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Ukraine Braces For Potential Attacks On Its Independence Day; Uvalde School Board Discusses Whether To Fire School Police Chief; Interview With State Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-TX): Uvalde Shooting Accountability; Interview With Kate Bedingfield, White House Communications Director: Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 24, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Is it just getting back to the boarders before Russia invaded or is it back to pre-2014 before Russia annexed Crimea? And will we deal with Putin after the war or will he need to stand down? These are the long-term questions we need to be asking but are not, and it's better not to ask these questions right now. Is now the time to ask these important questions or not?

EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND EURASIA: Yes, now is the time to ask these questions because we are providing assistance to Ukraine. Therefore, we need to understand clearly to what end. And the end, the reason why we're providing this assistance is so that Ukraine can control all of its territory. So that the entire invading force -- including in Crimea -- can be removed from Ukraine's territory.

Now does that mean they have to fight for every inch of it. Not necessarily. Vladimir Putin can be convinced through use of military force and negotiations to leave the battlefield and leave Russia, and that is the outcome that we all want and that's what we should be aiming for. As far as who's ruling Russia, that's really up to the Russian people. But we do not want a government that is free to launch this kind of aggressive campaign against Ukraine or any of its other neighbors.

We should remember that there are Russian forces in neighboring Moldova, which is a small country, has a border with Ukraine. And then of course there are Russian forces occupying 20 percent of the territory of the Republic of Georgia. So, the Russian aggressive foreign policy is what needs to end. Whether that's a decision that Putin comes to or someone after him is not as important as the fact that it ends.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Evelyn Farkas, thank you as always.

BLACKWELL: Children in Uvalde are about to return to school after the Robb Elementary School massacre there.

CAMEROTA: But are they ready emotionally, and is the infrastructure in place to keep them safe? We're going to speak to the Texas state Senator who represents Uvalde about all of this, next.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Tonight, the Uvalde School Board will meet to discuss whether to fire embattled school district police chief Pete Arredondo. Now Arredondo is under heavy criticism for the police response to the May 24th shooting at Robb Elementary School. A gunman killed 19 children and two of their teachers.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Uvalde for us. So, Shimon, what is likely to happen tonight?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's expected that he is going to be fired. People I've been talking to for the last several weeks have said that since the superintendent had recommended that the school police chief be fired, it's likely that the school board will go along with that, and certainly everyone expects that. And the residents here certainly expect that. The family members of the victims here certainly expect that.

This meeting was supposed to take place in a smaller board room, and then yesterday the school decided they were going to hold it here at the high school inside the auditorium because they are expecting more people.

The big question surrounding all of this tonight is how much of this is going to happen in front of the public. How much of this are we going to be able to see. Right now, the school board has this listed as a closed door meeting and executive session. But we have been giving some indications that this is going to be held publicly. We'll see if that actually happens. So, we'll be able to actually see the process.

There is a lot that we don't know. The school chief here, Pete Arredondo has been trying to fight the recommendation by the superintendent to have him fired. That's why this has been delayed for several weeks. That seems to have come to an end now. What that involves and how they went about -- how he went about perhaps in trying to save his job. We don't know. So much of what's been going on here in Uvalde has lacked any kind of transparency.

And that has certainly frustrated the community and the parents. And this is a big day for the community. This is something they have been calling for, for really weeks and months since this happened. They've been calling for accountability. And now, Alisyn and Victor, finally tonight, we can start seeing some signs of that.

CAMEROTA: OK. We know you'll be there, Shimon, thank you very much for the update.

Let's bring in Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez. Senator, thank you very much for being here. Is there any way that Chief Arredondo keeps his job tonight? STATE SEN. ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D-TX): Well, I certainly hope not,

Alisyn. I think this is obviously a first step towards accountability and one that's been long and coming for the people of Uvalde.

But I don't think it should be the last step. I mean, clearly one of your own contributors, the former FBI Director McCabe specifically called out Chief McCraw, which is the DPS chief, the Department Of Public Safety. He said he had never seen a law enforcement officer call out another law enforcement officer.

The DPS, Department Of Public Safety, they were there on scene within two minutes, they had 91 officers.

[15:40:00]

You saw from the Robb report of the House committee that everybody was responsible, including higher equipped law enforcement agencies, like the Department of Public Safety of the state of Texas and the federal government. Certainly, accountability needs to start here but needs to continue on.

CAMEROTA: But basically, you're saying that the DPS chief should also lose his job?

GUTIERREZ: Listen, the DPS chief in my mind acted very irresponsibly in calling people out. The department itself, the people that were there. There was a Texas Range in that hallway on the phone for 15 to 20 minutes of those 77 minutes. I want to know who he was talking to. Why didn't the DPS chief and others, high level within the Department of Public Safety, say get 12 of our guys and go in there.

