Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Aid For Ukraine In Doubt As War Enters Third Year; National Security Adviser Says Ukraine Aid Decision Rests On Speaker Johnson; Interview With Representative Susan Wild (D-PA) About Ukraine And IVF In Alabama; Major Donor Halts Spending On Haley Campaign; Suspect In UGA Campus Killing Has Been Arrested Before; Family Of Missing Couple Still Hopeful They Will Return Home; Biden To Meet With Congressional Leaders On Ukraine Aid; Families Of Killed Palestinian- American Teens Demand Answers; FOX News Quiet After GOP Informant Indicted For Lying; Series About America's Political Scandal Airs Tonight. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 25, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.

And tonight, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy is warning millions could die if America does not approve more funding for the war-torn country. It has been two years now since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and as Putin's forces take over control of more Ukrainian strongholds, a $60 billion aid package that could help defend Ukraine has been stalled in the House of Representatives.

Today, Zelenskyy declaring he still has faith in Ukraine's biggest ally. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, brings us the latest now from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Jessica, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasting no opportunity to make headlines today using the first day of the third year of this war to disclose for the first time an official number of lives lost by Ukraine's military since Russia's full-scale invasion. 31,000 is the number he gave. That is slightly less perhaps than some of the estimates pushed around by Western analysts. But it is significantly less than the toll he gave for Russia. He said had lost about five or six times as many troops as Ukraine.

Now he also held out, its rare to hear people talk about diplomacy. He held out the possibility of some sort of unilateral effort picking up pace through a potential summit in Switzerland, moving forwards in the spring. Essentially, this is Ukraine and its allies laying out a vision for a peace settlement entirely on their terms, hinting maybe Russian officials might possibly be invited. This certainly isn't the beginning of peace negotiations, but it is interesting to hear here on a platform like this, discussing the possibility of some sort of peace and negotiation, often absent from rhetoric.

But also too stark I think in his reference towards European powers saying how they're simply not ready to fight a war in the way that Ukraine has had to make itself in the past two years or so. Here's what he had to say, though, when asked about the holdup in Republican- led Congress for the $60 billion that Ukraine so urgently needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We don't accept this finale to fight for our life. If Ukraine will lose and it will be very difficult for us if there'll be a big amount of victory depends on you, on our partners, on the Western world. It will be strong enough with weapons, we won't lose this war. We will win this war.

I have hope about the U.S. Congress, and I'm sure that it would a positive solution. Otherwise, I don't understand which world we're living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Now, Zelenskyy really has a difficult job to do in all of the speeches he's been making around this anniversary. He has to be clear that Ukraine thinks it can continue to fight without Western assistance, the $60 billion level it needs from the United States, but it also has to sound the alarm that they really are struggling without that assistance. And I think today we saw a president probably I think without openly saying it shocked that they're at this particular stage desperately waiting for the West to step in, but trying to suggest that Ukraine is able to move forward, and thanking those who've lost their loved ones in the fight that they've had -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Nick Paton Walsh for us in Ukraine. Thanks so much.

And this morning, we heard from the White House National Security adviser about what they want to see from House lawmakers when it comes to that stalled aid for Ukraine.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live at the White House.

Priscilla, what were they saying?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House clearly keeping up the pressure on House Republicans as this funding remains stalled, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan going so far as to call House Speaker Mike Johnson out by name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The reality is that Putin gains every day that Ukraine does not get the resources it needs, and Ukraine suffers. And there is a strong bipartisan majority in the House standing ready to pass this bill if it comes to the floor. And that decision rests on the shoulders of one in person. And history is watching whether Speaker Johnson will put that bill on the floor. If he does, it will pass, will get Ukraine what it needs for Ukraine to succeed. If he doesn't, then we will not be able to give Ukraine the tools required for it to stand up to Russia. And Putin will be the major beneficiary of that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, as you heard there, National Security Adviser Sullivan clearly laying out the stakes here, that $60 billion in funding isn't past. President Biden repeatedly framing this as not only U.S. support for Ukraine, but also something that is imperative for U.S. national security.

