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Supreme Court Overturn Of Roe v. Wade Sparks Protests Across U.S.; State Laws Banning Abortion Begin To Go Into Effect; Interview With Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA); January 6th Committee To Use "Unprecedented" Film; Sean Penn Helps Ukrainian Pilots Lobby For Aid; Ukraine Fighter Pilots: We Need Jets, Advanced Air Defense Systems; Biden Arrives In Munich For G7 Summit. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 25, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:18]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Nationwide protests going on right now across the country after the Supreme Court declares there is no longer a constitutional right to an abortion. Some of those gatherings have gotten physical. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, you look at this video right here, this video shows a truck appearing to push through a group of protesters injuring one person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), my gosh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That obviously could have gotten much worse. Police say this was after verbal confrontations between the driver and protesters.

In Phoenix a crowd of abortion rights protesters surrounded the state's Senate building banging on the glass. An official tells CNN law enforcement did use tear gas on the scene there to disperse those demonstrators. And in Eugene, Oregon, police say a crowd of protesters got rowdy they used pepper spray to break up the crowd and arrested 10 people.

As of right now 13 states have trigger laws banning abortions in light of this ruling and an abortion ban is already in effect in at least six states.

Let's go to some of these protests as they're happening right now. CNN's Polo Sandoval is in New York. CNN's Camila Bernal is in Los Angeles. And let's go to Joe Johns first. He's outside the Supreme Court.

I know it's been very busy outside the Supreme Court, Joe. What are you seeing right now?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is, Jim. And this crowd has just built and built and built throughout the afternoon. Let's just take a look at this large number of people here in front of the United States Supreme Court. The speakers expressing everything from anger and shock and fear about the future. Of course, the vast majority of the people here are supporters of abortion rights.

There were a few people who were opponents of abortion rights, but they got into what you'd call verbal altercations with some of the others so we had a lot of back and forth here. Reportedly the police had to intervene but otherwise all of this was peaceful, we're told. A peaceful rally.

So speaking to people in the crowd, one of the questions, of course, is what motivates you, especially those people who came from long distances when they could have participated in demonstrations in their own cities or towns, and I talked to one woman who said she came from Dallas. She told me that the thing that concerns her is that this is for her not just about abortion, but it's about that whole bundle of rights that come along with it, things like gay marriage and contraception. That's what some people say they're concerned about as well -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Joe. And let's go to Polo Sandoval who's in New York.

Polo, what are you seeing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, it's this group of peaceful but very passionate demonstrators that have come together here in the heart of Manhattan and many of them hearing from speakers of all generations here. We heard from a young lady a little while ago at her age, at 14 years old, she shared with the public here that she now worries about what yesterday's ruling will mean for her tomorrow and then we've also heard from older generations including some women who have also some very serious concerns.

But we also have to remind viewers that New York officials in anticipation of this saw this coming after the leaked memo and took steps to make sure that women in New York would still be guaranteed their right to an abortion, so the message that we're hearing up on the stage here and from many of the participants is that they hope that women in other states including those with so-called trigger laws will hear this message loud and clear, that they stand behind them as now there's a very uncertain future that women face across the country -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo. Thank you very much for that.

Let's go to Camila Bernal. She's in L.A. right now. What's happening on your end?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, so as you're hearing the cheer right now is if you're not safe, neither are you. It's a similar message to what you were hearing from New York because the message here is that they stand with the women in other states that do not have the right to an abortion. We have heard from a number of women throughout the day, some willing

to share their abortion stories. There was one who told me, look, I do not regret my abortion and all of the things I have right now I owe to my abortion. And you're seeing not just women who have had abortions but supporters, families, men, who are standing behind so many of these protesters who say, right now, no justice, no peace.

There is a number of chants, a number of messages, you can hear it throughout the downtown area. They were protesting earlier around the streets.

[16:05:03]

They started marching. We are now in front of city hall but really they say that they will continue to be here because they want their message to be heard and, again, that message is that they stand with other women in other states that do not have the right to an abortion -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Camila, thank you very much. Thanks to all of our reporters there on the scene of those demonstrations. People definitely making their voices heard.

Let's go to CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig. He joins me now.

