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Zelenskyy Says Secretary Of State Antony Blinken And Secretary Of Defense Lloyd Austin Will Visit Kyiv Tomorrow; Ukraine Officials: Satellite Images Point To Evidence Of New Mass Graves; British PM: "Realistic Possibility" Putin May Win War; Jan. 6 Committee: Meadows Proceeded With A Plan For "Alternate Electors" Despite Being Told It Wasn't Legally Sound; Michigan Lawmaker Rebukes GOP Colleague's Baseless Accusations Of Grooming Children With Fiery Speech; Interview With State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-MI); FL Governor Signs Bill Stripping Disney's Self-Governing Status. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 23, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:00:34]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plan to travel to Ukraine for the first time since Russia turned the sovereign country into a war zone. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Blinken and Austin will visit the Capital Kyiv tomorrow as Ukraine marks orthodox Easter in the shadow of war.

A new video from this village near Kyiv shows the vast destruction that Russian forces have left behind. The town is now free, but other parts of the country are now in a critical new phase of this war. A Russian general says Russia wants full control of southern Ukraine because that would give Russia access to Moldova, another sovereign country.

A Russian striker in the port city of Odesa killed five people today. Officials say, that includes a three-month-old baby who never got the chance to celebrate his first Easter with his parents. And in Mariupol, evacuation efforts were again shut down by the Russian military, according to a city official. Zelenskyy saying today future peace negotiations could hinge on what Russia does next in Mariupol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): If our people are killed in Mariupol, if they announced referendum, Suda (ph) referendum and then use Yuda (ph) Republics, Ukraine will not take part in any negotiation processes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's begin with CNN's Phil Black in Kyiv. Phil, what are you learning about this visit by Secretaries Blinken and Austin to keep tomorrow that will be a significant moment? PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So President Zelenskyy confirmed that visit when we were at the press conference with him just a short time ago. It was something of an extraordinary press conference really deep underground in a Moscow Metro station, a very slickly produced event where Zelenskyy spoke for about two hours taking questions on the state of the war.

And during that time, yes, he dropped in the news that there would be this high VIP, high profile visit tomorrow. And he said it's important, it is important that significant world leaders and figures and officials do come to Kyiv. But it's important he says that they don't come empty handed.

I asked Zelenskyy if he was satisfied that his allies had finally got the message over his calls for the heavy weapons that he has been demanding to engage in fight off Russia in this next phase of the war. And he said that, yes, he believes that they had and he what he had said he noticed is particularly a change in the response from the United States, specifically in the sense of urgency and speed with which the U.S. was prepared to get the weapons that Ukraine is demanding. But he also said that getting the right weapons that Ukraine needs will be very much a big part of the agenda of the talks that will be taking place here in Kyiv tomorrow, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Phil, were getting some incredible new video showing the destruction left by the Russians in Kyiv. It's just astounding to look at. What are you seeing on the ground there?

BLACK: So these new pictures are from the Kyiv region, the community of Machon (ph), it is yet more evidence that shows just how intense the fighting was, as Russia was trying and ultimately failing to take the capital only a few weeks ago. The devastation is really quite extraordinary. But this is just one community that suffered.

And as we've seen, as we've gone out and explored this region, there are numerous others. And then add to that, of course, there's devastating images of the people that were killed at close range in a very intimate way, particularly in the town of Bucha. And what it all adds up to is this overall sense of devastation that was closed and took place during Russia's brief occupation of some of this region, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Phil Black, thank you very much for that report. We appreciate it.

Let's go now to CNN Scott McLean who has brand new images from Mariupol showing basement bunkers and what appears to be evidence of war mass graves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Satellite images and aerial footage has long shown the scale of the destruction in Mariupol. It is difficult to know the full human cost of the siege, but now there are new potential clues. New satellite pictures of a cemetery east of Mariupol appear to show freshly dug trenches some 40 meters long. The Mariupol Mayor's office says that these are mass graves. CNN cannot independently verify the claim.

[16:05:01]

What is not unclear is the dire humanitarian situation inside the city.

New video from the Ukrainian military shows women and children taking shelter underneath a steel plant, where Ukrainian troops are making their last stand. Inside, the Russian word for children is spray- painted on the walls.