You can expect the White House officials will continue this steady drumbeat and make the connection between battlefield losses in Ukraine and congressional inaction -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez for us, live at the White House. Our thanks to you.

[18:05:02]

And joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Susan Wilde of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for making time tonight. We're glad to have you with us. I just want to ask you first off the top.

REP. SUSAN WILD (D-PA): Thank you.

DEAN: If you're worried that Speaker Johnson will not bring this up for a vote when there is evidenced that it would pass with overwhelming bipartisan.

WILD: I'm extremely worried about that. I literally just came from a large gathering at one of our Ukrainian churches in my district. Hundreds of people were there. Very, very concerned about this. And I told them I didn't want to offer them false optimism, but that many of us will be working hard to get this up for a vote.

DEAN: And there is talk, Congresswoman, if they won't bring it to the floor, if he will not bring it to the floor, to use some of this kind of more arcane legislative options called a discharge petition to try to get that onto the floor. Do you think something like that could work? It's a very difficult thing to do.

WILD: We've been exploring all of those options. And the problem is that a discharge petition because of the numbers would require a few of the Republicans to join us in signing that discharge petition so that it would have to come up for a vote. And we have not yet gotten a commitment from any of them as far as I'm aware, that they would sign it. So things change over a long weekend and hopefully when we return to Washington, we will see something happening along those lines.

DEAN: And we're just talking about how Ukraine is now marking its third year of war. If the U.S. were to abandon Ukraine at this point, what kind of message is that, not only sending to Ukraine, but more broadly to our allies and our adversaries around the world?

WILD: Well, it's funny. I should just address that with the church gathering that I was with. It sends a terrible message obviously to the people of Ukraine, but to our allies and to the rest of the world. And by the way, also to our adversaries. It sends a message to Putin that the U.S. government can't get its act together to support a democracy that is fighting back as hard as it can against Russian invasion.

It sends a bad message to our allies who have counted on us and have helped us as well. And it's not a good place to be. We are showing weakness in an area that we have always excelled and been in first place.

DEAN: And I want to ask you also about the Middle East. U.S. officials say negotiators in Paris, which include the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, have a greeted to the basics of this new deal, which would free Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for a pause in the fighting for a few weeks. Do you think -- what do you think of that? And then politically, we have a president who is getting pushed -- a lot of pushback from within his own party to help wind this conflict down. Do you think that will give him some maneuverability?

WILD: Well, let me just say, first and foremost, the first priority has to be getting those hostages out. We keep saying time is running out. We've been saying that for weeks now, months now. But the time to save these hostages is close to gone and so that's got to be a first priority, and anything that we can do that will help that happen needs to be done.

And the president, I think, deserves some credit for the fact that he really has not allowed the politics of the situation, domestic politics here to guide his actions, which is, by the way, something that we have to do in connection with Ukraine as well. This should not be a political football. Ukraine should not be a political football. We need to put the right thing to do over our partisan politics that are quite frankly really creating problems in this country, in terms of getting the government to function properly.

DEAN: Yes. Because aid for Israel also tied up over there in the House as well as that aid to Ukraine.

WILD: But I agree.

DEAN: Yes. I also want to talk to you about this Alabama Supreme Court ruling that says frozen embryos are children. We know as a result of that three clinics in Alabama, there are eight clinics in the whole state, five million people. Three of them have paused some IVF treatments and that has caused chaos, immediate chaos for some people who are trying to have babies.

You have introduced a bill to the House, that was back in January, to protect the right to reproductive procedures like IVF. What made you do that? And I would assume it was concerned that something like this could happen.

WILD: So right after the Dobbs decision came down back in 2022, the first thing I thought of, as everybody was talking about restricting a woman's right to have an abortion, I thought about IVF procedures because by definition, and many people don't understand the science of it, it involves fertilization of an egg, which then is an embryo, and placing it back in to a mother's uterus.

