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Ukrainian Counteroffensive Pounds Russians on Multiple Fronts; Opposition as University of Florida Considers Appointing Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) as President; Elon Musk Visits Twitter Headquarters Carrying Sink. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 27, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, officials in Kyiv say the Ukrainian Energy Agency is going to put in place severe, unprecedented emergency power cuts, all as part of an effort to avoid a complete blackout, and that measure coming after Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight.

Meantime, new this morning, CNN with exclusive access on the ground to a power station in Ukraine destroyed by Russia. CNN is also on the frontlines of this war, Fred Pleitgen joining me now from Odessa, Ukraine.

So, Fred, you were just embedded with Ukrainian ground forces. Just walk us through what you saw, how they're doing, what that was like?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Erica. Well, this is on the Kherson frontline, which is also in the south of the country. And, obviously, the Ukrainians are saying that they want to try and take that city back as fast as possible. They think that they have the Russians essentially pinned down in that area.

However, we were on the frontline just now speaking to both commanders and also sort of regular soldiers in the trenches. They told us they don't believe that the Russians are going to withdraw from that area any time soon. In fact, they believe that the Russians are bringing new forces in and fortifying their positions there. Here is what we saw.

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PLEITGEN (voice over): Ukrainian forces trying to hit the Russians on all fronts. This mortar unit firing in the north of the country, while in the south, Kyiv is continuing a counteroffensive trying to capture the Russian occupied city of Kherson.

We met up with an artillery unit on the battlefield.

The soldiers tell us there is firing going on here pretty much every day, several times a day. The frontline is not very far from where we are at all. It is a couple of kilometers in that direction. And right now, there is not very much movement on that frontline, but, still, the situation is very dangerous.

Ukraine's defense minister says, Kyiv's counteroffensive here is complicated by wet weather in the area. But the commander says he believes, in the end, they will oust the Russians.

BANDERAS, ARTILLERY COMMANDER: I know one thing for sure, we'll never step back from here. We have no other choice, only forward. Ukraine has to get back all its territory and borders.

PLEITGEN: While Russia continues to mobilize hundreds of thousands for the war here, the Ukrainians say they found the Wagner private military company founded by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin is sending Russian prisoners with diseases to the frontline. The chief of Ukraine's military intelligence told CNN's Nic Robertson.

KYRYLO BUDANOV, HEAD OF UKRAINE'S DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: They put on them certain wristbands in blue, white or red color. Every color signifies tuberculosis, hepatitis or HIV. It is happening on a mass scale. Most of them who were taken prisoners or their dead bodies, which were found in the battlefield, had those wristbands.

PLEITGEN: CNN can't independently verify those claims. As Russian forces continue to lose ground in Ukraine, the Kremlin conducting massive annual nuclear drills involving submarine launched ballistic missiles and others launched from Russia's fleet of strategic bombers.

While the Russians notified the U.S. about the drills well in advance, Russian President Vladimir Putin with a clear warning to Washington.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: What they are trying to achieve we see on the example of Ukraine, which has become an instrument of American foreign policy, the country has practically lost sovereignty and is directly controlled from the United States.

PLEITGEN: But the Ukrainians on the frontlines say they are fighting for their own freedom, not for anybody else.

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PLEITGEN (on camera): And, Erica, they believe they're going to be fighting very hard to try and push those Russian forces back very, very soon.

You know, the Ukrainian soldiers that we spoke to on the frontline there, they all have no doubt that they are going to be able push the Russians out of Kherson at some point. But they say, right now is also a factor of time as well, because, of course, as we you know, winter is approaching very quickly and that would make it extremely difficult on the battlefield to try and oust those Russian forces then, Erica.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Just great insight into what is happening there on the ground. Fred, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Opposition in Florida to Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, the only candidate to be the president for the big job at the University of Florida. So, students and faculty now speaking out ahead of that final vote. What they're saying, next.

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[10:35:00]

HILL: The Supreme Court could be on the verge of upending another decades-old precedent in this country. Next week, it is expected to consider race conscious college admissions. So, this is, of course, known as affirmative action, a policy that's provided incredibly opportunities and diversity in universities for some 45 years.

CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic joining me now. So, this is one of the biggest cases this term, Joan. You took a look back at that initial decision. What did you find?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: You know, Erica, these nine justices, those nine justices are as human as the rest of us.

