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Russian Opposition Leader And Putin Critic Alexey Navalny Dies While Imprisoned In Russian Penal Colony; House Republicans Signaling They Will Not Take Up Bill To Provide Aid To Ukraine To Combat Russian Invasion; Judge Orders Former President Trump And His Companies To Pay $355 Million In Civil Fraud Trial And Bans Trump from Running Any Business In New York For Three Years; Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis Answers Questions Regarding Possible Conflict Of Interest In Election Interference Case Against Former President Trump; Donald Trump Likely To Use Funds From Super PAC To Pay Legal Fees; Israeli Hostage Coordinator Says Hamas' Conditions For Hostages Release Delusional. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired February 17, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: At a time of uncertainty and festering tensions across the globe, they are discussing multiple new developments, including the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Navalny's team says his mother and lawyer arrive at the morgue today where officials told them his body was being examined only to be told his body was not there. And a growing number of countries, including the U.S., are blaming Vladimir Putin for Navalny's death.

There are also security concerns about Russia's plans for space, CNN learning exclusive new details about the Kremlin's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon capable of destroying satellites and paralyzing global communications.

Leaders in Munich are also laser-focused on the wars in Israel and Ukraine. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She pledged unyielding U.S. support despite deadlock in U.S. Congress for supplemental security package. Lawmakers are now on a two-week recess even as Ukrainian forces make a major retreat from the front lines.

We begin with the world reaction to the death of Alexey Navalny's, starting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Speaking to CNN's Christian Amanpour at the Munich conference, Zelenskyy said this is just another example of why the world needs to stand up to Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We have to work in one joint team. That is the answer. If Ukraine will be alone, you have to understand what will be. Russia will destroy us, destroy Baltic, destroy Poland, and they can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is also in Munich. Nick, what else are we hearing from world leaders there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, acute reaction from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying how the death of Alexey Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure, yesterday in an Arctic Circle prison was another extraordinary example of the brutality of Vladimir Putin.

Now, I should point out, we don't have precise evidence at this point suggesting that Navalny was murdered by the Kremlin. But at the most generous interpretation, a man in very frail health was sent to an Arctic Circle prison and clearly not looked after by the authorities day.

His mother, according to Navalny's team, Lyudmila Navalnaya, went to our I.K. Three, the Polar Wolf prisoner that's called up near the Arctic Circle to try and get more information, to perhaps try and retrieve the body. She got a telegram confirming his death, was told to go to a morgue where the body was.

The morgue said the body wasn't there. And so Navalny's team being quite clear that the circumstances of the investigation as opaque as the circumstances of the death. They'd been told, they say, initially that nothing quote, criminal has been assessed, but they have absolutely no confidence, I think it's fair to say, in those results.

Still, the death of Navalny, tragic and awful as it is, has provided a very different backdrop here to that which potentially 48 hours ago might have been the case. There were concerns this key annual meeting might've been clouded by former President Trump's comments about how the U.S. might not necessarily uphold its commitments to NATO in the future and even goad Russia to attack what he referred to as delinquent members.

Instead, that's been pushed aside by the very clear threat Russia has posed to its own dissidents, but also, too, that's been echoed by Ukraine here as a reflection of the threat that they also face. Now Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on stage today.

His official view of the death of Navalny as a reminder that simply Putin cannot be trusted. He cannot be negotiated with, trying to push aside the idea that diplomacy might have a role in the months ahead. And instead, Zelenskyy, too, having to unveil, tolerate, explain the first real results, I think, we're seeing of the freeze or the slowdown in western aid.

Remember $60 billion have been held up by Republican dysfunctionality in Congress. Today, he had to say that Avdiivka, a key town in the east where weeks, months of fighting have lost thousands of lives, Ukraine had to withdraw from that this morning, or announce its withdrawal. That's the first sign, I think its fair to say, of Russia moving forward since May last year when they took Bakhmut. It's certainly a reflection of the slowdown in western aid. Zelenskyy said, look, we only lost one soldier for the seven, for each

seven, Russia lost. Those figures, confirmed or not, show, I think how, much Moscow is willing to exhaust its own human resources for minor gains here, and I think a reflection of how acute the threat is, clearly seen now here in Munich, a dark couple of days of, frankly, European security going forward, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh in Munich, thanks so much.

