S. Capitol Police.

[15:35:00]

All told among the two requests, it's about 700 guards personnel and about 50 vehicles. They are designed for traffic support in anticipation of potential challenges to traffic here in the D.C. area with surrounding some potential protest activity. I want to stress again that it's relatively a small number here, about 700. And they will be supporting traffic support needs. That's their goal. That's their mission and with that we'll take questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John, the people are talking about a potential invasion by Russia of a large scale being imminent. Can you talk about what U.S. has seen today that may be different than what it has seen in recent days, why this has become sort of now imminent? Have you seen Russian troops move into Luhansk and Donetsk -- have you seen them move into that Donbas region and have you seen them move further into Ukraine beyond those two regions?

KIRBY: OK, a lot there. On the Donetsk and Luhansk, as you've heard the administration officials say before, we do believe that that marks the beginning of an invasion. We certainly believe that Russian -- additional Russian military forces are moving into that region, not beyond that region that we have seen. But we can't confirm with any great specificity the numbers and what the formations are, what the capabilities are. But we certainly believe that that's happening.

As for your larger question, Lita, without speaking to specific timing because only Mr. Putin knows what the timing is here. What I would tell you is that we continue to see him, form his capabilities in such a way that leads us to believe that we are potentially close to some sort of action. Again, what that action is going to be and exactly on what timeline, we can't be sure.

But what we see is that Russian forces continue to assemble closer to the border and put themselves in an advance stage of readiness to act. To conduct military action in Ukraine, again, virtually any time now. We believe that they are -- they are ready. I'll just leave it at that. They're ready -- Jen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are report of a chemical plant in Crimea that's been evacuated. This is the kind of location that was described to us by Secretary Blinken as a possible stage provocation. Are you seeing reports of any sort of preparations either for an attack on a chemical plant or what are you seeing?

KIRBY: I don't have any specifics on that claim. But it is of a piece of the kinds of ridiculous claims we have seen the Russians make in recent days of alleged provocations or assaults and attacks unprovoked on their people. So again, no knowledge of this particular one. But again, we have been seeing this over now recent days these claims of whether they're act of terror or acts violence unprovoked shelling of Russian forces or Russian separatists. All again, that is of a piece of playbook that we have seen the Russians use time and time again. I have no specific knowledge about this particular report. But again, it fits perfectly into the Russian disinformation playbook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the U.S. government help protect the Ukrainian government from this denial-of-service attack, the cyberattack? Did you help them with preparations for how to rebut -- to get back online quickly after such an attack?

KIRBY: So first, I don't think we're in a position to attribute these cyber disruptions that you're talking about. I assume you're talking about the various websites -- government websites that were taken offline. What I would just tell you broadly speaking, Jen, is that we have provide provided some cyber resilience training and assistance to Ukrainians and I won't go beyond that in terms of the specific attacks. Again, not in the position right now to attribute them to any one entity.

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I would just say that, again, this is a piece of a Russian playbook which is to disrupt in cyber space. Anybody else? Jenny.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Crimea and if Russia uses nuclear weapons to invade Ukraine, what will the U.S. do if Russia were to use nuclear weapons in this invasion? What would be the impact on the Korean Peninsula because there's a fear that (INAUDIBLE) would have these in the (INAUDIBLE).

KIRBY: Yes, I'm going to avoid speculating here and getting into hypotheticals. Particularly about the potential use of nuclear weapons, Jenny. What we've said all along, two things. One, Mr. Putin has a lot of capability at his disposal right now. As I've said earlier, they are ready to go.

And number two, if he decides to conduct a full-scale invasion here, again, bigger than what we have seen in just the last few days, this will be a war of choice. That he'll be doing so with, you know, with diplomacy and options still left on the table. And it won't be bloodless. There will be suffering. There will be sacrifice. And all of that must and should be laid at his feet because he's doing this by choice.

How he does this, when he does this, we don't know for sure. But if he does this, this will be war of choice and totally unnecessary. And as for the impact on the region, I couldn't begin to speculate.

