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Ukraine Rejects Russia's Demand To Surrender Mariupol; New Curfew In Effect Until Wednesday In Kyiv; Right Now: Confirmation Hearing For Ketanji Brown Jackson. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Victor Blackwell, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Alison has the day off. We are tracking major developments on two big stories this hour. The first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court is expected to give her opening remarks to senators next hour. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is facing her first day of confirmation hearings. We, of course, will bring you her remarks as soon as they begin.

And now to Ukraine, desperation is growing on both sides of this war. Ukrainians and Mariupol overwhelmed with the loss of life are forced to dig graves in the streets. At the same time, Russian military leaders appear to be desperate to gain any momentum. That's according to a senior U.S. defense official. He said that Russian forces have not achieved anything of what the U.S. assess their objective to be, especially controlling Ukraine's population centers like the capital Kyiv.

The official says that's why Vladimir Putin's forces are intensifying their long-range missile and artillery bombardments targeting civilians. One Ukrainian man told CNN the carnage of innocent people is worse than when the Germans invaded generations ago.

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VITALI, UKRAINIAN FROM POSAD-POKROSVSKE: Speaking a foreign language.

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BLACKWELL: Let's go now to CNN's Don Lemon in Lviv, that's in western Ukraine. Don, a senior NATO official is saying that all signs are now pointing to a stalemate.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Yes, it certainly is, Victor. And just the heartbreak that's going on, the desperation here is just unimaginable. But this NATO official that you're talking about said that if it's not already a stalemate, it is a rapidly approaching one. He also says that this stalled Russian campaign is particularly dangerous because it means that Russia is resorting to less precise weapons that are even more brutal for civilians here.

I want you to take a look at this. A security camera captured a huge explosion. This is at a shopping mall in Kyiv. This happened overnight on Sunday. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General is saying that eight people were killed in this. Even in areas under Russian control, Putin's forces continued to attack Ukrainians. This video shows what happened to protesters. This is Kherson.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking a foreign language.

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LEMON: Imagine just people out there living their daily lives. You saw children in that video as well. The gunfire and explosions go on for at least, about another 30 seconds, at least one person was wounded. Unclear what those munitions were. We're still checking. Officials in the city of Mariupol have refused to surrender despite constant bombardment from the Russian military. The Russian Defense Ministry, issuing a deadline of 5:00 a.m. this morning for Mariupol authorities to give up the fight but that ultimatum was rejected.

I want to check in now CNN Senior International Correspondent, it's Ivan Watson. He is in the city of Dnipro. He's been covering this from very early on. Ivan, hello to you, Ukraine's defense minister praised the defenders in Mariupol saying that they are saving Kyiv. What do we know about what's happening there now?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that it has been weeks-long -- (coughing) excuse me. Sorry about that. A weeks-long siege of this port city, which could be very strategic for Russia because it could help it establish a land bridge between Crimea and mainland Russia, something that it does not have at this time and so the Russian forces have been circled it and are pummeling the city for weeks now.

And we've been talking to civilians who have emerged shell-shocked, traumatized from what they endured describing losing electricity, cell phone signals, internet, heat, running water, hiding in their basements for weeks under constant Russian bombardment from the land and from the air, from warplanes and now we're increasingly hearing from the sea, from Russian warships in the sea. One man who managed to evacuate with his wife and 7-year-old daughter talked to me about just how heartbreaking that decision was.

[14:05:00]

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DMYTRO SHVETS, FLED MARIUPOL: The last day I saw my father because my mother was completely destroyed mentally. I mean, it was completely depression, was sitting in the cellar and even she hadn't left the cellar since the beginning of the war, just staying inside, unfortunately. And the last day I saw my father and he begged me like please guys

leave somewhere. I don't know where, just escaped this -- escape this, and he was crying. In the first day, he's telling the truth from all the heart. I never see my father crying and he told please (INAUDIBLE) son, just leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Don, this man, and his family fled on Thursday. He said before he left while he was waiting in line for water, and people were using -- trying to scavenge rainwater and water from drainage pipes to drink. And he said a Russian shell hit the line of people who were waiting and killed three people in front of his eyes. He had to help dig graves in the neighborhood to bury those civilian casualties of Russian artillery, Don.

