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U.S. Prepares For Migrant Surge With Title 42 Set To Expire; Father Of Missing American Student Says His Son Is Alive; Congress Passes Stopgap Bill To Avert Government Shutdown; White House Condemns Russian Strikes On Ukraine's Civilian Infrastructure; Congress Urged To Put Protections For Afghans In Spending Bill. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 16, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:13]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour this Friday morning. I'm Jim Sciutto.

We begin this hour on the southern border where crowds are already building on the Mexican side ahead of the lifting next week of Title 42. That is a policy dating to the Trump administration that allows U.S. border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants on the grounds of public health.

We're going to take you to the border live as Texas officials prepare for a big surge of migrants this weekend.

Plus, Twitter has now taken down the accounts of several high-profile journalists from the nation's top news organizations including CNN. Accounts that have covered Musk aggressively in recent weeks, they've now been suspended. Why?

And in new video, just into CNN, these are residents of Kyiv sheltering in a metro station during another Russian air raid targeting civilian population centers. This morning dozens of Russian missiles hit targets in the capital Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv as well, hitting critical civilian infrastructure.

First, we do begin at the southern border where CNN's Ed Lavandera is in El Paso, Texas. CNN's Gustavo Valdes just on the other side of the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Ed, I do want to begin with you there because you've been seeing folks there so desperate, they're sleeping on the streets as these numbers increase.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that has continued throughout much of the week. Another frigid night here in El Paso. And you can see here playing out some of the logistical issues that the city of El Paso is having to deal with. This is an area outside one of the bus stations in downtown where dozens of people have once again been sleeping out on the streets because the shelters are filled.

The city has come out and put out trash cans because people have been coming by, donating food, warm drinks, that sort of thing. You know, the city now having to come by and take away all of the trash. Many of the migrants here helping the city workers load the trash cans into the dumpster. But these are the sanitary logistical things that the city and the emergency teams here in El Paso are having to deal with right now.

And that is the infrastructure headaches that they have to deal with because of the influx of migrants. There are about 2500 a day. The mayor is now saying that next week if Title 42 is lifted, that the number of migrants coming into El Paso here could be as high as 5,000.

So these kinds of logistical issues is what they're concerned about and they say that the real test here is being able to move migrants who are generally not staying here in these border communities, moving it out on buses to other locations where they can get to their final destinations as quickly as possible, and that will help relieve the pressure here in the border communities.

So that is the challenge that a lot of these border communities are going to be experiencing and dealing with dealing with next week when Title 42 is lifted.

SCIUTTO: Yes. All right. Let's go to the other side of the border just across where Gustavo is.

So you're just opposite really where Ed Lavandera is. Are you seeing a big build-up in folks waiting now for Title 42 to be lifted?

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. Well, it's early in the morning. It's very cold and overnight the Border Patrol cleared a large number of people who had been waiting for days and they are starting over. You could see the line is starting to form. People are getting there. We earlier saw a group of about 20, 25 that were taken in, but they seem to be waiting for more people to arrive.

But you can see the signs of the amount of people who have passed through this border. The illegal crossing you see the border wall. You see all those blankets and heavy coats that people have to leave behind when they are taken into custody because they can only take what fits in a small bag.

[10:05:11]

And this is a trail of debris that stretches the length of this crossing. And you can see some of the people who have been waiting for months or they're waiting for their chance, you see a little father there trying to put a hat on the -- his child, trying to get warm. It's barely above freezing. Some people a little farther down, you can see they have built a little encampment with a fireplace.

They're trying to stay warm as long as they can because the process to get in sometimes is not as easy as it might be. They're led to believe there seemed to be a process in which families, women with children, are allowed to go in first. We've seen some men having to wait a little longer. And we also see people who have their documentation ready to present it to their border agents that in this case it used to be that they were the first ones to determine if a person seeking asylum had the -- you know, the reasonable belief that they were in danger, and they should be granted asylum. This is a lengthier process and now they're just trying to get them in as soon as they can.

SCIUTTO: And each piece of clothing there has got a human story attached to it. Another family.

Gustavo Valdes, in Ciudad Juarez, thanks so much.

