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Ukraine Struggling To Defend Key Areas Two Years Into The War; Hunter Biden Closed-Door Deposition Set For Wednesday; Interview With Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) About Upcoming Michigan Primary; Dual US-Russian Citizen Arrested, Accused Of Treason; Georgia Forges Ahead In Electric Vehicle Production. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 25, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:22]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.

And at this hour uncertainty hanging over Ukraine as the war-torn country marks two years since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. And tonight, White House officials tell CNN President Biden plans to meet with top congressional leaders Tuesday as $60 billion in military aid remains in limbo in the House.

President Zelenskyy is warning Russia could start a new offensive as early as May. And in a rare admission today, the Ukrainian leader revealed at least 31,000 of his soldiers have died in the war. CNN cannot independently verify that number, but U.S. officials estimate the toll could actually be closer to 70,000.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins is in Kyiv and got a chance today to ask Zelenskyy about the stalled aid in Congress. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: It has been two years now obviously since this war started. But for the first time since Russia invaded U.S. aid to Ukraine is seriously in doubt that a total standstill in Congress. Do you still have faith in the U.S. Congress?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Well, I do have hopes for the Congress. I'm sure there will be a positive decision because otherwise it will leave me wondering what kind of a world we are living in because of that we do count on Congress support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Kaitlan also got the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the Ukrainian leader and brings us a preview of that interview from Kyiv.

COLLINS: Well, Jessica, you know from covering Capitol Hill as well as anyone what the dynamics are there right now, and the truth on the ground is that U.S. aid is at a standstill. The Senate passed that aid package that has $60 billion for Ukraine inside of it, but it has gone nowhere in the House. And Speaker Mike Johnson has said he's in no rush to move it. And of course they're still on that two-week recess.

But some of the senators who voted against that, Republican senators, including JD Vance, have been making claims that they don't believe even if it did pass that it would fundamentally change what's happening on the battlefield for Ukraine, how they are faring against the Russians two years into this war. And we asked President Zelenskyy for his response to that claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Senator JD Vance, who was in Munich, at the security conference but didn't meet with you, he said that even if you got the $60 billion in aid, it is not going to fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield. What's your response to that?

ZELENSKYY: I'm not sure that he understands what's going on here, and we don't need any rhetoric from people who are not deeply in the, you know, in the war. So to understand it he should come to the frontline to see what's going on, to speak with the people, then to go to civilians to understand what will be with them. And that what will be with them without this support. And he will understand that millions, people have been killed, will be killed.

COLLINS: So he doesn't understand it.

ZELENSKYY: Because he doesn't understand it. Of course, God bless, you don't have the war on your territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, Jessica, what he said right after that was he noted that these are the people, people like JD Vance and other senators, some of whom of course support sending more aid to Ukraine, they're the ones who are making the decisions here. But what he also made clear is that while he said, you know, he's grateful that no one else has to understand what this is like, only people in his shoes who've been on the frontlines of the battlefield here in Ukraine can really understand what's going on.

[19:05:06]

And it just speaks to the implications of that decision where he's making those comments there, saying that this is really what matters and this is what it all comes down to, and that it is a very black and white picture for him that if they don't get any more aid from the United States, it's not like the war is going to go on the same than it has been. He said it will fundamentally change what is happening on the ground and that more people will die as a result of it.

DEAN: Kaitlan Collins in Kyiv for us, and be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern for Kaitlan's sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN.

In the last few weeks, Ukraine has experienced some significant setbacks with some key Ukrainian strongholds falling to Russian control. And joining us now to discuss this, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, and CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton.

Gentlemen, great to have both of you here with us. I want to add that we've learned in the last hour, President Biden is planning to meet with the top four leaders in Congress on Tuesday to push and advocate for this Ukraine aid that is stalled out over there in the House.