Elie, people are fired up over this and with this now left up to the states, we should note there are states, multiple states with trigger laws that have effectively banned abortion as an end result of what took place at the Supreme Court yesterday. What happens when a woman in one of those states decides to pursue an abortion elsewhere? That is one of the many questions right now. I suppose a woman could do that. What does the law say, Elie?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, it's going to get quite chaotic really because pretty soon we will have about half the states that outlaw abortion and about the other half that permit and protect abortion. The thing to watch for, though, is those states that outlaw abortion may well try to extend their reach beyond their state borders. They may try to pass laws that say you cannot pass through this state in order to get an abortion.

You cannot leave this state and cross the state line in order to get an abortion. They may even have laws that are read in a way that even if an actual procedure of an abortion is not being performed in that state, it may be a crime to make a phone call from that state or to make payment from that state to another state.

Now importantly, yesterday the Justice Department issued a statement where they said in our view that kind of law is unconstitutional. It would violate what we call the commerce law. It would inhibit the ability of people to cross state lines freely. And so the interesting thing to watch is if we start seeing these aggressive laws will DOJ spring into action and challenge them in the court? They certainly seem to be signaling that they will.

ACOSTA: And what does the Supreme Court do with those kinds of cases? I mean, that will be fascinating, obviously very important to watch as well. And states that criminalize abortion, Elie, will prosecutors be prosecuting those cases or do prosecutors have discretion as to which cases they pursue?

HONIG: Yes, Jim, this is such an important point. I want to make sure people understand this. Prosecutors are not robots. They are not supposed to be robots. It's not simply a matter of, well, there's a law on the book, we're prosecutors, we must prosecute it. No, your job as a prosecutor is to exercise what we call prosecutorial discretion. You have to ask questions like, is this law fair and just? Is this a good use of law enforcement resources?

Does this reflect the community values that I represent? That answer may be yes for some people, no for others but it's a question that prosecutors ask themselves all the time. And there are all sorts of laws on the books that prosecutors choose not to enforce and here I think a prosecutor has to be very practical. Am I going to prosecute and seek to lock up a doctor who performs an abortion, a nurse or a nurse practitioner, a medical professional, potentially a woman who receives an abortion, a friend who drives that person?

These are real question, different prosecutors are going to reach different results, but they have to be thinking about those things.

ACOSTA: And Elie, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion that obviously is getting a lot of attention where he explicitly states that other precedents that relied on the same legal reasoning as Roe versus Wade might also be reconsidered. Can you tell us about those cases? Because they are vitally important, in particular, to the LGBTQ Plus community.

HONIG: Yes, Jim, so there's a whole series of vital rights that all spring from the 14th Amendment, due process clause, including abortion, marital rights, contraception rights, sexual practice rights. In the majority opinion, Justice Alito said we're overturning abortion but we're not going to touch any of those other rights. Not everyone believes that, frankly, and Justice Thomas, as you said, Jim, said actually we should be reconsidering those rights relating to equality in marriage, contraception, sexual practice.

Now the dissent of course says we shouldn't be interfering with any of these existing rights so the question is, where does the court go next? But watch for this, Jim. Justice Thomas' opinion is an invitation to states to pass new laws.

ACOSTA: Right.

HONIG: For example, outlawing LGBTQ marriage so that they can get it up to the Supreme Court to push this to the next level and challenge it, so we'll see if the justices are good for their word, we'll see if Alito is good for his word, that this is only abortion. We're not going to interfere with those other rights. But there will be, I believe, states passing laws that are designed and intended to challenge this and that in itself could be difficult and problematic.

ACOSTA: Right, and even though Justice Alito says, oh, we're just talking about abortion here, we should note that some of these justices went in front of the country during their testimony and talked about Roe versus Wade being established precedent and settled law and so on. And obviously we couldn't count on those words holding up when Roe versus Wade came to their desk.

[16:10:002]

All right, Elie Honig, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

And joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams who previously lobbied for Planned Parenthood in the Southeast. She's also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus which just asked President Biden to declare a national emergency.

Thank you, Congresswoman, for being with us. Today the president did throw some cold water on the idea -- I want to start with this first -- of expanding the Supreme Court or getting rid of the filibuster. What are your thoughts on that? Does your caucus -- do you want to go over to the White House and perhaps try to change the president's opinion on that?