Vice President Kamala Harris meeting a short time ago with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the security conference in Munich. CNN White House reporter Priscilla Alvarez, joining me now. So Priscilla, what are we learning about that conversation?

[14:05:08]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, that was an opportunity for the vice president to reaffirm us support for Ukraine, even as those funds remain stalled in Congress that Nick was referring to there.

Now, to remind viewers, these are funds that date back to October. That was when the White House released its national security supplemental request, sending that to Congress. It included, among other priorities, $60 billion for Ukraine. Now that has remained stalled amid infighting in Congress.

Now, this week there was some progress with the Senate passing a foreign aid package that includes those $60 billion for Ukraine. But the House is now on a two-week recess, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled that he has no plans to move this package forward on the House floor, which puts this all into question and the future of this aid remains unclear.

Now, in her remarks today, Vice President Kamala Harris said that this was not a time to play politics, essentially taking a swipe at House Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must be unwavering, and we cannot play political games. Political gamesmanship has no role to play in what is fundamentally about the significance of standing with an ally as it endures an unprovoked aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the vice president also said that there is no plan b, and called support for Ukraine a strategic interests to the United States. And that's part of the steady drumbeat that we've heard from President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and a number of top U.S. officials, that this isn't just about the security of Ukraine, it's also about U.S. national security.

And of course, all of this is against the backdrop of the death of Alexey Navalny. And the question moving forward is whether that changes the calculus, because front and center to all of them when talked about by the president and the vice president is not ceding any ground to Russia. And that they say, or the way to avoid that, at least, is to give these funds to Ukraine.

WHITFIELD: Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

All right, let's break down some of these developments now. With me now is Susan Glasser. She's a staff writer for "The New Yorker." She has also written a book on Russia and is a former Moscow co-bureau chief for "The Washington Post." Susan, great to see you. So the outrage is widespread over Navalny's death, and the feeling is universal as well that Putin is responsible. Do you see that Putin will ever be held accountable? And if so, how?

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think accountability is hard to imagine. At the moment the focus of Putin's enemies is really on the war in Ukraine that he has launched. And there are many, many things that the supporters of Alexey Navalny are asking the west do right now, but foremost among them it is to continue to support Ukraine in its battle against Russia.

Right now, of course, that is a very uncertain thing here in Washington, where I'm sitting. It's remarkable how quickly American political support among Republican elected officials has been tangled up in our election year politics. I think the issues of the war itself and of the national security challenges for the U.S. and Europe have been lost in a lot of heated rhetoric that has little to do with the war.

And certainly, it was something that Alexey Navalny believed very strongly even from prison. He spoke out about the horrors of Putin's war in Ukraine and what it was doing to Russia as well.

WHITFIELD: I mean, just a thumbnail sketch of what Navalny has been through. I mean, he has been poisoned, he nearly died. He was sentenced to be in jail for years. He, along the way, has suffered torture. What is now the statement that Putin would be trying to send here with his death, with Navalny's death now?

GLASSER: Look, in recent years, and frankly, going back to the beginning of his more than 20 year tenure, there has been a trail of dead bodies that has accompanied the Putin in regime, in particular, of those people like Alexey Navalny who dared to speak out against Putin and against the creeping authoritarianism and dictatorship of Russian society during his long tenure.

I myself knew many of these people who were killed and who Alexey Navalny walked in there their footsteps, people like the brave journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, murdered in the shadow of the Kremlin. The message from Putin, conversely, is that he somehow thinks this project strength. But what kind of strongman needs to murder someone who was already languishing in his jails?

[14:10:3]

It's a very almost barbaric message to the world that he's indifferent, in fact, to our criticism, and then he will persevere on his course.

WHITFIELD: And then how influential, important, or even reassuring might it be for Vice President Harris to convey the message as she has and to meet with allies, still aghast at the former president's threat of letting Russia have at any contrary great that doesn't pay up, so to speak? Is she offering assurances, because many NATO members have said they're already thinking about their backup plan and have so for a while.