A Ukrainian soldier says he's bringing gifts, candy and some food. The kids explain how they've passed the time. Many of the women and children are the families of plant workers here. And many have been there for 50 days or more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I want to get out of here and see the sun. We've been here for two months now and I want to see the sun because they switch the lights on and off here. When they rebuild their houses, we can live in peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We all really want to return home. We want to return home alive. We all want to see our parents and families.

MCLEAN (voice-over): There is little hope those wishes will come true anytime soon. Russian troops have surrounded the complex waiting for Ukrainian soldiers to surrender as food supplies dwindle. For the rest of Mariupol, a humanitarian corridor opened leading west through Russian held territory to Ukrainian held Zaporizhzhia. Though the Mariupol Mayor's office says that Russians tricked people into boarding buses bound for Dokuchaevsk, a town in Russian occupied territory.

CNN could not immediately verify the progress of evacuation efforts in the city. In a press conference in a Kyiv underground station, President Zelenskyy proposed to trade with Russia in exchange for Ukrainian civilians trapped in Mariupol.

ZELENSKYY (through translation): We offer as civilized people. We suggest humanitarian solution to the federation. We offer exchange on the civilians. We offer exchange of the wounded.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Zelenskyy said he's willing to meet with Putin, but promise peace talks would be abandoned if Ukrainians in Mariupol are killed.

Scott McLean, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And joining us now is Retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, a CNN Military Analyst who was the Commanding General of Europe and the Seventh Army. General Hertling, first your reaction to President Zelenskyy saying that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Kyiv on Sunday, that's going to send a strong message.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It will send a very strong message to him. And it's especially important given that Secretary Austin is also meeting with several of the other ministers of defense of NATO countries the following day in Brussels. So what you're talking about is both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State getting firsthand information face to face with President Zelenskyy and his team before they go and continue to lead the other NATO members in Belgium.

So, you know, it's probably a lot of people said this has taken a long time and coming. There have been other NATO leaders, European leaders already visiting Kyiv. But I think it -- the timing of it is well done, especially on orthodox Easter Sunday. And I think it does send that message that you're talking about.

ACOSTA: And Russia publicly admitted its goal is now to take full control of southern Ukraine and the eastern Donbas region, and that control over the South would presumably if they could pull it off -- they may not be able to pull it off -- but would give Russian forces access to perhaps a breakaway state in Moldova and create more instability in that region. What does that what tell you about the Russian strategy?

HERTLING: Yes, the breakaway Republic, its name is Transnistria. It is --

ACOSTA: Right.

HERTLING: -- a big part of Moldova in Eastern Europe. I've been there actually, Jim, on the border of that state when I was commanding in Europe. It's one of multiple breakaway frozen conflicts within the European footprint. It is another place where Russia has stoked your indentism (ph).

They're attempting to get back terrain where they say, so-called Russian speakers are still part of the population and truthfully, beyond just the fact that they're even considering going as far west as that which I agree with you, they're not going to be able to do certainly not with the forces or the capability of the leadership that they currently have in the Russian force.

But it sends a signal to other NATO nations, especially Poland, the Baltic countries that also have people who speak Russians within their population who want no part of Russia. You know, they certainly may know the language because of past histories during the old Soviet days, but they don't certainly want to come back into the Russian orbit. So it's sending that signal, and this was first announced by a guy named General Russ (ph) of Minakiav (ph), who I know. He commands the Russian Central Military District and he's not all that familiar with this area either because this focus should be on his region which is the Volga and Urals.

[16:10:07]

So I think that was sending a signal as well. Another Russian leader who, truthfully is trying to suck up to Putin saying, oh, yes, we can do this, we can regain our Soviet territories.

ACOSTA: Right. And we've seen so much of that and heard so much of that throughout the last several weeks of all this. And I wanted to ask you, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week, it's a realistic possibility that Russia may win this war in Ukraine. That does run counter to everything that we've seen so far, much of what we've seen so far, maybe I should say, that they have gotten bogged down, they have been routed in many cases, driven out of the Kyiv region and so on. Why do you think the Prime Minister would say something like that?

