Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Takes Message Of His Speech To Congress To Battleground WI; 11,800+ Dead As Toll Rises, Search Intensifies For Survivors; Zelenskyy Makes First Visit To UK Since Russia's Invasion. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired February 08, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

President Biden is taking his State of the Union pitch on the road. Right now, he is speaking in the battleground state of Wisconsin. He's focusing on his administration's effort to boost manufacturing in America. This is part of a two-day swing.

GOLODRYGA: Biden is also going to Tampa, Florida to reinforce last night's message, which is seen as a preview of his expected 2024 reelection campaign. CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now. So, Phil, what more do we expect to hear from the president today? I know he's feeling good from that speech last night.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I don't think White House officials could have been happier in the wake of that speech last night, not just because they feel like he delivered the extensive remarks that they'd spent months preparing but also in these off-the-cuff moments that he had with Republicans inside the chamber back and forth. Where they felt the president, both demonstrated a level of vigor that they wanted him to show but also kind of crystallized a really critical moment, one that now former White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, called one of the greatest moments in State of the Union history. Maybe a little bit of hyperbole there, but certainly underscoring how White House officials felt in the wake of the speech last night and what he's carrying into the president, this trip to de-force Wisconsin.

Now, keep in mind, guys, you noted battleground state, this is the most battleground of battleground states. The president winning it by less than 1 percent in 2020. If he runs again, which is expected this will be a critical state and his path to 270 electoral votes. But when you talk about the message the president plans to deliver today is delivering right now in front of a union workers' training facility, it is very much tied to a central component of those remarks on the economic side of things. The idea that this is a blue-collar economic strategy that he's been putting into place, one that connects with communities that perhaps over the course of the last couple of decades, have felt invisible, have been hollowed out by globalization, by technology. That is at the center of many of the legislative proposals that he's signed into law in his first two years.

And White House officials know to sign them into law is certainly a huge step. Implementing them is perhaps the most important because that's where they will have a tangible impact on Americans. And that is what the president's trying to demonstrate right now in Wisconsin. Certainly, as you guys noted, the post-State of the Union traveled not just for the president, but the vice president, cabinet officials, notably visiting a lot of different swing states here. The vice president in Georgia today will be in Minnesota tomorrow and other critical swing states for the president. All of this kind of serving as an impromptu soft launch to some degree of a reelection campaign we expect to kick off in the weeks ahead. The president coming off that State of the Union address clearly feeling good about the message he delivered last night, a message he's going to be delivering day in and day out in the days and weeks ahead, guys.

BLACKWELL: All right, Phil, don't go far. We want to include you in the conversation in just a minute. Thank you, Phil.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Thank you, Phil. Stay right there.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, meantime, is urging his fellow Republicans to not take the president's bait after several members of his conference heckled Biden last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me give you -- anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I'll give you a copy -- I'll give you a copy of the proposal. That means Congress --

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA): And the members are passionate about it. But the one thing the president was saying is something that he knew was not true. I just spent an hour with him.

I've said it many times before. Social Security and Medicare are off the table. He tries to use that for a political ploy. We need to be smart. Don't take the bait. Stay with the American public about what we want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You almost expected someone to go order, order, as If we're talking about the House of Commons here. Let's turn to CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. So, what more are you hearing from House Republicans today about the behavior in the conference last night?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some of the members actually did not like what they saw. Some members saying that there needs to be more decorum in the setting. Simply, they agree with what the speaker said not to take the bait of the president of the United States who in their view was clearly trying to goad them into responding that way.

And Kevin McCarthy had tried to counsel his members the day before to simply dip like the -- applaud politely and don't heckle, try not to do another moment like we saw in 2009 when Congressman Joe Wilson, a Republican of South Carolina yada, you lie to Barack Obama during an address to Congress. But that didn't happen. And then some members that I caught up with who heckled Joe Biden were defined.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BOB GOOD, (R-VA): I did.

RAJU: You did? You were one of the --

GOOD: I did.

RAJU: Do you feel like you know, that's something that, you know, could look badly upon you by heckling the president in this forum?

[14:05:08]

GOOD: Well, I think the greater offense is for the president to lie to the American people about something so important.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): Yes, he got exactly what he deserved and I am not sorry one bit. No, thank you. I don't clap for liars.

REP. TONY GONZALES, (R-TX): I think the decorum here has been terrible on all sides and that needs to go away.

REP. MIKE MCCAUL, (R-TX): There's a decorum with the State of the Union. And on either side, I think it's inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Kevin McCarthy clearly wants to move on from this episode. He has been asked several times here in the Capitol today about what happened last night. He would not comment to reporters. He did make those remarks on Fox News this Morning. Last night leaving the state -- this speech. He also would not comment, eager to move on to the next debate and next questions ahead, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, no one seemed pretty worried about facing a possible censure this time. But, Manu, we know there was another Republican versus Republican moment. And this was before the actual speech when you had people walking into the chamber. Senator Romney had a tense exchange with Congressman George Santos of all people who were standing there front and center shaking everyone's hand. You just got a response from Santos. Tell us what exactly happened between these two.