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): So, Jim, thank you for covering this important conversation in our nation's history right now. As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus I am but one member and I know that the maternal mortality rates for black women in Georgia are at the bottom of all 50 states.

More black women die within one year of childbirth in Georgia than in third world countries so that's why I signed on to the letter with my congressional colleagues, CBC women, to call to action the state of emergency that black women will face as a result of this decision in Roe v. Wade being overturned.

So what I know is that we have to do something to protect women, to give people the decision-making power to get the care that they need when they need it, and so that's what we called on the president to do. This is a state of emergency for black women in this country who are already in so many health disparities at the bottom of the list.

So we have work to do, Jim, and I'm going to use everything at my resources as a member of Congress to make sure that I'm standing up for the people that I was sent to Washington to represent.

ACOSTA: And I talked to one of your colleagues, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, in our last hour, and, you know, she said that she wonders whether lifetime terms for Supreme Court justices should be reconsidered. What did you think?

WILLIAMS: Well, Jim, it looks like we're shaking up a lot of precedent now because we just overturned Roe v. Wade which was the law of the land for 50 years and so I know my colleague Mondaire Jones has a bill to expand the courts to -- so we are in 2022 and apparently things that we've been able to depend on for decades, centuries in this country are not the case anymore. So we have an opportunity to look at where we are right now in this time and I think everything should be on the table because people's lives are at stake. ACOSTA: And on this discussion of precedent after former President

Barack Obama went on Twitter to criticize the Supreme Court for overturning the precedent of Roe versus Wade, a Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, perhaps you saw this, he replied, "Now do Plessy versus Ferguson, Brown vs. Board of Education." Of course, we should note he later clarified to say, "Thank goodness some SCOTUS precedents are overruled."

I guess his point is that sometimes precedent needs to be overruled. But what was your response when you saw that?

WILLIAMS: I mean, the fact that that's what he chose to bring that up shows us exactly where we are in this country, where members of the Republican Party are, and when Clarence Thomas laid out the other things that he would consider overturning like the right to contraception, the right for people to marry who they love in this country, even though he's in an interracial marriage, he didn't touch on Loving, the Loving decision, but we have to look at these things that people are bringing up right now and realize that these issues are interlinked.

This is an intersectional fight and this is far from over. The people will have the final say when we show up at the ballot box because we know that 68 percent of the people in Georgia, in the Deep South don't agree with the decision that was made to overturn Roe v. Wade. So there's a lot of people left still to show up and raise their voices at the ballot box and this is far from over. We're not going to back down, Jim.

ACOSTA: And within hours of the Supreme Court decision, the state of Georgia, your state officially asked an appeals court to reinstate the Georgia Life Act better known as the heartbeat abortion law. It essentially bans abortion at six weeks. You fought against that law. What do you think? Is it coming back?

WILLIAMS: So this bill already passed the state legislature. I was unfortunately in the state Senate when it happened. And it was enjoined in the courts and our attorney general who and governor who's running for re-election right now, they are on the ballot. They immediately reached out to the 11th Circuit so that this law could go into force. So what we know is that they are out of step with the people in Georgia.

Sixty-eight percent, Jim, that's not 68 percent of Democrats. That's 68 percent of the people in this state do not agree with what they're doing and they're going to have to answer to the voters and I'm ready to make sure that I'm organizing, mobilizing and turning people out so that they know who is standing with them and it's not Brian Kemp and his Republican Party.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Nikema Williams, you were fired up today. We knew you would. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up a filmmaker who got extensive access to former president Donald Trump and his family before and after the 2020 election.

[16:15:03]

It's emerging as a key witness for the January 6th Committee. I'll speak to him next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: The January 6th Committee says it will use footage from a forthcoming documentary that features interviews with former president Donald Trump and his adult children. That documentary "Unprecedented" is due to be released on Discovery Plus which is owned by the same parent company as CNN, and the filmmaker has emerged as a key witness. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE APPLEBAUM, THE ATLANTIC: They thought because people showed up to their rallies that meant they were popular. The idea that other people might be sitting at home feeling differently about it seems not to have occurred to them. They genuinely thought that must be true.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We won Georgia, we won Michigan, we won Pennsylvania, we won them all.

IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: As the president has said, every single vote needs to be counted and needs to be heard and he campaigned for the voiceless.