[18:10:09]

And my first thought was that if they are going to try to control women's bodies in terms of what women can do, if they need an abortion, then certainly the next step is going to be that they are going to try to limit their opportunity to take advantage of long used, very safe fertility procedures. IVF is a big one. And I came from this from a very personal point of view. I never had IVF, but I had extensive fertility issues.

I would have had a different procedure, not worked for me. Finally, I probably would have gone to IVF, but I know many, many women more than that I can count on two hands who have used it, who are -- some of whom are in the process of trying to create a family using IVF. I know people who have -- happily have children now, thanks to the science of IVF and the fact that we now have courts and politicians trying to take people's ability away to have a family is just mind-boggling in this mostly from the party that prides itself on supposed family values.

Let me just point out, I started working on this right after the Dobbs decision back in 2022. I have been searching for a Republican co- sponsor for this bill since that time. There has not been one Republican in Congress that has been willing to co-lead this bill with me, which is why we finally introduced it without a Republican co- lead. And so now, when you hear these Republican politicians rushing because they realized that politically speaking, it's a bad idea to be against IVF because so many people need it, and because it also allows people to start families, were all of those Republicans when I wanted to make sure that we could protect at the federal level people's right to use invitro fertilization?

DEAN: All right, Congresswoman Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, we have to leave it there, but we really do appreciate your time this Sunday afternoon. Thanks so much for being with us.

WILD: Thank you.

DEAN: And coming up, we have some breaking news for you, a major development in the GOP race for president. Nikki Haley's campaign now losing a major source of funding from a significant donor that has been supporting her. We'll have details on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:57]

DEAN: We have some breaking news into CNN. The influential network associated with billionaire Charles Koch will no longer throw its money behind former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. The group Americans for Prosperity says it is instead going to focus on key Senate and House races. While still supporting her, they will not be financially backing her as a super PAC as they had been in the months passed. Joining us to discuss all of this, Michael LaRosa, former press

secretary to the First Lady Jill Biden and special assistant to President Biden, Rina Shah, Republican strategist, and Katon Dawson, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

It is wonderful to have all of you here with us. This is breaking news that I know we're all kind of digesting together.

Let's start with you, Rina. What does it say to you that Americans for Prosperity is saying, look, we still support Nikki Haley, but our financial resources are better focused on trying to do something about the House and the Senate, we think that's where we can actually make a difference?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: On its face it seems like this money not being provided to the Haley campaign anymore by the Koch Brothers Network would be detrimental. But it's not, and they know that, too. So they're being strategic because they understand that if Trump, who is barreling towards this nomination, does indeed become that nominee, he has not yet the presumptive nominee, doesn't have enough delegates yet, I must add, but they understand, again, if he becomes the nominee, that he will have a disastrous impact on these down ballot races.

So they want to mobilize that money and really activate it for really those races. And that is their prerogative. But again, with AFP, and I have been deeply involved with this network for years, almost two decades now. It's an incredible network. There's young people at that network. It's so grassroots. There's a lot of loyalty there. And these are Nikki Haley's type of Republicans, her type of conservative even, I would go so far as to say.

So I am not troubled because I know that grassroot support is still there and she will still have big corporate donors who we will still come to her and that will not back away as yet. So I think this is much ado about, quite frankly, nothing as yet.

DEAN: Yes. And it was a big deal for the Haley campaign. They had to go pitch that the Trump campaign pitch to them. You know, they really had to work to get that financial backing. So they were really excited about it.

Katon, I'm curious what your response is, what you're thinking about all of this? And then also, too, what your takeaways were from the results in South Carolina where we saw the former president with that resounding victory? But we also saw Nikki Haley with 40 percent, in her words, she said it's not essentially not nothing. So what do you think about all of that?

