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U.S. Intel Sees Info Suggesting Putin Wants A Victory To Tout By May 9, Russia's "Victory Day"; Ketanji Brown Jackson Faces Senate Committee Vote Today; Children Of U.S. Citizens Among Those Separated From Their Parents In Shanghai After Testing Positive For COVID; Biden Spoke Earlier On Plan To Help Trucking Industry Ease Supply Chain Issues; Gas Prices Trend Lower And Oil Prices In Decline; Interview With Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 04, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: But it won't be something that he could use to say that he's done this. Especially if the Ukrainians resist him.

And I know that they are concerned about the Dnipro as well. And I think they are going to make that work.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Susan Glasser, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you both.

Back here, gas prices trending lower as oil prices are in decline, again. But how long will this trend continue? We'll discuss with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: And the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on whether to advance the Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court. It is expected to be deadlocked, split down party lines. We'll talk about the next steps.

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[14:35:13]

BLACKWELL: It is a pivotal day for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She's expected to move closer to making history as the first black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

CAMEROTA: The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting to discuss her nomination with a committee vote likely today before the full Senate votes.

CNN's Lauren Fox joins us from Capitol Hill.

Lauren, what will happen next?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Senate Judiciary Committee met for several hour this is morning. But there was a hiccup, Alisyn, and that was the fact that Senator Padilla, of California, a Democrat, wasn't able to make it to the morning session on time because of a flight delay.

Essentially, what happened was there was a medical emergency on board his flight last night. They have to divert them back to Los Angeles. So that is making things a little bit on a tighter and more unpredictable schedule than we expected in the Judiciary Committee.

Essentially, what we expect to happen, according to the chairman of the committee, Dick Durbin, once Padilla returns then members of the Judiciary Committee will come back and they will hold their vote in committee.

We expect that that will be tied, 11-11. That's why it was essential that Democrats had every single member in the room to actually be able to vote.

Once that tie vote takes place, then there's a procedural vote. We still expect that to happen tonight in the U.S. Senate, to advance this nomination.

And then several more procedural votes throughout the week. By Friday we expect, however, she will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

We know of one Republican, Susan Collins, who is expected to support her. And our eyes are on two other Republicans. Both Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Mitt Romney, of Utah, as to whether or not they would cross the aisle and vote to support her.

But Democrats looking united on this vote. It is all but assured she'll get confirmed. But of course, it is unpredictable timing here in the United States Senate.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

OK, Lauren Fox, thank you for the reporting.

BLACKWELL: China is reporting the highest level of new COVID cases in more than two years. Listen to this. The country is separating children, who have tested positive, from their parents. And some of those impacted are the children of U.S. citizens. We'll have more on this next.

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[14:42:05]

BLACKWELL: There are some people in China who are angry over the newest measures to contain a COVID outbreak in Shanghai. On social media, there are these pictures and videos that appear to show a crowded pediatric ward at a hospital in China's largest city.

Now under China's strict COVID isolation policies, the children had been separated from parents because they tested positive.

CAMEROTA: And diplomatic sources tell CNN some American children in China have also been separated from their parents after testing positive. China is calling on the military to help as all 25 million people who

live in Shanghai are now required to undergo testing for COVID.

CNN's Will Ripley joins us from Taipei.

Will, is China showing any willingness to let children stay with their parents?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And in fact, Alisyn and Victor, they're doubling down on this zero-COVID policy.

Which means that because China is waging war on the virus and trying to eliminate the virus, acting on orders from the Chinese President Xi Jinping, there's no room for people to complain about the fact that they've been yanked away from their children.

Children, in some cases, of American citizens, as you mentioned, according to diplomatic sources, and being kept in these isolation wards that are not the kind of facility that a lot of parents, most parents would want their child to be in.

But of course, personal freedom is something that has been yanked away from many Chinese citizens during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Some are afraid that what is happening in Shanghai could rival the multi-month lockdown in Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.

Which would mean that 25 million people, more than the population of the entire island of Taiwan, where I am right now, they would essentially not be allowed to leave their homes. And it could go on for months.

And yet, this is the Omicron variant, which a lot of scientists believe is less severe.

And that even though case numbers are higher, as long as vaccination rates are higher, a lot of countries, including the United States, have been willing to accept the presence of COVID and encourage people to get vaccinated. But in China, a very different story.

And some are saying the reason why President Xi is doubling down with zero-COVID is because they do have almost 1.5 billion people. And if these numbers were to dramatically escalate, you might have a health care system overwhelmed.

You still have the vaccination rate among the elderly very low. So it could be a very bad situation for a lot of people in China.

A much bigger population to deal with, a lot more people who need to get to get to get vaccinated.

But clearly, what is happening is Shanghai, the fact that China is locking down 25 million people for less than 10,000 cases in that city, it does show that they're willing to basically go to almost any cost to keep with this zero COVID strategy. CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Those numbers are staggering. And 25 million

people needing to be either locked down or vaccinated. That sounds daunting.

[14:45:02]

BLACKWELL: And it is remarkable that we're seeing this so far into the pandemic. 25 million people there in the city, the measures that are necessary to take.

Will Ripley, there for us in Taipei, thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: So President Biden speaking this afternoon about efforts to help the trucking industry ease all of these supply chain issues. We have Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joining us next.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, everyone.

