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Ukraine Offering U.S. Veto Power Over Potential Russian Targets In Bid For Long-Range Missiles; U.S. Considering Responses To Possible Russian Escalation; Floridians Facing Daunting Task Of Rebuilding; Kim Kardashian Agrees To $1.3 Fine For Failing To Disclose She Was Paid For Promoting Crypto Asset. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 03, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:26]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Ukraine is offering the White house a deal, give us longer-range missiles and we'll tell you the Russian targets we want to attack. This is according to new CNN reporting.

The White house has been hesitant to supply the long-range weapons systems to Ukraine.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis joins us more.

Katie Bo, tell us more.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Alisyn, this offer that Alex Marquardt is reporting is just the latest by Ukraine to try to convince the United States to give them the attack, the longer-range missiles that the U.S. has been providing Ukraine for about four months now.

Now, Ukraine wants the longer-range system to strike deeper into Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, to strike things like logistics lines, to strike things like ammo depots, even the launching point of these Iranian drones that Russia has been able to use so effectively against Ukraine.

Now, the Biden administration has been really reluctant to provide longer range systems including the ATACMs to Ukraine, seen as two escalatory by Russia drawing the United States more directly into the conflict.

They've also say, look, Ukraine is doing 79 with the HIMARS systems. We're not going to use them to strike Russian territory directly.

And Ukrainian officials rightly point out, in some cases, the HIMARS systems do have the range necessary to strike inside Russia and they're not doing it.

[14:34:59]

So this is just the latest effort by the Ukrainians to try to convince the U.S. to give them these systems.

CAMEROTA: That's really interesting.

Also, Katie Bo, CNN has learned that the Biden administration is considering several contingency plans in case Russian President Vladimir Putin escalates the war on Ukraine even further.

So what would the U.S. do?

LILLIS: Yes, look, the U.S., has been both publicly and privately, sending communications to Russia warning there would be consequences if Russia would take the steps to use nuclear weapons inside Ukraine.

And President Biden has said publicly that the U.S. response would depend on the severity of what Russia did, right?

Suggesting there would be a different U.S. response if Russia were to test a tactical nuke in the ocean versus using one in a battlefield context inside Ukraine, potentially killing Ukrainians.

We know this is something that the Biden administration has war-gamed out. What we don't know is the specifics of what that lateral escalation would look like, what those different U.S. responses would look like.

Now it's important to note, Alisyn, that U.S. intelligence officials have said publicly that, right now, they see no evidence that Russia is imminently considering using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: Katie Bo Lillis, thank you for all of that reporting.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, to discuss all of this.

General, great to see you.

So, obviously, the U.S. needs to be thinking about the worst-case scenarios because they can't anything past Vladimir Putin. What would the U.S. do if Vladimir Putin used some tactical nuclear weapon?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Let me introduce you to a couple phrases, Alisyn, give you military acronyms. One is called a JSAP, Joint Strategic Capability Planning. The U.S. and the combatant commers have been planning for deterrent or retaliation to the use of nuclear weapons.

In fact, there's small cells within the staff that do that. They've been doing this since before the war started. And they certainly ramped this up after the war occurred.

In fact, there was a 28 February article in "The New York Times" talking about a Red Key. This is something that occurs all the time in military planning. That you plan for contingencies, and see if they do this, then we will do that.

And not only the contingency itself but something called Branch and Sequels. If this happens and then something else happens, what do we then do to counter that? So it's a long stream of planning mechanisms.

Whereas I can't tell you today what is going on inside these planning cells, I will tell you, having been involved with them in the past, that there are multiple contingencies for what Russia might do and how we would respond to that. And in fact, how to prevent them from doing things that they might do.

That's why the intelligence of watching them very closely to see if they're moving any nuclear weapons is so critically important.

CAMEROTA: But because you've been involved in these in the past, General, I mean, is there any way that the U.S. would respond in kind and use some sort of tactical nuclear weapon to hit Russia?

HERTLING: Well, it brings me to my second acronym for you, Alisyn. You'll like this. This is nonmilitary. It's called "depends on the situation."

It's what you do getting through an intelligence feed or see them doing on the ground. Would we respond? Potentially.