[16:20:06]

PHILIP RUCKER, THE WASHINGTON POST: It's interesting to see Ivanka Trump say that her father wanted every vote to be counted because Trump's mission in the days after the election was to stop the counting of votes.

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: The reality is people in this country were getting multiple ballots in the mail. There are thousands and thousands of people who are voting in multiple states.

DR. EDDIE S. GAUDE JR., PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: There's no evidence whatsoever that the voter fraud that they're claiming.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But after weeks of trying to overturn the results of the election his legal team has come up with nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So far they've lost 30 cases.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: I would love to release all the information that I have. I would love to give it to you all except most of you wouldn't cover it.

D. TRUMP: All of the legal documents and everything else, it's not even a contest but you still need a judge that has courage and so far we haven't found that judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And the filmmaker Alex Holder joins me now.

Alex, you got this unbelievable access to Donald Trump and his inner circle. And I know that you had a chance to talk to the former president about some of his wild conspiracy theories about what happened in the 2020 election. That has not been made public up until this point. What did he talk about when you discussed this with him?

ALEX HOLDER, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: President Trump at the time was furious about the position that he found himself in. I am now sitting across him in the diplomatic reception room in the White House and he's looking at me directly in the eye and he's saying that there was no way that guy, and he's referring to President Biden, got 80 million votes. And he starts talking to me how this thing would be very easily resolved.

All he needs to do is signature verification, and he starts explaining how that should happen. And he goes the reason why it's not happening is because the officials in Georgia were not brave enough to listen to him and open up these ballots and compare the signatures, and then he says that actually the reason why they're not doing it aside from being, you know, not brave enough, he says they're stupid people. And he goes on about other conspiracies as well.

ACOSTA: He said that about Kemp and Raffensperger.

HOLDER: Exactly.

ACOSTA: The secretary of state, he said they were stupid.

HOLDER: He said they're stupid people.

ACOSTA: And when he goes, you know, on this rant and talks about this stuff, I mean, do you push back? Do you say, hold on, none of this is true? This is bonkers?

HOLDER: So, I think when, you know, the attorney general a few days earlier says there was absolutely no evidence to support his claims and the president still a few days later is telling me all these sort of crazy claims, the idea that I might persuade him is probably unlikely so I let him have his peace. At the end of the day my job in terms of the documentary is to record history and to record these moments.

And this is a unique moment. This is a moment when the sitting president of the United States, the sitting, you know, in the White House looking me in the eye and telling me that he actually won the 2020 election when in fact he didn't.

ACOSTA: And you just gave us a brand-new clip from the film that focuses on Donald Trump Jr. on the campaign trail. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: If you're a conservative you don't just have to roll over and die because the other side would like you to. We have the option of fighting. And that's what America has seen from Donald Trump so we need to fight back.

I'm doing this because I believe in it.

Donald Trump has opened the door for people who are willing to fight to stand up for themselves. But now we got to walk through it.

It's for my country. It's for our freedom. It's for liberties. I have five young children.

The economy is on the table. Your freedom of speech is on the table. You Second Amendment is on the table.

I want them to grow up in an America that they recognize and that's not what I'm seeing from the left.

So we need you out there. We need you mobilized. And when you do, we will make liberals cry-again. Thank you, State College. Thank you, guys.

You know, whether my father was in this or not, I'd be vocal right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, what -- I guess a couple of questions. What are the big takeaways when it comes to the Trump children, the adult children, in this film and obviously you got this incredible access. How did you pull that off?

HOLDER: English charm.

ACOSTA: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLDER: I mean I think it's --

ACOSTA: Because this was a giant -- I mean, this was a giant I don't want to say secret, but not a lot of people knew that you were doing this.

HOLDER: Sure. I mean, we kept quiet throughout the process but we weren't particularly -- I mean, we weren't invisible. I mean, you can see from the footage before we were on the stage, we were very up close, you know, we weren't trying to hide. I think people perhaps didn't know what we were doing because they didn't want to know perhaps, or they didn't agree with what was going on perhaps internally, but we were very visible and we were doing what we were allowed to do.

I mean, the series is about, there's two narratives here. There's obviously the election campaign and the events that took place after the election and leading to January 6th. But there's also this "Succession" type vibe, the differences between the three eldest Trump children and how they interact with each other and how they interact with their father, and you see these very interesting sort of similarities between the kids themselves and their father but also the differences between them as well which is really interesting.