KATON DAWSON, FORMER CHAIRMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, let me unpack it a little bit. I did a lot of TV last night and after I got through, we were tired, no, we didn't win, but we ran a good race and there are a lot of things that went on about that I can explain. But as to the donors, one called me last night and he's worth about $4 billion, and he said just tell me what you need. So we'll move to past the Koch Brothers because, thank goodness, they're going to the House and Senate because we're going to get wiped out there. That has been the problem with a Trump nominee.

[18:20:03]

There are several things that are going to happen and I'm not a never Trumper. I'm just always for Nikki. And there's 27 percent that identified as independents yesterday on the exit polls. We had that before. Those independents are independent Republicans who don't vote in our primaries because they just don't. Theres a lot of reasons there, abortion policy is one of them, but they're still Republicans. Those 27 percent of Republicans are going to be a problem because, you know, they got a chance to go to Bobby Kennedy. Not to go to Donald.

And we've got issues that are getting ready to come up while we're still in the race, we're still strapped in. We ran that campaign like we run our households. We saved money. Money was budgeted. It's a wonderful team. The bodies are planted in Michigan today. So we are pretty encouraged. What really happened to us was we have Governor Henry McMaster, who has been in office for eight years, 60 Senate approval rating, and everybody loves him.

And then we had Speaker Murrell Smith, who brought about 55 elected officials with them. Usually endorsements in South Carolina don't matter, Jessie. But they did this time. Those are pretty good net. The other problem we had is we for sure thought we would over vote the 740000 740,000, 765,00 in 2016, and we under voted there. That's another problem. We should have voted about a million people in South Carolina.

So we picked up our luggage. We're heading to Michigan. We're heading to Super Tuesday. We've got the money. We've got the candidate with the talent. And we're excited about it, but it's cautious. But again, there are some real issues with a Republican Party that is a tad bit dysfunctional at the moment.

DEAN: And I want to come back to you with another question in just a second about your message to donors, but, Michael, I also want to give you a chance to jump in here on this news that we're digesting that after this South Carolina primary, as we head towards Super Tuesday, you see AFP, you know, pulling its money there. You see somebody like John Thune, the Senate minority whip, who is now backing the former president. What does this say to you?

MICHAEL LAROSA, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN: Well, it seems like Donald Trump is going to be the nominee, but I would say also four years ago when you and I were in South Carolina, I think four years ago this week actually, you know, it came at a time when people there were a lot of backers of Joe Biden who were leaving to go to Mike Bloomberg, who were writing him off.

He had lost three big contests in a pretty dramatic fashion. In South Carolina, once he won that state, you know, it put him on a pathway to Super Tuesday. Nikki Haley, her -- the probability probably isn't there, but she does have reason to stay in the race, at least, you know, I think next week will be -- this week will be a test in Michigan for her and then to Super Tuesday, but then there's really going to have to be a rationale for her to stay in that becomes more clear.

DEAN: And Katon, I just want to go back to you quickly. When a donor picks up the phone tonight or tomorrow and says to you, look, I see this has happened with AFP. What do I do? Like what is your selling message? What is the nut graph there as we speak in journalism, that you pitch to that donor to say stay in, this is the reason why?

DAWSON: I tell him we're trying to save America. I mean, that's what we're doing. We got the numbers that show we beat Joe Biden handily. We add numbers in the House and the Senate. We've got a great candidate. We've got a lot of wonderful young people working for us. And we've got, you know, a couple of hundred thousand donors, so -- and not just the big donors, they're people that have been very generous to us.

And some of that is courtesy of Donald Trump. I mean, when he said, Jessica, you know, I'm going to take you off the MAGA lift and we're watching you, I cannot tell you what a gift that was. We hit that donor list last night and money is pouring in. So Nikki is a scrapper. She's got a stainless steel spine. Certainly we were disappointed, but we still get 40 percent in a place that she hadn't been governor for eight years.

We ran against all the elected officials, most of them my friends, a very popular governor, a very popular speaker. And, you know, we were just 100,000 people away from victory, but it is what it is. We've moved on. South Carolina is a tough place as my friends on the panel know, it was a really pale election compared to what we used to. Bush- McCain was a real election. This one was pretty tanked.