[10:40:04]

You could see all the modes of persuasion going on behind the scenes as they grappled with such an important question of what universities can do to try to diversify their campuses. And I saw the deal-making, the cajoling, the irritation and the compromise that ultimately came out through Justice Lewis Powell, a centrist who controlled the day but had nobody else joining his actual opinion.

What he had was the support from four justices to his right, four justices to his left to say that universities can look at student applicant's race to achieve diversity on campus but they cannot try to set any kind of quotas, which was at issue back in that case in 1978.

The other thing, Erica, that is so interesting is the first black justice, Thurgood Marshall, was on the court. And at that time, he was quite frustrated by how the case was going and he talked about it at one point in a memo saying, I just want to address the question of whether negroes, as he put it, have arrived, as he puts in quotes. And he mentions that, even at his own court, there had only been at that point, in 1978, only three black law clerks. And he just wanted to point out the disparities in America.

HILL: Yes, which is so important when taking all of that into account to talk about the reality at the time, and the reality now, of course.

Brennan writes about how he tried to actually get out ahead of the negotiations. Do you suspect any of that is happening today?

BISKUPIC: Oh, I definitely do, Erica. Bill Brennan was a master strategist on the court or he's trying to round up five votes. He had a greater chance than the liberals today do because he had five or six who he could sometimes count on, whereas today we only have three liberal justices. One of the memos I found from Bill Brennan said, it was just at the very end of negotiations that he says with exasperation, all hell broke loose. They resolved that within a couple of days of when the opinion was announced on June 28th, 1978.

But to your broader question about what might be happening now behind the scenes, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and our new first African-American justice, I'm sure, are trying to think about is there any way to save affirmative action when you have a very heavily dominated conservative court, many of whom, in many cases, the justices have already spoken out against any kind of race-based remedies, Erica.

HILL: Yes. It's so interesting to have a look back into those conversations, especially within the context of what could be happening in the present day. Joan, I really appreciate it. Thank you.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

HILL: I want to show you some live pictures right now. So, these are from a public safety meeting in Texas. We told you earlier this morning the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, was going to be there to face questions for the first time since seven DPS officers were suspended for their actions on the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Democratic State Senator Roland Gutierrez opened the hearing describing yet more stunning body cam footage that was released to local T.V. just overnight and shows some Texas DPS officers on the scene. Take a look.

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STATE SEN. ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D-TX): Leaked out coverage of DPS troopers standing outside, philosophizing about how this happens so often, saying to themselves, hey, man, don't -- there are kids in there. We need to go in. Are you going to put yourself in danger? Are you going to put yourself in danger? That is what one officer said to another. That was said on multiple occasions. I can't open that window because I'm going to get clapped. That is what he said.

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HILL: So, again, there, state senator describing this new video that was released overnight.

Some families -- the families, rather, of some victims also speaking this morning. Among them, Brett Cross, the father of Uziyah Garcia, who was killed in the shooting, this was his direct message to McCraw.

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BRETT CROSS, FATHER OF CHILD KILLED AT ROBB ELEMENTARY: You have disgraced the state, your position and the people. The officers still under your supervision, Maldonado, Bangor (ph) and Kindell have been proven to have been culpable. And with new information dropping just about weekly, we know that there will be others. Well, Steve, the time is now. If you're a man of your word, you'll resign.

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HILL: We are going to continue to monitor that for you. We'll bring you McCraw's response when he speaks. So, stay with CNN for that.

This morning, University of Florida students are meeting with the student body president, getting her list of demands ahead of a major board of trustees meeting next week where the board will consider appointing Republican Senator Ben Sasse as president of the university.

[10:45:02]

Now, Sasse has drawn criticism from some for his opposition to same- sex marriage, as well as his stance on other LGBTQ issues, all of this coming as the University of Florida's faculty senate is calling for an emergency special meeting for a no confidence vote related to the selection process for Ben Sasse.

CNN's Leyla Santiago joining us now live from Gainesville, Florida, with the very latest. Boy, there has been a lot of movement since this was announced and a lot of people want their voices heard, Leyla.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just take a look at the student newspaper this week, Erica. At the center is Senator Ben Sasse. And he is at the center of much of this. This meeting you talk of this afternoon, the emergency meeting established for a no confidence today by the faculty senate was called upon after the senator was in the middle of a Q&A session here the last time he was on campus, and that was interrupted, essentially shut down by students who were protesting that.

