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Zelenskyy Making Visit to U.S.; New Phase of War in Ukraine; Severe Weather Impacts Travel; Snow and Ice Alerts for 25 States; House to Release Trump's Taxes; Hutchinson Misled January 6th Committee. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 21, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:50]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Wednesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

We are following several major stories this morning. There's lots of news.

Right now, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is en route to Washington for his first foreign trip since Russia invaded the country nearly ten months ago. Zelenskyy expected to meet with President Biden at the White House this afternoon, and later deliver critical remarks to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill. That is quite an honor. The visit ties the U.S. and Ukraine together more indelibly than ever. They are now very public allies. The war in Ukraine, superpower versus superpower. We'll discuss ahead.

Plus, across this country, governors are activating emergency plans ahead of the massive winter storm crossing central and midwestern states. An arctic blast bringing bitterly cold temperatures to much of the U.S. by the end of the week. A so-called bomb cyclone set to bring blizzard conditions as well. We're going to have more on what you need to expect.

And, former President Donald Trump's tax returns will be made public in just days. This after the House Ways and Means Committee, on a party line vote, decided to make public six years' worth of returns, claiming the IRS failed to properly audit Trump while he was in office.

We begin, though, in Washington where preparations are underway at both the White House and on Capitol Hill for the visit from the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

Let's begin with CNN's senior White House correspondent MJ Lee.

This was quite an announcement yesterday. What more are we learning about what's expected to be accomplished beyond the grand symbolism in Zelenskyy's meeting with Biden? MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, in just a

matter of hours, we do expect to see Volodymyr Zelenskyy on U.S. soil. This is the wartime president who really more than anybody else has come to singularly represent the Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression. And this really marks the first time that the Ukrainian president has left his country since that invasion began back in February.

And what we learned overnight is that the planning has been underway for this secret visit for the last ten days or so, that the two sides have been really working together to make sure that certain security parameters that Zelenskyy thought were necessary were met. And CNN reported this morning that a U.S. military aircraft was used to bring Zelenskyy to Washington and that the U.S. really was closely involved in both getting him out of Ukraine and will be involved in getting him eventually back to Ukraine this evening.

And he's really not going to be staying long, Jim. He comes to the White House this afternoon. And then, in the evening, he heads over to Capitol Hill to deliver an address to U.S. lawmakers.

And I just want you to take a listen to what NSE Spokesperson John Kirby said on our air this morning about the overall purpose and timing of this visit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: The president really believed that as we approach winter, as we enter clearly and have been in a -- sort of a new phase in this war, Mr. Putin's aggression, that this was a good time for the two leaders to sit down face-to-face and talk about not only what the United States is doing now and will continue to do going forward, but how we eventually try to work towards what President Zelenskyy has called a just peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And what exactly does "just peace" look like? That is the huge unanswered questions. U.S. officials do not feel like diplomacy is on the table, at least not right now in the short term. I will also just quickly note that President Biden is set to unveil a new Ukraine aid package of $1.8 billion. That, of course, involves a patriot missile system that Ukrainians have been asking for so long.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: And they're asking for more as well.

MJ Lee, at the White House, thanks so much.

Zelenskyy's trip here to Washington comes at a critical time. Winter is impacting the battlefield, speed of the movement of troops and continuing Russian missile strikes are targeting Ukrainian power infrastructure, truly impacting the Ukrainian people every day.

CNN's Will Ripley is in western Ukraine with more on the considerations behind this trip.

[09:05:01]

And I wonder, Will, what is the reaction there?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, within hours of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeting that he was on his way to the United States, air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine. Now, that's pretty much commonplace every single day here in this war-torn country. But what makes today different is it's the first time Zelenskyy has left Ukraine since the start of the full scale invasion on February 24th.