LAROSA: But, Jessica, I would just say, though, looking at the total numbers, eight years ago Trump I think had 67 percent of the South Carolina Republican primary, was against him. Last night was 40 percent. But it really had marginal -- it had no impact on the general election and the total number of votes from eight years ago in that competitive primary in South Carolina last night, no competitive primary.

[18:25:00]

The total vote in South Carolina among Republicans increased. So he doesn't lack any enthusiasm at least in South Carolina.

DEAN: Yes. All right. I could talk to you guys for a long time about this, but unfortunately, we're out of time. Michael LaRosa, Rina Shah, and Katon Dawson, thanks so much for breaking down that breaking news with us. We appreciate it.

DAWSON: Thank you, Jessica.

LAROSA: Thank you.

DEAN: Coming up, two Americans are believed to be dead in the Caribbean after officials say their yacht appears to have been hijacked. Also we have new details tonight about the suspect accused of murdering a university student in Georgia. Why that state's governor is slamming President Biden following the young woman's death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: New details tonight in the case of a nursing student found dead on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. CNN has learned that the suspect, a 26-year-old migrant, was arrested after entering the U.S. illegally back in 2022, but was released on parole.

[18:30:05]

CNN's Isabel Rosales is joining us now with the latest on this incredibly sad story.

Isabel, what more have you learned tonight?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, good evening to you. I did just speak with a Layling Franco, the wife of the suspect, Jose Ibarra, and she tells me that she has no connection to the man. She's been separated to him for months now, but she does tell me that she was shocked to hear the news of his arrest and that when she lived with him, he was a calm man, a man that treated her well, was not aggressive.

But she wants to hear from him directly and what he says happened in the situation. And ultimately, she wants to make it clear that she's in support of the victim here, Laken Riley, that she wants nothing but justice for her.

Now when I asked Layling Franco about the documentation status of Ibarra, taking a national focal point here, here's what she said. "We can't put a nationality on a criminal. There are criminals all over the world."

Now, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, he posted a letter on X that he sent to President Biden criticizing his administration's immigration policies and requesting more information as to the documentation status of Ibarra. Here's what he said in part, "Laken Riley's tragic death struck the hearts of Georgians everywhere and has sparked national outrage. Joe Biden's failed policies have turned every state into a border state. And I'm demanding information from him so we can protect our people when the federal government won't."

The suspect Jose Ibarra was a resident of Athens, Georgia, not a student at UGA. And according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he is a Venezuelan national who back in 2022 was arrested by ICE for unlawfully -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, rather, for unlawfully entering the U.S. near El Paso. He was paroled and then released for further processing.

Now he faces a litany of charges here in connection to the death of Riley, including malice murder, felony murder, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another, among other charges. The victim, Laken Riley, she was a junior at a nearby university, two-and-a-half miles away from UGA, on the dean's list. And on Thursday, a friend noticed she had not returned home after going out on a jog. She called authorities and that is when they discovered her body near

the campus lake where she was running an examination, discovered that she died from blunt force trauma. Her funeral is happening on Friday. Classes should resume here, Jessica, on Monday, tomorrow.

DEAN: Such a senseless death. All right. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.

The urgent investigation into the disappearance of an American couple missing in the Caribbean continues tonight. Their boat was found abandoned with, quote, "evidence of apparent violence." Authorities in Grenada say it might have been hijacked by a group of escaped prisoners who are now back in custody.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has the latest on this story.

Polo, what are you learning here?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Jessica, Virginia couple Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry, they each have sons. Today I had an opportunity to speak to them by phone, to their sons, and they told me that they are absolutely heartbroken. They are without words. But not without hope that their mother and father will be found alive.

Keep in mind this is now about seven days since the couple was last seen alive in Grenada. And also now four days since their Catamaran was discovered in nearby St. Vincent, but they are also preparing for their worst fears to become reality. Authorities have told them that they believed that the couple may have fallen victims to three fugitives who escaped police custody about a week ago from Grenada, and then potentially hijacked the couple's boat and potentially they're injured or even killed them, according to authorities.