GLASSER: Yes, well, first of all, the problem is, what is the backup plan? There isn't an obvious or easy backup plan if American leadership disappears from Europe and from the NATO alliance. But yes, that was, I think the goal of Vice President Harris's trip to the Munich Security Conference this year, it was to reassure Europeans.

It just happened against the backdrop of this very horrific and dramatic development underscored by Yulia Navalnaya just within hours of learning of her husband's death showing up at sitting in the front row for the vice president's speech.

What kind of reassurance can the U.S. really offer Europeans until Election Day and the prospect of Trump returning to office is known or not this week has also in addition to Navalny's murder, seemed Donald Trump doubled down on not only questioning the value of the NATO alliance, but even seeming to invite Russia to do whatever it wants to those NATO allies who, in Trump's view, do not contribute enough to their own defense.

This is a remarkable statement, and I don't think there's any words that can possibly be reassuring from the vice president or the president until the election tells the world whether America is going to go down that kind of a course again with Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: And perhaps in an effort to enlighten, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy said at this conference that he is inviting former President Trump to the front lines of the war in Ukraine. And this is his rationale for it. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I think we are in dialogue how to finish the war, we have to demonstrate people who are decision- makers what does it mean the real war. Not in Instagram, the real war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So since Republicans, by and large, listen to Trump, is this Zelenskyy's kind of best effort to try to convince, assuage them from the path that they are on?

GLASSER: Look, Donald Trump isn't known for his physical courage and bravery. He managed to avoid serving in Vietnam. I don't think he's going to be taking President Zelenskyy up on his offer to visit the frontlines in Ukraine anytime soon or really any time.

Zelenskyy has a gift the sharp barb of not only the line about Instagram when he appeared with Vice President Harris today in Munich, he made the point that dictators don't take vacations. And that was also a message to Republicans here in Washington. In the House they left on the two-week vacation rather than have a vote on the urgently needed aid package for Ukraine. And I think that's where the politics are for right now, unfortunately, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Glasser, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much. Great to see you.

All right, straight ahead on CNN, a special encore of the Oscar winning CNN film that follows Alexey Navalny's life as an outspoken opposition leader and assassination target. "Navalny" airs tonight at 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

All right, also coming up, nearly $355 million, that's how much money a judge is ordering former president Trump and his companies to pay in connection with his civil fraud trial. The big question, will Trump ever pay up?

Plus, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis goes from asking the questions in court to answering them. A stunning and fiery hearing this week that could end with the D.A. possibly being removed from the Trump election subversion case or staying on it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, this just in, President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy have just spoken. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with more on this. How did this conversation happen?

ALVAREZ: Fred, we're getting a readout from the White House right now about this conversation that occurred earlier today. And again, it just speaks to this urgency from the White House of showing support for Ukraine as they continue this war against Russia, and as the U.S. hasn't been able to deliver additional funding despite their ask to Congress.

Now, I'm going to read part of this readout to you. It says, quote, "This morning, Ukraine's military was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction resulting in Russia's first notable gains in months." It goes on to say that President Biden emphasized the need for Congress to urgently pass the national security supplemental funding bill to resupply Ukrainian forces.

This is something that U.S. officials had been expressing concerns about recently, these Russian gains in this part of Ukraine.

[14:20:01]

And it's a reflection, they say, and the president is suggesting here, of a slowdown in aid from the United States to Ukraine. So the president in this phone call with the Ukrainian president continuing to say, as the vice president did earlier today, that the us stands by Ukraine, but also raising alarm bells that they haven't been able to get that additional funding despite the ask to Congress and despite the Senate passing of foreign aid package earlier this week, those $60 billion to Ukraine.

All of this, of course, coming as the House remains on recess and will be on recess for the next two weeks. So there's no indication as of now that this funding would happen any time soon. The president takes taking a moment here in this call to note that without these funds, there are consequences, and we're already seeing those consequences with this withdrawal from Avdiivka. Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

All right, former President Donald Trump is vowing to appeal a devastating civil court ruling ordering him to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. Friday a New York judge ordered Trump and his companies to pay nearly $355 million for fraudulently inflating the value of his properties. And if interest accrues, New York officials say that multi-million dollar judgment could swell to $450 million. The judge ruled Trump and his two adult sons engaged in a yearslong scheme, tricking banks into thinking assets were worth more than they actually were.

