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Monkeypox Cases Rising; Russian Diplomat Resigns in Protest of Ukraine Invasion; America Votes. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 24, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: And get this. Lawyers for the attorney general's office say Graff has agreed to answer questions next Tuesday.

Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS today. Hope to see you back here tonight for "Election Night in America" as we count the votes. Busy day ahead.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and thanks so much for joining us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Today, a fierce battle for the future of the Republican Party. Right now, voters are hitting the polls in five states, but, in Georgia, drama unfolding between two people not even on the ballot today. Or are they? Former running mates, now rivals, President Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, are backing two different candidates in the GOP primary for governor.

Pence's pick? The incumbent governor, Brian Kemp, and he is the same man who rebuffed Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's election results in 2020. Trump's pick? Former Senator David Perdue, the man who is peddling Trump's election fraud claims.

We have got a lot to unpack in this race and more.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Eva McKend are in Atlanta. And also with us as political reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting Stephen Fowler.

Thank you all for joining us.

Jeff, Trump lashed out at Pence. And Pence took what sure seemed to be a veiled swipe at Trump and his 2020 obsession. Are Georgia Republicans worried about how ugly this is getting?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Ana, I think Georgia Republicans are doing what they do on Election Day. And that's voting for the current Republican governor, if you happen to be a Republican and happy with the direction that the state is going.

I mean, Governor Brian Kemp is trying to do one thing here, remind Georgians that, because of him, they have a gas tax holiday. They're not currently paying sales tax on gasoline. It makes gas one of the cheapest places in the whole country, that he has brought some economic development here to the state of Georgia.

So he's just trying to focus on his policy and his role. So the politics, of course, is playing out. But talking to voters for the last several days here, there is not a sense necessarily that people are voting for or against Donald Trump. They're just not following his lead.

In many respects, some voters are just tuning him out. That's what Brian Kemp has been doing as well. But listen to these words very carefully from former Vice President Mike Pence last night at a rally here as he talked about the future of the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you say yes to Governor Brian Kemp tomorrow, you will send a deafening message all across America that the Republican Party is the party of the future.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, the future there is the key word, because much of this race has been in the past.

Just a quick refresher course for people who perhaps haven't been following this as closely as Georgians have. The whole reason that former President Donald Trump has been angry at Governor Brian Kemp is because he voted to certify the 2020 election that showed President Trump narrowly losing to Joe Biden. He lost the race.

And,ever since then, the former president has been -- really had this grudge against Governor Kemp. But as we head into the really second half of Election Day here, hours left to vote, there is a sense on the ground here that this could be one of the biggest defeats yet of the former president.

He's been all in on this race. And, tonight, he might lose, Ana.

CABRERA: And you're right. Trump's choice in this primary, David Perdue, has gone lockstep with Trump and his message regarding the false election fraud claims.

But he closed out his campaign using racist rhetoric to attack the Democratic candidate in this race, Stacey Abrams. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, she ain't from here. Let her go back where she came from if she didn't like it here.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PERDUE: The only thing she wants is to be president of the United States. She doesn't care about the people of Georgia. That's clear.

When she told black farmers, you don't need to be on the farm, and you -- she told black workers in hospitality and all this, you don't need to be -- she is demeaning her own race when it comes to that.

I am really over this. She should never be considered for material for a governor of any state, much less our state, where she hates to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Eva, to you.

I know you have been speaking with Abrams. How is she responding?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Listen, Ana, Stacey Abrams is a black woman running for governor in Georgia with a long political career.

So she certainly has heard this type of rhetoric before. She seemed at a news conference today, frankly, to not be bothered with it, really. Her central retort more generally, though, is whether it's Perdue or incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, they seem to be more focused on attacking her than addressing the issues of consequence that she's identified of as consequences to Georgians, like maternal mortality, like expanding Medicaid, like gun violence.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: The challenge I have is that the answer from Republicans, from our former senator to our current governor, is to fight me, instead of fighting the problems that are facing Georgia.