Now, the conversation here is supportive of Zelenskyy's visit to Washington at a time that the U.S. president, Joe Biden, is set to announce billions more in defense spending, including the coveted patriot missile defense system that Ukraine has been asking for - not even for months, but for years. Zelenskyy will be there meeting with lawmakers, holding bilateral meetings and then that prime time address with Congress where he's expected to make his case for Ukraine's support for the long haul. See, he faces a bit of a quandary going into 2023, analysts say. There is pressure from the west, from the United States and NATO, at least some -- some factions in the U.S. and NATO to try to find a resolution to this conflict, to end the conflict next year, to start having peace talks with Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he has met with face-to-face before in Paris, for example.

However, in the Ukrainian population, people here feel like they have invested so much in terms of blood and sweat and tears and sacrifice for this war. They will not be satisfied unless there is a return to pre-2014 boundaries. In other words, all of the territory that Russia took before 2014, including illegally annex Crimea, the Ukrainians say they must retake before they're willing to see this war come to an end. Now, that might be different from the view held by some U.S. lawmakers and other western leaders.

And so that is going to be Zelenskyy's challenge as a negotiator to try to convince Washington that support for Ukraine needs to include an end to the war on Ukraine's terms, even though it was Russia that started this.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Russia invaded.

Will Ripley, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for "USA Today" and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to have you both on this morning.

Cedric, this pits the U.S. and Russia even more clearly than it was already clear against each other in this war. This is super power versus super power (INAUDIBLE) conflict. COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It really is, Jim.

Yes.

SCIUTTO: How does Russia respond? And does the U.S. need to prepare for some potential retaliation?

LEIGHTON: I think it does because when you look at how the Russians have matched their rhetoric with the actions of the west, you see kind of an interesting dance that the Russians are doing. What they're moving into is doing things like cementing their alliance with Belarus, for example. One possibility is they could even go as far as potentially annexing the country. I mean it looks like things are moving kind of in that direction. It might be a - you know, not a de facto annexation --

SCIUTTO: Annexing Belarus?

LEIGHTON: Belarus as an actual -- actual part of the - of Russian federation. So, if they go that way, that, of course, really ups the ante. That would be an extreme measure for the Russian to take. They will probably go a little bit less than that, but they will certainly, from a military standpoint, they will clearly use as many cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets as they can before the patriot missile system gets into place in Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Susan Page, there had been concern, and still is concern, with Republicans taking over Congress and the possible next speaker of the House saying there will be no more blank checks for Ukraine, that U.S. support for Ukraine would waiver in terms of how much money, how much arms -- how many arms are sent there.

How important is this visit to push back against that?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Yes. Well, I think the terrain is going to get more complicated in Washington when it comes to aid to Ukraine once Republicans take over the House. I mean, remember, 57 House Republicans voted against the May aid package to Ukraine. That number would be bigger, we think, in the new Congress.

You know, this -- but this visit can help get over the finish line that giant spending bill which includes $45 billion in aid to Ukraine. That needs to pass by Friday to keep the government open. And support for this aid package, military assistance that the president is expected to announce at his meeting at the White House today, I mean he -- I think one reason that Democrats have been so eager to get this additional aid on its way, approved, is because they know it's going to be harder in the new year to get this kind of massive amounts of aid approved, Jim.

SCIUTTO: It's a great point, before the omnibus vote, perhaps harder to vote against that bill given all the Ukraine aid in there after the Ukrainian president leaves a war zone to address a giant session of Congress.

Cedric Leighton, this is a massive security operation, we should note, to fly the Ukrainian president from a war zone, from his bunker in a war zone right here to the U.S. on a military jet. Would there have been direct communication with Russia from the U.S. side to say don't mess with us?

LEIGHTON: I think there almost would have to have been communication of that type because what the United States wants to make sure of is that Zelenskyy is protected at all costs.

[09:10:06]

And there had to have been a back channel to tell the Russians not to touch anything that Zelenskyy does in his travels or to do anything to him as he moves from place to place. He was at Bakhmut (ph), right on the front lines just yesterday, and now he's flying over here to D.C.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LEIGHTON: That is an amazing logistical feat in and of itself and the Russians had to have been kept at bay in order to keep them from doing what they wanted to do.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's a good note. From the front lines in the east, all the way to the other side of the planet, to address Congress. It's quite remarkable.