And that is what they are trying to confirm right now. No bodies have been recovered, but here's why their sons tell me that they are preparing for that possible outcome. Not only was that there wasn't evidence of a struggle located onboard the Simplicity, as they called it, but they also apparently found blood there and the cabin had been ransacked.

So investigators right now speaking to these three individuals that are currently in custody as the family members of Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry still praying, still holding onto hope and really focusing on this couple that had been married for 27 years, sold everything they had. That vessel was their home. They wanted an adventure when they went missing -- Jessica.

DEAN: Heartbreaking. All right, Polo Sandoval for us, the latest there. Thank you so much.

Still to come tonight, President Biden is putting a new level of pressure on congressional leaders to pass more aid for Ukraine. This as Ukraine's president says millions will die if that does not happen.

[18:35:01]

You're in the CNN newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: More breaking news out of the White House tonight. President Biden planning to meet with the top four leaders in Congress Tuesday as the White House continues to put pressure on lawmakers to pass more funding for Ukraine.

Let's go back to CNN's White House reporter Priscilla Alvarez, who is live at the White House.

Priscilla, what are you learning?

ALVAREZ: Well, Jessica, this is a significant development that really speaks to the moment that we're in for days. The question here at the White House has been whether President Biden was going to speak with or meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been resistant to passing any additional aid for Ukraine. And we now have that answer with the president expected to meet with the House speaker on Tuesday along with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. So a meeting with the four congressional leaders.

[18:40:03]

And of course, it comes as there's this buildup of pressure on House Republicans to pass this additional aid to Ukraine, that $60 billion in funding that the Senate had already passed but that remains stalled in the House, but it also comes at a point where the House is trying to avert a partial government shutdown. We were expecting a deal today on this front. It did not come to fruition.

So the question is whether they can avert a government shutdown later this week, all of this expected to be discussed at this meeting on Tuesday.

DEAN: All right, big news there. Priscilla Alvarez, for us from the White House. Thanks so much.

Let's turn now to a CNN exclusive. The families of two Palestinian- American teenagers killed in the West Bank are now demanding answers. Both 17-year-olds were shot this year, just weeks apart, and their families say both boys were killed by an Israeli gunman who opened fire. Israeli police are investigating, but so far no arrests have been made.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has more on this story and we do want to warn you the report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): These are the final moments of Mohammad Khodr's life, picnicking with his cousin, driving through the bumpy hills of the occupied West Bank. Then, cries, as people rushed to the car, Mohammad shot in the head, his body limp, his hair covered in blood as he's carried away. The 17-year-old U.S. citizen mortally wounded. He died in the hospital. The second American teen in just weeks believed to have been killed by Israeli bullets.

RANAA FARRAJ, AUNT OF PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN TEEN KILLED IN WEST BANK: He was such a beautiful child, like inside and out.

MARQUARDT: Mohammad's aunt and uncle live in Cleveland. They promised Mohammad, who was born in Miami, that they would bring him back to the U.S. after graduating from high school.

ADNAN KHDOUR, UNCLE OF PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN TEEN KILLED IN WEST BANK: Why you killed him? For what? What's he doing for you? Nothing. Nothing. Just you see him. He's happy in his life with his cousin, that's it. He killed -- killed a man in cold blood, man.

MARQUARDT: Who do you think is responsible?

FARRAJ: The government.

KHDOUR: The government, man.

MARQUARDT: The Israeli government?

KHDOUR: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's innocent. Kids not doing nothing, just being shot and killed to cold blood for no good reason. All from the Israeli government not doing nothing much to prevent these type of things.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Another 17-year-old American citizen, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, who grew up in Louisiana, was killed in January. He had just moved to the West Bank last year and in an almost identical incident, he was out for an afternoon with friends when his family said he was shot multiple times.

