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Bipartisan Unity at Biden's Speech; People Flee Ukraine for Safety; Biden Delivers First State of the Union; Putin Limits Cash in Russia. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 02, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Can President Biden build on that show of unity, at least as it relates to Ukraine?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, President Biden, last night, certainly demonstrated that unity, both at home and abroad, between the United States and its western allies, is really at the center of his strategy for pushing back on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and making sure that it is a, quote, strategic failure for Russia as we have heard so many times from senior administration officials here.

Last night President Biden made clear that he has spent countless hours working to build up that coalition of western allies to make -- to punish Putin, to make him a pariah on the international stage. And that is something that Biden said Putin had frankly miscalculated.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Six days ago Russia's Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And even as President Biden praised the resolve of the Ukrainians, he also made clear that there are limits to American support there. We know that the U.S. has been sending military support and equipment to the Ukrainians, that they are punishing Russia with these severe financial sanctions that will also impact Americans here back home. But he also made clear that the U.S. is not go to be committing American troops to Ukraine to fight Russia, nor will it be establishing that no-fly zone that the Ukrainian president has been, frankly, begging the United States and NATO allies to impose over the skies of Ukraine. So, there are limits to that support.

And he also ultimately we know that back home the president is facing pressure from some Republicans to do more, but there is no question that there was a show of unity last night from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alongside the president of the United States, sending a very clear and unmistakable message to Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much, at the White House there.

HILL: Still to come here, the Ukrainian foreign minister is calling for equal treatment of refugees seeking safety as some say they're experiencing discrimination and racism. We're on the ground with more on the crisis at the border.

Stay with us.

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[09:37:17]

SCIUTTO: This is a war, and it's a refugee crisis. More than 835,000 people, nearly a million, have fled Ukraine in just the last week since Russia invade the country. This according to the U.N. The agency is warning this could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century. Echoes of World War II. But some of the people seeking safety are finding racism, unfair treatment at the border. Now Ukraine's foreign minister says all non-Ukrainians fleeing the country must be help equally.

CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is live in Shehyni, Ukraine, this is near the Polish border, just to the west of where we are in Lviv.

I know you watched this unfold, Arwa, with some shock, to see the discrimination. Frankly, before your eyes as to who was allowed to leave and who was not. Has that changed now? Is it changing?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very much so. And I can't begin to tell you what a relief it was for us to actually be able to come here to the same border crossing that we've been reporting from and see that there are no longer were two lines.

Right here, this is where, just 24 hours ago, you had a long, endless line of non-Ukrainians, or rather should I say non-European Union, non-western passport holders. And they had been not moving along this sidewalk, many of them for days.

Just take a listen at what some young men told us yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you going? Who am I going to tell your problems to? You have no one.

DAMON: How long have you been waiting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, I've been here for two days now.

DAMON: And you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four days.

DAMON: Four days? Right here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

Our friends are home waiting for us. All the time this comes into my mind, I feel like crying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ukraine is a beautiful country. But they don't have to treat us like this. We are not the cause of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: And, you know, Jim, last night when we said good-bye to those young men and to the others that we had met, it was freezing cold out here. In fact, just before we left, one man from Algeria was frozen in place. He hadn't moved for hours. I mean physically was unable to move. People were trying to coax him, trying to get him somewhere warmer, but he just stood there, staring at the ground saying, it's not my fault. I didn't do anything.

And there were grave concerns for the actual health and safety for all of those who had been waiting here for days, just because of how bitterly cold the temperatures were becoming.

[09:40:00]

Now, as you mentioned there, the Ukrainian foreign minister saying that there would be no discrimination, that everyone would be allowed to move through.

The Poles are saying that the holdup wasn't on their end. So both sides right now really blaming each other.

But there is a big question here as to why the situation unfolded like this even to begin with.

SCIUTTO: Arwa, I keep reminding folks, as you did, it is extremely cold here. For the refugees, for the folks fighting this war, it's another dimension of this.

Arwa Damon, thanks so much for telling us those stories. Well, my team and I, we've been on the ground here in the capital Kyiv

and Lviv now since before the invasion. We've seen it unfold before our eyes. I spoke about it and the international community's response so far on a new episode of the CNN podcast "Tug of War." To listen to the podcast, just open the camera on your phone, scan the QR code on the bottom of your screen. You can find "Tug of War" on your favorite podcast app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:09]

HILL: President Biden delivered his first State of the Union Address using the platform to urge the world to stand with Ukraine, while calling on Congress to pass key pieces of his domestic policy agenda.

Joining me to discuss, CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen, who, of course, also served as a presidential adviser to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

David, always good to see you.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

HILL: You know, as we -- as we look now at what we saw last night, there seemed to be two real headlines. Two of the -- two of the major headlines, I would say, coming out. This unity, these moments, several moments of unity that we saw in the chamber when it comes to Ukraine, and then also the continued division and challenges that the president sees within his own party.

What do you think this means for the Biden agenda moving forward?

