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Biden Calls Detained American's Parents; Dual Citizen Charged with Spying; Mikhail Fishman is Interviewed about Russian Journalism. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 09, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:58]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: The parents of Trevor Reed, the former U.S. Marine detained in Russia, spoke to President Biden on the phone after they said attempts to get a meeting at the White House were declined.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I just can't imagine what you're going through. (INAUDIBLE) look, I -- I know what you're going through is hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The president called the Reeds yesterday after his motorcade passed by them in Fort Worth, Texas. They'd been standing outside for hours. The sign, as you see there, hoping to speak to Biden, knowing that he was there in Texas.

Reed has been held in Russia since 2019. Now, during the call, Biden reiterated his commitment to the Reeds to doing everything he can to bring their son home.

CNN's senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera joining us now live from Dallas.

So, Ed, this is something they've been trying for, for a long time. They've been speaking out. They've been trying to get a meeting. They were very clear that the White House had said no. This plan worked for them. What more do we know about that call and what may come of it?

[09:35:01] ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Reed family says they've been keeping up lines of communication with various members of the Biden administration for a while now but had not met personally with President Biden. And when the president was visiting Fort Worth yesterday, for a brief speech, he was trying to -- the family was trying to meet with the president in person. They were told that because of scheduling issues that could not happen.

They stood on the side of the road where the motorcade passing by for nearly seven hours, hoping that the president would catch a glimpse of them. While the president was on the ground, he placed that phone call to the Reed family. And Joey Reed, Trevor Reed's father, says that he really wants to see the Biden -- push the Biden administration be open to perhaps considering a prisoner swap to get their son Trevor Reed out of Russia.

One U.S. official described the trial that Trevor Reed went back -- went through back in 2020 as theater of the absurd. So, clearly, the Reed family believes he is wrongly imprisoned. They're desperately trying to get him out. And they're very concerned given the situation in the region right now how all of this might affect the release of their son.

Joey and Paula Reed, Trevor Reed's parents, spoke with CNN earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA REED, TREVOR REED'S MOTHER: It was everything we could have hoped for. We thought with just the acknowledgement on the way in from the motorcade that I felt, OK, he at least saw me and I felt, you know, validated by that. But then when he called, it put it over the top. It was just great.

JOEY REED, TREVOR REED'S FATHER: We believe President Biden is probably one of the most compassionate, caring presidents we've had in modern times. But he -- he just reinforced that he's always thinking about Trevor.

The thing that really kind of put it over the top for us was he said he prays for our son every day and that he had said a rosary before he came to Fort Worth for our son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Erica, the family is also dealing with desperate urgency this morning. They also tell us they have been able to speak with Trevor Reed several times in the last week. They're very concerned about his physical health, and he's been coughing up blood. They spoke with him this morning and said that there had been some sort of accident and they believe he has a broken rib. So, concern over his physical condition really growing for this family here in Texas.

Erica.

HILL: It absolutely is.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, two U.S. citizens who have been detained in Venezuela have now been released. Oil executive Gustavo Cardenas, who is a member of the so-called CITGO 6 group, and Jorge Fernandez, who was accused of terrorism for carrying a small, domestic drone, now both free men. The releases follow a high-profile visit by U.S. officials to Caracas last weekend to discuss the potential for easing U.S. oil sanctions against Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro has since announced he plans to increase crude oil output.

Up next, we'll speak with a Russian journalist forced to leave his country after the last independent TV station shut down. His insight on what is happening in his country and on Putin's mindset, next.

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[09:42:37]

HILL: A dual Russian American citizen has been charged with acting as a spy in the United States. Federal prosecutors are accusing Elena Branson of spreading Russian propaganda.

CNN's Athena Jones joining me now.

So in this complaint, it alleges that Branson actually -- Branson fled the U.S. in 2020, I believe. But what more are we learning about what allegedly happened in that complaint?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot in this complaint, Erica, that this dual Russian American citizen, Elena Branson, was charged with acting and conspiring to act in the U.S. illegally as an agent of the Russian government, with willfully failing to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiring to commit visa fraud and making false statements to the FBI.

Now, according to this criminal complaint, they say that since at least 2011 Branson worked on behalf of the Russian government and Russian interests here in the United States. They say she had an organization called the Russian Center New York. And that this organization allegedly received tens of thousands of dollars from the Russian government and took direct orders from Russian officials.

Among the meetings that we're talking about is the one you mentioned, this idea that she, in March of 2016, exchanged a series of emails with a Russian minister who wanted her to organize a meeting with then residential wannabe Donald Trump, or his daughter. They also said she coordinated meetings to lobby other U.S. political officials and that she had this propaganda campaign, and I love Russia campaign, that was targeted at American youth.

Now, CNN has attempted to reach out to Branson. We've also attempted to reach out to the Trump family. Haven't heard back from either. But this is a big deal. The FBI interviewed her in September of 2020, then they searched the

organizations. Eventually, she fled. She later gave an interview to "Russia Today," which is the Russian-controlled media organization in Russia saying, you know, that she was scared and she thought it was likely she would be arrested if she stayed in the country.