So yes, I absolutely believe that people should lose jobs. This is not about a personal vendetta of any kind. This is about accountability. If you have a manager running your studio, your business, your hospital, anything that's out there and people's lives are at stake and the malfeasance that occurred that we saw on video happened, you would simply ask for that person's job. That hasn't happened here. Greg Abbott has not asked for that person's job. Steve McCraw direct reports to Greg Abbott, and Greg Abbott has refused to have any accountability here.

CAMEROTA: It's been months, 19 children died, two teachers. What has taken so long, and why would Chief Arredondo want to keep his job at this point since he couldn't keep those kids safe.

GUTIERREZ: You know, I heard from people today within the school board and others that said, you know, hey look, Arredondo is a nice guy. I have no doubts that he's not a nice person that you could, you know, go out and have lunch with him. Steve McCraw for that matter a nice person. But there was significant human error, significant abject failure as Steve McCraw often says.

The fact is the Department of Public Safety, like Arredondo need to look in the mirror and look at the abject failure that occurred. Look at their own responsibilities in that abject failure and make the right choices here. Whether that means resigning or getting fired, something needs to happen because the people of Uvalde deserve answers.

The fact is we have seen video from the school district, from the city of Uvalde, we've seen no body cams from DPS. They have hidden much of what we've asked for including radio transmissions. It is imperative that I understand as a legislature who the Texas Ranger in that hallway was talking to, and why his supervisors didn't tell him to do the right thing. You've got more equipment, more police, more ammunition, go in there now, and that never happened. Certainly, this was an abject failure but everybody needs to look in the mirror.

CAMEROTA: I only have a little bit of time left. But school restarts on September 6th there in Uvalde. Here are just a few of the emotions that Uvalde students and residents are feeling right now.

This is as they told "The New York Times." A 9-year-old says quote, I don't feel safe. A grandfather of a 10-year-old who was shot by survived in Uvalde says, Kendall is not going back to school. She is afraid that it is going to happen again.

How are the students there supposed to go back into the classroom?

GUTIERREZ: We are no safer in Uvalde nor any other school in Texas since we were on May 24th. The fact is this governor has refused to call a special session to raise the age limit on 18-year-olds having access to militarized guns. Like they did in Florida, it took 23 days. This governor has refused to act. We can't have a special session on school hardening, he has refused to act. We are no safer today than we were on the 24th.

CAMEROTA: Texas State Senator, Roland Gutierrez, thank you very much for your time.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: President Biden just announced his long awaited Student Loan Forgiveness Plan which wipes out $10,000 of debt with income restrictions. The critics say it will only make inflation worse. We'll ask the White House about that next.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: President Biden announcing today his plan to cancel federal student loan dote for 43 million eligible borrowers, following through on a signature campaign promise. His plan will offer $10,000 of relief for anyone who makes less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants. And it includes one final extension of the loan repayment freeze through the end of the year.

Joining us to discuss this is White House Communications Director, Kate Bedingfield. Kate thanks so much for being here. And we actually took the president's speech live where he laid out his case about why this is so valuable. So, let me in that case, start with you on the pushback that he's getting of the people who don't like it. So first, is Senator McConnell, who lays out the case that Republicans

are making. He says -- he put out a statement saying: President Biden's student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt. What do you say to that?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I think it's very telling that Mitch McConnell is choosing to attack students, families, middle class people who are getting a break today. And when, you know, when businesses, for example, were having -- were having their loans forgiven during the pandemic as they should have, as you heard the president say, as they should have -- we didn't hear a word from Mitch McConnell or from Republicans.

So, I think what you see here is the fundamental difference between the way President Biden, between his vision for the country which is to give breathing room to middle class families, to working people.

[15:50:02]

That's what he ran on, it's what he promised to do, it's what he's doing today. And the vision that Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are putting forward which is about tax breaks to the wealthiest, to corporations and to ensuring that the special interests continue to have their day in Washington. So, I think it's very telling and I think the American people see the contrast there.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's get away from the politics and let's talk about the policy. And so, as you know there are also economists who basically say that this will kind of wipe out whatever progress was made from the Inflation Reduction Act. This will negate that. So, let me play this moment for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC GOLDWEIN, SENIOR VP AND POLICY DIRECTOR, COMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET: The Inflation Reduction Act saves maybe $300 billion in the first ten years. If we do cancel $10,000 of debt and just extend the pause a few months, we're going to be at about that much in terms of new cost. So, all the deficit reduction is going to be wiped out. At the same time, we're probably going to do more to increase inflation from debt cancellation than any inflation reduction from the Inflation Reduction Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: And Kate furthermore, as you may know, one of President Obama's economic advisers also says that the rest of Americans will pay for this in inflation and in tax increases. So, what's your response to that?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, there are also economic advisers like Mark Zandi at Moody's who say this will have no impact on inflation because as we restart payments in January, as you heard the president say today, we'll restart payments in January, the government will recoup about $4 billion a month from those payments.