I don't think that is the number-one priority or number-one course of action we could execute but it is certainly on the table.

Like I said, for any kind of contingency to counter Russian actions, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of reactions or co-actions to take in response to that.

CAMEROTA: What about that offer from Ukraine that they would share their target list with the U.S., if that would nullify the U.S. in terms of offering up longer-range missiles -- is that a good plan?

HERTLING: Well, one of the things -- it's interesting because there's a hue and cry for HIMARS. I'd like to just clarify a couple things.

HIMARS are the trucks that the missiles are launched from. They can either launch rockets, like the guided munitions. There are six of them on every pod on the back of these HIMARS trucks. For an ATACM, it's one missile per pod. So you're trading six for one.

Let's do more math. There are 18 U.S. HIMARS inside of Ukraine that we have given them. You can either shoot six of them very precisely at 50-plus miles, and each carries a 200-pound warhead to hit a target. Or you can fire one ATACM that goes about 150 miles or one target.

[14:40:00]

The difference between the two missiles, one, the HIMARs carries 200 pounds of explosive. The ATACM carries 500 pounds of explosives.

What Ukraine is in now, Alisyn, a close fight. They're fighting the enemy from within 10 to 50 miles out. So the determination has been made by the Department of Defense that's what they need right now.

If they're going to shift the HIMARS launchers to start firing ATACMs, they don't get as much bang for the buck. I know that's confusing to a nonmilitary audience but I think the

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who has used ATACM and HIMARS on the battlefield, probably has the best understanding of what these systems can do.

But also, more importantly, what Ukraine needs right now in the very close fight they're in, in three different fronts.

CAMEROTA: I feel like you made that as comprehensible as possible. And that we all now got a crash course in the acronyms of military speak.

So, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you very much.

HERTLING: If you don't have a headache, then I've accomplished my mission. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Mission accomplished. Thank you very much.

OK. So President Biden set to speak in minutes from Puerto Rico. He's meeting with residents there, so many of whom are impacted by Hurricane Fiona. And getting briefed on recovery efforts and what the U.S. can do. We'll take you there live.

And we'll speak to two Florida residents who are still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on their homes and cities.

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[14:46:10]

CAMEROTA: These are live pictures right now of President Biden and the first lady meeting with the governor of Puerto Rico in Ponce, Puerto Rico, right now.

President Biden has promised billions of dollars to help their recovery after Hurricane Fiona. But as we reported earlier, they're still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which was five years ago.

And, of course, there was all sorts of federal aid promised that they have still yet to collect on. So feeling in Puerto Rico today is skepticism.

But we will see what President Biden says. He will speak soon. We'll bring you those remarks live.

Meanwhile, crews are still going door to door looking for survivors on Sanibel Island, where Hurricane Ian tore through and, as you know, wiped out that bridge connecting Sanibel to mainland.

Officials say about 400 people were evacuated from Sanibel Island over the weekend.

And the mayor warns that recovery could take a long time. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR HOLLY SMITH (R-SANIBEL, FL): That possibly is a long-term recovery. And there are plans in folks right now.

But what we have to look at, our community is shut off from the rest of the world. And we've got to look at alternate ways to get our people on the island.

We have got a shoutout to so many people locally with resources that are going to be able to assist us in short term, getting people to the island to get a look at their homes.

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CAMEROTA: Further inland, flooding remains a major threat. In the town of Arcadia, rising river waters submerged parts of Highway 70, making the roads impassable, which means some residents cannot even access food or water. Officials say, for many people, the only way to get resources is by boat.

Our next two guests have ties to those two hard-hit areas. Krissy Constantino lives in Arcadia. She helps run the opera house, the historic opera house there. Sara McKinley has a home in Sanibel.

Sara, let me start with you and your home.

We have a picture of your beautiful home from last week before the hurricane hit.

Have you been able to get back to Sanibel, or do you have any idea what condition your home is in today?

SARA MCKINLEY, OWNS HOME IN SANIBEL, FL: No, I've not been able to get back there. As only emergency personnel allowed on the island right now.

But I have seen an aerial photograph from NOAA that shows the building as physically standing. I just have no idea how much water is in it. And with every passing day, that situation just deteriorates.