[13:05:07]

And I urge everyone to pay less attention to rhetoric and more attention to the record and to the results. And I'm here to provide results for the future of Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, Abrams' larger argument today is that she is running a campaign based on one Georgia, based on bringing marginalized communities into the fold, and really speaking to people maybe who haven't historically voted or participated in the process, wakening them up and trying to reach them as well.

CABRERA: Stephen, Trump has been trying to turn Georgia voters against Kemp for over a year now, going all the way back to the 2020 election. But, based on the polling, at least heading into today, that hasn't happened. Why not? STEPHEN FOWLER, GEORGIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING: Well, Ana, the message

never really resonated with conservative voters in Georgia, who have three years worth of Brian Kemp's record to look at.

He's slashed taxes for people. He's passed teacher pay raises. He's enacted conservative legislation around abortions and elections and firearms. And, really, he's the total package for what conservative voters in Georgia want.

And for the last six months on the campaign trail, they have said as much. There are still plenty of Republicans in Georgia that love Donald Trump, but they love Brian Kemp too. And David Perdue's message of not being Brian Kemp just simply hasn't been convincing.

CABRERA: So do you think, though, Trump's attacks on Kemp in some way have backfired there in Georgia?

Because I was reading another report, a "Washington Post" piece, in which they talked to voters there in Georgia who voted for Trump, who really loved Trump, but who are now saying they want to just vote for someone who Trump isn't endorsing, because they felt that his attacks against Kemp were unfair.

FOWLER: Right.

I mean, I have talked with a lot of voters that say, hey, the whole reason we don't like Stacey Abrams is, we don't think she has the best interests of Georgia at heart. And so why is Donald Trump doing the same thing? He's not from Georgia. He doesn't understand Georgia's economy or people. And so there are plenty of Republicans that say, hey, stay out of this, we have got our guy, and we want to keep it that way.

And that's what the polls have shown. That's what fund-raising has shown. And at campaign stops all across the state, we have seen Republicans have this sort of reaction to Trump.

CABRERA: And so the bigger picture comes next in terms of how this election then translates to the national stage as we move forward through election season.

Thank you, Stephen Fowler, Eva McKend, and Jeff Zeleny. We will all be watching closely what happens tonight.

And our live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Don't go away from that.

OK, President Biden will be returning now to American soil shortly. This morning, he concluded his Asia trip by convening the Quad, leaders from Japan, Australia and India, all along with the U.S., of course. And he tried to clean up his comments suggesting a major policy shift for the region when he said, yes, the U.S. would respond militarily if China were to invade Taiwan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, is the policy of strategic ambiguity towards Taiwan dead?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

DIAMOND: Could you explain?

BIDEN: No.

QUESTION: Mr. President, do -- would you send troops to Taiwan if China invaded?

BIDEN: The policy has not changed at all. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And you heard CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond opening that line of questioning.

He's joining us now.

Jeremy, the president may have put these allies in a bit of an awkward spot with that Taiwan comment looming over the meeting. How strong is this alliance as he leaves and what did they accomplish?

DIAMOND: Well, listen, the president's comments about Taiwan have certainly left a lot of questions about the U.S.' policy towards Taiwan and towards a potential Chinese invasion of that island, which China has claimed as its own sovereign territory for decades.

But there are few signs, if any, frankly, at this point that those allies in the region have been unsettled by the president's comments. In fact, many in this region are already growing extremely uneasy about China's increased -- increasingly aggressive military posture in the region.

Some in these countries, including in Japan and South Korea, pushing for less ambiguity as it relates to what exactly that military response would be to China, should it choose to move and try and invade Taiwan.

But as it relates to the president's own comments on Taiwan, look, he initially appeared to throw out strategic ambiguity altogether. Then you heard him in response to me and one of my colleagues there saying that that policy was back on and refusing to even elaborate on what exactly he means as it relates, trying perhaps to reinject some ambiguity.

And so, look, so, while those comments on Taiwan may have shifted the focus, the news focus, of this trip, ultimately, it does seem like President Biden was able to accomplish some of the major objectives that he had set out for himself with this trip, the primary one of which is shoring up these alliances in the region, bolstering those alliances.

