Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Washington Post Reports, White House Logs From January 6 Show Seven-Hour Gap in Trump Calls; U.S. Official Says, Russian Forces Stalled in Several Parts of Ukraine; Cities Across U.S. Report a Rise in Attacks on Asian-Americans. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 29, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Seven hours and 37 minutes on January 6th, that is the time gap former President Trump's call logs from the day of the U.S. Capitol attack. This is according to documents given to the January 6th committee and obtained by The Washington Post. We should note, CNN first reported a significant gap in these presidential call records back in February.

Sources also tell The Post the committee is investigating whether Trump communicated that day instead through backchannels, potentially using phones that belong to aides or even burner phones.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild, she's been following the story for us. Whitney, this is an incredible gap, hours on an incredible day that seems to violate presidential record laws here. What do we know?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the committee is trying to figure out if they got everything because, as you point out, the gaps are just so obvious. Last call is recorded at 11:17 and it's to an unidentified person, extremely vague. The next call recorded occurred at 6:54 P.M. to Dan Scavino.

It has been widely reported that Trump did speak to lawmakers that day as this riot unfolded, among them Senators Mike Lee, Tommy Tuberville, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Another major call missing from this log is his last call with former Vice President Mike Pence, in which he's accused of trying once again, this last ditch effort, to try to pressure Pence to overturn the election results. And during that call, Pence said finally, it just could not be done, he would not do it.

[10:35:05]

According to The Washington post, there are logs of Trump speaking with top allies, such as Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani, prior to the riot, attempting to contact Senators David Perdue, Mitch McConnell and Josh Hawley, prior to the riot.

After the attack, he's shown speaking with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, Campaign Adviser Jason Miller, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Jim, this comes on the heels of an explosive court ruling yesterday in which a judge in California said plainly, it is more likely than not that the former president did commit a crime when he tried to overturn the election.

So, certainly, a lot of questions going on. The main questions, Jim, where are those call logs, why were they not recorded?

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's a good point too, someone, Cheney, who is senior in Republican leadership, accusing the president of possibly committing a crime. Whitney Wild, thanks so much.

Still ahead, as we see the devastating effect particularly of civilians of Russian attacks in Ukraine, we hear inside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's inner circle and their reaction to Russian troops withdrawing from some areas around the capital, Kyiv. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The breaking news this morning, we have learned that Russia, in the view of U.S. intelligence, is shifting its military strategy in Ukraine, in fact, withdrawing forces. That said, as it happens, Russian forces still shelling, bombing several Ukrainian cities, including civilians.

Just this morning, Russian forces hit a regional state administrative building in Mykolaiv. That's a hole right in the middle of the office tower. At least nine people were killed, we're told. Rescuers still searching for people believed trapped in the rubble.

John Berman is in Lviv, in Western Ukraine. And, John, you spoke earlier today to someone who advises the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and right after the talks had ended, what did he say about the progress in negotiations?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I spoke to him literally minutes after the statements started coming out from the Istanbul, from both the Russian and Ukrainian delegation. So, it wasn't totally clear whether he had an inside line on exactly what the administration position would be.

But I think he had the reaction that most Ukrainians would have, which is, that's progress, it's nice if the Russians are truly withdrawing some of their troops from the regions around Kyiv and Chernihiv. That's a positive development. But they want to see proof and he certainly wants to see more. He felt very much like he needs to see more of that around other besieged cities. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGII LESHCHENKO, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY'S CHIEF OF STAFF: What's going on at the same time today, the regional administration of Mykolaiv was (INAUDIBLE). The building is totally destroyed. People died. So, this has to be not just a statement but real measures taken by Russia. These measures have to be taken not only about Chernihiv and Kyiv but also this has to be taken about Donbas, about Kherson, about Melitopol, about Berdyasnk, about Izyum, all the cities now under very strong pressure of Russia army.

(END VIDEO CLIP)\

BERMAN: he pointed out, Jim, you just heard right there that these discussions were happening, these announcements were made as a hole was blown in that building in Mykolaiv, as Chernihiv right now, and they're still shelling around Chernihiv. We heard it ourselves as we were speaking to the mayor there this morning.

I think it will be very interesting to see, I think everyone wants to see the next few days, is there perhaps intensified fighting in places Russia isn't allegedly pulling back from? Will things quiet down a little bit? Will there be visible evidence of these promises that the people are now getting from the Russians as part of these negotiations? I think everyone wants to wait and see, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, visible and sustained, right, because Russia could pull back and find another opportunity later to attack again.

You spoke to a soldier who was injured in the line of duty and I'm just curious how he described the fighting.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, Jim, and I know you probably saw this too when you were here. It's hard to have conversations with the regular soldiers who were fighting on the frontlines because they're too busy, right? They're too busy and they're far away from Lviv, by and large, and they're in the middle of it all.

We were able to track down this soldier who had fought north of Mariupol. He was injured. So, he was home being treated, which is how we found him. And he said the fighting is just intense. He described the scene battling Russian tanks and he had backed off to a building. And the real difficulty was, in most of these towns and cities, where the real fighting is taking place, there's still so many civilians.