ACOSTA: Yes. It played out like "Succession."

HOLDER: Exactly.

ACOSTA: Like the show "Succession."

HOLDER: Exactly.

ACOSTA: And let's take a look at another clip from the film where you asked about Trump about January 6th.

[16:25:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLDER: Can we talk for a minute about January 6th?

TRUMP: Yes. Well, it was a sad day but it was a day where there was great anger in our country. The people went to Washington primarily because they were angry with an election that they think was rigged. A very small portion as you know went down to the Capitol and then a very small portion of them went in. But I will tell you they were angry from the standpoint of what happened in the election because they're smart and they see and they saw what happened and I believe that that was a big part of what happened on January 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So he's still showing no remorse. Did you pick up on any remorse for what happened on January 6th?

HOLDER: No, and, in fact, I think he's actually condoning the behavior of the people that went into the Capitol. I mean to me when he says that he thinks that those people that went into the Capitol went in because they thought that their election was stolen, well, where did they get that idea from?

ACOSTA: They got it from him.

HOLDER: Exactly.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you had to meet with the January 6th Committee.

HOLDER: Yes.

ACOSTA: Can you describe at all how that went?

HOLDER: It was very professional. It was --

ACOSTA: What were they interested in? I guess -- I have to ask as a reporter.

HOLDER: Sure. They were interested in all the material that they asked for. They had clearly considered the material beforehand. Their questions were very professional and direct, and I answered what they wanted and it was two hours and one minute meeting and it was very straightforward.

ACOSTA: And I have to ask you about this, so you told "Politico" that Trump had this mysterious phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin while he was campaigning in New England just nine days before the election. What do you remember about that?

HOLDER: So all I know is that I was on Air Force One. We were meant to interview him on that day on Air Force One and his chief of staff told us that it had to be rescheduled because he had a telephone call. And if my memory serves correctly it was a telephone call with the president of Russia, and I remember thinking, that's a fair enough excuse to, you know, reschedule the interview. But I have absolutely no more information whatsoever about that and other reporters can come up with their own conclusions and all I have is the timeline, et cetera.

ACOSTA: But that stood out to you as being strange?

HOLDER: I mean, he's a world leader speaking to another world leader. I didn't think it was particularly strange. I mean, to be honest, the entire experience was strange. I mean, I was on Air Force One.

ACOSTA: Right, and that was I guess one of the remarkable things about this is that here you are a documentary filmmaker, not exactly a known quantity here in Washington or perhaps in the United States, you are now, of course. What did you think? I mean just being in the middle of this as the title of your documentary is called "Unprecedented" during this borderline insane time in our nation's history.

HOLDER: I mean, it's been an extraordinary experience. I mean, from wall-to-wall coverage, multiple interviews. I mean, I'm a newbie to this. So am I doing OK so far?

ACOSTA: So far just fine.

HOLDER: Thank you. You know, being subpoenaed to the biggest sort of political investigation probably since Watergate, lots of print reporting. I mean, and now obviously I have security guards, so it's been a roller coaster in the last sort of less than week really so --

ACOSTA: Did you think when you were filming all this that this might end up in the hands of an investigation into what happened on January 6th.

HOLDER: No, not in a million years, no. I mean I thought there was always going to be historic importance in what we were capturing clearly because we had access to the president and his -- and the first family, but to think that this situation would become a reality, I mean, no. Never, no. ACOSTA: All right. Well, hopefully we can get you back. I know that

there are other aspects of the documentary that are going to surprise some people when this finally comes out.

Alex Holder, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Good to see you.

And new video just in to CNN showing abortion rights protesters being pepper sprayed in Eugene, Oregon, there it is right there, during a demonstration that police say became rowdy and hostile. The event had been dubbed a night of rage after the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. Police say some in the crowd threw smoke bombs and water bottles at police officers, 10 people were ultimately arrested.

Coming up, actor Sean Penn is helping Ukrainian fighter pilots lobby for U.S. Military aid. I sat down with Penn as he explains why that is so critical. It's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:34:03]

ACOSTA: There's a new bipartisan bill being put forth to train Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made fighter jets and other military hardware that could give it an edge in defending itself against devastating Russian attacks.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger said the training could happen as the Biden administration weighs sending those jets to Ukraine.