Susan, with hear this phrase "just peace" repeated. And U.S. officials will always be careful whenever they discuss an end to this war to say, nothing without Ukraine. In other words, Ukraine has to be on board.

But when Zelenskyy and Biden speak about that in the White House today, will Biden be pushing Ukraine or discussing or suggesting how to end this war in any way?

PAGE: You know, there's -- Jim, there are a couple points of conflict actually between President Biden and President Zelenskyy, although they're careful to keep them in private. One is providing even more sophisticated military assistance. The United States has declined to provide some of the weapon systems that Ukraine would like to see.

Another is, how does this war end. And the assumption by American officials is that if you're going to end a war, you're going to make some compromises, even if the war wasn't your fault to begin with. That is a very hard message for President Zelenskyy to deliver to the Ukrainian people.

But, yes, this -- the United States does not want this war to go on forever. We've been surprised, in fact, that it's gone on for these 300 days that the Ukrainians have managed to hold the Russians at bay this long. That can't last forever and I'm sure that's something that's going to be discussed privately between the two presidents today, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. The initial U.S. intel read was Kyiv would fall in 72 hours. That did not happen.

PAGE: No. SCIUTTO: Susan Page, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much to both of you.

LEIGHTON: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: All right, back home, cities across the U.S. bracing for a massive winter storm, just as millions of people are traveling for the holidays. Right now more than 25 states are under winter weather and windchill alerts. God knows we are feeling it here in Washington. It is shaping up to be a frigid Christmas. Out west - our west in Seattle, snow already on the ground. Every state in the lower 48 is expecting below freezing weather at some point this week. One major concern across the country, of course flight delays and cancellations.

CNN's Omar Jimenez, he's at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Meteorologist Jennifer Gray, she's at the CNN Weather Center.

Omar, first, I wonder what you're seeing there. Are you seeing cancellations in advance of this?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far things have looked pretty good as far as delays, cancellations here. So, thankfully, nothing there. But the fear is once we get into tomorrow and the day after, as this weather really starts to take grip here, that that could be the reality for a lot of these passengers. And it's why a lot of the folks that we've been talking to today are people who have moved up their flights to try to get ahead of some of those winter-like conditions.

For example, here at O'Hare, tomorrow is expected to be the busiest day O'Hare anticipates over the course of this Christmas holiday travel period. And it's why -- it's also coincidentally the time when some of these winter conditions are coming in.

So, we talked to a passenger a little bit earlier and he told us about why he switched his travel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASHUP RAMACHANARAN, CHICAGO TRAVELER: We were actually supposed to fly out to Orlando tomorrow, looking for the sun, but then our agent he called up and said we are probably better off to leave early because - because they predict a snowstorm and cold temperatures the next few days. So, we are booked on a 7:00 flight. It's been a very early start, but so be it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And, look, it's Chicago. It's not like Chicago doesn't know how to deal with snow or winter-like conditions. But really it's going to be the combination of some snowfall, three to five inches is what's being forecast right now. But also winds. These extremely low temperatures. It could get around negative 30 at points this week. And when you combine all of those, not just here at airports, but for people trying to get out on the roads, those whiteout conditions can really create a dangerous situation for people just trying to make it home for Christmas. SCIUTTO: No question. It's one of those holidays I'm glad I'm not

flying.

Omar Jimenez, thanks so much.

Let's go down to the CNN Weather Center. Our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, is there.

So, Jennifer, I feel like every time we look at this map it's like the whole country is going to be affected. Tell us who's going to be affected today.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Jim, I can't hear you but I'll tell you that the weather is going to get nasty by the time we get into tomorrow. The National Weather Service is saying this is a once in a generation event. So those are big words coming from the Weather Service.

Snow is getting going today across the Dakotas, western Minnesota. We will see blizzard-like conditions most likely by the time we get into tomorrow. Those conditions could extend even into Chicago Thursday evening into Friday.