Ambassador, let's just start first with you. Do you think Ukraine can keep up its fight if it doesn't get this $60 billion in U.S. aid?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Jessica, Ukraine will continue to fight even if it doesn't get this aid. It will continue to fight but it can't win. Ukraine can't win without the support. They know, and they have said that this support on the artillery, on the air defense is so crucial to them to be able to hold off the Russians. You've already reported that the Russians are moving on this thing. And why? Because the Ukrainians have to scale back already on their artillery. So, yes, they can win. They can -- but they need the support in order to move that.

DEAN: Colonel Leighton, from a military perspective, zoom out with us and take kind of the full picture now that we have been through two years. What has happened in this war so far? How has Russia failed to take Kyiv? And why now is Ukraine's counteroffensive losing momentum, it seems?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jessica, those are great questions. Well, I think the first thing that we have to locate is when Russia tried to take Kyiv they wanted to take Kyiv just like in the old days. The Soviet Union took Prague in 1968. They wanted to come in, take over the airport, and then from there branch out and take over the important functions of government.

That didn't work out too well for them because they didn't have the right logistics, the right intelligence, the right discipline within their military. And frankly, their military was basically a hollowed- out affair, although it was very careful to conceal that fact, basically riddled with corruption and all of those different things.

The problem that Ukraine ran into with its counteroffensive than if you move forward about a year or so was that there was a lot of talk about that counteroffensive. The Russians are an adaptive enemy and they have learned to deal with the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian successes, and Ukrainian innovation to some extent. And they just have a sheer number of people in that they finally brought to bear. Number of people, number of weapons.

All of those things, Jessica, came together and that allowed the Russians to basically stall the Ukrainians. Plus the fact that of course they had a lot of time to build major defensive positions. And the Ukrainians had no airpower to use to exploit against the Russians and their efforts to put up their defensive barriers.

DEAN: And so here we are now, two years into this, going into the third year, and this aid is now on the table. Ambassador, do you think that the president, President Biden, has been

communicating well why he needs the U.S., why he believes the U.S. should still be supporting Ukraine? Because there is a feeling amongst some Republicans in Congress and some Americans, quite frankly, that don't feel like aid should be -- they kind of see it as a blank check, maybe, which it's not, you know. In a lot of cases, American companies are doing very well because they are taking some of this aid and making things that then we can send overseas. But what do you think Biden can do to better influence reluctant Republicans in Congress now?

TAYLOR: First of all, Jessica, the Senate, as you've reported, voted a week ago, a week and a half ago, 70 to 29. This is a major bipartisan vote, 70 to 29, almost all the Democrats and 22 Republicans voted for this aid package. And as you said just now with the House, it can go to the House, if they can get a vote on the House floor, then it will pass then President Biden I'm sure is going to push for that happening some way to get a vote on that package. He makes the point.

[19:10:01]

We all recognize that this is important, yes, for Ukraine. We said earlier, they can't win without the support, but it's more than that. It's our security. It's our security in Europe. It's our leadership in the world that is making a world a better place. And that's what's at stake in this thing. I'm sure President Biden will make this case.

DEAN: And Colonel Leighton, today, President Zelenskyy warned that Russia could launch another counteroffensive as early as May of this year. What regions has Ukraine seen fall so far? And what do you think if that were to happen what we could see next?

LEIGHTON: Yes, Jessica, so the regions that Ukraine has seen fall so far actually not that big, except for the ones that the Russians took when they built their land bridge from the Donbass region to Crimea. That was basically at the beginning of this war. But the gains since then have been incremental and we have to remember the Ukrainians rolled back the Russians taking about -- back about half of the territory that the Russian said initially occupied.

So the Ukrainians have done major, major work that is very commendable, but the regions that I'm looking at include Moldova and the breakaway part of Moldova called Transnistria. There are going to be some efforts made in the next few days to actually -- perhaps to have that region tried to integrate itself into the Russian federation, and if the Russians, President Putin specifically, agreed to do that, that could then open up another front in this war, and that could potentially provide some dangerous signals for the Ukrainians if that's not stopped, and that could happen well before May.