Nothing's changed obviously about our commitment to our South Korean allies and we noted the South Koreans also came out publicly yesterday with statement of support for Ukraine. That was certainly noticed by the whole international community. Yes, in the back there. Abraham.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, thanks John. A couple of questions. You just described a lot of different forces moving to the eastern flank. Is there any consideration of those forces going under NATO command and why not? Also, there's the word as temporary is pretty prominent there. Is there a time frame for temporary? And is there any talk that the NATO rapid response, those U.S. forces getting activated.

KIRBY: OK, there's a lot there. Right now, they're going to be under the command of Gen. Walters in U.S. European command hat. I don't know of any changes to that.

Temporary, I don't have an exact time frame on this. I want to remind you that they were already in Europe. They're simply repositioning elsewhere in Europe. I don't have a timeframe on how long that repositioning is going to be. Except to say that it will be as long as we believe it's necessary and the host nation -- the new host nations that will be hosting these units are willing to continue to have them. So, this'll be a constant discussion with each host nation that they end up in. About where they go, how long they stay and what kind of training opportunities they're going to conduct.

This is really all about reassuring allies and partners and demonstrating that in tangible ways.

On your -- I lost your third question, dang it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the response force?

KIRBY: Oh, that's a better question for NATO, Abraham. That's not a question for the United States. That'll be up to the NAC to decide -- North Atlantic Council to decide, not just the United States unilaterally, of course. What I will tell you is that, as you know, the secretary has put on a shorter alert teether. Our contributions to the NRF -- the NATO Response Force. So, they are more ready to go if called upon. So, what I can't give you any sorts of timing or certainty about whether the NRF is going to be activated. What I can tell you with certainty if it is, our contributions to the NRF will be ready to go and will contribute fully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's still the United States, correct?

KIRBY: Correct. Yes, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there much discussion within the Pentagon or within the National Security Council about whether all of Putin's maneuvers and the force buildup is a grand came of brinksmanship and he's got no intention of invading. He just want to show his muscle. Get the U.S. and NATO to commit to not entering -- or letting Ukraine into the alliance. In other words, a game of brinksmanship, bluffing but not really an attempt to invade.

KIRBY: We have seen no indication of that, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm been asked to this. Is there groupthink here though?

[15:45:00]

We're thinking -- just assuming he's going to do this or have you actually skeptically looked at whether this is just a bunch of BS brinksmanship all beyond a grand scale.

KIRBY: Tony, we've been looking at this now for months and we've been talking to allies and partners for months. The secretary was just in Brussels last week meeting with all of his counterparts in the alliance. It's not just the United States who is deeply concerned about the potential for war in Ukraine now. That other NATO allies feel the same way. We've all been looking at this.

I hope, we all hope that we're wrong about this. But every indication we have is that he's poised to attack Ukraine again. And this time with what could be significant military force. I mean, we are talking about more than 150,000 troops that he has already against that border. And as I said earlier, we believe that they are now at a state of readiness where they can attack at any time. That's what we're seeing. And that's what we've been saying. We've been talking about this very openly now for weeks. We've seen

sadly, and unfortunately, no indication that he's willing to deescalate, move the troops back home and actually get to some sort of serious diplomatic solution. Every indication rather that we see is quite the opposite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the China related question. Is there any indication that President Xi has given his tacit or explicit approval to Putin for a force, for an invasion? You recall there was speculation an invasion wouldn't happen until the Olympics were over. The Olympics are over now. Any indication that China has given its wink and nod?

KIRBY: Well, I mean, I will point you back to the February 4th statement that Xi and Putin put out. It certainly we took as tacit approval for what Mr. Putin is doing. You can point also to concerning comments by the Chinese foreign ministry yesterday that made it clear that they weren't going to support any what they called unlawful unilateral sanctions against Russia and then blame the United States for contributing security assistance to Ukraine. Somehow blaming us for this issue.

No mention whatsoever in their statement about the 150,000 plus soldiers and the threats that Mr. Putin has been lobbying against Ukraine now if many weeks, including just yesterday. We wonder, can it really be the Chinese policy now to support separatists movements over the sovereignty of nation states. That's an interesting twist, isn't it? Sophie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, John. Is there any -- I would like to go back to the movements of U.S. troops to the Baltic states and eastern flank. Is there any consideration of sending more U.S. troops if there's an invasion and on the permanent basis, on this eastern flank of NATO?