So it's very frustrating not being able to get there. But I understand they're doing the best they can. And rescue had to be the first priority.

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course. And what is your biggest worry right now?

MCKINLEY: Oh, there's so many. I mean, the financial worries of it are really overwhelming. Even though I have flood insurance, the deductible is so incredibly high. And the coverage is so low.

So, you know, just in terms of what the future might be and how to rebuild this is a real worry.

Just to physically be able to get there and see it, even if I could get on a boat to get there when it's allowed, you know, how do you get around the island when you don't have any transportation?

So, even if you took cleaning supplies there, and how do you get them there to clean, you know, how do you get anything back out of the house? I mean, it's just a practical nightmare right now.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Understood. I mean, there are no answers to those questions right now. So, we can certainly understand all of the anxiety.

Krissy, tell us about your situation. I know you that worked at the historic opera house, you plan the events there. Do you know what its condition is right now?

KRISSY CONSTANTINO, ARCADIA, FL, RESIDENT: She's in rough shape. The windows were blown out. And once the wind got into our auditorium, it had nowhere to go but the backstage wall. So, we're missing a good chunk of our historic wall.

[14:50:10]

CAMEROTA: We have pictures of before and after. The before on the left-hand side, and the after of what it looks like now. We can see what you're saying. That wall is missing.

Your family had a strong reaction when you laid eyes on it. What happened?

CONSTANTINO: It was terrorizing. We had just been given the keys to the apartment adjacent to the opera house the day before. We're having a hard time deciding whether we were going to stay home on the ranch or go to higher ground in a building that survived so many hurricanes before.

The hurricane supplies are actually in the apartment. And last-minute gut decision, we decided to hunker down at the ranch. And it was a lifesaving decision.

It's been rough. My family, our whole community has poured our blood, sweat, and tears into this place for the last year and a half. And it was heartbreaking to walk up those stairs and see what had happened to it.

CAMEROTA: Ladies, our heart breaks for both of you. We know you're going through a lot right now. And not only all the sentimental feelings about this, as well as your home, Sara, but just all the practical decisions about where you go from here.

We really appreciate talking to you. And we're thinking of you. We'll check back with you both.

Thank you for being here.

CAMEROTA: Now this. Kim Kardashian agrees to pay more than a million dollars to the Securities and Exchange Commission over an Instagram post. We'll tell what you got her into hot water next.

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[14:55:56]

CAMEROTA: Kim Kardashian has to pay more than a million dollars to the SEC for unlawful touting of cryptocurrency on Instagram but not disclosing she was getting paid for it.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with more on the investigation.

Matt, what is the story with Kim K.?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Alisyn, last year, Kim Kardashian lent her star to a crypto app. She promoted something called Ethereum Max to the roughly 225 million people who followed her on Instagram.

Here's the problem. She did not disclose that she was paid to promote this crypto asset. She was paid a lot, a quarter of a million dollars. Under securities laws that is a big no-no.

We should note that the SEC says that Kardashian violated the anti- touting provisions of federal securities laws. But she did not either admit or deny any of these allegations.

Her lawyer put out a statement say, "Ms. Kardashian fully cooperated with the SEC from the very beginning. She remains willing to do whatever she can to assist the SEC in this matter. She wanted to get this matter behind her to avoid a protracted dispute."

Now as part of a settlement, she agreed to do a few things. One, she agreed to not promote crypto assets at all on social media for three years. Or anywhere, really.

She agreed to pay a $1 million fine. And also to return the quarter of a million dollars in fees, plus interest.

Of course, Kim Kardashian is not going to need a GoFundMe page to help her cover these fines. She's worth $1.8 billion, according to Forbes.

But, you know this is not just about holding Kim Kardashian responsible. I think they're trying to send a broader message here.

One, this is a warning shot I think to Hollywood and celebrities saying that if you're going to go out there and promote assets, you better be careful because you could be next.

The other warning is to the general public, saying that just because a celebrity promotes something doesn't mean it's a great investment.

CAMEROTA: Good lesson.

Matt Egan, thank you.

EGAN: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. So new polls show that Democrats may be losing support of black voters. Why? And what that means for the midterms ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)