This week, I sat down with Actor Sean Penn who was in Washington urging lawmakers to meet with two of Ukraine's top air force pilots who have been pushing to get more military aircraft for Ukraine.

Here's why Sean Penn said that aid is so critical.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR & CO-FOUNDER, CORE: That the ask is not a big grand ask. It's a very practical ask to be able to match the air technology of the Russian fighters.

At this point, they're flying the equivalent of suicide missions. And all they need is the most basic support from the American government.

ACOSTA: Sean, you hear all the conversations that take place here in Washington. People here in Washington are worried about escalating things.

[16:35:01]

What do you say to that, that if we give them this assistance, it will escalate the war, maybe drag the United States in?

PENN: Yes, I'm not a believer in that philosophy of thought. I think that, very clearly, if we had announced what we were going to

do, that we have done in support of Ukraine to this date, that would also have been considered a wild escalation.

This is going to take its natural course. The unnatural course are the amount of people we're letting die every day and the amount of destruction we're letting happen in Ukraine every single day that we put off the inevitable.

The inevitable is not nuclear war. The inevitable is that the Ukrainians will win this war.

And if they are given the equipment today -- you had asked the question having to do with, how long does it take?

How long it takes is that, from the day that these aircraft are delivered to the Ukrainian military, you're going to be four months from that date they'll be in the air fighting this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now are the two Ukrainian air force pilots, who go by the call signs Moonfish and Juice, which we are using today to protect their identities. You can see they're all wearing their masks.

And we all met earlier alongside Sean Penn, as you saw in that video.

Gentlemen, thank you very much, Moonfish and Juice, for being with me.

You're kind of like Ukraine's Top Gun pilots, right, but you don't have the best technology.

MOONFISH, UKRAINIAN FIGHTER PILOT: Yes, it is correct.

ACOSTA: And what would that do in terms of making a difference for you in defending Ukraine and defending your people?

MOONFISH: Well, if we're talking about air-to-air superiority. So basically the Russians have obvious technical advantages over our fighter jets.

And we believe that -- the numbers say that providing us with U.S.- made fighter jets would make us at least matching them or I believe even more advanced.

On the other hand, providing those jets is also we see it as a very important thing to protect Ukraine from further escalation from Russia. We think that those are the tools that make Russia to not invade again.

ACOSTA: And, Juice, you're talking about using these American made fighter jets if you can get them to defend civilian targets, places like hospitals and schools that are being hit with missiles.

JUICE, UKRAINIAN FIGHTER PILOT: Yes, absolutely. Actual greatest problem for our defense, air defense is to provide missile strikes, actual cruise missiles.

And it's a very difficult target for ground base air defense and for fighter jets. So our need is to defend our cities against this threat.

Unfortunately, the Russians are taking not only the military bases, military objects, but also civilian infrastructure.

And actually, last night, they launched 51 cruise missile in our cities in the north part and western part of Ukraine. And we intercepted just four of them. It's pretty critical number.

And we need to save much more lives, much more objects of our civilian and military infrastructure.

That's why we need capability to do this pretty difficult mission from the ground and from the air, using good radars and good missiles.

ACOSTA: And, Moonfish, we have video we can show our viewers right now of a missile strike in Mykolaiv.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: This is what you're up against.

MOONFISH: Yes, it is correct.

Sir, other than pushing for the jets when we were talking to the U.S. lawmakers and to the media, what we were asking for are the ground- based air defenses.

There would be much -- it is a little simpler but effective, both, to the Ukraine air defense.

As you can see, Russians not only hitting military targets but they're hitting civilians targets like bridges. I think we saw the gas station on that footage.

ACOSTA: Right.

MOONFISH: They're targeting grain silos.

And the ground-based air defense will save civilian lives from the moment it is on the ground in Ukraine. Plus, the training is less

[16:40:01]

JUICE: The maintenance.

MOONFISH: Maintenance is less -- is easier.

And if you think about, more globally, they're protecting -- they will be protecting the food supplies.

Because we know that protecting the food supplies because we know that Russians are blocking our ports. And we have piles of grain staying -- not able to be delivered to the countries that need them.

ACOSTA: That affects everything. That affects the global market.