HERTLING: I have no idea, Jim. And truthfully, it not only runs counter to what we've seen already, it runs counter to reality. The amount of force that Russia has outside the boundaries of Ukraine right now, as well as the force inside, we're talking about anywhere from 90,000 to 120,000 forces. With that amount of force, you're talking about Ukraine, which almost has a one to one ratio in terms of fighting forces with Russia.

We have seen on the downside in the Russian forces, poor leadership, poor supply opportunities, the generalship of their military has not been able to conduct maneuver warfare. The cities that are populated in Ukraine that they have been attempting to take over other than to destroy, they have failed at every turn, the only capability Russia has proven is the fact that they are killing a lot of civilians and committing war crimes. So I don't know what would possess Prime Minister Johnson to say that. I don't want to get into politics, but it certainly isn't based in any kind of military reality that I've seen.

ACOSTA: And a purported new intercepted communication appears to reveal Russian soldiers referring to an alleged order to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war and the eastern region of Luhansk. Ukraine's military intelligence released this remarkable recording, we've heard similar recordings, and this one is just as incredible listen to. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): What can I tell you, damn it. You keep the most senior among them, and let the rest go forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Let them go forever, damn it, so that no one will ever see him again, including relatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now CNN has not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the recording. Certainly, sounds similar to what we've heard time and again, when we've heard these recordings. But what's your reaction when you hear this?

HERTLING: My reaction, Jim, is that the audio is matching the video of what we've seen for the last seven weeks. Russia has committed war crimes on a grand scale. They have murdered the citizens of Ukraine. They have bombed houses, schools, hospitals, churches, everything that you could consider in violation of the humanitarian aspect of warfare, the violation of land war they've done.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that we hear this on audio recordings, unencrypted audio recordings, that I'm sure will be confirmed, not just in this instance, but probably several more that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has.

ACOSTA: All right, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, great to see you as always. Thanks for those insights. We appreciate it.

HERTLING: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: A quick programming note, make sure you catch the unbelievable true story of the man who took on Putin and live to expose the truth of Sundance award winning CNN film "Navalny" airs tomorrow night at nine right here on CNN.

Coming up, new court documents reveal former President Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was warned January 6 could turn violent. Details next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[16:18:12]

ACOSTA: Two Trump loyalists are caught up in a storm of controversy after new details surrounding January 6 have emerged. First, there's former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, his former aide testified to the House panel investigating the Capitol attack. She says Meadows was warned about the potential for January 6 to turn violence. And then there's the top House Republican Kevin McCarthy doing damage control because he's on tape in the days after the insurrection, privately denouncing Trump for his role contradicting the public stance McCarthy would take just a few days later.

CNN's Melanie Zanona is with me now. And Melanie, let's start with Mark Meadows. This was an incredible filing that came in overnight. I think a lot of people woke up and looked at their phones and said, wow, when you dig in to some of this material. Tell us about what the January 6 committee is getting a detailed picture of in terms of what is in this new filing?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, they are, first of all, getting a detailed picture and that is despite the fact that Mark Meadows still refuses to cooperate with a subpoena to appear before the select committee. That is a legal battle that is still playing out in court. That's where we got the student information last night. But they have been able to secure cooperation from other witnesses, including Cassidy Hutchinson. She was an aide to Mark Meadows, and she testified on a number of significant details that are relevant to this investigation.

First, she testified that Mark Meadows was indeed warn that January 6 could turn violent and they pressed ahead with this effort to overturn the election anyways. She also testified about some of the campaign officials like Rudy Giuliani, who were hell bent on getting Mike Pence to do whatever it took to not certify the election. And so they have a lot of information but there are still a lot of questions they have for Mark Meadows which is why they're still getting to come before them.

ACOSTA: Yes, huge questions and the same aide also testify that the White House knew that the Trump team's plan to overturn the election was not legally sound. The White House Counsel explain that to them.

ZANONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: And the scheme went ahead anyway and Meadows was a point person for all of this.

[16:20:04]

ZANONA: Meadows was the point person between Donald Trump and the White House and people outside of Congress who were desperately trying to overturn the election. And that includes members of Congress. I think, for me, what was one of the most stunning revelations last night in this filing was just how deeply involved Republican members of Congress were. They were sitting on planning sessions in the White House, they were trying to talk to Mike Pence's staff. They were directly communicating with Mark Meadows.