DEAN: Wow. So that could be coming down the pike soon.

Ambassador, earlier this week, the president announced more than 500 sanctions against Russia in the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and some of the sanctions are targeting Russia's military supply chain. Do you think that that can work?

TAYLOR: It can work, Jessica. It can work. It takes time. Sanctions don't act immediately, don't have effect immediately. It takes time to weaken the economy. The goal of these sanctions is to weaken the Russian economy so that it can't support the Russian efforts to invade its neighbor. And those sanctions have been in place for some time. The problem is you can't have -- they're not airtight. There's a way to get around these sanctions and people have done that.

So these new sanctions are one way to go after the leakage and to squeeze out so that the Russian economy will have a difficult time manufacturing their missiles, manufacturing the war materials that they need in order to pursue this fight.

DEAN: All right, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, and Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you both for your time on this Sunday night. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: Thanks, Jessica.

TAYLOR: You bet, Jessica.

DEAN: Tonight on CNN, could the decades of tension between the U.S. and Iran result in even greater conflict in the Middle East? Fareed Zakaria investigating "WHY IRAN HATES AMERICA." It's tonight at 8:00.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:20]

DEAN: The influential political network associated with billionaire Charles Koch will no longer throw its money behind South Carolina governor Nikki Haley's presidential bid. The group Americans for Prosperity saying it will instead focus on key Senate and House races. Koch officials telling donors that Nikki Haley was the right candidate to back. Despite early losses to Trump, she has vowed to stay in the primary race until Super Tuesday, that is March 5th, when 15 states and American Samoa will vote.

But the 2024 presidential primaries are headed to the first big swing state of the campaign. And we're going to talk about that coming up in just a little bit. But first, Hunter Biden is scheduled to sit for a private deposition with the House Oversight Committee this week, but that date with the president's son was set before the arrest of the committee's key witness. Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant, has been indicted for lying about the Biden family and their alleged dealings in Ukraine and has been arrested twice.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen is joining us now.

Norm, it's always great to see you. So this committee is going to go ahead with Hunter Biden's deposition even as this case is unraveling before our eyes.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Jessica, the impeachment investigation has an impeachment in search of a high crime and misdemeanor, and that kind of backwards thinking where you decide to move against the president for what are obviously political reasons, has now backfired on Jim Comer and Jim Jordan and the others who are pushing this impeachment with the arrest of perhaps their key central, most important witness, Alexander Smirnov, is not only that he's accused of lying in the form 1023 that the impeachers worked so hard to get, knew it was not verified, but also that Russian intelligence had been passing him information.

There's no basis, legal basis to proceed with the Biden deposition. They're doing it anyhow. They're making a mockery of this impeachment inquiry.

DEAN: So it sounds like you're saying the chairman, James Comer, should just call it off, the deposition?

EISEN: That's too much to hope for in this partisan polarized day and age. Truth be told, Jessica, it should have been called off long ago.

[19:20:00]

As somebody myself who worked on the first impeachment of President Trump, has studied impeachments, written about them, this is one of the most baseless inquiries. There's been no evidence that President Joe Biden benefited in any way from any of this. That he's done anything wrong. Witness after witness has denied it. And now you have one of the GOP's key witnesses who's arrested for lying based on the allegations that they've been looking at. How much more do you need? But unfortunately, I don't think Chairman Comer is going to take my advice and just call the whole thing off.

DEAN: Let's talk about money for a second. Donald Trump was fined $355 million plus interest in his trial on falsifying business records, and that interest is now accruing more than $100,000 a day. It's something that Attorney General Letitia James is trolling him about on the platform we used to call Twitter, we now call X, every day doing that math for him. He's up to more than $464 million. And she's now threatening to seize his real estate assets if he doesn't pay up. So can she do that? When does he have to pay all of this? How does it work?

