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Senate Committee to Vote on Jackson Nomination; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) is Interviewed about Jackson's Nomination; Suspending Russia from Human Rights Council; Biden Urges Congress to Strengthen Gun Laws. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 04, 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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[09:34:43]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on advancing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court nomination. That will then pave the way for a full Senate vote likely by the end of this week when Judge Jackson is expected to become the first black woman ever confirmed to the highest court in the nation.

[09:35:00]

CNN's Melanie Zanona joins me now from Capitol Hill.

Melanie, a lot of trip wires to go through between now and then in that Senate-wide vote. How will it play out? And are there other Republicans who may come on board in that time frame?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Yes, we are certainly in the home stretch here with this confirmation process. The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet at 10:00 a.m. this morning to vote on advancing Judge Jackson's nomination to the Senate floor. Members will have unlimited time to speak.

But we are expecting that vote to end in a tie with all 11 Democrats voting in favor of the nomination and all 11 Republicans voting against it. That means, later tonight, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will have to file a motion to discharge her nomination to the Senate floor. That only requires a simple majority, which we're expecting to happen. And then the rest of this week will consist of additional procedural motions, as well as hours of floor speeches. And that will tee up a final confirmation vote at the end of this week.

Now, we do know she will have the support of at least one Republican, Susan Collins of Maine. But all eyes right now are on Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, who have not said how they will vote. They could tip their hands in that motion to discharge vote later tonight. But we'll see.

But, regardless, Jim, Judge Jackson is on the glide path to confirmation. She has the votes and she is poised to make history as the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: On the glide path.

Melanie Zanona, thanks very much.

So, joining us now to discuss is Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. She's a Democrat from Texas, sits on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees.

Congresswoman, good to have you back on this morning.

REP SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Thank you. Good to be with you this morning.

SCIUTTO: So you attended her confirmation hearings. You've been very supportive of her nomination.

I do want to ask you, for you, as a black woman, to see a black woman soon to be elevated to the highest court in the land, how important is this moment for you, for the country?

LEE: Well, Jim, I match that experience with my life story of living in a segregated America, living through the civil rights era, seeing people lose their lives just for the right to vote or equal justice. And then matching that with a Constitution that says that we're organized to create a more perfect union. It is an out-of-body experience to be able to, one, to have had this African American woman nominated by President Biden and supported by Vice President Harris, and to recognize that in the Declaration of Independence, 1776, and we declared the need for inalienable rights and then, of course, our Constitution that no time was there a thought, first, of course, we were at that time slaved -- enslaved, any thought that a person of that color or a woman could be on the United States Supreme Court.

So, as I sat in that room, it was almost as if you were watching and revealing the history of the United States being torn asunder, being shredded, to see this talented, intellectual and legal scholar who happens to be an African American woman present herself to the American people. It was beyond excitement.

SCIUTTO: We're seeing here at home, this is a moment of progress, no question, abroad in Ukraine we're seeing a throwback to another time, another century, atrocities apparently committed in the progress of that war there.

President Putin and Russia have carried out horrible attacks on civilians before. We saw it in Syria. We saw it in Chechnya. Have not paid a price, a legal price for it. What does the U.S. need to do now to make sure there are consequences

for these actions?

LEE: Well, I certainly don't think that we need to be silent. Some weeks ago I called Putin a war criminal, needing to be tried in The Hauge. And I agree with the sentiments of President Biden and I'm glad that he strengthened that.

We understand what regime change is. And that was not his intent. But it was to say that a person as horrific as Putin is, and continues to be, does not deserve world leadership. I think it's a combination of what needs to be done.

Frankly, we're putting in $13.7 billion from the United States and Congress is supporting the president. We're giving any number of weapons that they need and more should be coming. But as well, I think Europe needs to be even more engaged. And I am certainly appreciative of the NATO allies. But there should be emissaries and heads of states going into Moscow almost every day and insisting that someone in Putin's camp or Putin himself understand the overall world threat that he is engaging in, that he is on the brink of starting World War III, that it will be an end to Russia as he knows it.

He's trying to create the Soviet Union. He may not even have a Russia. And when I say that, in terms of their world place, in terms of their table, at the seats of empowerment. We need to make that very clear and we also need to expose continuously the heinousness of the multiple raids and the babies -- 1,243 children or more have been killed.

[09:40:12]

When has that ever been done except for groups like al Qaeda, or ISIS, or the Taliban, and we don't give them world status. This is a nation that's doing that under Putin's leadership.

So, I believe what should happen is a complete crescendo of world condemnation on him and for him to know that he will no longer have a place at any seat that is of civilized presence. You have to know that.

And then let me just finally say, there are more banks that we can sanction and we should sanction as many banks as we can. I think Judge Brown Jackson --

SCIUTTO: I do want to ask -- I do want to ask, before we get to that, because Brittney Griner, she's from your district. She's still held by Russia. Russia has been known to, in effect, use its judicial system to take hostages.

Is there any progress on her gaining her freedom?