CNN's Kara Scannell has more on the financial and political fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: A devastating blow to Trump's reputation as a successful businessman after a New York Supreme Court judge ordered him and his company to pay nearly $355 million, barring him from serving as a company director in the city where he made his billions, where his name is plastered on skyscrapers, for three years.

LETITIA JAMES, (D) NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: Donald Trump may have authored "The Art of the Deal," but he perfected the art of the steal. His long running fraud was intentional, egregious, illegal.

SCANNELL: Friday's ruling follows a nearly three-month long trial filled with dramatic moments. Trump himself often chose to attend court, though he was only required to be there when he testified.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This trial was railroaded and fast-tracked. This trial could have been brought years ago, but they waited till I was right in the middle of my campaign.

SCANNELL: He frequently attacked Judge Engoron as well as his clerk, and the New York attorney general in the hallways of the courthouse and on Truth Social.

TRUMP: This judge is a very partisan judge with the person who is very partisan sitting alongside of him.

We're wasting our time with this trial, with a Democrat judge from the clubhouses. It's a disgrace. We're going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind.

We have a rogue judge who rules that properties are worth a tiny fraction, 1/100th, a tiny fraction of what they actually are.

A Trump-hater. The only one that hates Trump flores is associate up there.

SCANNELL: His attacks even resulted in the judge issuing a gag order, restricting him from going after the court staff, which Trump then violated twice and was fined a total of $15,000.

DONALD TRUMP JR., CO-DEFENDANT IN NEW YORK CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL: I thought they were going to go somewhere, but I think they understand that have nothing as it relates to a case other than, I guess, an overzealous attorney general who would destroy all of New York business by going after transactions where there are no victims, I guess, other than herself.

SCANNELL: The former president and his adult sons all testified during the trial, which began in October last year. During his testimony, Donald Trump frequently clashed with Judge Engoron in the courtroom. The judge warning Trump's lawyer Chris Kise to control your client and threatened to remove him.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

SCANNELL: Outside Mar-a-Lago Friday, after the ruling, Donald Trump continued those attacks.

TRUMP: These are radical left Democrats. They're lunatics, and it's election interfering. So I just want to thank you for being here. We'll appeal. We'll be successful, I think because, frankly, if we're not successful, New York state is gone. People are moving out of New York state, and because of this, they're going to move out at a much faster rate.

SCANNELL: The judge ordering Donald Trump to pay nearly $355 million plus another $100 million in interest. With other legal judgments against him, he is owing more than $540 million, a big bill for the former president.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Kara, thank you so much. Joining me right now to talk more about this is Jeff Swartz. He is a former Florida judge and a professor at the Cooley Law School. Professor, good to see you.

JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER FLORIDA JUDGE: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so also part of this penalty, the judge ordered an independent monitor of the Trump businesses.

[14:25:03]

When might that start? And could that also potentially bring other risks for the Trump empire since that person would essentially have access to all the books, so to speak? SWARTZ: Well, the monetary has been there for a while. She's a former

federal judge, and she has been monitoring and issuing reports. The powers of the monitor had been expanded, and she has been allowed to bring in someone to assist her in looking over the business and making sure that everything is being done, that assets are not being dissipated, that the business is being run appropriately. It could have gone to a receiver, but the judge didn't go this far at this point.

WHITFIELD: OK, and now let's shift gears to another Trump related case. In court this week, did you hear anything that should lead to removing Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team from the Georgia subversion case?

SWARTZ: I really didn't hear anything. The key witness that the defense put up was one woman who apparently had a falling out with Miss Willis over housing of some sort, and said that she had started her relationship with Mr. Wade in 2019. When the state started putting on their witnesses, every one of them said that that just was not true.