And, Juice, you guys came all the way from Ukraine to the nation's capital here in Washington to make this appeal. Do you go back home optimistic?

And what were those conversations like? Do you feel like you made some progress?

JUICE: Yes, absolutely. And we think that it would help. Actually, it would help.

Because now the lawmakers and the experts in Pentagon, they understand much more detailed problems of Ukrainian air force.

And they could not only seize -- or just a formal lease of needs, requirements, now they know real story, real experience from our side.

And they saw the faces of this war, actually. So I think it is pretty productive.

ACOSTA: All right.

MOONFISH: Plus, from what we understand, from after speaking to them, it seems like we are on the same page.

ACOSTA: OK, very good.

Moonfish and Juice, thank you for your time. We know you are Ukraine's version of Top Gun, so thank you so much. Best of luck going back to Ukraine. We know you go right back to work.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: So Godspeed.

Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Thank you.

And we're so grateful to them.

And this just in, you're looking at live pictures right now of President Biden arriving in Germany for the G7. The war in Ukraine among the many challenges he'll have to tackle. We'll get a live report on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:46:44]

ACOSTA: You're looking at live pictures of President Biden arriving in Munich ahead of the G7 summit. He has a lot on his agenda to talk about, including the war in Ukraine and the impact on the global economy.

CNN's M.J. Lee is with the president overseas.

M.J. talk to us about this, what we're seeing right now in this welcome ceremony for the president.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the president just touched down here to begin this -- the series of two major global summits. The first one is going to be the G7 in Germany. And then we are going to see him go to Spain for the NATO summit.

So he is being welcomed here on the tarmac, I believe, is the images you are showing at the moment, after a very consequential week in Washington as you were talking about in the last hour.

And you are absolutely right that the war in Ukraine is going to loom so large over both of these global summits. And the president is going to have a big task ahead of him.

And one of those things, of course, is to try to maintain this united front between the U.S. and its allies against Russian aggression that continues in this war in Ukraine.

And one of the things U.S. officials previewing this trip have said, they have said that they are going to be seeing and announcing new steps to put the pressure on Russia. We don't know exactly what all of those steps will be.

But one thing we learned today is that there's going to be an announcement of an import ban of new gold coming in from Russia. So one way in which we are going to see these countries try to sort of ratchet up the pressure on Russia.

We, of course, over the last couple of months, have seen these countries roll out sanctions, roll out various kinds of economic punishment for Russia. So that is going to be a theme that we are going to continue seeing.

Another highlight is going to be virtual address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This is just one more sign, of course, that these global leaders are wanting to give that kind of spotlight to the Ukrainian president as he has continuously called on allies to continue providing aid that his country needs as they continue to fight back against the Russian aggression.

Now, you mentioned that another big theme is going to be the economic strain that the war has continued to put on the global economy.

Back at home, as we have discussed so much over the last couple of months, we are seeing a country that is fighting inflation. The president, of course, has taken on that challenge and it has been a very difficult challenge for him.

So that is going to be a big part of the discussion for the president and the other global leaders that he will be meeting with, both at the G7 and the NATO summit as well -- Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, M.J. Lee. Of course, domestic politics, as it often happens on some of these foreign trips, will be hanging over the president.

He's going to be asked, I would imagine, on a number of occasions when there are moments with the press, about what happened with Roe v. Wade being overturned at the Supreme Court.

M.J. Lee, thanks so much.

As we're watching some live images of President Biden getting a proper German welcome there in Munich. We'll stay on top of this and bring you any updates.

[16:50:02]

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You may know Arthur Ashe as a legendary tennis champion, the first black man to win the singles title in Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open. But his legacy goes far beyond the court.

Here's a preview of the CNN film, "CITIZEN ASHE."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had evolved from someone who was analytical to someone who became more and more about direct action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get the feeling that you could change things just by playing tennis?

[16:55:03]

ARTHUR ASHE, FORMER TENNIS CHAMPION: I -- I am not presumptuous enough to think I can change anything, per se.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted black South Africans to see a free black man and the possibilities that a free black man could live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And be sure to tune in to the new CNN film, "CITIZEN ASHE," tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 Eastern. Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM, live, after a quick break.

And some live pictures to close out the program of the president in Munich, Germany. He's there for the G7 summit. We'll stay on top of that as well.

Have a good night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)