There was one text exchange that was revealed last night that Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania was texting the day after Christmas repeatedly to Mark Meadows about this idea of getting rid of the head of the DOJ and replacing them with someone who's more sympathetic towards the efforts to overturn the election. And that's another reason why Scott Perry wants to -- why they want to speak to Mark -- to Scott Perry in front of the committee, but he also has refused to cooperate.

ACOSTA: Right. I mean, there's one piece of this testimony from Hutchinson, the staffer to Mark Meadows where she talks about Scott Perry and says that, at one point, he was talking about this idea of sending people to the Capitol, that people should be sent off to the Capitol on January 6.

ZANONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: So there's a lot to answer for. And it's just seems impossible to get any kind of cooperation from these members of Congress to talk about this. But let's talk about Kevin McCarthy. When these audio recordings were leaked, the world heard him say things that hours prior he denied ever said, his office said that he hadn't said these things. How is he trying to contain the damage here?

ZANONA: Yes, he was caught in a lie.

ACOSTA: Right.

ZANONA: Let's be frank about that. He was caught in a lie. He's been trying to contain the fallout. He's been working behind the scenes. He talked to Trump three times now, at least since Thursday. He's been calling up Republican members of Congress. His allies have been tweeting out support for him. And he has been telling Republican lawmakers that Trump isn't upset with him.

And Trump seemingly backed up that account yesterday. He gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal saying I'm, you know, I didn't like the calls. I didn't like what he said after January 6, but since then, he's been very supportive. He noted how McCarthy tracked down to Mar-a-Lago just weeks after January 6. But there's one other audio since then about McCarthy, including him saying that Trump expected -- accepted some responsibility for the riots. Take a listen to that audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: I have been very clear to the president. He bears responsibility for his words and actions. No ifs, ands or buts. I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. And he needs to acknowledge that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: Now, Trump was asked about this in the Wall Street Journal interview. He said, no, I never said that. So clearly, one of them is not telling the truth here. Kevin McCarthy is going to have to face his conference next week. And I guess that he's going to have a lot of questions to answer for.

ACOSTA: And one of the reactions that I had to this, you know, Trump saying no big deal that Kevin McCarthy did this is that I think Trump probably enjoys having some leverage, even more --

ZANONA: Absolutely, yes.

ACOSTA: -- leverage over Kevin McCarthy as he has with so many people in the party these days. All right, Melanie Zanona, thank you very much.

Coming up, the Dow Jones plunges nearly 1,000 points. Its worst day in two years is a recession looming.

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[16:27:40]

ACOSTA: A Michigan State Senator is suddenly receiving an avalanche of national attention after her impassioned speech went viral. It started when a Republican state lawmaker accused state Senator Mallory McMorrow of wanting to groom and sexualize children. The GOP senator also accused McMorrow of wanting to teach children. They are responsible for slavery. And here's how McMorrow responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE SEN. MALLORY MCMORROW (D-MI): I am a straight, white, Christian, married suburban mom, who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense. No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery.

But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us. I want every child in this state to feel, seen, heard and supported not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: State Senator Mallory McMorrow joins me now. Senator McMorrow, thanks so much for being with us. I have to confess I've been wanting to speak to you all week because of this impassioned speech that you gave. It really struck a chord with a lot of people who are really just sort of tired of, you know, feeling marginalized and being made to feel this way.

And when you stand up against that sort of thing, you're accused of the most horrible things. And to that point, some Republicans nationwide have also used these unfounded claims of grooming, while talking about sexual orientation and gender in schools that subject. And grooming, of course, is this term that's used to describe how sex offenders began abusing their victims. It's just sort of an awful and ugly thing that I just can't believe it's in the public discourse these days.

But why do you think some Republicans are infusing that into these political debates? Why do you think this was directed at you?

[16:30:00]

MCMORROW: Yes, I mean, look, this isn't the first time that scapegoating has been used to deflect any responsibility for tackling real policy issues and blaming marginalized communities.

What I think the Senator who came after me, was an attempt to say, if you are going to dare to stand up beside them then we're going to paint you as one of them.

You are one of them. You are somehow a veiled rumored pedophile- supporting human being. And it's absolutely disgusting.

I'm not somebody in marginalized community. And I just felt so strongly that it is going the take those of us who aren't to stand up and put an end to this.