[09:15:05]

Winter weather alerts, windchill alerts stretching nearly across every state in the lower 48. We are looking at the potential for a foot of snow potentially across the Midwest. Portions of Michigan could see 12 to 18 inches of snow Thursday into Friday. So, travel is going to be a nightmare. Chicago on into the eastern seaboard, we're going to see a ripple effect there. Also heavy rain across the I-95 corridor. But the windchill alerts are stretching all the way down to south Texas, the Florida panhandle. Look at these windchills, 50 degrees below zero in Casper, Wyoming. These are going to be temperatures that people will never forget, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Ouch. And you answered my question anyway. (INAUDIBLE).

GRAY: Oh, good.

SCIUTTO: Jennifer Gray, thanks so much.

GRAY: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, Americans will get a look at six years of Donald Trump's tax returns in the coming days. Why a House committee is now releasing them, and crucially where they said the IRS made a big mistake, omission during his time in the White House and why.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, which key witness was urged by Trump's ethics lawyer to distort her testimony to the January 6th committee. It's notable.

Plus, you haven't bought that gift yet? Time is running out. We're going to look at how the economy has impacted your shopping and just what that means for Americans' wallets in the new year. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:02]

SCIUTTO: After years of legal wrangling, as well as misdirection from the man who signed them, we are now just days away from seeing former President Donald Trump's tax returns. The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee voted to release six years of Trump's taxes to the public. Those documents expected to be redacted to take out any personal information released within a matter of days.

CNN's Lauren Fox joins me live now.

So, Lauren, Trump said couldn't release them because they're being audited. IRS has a policy to do mandatory audits for sitting presidents. Does not believe that either of those things were true.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think one important caveat here is that the mandatory audit program, and let me just remind people what that does, they are supposed to, every time a president and vice president comes into office, look into those individuals' tax returns when they get into office. That program is, you know, really centralized within IRS. Are there other audits that could have been going on? I don't think that that's what the Ways and Means Committee is referring to here. But what their argument is, they needed Trump's tax returns because they needed to understand whether or not that mandatory audit program was working efficiency. And what the chairman of the committee is saying is that it was not really working how it was supposed to. And that the first two years of his presidency, that program never audited the former president's tax returns.

In fact, what Neal argued in that report last night that was released was that instead they did not begin that process of auditing the returns until 2019, when Neal sent a letter to Treasury requesting six years of the former president's tax returns and asking for them because he said he needed to understand if the mandatory audit program was working effectively and efficiently. That, obviously, was not occurring, according to House Democrats.

There's also just going to be a lot more fallout from this. Like you've said, it's going to take a couple of days to do the redactions needed to release the tax returns in their raw form. But once we get them, we're going to get a better sense of how the former president operated in terms of paying those taxes and what he was paying.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. Crucially what he was paying and what rate.

Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

Now to a CNN exclusive this morning.

A disturbing allegation from the House January 6th committee. CNN has learned that the committee says the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House urged a key witness to give misleading testimony. Sources say the lawyer advised former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to tell the committee she did not recall details even if she did recall details.

Joining me now with more on this exclusive reporting, CNN's Paula Reid.

Goodness. OK. What exactly did the lawyer tell Cassidy Hutchinson and what's the legal significance of that.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's incredibly significant, Jim. As you know, the committee did not identify these people, but CNN's justice team has learned that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney at the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she actually did.

And this is just one of several instances in which the committee has accused members of Trump's orbit of trying to obstruct the panel's investigation. And, interestingly, Trump's Save America political action committee funded Passantino, and his law firm, including paying for his representation of Hutchinson.

Now, in a statement to CNN, Passantino said he did not advice Hutchinson to mislead the committee, saying, quote, I represented Ms. Hutchinson honorably, ethically and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me.

Now, before her public testimony, she dropped him as -- and got a new lawyer. And she wound up being, of course, a blockbuster witness for the committee.