EISEN: Judgment was answered last week. That started a 30-day timetable for the former president to appeal this very large verdict. I have analyzed Judge Engoron's ruling of fact, the evidence that he is the legal basis, and it's going to be very tough to overturn on appeal. By the time you enter in interest on the other costs, because you can't just post a bond for the amount of the disgorgement plus the prejudgment interest, he's going to have to post the bond for the interests while he takes his appeal.

So that's going to push you to 110 percent to 120 percent, over $500 million. Another $100 million plus is going to be required for the E. Jean Carroll appeal most likely, but the AG will not make those aggressive moves until that 30-day period that has now started running runs out. Trump will undoubtedly -- he's asked the judged for a stay. The judge refused. He'll undoubtedly go to the court that is going to hear the appeal, the appellate division, the first department, to ask them for a stay because he needs more time to get that large sum together. And there are questions about whether he can get the cash or get a bond in that amount.

DEAN: Yes, it's a lot of money. All right, Norm Eisen, thanks so much. Good to see you.

EISEN: Thanks. Jessica.

DEAN: The Michigan primary is Tuesday and some Democrats are worried about how President Biden may fare against no one. We're talking with Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell about the reason behind a possible protest vote, what it could mean in the general election.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:24]

DEAN: The 2024 presidential primaries are headed to the first big swing state of the campaign this Tuesday, that would be Michigan. The Rust Belt State was key to President Joe Biden's victory back in 2020 and it was a very tight race then, you'll remember, starting in 2016, too. It could be even tighter this year as the war in Gaza threatens to erode Biden's support among the state's Arab and Muslim voters.

Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell is joining us now.

Congresswoman Dingell, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate you making time. We have heard some calls from some of your left-leaning colleagues to vote uncommitted on Tuesday in the Democratic primary. How big of a risk is this for the president's reelection push and how effective do you think those calls will be?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So good evening. It's good to be with you. I want to answer this question in several different ways. First of all, I'm one of the people -- I worked for 30 years to have a large state like Michigan, which has a diverse set of issues, be part of the early primary system so that we're talking about the issues now and not in October 15th before the November election. So it's good that these issues are being aired now.

Look, Michigan is a purple state. I say that to everybody. You will recall that I told everybody Donald Trump would win and I've started in 2015 and said it through '16 and I was right. We know what we got to do in this state. It's going to be purple until election day. It's not only the Arab-Americans that we've got a turnout, but young people, women and union workers. But there's also a lack of enthusiasm amongst some voters as well on the Republican side.

So we'll see what happens on Tuesday. But we're talking about the issues now and it's reinforcing with everybody when nobody believed me in 2015 and 2016. We've got work to do. We've got to roll up our sleeves and we got to do it. And we will.

DEAN: And so it sounds like what you're saying in a way is that because you're doing this early, because you get this moment to kind of take people's temperature now and -- well, it will be March by then, but before November, that if there is a big enough uncommitted vote or if that is something that does happen in big numbers, that that is going to be kind of a shock to the system for the Biden campaign even to say, hey, we need to focus on Michigan?

DINGELL: Look, I think everybody knows already that we have to focus on Michigan. There's no road to the White House. It does not go through here. And the President Biden knows that. And quite frankly so does Donald Trump. I think that we -- look, the people that are organizing listen to Michigan. Have a lot of humanitarian issues. They have families there. They are -- really there are issues that really matter to them. I don't think that President Biden needed an uncommitted vote. I think he's really been hearing them the last few weeks.

[19:30:16]

But I think what's more important is Tuesday isn't the election. We'll see how significant the uncommitted vote is, but Joe Biden is going to win on Tuesday, and it's November that we've got to focus on and we've got a lot of people we got to turn out, a lot of people are impacted by a number of issues.

DEAN: And so, Congresswoman, I know you talk to a lot of people in your district, what are they telling you?

You know, I feel like people always have advice or they say, well, the president is not doing this or we want to hear that. What are you hearing as you're talking to people about what they want to see if they're going to vote for Biden in the fall.

DINGELL: So there are a lot of different issues and there are issues that energize people.

The ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court on IVF is we might -- the prochoice or abortion was on the ballot in Michigan two years ago. We saw one of the highest voter turnouts. We set records two years ago.

And women thought that they were not going to have government interfere with their personal health care decisions, so that was done. And suddenly, they are understanding that if President Trump gets re- elected, that he could put a national ban on, and a lot of women do not believe the federal government or state government has any role in their own personal health care decisions. That's one issue.

You can't -- you've got a significant Arab-American community here and young people who are concerned about what's happening in the Mideast. We have to do a far better job of reminding people.

Right now people are raw. We need a ceasefire. The president is working for a temporary ceasefire. There are so many people here who have had family that is impacted.

But then, we've got to remind people of all the horrific things that Donald Trump said about Muslims. First thing he did was a Muslim travel ban. He's called them poison, vermin. He wants to keep a Muslim registry. I could go on.

We've got to remind people of that. And then we've got to get into union halls. We have to do -- all of us have to do a better job of comparing Donald Trump's record with Joe Biden's and show how Donald Trump talked, but didn't deliver and how Joe Biden has delivered and we all need to do a better job of talking about what you Joe Biden has delivered for the state.

DEAN: And we've seen the president start to lean in to a sharper attack after NATO. He called those comments around NATO that the former president said, he said it was weak. It was un-American, refusing to call out Putin around Navalny's death. But he also has kind of reserved some of his sharpest attacks for these private fundraisers or in rooms where he's not on camera.

Do you think he needs to be doing that more aggressively in front of the cameras? In front of a wide swath of voters?

DINGELL: Here is what I've said, you know, I've known Joe Biden for 40 years. I was -- we got married around the same time I was a young wife, and I've watched him.

We need to let Joe Biden be Joe Biden, and we need to get him out there. He's the most real authentic person I know. He cares. He is compassionate. He is empathetic.

And when people see him, they're going to know how sharp he is, what he cares about and how he is fighting for democracy. And the more they see Donald Trump and the rants and the way he's going off rails, and the more we see what President Joe Biden cares about, and cares about the future of this country and democracy, I think th8e people are really going to understand the startling choice that they have.

DEAN: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, we will look to your state in just a few days to see how it all shakes out in this primary. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

DINGELL: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, a dual US-Russian citizen jailed in Russia accused of treason. We are talking to the former mother-in-law of a detained ballerina about what their family is going through.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:17]

DEAN: All right, these are the last pictures we have of dual US- Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina who lived in Los Angeles, as she was detained by Russian authorities accused of treason. Her crime they say, donating $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the US. That is according to the California spa where she also worked.

She is now in Russian custody facing possibly 20 years in prison; the latest American to be detained by Russian police. And here with us now is her former mother-in-law, Eleanora Srebroski.

Thank you so much for your time tonight. We're really glad to have you on, but I wish it was under very, very different circumstances. What can you tell us about Ksenia.

ELEANORA SREBROSKI, FORMER MOTHER-IN-LAW OF KSENIA KARELINA: Thank you so much for the coverage. It has been impressive and we are grateful for them because we need the story to be on top.

So Ksenia came into our family back in 2012 as a student who was here in the United States on work and travel program, and she was here in Maryland, this is when my son met her, fall in love, and introduced her to the family.

So she is just an amazing girl, and it is probably not a very common case when ex-mother-in-law is speaking highly of someone whose relationship did not work in the family.

But, she is an amazing person, the kindest, the sweetest, just a delicate flower. I never heard one bad word from her mouth. So everybody who knows her. I don't know one exception from the room. They love her.

The minute she comes into the room, she brings love, light, positivity, -- anything bright and very loving and caring. This is who she is.

[19:40:15]

DEAN: And I understand you've kept in touch since she moved to LA. Did you know she was going to go visit family in Russia? Did this concern you? How did you find out about all of this?

SREBROSKI: Actually, I did not, but my son did. We all knew about the news, like everybody else on February the 20th. He knew that she was going to visit her immediate family.