And everything involving the exchange of cash made a lot of sense to someone who doesn't want records of where she's spending her money. And to the same extent, her father came in and said she did exactly what I told her to do, just save a lot of cash, put it around your house in different places because you just never know what's going to happen.

Some people just don't trust banks. My grandparents didn't trust banks. They believed in the first national bank of the mattress. So that's just kind of way some people are.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SWARTZ: I didn't see anything at all.

WHITFIELD: Right, OK. And then Willis's testimony, she was very powerful in pushing back hard against questioning by the defense attorneys. Take a listen to just some of that testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I Object to you getting records. You've been intrusive into people's personal lives. You're confused. You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I'm not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what did you see in Willis's demeanor, her assertiveness in responding to the allegations that reveal perhaps, you know, how she will prosecute this aversion case if indeed she remains on the case?

SWARTZ: Well, first of all, I don't think there's any basis whatsoever to remove her, so she's going to be on this case. The question will be whether politically Mr. Wade is going to have to give up his position just as a sacrificial lamb. We don't know about that yet.

As far as what I saw, first of all, I was against her taking the stand in the first place. I did not like the way she charged into the courtroom and took the case away from her assistants. I think that she did not need to testify. There was no way the defense was going to meet their burden of clear and convincing evidence to remove her.

So she took it very personally, and I think that the impression she gave is she's a great fighter, but the question is, is she going to take the case itself very personally? And I'm hoping that she is not deeply involved in the prosecution of the case once it goes to court. I think she should just sit back and let her people do what they do.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Swartz, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

SWARTZ: Have a great day.

WHITFIELD: You, too.

All right, it has been more than four months since Hamas's deadly attack in Israel. And now Israels hostage coordinator says Hamas's demand for a hostage deal are, quote, disconnected from reality. Much more from that interview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:00]

WHITFIELD: New today, U.S. Central Command says it struck two Iran- backed Houthi targets in the Red Sea. Cent Com says the targets included a mobile anti-ship missile and a mobile unmanned surface vessel in Yemen. Those attacks happened as Cent Com says Houthis launched four anti-ship missiles at ships in the Red Sea. Houthi attacks on the major global shipping channel have increasingly, exponentially -- have been increased, rather, exponentially since the October 7th attacks in Israel.

Meantime, efforts continue to bring Israeli hostages home more than four months after they were captured. Today, CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke with Israel's hostage coordinator on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Here's their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: What is your understanding right now of where did negotiation stand for a hostage deal?

GAL HIRSCH, ISRAEL'S COORDINATOR FOR THE CAPTIVES AND THE MISSING: We want to do very much, and we know we need to pay prices. But Hamas's demands are disconnected from reality, delusional. And we hope very much the day will come much closer to the zone of potential agreement. MARQUARDT: Prime Minister Netanyahu has also called the Hamas proposal

delusional. What specifically about what they are asking for is just completely out of bounds for Israel?

HIRSCH: Actually, all their response was far, far away from reality, and they know that. And my concerns is, who is on the other side of negotiations? Whom are we negotiating with? We want a deal very much. But in the other side, we need proof that it is someone that can deliver.

MARQUARDT: Are you implying that those Hamas officials are not in touch with the Hamas leaders who are actually on the ground in Gaza?

HIRSCH: I very much want to see proof, and such a proof can be, for example show us that the medical support that was sent to our hostages has arrived to its destination.

[14:35:09]

This is very important because it will show us that there is someone there that can really deliver and release our hostages.

MARQUARDT: Are you willing to release a large number of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have carried out attacks in Israel, who have life sentences, are you willing to release them?

HIRSCH: We showed that we are ready to pay prices. We showed that, we mean that. But we want to see that in the other side there is a reliable address, someone that can release our hostages and can deliver.

MARQUARDT: Hamas wants to see an end to the war. Israel does not want to end this war because there is still work to be done, Netanyahu says, to dismantle Hamas. How do you close that in order to get these hostages home?

HIRSCH: Well, we showed in the last deal we made that we are ready to stop warfare. It doesn't mean stopping the war --

MARQUARDT: Not permanently, though.