So, you know, what I would say to this, Alisyn, though, is if we're going to have a discussion about inflation and deficits, President Biden is happy to do that because he has been relentlessly focused on bringing down costs. He just passed and signed, I should say he just signed the Inflation Reduction Act which is going to bring down the cost of energy. Is going to bring down the cost of health care. It's going to reduce the deficit.

You know, we're on track this year even before you get to the Inflation Reduction Act. We're on track to reduce the deficit $1.7 trillion this year, which is the single largest decrease in history. So, President Biden has taken meaningful steps, fiscally responsible steps to both lower costs, tackle inflation -- as we saw in July, inflation was at 0.0 percent, so we're seeing encouraging signs that things are moving in the right direction. As a result of President Biden's economic agenda.

CAMEROTA: And you know, Kate, one thing, though, that it will not bring down the cost of -- and I've not seen anybody say this unless you tell me otherwise -- is college tuition. I mean, the underlying problem here is that college is so astronomically expensive for every family.

You know, I thought that President Biden told that very heart rending story about how much his father wanted him to go to college, and then on the day that he got in, as President Biden called it, to a little ivy, meaning -- I don't know if it was Bowden or Williams or whenever he got in -- he went to his father and his father had to tell that he couldn't get a loan to pay for it. And his father felt ashamed. And I just looked up because the president talked about a little ivy, Williams today, $77,000 a year for tuition. So, what's it going to do -- what's the answer for that?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, there's some really important pieces of what he talked about today that go to that. I mean first of all, yes, you're right. The president would be the first to say, college is too expensive. It's a huge part of why he's making this announcement today, to insure that lower income people and middle class income people or middle class people, I should say, have access to college, which is a ticket to a good job and to success in our economy.

So first, I would say, you know, the president would be the first to say, yes, college is too expensive. And there are a couple things in addition to the loan forgiveness that he announced today. In the announcement today that will have some impact on that. One is the Department of Education calling out more directly some of the schools that charge the most tuition but then have the least results for their students. So, as the president said, shining sunlight on the problem.

The Department of Education under President Biden has forgiven $32 billion in student debt. Some of it from those for profit colleges and schools that are fraudulent and are not providing their students with the benefit that they earn by paying to go to that school. So that's one piece. And then the second piece, Alisyn, is capping the interest that you

pay on a student loan moving forward at 5 percent of your discretionary income. So, helping to insure that people who are going to college moving forward are not dealing with those exorbitant interest fees on student loans so it's more affordable for them to go to school.

Kate Bedingfield, thank you for giving us the White House perspective on all of this.

BEDINGFIELD: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Another threat to Texas women's rights as abortion services continue to be targeted. More on what the latest move means for doctors and patients across the state ahead.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Here at NEWSROOM, we still have not recovered from that viral video of the Yankees fan who used his hotdog as a straw to drink his beer.

BLACKWELL: This is just awful.

CAMEROTA: We'll never recover from this.

BLACKWELL: If you're thinking of trying it, first, don't. And there's no need. Hall of fame pitcher Pedro Martinez did it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pedro try it.

PEDRO MARTINEZ, HALL OF FAME PITCHER: It doesn't work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he get it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MARTINEZ Tastes a lot like hotdog, though. Even the beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hotdog water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You know, hotdog water really is the part that turns my stomach. I can't do it.

CAMEROTA: That's the least appetizing part. You have two great tastes. Why must you taste them together?

BLACKWELL: Oh, the hotdog isn't a great taste for me. [16:00:00]

CAMEROTA: You don't like a hotdog?

BLACKWELL: No.

CAMEROTA: What! Why haven't you ever revealed this to me?

BLACKWELL: I'm a pescatarian. I don't eat hotdogs.

CAMEROTA: You don't make exceptions for a hotdog.

BLACKWELL: Especially not for hotdog.

CAMEROTA: Really, you've never try to hotdog.

BLACKWELL: I had hotdogs. I've been a pescatarian for three years. I've had hotdogs. We didn't know this was where the segment was going, but no, I'm not going to make an exception for this. I had them as a kid, yes.

CAMEROTA: All right. I'm sure you all have a lot of comments about that.

BLACKWELL: We were friends before that, apparently.

CAMEROTA: Not anymore.

BLACKWELL: All right.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.