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10 Million People Have Been Displaced by the War in Ukraine; Senate Begins Supreme Court Hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson; Ukraine Rejects Russia's Demand to Surrender City of Mariupol. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 10 million people have now been displaced by the war here in Ukraine. The Russian invasion has people forced to flee their homes or leave the country altogether. The U.N. Refugee Agency says some 3.4 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins me now just across the border in Poland. Melissa, what are you hearing from the refugees there?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, what we realized here at Przemsyl station, which is one of the main train stations that they come through on their way out of Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv over the last few days is that there's really a tragic symmetry. And what we've been seeing these last few days is, by definition, those who didn't want to flee in the early days of the conflict who are now being forced to do so.

And if you look around this train station, it will give you an idea. It's a bit quieter than it is normally because, of course, we're waiting for another train to arrive. There are moments when it gets actually packed. But it's kind of like this at the very least day and night, children with their mothers, the single bag they're able to carry apart from their child, often a pet and this huge logistical operation.

And what we're seeing in terms of the new arrivals and the people who are talking to us today is that these are people who've tried to stay, they didn't want to leave, and the names that come out of their mouths, Kharkiv, Irpin, Mariupol or the ones that have been over the course of the last few days or the course of the last few week, hardest hit. So, it is people who are arriving needing absolutely everything.

And because we're talking about 90 percent women and children, we're talking about particularly vulnerable populations that need a lot of help. Apart from the women and children, the people fleeing, John, are people over a certain age, the disabled, essentially, anyone who can't fight. And the ones that are going now are the ones that are going because they simply had no choice. So, they're coming with as little as they did in the first few days but with an awful lot more trauma, horrible stories about what they've left behind, not only what they went through over the course of their last few days in the city, the bombings, the sounds of the planes, hiding underground, they're carrying with them all that trauma, even as they try and put on a brave face and calm their children and look ahead, as much as the others have so far to all the uncertainty that lies ahead.

What has changed for them though over the course of the last more than three weeks of this conflict is that it's a staging post. Towns like this, Przemysl, have really gotten a lot better organized. NGOs are here and they've got somewhere to go, gymnasiums and schools transformed into makeshift beds before being moved onwards, a little more organization but a lot more trauma that's being carried with them, John.

BERMAN: Carrying with them all that trauma, as you say. Melissa Bell, thank you so much for that.

And if you would like to help people in Ukraine who need shelter, food, water, please go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find several vetted organizations who are working on the ground.

[10:35:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. In less than 30 minutes, Supreme Court Justice Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin her confirmation hearing. Up next, one of her childhood friends and one of her former colleagues joins us live.

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HARLOW: Well, moments from now, the confirmation hearing is set to begin for Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson was born in the nation's capital, but grew up though in Miami.

[10:40:00]

She was a star on her high school debate team and earned her undergraduate and her law degree at Harvard.

With me now, two people who know her very well. This is a big day for them as well. Joining me now is Joe Slaughter, former District Court Clerk Jackson, and Stephen Rosenthal, one of her very good friends growing up. Thank you so much for being here.

And, Stephen, let me begin with you, and I have to put up this photo. It is fantastic. So, here is a photo, if we can get it up, from your high school yearbook. There it is. I love that. 1982, you meet her in seventh grade civics class. You called her a standout in every way and you have described her as the Simone Biles of oratory. Why?

STEPHEN ROSENTHAL, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: Well, I want to relay to people today something that they could understand. This was back in the '80s and I don't think Simone Biles was around doing Olympic gymnastics then. But they're about the same height and they're both beloved by their teammates and their friends and that is what Ketanji is. And they're also incredible champions. She has had that skill and that intellect and character from a young age.

HARLOW: Joe, we have another photo, I believe, to show of you guys. So, you clerked for her. And for people who don't know how clerking works, you work incredibly close with someone, especially when they're a judge that, as I understand it, is as involved -- there you go, all her clerks -- with their clerks as she was. Can you talk to us a little bit about what it was like to work with her and learn from her?

JOE SLAUGHTER, FORMER U.S. DISTRICT COURT CLERK FOR JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: Absolutely, Poppy, and thanks for asking. It was, you know, I can say unequivocally, the best year plus of my legal career. Some judges, I think, we were her first set of clerks and I think some judges that have been on the bench a little longer sit in their office and send out a research question or discuss a particular issue.

Judge Jackson wasn't like that at all. She was very collaborative. She liked debate, as Stephen mentioned. She was constantly back and forth from her office to the clerk's area and she was, you know, very respectful of our views and always took the time to listen to us and she does the same thing for everyone that comes in our courtroom. She's just an amazing listener and an amazing person to work for and to look up to.

HARLOW: Stephen, she will be a first in obviously a number of ways, first black woman to sit on the high court if she is confirmed, but she also brings real diversity in terms of her experience as a federal public defender, the first one since Justice Thurgood Marshall, was significant, experienced as a criminal defense attorney, her four years on the sentencing commission and her real plea with recent graduates. I remember watching her to the University of Pennsylvania law graduates about how important it is to represent those accused of a crime and indigents. What do you think she brings to the bench in terms of that set of diverse views?

ROSENTHAL: I think she brings both depth and breadth. She brings a deep judicial record and an incredibly broad judicial and legal experience. Those things will enrich the conferences that the justices have when they're deciding which cases to take, to bring a perspective that's fresh and perhaps unique to the court. So, she has the potential to be an incredibly valuable member of the Supreme Court for all Americans.