RAJU: Yes. Mitt Romney did not like the fact that George Santos was standing in a very prominent position as the State of the Union was taking place, a place where the cameras would be trained on him when he'd have an opportunity to shake the hands of the senators and the president of the United States. Romney told him directly "you do not belong here."

And afterwards, Romney went even further saying that he should not be a member of Congress. He should resign his seat. He said he's fabricated large portions of his resume. And so, they shouldn't be sitting in the front of the -- of the -- of the chamber and should be sitting towards the back and sitting quietly if he were to continue to serve.

But just moments ago, Santos responded to Romney's claims, any attack to a Republican senator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GEORGE SANTOS, (R-NY): It's not the first time in history that I've been told to shut up and go to the back of the room, especially by people who come from a privileged background. And it's not going to be the last and I'm never going to shut up and go to the back of the room. And I think it's reprehensible that the Senator would say such a thing to me and the demeaning way, he said. It wasn't very Mormon of him. That's what I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, he also contended that Mitt Romney use "derogatory language to him" as Romney was entering the chamber. We asked Romney's office for a tiny comment about that, they declined to comment about this episode. But Romney made very clear to me last night, he wants George Santos to resign and he wishes the Speaker of the House would join him in those calls, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Good Lord. I mean, the gall. (INAUDIBLE)

BLACKWELL: He's trying to take the high ground. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: talks about Mitt Romney's background. We don't even know the true nature of George Santos's background --

BLACKWELL: Still, we don't know this man who he is.

GOLODRYGA: -- still to this day. All right, Manu Raju, stay with us. Joining us now is CNN political analyst Laura Barron-Lopez, is White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. So, Laura, we know the administration feels good about this speech last night. But do they feel that they were effective enough in the president defending his record, and perhaps more importantly, now promoting why he should in fact run for 2024 -- for reelection in 2024 if he decides to do so?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. All of the White House officials that I've talked to today and after the speech, say that they feel as though he made a very effective case for continuing his work the next two years and also trying to effectively sell --

GOLODRYGA: You know, Laura --

BARRON-LOPEZ: -- what he already -- GOLODRYGA: Laura, we're going to interrupt you right now just to take

our audience to the president's speech right now. He's reading Rick Scott's plan on Social Security cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: Ron Johnson on social security and Medicare. "We should transfer everything so we have to consider everything every year." Come on, man. And then -- and then we found there was a -- you know, there's a senator named Mike Lee, who was also yelling you know liar, liar, housing on fire kind of stuff last night. Well, I didn't even know this but they played a video showing him. He said when I said they weren't -- there -- I didn't say the whole part.

I said Republican-leaning -- Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. And so, they played last night something I didn't even know existed. A video of him saying, I am here right now to tell you one thing you've probably never heard from a politician. It'll be my objective to phase out social security pulled up by a ruse and get rid of it. Then he had "Medicare and Medicaid are the same sorts. They need to be pulled up." Sounds pretty clear to me. How about you? But they sure didn't like me to call him on it.

[14:10:00]

Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me just say this. It's your dream but I'm going to have my veto pen make it a nightmare.

But here's -- but here's actually the good news. There's a lot of good Republicans. I found it interesting. When I call them out on that last night, it sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table. Remember I said -- no, I'm serious. Remember what I said? I said, so -- I said, you're not going to cut it? No. I said, OK we got a deal.

Well, I sure hope that's true. I believe it when I see it in their budgets laid down with the cuts they're proposing but looks like we negotiated a deal last night in the floor of the House of Representatives. Seriously, you see them all standing up saying we're not going to cut you. Well, that's good. Because by the way, we got a lot of good bipartisan stuff done in the previous year, why can't we do it again?

Here's the bottom line. All of you have been paying into the system where every single paycheck you've had since you started working. These benefits belong to you, the American worker. You've earned it. And I will not allow anyone to cut them. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever period.

You know some Republicans in Congress even threatening to have America default on its debt if I don't agree to the cuts they want. Democrats have never ever done that, by the way.

Now, let's talk about what our national debt is. Everybody thinks it's like what we spend this year versus the -- national debt is the total debt and interest accumulated over 220 years. Do you hear me? 200 -- over 200 years. Every single year, we -- that we went and spent more than we took in. It added up. So, the federal debt you're hearing about is not the yearly debt. It's 220 or so years of accumulated debt, Democrats, Republicans, everybody.