Now, two sources familiar with the situation tell CNN that Hutchinson has discussed this episode with the Justice Department.

And, look, that was just one of the bigger bombshells from Monday's hearing. And we know today the committee will release its full and final report. So, likely more to come.

SCIUTTO: So much more to learn.

Paula Reid, thanks so much.

Joining me now to discuss legal implications of all this, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

All right, Elliot, you know the law better than me. So, a lawyer tells a witness in an investigation -- regarding sworn testimony -- you can say I don't recall events even if you do recall events. Is that suborning perjury?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, Jim, it was charitable to say I know the lawyer better than you because you were spot on right there with your legal assessment, which is that you cannot direct a witness to not tell the truth, which is what, in effect, seems to have happened here.

Now, look, witnesses often don't recall information specifically that they're asked, and that's OK. Human memories are fragile sometimes. And you tell a witness, if you don't remember, say I don't recall, but you do not tell a witness to say they don't recall the facts that they actually can. And that absolutely might be suborning perjury or false statements.

[09:25:02]

That itself is a crime, directing somebody to give a false statement under oath.

SCIUTTO: Now, the lawyer's statement, as Paula was noting there, says that he represented his client in, quote, her sole interest. I mean can the lawyer make an argument that he was advising her so she doesn't potentially incriminate herself?

WILLIAMS: Well, both things can be true. You can advise someone not to incriminate themselves, but also, you know, not advise them to fabricate facts or conceal facts that themselves are material, right? He was, in effect, based on the information that we seem to have here, directing her to provide information that just wasn't accurate under oath. And both of those things can coexist.

Now, look, you can say you may be in trouble with your statements here, but lying is itself an act of perjury, so be careful.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

OK, let's talk about Trump's taxes here. First of all to the justification for accessing these returns and now releasing them. The committee, their argument from the beginning had been, we're doing this not to expose Trump's dirty laundry, you know, in effect. We're doing this because we want to assess whether mandatory auditing of presidential tax returns was actually happening. Is that -- are they following that, right? You know, given that, yes, they're looking into that, and they say it didn't work, and that seems to be important, but they're also going to release the other information.

WILLIAMS: Right. They are following it because the law allows them to have access to individual tax returns and work with them toward legislation and so on, right? Now, they're also Congress and they have the right to release something publicly. The problem is that they didn't quite say that that's what the plan was all (ph). And now, look, any viewer watching probably could have anticipated this outcome given the extreme public interest in the former president's tax returns. But they sort of spoke out of both sides of their mouth here, claiming, as was their right, that they can legislate around this, but also then turning around and immediately releasing them, which the law does not obligate them to do. They did not have to publicly release the tax returns.

SCIUTTO: OK, I remember Republican criticisms of the IRS under the Obama administration that it was being weaponized. Here you have an IRS in the Trump administration that did not, it appears, follow IRS policy and audit the sitting president's records. And then it did only after the committee commented them. But then there was a report that they assigned one person to do it. I wonder, is there the appearance at least of undue influence over the

operations of the IRS?

WILLIAMS: There's absolutely at least the appearance, Jim. And this would be a perfect avenue for congressional oversight next year, for Congress to look into what exactly happened under the Trump administration when he was in charge and that -- had control of the IRS. The problem is that that's highly unlikely given the partisan makeup of Congress next year. It would be perfect for (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: Good political predictions, even from you, a lawyer, right, you know? We're all going beyond what we know. No, I'm just kidding. It's a smart point.

Elliot Williams, thanks so much.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, CNN is live on both sides of the U.S. southern border as a surge of migrants waits to cross and the Biden administration asks the Supreme Court to let Title 42 end, but not just yet.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell. Stock futures pointing higher this morning ahead of the release of some key economic data today. Investors expecting numbers from existing home sales and consumer confidence data. Markets broke a four-day losing streak closing higher yesterday, a bounce coming off strong earnings from both Nike and FedEx. We're keeping an eye on all of this. Please stay with us.

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