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DOJ Criticizes Federal Court's "Misguided Assessment" Of Abortion Pill's Safety; Dueling Rulings On Access To Medication Abortion Pill In U.S.; Dana Nessel, (D), Michigan Attorney General, Discusses Dueling Rulings On Access To Medication Abortion Pill; Dalai Lama Apologizes After Asking Child To "Suck" His Tongue. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 10, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:02]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, this just into CNN. The Justice Department just issued a filing criticizing a Texas judge's decision to suspend the FDA approval of the most commonly used abortion pill.

The DOJ is arguing for an emergency stay against the ruling that would take effect this Friday. Mifepristone has been widely available for women across the nation for more than 20 years.

But also this weekend, a conflicting court ruling out of Washington State, the federal judge, they're deciding to protect access to the same drug across 17 blue states and Washington, D.C., which sued to protect medication abortion.

CNN's Joan Biskupic joining me right now with more on this.

Joan, this is a very confusing time for women. So what's next for the Texas ruling because that's the more threatening one?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right. And thanks, Fred.

And we've just gotten some immediate action and that you'll see that the Department of Justice has just filed its brief, its first filing asking the `Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to put a more short term stay.

But something that goes longer than this Friday, which is what Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk had put on his ruling. That completely was to suspend the FDA approval of this first part of the abortion drug protocol.

So it's a very forceful filing that they have put there. They've asked the Fifth Circuit court of appeals to act by Thursday so that everyone knows whether they have some breathing room to make their appeals more concrete as they challenge this very unprecedented decision by Judge Kacsmaryk out of Amarillo, Texas, last Friday night. What he did was he rolled back approval for the that the FDA had first

put in place back in the year 2000. He questioned the FDA is review and approval of this drug, saying that it had shortcomings that both psychologically and physically -- physiologically it didn't not take account of harm to women.

[14:35:94]

And just really upended the process, essentially stepped into the shoes of the FDA experts, saying that the drug should not have been approved and should not stand now -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: And then, Joan, how does the Washington State ruling play into all this? Does one override the other in terms of the decisions?

BISKUPIC: No. The more important one is definitely Texas. But I think you had a map of exactly the states that had sued and going to us district court in Washington State.

Washington State and 16 other Democratic-run states, plus the District of Columbia had actually sued the FDA.

The FDA, that's on the other side of the case in Texas, saying that they did not want any kind of stages yet in there -- they didn't want the FDA to modify or change regulations on the ability of women to get this drug. And they wanted to have access preserved.

And what a judge did in that case, Judge Thomas Rice out of the district court in Spokane, did, indeed, say that the FDA could not prevent -- could not change the rules or restrictions having to do with access in those particular states.

So essentially, right now, you have that order from Judge Rice stain that women in those 18 total jurisdictions should have access to the drug.

Meanwhile, you have Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's one that still stands, even though we're about to have probably more action on that, just because of what's coming just now from the Department of Justice, where he's saying that, by Friday, all of it might access to the Mifepristone would be actually rolled back.

Now I do want to say that we expect some action by the `Fifth Circuit. And if we don't see the `Fifth Circuit actually granting this administrative stay as it's called, I'm sure the government will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

So just a lot happening. But for now, everyone should know that the medication abortion drugs are available to women who need them.

WHITFIELD: Yes, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

All right, Joan Biskupic, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right, so Michigan was one of the states which appealed to that judge to keep the medication legal. And Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel is joining me right now.

So good to see you.

I mean, there's a lot of confusion for women, understandably, right now. Women, particularly of childbearing age. So I just want to be completely transparent to any of them who might be watching.

So if you live in these 18 restrictions that Joan was talking about, the 17 states and the District of Columbia, is your access to Mifepristone in jeopardy because of the Texas decision?

DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I have some additional information to add from this morning regarding the Washington lawsuit.

And that's that the FDA, who, of course, is a defendant in that case, has reached back out to the court to Judge Rice to ask for clarification about what will happen and what is the judge's order going to be in the event the Department of Justice is not successful in seeking a continued stay of Judge Kacsmaryk's order.

So I know this is very complicated, but I think it's actually very good news, at least for the 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, because would it -- would it says to me is that the FDA is interested in obeying Judge Rice's order.

And if what Judge Rice is saying is, irrespective of what happens in Texas, or in the `Fifth Circuit, that they are still going to allow FDA approval of Mifepristone to at least the parties to the Washington lawsuit.

Including states like mine, Michigan, so that Mifepristone would remain legal, available and FDA approved, at least as it pertains to those states.

WHITFIELD: And just so people can follow, Judge Rice in the Washington State case.

So if clinics have a large, you know, back stock of Mifepristone, can they still give it to a patient after this Friday, everything riding on the court of repeals?

NESSEL: No, I think it's more, to me, about availability of this drug and the willingness of doctors to prescribe it.

So let me tell you about my state. In reaction to the Dobbs ruling -- and let's remember what the Supreme Court said. They said it's up to each and every state to decide the legality of abortion in their respective states.

[14:40:55]

So in my state, the voters spoke loudly and clearly and we passed a ballot proposal to enshrine reproductive freedoms into our constitutional rights. Which means, in our state, if a doctor has Mifepristone, absolutely, they can still safely prescribe it. And it will still be legal to do so in states like mine.