LEMON: Yes, Unbelievable. Ivan, obviously, it's different from city to city here in Ukraine. The military presence obviously in Lviv wouldn't be the same as Mariupol. What is the military situation in Mariupol?

WATSON: I think it's dire. The forces there have been also encircled with the civilian population. We've been in communication with some of the military commanders there who are saying, look, we need ammunition, we need weapons, we need -- excuse me, we need help, and that help does not appear to be coming.

The Ukrainian government is conceding that the situation for the defenders is dire and difficult but they don't seem to have the resources to -- sorry to break this siege. That said, one commander who he claims -- who we messaged with that they -- I'm so sorry, they destroyed two tanks and even a Russian gunboat within the last 24 hours. We cannot independently confirm that claim, Don.

LEMON: I haven't been there before and you get the tickle or the cough on camera, hit is the worst thing, so grab a cough drop and some water.

WATSON: Yes.

LEMON: I will let you go. I've been watching you've been doing a lot of reporting. Take care of yourself. Thank you, buddy. I'll see you soon. We're going to move on now. The British defense ministry says that Russian forces are likely to prioritize attempting to encircle Kyiv over the coming weeks. Russian forces advancing on the capital have stalled amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

But that has not stopped Putin from shelling areas of Kyiv. Eight people were killed after a Russian bomb struck a shopping mall and a residential building that happened overnight. A crew is now in effect for the -- curfew, excuse me, is now in effect for the capital until at least Wednesday. We're going to go now to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. And he went on site of that shelling and this is what he saw.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This area of Kyiv was hit overnight into Monday and certainly, the munition that was used here seems to be absolutely massive. If we go forward, we can see over there is a mall and the parking lot of the mall where you can clearly see a gigantic impact crater right in the middle of that parking lot.

Also, there's buildings around it. That tall building was absolutely destroyed in that entire mall complex. And the buildings around here, a lot of them were badly damaged as well. What we're hearing from the city council here in Kyiv is they say that so far, they know of eight people who have been killed in this explosion and several buildings, of course, damaged including a school and a kindergarten as well.

What's not clear is what exactly the military objective of all of this may have been. There certainly doesn't seem to be any military infrastructure close to here, or at least we haven't seen any, and also this appears to be very much a civilian area.

One of the things that we found very remarkable here is we are currently on the 11th floor of a building that is you know pretty far away from the explosion. We found this piece of shrapnel. This piece of shrapnel, we did not find that here on the front of the building, this went through this entire apartment and was then found in the hallway, went through the front door. And, of course, this would have been extremely deadly for anybody who was in its path.

The people who live here told us they bought this place about three months ago. It's a new building. Luckily, they weren't here when the explosion took place. But if we pan down, we can see the destruction that was brought by all of this.

Obviously, a lot of glass was broken, whole windows blown out, and, of course, anybody who would have been laying in this bed in the bedroom would have been in severe danger of massive injuries and possibly death, especially with so much shrapnel flying around.

This is very much part of the current ongoing battle for Kyiv. The U.S. and its allies say the Russians not making much progress in that battle and certainly increasingly using heavy weaponry that every once in a while certainly does land in civilian areas. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

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LEMON: All right, Fred, thank you very much for that. Victor, dire situation here, we're going to send it back to you, stateside in New York.

BLACKWELL: All right, Don, we'll get back to you in just a moment. Thank you. President Biden just spoke with European allies about the coordinated response to the war in Ukraine. This week, the president, as you know, will travel to Europe for a NATO summit. Phil Mattingly is CNN's Senior White House Correspondent. Phil, what have you learned about this call?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, it was a call that lasted about an hour-long between President Biden and the Big Four Western European powers, their leaders, and I think this is kind of the key group that needs to be aligned in this intensive week of diplomacy that President Biden has in store. This serving this call, serving it's more or less the first act.

He's also going to be traveling to Brussels on Wednesday. He will meet with NATO partners in what's considered an extraordinary summit, hastily called, given the situation on the ground in Ukraine right now. Also, attend a European Commission meeting and also a G7 meeting called by Germany before heading over to Poland.

And I think the key to this entire moment is maintaining a unified approach as those -- these different countries, these different leaders attempt to figure out a way to ramp up what has been an extensive response up to this point.