LEE: Well, let me say this, I continuously ask the nation to pray for Britney and the others and pray for her family, which you can imagine is going through a challenging time. They're not able to say even a word. And I think that is evident of the oppression and the viciousness of Russia holding persons where people cannot even speak her name because it would be fearful that we're making a celeb out of her.

I, frankly, have been engaged with the State Department and they are working as hard as they possibly can to insist that she be treated fairly, that the legal process goes. But, frankly, there is no legal process in Russia. And so we're hoping that diplomacy and legal work can help to bring her out as quickly as possible. I believe that we should maintain an interest in Britney and continue to pray for her and pray for the others.

SCIUTTO: Indeed. And for her family as they wait.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, thanks so much for joining us.

LEE: Thank you. Thank you so very much. We wish Brown Jackson the very best. And I believe she'll be confirmed. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Signs do seem to be pointing that way.

Well, still ahead this hour, world leaders are now weighing additional sanctions against Russia. This following the horrific civilian deaths we've seen in Bucha, Ukraine. The State Department's warning is coming up next.

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[09:47:07]

SCIUTTO: New this morning, the European Union and Ukraine say they will jointly investigate alleged Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity. This comes as the EU is working on another round of sanctions in response to the evidence of atrocities, we are seeing in places such as Bucha.

And a State Department spokesman says that additional sanctions from the U.S. are coming very soon against Russia.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now.

Natasha, we're also learning this hour that the U.S. might try to push Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council, which has been a bit of a rogue's (ph) gallery, you know, historically in recent years anyway, but how would that work exactly and what would it mean?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, they would need a two-thirds majority in the body in order to suspend Russia. And, of course, that doesn't count abstentions. So they do think, as of right now, that they would have the ability to do that, to suspend them from this body. But it would be a largely symbolic move, right? I mean they don't have any kind of legally binding authorities. But it would send a strong, political message.

They can authorize investigations, and they have done so, into potential war crimes by Russia but this would just send a message to the world in a similar way when they expelled or suspended Libya in 2011 that this is just not an acceptable behavior for a member of the Human Rights Council.

But I think that the real kind of punitive measures that we're going to be seeing coming out of here are another round of sanctions, right, by the European countries, by the United States. It has really -- the atrocities that we've seen in Bucha have really spurred a lot of momentum for new discussions about potentially sanctioning Russia's energy sector. And I can tell you, when we were in Brussels, that was really the entirety of the conversation was how these European countries can get away from their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

SCIUTTO: So who are the -- who are the holdoff -- holdbacks on this? I mean we heard a senior German official talk about damage to the economy and Viktor Orban, right, just elected in Hungary, and he's been resisting.

BERTRAND: It's Germany, it's Italy, it's the Netherlands, but even they have become -- have been coming around over the last several hours and days since this massacre happened. I mean the German defense minister said this morning that she believes there should be additional sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

Of course, it has to be done in a way that it won't negatively impact to a very large extent the European economy. But just the fact that these conversations are even happening right now is a big step forward.

SCIUTTO: Yes. No question. I mean here we're talking about gas prices, which is a big deal, but their they're talking about really their entire energy supply for a lot of these things.

Natasha Bertrand, thanks so much.

Still ahead, President Biden speaking out about a mass shooting in Sacramento, such a familiar American scene. A manhunt still underway for the gunman.

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[09:54:06]

SCIUTTO: Right now police are searching for multiple suspects after a mass shooting in downtown Sacramento left six people dead, 12 others injured. Police say the social media video appears to show an altercation before the shooting which took place early Sunday morning. Look at all those bullet casings there. Police now reviewing hundreds of pieces of evidence, including a stolen handgun.

President Biden condemned the shooting and has called on Congress to strengthen gun laws at the federal level, at the national level.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John Harwood joins us.

And, John, any time we see this or any call for gun legislation, I have to ask you, is there any real support or momentum for this or will this be largely an empty push? JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the answer, Jim,

is, no, it will be largely an empty push. We have seen this horrific movie before, most grievously in the Newtown incident more -- 10 years ago.

[09:55:04]

Barack Obama discovered then that when you had the slaughter of school children, even that was not enough to push Congress to act. And we've got a situation where President Biden, at the beginning of his administration, took some of the regulatory steps that you could take by executive order. They're very limited. But really to make a dent in this issue, you've got to have legislation. So he's called on yesterday, or over the weekend, a ban on ghost guns, requiring background checks for all purchases doing something about high- capacity magazine, banning assault weapons, making gun manufacturers liable for lawsuits which would be a way for people to extract money and perhaps change the behavior of the gun industry. But there simply is not the support.

Democrats, of course, as you know, only have 50 votes in the Senate. It takes 60 to move on gun legislation. And we have a political system that, through the Senate, magnifies the political impact of rural areas that do not share the Democrats' belief that gun regulation is a significant step toward curbing gun violence. So I think we're in an election year where the president of the United States is going to call for this. Democrats are going to urge it. They're going to try to motivate their voters behind that. But in the near term, it's not going to go anywhere legislatively.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes, that same familiar mix of obstacles.

John Harwood, at the White House, thanks so much.

Just moments from now, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its hearing to advance Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court. We're going to be live on Capitol Hill. That's the setting right there you're looking at. That's just ahead.

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