[13:10:16] We saw him announce in South Korea an intention to try and scale up those military exercises with South Korea, to shore up that alliance, both militarily and economically. He announced a new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to try and push back on China's economic influence in the region. And then we also saw him have that Quad summit, meet with allies, and

also talk broadly about the impact of the war in Ukraine and how that also relates to China, an attempt at deterrence perhaps beyond the military, but also just talking about those sanctions that Russia has faced, an attempt at deterrence perhaps for China as it relates to Taiwan -- Ana.

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond in Tokyo for us, safe travels home. Thank you for that reporting.

A high-profile protest of Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine. A veteran Russian diplomat quits over the invasion. How Russia is responding today.

And as the U.S. investigates potential cases of monkeypox, we will talk to someone who has actually had it.

Plus: Ever feel the need for speed? How about faster than the speed of sound? There's a new business jet for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Target locked, 1.01.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:48]

CABRERA: Three months ago today, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since then, we have seen unspeakable war crimes, thousands killed, cities leveled. We have seen Ukraine's will to fight, something many Russians just don't have.

And, today, Russia is now responding to one of the latest high-profile protests of this war. This is a 20-year Russian diplomat who just resigned over Putin's aggressive war, his words.

The diplomat writing also: "Never have I have been so ashamed of my country. Those who conceived this war want only one thing, to remain in power forever, live in pompous, tasteless palaces, sail on yachts."

He goes on to say: "To achieve that, they are willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died just for this."

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is live in Geneva.

And, Nic, we know just how risky, how dangerous it can be for Russians to speak out against the Kremlin. How is Russia responding?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they're taking a very interesting tone, if you will, sort of semi-dismissing it, and also sort of casting him as an outlier.

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for President Putin, said -- and let me quote you here -- "Mr. Bondarev, the diplomat, has a position which -- in which he condemns the actions of the Russian leadership. And the actions of the Russian leadership are supported by almost the entire population of our country. That means this gentleman has spoken out against the general consolidated opinion of the country."

According to Peskov: He is against us.

Well, in most other countries, what this diplomat has done is something called democracy. He's had a voice that is different to the government and spoken out.

And I spoke with Boris Bondarev a short while ago and asked him if he had any regrets about the position that he's taken. And he said, no, that he that he doesn't, that he thinks it's a significant stand that he has taken. It's about the Russian people. It's about the Ukrainian people.

These are crimes, he has said, against the Ukrainians and the Russians, crimes against the Russians,he said, because what Putin is doing is denying them the possibility of a prosperous and free future. And that's really what he's standing for. And he's very critical of the -- of Russia's foreign minister.

And I think this is also going to resonate with other Russian diplomats, saying that Lavrov, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is no longer interested in diplomacy, is interested in warmongering and hate, and I think, on the international diplomatic circuit, it's become very apparent that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, no longer behaves like a diplomat.

So these are very stinging rebukes about both President Putin and about the Russian foreign minister from this diplomat.

CABRERA: I mean, he obviously wanted his opinion out there. But I wonder if he is scared for his life now. Did you ask him about that?

ROBERTSON: Yes, he is concerned about his safety. At the moment, he feels his -- where he is and what he's doing at the moment, he feels that it gives him some safety. And he has people to lean on in that regard here in Switzerland.

But he felt that it was very important, that the significance of what he wanted to say and the strength of his feelings, they needed to be communicated, and that that was worth standing up and doing it.

CABRERA: Nic Robertson, really appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

Today, in Ukraine, fighting remains most intense in the eastern Donbass region, and, in the decimated port city of Mariupol, a devastating discovery. A Ukrainian official says 200 bodies have now been found in the ruins of a high-rise building there.

And for the first time, Ukraine's military is releasing this footage of foreign-made kamikaze drones as they fly directly into Russian targets and Russian soldiers. Now, the U.S. has sent drones like this to Ukraine, but not troops. Yet some Americans are going on their own.

[13:20:05]

And CNN's Sam Kiley spoke exclusively to a veteran of America's elite special forces now in Irpin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How did you know where to go?