HIRSCH: It doesn't mean stopping the war. But we are ready to stop warfare. That's a lot, because breaking the momentum of maneuvering, it's a big price, it's a big price.

HIRSCH: The other ticking clock is the potential offensive by Israel into Rafah. This is something that the prime minister has talked about. Do you believe that a deal can we agreed to before that offensive?

HIRSCH: Rafah is next, of course, because in Rafah, there are many hostages and many, many terror groups. Actually, Hamas is still there. So we do not want to cause collateral damage. Rafah is many, many people there that Hamas use right now as human shields. We are doing our best, everything we can, everything is possible to avoid collateral damage. But Rafah must be next because we must release our hostages.

MARQUARDT: So standing here today, how optimistic are you that that deal can be reached?

HIRSCH: Well, I believe that most needs ceasefire. I think that Hamas wants much bigger humanitarian support for its own people. I believe that a deal can be made because we are ready to pay prices. But it must be closer to zone of potential agreement. Right now, this is not the situation.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Alex Marquardt, thank you so much for that interview with a hostage negotiator.

Happening right now, massive protests are erupting in Israel as demonstrators continue to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Thousands were seen blocking major roads in Tel Aviv, and there appear to be a large fire in the crowd as well.

So you see right there. Tel Aviv police tried to break up the demonstration. Netanyahu is facing mounting pressure from the international community over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:22]

WHITFIELD: In the new CNN original series, "United States of Scandal," CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper dives into some of the most sensational political controversy and talks to some of the most infamous political figures of the modern era to dissect the truth from the spin. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So the guy had an affair when was really sloppy about covering it up. He's hardly the first politician to do that. But there was something about this man dropping off the grid to see his secret international lover that truly shocked people, myself included.

Full disclosure, I was friendly with Mark and Jenny Sanford. I first met them more than 20 years ago when I was covering the South Carolina primary. My now wife and I watched the Super Bowl at the Governor's mansion in 2004. Mark going awol, reading poetry and the Bible while on a weeklong solo hike, that frankly, seemed totally believable.

So when folks begins speculating about seedy possibilities, I wrongly wrote it off as the worst kind of sensationalist journalism. And when it was proven true, I felt dumb. I felt duped for naively believing that I ever knew Mark Sanford, the person, when I really only knew Mark Sanford the politician.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, the all new CNN original series, "United States of Scandal" starts tomorrow at 09:00 p.m.

All right, there are growing questions today about whether former President Trump will be able to pay a massive judgment in his civil fraud trial. If the ruling against Trump hold up on appeal, how would he pay it? CNN's Kristen Holmes explains how he could use political donations to help foot part of the bill.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, in addition to this $355 million the judge ordered Donald Trump to pay, he was also ordered to pay $83 million last month in the defamation case of E. Jean Carroll. Now of course, he is appealing all of this, but it is required that you take out a bond, essentially, and put some money down. And the question is, how exactly is he going to pay for all of this?

Now, in the past, he has used his leadership PAC, the Save America PAC, in order to pay some of his legal fees. Now, we talked to campaign finance experts who say that he could do that. There are loose interpretations of what you can do with a leadership PAC, and they say that he could actually dip into that.

But there is one glaring problem. In 2023 alone, Donald Trump spent $50 million on legal fees from Save America PAC. He ended the year with just $5.1 million. Obviously, that is far short of the more than $400 million that he would owe in these various legal funds.

[14:45:07]

Now, the other part of this is that Donald Trump could continue to fundraise for that leadership PAC. In fact, he had a fundraiser on Friday night. But remember Donald Trump gets most of his money from small dollar donors. Getting small dollar donations to add up to more than $400 is quite a feat. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Kristen, thank you so much.

With me now to talk more about the political fallout and impact of this verdict is Frank Luntz. He's a pollster and communications strategist. Frank, great to see you. So Trump now owes about $500 million in legal judgments. If he does decide to rely on PAC money and donations to help pay some of those bills, how might that impact his political campaign?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: I think this is significant. So let's start with the context, that Donald Trump has survived everything. He survives felony accounts, 91 of them. He survived court cases. He survived being found guilty already on two different trials, and there are several more to go. And he's been even kicked off the ballot. And yet he continues to do better and better as time goes on, because in the end, it's not in a vacuum. It's Donald Trump versus Joe Biden.