I did not talk to her for a couple of months or more than a couple of months and I did not know that she was going there. If I had a chance to talk to her before her visit, I would definitely express my concerns.

DEAN: And just for people out there to remind them, Russia does not recognize dual citizenship. So, she has not been allowed to talk to any of the American diplomats or have consular services there. She is simply being held right now for treason, which is a very serious offense in Russia. Are you concerned about what happens to her, and if she can even ever get out of Russia?

SREBROSKI: Concerned is probably the very mild word for that. We are in shock. We are extremely worried, especially after the death of Alexei Navalny. We know how the jail in Russia and their laws or the absence of the laws work.

So that's why we are -- I don't want to criticize any of that, not to harm her, but we are worried so much. It's not now, the case when we have to talk about freedom. It's actually the case when we're talking about saving her life.

So that's why it's been multiple sleepless nights after we learned about the news and we are extremely, extremely worried, and that's why we're thankful that American mass media is bringing this case to the attention of public and we need this case to be on top and we need America to help. Russia is not going to do anything.

DEAN: And yes, and you're saying you're not even worried about her freedom, you're worried about saving her life. That's how dire you believe this is.

SREBROSKI: Yes.

DEAN: And I understand that. Treason is very serious there. Again, her alleged crime, donating some $51.80 to a Ukrainian fund. What is your message to American officials who might be watching?

SREBROSKI: I'm just trying to say and of course we are trying to contact multiple officials, I am trying to attract the attention to this matter, because we are all immigrants here and the United States of America is the country of immigrants.

And even though we are Russians and we are naturalized citizens, we still call this country our home and we love it and we are expecting to be protected.

So I am asking help on any level and I'm probably not very well politically educated what my next step will be, but I'm very thankful for the outrageous support and activists who reached out to us and offered help, so we are hoping that American officials will be moving in the direction of freeing her and we are expecting her to be back at home.

DEAN: Well, we certainly hope that for you all as well. Eleanora Srebroski, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We appreciate it and we wish you all well and we hope she's back with you soon.

SREBROSKI: Thank you so much.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:14]

DEAN: Tonight, the Biden administration is considering easing vehicle emissions rules it proposed last year. Those proposed rules would have required EVs to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the US by 2032. Sources tell CNN the move would give automakers more time to adapt, but environmental advocates say it would hurt efforts to curb climate change and legacy automakers are lagging behind.

Over the years, Democrats have primarily led the charge to fight climate change by reducing emissions but with green industries expanding, some Republican led states are racing to attract companies like electric vehicle makers. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Atlanta with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a sprawling state of the art facility in rural Georgia, the future is taking shape.

STUART COUNTESS, CEO, KIA GEORGIA: I think it's actually quite amazing how the electrification has really accelerated.

ROMO (voice over): Welcome to Kia Georgia, a 2,200-acre plant that's transforming to soon be able to mass produce an all-electric SUV called EV9.

It is a $200 million expansion to support the infrastructure that we needed to build that type vehicle, but it also created an additional 193 jobs here.

ROMO (voice over): Hyundai has also announced plans to mass produce electric cars in the southern state, and in early March, Rivian is scheduled to unveil an all-electric SUV that will be made in Georgia.

ROMO (on camera): This project here at Kia is one of dozens already in progress here in Georgia. According to state officials since 2020, there have been more than 45 different e-mobility projects, creating investments of more than $25 billion in the state.

ROMO (voice over): Georgia has enticed cars makers with tax incentives and infrastructure upgrades worth billions of dollars, all part of an ambitious plan by Governor Brian Kemp.

[19:50:07]

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): We could be the e-mobility leader in the country right here in Georgia.

ROMO (voice over): According to state figures, Georgia is sixth in the nation for public EV charging stations offering more than 1,500 individual outlets.

Some may find that puzzling that a Republican-led state is so focused on green technology, especially given that their party's leader is against it.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are a nation whose leaders are demanding all electric cars, even though they can't go far, cost too much, and whose batteries are produced in China with materials only available in China.