Obviously, a sanctions regime with more than 30 countries over four continents that really has no precedent for a country of Russia sighs, you've seen the diplomatic efforts, you've seen the U.S. move forces into NATO partner countries, particularly in Eastern Europe over the course of the last several weeks. All of those are supposed to be areas of discussion in these days ahead.

I think the big question that all of the leaders are trying to grapple with right now is given the backdrop of what Ivan was showing you, what Fred was showing you, what other reporters had been laying out in detail over the course of the last several days, what more can be done to change the dynamic. That's at the crux of the conversations today, the crux of the conversations throughout the coming week, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Phil Mattingly for us at the White House. Thank you, Phil. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will give her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee in just a few minutes, the latest on her historic confirmation hearings, next. Also, a plane carrying 132 people crashes in southern China. Bad weather is making that rescue effort a lot harder. We'll have a live update ahead.

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[14:15:00]

BLACKWELL: Right now, the historic confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson is happening on Capitol Hill. They're just back from a short break. Now, if she's confirmed, Jackson will be the first black woman on the nation's Highest Court.

For the past few hours, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, they've been giving their opening statements and at any moment now, Judge Jackson will deliver her own opening statement. We, of course, will take that, live when it happens. CNN's Supreme Court Reporter Ariane de Vogue is covering the hearing. So, Ariane, you are -- I could see everyone and everything is happening right behind you, what are the Senator has been saying?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right. It's been a long day so far and we have yet to hear from the nominee. We will, as you said. We haven't seen what she's going to say but I'm told that it'll track a lot of what we heard from her when she came to the White House when she was announced. Back then, she said she was humble for the nomination. She mentioned

her faith. She talked about her parents, both public school teachers, and how they served as their models. And, of course, she thanked Justice Breyer, who she used to work for, and whose seat she is seeking.

As for the Democrats so far, they've really zeroed in on her qualifications. The fact that she went to Harvard Law, she sits on one of the most powerful federal appeals courts in the country. And, of course, that she has been to the Senate already. This is her fourth time. The fourth time she's been before them. And Republicans have voted in her favor in the past.

The Republicans on the other side, they're really focusing in on her record. They're trying to build the case that she has been soft on crime. So we've heard some in their statements talk about the fact that she defended a terrorist suspect when she was a public defender. Others have talked about her time on a sentencing commission.

They want to know about her judicial philosophy. And that's likely because down the road, tomorrow in the questioning, they're going to want to compare her philosophy with that of other conservatives on the court. We heard from Senator Hawley, he has already tweeted that he's concerned about a handful of cases where he thought that she came down with too light a sentence for child porn offenders, although CNN has looked at those cases, and we believe she was much more in the media more than he said so.

But then there was an interesting exchange with Senator Cruz -- or actually his opening statement. And it's interesting because it really focuses more than on the nominee and is close to a sort of the Biden administration as a whole. Take a listen to this.

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SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX): We are seeing murder rates, carjacking rates, crime rates, skyrocketing across the country, in significant part because of democratic efforts to abolish the police. And part of the Democratic effort to abolish the police is nominating justices that consistently side with violent criminals, released violent criminals, refuse to enforce the law, and that results in jeopardizing innocent citizens, so all of those questions are fair game.

Will you follow the law? What does your record indicate? Will you protect the rights of every American citizen regardless of race, regardless of party, regardless of views?

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[14:20:00]

DE VOGUE: And right there, he may be pushing more at crime in general because the Republicans are going to walk very closely here. They know that this is historic. They know that she's the first black woman to be nominated. They might press much more on the Biden administration's look on crime than this particular nominee. BLACKWELL: Ariane de Vogue for us there. Thank you so much, Ariane. Laura Coates is a CNN Legal Analyst and a former federal prosecutor, Gloria Borger is CNN Chief Political Analyst, a lot to get to here. Gloria, let me start with you and the nominee. As Ariane said that this is going to be a bit of a reintroduction after we heard from her at the White House, is this the moment that we're expecting to hear from the judge to try to refute some of these claims that Republicans are making or hold that for later?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think she's going to hold that for later. I think at this point, she's going to reintroduce herself to the American public, introduce herself to those people who don't know much about her. I was thinking today as I was watching her, how difficult it must have been to just sit there and listen to people say things about her like she was soft on pedophiles when it came to sentencing them, etcetera, and just sitting there, stone-faced, she's had to do that.