And the Russians aren't letting up because of civilians there. In fact, we know there's evidence in some cases, it appears, that the Russians are targeting civilians. But what this soldier, Ivan, told me is the real difficulty was he was trying to fight back against the Russians at the same time he was convincing elderly Ukrainians in their 80s to evacuate and they just didn't want to go. They just didn't want to leave their homes. They wanted to stay because that's where they lived and it was their own form of defiance in the face of this Russian onslaught, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So much pride, so much courage we've seen from soldiers, certainly, but also Ukrainian citizens. John Berman in Lviv, thanks very much.

BERMAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And still ahead this hour, an alarming trend in this country, anti-Asian attacks rising in major cities since the start of the COVID pandemic.

[10:45:03]

The stories of three young women who experienced it firsthand, that's coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA SHI, NEW YORK RESIDENT: When you're being attacked like that, it feels so lonely. And it feels like if people don't do anything, that they're agreeing with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Harassment and hate, it is an alarming trend that Asian- Americans are facing in several major cities across this country.

[10:50:04]

It is specifically impacting Asian-American women. Many say they're now living in fear.

CNN's Amara Walker reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): three young Asian American women living and working in New York City, three friends who are unwittingly bonded by their encounters with hate.

SHI: When you're being attacked like that, it feels so lonely. And it feels like if people don't do anything, that they're agreeing with it.

WALKER: 32-year-old Amanda Shi says she's been verbally harassed several times by complete strangers since the start of the pandemic. Each time, she's relived the trauma of when she was followed by a man yelling racial obscenities at her.

SHI: He like kept following me for like a whole block and then this man, he came up next to me, he was like, do not worry, I am right here with you, I'm going to walk you straight there. And I couldn't thank him in the moment but I'm so grateful he was there.

ANNE KIM, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I was just thinking about like, yes, so many times that's happened to me this past year.

WALKER: There's empathy amongst these women because they know what it's like to feel dehumanized, to be targeted as Asian-American women.

SHI: It's the stereotypes around Asian women that make us more likely to be hunted, right? We're supposed to be submissive. We're obedient and there's like hyper-sexualization around us as well.

KIM: She started aggressively walking towards me. WALKER: 25-year-old Anne Kim says, last march, she was leaving her friend's apartment in Manhattan's upper west side when she was accosted and forced to seek safety in the building's lobby.

KIM: Even having your mask or other clothing on, I was targeted. A woman came towards me saying, you Asian bitch, I'll (BLEEP) kill you. I'll chop your head off. And she kept saying it as she started approaching me.

WALKER: Carolyn Kang, an actress and activist, wrote about her encounters on social media. She says a stranger screamed at her on the subway in 2020, blaming her for the pandemic. Then three months ago, this happened.

CAROLYN KANG, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I was walking in Brooklyn, and suddenly, as I was walking past these two men, one of them punched me. They started screaming at me, made up Asian words.

WALKER: All of these attacks unprovoked, these women say, just like the others that made headlines in the past year, a 67-year-old Asian woman in Yonkers, New York, beaten and punched more than 125 times. The suspect allegedly called her an Asian bitch. Michelle Go, pushed to her death in front of an oncoming subway train in Times Square by a man who is reportedly mentally ill. Six Asian American women killed in a spa shooting spree in Atlanta.

Not all have been deemed hate crimes. But with major cities, like New York and San Francisco, reporting a steep rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian-Americans are living in fear, especially Asian-American women. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that tracks incidents against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, nearly two-thirds of the reports came from women between March 2020 to December 2021.

SUNG YEON CHOIMORROW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S FORUM: Over 74 percent of the respondents said that they had experienced some kind of discrimination or harassment in the last 12 months.

WALKER: Even a member of congress, Grace Meng, isn't immune to this reality.

REP. GRACE MENG (D-NY): I try not to go anywhere alone.

WALKER: Why?

MENG: I'm scared that something might happen to me. And we are equally, if not, more afraid of things that might happen to the most vulnerable of our community, our grandmothers and our mothers. These are the folks that have come to this country and sacrificed so much and now they're being attacked and killed.

WALKER: In the meantime, Carolyn avoids the subway when she can.

KANG: I'm making sure my back is against the subway wall or standing right next to a pillar so that no one can come and push me into the tracks. KIM: They were luckily there to open the door for me.

WALKER: And while Anne remains hyper-vigilant --

KIM: I have asked strangers to walk me home.

WALKER: Amanda is dreading the warmer weather.

SHI: Everyone's like, spring is here and I'm -- part of me is happy but part of me is so anxious to be shedding these layers and letting my features show.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER (on camera): Jim, just think about that, Amanda there admitting that she felt safer during the winter because she could actually hide the fact that she is Asian under all those layers, wearing a mask, a hat, sunglasses and a scarf. It's alarming to a lot of people, right, to hear these statistics, four to five fold increases in these cities when it comes to anti-Asian incidents.

[10:55:03]

But it's widely believed that it doesn't capture the true scope of the violence and harassment that Asian-Americans, especially women, are facing on a regular basis. In fact, those ladies admitted to me that they did not report some of those incidents because, number one, they've gotten accustomed to the harassment that they faced over many, many years and the frustration that they have not been taken seriously when they have reported these racially charged incidents, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no one should feel accustomed to that sort of harassment. Great reporting, Amara Walker, thank you so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us on this busy news day. I'm Jim Sciutto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]