HARLOW: Joe, could you speak to that? Because one thing that clerks do very importantly is they bring judges and justices petitions, you know, for the high court, to take up the case. And, you know, Joe, the cases that the judges decide to take up is also critical aside from their opinions and the ones they do take because they take very few, relatively speaking. And I think what Stephen is saying is that she may really change that discussion as well.

SLAUGHTER: Yes. You know, I couldn't speculate on what goes on in the Supreme Court justices' conferences, but what I can say from my experience working with Judge Jackson is that she is incredibly meticulous, in addition to being one of the most brilliant people I've ever met and you can be rest assured that every case which comes through or every petition for (INAUDIBLE), which she considers, she's going to look at every angle, look at every detail and will be as prepared as anybody could be to go into that room and advocate for what her view is of the case.

HARLOW: Stephen, if we could just for a moment, there's this great anecdote that she shared about when her daughter was 11 years old, and her daughter wrote a letter to then-President Obama about her mom. Can you speak to that and just the importance, trying to juggle, and her husband is a surgeon and trying to raise kids just like all of us, right, and balancing all of that, the affirmation of her children in that process?

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ROSENTHAL: Sure. I mean, Ketanji is a true inspiration to everybody who's met her, as Joe just said, working in her chambers as a law clerk, when she was a judge, but ever since she was a young adult and then became married and had children and started out in this incredibly successful career with a husband who has an incredibly successful career, she's been candid about the challenges of balancing all of those things. And she meets those challenges by hard work, dedication and honesty.

And I think the American people will be inspired by who she is. Her life story truly is an inspiration. And I truly hope that senators from both sides will explore that and give her an opportunity, a fair shot to have this incredible position of honor.

HARLOW: Well, thank you both for shedding light on the human, the person, right, behind the judge as well. We really appreciate it and know it's a very meaningful week for the both of you, as you watch your friend go through this confirmation process. Joe Slaughter, Stephen Rosenthal, thank you very much.

SLAUGHTER: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: John?

BERMAN: So, still ahead, the incredible human toll of the war here in Ukraine, nearly every person experiencing some kind of loss and suffering. Up next, the Ukrainian member of parliament experiencing his own loss. He shares a message to western leaders.

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BERMAN: We've been reporting all morning on Russia's continued bombing of Mariupol after Ukraine rejected Putin's ultimatum to surrender the besieged city earlier today, bombs falling every 10 or 15 minutes. But Ukraine's defense minister says the defenders of Mariupol are playing a huge role in stalling Russian forces elsewhere in the country and have saved tens of thousands of lives. In the capital of Kyiv, at least eight people were killed in a Russian missile attack at a shopping center and that death toll expected to rise.

Earlier today, I spoke with a Ukrainian lawmaker in Kyiv about the human cost of this ongoing war in his own personal, almost unimaginable loss.

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SVIATOSLAV YURASH, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: The reality is, as painful as can be when you see with your own eyes as those people who you never expected to be touched by this war are. But in this war, everybody will be touched and everybody will suffer because of this.

The reality is that Oleksandra is one of many who are dying in there, thousands every single day. And the point is the west can stop all of these Oleksandras all around Ukraine from dying and all of their dreams and ambitions from being shattered and all those lives that loved them as well.

And the sooner the west understands that, enacts on that, the better. Again, the point is we don't understand how much more blood on my nation is to be spilled before the west takes its final step.

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BERMAN: We are so sorry for his loss.

I'm John Berman in Lviv.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. We will see you back here tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for being with us.

Stay with CNN. Our live coverage of the hearing of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson begins right after this.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN AT THIS HOUR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. You are looking right here at live pictures from the hearing room on Capitol Hill, where the Senate Judiciary Committee will soon -- they're all sitting down getting ready and they will all soon begin the historic confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. If confirmed, Jackson will become the first black woman on the nation's highest court.

The 51-year-old federal judge no stranger to this process. She's been confirmed three times by the Senate, including recently as last year. Republicans are already telegraphing some of their lines of attack on Jackson, saying that she's soft on crime in part because of her experience as a public defender. We're going to hear from President Biden's nominee, from Judge Jackson herself, this afternoon. But let's begin our coverage with CNN Supreme Court Reporter Ariane de Vogue live on Capitol Hill, as I mentioned, these historic confirmation hearings are about to get underway. Hey there, Ariane.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Hey. You're right, first black woman to be on the Supreme Court, if she is confirmed, historic moment. She comes with the sterling qualifications, went to Harvard twice, she sits on one of the most powerful federal appeals court across the country, she's a former clerk to Justice Breyer, but most importantly, as you know, she's been up here recently, less than a year. In all, this will be her fourth time.

And look for the Republicans to go after her for being soft on crime. It will be a two-part strategy going after her record but then also maybe pivoting to President Biden, to use these hearings as sort of a way to energize the base.

But that can really backfire with her for this reason, is that she is ready for these hearings and she was up here before and she really will show that she has a firm hold and understanding of the intricacies of the federal criminal system. For instance, she did serve as a public federal defender but she'll say, look, that makes me a better judge. I did what every lawyer does. I defended my client. She did serve on the federal sentencing commission, but she came up with some recommendations that were bipartisan and unanimous.

And, finally, look at her personal story. Like many Americans, she straddled the system. She's already spoken about one uncle who was sentenced to life in prison for a drug crime but she also spoke -- talks about other uncles she has who worked in law enforcement. Most importantly, if she's confirmed, she will fill a hole that no other current justice has right now with this deep understanding of the system.

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