But here's the deal. Our credit has been good. We've never missed a payment as a nation on the debt we have. Why in God's name would America give up the progress we made for the chaos they're suggesting? This nation has done -- gone through too much. We've come too far to let that happen. I won't, not on my watch.

And while there's more work to do, it's clear our plan is working. Because of the -- because of the grid and resolve of the American worker. And I'm not trying to just be nice to have been saying this my whole career. We're going to keep lowering costs for families. We're going to keep putting shovels in the ground rebuilding our infrastructures --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Biden speaking in Wisconsin, the first stop of a two-day swing following up his State of the Union address last night. The president again talking about Senator Rick Scott's plan, this plan to rescue America, highlighting his plan to sunset legislation, all federal legislation that would include Medicare and Social Security after five years.

Let's bring this back to the panel Phil Mattingly, Mana Raju, Laura Barron-Lopez. Phil, let me start with you. What the booing did was elevate, magnify this line on page 36 of a document that lives online that most members of Congress, Republicans have swatted away. But the president has talked about this before, many times in speeches. And now people who are following up on what they did not watch last night will wonder, well, what were they doing about, and now the president gets to bring it back.

MATTINGLY: Yes. I'm trying to think of the best way to capture how White House officials feel about this moment, both last night and again, you're seeing the president talk about it again today, getting elevated onto the national stage to tens of millions of people on a primetime audience. Victor, you make a great point. The president was talking about this in the lead-up to the midterms, oftentimes, with some Democrats on Capitol Hill saying I don't understand why you're going after one single Republicans' plan that isn't necessarily representative of the entire Republican conference. And yet, day after day after day, the president would talk about Senator Rick Scott's plan that wasn't endorsed by the vast majority of the Republican conference. And that's kind of emblematic of what you saw last night.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been explicit about Medicare cuts, Social Security cuts, reforms to those two entitlement programs, not on the table in negotiations over how to increase the debt ceiling. And yet, because Republicans have not put out their own plan in terms of what they would like in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling, Democrats and the White House in particular are able to cite pass plans whether from the Republican Study Committee, pass votes from lawmakers like speaker Kevin McCarthy or the plan by Senator Rick Scott and say fine, if you don't have your own plan, we're just going to keep talking about this.

And as you saw from the president, example after example, the White House Twitter account doing the same thing earlier today, they want to have this fight as often as they possibly can. And the reason why is not really that complicated.

[14:15:08]

When you look at internal polls for the White House, even external polls on these two issues in particular, it pops in a major way to the benefit of the president, the White House, and Democrats. They want to have this battle. They feel like it was elevated last night in a major way. You're going to hear them talk about this day in and day out going forward because they think it is very clearly politically beneficial.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it was interesting. Last night, the President said he wasn't going to name-check anyone who wanted to make these cuts.

BLACKWELL: It's a new day.

GOLODRYGA: And yet today, 24 hours later -- less than 24 hours later, there he goes. Laura, if I can go back to you because aside from this one issue, I do have to say that it was probably one of the least partisan or polarizing speeches that we've seen in a while. That the president really got into issues that are kitchen table issues that most Americans regardless of which party they are in, can agree on. And that is preserving Social Security and Medicare, paid family leave, going after big corporations that pay zero percent tax rates, advocating for small businesses, made in America. What do you think the motivation in that was in terms of how Republicans are going to respond to that because there was a lot there that they really couldn't disagree with?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, part of that is in response to the fact that even though inflation as the president noted last night is going down right now, a lot of Americans don't feel as though the cost of consumer goods is going down. And that's something that Republicans have attacked the president on, and the administration on repeatedly. And so, we heard the president last night talk specifically also about junk fees. And that's been those -- the fees of -- overdraft fees from banks, as well as excessive fees from airlines, resort fees from he said, hotels that are not actually resorts, those -- that's an attempt by the White House and by Biden to show the American public that they are trying to make things less expensive, trying to help people at their pocketbooks and tackle inflation.

But I did just want to note on what Phil was saying about this back and forth with Republicans on the debt ceiling, is that a White House official texted me today that it was -- that Republicans "walked into the trap," and that essentially, the president was trying to get them to respond to what he was saying, so that way, he could, as he just said, right now, he admitted, negotiate with them on the floor of the House right in front of the American public.

And I think an important context there is also that in addition to Rick -- senators Rick Scott and Mike Lee, there are a number of House Republicans who have proposed cutting entitlements. And before speaker McCarthy said that that was off the table, he did tell Punchbowl News last October that he didn't want to return -- predetermine any type of potential cuts that he would want to make essentially leaving those on the table.

BLACKWELL: All right, Laura Barron-Lopez, Phil Mattingly, Manu Raju, the president took your time. I thank you for sticking with us. We'll see you again next hour.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, guys.

BLACKWELL: Thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, rescuers in Turkey and Syria are desperately listening for any signs of life under the rubble. The earthquake's death toll now tops 11,000. CNN will take you there next.