That said, I believe donors will be annoyed, angry at the fact that their money isn't going to his presidential campaign, but it's going to his legal fund. Now, make no mistake, Trump's supporters are willing to follow him to the ends of the earth. He has greater intensity of support that any candidate I've ever seen in my professional career. But the idea that this is going to lawyers to pay off guilty verdicts,

that may be the beginning, and I'm so careful about saying it, but in the end, I do know that some voters will resent that, will oppose that. And, quite frankly, if that's what happens, Trump is going to have a lot of explaining to do OK.

WHITFIELD: OK, and you did say some, but remember some of these court appearances he's using as a way to get people to donate. So perhaps there are, perhaps it's a significant number of his supporters who are saying that's OK, because, you know what, we want you to win. And so we have been making donations in step with the fact that you have so many legal cases.

LUNTZ: Not only is that a good point, that's a great point. And that's something that I don't think some Trump opponents understand, that people really are willing to go to the ends of the earth. They really are willing to give their own finances to keep Donald Trump moving forward. And we have not seen this in American politics. Quite frankly, here in the middle of February, we are truly in uncharted political territory.

WHITFIELD: That is so true. Frank Luntz, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

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[14:52:29]

WHITFIELD: All right, this weekend, the eyes and the talent of the basketball world focus on Indiana. The NBA's best gather for Sunday's All-Star game. And we'll get to see the first ever showdown between the NBA's and the WNBA's best three-point shooters. CNN's Andy Scholes is live for us in Indianapolis. What you got? The crowd is there already?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: No crowd yet. They're testing out the cool, fancy court. I'll have more on that a moment. But Fredricka, tonight always one of the best, most fun nights for basketball fans. You've got the skills competition, the three-point contest, the slam dunk.

But this year we have an extra special competition between Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu. Sabrina, she won the WNBA three-point contest over the summer, scoring a record 37 points in a round. Well, that's certainly impressed Steph who has won the men's competition twice and has the record for best men's round.

And you know, we've had battle of the sexes on the tennis court between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs way back when. Well, now we're going to have it on at the three-point line. And I asked both Steph and Sabrina earlier if they think they're match will have a similar impact. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPH CURRY, NBA PLAYER: How cool of an opportunity it is to do something that's never been done before in our game. And for her to have a presence on this stage is going to do a lot to inspire the next generation of young boys and girls that want to compete and see themselves in either one of us. And wherever it goes from there, like we'd know we're kind of planting our flag as doing something really special.

SABRINA IONESCU, WNBA PLAYER: It would have been really easy for me to say that I was scared of the moment and not want to come out there and embarrass myself for or be afraid of failure. And I didn't do that because I understand who I am and the belief in myself, but also what it's going to show so many young girls that are watching, that they could go out there and they can be a boy on the playground or they can play for a boys team, or they can go out there and be the best on their girls team.

And I think having that in the back of my mind, always understanding that that's what I'm playing for overrides any fear that I have not coming out here and winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Sabrina says she's going to shoot from the NBA three-point line. A lot of people we talked to, of course, they're picking Steph. He's the greatest shooter of all time. But it certainly will be a moment if Sabrina is able to shock the world and pull out the upset.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

SCHOLES: As you can see behind me, Fred, the court for tonight's facilities, it is a giant LED screen. It is first of its kind, so you're going to have all kinds of cool graphics and everything throughout the night as you're watching this.

[14:55:04]

SCHOLES: It's certainly going to be exciting to see what they have in store for us with the LED court for this game.

WHITFIELD: Oh, very fun. Now I can better see what I was seeing behind you. I see people working, and then I see also in the seating area, they have the way the lights are kind of patterned, too. Very cool. OK, this is going to be very exciting. It's a great weekend. Andy Sholes. Thank you so much. Thanks for bringing us courtside.

All right, CNN has learned that Russia is attempting to develop a nuclear space weapon to destroy satellites with a massive energy wave. Much more when the Newsroom returns.

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