GERGEN: Well, I guess it will be a continuation of last night. And I think he did a remarkably good job last night. And given the fact that he walked into that hall as a downtrodden president, Democrats thought their party was tied in knots of their own making, and the president himself had an approval rating below 40, which is an ominous sign for any sitting president. And yet, Erica, he walked out of that hall last night with his head high as commander in chief. He really, I think, began to reassert the authority and the majesty of the presidency, if you'd like. But I thought he did a very good job on it.

It is not -- he has not solved all the problems that he faces in his presidency by any means. You know, gas prices may go a lot higher because of these various agreements with regard to the Russian oil and gas. You may see other things that are going to be difficult. But what I would be worried about now, in this administration, is what's going to happen if these cities fall in Ukraine and the Russians begin slaughtering people in a way that becomes horrible to watch or even think about. The president has said that he will never send troops. But if people are being slaughtered, will he reconsider? Will he -- will he find some way to put some air and troop people in there to get as many people out of there as possible and to save as many lives. I think that's going to be an excruciating decision if it comes and there is a growing chance there's going to be a -- he's going to be in that situation in the coming days.

HILL: So, David, Based on your experience, what do you think those conversations are that are happening right now at the White House?

GERGEN: I would think that they're thinking through all the different options that would -- including worst case scenarios. And as I say, I think the slaughter of Ukrainian fighters would be -- would be a worst case scenario. But they've got to figure out -- Napoleon famously, before going into any battle, thought of five or six different ways it could unfold. And so when something unusual came up, or strange came up, he could act quickly. He knew where to go. He'd already thought about it. That's what they ought to be doing now is think through all the options, who do they need to bring in, what are the worst case scenarios if you look, you know, down the street and around the corner? What do you see?

HILL: And we are seeing -- I mean, look, we're already seeing some of the slaughter of civilians, which is clearly targeted. Incredibly disturbing.

GERGEN: Yes.

HILL: We're a little tight on time, but, David, really quickly, do you think the president did enough last night to explain why Ukraine is important to the American people and why it's a threat to democracy?

GERGEN: No. No, I don't. I don't think he solidified the public standing with him on that. I think he needs to do more. He gives -- he tends to give talks at 2:00 in the afternoon, 3:00 in the afternoon. He needs to give one or two more in the evening, to walk straight through and with charts and graphs and everything else to make sure the country knows what the stakes are, and what some of his options are, and how tough this could be before it's over.

HILL: Yes.

David Gergen, always appreciate it. Thank you.

GERGEN: Thank you. Thanks.

HILL: Scrambling to keep Russia's economy afloat. Up next, the new restrictions from the Kremlin as the grip of international sanctions gets tighter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:30]

HILL: In Russia, Vladimir Putin is now limiting how much cash people can take out of the country. It's just a latest attempt to stabilize the Russian economy which is in freefall at this point. You see these lines here. Russia has been trying to prevent a financial meltdown since the U.S., EU and other western allies imposed sanctions on much of the country's banking system.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joining me now to discuss.

I think the real question, right, as we look at this and we see the reaction. The stock market closed again today, right, three days in a row.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, three days in a row. Three days in a row.

HILL: How long can Russia last like this?

ROMANS: I mean, this is just early days. I call this, you know, sort of shock and awe financial warfare and the Russian people are feeling it right away. I mean you can't use Apple Pay in the country. You've got all these big companies that are sort of ringing themselves around -- you know, like, protecting themselves from their exposure to the Russian economy. And in Russia, one after another, you're hearing companies that are pulling back or pulling out completely of Russia.

And then the Russian government is so concerned about this that they're putting limits on how much money investors can take -- and real people can take out of the country.

Look, the Fed chief, Jerome Powell, this morning going to say that, you know, this is not going to change the Fed's calculation. It's still fighting inflation. But what's happening in Russia, what's happening, this invasion in Ukraine, is going to feed into that geopolitical -- that big, huge inflation story around the world anyway. And so the Fed now on the ball here as well trying to figure out how to calculate its moves. It's still expected to raise interest rates later this month.

HILL: But it is fascinating, right, as we look at how much things have shifted in the last couple of months.

[09:55:02]

ROMANS: Can you imagine?

HILL: And now here we are and trying to gauge what's going to happen.

ROMANS: This is really one of those things that I know that behind the scenes in Treasury Departments and in finance ministries around the world and the west they have been trying to figure out how they were going to combat an invasion if Putin did it. What is really remarkable to me is that in two days western finance minister have managed to come together with a package to crush the Russian economy in a way that we have never seen before.

HILL: Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

ROMANS: Yes.

HILL: And we heard that, I think, in yesterday, in Christiane Amanpour's interview with the French finance minister.

ROMANS: Right. HILL: That's the goal, right?

ROMANS: Yes.

HILL: Christine, I appreciate it. Thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HILL: Well, still to come in our next hour, we're going to go back to Ukraine. Cities there experiencing devastating damage. Heavy Russian shelling continues. You're going to hear from a member of the Ukrainian parliament and her promise to defend her country.

Stay with us.

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