KEVIN, VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: We didn't. We just knew that enemy was this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

KEVIN: We just hopped through these backyards and clear through here.

KILEY (voice-over): It's not as straightforward as it sounds.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not crossing the street?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to go to that building.

KILEY: Veterans of years of counterinsurgency warfare, this small team of American and British fighters is under Ukrainian command. And they now look at war down the other end of the barrel, and have asked us to conceal their identities for their own security.

This is a war that has a moral clarity for these volunteers in Ukraine's International Legion.

KEVIN: You know, people keep saying, oh, you're doing it for democracy.

And it's really not. It really comes down to good vs. evil. I never figured out why they were killing women and children. And it wasn't by accident. It was murder. I mean, we found many people just up the end of the street that were bound together and shot, thrown on the side of the road.

KILEY: Many in Kevin's team, ex-special forces operators, have had millions spent on their training in the West in countries that won't sent troops to war with Russia.

Among the first into Irpin, they took over this house behind enemy lines. He says the team killed dozens of Russians in the park below. He says that the fighting and the shelling and the Russian killing of civilians was relentless.

KEVIN: Two pro-Russians in here.

KILEY: As Kevin's team advanced, he says they got trapped in this health spa for several days. It was steadily torn apart by Russian artillery.

KEVIN: It was the house of hell. This was four really miserable days of really little sleep, really heavy artillery, really heavy infantry presence from the Russians.

KILEY: Kevin's small team is funded largely by donations to the Ukrainian Legion. It operates mostly behind Russian lines.

And they were stunned at first at being on the receiving end of airstrikes and heavy artillery. But they're applying the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan to Russia, and believe that they're having an effect on the enemy.

KEVIN: There's definitely a psychological aspect to it. We do know that the Russians were talking about, hey, they're up. Like, we can't figure out where they're at. We don't know what's happening.

We were being artilleried so heavy that we put this chair here, so we could jump out this window if we had to in a hurry.

KILEY: Deeper into the spa, he comes across evidence that Russia plays dirty, even in local defeat.

KEVIN: So, a lot of the Russians came back through some of these places and re-mined them, put booby traps. And you can see this cable goes back into the ground, where it's been intentionally buried, and then it's tied off here.

KILEY: So far, this group has not lost a soldier.

KEVIN: Definitely a nightmare.

KILEY: But that time may come. It's a risk he says he's prepared to take, because, for the West's former warriors in the war on terror, Ukraine has given them something back.

KEVIN: One way or the other, they have -- they have either been lost or they have lost everything.

So, this has given them another chance. They come back here, and it's like they have put their life back together.

KILEY: Sam Kiley, CNN, Irpin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: And, right now, the U.S. is working to release a batch of monkeypox vaccines for high-risk people. We're going to talk with a vet who contracted monkeypox from a prairie dog, his experience and what he has to say about this latest outbreak. And trucks full of baby formula are arriving at Ramstein Air Base in Germany today. When they will arrive here in the U.S. and where they're going next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:47]

CABRERA: More cases of monkeypox are likely coming. That is the warning from the CDC, as cases continue to slowly tick up around the globe.

Right now in the U.S., there's just one confirmed case in Massachusetts. But there are another six probable cases that officials are monitoring in a few different states. Now, globally, they're tracking more than 250 confirmed and suspected cases across 18 different countries.

The good news is, a monkeypox vaccine already exists, and the CDC is now in the process of releasing it from the Strategic National Stockpile for those at high risk, like health care workers treating possible infections and people with weakened immune systems.

I want to bring in someone who has had monkeypox. Dr. Kurt Zaeske is a veterinarian who contracted monkeypox back in 2003. And he joins us now.

Doctor, thanks for sharing your story with us.

I just want to first understand what happened in your case. How did you contract monkeypox?

DR. KURT ZAESKE, CONTRACTED MONKEYPOX IN 2003: Well, thank you very much for having me. I love going through this story.

I first contracted monkeypox by coming in direct contact with a prairie dog that had been infected.