Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Holocaust Survivor Forced To Flee Ukraine For A Second Time; Ketanji Brown Jackson Faces Senate Committee Vote Today; Suspects Still At Large After CA Mass Shooting With 6 Dead, 12 Injured. Global Outrage As Russian Retreat Reveals Mass Grave, Destruction, Dead Bodies In Kyiv Region; Ukrainian Living In Kyiv Bomb Shelter In Kyiv Describes Conditions In Kyiv Area; Buttigieg Speaks Before Biden Takes Podium. 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 04, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:34]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Welcome back. New video now from Mariupol, Ukraine. Hard to imagine how anyone is surviving here. Yet, an estimated 100,000 people are. Barely, though, according to the mayor.

Today, the International Committee of the Red Cross tried again to reach this besieged port city. Its teams were not able to get there because of security concerns.

Some Ukrainians have managed to escape Russia's violence.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz follows the journey of a Holocaust survivor who escaped the city of Kharkiv twice in her lifetime, once fleeing the Nazis and now the Russians.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROSSTALK)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment Margaryta Zatuchna says she finally felt safe, welcomed by her Jewish community in Krakow.

MARGARYTA ZATUCHNA, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: I am presented with so beautiful flowers. And it was -- it smells very well.

ABDELAZIZ: We sat down to hear the story from twice a survivor.

ZATUCHNA: I was born in 1940. When the war with Germany began, I was only 1 year and a half.

ABDELAZIZ: In 1941, her family fled their home in Kharkiv, where Nazis murdered an estimated 16,000 Jews. She later returned, grew up and grew old in peacetime.

That is, until Russian troops invaded --

(GUNFIRE)

ABDELAZIZ: -- bombing and besieging Kharkiv.

"There was no water or power. We couldn't buy food. It was impossible to live," she says. "There was explosion after explosion. A real war."

Not even a monument that honors the city's Holocaust victims escaped Moscow's so-called de-Nazification campaign.

But Margaryta stayed to take care for her sick husband, Valeri (ph), as long as she could.

"An explosion blew out all our windows," she says. "After that shock, he grew weaker and weaker."

After nearly a month of war, Valeri (ph) passed away. His body still lies in a morgue. There are no funerals because of the fighting.

[13:34:59]

Now, age 82, the Holocaust survivor knew it was time to go. Packed only what she could carry and fled her birthplace.

ZATUCHNA: It is very difficult when my beautiful town when I lived all my life is destroyed.

ABDELAZIZ: A driver picked up Margaryta in this vehicle, damaged in an earlier attack. For two days, they traveled out of Kharkiv and across dangerous territory to Lviv.

ZATUCHNA: It is a really hard road.

ABDELAZIZ: From there, she boarded an ambulance and was ferried into Poland. We were tracking her evacuation and met her at the border crossing.

(on camera): Hi. Welcome to Poland.

(voice-over): But Margaryta still has further to go. She wants to join her brother in New Jersey.

ZATUCHNA: I was not scared.

ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Where is this bravery from?

ZATUCHNA: It comes. It comes alone to us.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Margaryta hopes to return to bury her husband of 40 years and see her beloved city at peace again.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Krakow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: What a wonderful woman. Back here in the U.S., Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's on the brink of

making history. A key vote today set to push her nomination forward. We'll go live to the Hill, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:16]

CABRERA: This is likely to be a history making week in Washington. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, is expected to be confirmed and become the first black woman on the nation's highest court.

Right now, the Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting to discuss Jackson's nomination with a committee vote likely today before the full Senate votes.

And CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, is joining us live on Capitol Hill.

Manu, Senator Susan Collins is the only Republican saying that she will vote for Judge Jackson. How is today's vote expected to play out?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the committee vote should have happened by now but it's been delayed by a couple of hours at least because of one Senator the committee, Alex Padilla, of California, has been delayed because of flight problems getting back into Washington.

As a result, the vote is not going to happen until later this afternoon. Potentially, into the early evening.

At that point, the committee is expected to deadlock, 11-11, because it's evenly divided between the two parties. And no Republican on the committee is going to vote yes.

So after the committee ties, then it will move to the Senate floor where there will be a formal effort to, quote, "discharge the nomination" from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

They need a simple majority to do just that. Susan Collins is the one Republican who has indicated she supports moving this nomination forward.

The other focus will be on Senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Senator Mitt Romney, of Utah, whether they break ranks as well.

But in the committee earlier today, it was very clear this process, partisan, both sides taking aim at the other.

And one Senator of the committee, Lindsey Graham, who voted against -- voted for Jackson for the lower court -- made clear he was voting no now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): They repeatedly interrupted and badgered Judge Jackson and accused her of vile things in front of her parents, her husband and children. There was table pounding, some literal, from a few of my colleagues.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): If we were in charge, she would not have been before this committee. You would have had somebody more moderate than this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So this week will be a series of votes that will ultimately get to her confirmation by the end of the week.

The question will be, will she be confirmed on a 51-49 vote or will Murkowski and Romney vote yes. So it could be 51-49, 52-48 or 53-47.

But, Ana, if it's a two-vote margin, that will tie the closest vote margin any of Supreme Court nominee in history. Remember when Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed in 2018 -- Ana?

CABRERA: Manu Raju, on Capitol Hill, thank you.

An urgent search happening right now for multiple suspects in California after a mass shooting in downtown Sacramento left six people dead and a dozen others injured. Police say the suspects opened fire on a large crowd yesterday morning.

CNN's Natasha Chen is following the developments for us.