ACOSTA: After your speech went viral, your Republican colleague, State Senator Lana Theis, released a statement saying the speech was part of a plea for campaign donations.

How do you respond to that?

MCMORROW: It's just sad, honestly. I did not ask for contributions in my speech. I did include a link on my Twitter thread when I posted it. But it's sad to watch this current iteration of the Republican Party

doubling down and continuing to target marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ youth.

It's just devastating. It's going to take a lot of us like me to say that it's not OK.

ACOSTA: And your speech has garnered millions of views across several social media platforms.

I guess, first of all, did you expect this kind of reaction when you gave that speech? I suppose you didn't. But have you heard from any LGBTQ youth who have personally responded to you to say thank you?

MCMORROW: When I woke up on Monday morning, before the attack e-mail against me -- this is certainly not the week I thought we would have.

But I have to tell you, the outpouring of phone calls and e-mails and messages from people all around the country and all around the world, especially LGBTQ members in communities, LGBTQ youth and parents of LGBTQ kids who just said thank you.

And I heard from a dad who said he showed the video to his son, his trans son, and he just watched his son's face.

And he said it was the first time in over a year where he could sense that his son had a sense of hope, that there wasn't this targeted attack from everybody around him to demonize him just for trying to get through the day.

ACOSTA: And I have to wonder, you know, if the people who level these kinds of attacks and use these sorts of ugly comments to knock down their political opponents, if they've thought what this is doing to kids.

And you know, the reason behind this controversy in Florida where Ron DeSantis is going after the Walt Disney company because they dared to criticize the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law.

I just wonder -- and perhaps you can comment on this -- you know, whether enough thought has been given to just these precious children who, you know -- not all kids are alike. Some of them are going through things that we can't all understand.

Why make them feel bad about who they are?

MCMORROW: Absolutely. That's the hypocrisy of all this, is claiming to forward these attacks in the name of, quote, unquote, "parental rights."

I'm a parent. I'm a mom. My daughter's 1-year-old. I want her to grow up to be whoever she's going to become. Whoever she is, is perfect.

And that is so heartbreaking to me that we see these attacks levelled on kids.

And it sends a really clear message that unless you are a straight, white, Christian kid, you are somehow less than. That is not true.

We know the LGBTQ community attempts suicide at a four times higher rate. It's dangerous. And it may lead directly to death. And it can be avoided. And it can be avoided by people like us.

ACOSTA: All right. I suspect we're going to be hearing a lot more from you in the days to come.

State Senator Mallory McMorrow, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Good talking to you.

MCMORROW: Thank you.

[16:34:06]

ACOSTA: All right. And we'll be right back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: This week, President Biden hit the road to tout his accomplishments, but warned Russia's war on Ukraine will quote, "take its toll on the economy." Biden also stuck the blame on Putin for inflation.

However, as Jeff Zeleny reports, blame who you want, but in just six months, frustrated voters are going to be heading to the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIAMA DAVIS, STORE MANAGER, THE BEEHIVE BOUTIQUE: When you go to the grocery store, it feels like you're shopping in Hawaii.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But Mariama Davis live in Georgia and feels the sting of inflation for herself, and customers at her boutique, The Beehive.

DAVIS: The idea the eggs are $3 now is -- that's a lot. People have their families to feed. So if they have an option between buying a gift or putting food on the table, I'm going to expect folks to put food on the table.

ZELENY: Six months before voters decide of Democrats maintain control of Congress, a sour mood is hanging over the economy.

As inflation looms as a major issue in a national election for the first time in 1980, some blame President Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since Mr. Biden took office everything's been going up.

ZELENY: Others do not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a number of things. I wouldn't just blame President Biden solely.

ZELENY: Yet, it's a problem he owns, and one of the biggest challenges facing the White House.

At Daddy D'z barbecue, owner, Christianah Coker-Jackson, sees inflation everywhere.

[16:40:04]

CHRISTIANAH COKER-JACKSON, OWNER, DADDY D'Z BARBECUE: I love that.

ZELENY: From paper goods to the cost of meat, to how often people are dining out.

COKER-JACKSON: We are not seeing the same amount of traffic that we normally do. And I think that's the fear of just spending with the top of inflation, inflation, inflation. Customers are scared.