One other note on the immigration system. An analysis of government data shows that there is a record backlog now, more than two million pending cases, asylum cases, in the United States right now. Given the current resources, the wait time for asylum seekers to get a hearing is 4.3 years.

New this morning, CNN has learned that an American student who went missing in France more than two weeks ago, there he is, is alive.

CNN correspondent Melissa Bell is following the story this morning. And Melissa, of course Kenny DeLand Jr.'s father who confirmed that good news to CNN this morning, I mean, one, what do we know about his condition and do we know anything more about the circumstances of his disappearance?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing for now about why Kenny DeLand Jr. didn't give his parents any news for 17 days when he finally managed to speak to his father. Again, we don't know what happened.

In the meantime, we had learned yesterday from the father, Jim, that beyond the change of clothes, the packed lunch, the wallet and the phone he'd left his host family with on the morning of November 28th. He'd also taken his passport. Now did that signal intent to cross the border? We still don't know. But the prosecutor who's in charge of the missing persons investigation in that town of Grenoble where Ken DeLand Jr. has been studying has confirmed to CNN that he's been found in Spain.

How he got there, why he went there, and again why he vanished so suddenly when he was used to giving his parents news. They've been saying throughout, look, we heard from him every other day. This is the most uncharacteristic.

For now, Jim, we simply don't know why he vanished, where he went, and why he cut off communication. But the news that he is well clearly a huge relief to Kenny DeLand' Jr.'s father who have been telling us just this morning, Jim, that he couldn't sleep as every day passed closer to that flight he was due to take home which is tomorrow. Growing anxiety of course that he may never be found. So wonderful news for him this morning.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I can only imagine the fear of a parent in the same situation.

Melissa Bell, thanks so much. Overnight back in here in Washington, the Senate passed two critical

pieces of legislation including the National Defense Authorization Act, basically the Pentagon budget, and a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown for now. That bill is headed to President Biden's desk, is expected to be signed today. The question of course is what they do next.

CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill with more.

So, you know, I don't know if you want to call it a kumbaya moment, but at least some bipartisan measures to get some necessary stuff passed. Is a week going to be long enough before those pending Christmas holidays to get a longer term funding deal done?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the big question going into next week. Obviously there is a little bit of good cheer and goodwill coming out of last night. But this larger spending bill is obviously something that lawmakers are going to have to tackle when they return to Washington next week. They're going to have just a couple of days. And I'm still talking to lawmakers and negotiators who tell me they're still drafting details of that massive spending bill.

And of course that is going to really impact whether or not they can get the votes for it. Now we suspect that everyone is going to be able to get out of here for that Christmas holiday. But there are some roadblocks ahead. One of them is the fact that conservatives in the House are making it very, very clear that they think that it would be smarter for McConnell to block this larger spending bill now so that they could have more leverage when Republicans control the House in just a couple of weeks.

Now a lot of rank and file senators are really sort of laughing at that proposition.

[10:10:04]

Senator Lindsey Graham telling my colleague Manu Raju that they can't even pick a speaker over in the House of Representatives Republican conference, how in the world are they going to pass a massive spending bill and I think a lot of lawmakers feel that very intently. Now Democrats are very optimistic they're going to be able to get this through the Senate as well as through the House of Representatives. But of course, next week we are going to see it all unfold -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: We will, and you're going to bring us the news and hopefully we get resolution before the holidays.

Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

Well, this morning a CNN exclusive interview, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, they came together for their first ever joint sit-down interview. The pair talked about a number of topics including this one. Their hopes for President Biden in 2024.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You're stepping aside. Do you think President Biden should step aside for a younger generation?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think President Biden has done an excellent job as president of the United States. I hope that he does seek re-election.

GANGEL: You think he should run again?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Yes. He's done an excellent, excellent job. And he runs, I'm going to support him all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We should acknowledge, it's really hard to do an interview and eat at the same time. Particularly hand-held food. Anyway, so hats off to them for that.

Joining us now is CNN political analyst Laura Barron-Lopez. She is White House correspondent for "PBS News Hour."