KIRBY: There's nothing -- there's no expectation at this time, Sophie, that that we're going to move to more permanent basing on NATO's eastern flank. What we're talking about now are short term, temporary, rotational redeployments if you will. As for your first question, I assume you're asking are we going to send more troops from the United States to NATO's eastern flank. And I have no such announcements or movements to speak of today. But as I have said repeatedly, we're going to keep all options on the table. I'm not going to rule out that the secretary might want to consider that should there be a need. We're looking at this day by day. And just yesterday, as you saw, we did reposition inside Europe and there are lots of options available to us to continue to look for ways to reenforce that eastern flank.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But this will be temporary. You don't think about changing your posture in case of an invasion.

KIRBY: Right now, we're focused on reassuring the allies and we're going to be in constant contact with them and consultation about what that looks like and how you do that given the current tensions on the continent. It's too early to tell whether any of this is going to lead to some other longer term posture changes. We certainly -- we're just not at this point right now. Barbara.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned before that if the conflict breaks out, it would not be bloodless. So, I assume that's also somewhat of a caution to Russia that it would not be bloodless for them and their troops. Can you be any more specific as this is assessed or is the specific as this is assessed or is the Russian military, to use the expression, really 10 feet tall? Or do you see some vulnerabilities for them here?

KIRBY: So clearly, if he chooses war, he chooses violence. Which means he's deliberately choosing to put lives at danger. Soldiers' lives, civilians' lives and he's going to have to bear the responsibility for that. And I think, I would hope that he understands that some of those lives at risk are going to be his soldiers' lives. And he's going to have to answer to Russian moms and dads about their soldiers that aren't making it back home alive. Or making it back with injuries. He's going to have to answer for that.

And as for the ten feet tall, look, I think getting into qualitative assessments here of militaries is probably not the best exercise for me right now. They have as we've said for a long time, significant combined arms capabilities arrayed against Ukraine right now. And they are ready to go right now should that be the way that Mr. Putin wants to go. And we would obviously like to see that not happen. And we would like to see him de-escalate. We would like to see him make a better choice here which we still think there's time to do and de- escalate. Move those troops back to garrison. Move them back home. Keep them safe. And not pursue a war of choice totally on what is his whim.

STARR: As we sit here today, are there still active, functioning channels of U.S., Russian military to military communications? Are you able to -- is, you know, the secretary, the chairman, are you able to pick up the phone and will your counterparts talk to you?

KIRBY: Well, I would point to conversations that we've read out in just recent days. The secretary spoke with minister (INAUDIBLE) just a few days ago. Chairman Milley --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm talking about right now.

KIRBY: I know I'm getting there. Chairman Milley has had many conversations with Gen. Gerasimov, his counterpart. And we have seen no indication that those lines of communication between those two leaders are closed. I don't have any additional phone conversations to talk about today or to announce but we have seen no indication that there won't be that communication, should it be necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How about more of like a tactical line of communication? You know, I don't know if deconfliction is the right word to use because there is not a U.S. military component to this. Like they're not going to theoretically be flying over the same skies. But what about something that might deconflict tactically on the ground once Russia moves in? It seems that, you know, we keep hearing about the U.S. military moving more and more assets into that region. Is it appropriate for Gen. Milley to be one calling Gen. Gerasimov, when we're talking about like potentially very quick tactical moves on the ground?

Gen. Gerasimov I don't think we're at a point right now where that's needed. Right. Because there hasn't been a large-scale invasion yet of Ukraine. So, hopefully there won't be. So, hopefully there won't need for that kind of communication. But you get to a really good point which is the potential. If he decides to go in big to Ukraine. That puts Russian military forces right up against the eastern flank of NATO -- his western flank. And that's an eastern flank, by the way, that we're going to continue to reinforce and make more ready. And so, you do get into a potential there for miscalculation and miscommunication. We're just not there yet that we can speak to specific deconfliction mechanisms and hopefully there won't be a need for that. But it does raise a larger issue -- your question does -- of the question for miscalculation here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And given the fact that this is again, I know we talk about deconfliction. I think I all of us think of Syria. But this is a very different situation. There is not a U.S. military component inside the potential invasion area, right.