BLACKWELL: And Ukraine's president meets with British prime minister and King Charles during the surprise visit to the UK. We have details of his requests for fighter jets to take on Russia, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:17]

GOLODRYGA: Well, the death toll in that devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria is continuing to rise, and time is now running out to find survivors in the rubble. It's difficult to even fathom this number. Officials say more than 11,800 people were killed.

BLACKWELL: Turkish President Erdogan visited a disaster area near the epicenter. He says nearly 50,000 Turkish people have reported injuries.

With us now from Turkey, CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, what can you tell us about the rescue effort, where you are, particularly when it comes to children?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, I have to say, Victor, you know, we stood here 24 hours ago and had episodes of hope and joy to talk to you about. But in the last hour, I've seen one, possibly two, it's often hard to tell in the dark body bags brought from inside the rubble here taken away in metal trays. Often, we're seeing hearses brought here to take away dead bodies, less ambulances.

The tone of things changed today, really as that important window that they had to get people out from under the rubble began to evaporate. It is utterly freezing cold here. And of course, those trapped inside the rubble were feeling that hardest. The pace of which the excavators you might be able to see behind me here working on the torchlight at the moment and flashlight, the pace of which they work changed today. Yesterday, it was about probing trying to hear signs of life, trying to get people out. Today, it's really about getting through as fast as they can. You've seen the remains of a four-year-old girl taken away in a blanket. An eight-year-old girl killed, parents mourning over her, relentlessly frankly, piles of bodies around this particular area. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey flew in nearby here and possibly might have heard some of the criticism we've heard of the government's response. Certainly, the weather hampered their arrival in the first day. But today we did see the military excavators coming in in significant numbers perhaps because the president was imminently due. They are doing I think what they can. But the scale of the devastation is startling, as we are learning here, the number of dead

The big question is what do these people do now? Multiple tower blocks here, pancake leveled, the devastation is so widespread in this area, and people homeless, waiting for some of them, news their loved ones, burning the remnants of their old homes behind me here just to keep warm at times struggling to find even food. And the stadium here is suddenly full of tents from the Turkish aid agency. Some of the people living in them, in fact, Syrian refugees who've been relocated three times since the war hit their country across the border. A staggering challenge ahead for Turkey here and the nastiest parts, when they come into terms of the moments how many lives have been lost, Victor and Bianna.

[14:25:07]

GOLODRYGA: Yes. President Erdogan there declaring a three months state of emergency for that country. It is almost too much to bear when you see these images, especially of these children. It is just awful. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Today, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the U.K. He's thanking his allies there for their ongoing support in the war. This is only his second trip outside the country since Russia first invaded nearly a year ago.

GOLODRYGA: Zelenskyy met with a British prime minister at 10 Downing Street, as well as with King Charles at Buckingham Palace before delivering a heartfelt address to British Parliament. He's now on his way to Paris to meet with the French president and German Chancellor tonight.

CNN international correspondent Scott McLean is live in London. So, Scott, clearly Zelenskyy came asking for more equipment, especially fighter jets.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Bianna, this was not just a benign thank-you tour. This was a mission for President Zelenskyy to get more equipment. And the top of his agenda is of course long-range missiles and fighter jets. And he made an impassioned plea to get those today he presented the Speaker of the House of Commons with a Ukrainian fighter pilot helmet that had an inscription on it that read we have freedom, give us wings to protect it. And he also described Ukrainian fighter pilots as precious. That's why he wants to make sure that they have the best equipment, the most advanced aircraft that they can. And he even made reference to King Charles's previous military service. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OG UKRAINE: In Britain, the king is an Air Force pilot. And in Ukraine today, every Air Force pilot is a king.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So, what the UK is offering is more sanctions on Russia, more training on British soil for Ukrainian troops, but that -- and that training also includes training Ukrainian pilots to fly British fighter jets. But it -- what it does not include though, is the jets themselves. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tried to explain the disparity saying that look, nothing is off the table. And of course, the first step to providing advanced aircraft is actually training pilots to fly them.

This seems to be a little crack -- the door cracked open just a little bit for the Ukrainians because the Brits had previously said that look, it just wasn't all that practical to descend fighter jets to Ukraine because these are complex machines. And it takes a heck of a lot of training to actually use -- them to actually fly them. But the warrant Russians also had a warning, Bianna, and that is that if the U.K. were to provide jets that there would be political and military ramifications for that decision.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Scott McLean for us there in London, of course, we've heard that from the Russians at every iteration of Western support. And the President, Biden, has said fighter jets off the table as well.

U.S. officials -- intelligence officials specifically believe that down a Chinese spy drone, the balloon we've all been talking about is just a piece of a much bigger surveillance program run by China's military. We have new details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)