It's really a matter of whether or not, you know, you will still have this FDA approval. Remember, there are all kinds of medications on the market that are not FDA approved.

But I think that this latest signal by the FDA, that they're interested in making certain that they obey the Washington judge's order, is really a good sign.

And hopefully, they will continue to ensure that the approval of their agency in regard to this medication.

But certainly, in Michigan, as long as this drug is available, it will still be legal to be prescribed and still be legal to be administered and taken.

WHITFIELD: Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says the Texas ruling could set a precedent, you know, in judges making medical or science-based decisions. Is that your greatest worry here too?

NESSEL: Oh, absolutely. And I could see an entire slew of medications that have been in use for a long time and are incredibly important and impactful to an individual's health care.

And just having an individual judge say, I don't like that medication. Maybe I don't like the fact that it prevents HIV. Or maybe I don't like the fact that it's a form of birth control because I'm anti-birth control.

And to substitute a judge's opinion for that of the medical community, I think is scary as it gets.

So, yes, I'm very concerned about the precedent this would set for other types of medications as well.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

NESSEL: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we continue to follow the latest developments out of Louisville, Kentucky, where four people were killed and eight others injured after a shooting at a bank. Officials are set to update the public on the investigation. And we'll take you there live.

Plus, U.S. officials are scrambling to figure out who leaked key intelligence documents online. That leak now embarrassing allies and emboldening foes. We're live from the Pentagon with the latest developments.

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[14:46:44]

WHITFIELD: The Pentagon is on damage control and the Department of Justice has now launched an investigation after highly classified documents about the war in Ukraine leaked online.

Photos of the documents started appearing on social media Web sites in recent weeks. They contain sensitive intelligence, including Ukrainian troop numbers and weaknesses as they gear up for a major counter offensive.

A source close to the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his country has already altered some of its military plans due to the leak.

CNN national security reporter, Natasha Bertrand, joining us now from the Pentagon.

What more do you know about this leak?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Fred, what we're learning is that these documents have been on this social media platform called Discord for at least a month now.

And no one really noticed it until last week. In fact, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, we're told, was just briefed on this leak on April 6th.

And now the Pentagon is really trying to get its arms around the scope and the significance of this leak, trying to figure out just how big it is. And of course, the national security implications, whether compromises sources and methods.

Now a senior DOD official did just brief reporters and told us that they are currently undergoing an investigation internally, kind of an interagency effort led by the Defense Department to try to figure out just how bad this leak is.

Here's what he said.

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CHRIS MEAGHER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS (voice-over): The Department of Defense is working around the clock to look at the scope and scale of the distribution, the assessed impact, and our mitigation measures.

We're still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue. There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed, and to whom.

We are also still trying to assess what might be out there.

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BERTRAND: So as you can see, there is still very little that the Defense Department knows about who is responsible for this leak and just how big it is. But look, the classified documents that CNN has reviewed are

classified. A lot of them at the top-secret level, and a lot of them are sourced to human intelligence, as well as signals intelligence.

So its sources and methods could be compromised here, and that is exactly what the U.S. is extremely concerned about right now -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much at the Pentagon.

[14:49:02]

All right, the Dalai Lama issuing a rare public apology today after a disturbing video of him with a young boy triggered major backlash on social media. More on this straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: All right, the Dalai Lama is apologizing after a disturbing video surfaced showing the spiritual leader kissing a young boy on the lips. And then he asked the child to, quote, "suck" his tongue.

It happened at an event in India back in February. The video now sparking backlash on social media.

CNN's Vedika Sud is live for us in New Delhi.

Vedika, I mean, what is the Dalai Lama's office saying about all this now?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Fredricka, I'll get to that in a moment from now.

But I just want to start with a sequence of events that took place on the 28th of February this year when you had a young boy going up to the Dalai Lama at a public event, and he asked him for a hug.

The Dalai Lama then invited him onto stage and said, give me a hug as well as the kiss on the cheek, and the boy obliged.

Moments later, you had the Dalai Lama look into the eyes of the boy and ask him -- and asked him rather to kiss him on the mouth.

He drew him closer, holding his chin, and kissed him on the mouth. And then seconds later came, the words "suck my tongue."

Now that's really taken social media by surprise. And it's because the furor and outrage Frederica on social media that forced the Dalai Lama's office earlier today to issue a statement.

What's interesting, though, Fredricka, is the fact that this statement comes six weeks after the incident, which took place, like I said in February.

[14:55:02] So it's clear it's the pressure, it's the outrage that caused the Dalai Lama's office to come out with a clarification, which reads -- and I'm going to read excerpts from here:

"His holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family as well as his many friends across the world for the hurt his words may have caused. His holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident."

Two phrases here that caught my eye, Frederick. The first is where the statement reads, "for the hurt his words may have caused." The second, "often teases people he meets in events and in front of cameras."

Clearly, there's more to that in this video, Fredericka. And there's more than an apology that the Dalai Lama, according to critics, should be offering at this point -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Yes, this one's hard to understand.

All right, Vedika Sud, thank you so much.

All right, minutes from now, we expect an update after four people were killed and eight injured during a shooting at a Louisville, Kentucky, bank. We'll bring you those remarks as it begins.

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