So this is remarkable because if we were talking a couple of months ago before the midterms, you know, you had a growing chorus I think, you know, privately, particularly, but some public that hey, maybe Joe Biden should step aside. Now there you have the leaders of the Democrats in the House and the Senate, at least the outgoing leader of the House and Senate, saying they're all for it. Is it just the midterm results that have changed the calculation here?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think certainly the midterm results, Jim, are impacting the way Democrats are feeling about President Biden. They, you know, they narrowly lost the House and they held on to the Senate and we know that's the first time since 1934 that the president's party has gained a seat in the Senate.

If you had talked to Schumer, you know, months ago, a lot of Democrats were not feeling optimistic earlier this year about their chances of holding the Senate and certainly thought that they were going to have greater losses in the House. So President Biden feels pretty bullish and good about the fact that his message heading into the midterms appeared to work and he was, you know, taking a victory lap right after the midterms.

So I think that it certainly had a big influence on it. Of course there are factions of the party that want to see a younger generation still rise. But no one so far has said that they would challenge him.

SCIUTTO: I mean, the numbers, though, at least in public polling are not great. New poll among Democrats, this is among Democrat-leaning voters asked if Biden should be the Democrats' 2024 nominee, only 40 percent said yes. That's Democratic leaning voters. 59 percent said no. Now we should note this is up from 25 percent in July and down from January and February. I mean, is the assumption or the hope of the Biden administration that that is the beginning of a trend in his favor? BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes, inside the White House, they are really optimistic

and feel good about where the president is headed right now. And especially coming off the midterms. And all signs right now point to the fact that he is going to run again. They also view the former President Trump as someone that would be a good person to run against. And that they believe, you know, as they did in 2020, that Biden is one of the only people that could actually beat the former President Trump.

And you know, a number of Democrats like Senator Bernie Sanders have spoken very plainly about the fact that if Biden were not to run, they would throw their hat in the ring. But again all of these other Democrats that are potentially younger than Sanders who clearly are eyeing maybe running for president, are not saying that they are going to jump in. And so I think that if voters don't have that other option, they will likely support President Biden.

SCIUTTO: You know, the other candidate who thinks that his -- and his supporters who think his fortunes are going to improve for Donald Trump and a piece in the "Wall Street Journal" today where folks say, hey, yes, it's been a lousy month since he first announced but here is why they think we have the upper hand including they believe a split field among Republicans favors Donald Trump. I mean, are we looking at a repeat of 2020?

BARRON-LOPEZ: I think we very well could. It's an eternity between now and when Republicans would pick their nominee. And former President Trump still holds a lot of sway with the Republican base. When I was in Georgia ahead of the runoff there, a lot of voters are still -- still view Trump very favorably and they still support him and a lot of what he stands for a lot of the grievance politics that he's been pushing.

[10:15:11]

So because of that, I think that, especially if it's a crowded Republican field, that that benefits him and that he could rally a lot of the Republican base to him if a number of other Republican challengers jump in.

SCIUTTO: Laura Lopez, a lot to watch in the coming year. Thanks so much.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, Twitter's Elon Musk who says he's all for freedom of expression has suspended the accounts of several high- profile journalists. Why he says he did it and what's the reality.

First, however, Russia has launched yet another wave of attacks, targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The barrage forcing people to take shelter in subway stations, really wherever they can.

Plus a former ambassador who served as chief of mission to Afghanistan, he's going to join me to share his plea to Congress now. The push for lawmakers not to break a promise made to Afghan allies. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:31]

SCIUTTO: Life for Ukrainians getting worse and this is part of Russia's war plan. Deadly new missile attacks across the country this morning, they killed two people. But this appears to be the broader goal here and that is to destroy critical infrastructure including power generation. The Biden administration condemned Russia's latest barrage of missile strikes. This comes as the Senate did vote overnight as part of the massive National Defense Authorization Act to authorize more than $800 million in further military support for Ukraine. Discussion now of those Patriot missiles you're seeing there as well.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins me. So among the things, Barbara, they have announced is expanded training for Ukrainian forces. But they haven't quite announced the final decision on these Patriot missile. What do we know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are waiting for that, Jim. Exactly right. You know, President Biden still by all accounts hasn't signed that final paperwork that would allow the White House to announce the transfer of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. Pentagon sources are telling us they do expect it to happen. It is going to be a critical advantage for the Ukrainians.