ZELENY: And as a Democrat, she is scared of the consequences come November.

COKER-JACKSON: If we can't get out and vote for the midterms, then all the work we did in 2020 is not really going to matter. Because we're going to have a handicapped president.

ZELENY: Georgia is also a hot political battleground, which Biden narrowly won in 2020. This year, it will help determine whether Democrats hold the Senate by reelecting Raphael Warnock.

His early campaign ads trying to redirect any economic blame.

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): What if I told you shipping container companies have been making record profits while prices have been skyrocketing on you? That's why I'm pushing to hold them accountable.

ZELENY: But that message is competing with loud Republican criticism.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Joe Biden is ruining our country.

ZELEN: Jen Jordan, a state senator, who turned a suburban district from red to blue, and is now running for attorney general, knows the Democrats faces headwinds. But she said Republicans have not offered a positive alternative.

STATE SEN. JEN JORDAN (D-GA): We're still in the middle of a pandemic, right? So, what people do is they respond to how they are feeling. How are their lives, right? They are also going to tag the president for that.

But look, we have got a million miles to go before November.

ZELENY: Back at The Beehive, where we first met Davis a year ago, she then urged people to give Biden time.

DAVIS: Just be patient. Like, it's coming. Everything doesn't happen overnight. Folks know that.

ZELENY: Now, she adds this caveat. DAVIS: Patient but just frustrated, just frustrated. Just would like

to get the relief that we need so we can start operating how we used to.

ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Joining us now is Rana Foroohar. She's a CNN global economic analyst. She's also a global business columnist and associate editor for "The Financial Times."

Rana, great to see you.

Is there any reason to believe the economy --

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Thank you

ACOSTA: -- yes, thank you so much.

The economy is a huge worry for a lot of Americans these days? Is the economy heading in a direction that could have some big political implications in the fall do you think? What do you think?

FOROOHAR: Well, I do think that. And I think it for a couple of reasons.

One, there's just a lot going on there right now in the economy. You know, you're coming off of a pandemic. You have a war. You've got continuing supply chain issues.

You have people starting to cut back because of inflation on nonessential purchases. And that's having an impact on companies as well.

You know, you've seen Apple saying we're not going to put out as many certain kinds of iPhones. You see more used cars than new cars being sold. So there's a lot happening right now.

I would add into that that there's also a historical factor here, which is, if you go back 100 years in economic data, second years of any given presidency tend to be the worst for the stock market. So you could be seeing stock market jitters coming before the midterms as well.

ACOSTA: And sometimes it's a rough year for the president in office. That second year of his presidency.

FOROOHAR: Indeed.

ACOSTA: And speaking of troubling signs for people's money, we saw the Dow drop nearly 1,000 points yesterday. It was a rocky, bumpy ride this past week.

Is the U.S. economy heading towards a recession do you think or is it too early to say that?

FOROOHAR: You know, Jim, I would have thought, frankly, if nothing else had changed in the world, if we hadn't had the war in Ukraine, I thought we were headed for a recession.

Now we're in an odd situation because Europe is in even worse shape that the U.S. is in. China is in lockdown. There's a lot happening in the world that's been challenging.

But also in some ways has made the U.S. once again the cleanest dirty shirt in the closet or the prettiest ugly house on the block. Whatever metaphor you want to use.

So people are still investing. There's still a sense that, as tough as things are here, they're still not as bad as they are in many other places.

It's all a balancing act. How much more is inflation going to rise before the midterms? People feel the price of food and fuel in their wallet and they do vote on that.

Although I have to say it's frustrating for someone that's covered the economy for decades, presidents get all the credit, but also all the blame for the economy. Frankly, they deserve not that much of either.

There's a lot of things that don't have anything to do with the White House at stake here.

ACOSTA: I'm sure anybody who works for the White House is pulling out their hair right now saying talk about the unemployment rate and so on. There are some positives metrics out there as well.

But you're right. When people go to the gas pumps, they are feeling it.

How concerned are you, though, that sanctions against Russia could contribute to the possibility that we could see a recession throughout Europe, across the world, and further foment the rise of these right- wing populist movements?

[13:45:14]

FOROOHAR: Yes, 100 percent. You've got French elections for bringing that question home right now.