AMIR ABDEL JABBAR, BROTHER OF PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN TEEN KILLED IN WEST BANK: He was driving, going to our own property that we have on that mountain, to do a simple cookout with him and his friends.

MARQUARDT: Tell me what Tawfic was like as a brother.

ABDEL JABBAR: He was my right-hand man. A brother I can go to for anything. He was very kind, unselfish, outgoing and the amount of friends I seen that he made in this small period of time was outrageous.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): The families of both boys say that Israeli gunmen were responsible. It's not clear exactly who. A U.S. official told CNN their deaths are being investigated. In Tawfic's case, the IDF told CNN they're looking into the possible involvement of an Israeli soldier.

During almost five months of war in Gaza, violence by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank has soared. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed, about a quarter of them were under 18. The Biden administration has since imposed unprecedented sanctions against Israeli settler extremist.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We insist that people be treated fairly, that they be treated with due process and that they be treated humanely.

MARQUARDT: Last week, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the string of American deaths and detentions at the hands of Israelis.

When it comes to the investigations into the teenagers' deaths, where do those stand?

TONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We've made clear that with regard to the incidents you've alluded to, there needs to be an investigation, we need to get the facts. And if appropriate, there needs to be accountability.

MARQUARDT: He says the safety and security of American citizens around the world is their biggest priority. Do believe that?

FARRAJ: No.

KHDOUR: No.

MARQUARDT: What do you want the U.S. government to do?

KHDOUR: To move. Not just talking. We don't need talking, man. We need something. We want to see something.

MARQUARDT: Are you confident that there will be some kind of justice in the end?

FARRAJ: I'm hopeful, yeah, but wouldn't be out of the ordinary if we don't get the justice that we're hoping for.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): The controversial U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza now even further complicated by American citizens getting caught up in the violence.

What power do you think the U.S. government has that they're not using right now to figure out what happened?

ABDEL JABBAR: I believe that they have every power in the world to resolve my brother's death, to know who killed him. I feel like they don't want to.

[18:45:01]

They're waiting for the story to be quiet, just to vanish away. But that's not going to happen.

MARQUARDT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in the past condemned extremist settler violence against Palestinians. He has not commented on the deaths of these two American teenagers, which a U.S. official tells me Israel is investigating and the Biden administration is watching closely. That official saying that if they feel those investigations are not conducted properly, these cases will get escalated to more senior members of the Israeli government.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:50:00]

DEAN: For months, right-wing media promoted claims from a, quote, "highly credible informant" to support their corruption case against the Bidens. But in the week after that same informant was arrested and indicted for lying to the FBI. Media observers note those over at FOX News have been oddly quiet.

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy is joining us now to discuss this -- Oliver.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's really hard to underscore how much FOX News promoted these claims from this FBI informant to accuse President Biden of being one of the most corrupt presidents of all time. Sean Hannity just last year in 2023 did nearly 100 segments on his primetime show advancing this narrative. Why don't we take a look at some of these segments?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: There are now real and growing concerns that your president, the president of our country, is compromised.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: The FBI informant that said the Bidens shook down Ukraine for a $10 million bribe, that was vetted and found not to be foreign disinformation.

HANNITY: Joe Biden, a corrupt career politician, who is now very credibly accused of public corruption on a scale this country has never seen.

WATTERS: These revelations if verified proved Joe Biden lied repeatedly to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARCY: On and on and on it went and it has still gone. And why is this important? This is important because most Republicans get their news from places like FOX News and so they're not consuming news from "The New York Times" or CNN. They're turning to FOX to get their information and they're being told repeatedly that there are these damning accusations against Biden.

And of course, as you noted in the intro here, they haven't retracted. It's not like they've said that, you know, told their audience because this FBI informant has now been charged with lying about these allegations, that they are retracting their claims and apologizing, anything like that. What they've actually done in some cases is push further into conspiracy. And so you've seen a FOX News host Jesse Watters, for instance, come out in the past week and say that anyone accusing Biden of anything is arrested by what he described as a weaponized DOJ.