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[14:50:04]

BLACKWELL: This afternoon, President Biden promoted his administration's investment in the trucking industry as he faces pressure to clear up supply chain shortages and bring down soaring inflation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: So we can draw Americans to work, to increase wages, reduce wait times, and improve safety, and so much more.

Folks, there's a heck of a lot we have to do, a lot more we have to do.

Secretary Buttigieg has laid out some of the steps we are taking to make these jobs more attractive for Americans. And it's all centered around listening to you, the driver's.

Look, we got to keep it -- we've got to keep it going. We're building a better economy around American manufacturing and the American supply chain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining us now is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Mr. Secretary, thank you for being with us to talk about this trucking action plan.

I've said before, I've got two long-haul truckers in my family. I heard the concerns about the safety and the turnover. My question is, what's the impact on the average American family? That

is the concern, as I said at the top, about inflation and the supply chain.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The reality is trucking is personal for all of us, whether you're involved in the industry or not. Because almost everything that we own, buy, count on every day, the

clothes we're wearing, the food you ate for breakfast, just about all of it moved on a truck or several trucks.

And especially at this time when we're trying to rein in prices. You know, keeping shipping costs under control is making sure all of our goods moving runs smoothly.

Part of that is making sure we have enough truckers, that we're recruiting truck drivers, and we make sure the job is a quality job compensated well, safe, so those people we recruit into the job stay there and make a career out of it.

BLACKWELL: This was announced, what, mid-December. We're more than 100 days into this action plan.

What is the fruit for the first quarter of this year for American families? Because the inflation numbers we're seeing, which, in part, is related to the supply chain, are not going in the right direction.

BUTTIGIEG: We have been able to do a lot just in the initial 90-day sprint from where the president challenged us to deliver on this trucking action plan.

That has included an increase in the number of registered apprenticeships to get more people into the field.

We've also worked with states to cut the red tape that goes into issuing the commercial driver's license, a CDL. We're not talking about lowering the standard in any way but just getting rid of some of the bureaucracy.

And he bought tens of millions of dollars of federal funding to do it. We've seen dramatic improvements in many states in how long it takes to get that CDL turned around so we can get more safe drivers on the road.

All of that is helping ease some of the pressure on shipping delays, shipping times, and, ultimately, on prices, too.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about what all of us, including truckers, have to deal with and that's the price of gas. Today, $4.18 on average for gallon of regular. Down from 4.25 a week ago. Seven cents, that's good news, but it is still high.

The president announced this emergency release from the reserves of a million barrels of oil day for the next six months.

How low is the expectation for gas prices? And when will we see that continue to slide more dramatically?

BUTTIGIEG: When the president took this action to release those barrels of oil from the strategic reserve, that's one of the things that will help stabilize oil prices.

There's no one piece. There's no one dial that controls those prices. But that's something that will make an impact. So are some of the other steps that's been taken.

And, frankly, a lot of this also is where we've got to look at the oil company executives, to say they're not going to add supply or production right now, and ask whether that's really the right direction to go at a time like this.

Can't help but notice that when oil goes up, goes up right with it, right alongside it. But when those oil prices start coming back down to normal, the same thing does not seem to be happening with gas prices. We have to look at that and we have to address it.

BLACKWELL: For families that are planning what they will do this summer -- this six months takes us through the peak summer driving season -- should they expect that the price of gas will go back up despite the president's decision to release this oil?

BUTTIGIEG: Again, everything that is under the administration's control to help stabilize oil prices, which ultimately should have an effect on gas prices, too, if companies do the right thing, that is going to continue.

Of course, there are things that nobody here controls or can necessarily predict.

For example, the situation we're in right now, where a significant oil producing country has gone to war, invading another country as Russia invaded Ukraine.

Of course, that's going to have an effect on oil prices and gas prices. And that's one of the reasons why we're pursuing long-term strategies to help build up U.S. energy independence with a lot of renewable energy sources in that mix.

[14:55:00]

So that there's less of that exposure, less of that vulnerability to the wild ups and downs of the global petroleum market.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned a long-term strategy and you announced new fuel efficiency standards. New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to travel 40 miles per gallon in 2026, up from about 28 miles a gallon.

There's some who say that to return to the standards akin to those of the Obama administration era is not enough considering what has happened over the last nine years.

To those, you say what? BUTTIGIEG: We're delivering standards that are in line with the

maximum, feasible efficiency gains. In fact, that's written in the law and the rules that we work with, those words "maximum feasible."

Now some of the forecasts from before, those are kind of apples and oranges because of the kinds of cars on the road that are driving -- that people driving on the road are shifting.

Look, the bottom line is, for a lot of drivers, as we get up toward that 49-miles-per-gallon benchmark, compared to where we are now, that could mean the difference between filling up four times a month and filling up three times a month to drive the same distance. It's going to save Americans a lot of money by saving Americans a lot of gas.

It's part of this "all of the above" strategy, right? As you know, we're doing a lot to make it easy and easier and try to make it much more affordable to buy an electric vehicle in this country.

But most people don't have an electric vehicle. Most people are in vehicles fueled by gas, which is why the efficiency of those gas vehicles also is very important, important for the environment but also important for saving families money.

BLACKWELL: All right, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, thank you, sir.

BUTTIGIEG: Thank you. Good to be with you.

CAMEROTA: So up next, we're going to speak to a CNN reporter who just left Bucha and saw the atrocities there with his own eyes.

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