So, a really interesting story.

HILL: And she's still in Russia now? We don't know?

JONES: That is the understanding. I mean our -- the FBI believes she fled to Russia in 2020.

HILL: Right.

JONES: Unclear exactly where she is right now. We haven't been able to reach her.

HILL: Appreciate it, Athena. Thank you.

JONES: Thanks.

HILL: A lot to that story.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Putin's new censorship law is clamping down really unlike ever before on the media there. It's forcing news organizations to make difficult decisions about their staff's safety. "The New York Times" is the latest to pull its correspondents from Russia. It's the first time the paper has not had reporters in that country more than a century.

[09:45:06]

They had them there during the Soviet Union's Stalin, but not now.

Joining me now to discuss what's happening inside the country for the media, Mikhail Fishman. He's an independent Russian journalist with TV Rain. He's also the former editor in chief of "Moscow Times."

Mikhail, it's good to have you here.

And I wonder, so folks at home can understand what the new climate, and I know it was already difficult, but what the new climate is like in Russia today, tell us how it's affected you. What kind of danger have you personally faced through this?

MIKHAIL FISHMAN, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST AND ANCHOR, TV RAIN: Well, I have to say that I am not in Russia at the moment. I have -- I left Russia already, what, a week ago. I was on air last Tuesday, last week, on air, when TV Rain was shut down by the government, together with another liberal radio station, Echo Moskvy, and received a notification from the prosecutor's office that it's spreading false information about this war. And we already knew by then that the new legislation draft is going through the Russian parliament, which would punish spreading false information, so-called about the war, with up to 15 years in jail and this draft would be signed into law last Friday, actually, by Vladimir Putin. So that happened on Tuesday.

And on Wednesday morning, my decision was quick and spontaneous. I left the country together with, I think, dozens if not hundreds of other independent journalists who still were operating in Russia at the moment.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, it's a shame because yours was one of the few outlets there who is telling the truth, as best you could about things.

I wonder, in the current environment, is the Russian public able to hear or see or read the facts about what's happening in Ukraine, or are they in a pure propaganda environment?

FISHMAN: Well, it's now the level of censorship is totally unprecedented. You have to understand that Putin was clamping down on media for almost 20 -- more than 20 years now. He started with shutting down (INAUDIBLE) network, the oppositional independent television network. The next day he came into office in 2000 -- in the year 2000. And since then he was -- he was repressing independent voices and independent media.

But the censorship, what happened during last ten, seven, six days, Russia has never seen. And even Facebook and Twitter now are banned in Russia. And YouTube is still operating, but my guess is that it lasts -- its last weeks if not days.

So, the answer to your question would be that at this moment, for those -- for Russians, the information they get is tightening to the -- basically propaganda information sources, like major television channels, and basically it. So, no, at the moment, Russians are sort of stuck in this propaganda bubble.

SCIUTTO: So, what is the response? It makes me think it requires a return to the radio free Europe days, right, of the old Soviet Union. You know, broadcasting in on short wave. I don't know. What is the way to breakthrough that bubble, to get information, real information, right, not that supplied from the mouth of Vladimir Putin, and the people around him?

FISHMAN: We will actually learn it very soon because we are going through this right now. We are living through this totally new situation because before that still the Internet was, well, not free, of course, but still much freer than in China, for example, let's say.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISHMAN: But now, well, still -- still information is spreading through Internet, is spreading through other social networks that are still open and operating in Russia, whether it be telegram, whether it be TikTok is already banned as well, YouTube still there. So it's very hard, in 2022, to actually totally isolate your -- the country from the -- from information from the outside.

[09:50:05]

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FISHMAN: But, still, I have to say that the Russian government is much more prepared for this than it was even a few years ago, because it now has tools to shut down specific websites, specific social networks like Twitter, for example. It couldn't do that, it couldn't achieve that, even, I'd say, even two years ago.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's gotten very good at clamping down.

Well, Mikhail Fishman, you have done great and courageous work, you and the journalists who work with you. We hope you get the opportunity to continue that. We do wish you good luck.

FISHMAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[09:55:14]

HILL: Her husband has been a hero since Russia invaded. And not just to his fellow Ukrainians. Well, now the first lady of Ukraine is also speaking out, writing movingly about the suffering her people have endured.

Olena Zelenska writing in an open letter on Facebook, this war is being waged against the civilian population, and not just through shelling. Many people, including the elderly, severely ill and those with disabilities have been debilitatingly cut off, ending up from their families and without any support. War against these innocent people is a double crime.

She goes on to say, look into the eyes of these tired women and children who carry with them the pain and heartache of leaving loved ones and life as they knew it behind.

She thanked people around the world for their support and for those still in Ukraine who are stepping up to help. But she also closed her letter with a warning. The war in Ukraine is not a war, she writes, somewhere out there. This is a war in Europe, close to the EU borders. If we don't stop Putin, who threatens to start a nuclear war, there will be no safe place in the world for any of us.

We are continuing to monitor the latest developments out of Ukraine in our next hour. You will hear from a student forced to flee her hometown, now among the more than 2 million Ukrainians who have become refugees trying to find safety.

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