I think there's a very good chance that Europe will be in recession. You know, particularly if we were to see the Germans say we're not going to buy any more Russian gas. That would absolutely throw them into a serious recession.

On the other hand, it might help to bring a quicker end to the war.

One of the problems right now is that Europe has made a real deal with the devil in terms of becoming so energy dependent on Russia the last few decades and now the piper is being paid.

It's not going to be easy for Europe.

Whether the U.S. goes into recession this year, I think the question is very much an open one still.

And it's going to depend on this combination of rising inflation hitting consumers. Are they going to stop spending on nonessentials? Vacations. It will be interesting to see about summer travel and whether that tapers off.

And are we going to get a stock market correction? All that's going to factor in.

ACOSTA: All right, Rana Foroohar, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

ACOSTA: High winds and extreme dry conditions are fueling large was wildfires across three southwest states. It's extraordinary footage coming in.

More than 1,600 firefighters are battling fires that have destroyed dozens of homes in Arizona and New Mexico. Evacuations orders have been issues for several communities in both states.

Wind gusts reaching 93 miles hour hampered efforts to contain the fires in northern Mexico.

In Colorado, a grass fire that prompted the evacuation of 500 homes in Colorado Springs is now 75 percent contained with evacuation orders now lifted. No structures were destroyed.

We'll, of course, stay on top of this and bring any developments to you. A very dangerous situation out west.

Coming up, the unhappiest place on earth. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis goes to war with Walt Disney World.

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[16:51:53]

ACOSTA: In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police say a 4-year-old died after her grandmother forced her to consume a bottle of whisky. Both the mother and grandmother are charged with first-degree murder.

According to the arrest warrants, the girl may have drunk from a bottle of whiskey on the counter. Police say she was then forced to finish the rest of the bottle, which may have been over half full.

The autopsy revealed the girl's blood alcohol concentration was .68. Police say the girl's mother failed to get medical help until the child had stopped breathing.

Florida's feud with Disney has entered a new phase. Governor DeSantis has signed several new bills into law. One that dismantles the self- governing status the Disney World Resort has enjoyed for nearly 55 years.

CNN's Carlos Suarez joins me from Miami.

This is a big deal in Florida, Carlos. Tell us about this new law. What does it change?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This new law strips Disney from being able to operate as an independent government around its Orlando area theme parks.

It is one of two measures the governor signed into law on Friday that target Disney.

Critics say the move is in retaliation to Disney's criticism over Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law.

The other measure that was signed by the governor does away with an exception that Disney had when it comes to folks suing big tech companies over censorship.

What exactly happens moving forward is very much still unclear, specifically when we're talking about the special district's debt.

Democratic lawmakers as well as the Orange County tax collector says that part of that debt will most likely have to be absorbed by taxpayers. That is something the governor's office said they do not expect to happen.

The governor was in south Florida on Friday where he signed these measures into law and he was quite critical, still, of Disney.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You're a corporation based in Burbank, California. And you're going to marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state? Uh, we view that as a provocation and we are going to fight back against that.

SCOTT RANDOLPH, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TAX COLLECTOR: Road maintenance. Flood control. They have their own power plant. Wastewater. Drinking water facilities. All of that debt and obligation goes over to Orange County the minute that is dissolved.

There's no extra tax money that comes with that. So again, one side of the ledger will say zero and the other side is going to say negative $163 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: All right. So the movement to end Disney's special district doesn't go into effect until June of 2023, which most likely mean that is the two sides will be able to get to some sort of new agreement that includes handling all of Disney's debt -- Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Carlos Suarez on that unfolding situation with Disney. Thank you very much. And with the swing of his bat, Miguel Cabrera has cemented his place

in the record books.

Let's go to the videotape. The Detroit Tigers slugger is now part of an exclusive club of just 33 MLB players with 3,000 career hits. He got it done in his first at bat against the Colorado Rockies with a single to the outfield.

[16:55:04]

Actually, it pictures here, not video, but.

Last season, he hit his 500th homerun and is now one of seven players, just seven players of all time with 500 homers and 3,000 hits. Cabrera is an 11-time all-star and two-time American League MVP.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Eastern

Jim Sciutto takes over our coverage live from Ukraine right after a quick break.

Have a good night, everybody.

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