Now, as I've talked to students here this morning, what is clear is that at issue are a few things for them. One is the senator's stance on LGBTQ issues, as well as abortion. And they don't believe many of the students don't believe that that aligns with the communities inclusion efforts. Because take note, as you mentioned, Erica, this a senator who said that he was disappointed when the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal across the country. But this is also a senator who says that he can put politics aside for this and also a senator that hasn't always towed the party line. He went against his party when he was critical of President Donald Trump.

So, I want to introduce to you two takes here. We'll start with the head of the faculty senate. She is a self-declared progressive LGBTQ ally and here is how she described her interview with Senator Sasse.

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AMANDA PHALIN, CHAIR, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FACULTY SENATE: I didn't hear a politician. My experience was that of a person who is not focused on politics, who has a passion for higher education, who wants to move in that direction, a person who is open to dialogue, who really listened, who is willing to learn. ALLAN FRASHERI, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: Our president is supposed to exemplify our core values, the core values that drive and God or university, including the core value of inclusion. And how can we have a president who has this history of being opposed to LGBTQ rights to women's rights, exemplify that value for us? How can queer students, how can women feel included in our university when we have such a person as our president?

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SANTIAGO: So, that was Allan. He, today, was one of about a dozen students who took some demands to the student body president, demanding more transparency in this selection process and a stance against the senator's selection as the next president of the University of Florida. Erica?

HILL: Leyla Santiago with the latest, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Dad and son go to a basketball game. What was it about this particular father/son moment that caused this photo to go viral, even getting the attention of Wildcats' head coach? Stick around. I'll tell you.

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HILL: Billionaire Elon Musk visiting Twitter headquarters just days before the expected close of his deal by the company. Yes, he's carrying a sink in there, smiling, tweeted, entering twitter H.Q., and changed his bio to Chief Tweet. Twit might be one way to put that.

Joining me now, CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy. I'm not sure if you thought that was funny, but I'm guessing for all the employees who are now bracing for these cuts he says are coming, like probably not best way to win over the company.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes. I think anxiety is probably fairly high inside Twitter and I can't imagine that stunt really settled anyone's nerves. I think, as you said, Twitter employees are bracing for cuts because it seems like there are going to be cuts to the employee base, but they're also, I think, worried about him rolling back some of the content moderation rules that they put into place over the last few years. Twitter, like other platforms, limits the amount of hate speech that is spread on the platform, COVID misinformation, there are rules against that. And Elon has been a big critic of some of these rules.

And so I think what they're worried about is people who have been banned from the platform, like the former president, might be reinstated and that he might just roll back some of these rules and it might be a haven for hate speech.

Now, Elon has come out this morning actually and he's trying to reassure Twitter advertisers. I'll read to you what he said. The key line here is Twitter obviously cannot become a free for all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences. That said, he has kind of suggested that he might allow some of the stuff on there.

HILL: I think the concern, right, even in the wake of that for a lot of folks at Twitter is his version, his definition of hellscape may not be the same as theirs.

Oliver, we'll continue to watch for it. Thank you for not bringing a sink with you, my friend. Thank you.

DARCY: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: I really want to get to this before we let you go this hour. Take a look at this photo. It grabbed the attention of the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. John Calipari posting this picture of a man, you know, going to a Kentucky scrimmage with his family.

[10:55:03]

It was a first for his son, Easton. McGuire is a coal miner, had rushed there straight from work, no time to clean up.

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MICHAEL MCGUIRE, COAL MINER AND KENTUCKY BASKETBALL FAN: He had a blast. He was dancing and every time they would slam dunk it, he would go crazy.

I was just really excited to make all of these memories with my kids and my wife. It is very much either come straight there or miss half of the game and going home to take a shower.

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HILL: And you don't want to miss though moments.

Well, it is not just the moment that really resonated with the Coach Calipari, he shared his own family's American dream, started in a West Virginia coal mine. He said he plans to bring the whole McGuire family back to the arena. He wants them to be his VIPs at an upcoming game. What a great moment and what a nice story to leave with you on this Thursday.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Erica Hill.

Stay tuned. At This Hour with Kate Bolduan comes your way after this quick break.

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