Natasha, where does this manhunt stand right now?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, we haven't gotten any updates this morning -- west coast time, it's still a little early -- from the police department about their search for these multiple shooters.

We're hearing this happened around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning in downtown Sacramento, just a few blocks away from city hall and a basketball arena where the Sacramento Kings play.

Right now, the police chief says they are looking through more than 100 pieces of evidence, including a recovered stolen handgun.

Now within the past hour, the coroner's office has now identified all six people who were killed. Let's show them on the screen here. They range in age from 21 years old to 57 years old.

Just really heartbreaking for many of these families who are grieving right now, not understanding how this could have possibly happened to their loved ones who were out having a good time Saturday night into Sunday morning.

[13:44:58]

They -- the police say that they did see video on social media of a fight happening before the shots were fired. Encouraging anyone in the public with information about that to send information or video to the police department.

Here's the mayor speaking on this tragedy, saying, really, this has to go beyond thoughts and prayers right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DARRELL STEINBERG (D-SACRAMENTO): Thoughts and prayers are not enough. It's not enough. That's too easy. And it will be too easy to mourn for a week and then move on. We can't do that.

In our city, we will take stock, and we will do everything we can, on the investment side, on the public-safety side, on the gun side, to protect the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: This is a problem that many leaders are dealing with, of course, across the country.

And President Biden offered his condolences and spoke to that issue of gun violence as well.

Here's part of a statement that he put out saying that his administration has stood up "gun trafficking strike forces to help cities across the country expand community violence interventions and hire more police officers for community policing."

He is also calling on Congress to ban ghost guns, require background checks for all gun sales, ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and repeal gun manufacturers' immunity from liability -- Ana?

CABRERA: Natasha Chen, in Los Angeles, thank you for that reporting.

Back to the breaking news out of Ukraine. Russia may be withdrawing forces from areas near Kyiv. My next guest has been staying in a bomb shelter for the past three weeks in the capital city. We'll take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:05]

CABRERA: The world is reeling in horror at the images coming out of Bucha, Ukraine. As Russian forces leave the Kyiv area for other parts of Ukraine, we're seeing just awful images of corpses in the streets in this Kyiv suburb.

And now the E.U. And Ukraine are launching formal war crimes investigations.

But even as Russian troops redeploy away from Kyiv, life there isn't returning to normal. Mark Savchuk is coordinator of Ukrainian Volunteer Journalist

Initiative and he's currently living in a bomb shelter in Kyiv and joins us now.

Mark, thank you for making time for us.

The world just got a glimpse of what happened outside of Kyiv there in Bucha. The Kremlin is calling the images and the reporting fake.

As someone who has been courageously trying to document what is happening in your homeland, what is your reaction?

MARK SAVCHUK, COORDINATOR, UKRAINIAN VOLUNTEER JOURNALIST INITIATIVE & LIVING IN KYIV IN BOMB SHELTER: Well, they have been lying all along. Not just in Ukraine, but everywhere they fought the wars, Syria, Crimea, Georgia.

So it is not really a question of what they're saying. We know that Kremlin lies every time they speak, basically. So that is my reaction to what they're saying.

CABRERA: As we mentioned, you're living there in a bomb shelter.

SAVCHUK: Yes.

CABRERA: What is your takeaway after spending the past three weeks sheltering with a group of people and fearful for what the next day could bring?

SAVCHUK: I wouldn't say that we're like fearful because we were helping -- we aren't just living here because we have no choice. We're living here because this is our choice to help the troops.

We are a volunteer group. So we try to help the guys at the front line as much as possible. We have to be closer to the action. So that is our choice. I wouldn't say that we're afraid or something.

My takeaway, well, Kyiv, unlike Bucha, unlike Kharkiv, unlike Mariupol, wasn't bombed that hard. So, we were just doing our job and we still are every day. Because this fight, this war is just keeps on going.

It is a big mistake to think the war is nearing an end. It is not.

All you see right now is them regrouping, not retreating, but regrouping because they're refocusing their attention to the southeast. And right there, right now, as we speak, the fighting is incredibly hard.

CABRERA: Who else are you sheltering with? And are there any stories that stand out to you about the people that you've met?

SAVCHUK: Yes, well, yes, of course. Basically, there are people from various backgrounds, some are designers, some are IT specialists, some are pr managers.

And all of us, after the war began, we are dedicating as much time as possible to helping the troops on the line.

Because we have mobilized like 100,000 men. And we need to help to provide them support with, you know, like bulletproof vests and kneecaps, other tactical gear because we want our guys to be equipped as well as possible, as good as possible.

So we are spending, you know, full time in trying to perceive that goal.

CABRERA: You're in Kyiv now -

SAVCHUK: Yes.

CABRERA: And forgive me if we have to interrupt you because we're waiting for President Biden.

Actually, he's walking up to the podium now, I'm told.

Thank you so much, Mark, for joining us. Stay safe.

Let's listen to President Biden.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Good afternoon, everybody.

First, I want to thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for hosting this event here at the White House, making clear that trucking is, indeed, a national priority.

And I want to thank everyone here, especially the truck drivers and transportation workers we count on so much.

[13:55:05]

I have to share this is a big day in my own household because it was our first time taking our kids to day care.

And as I was getting ready for that, because I knew this event was coming up, I kept looking around at all of the physical items that surrounded us and thought about how they got here.

The bottles, the little jars of baby food, the spoons we were using to feed him, the highchairs they were sitting in, even the family minivan itself got to us because truck drivers brought them to where they needed to be.

(APPLAUSE)

CABRERA: That is the Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. As soon as the president takes the podium, we will take you back there.

For now, quick break. You're watching CNN. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)