Of course, that's not what's happening here, but that's what FOX News viewers and the Republican Party is being told -- Jessica.

DEAN: And I also want to ask you, Oliver, about the conservative conference known as CPAC. It took place in Maryland this past week. In fact, one of the first times I ever met you, we were both there covering it years ago. It has effectively become the Trump show and I was there on Friday, it really had featured some particularly fringe figures this year. Tell us more about that.

DARCY: Thats right. Look, I think I had been at CPAC many, many years. It's really an avatar of the Republican Party. It's a good indication where the Republican Party stands. And right now, in 2024, you're seeing a lot of extremists, a lot of conspiracy theorists at this event, this annual event, making a lot of alarming comments. So let's listen to one of them where one of the speakers talked about the end of democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK POSOBIEC, FAR-RIGHT CONSPIRACY THEORIST: I just wanted to say, welcome to the end of democracy. We're here to overthrow it completely. We didn't get all the way there on January 6th, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this, right here. We'll replace it with this right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Amen.

POSOBIEC: That's right, because all glory, all glory is not to government. All glory to God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARCY: That's from one of these far-right conspiracy theorist who's gotten a platform at CPAC this year. And again, this I think represents the radicalization inside the Republican Party. You know, we know from polls that most of the Republican Party no longer believes the election, for instance, in 2020 was legitimate, that they hold on to a lot of these conspiracy theories. And you've seen CPAC transition over the years to reflect this.

And I think right now seeing some of these conspiracy theories being floated at CPAC, seeing that for the fact that FOX News doesn't even have an official presence there, it's basically too radical now for FOX News to show up, it really indicates where the GOP stands, at least the base. And frankly, it's really disturbing.

DEAN: All right. Oliver Darcy for us with that reporting. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

His wife had cancer and he had a baby with his girlfriend, all while running for president. Jake Tapper has the shocking story of John Edwards' affair on "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL."

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Jessica. On this week's episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL," we're going to take a look at the scandal that brought down former North Carolina senator and two-time presidential candidate, John Edwards.

Edwards, as you may recall, was a rising star in the Democratic Party who was a crusading trial attorney. This kind of John Grisham hero come to life. He had a picture-perfect family. He had his eye on the White House.

[18:55:03]

All of it looked like it was going great until an article in the "National Enquirer" revealed that he had an extramarital affair and the woman was pregnant, and then of course, potential federal campaign finance violations.

Tonight, you're going to hear from the woman at the heart of it all. Edwards' former girlfriend, Rielle Hunter. This is part of what she told me. This part is about how she first crossed paths with then Senator Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You're at the Regency Hotel.

RIELLE HUNTER, JOHN EDWARDS' FORMER GIRLFRIEND: God.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: In 2006. Were you there to meet him?

HUNTER: Being there was a fluke.

TAPPER: What was he by himself?

HUNTER: No, he was in a business meeting. I was with my friend. We're at a table and John Edwards was behind her, and he kept looking at me as though he knew me as well. And then we got up and left. And when we were standing on the corner and John Edwards turn the corner and saw me there. And he literally like almost jumped into my arms, and my response, what came out of my mouth was, you're so hot.

TAPPER: And what did he say back?

HUNTER: Well, I thank you. I said, I can help you. And he said, I want to hear. He said, you know, can you come over?

TAPPER: So you went up to his room?

HUNTER: I did. Because then I didn't feel like it was sexual either.

TAPPER: You didn't?

HUNTER: No, I did not.

TAPPER: Because it sounds like there was an attraction. You said you're so hot. That was -- HUNTER: I know, I know. I know.

TAPPER: I mean, that's --

HUNTER: No, I get --

TAPPER: Inherently with a sexual --

HUNTER: No, I get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You're going to hear all much, much more from Rielle about how the relationship unfolded and then how John Edwards' political career came crashing down with news of what he was really up to, tonight on "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Jake Tapper, thanks so much. You can watch that new episode tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. It's a right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)