KIRBY: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would it be more appropriate for DOD or Gen. Milley or state, like what would that mechanism -- who would be the one who would be responsible for establishing that mechanism?

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KIRBY: Yes, again, we're not at that point right now, Courtney, so it's difficult to answer that question. And I'm not dodging it. It's just we aren't at that point right now. So, I would rather not speculate about who would be communications with whom. And again, as my answer to Barb, there's no indication that we've gotten that there still isn't the ability at the strategic level for leaders to talk. Jim.

You talked about the -- to build on Sophie's question -- you talked about the F-35s and 32 Apache. Well, it's not just an aircraft and a pilot. How many people are associated with those moves?

KIRBY: All told, if you add it up, you know, the infantry, the battalion that we talked about, that's about 800. And then there's about another 200 crew, pilots, maintenance that would go with those aircraft elements that we talked about. So, all told, the president's announcement yesterday equates to about 1,000 people. Again, I want to stress two things. They're being repositioned inside Europe. They're not coming from the states. And two, these are temporary moves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if I can just build on Courtney's question. Doesn't Gen. Walters in his NATO hat, can't he speak to Gerasimov?

KIRBY: I would suspect yes. As SAC leader, he certainly could. I know of no reason why he wouldn't be able to do that. Gen. Gerasimov is the chief of defense so he is more appropriately Gen. Milley's counterpart but I can't imagine there would be a reason why if Gen. Walters wanted to speak to him that he couldn't in his NATO hat. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giving the fact that Russians have the capabilities to the area, including cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, do you still think that the arms provided by the United States would help Ukrainians to defend themselves against all these capabilities?

KIRBY: We are providing, again, lethal and nonlethal assistance to Ukraine. They've expressed their gratitude for that assistance. I would remind you that, well, a couple of things, 650 million just this year alone. And we're still in discussions with him about what kind of support they might need going forward. And we're in constant consultation with them about their needs and what we can provide. It's not just us. That's my second point. Other nations are as well, stepping up to provide both lethal and nonlethal assistance to Ukraine. Let me go to the phones here, I haven't done that yet.

Mike Brest, Washington Examiner.

MIKE BREST, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Thanks for taking my question, Mr. Kirby. A little bit out of left field. But the 90-day period that Gen. Michael Garrett had to look into it serious (INAUDIBLE) deployment and expires this weekend. Would you (INAUDIBLE) details or take the question?

You know what? You broke up there, Mike. Can you just repeat the last part of your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. So, the 90-day period for his investigation into the 2019 Syria strike expires this weekend. Could you provide any update or take the question?

KIRBY: I know that he's wrapping that up, Mike. I don't have a specific timeline of when that's going to be turned in and reviewed. I will take question and we'll see if we can't get you a better answer. Tom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, John, good afternoon. I have two questions. One on Ukraine and one on the Guard deployment. Which would you like first?

KIRBY: You can decide, Tom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guard deployment is the easier one perhaps. There's been reports and complaints and concerns five the District of Columbia government, the Capitol Police, they don't have the ability to remove trucks, tow trucks, in other words, trucks that impede a traffic situation. Is there any Defense Department assets that could be made available to help them in this situation?

KIRBY: You know, I don't really know, Tom. I mean, the request that we got was for some personnel and 50 vehicles to help with traffic flow. There's been no request of the department for tow truck capability. And frankly, I'm not sure that we have a lot of that, to be honest with you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what I'm saying.

KIRBY: I honestly don't know how many tow trucks we own but I don't think it is very many. So again, we're focused on meeting the requirements that they laid forth for help. And again, it was roughly 700 guardsmen and 50 vehicles. What's your second question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Ukraine, you've talked a lot about that the Russians do and it is out of their playbook. In other words, everything they're doing is sort of doing their playbook. Yet the massive development of the forces on the border, the type of overall attack that's being projected possibly through Ukraine, that's not the blunder approach they usually have taken if you look at Georgia and the Crimea and other areas. What playbook are they emulating for this possible attack on Ukraine?

KIRBY: When we talk about the playbook, as you will, we're talking about the preparatory moves that we have seen them do in the past.