It will take time to get it all there, it will take time to get Ukrainian troops trained up on it. But what the Patriot does of course is, it is able to track, engage and bring down Russian ballistic missiles at high altitudes and long distances further away from the Ukrainian target. So the idea is there's basically the beginning of an air defense shield for these higher altitude longer range shootdowns.

So these Russian missiles can't get to the civilian areas and the hope of course is they can begin to get a handle on these Russian attacks. But it's going to take some time. This is a complex weapon system. Hundreds of Ukrainian troops need to be trained on it. There is the issue of repair, spare parts, logistics, maintenance, all of that. But they do hope to make a start on it.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And something of course Ukrainian forces and officials have been asking for, for some time.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

SCIUTTO: All right. While U.S. allies in Ukraine receive more than $800 million in military aid from Congress, lawmakers left out of that legislation any money to re-settle allies from Afghanistan who now face enormous risks because of their previous service alongside the U.S. government or the U.S. military there. Here with me now former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker. He and a number of retired ambassadors all of whom served in Afghanistan are now calling on Congress to include what is known as the Afghan Adjustment Act in the broader spending bill.

Ambassador, good to have you on this morning.

RYAN CROCKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, PAKISTAN AND SYRIA: Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So really you have two efforts here and two betrayals as it's been described of our Afghan allies. One is Afghan Adjustment Act, so money to help the folks who've already made it here to the U.S. but they also failed to extend the special migrant visa program which would allow the many tens of thousands left behind in Afghanistan seek refuge here outside of the country. Is that a betrayal of those allies in your view?

CROCKER: I think for me and for all of us who have served in Afghanistan, whether it is military or civilian, it is the ultimate betrayal. These interpreters, thousands of interpreters are what made our mission possible in Afghanistan. Had we not had them, our gain would have been far less and our casualties far higher, and now we are going through a set of hoops they must negotiate to get to this country or to stay in this country and quite frankly it is very hard to watch this play out.

SCIUTTO: We just put some numbers up on the screen which might help people understand the backlog. These are people who have not made it to the country yet who number in 80,000 or so. So these are people who qualify for special immigrant visas because they have served the U.S. military. There are 15,000 applicants approved already. You add on their family members, that gets you to about 50,000. But the State Department when it was running these flights only getting about 250 out a week. That will take four years and there are many more behind them.

I wonder, can the U.S. do what's necessary to get these folks out? Because it's not just money, it's not just the program, it's actually physically getting them out of the country.

[10:25:04]

CROCKER: Jim, if we really wanted to do this, we could do it. What is happening now is the whole issue of special immigrant visas, the interpreters, has fallen to the State Department. They don't have the resources and they don't have the authorities to really make things happen. All it would take would be for the president of the United States, President Biden, to say this is a presidential priority, to designate a presidential envoy who can order other agencies, Defense, Homeland Security, to do the necessary.

But he won't do that because he wants Afghanistan in the rearview mirror. He wants it business as usual. He is going the bureaucratic route. Let the bureaucracy handle it and that will take 10 years and it will take a lot of murdered Afghan interpreters.

SCIUTTO: I spoke to Congressman Seth Moulton last week. He of course a Marine veteran of Afghanistan, but someone who also in Congress has advocated for helping and he explained the lack of political will for this, open opposition from Republicans and frankly lack of enthusiasm from Democrats as being rooted in what he called anti-immigrant, he even used the term racist feels about Afghan allies. And I wonder if you agree with that assessment?

CROCKER: Well, Congressman Moulton, Seth Moulton has been a powerful voice for the good here. Not just this time, but times past. As we try to get legislation through that will unify this, make it coherent, and make it work. So I have huge regard for him. The problem is with both parties. It is with a Democratic president in the White House, as I said, who will not make the decisions necessary to really make this happen, and of course Republicans who, as you note, really don't like to see all of these immigrants coming in no matter how much we owe them.

SCIUTTO: It's a sad, sad reality. Former ambassador Ryan Crocker, thanks so much for the work you're doing for these people as well.

CROCKER: Thanks for your interest, Jim, I appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Well, a new satellite launch for a mission to survey most of the earth's water. A scientist with the jet propulsion laboratory joins us to share exactly what researchers are looking for and hope they'll find.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)