But what she will do is say, look, here's who I am, here's where I came from, this is kind of the upbringing I had and this is what made me into the person I am today. And even though a lot of Republicans took some potshots at her today, I think the time to answer that is in the Q&A when she will be able to say, this is what actually happened on the Sentencing Commission.

This is why I defended somebody at Guantanamo because I was a public defender and you don't get to pick your clients, etcetera, etcetera. And she will do it -- you know, she will do it at that time and that will be the right time to do it.

BLACKWELL: Laura, let's talk about this line of inquiry. Some will say attack, others will say from Senator Josh Hawley and his questions about her treatment of sex crimes offenders. Let's watch.

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SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, (R-MO): What concerns me and I've been very candid about this is that in every case, and each of these seven, Judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended, and below what prosecutors requested. And so I think there's a lot to talk about there, and I look forward to talking about it.

Now, I will note that some have said that the federal sentencing guidelines are too harsh on child sex crimes, especially child pornography. I've heard that argument a lot in recent days. The chairman quoted someone earlier today who takes that point of view. I'll just be honest. I can't say that I agree with that.

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BLACKWELL: Ariane, just a moment ago, cited CNN's analysis of her findings, but what do you make of this line of attack?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's pretty ridiculous. I mean, if the line of attack is to suggest that a sitting member of an Article III Court is somehow sympathetic towards child sex offenders, or those who commit sexual assault, I think that really is a bridge too far. I do think that it's incumbent upon her and the confirmation process to provide greater context and explain why precisely this senator is so wrong about his assumptions that have been made.

And frankly, as Gloria made the point about it being difficult to sit through it, I suspect she was biting her tongue on a number of instances. But because this is her fourth time doing this, she recognizes the value of being able to answer questions as opposed to going tit for tat and being goaded into a poking of the bear scenario. And frankly, as I know, as a former federal prosecutor, any line of attack that suggests that those who are defense counsels are somehow soft on crime, are just trying to get innocent people victimized by allowing people to be involved in criminal activity is just farcical.

Victor, we know, as prosecutors, the defense counsel, they have a very important role. And as every American who believes in the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, due process, the right for effective counsel, you have to have somebody who is a zealous advocate. It is a part of our entire judicial system.

And so by virtue of being there, it does not suggest they're soft on crime, they are there to ensure that the prosecution has met its burden. And when they do not, they need to be available to do so. And so I look at all these lines of inquiry as really a last-ditch effort to politicize the idea of, hey, soft on crime, so-called blue states, so-called Blue cities, crime rates are rising, let conflate that with a Supreme Court nominee, and it just makes no sense.

BLACKWELL: Gloria, talk about the politics in the room because we heard from Senator Ted Cruz, and as Ariane said, he was focused on crime not so much on the nominee. But you've got maybe three Republican presidential candidates looking at 2024, you've got Cotton, Cruz, maybe Josh Hawley, and we saw the same with Democrats when Brett Kavanaugh was on the hot seat with Booker, Klobuchar, Harris, what do you think we're watching?

[14:25:00]

BORGER: Sure. Well, we're -- you know, we're watching the beginning of the -- of the 2024 Republican primary in that room. And I think it's very easy to spot. You know, the Republicans are angry about Kavanaugh, the Democrats are angry about the way Merrick Garland was not even given a hearing.

And the Republicans have a larger point to make, which has some salience for them politically, which is about Democrats being soft on crime. And so they're going to pull every thread they can in this hearing to show that she is emblematic of the way Democrats think about crime, and the way Joe Biden thinks about crime, and how he's OK on soft sentences.

And by the way, how they're OK, about the way she ruled on Donald Trump, for example, on executive privilege, and all those kinds of things. So they're going to bring it all -- they're going to bring it all in there because they want to get to her judicial philosophy, which they are going to say is liberal. And she talks about how she has a methodology and not a philosophy, and she's not going to give them an answer.

BLACKWELL: All right, we are again standing by for the opening statements from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She is there as both of you said listening. I guess she's turned around a bit of a smile now, as these senators offer their opening statements. Of course, we'll bring that to you live when she starts to speak. Laura Coates, Gloria Borger, thank you.

BORGER: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Ukraine's president tells CNN that he is ready for talks with Vladimir Putin and he said if they fail, that would mean a third world war. We'll discuss Putin's willingness for diplomacy next.