ROMO (voice over): Former President Donald Trump has pledged to put the brakes on electric vehicles, calling them a hoax on Truth Social and saying they will put automakers out of business.

ROMO (on camera): Are you concerned that a potential second Trump administration would do away with the work that you've done over the last -- since you've been in power? KEMP: If people like electric vehicles, they're going to buy one. If

they don't, they don't have to buy one. That's what -- I mean, that's the way I think. This is America, you can do what you want to.

ROMO (voice over): But calling it a hoax folks doesn't help, right?

KEMP: Well, look, I wouldn't want to speak to, you know, somebody's rhetoric on the issue. I can just speak to the business environment. Here, it is great.

TIM ECHOLS, VICE CHAIRMAN, GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION: They needed to learn to speak Republican.

ROMO (voice over): Promoting green technology makes total sense to Tim Echols, the vice chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, who describes himself as both super conservative and a believer of green technology.

He says not only Georgia but red states across the south, including Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee are all jumping on the green energy bandwagon.

ECHOLS: Our former president says a lot of things, but the previous tax credit for EVs that we had, he didn't touch.

ROMO (voice over): Meanwhile, industry leaders say they're focusing on consumer demand and expansion plans, regardless of what the political future may bring.

ROMO (on camera): At the national level, the auto industry has announced more than $120 billion in electric car investments, creating over 100,000 American jobs since 2015.

Rafael Romo, CNN at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:49]

DEAN: Las Vegas is known for its flashy headline acts -- Usher, Adele, the Super Bowl, but the desert city was once known for an endless parade of showgirls, infamous mafia figures, and visionary entrepreneurs.

The new CNN Original Series is taking you behind the scenes of Sin City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a pretty positive vibe in Las Vegas about mob. They were people who cared about Las Vegas. PAUL ANKA, ENTERTAINER: They were very much involved in the community.

It was just the casinos. They were invested in the churches, schools, real estate. They made that a functioning safe town. You could leave your doors open.

PAT GILL, FORMER LAS VEGAS SHOW GIRL: I look back on it now and I go, boy, were we lucky. We could walk around this town and nobody would touch us. They really paid attention to cheating and everything.

I remember being at the Riviera one time when they pulled this guy off the blackjack table, took him in the back of the room, and they broke all his fingers. I don't think he ever cheated again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In mob circles, Las Vegas became known as an open city. This is a place where there were no territories.

You had New York and Chicago and Cleveland and Kansas City and all these different syndicates had investments here. Everybody could win in Las Vegas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining us now is one of the show's executive producers, Richard Zoglin.

Richard, great to see you.

RICHARD ZOGLIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "VEGAS: THE STORY OF SIN CITY": Thanks for having me.

DEAN: In the early part of the 20th century, Vegas was the sparse, dusty desert town we were seeing video of it there. Who came up with this idea to turn it into a pleasure palace? Why did it work so well?

ZOGLIN: Well, I think it started in 1931 when the state of Nevada legalized gambling, became the first state in the country to have gambling. And at the same time that same year, construction began on Hoover Dam, the biggest public works project in the history of the country, drawing thousands of people, workers to the area and what did they do on Saturday night? They went into Las Vegas, downtown Las Vegas, gambled, drank and that was sort of the beginning of the reputation of Vegas as a fun city.

But then in the 40s and 50s is when the Big Hotel started to get built up along The Strip just outside of downtown. And they had a great idea, to get people into the casinos, they hired major entertainers.

The big entertainers drew more people in the casinos, which made big amounts of money, which enabled them to hire even better entertainers. So pretty soon, Vegas was the entertainment capital of the country.

DEAN: It is so fun to watch you all kind of trace the history. I'm really looking forward to watching it all, and the old video, too.

Richard Zoglin, thanks so much for stopping by. We'll be watching. We appreciate it. ZOGLIN: Thanks a lot.

DEAN: Well, the new CNN Original Series: "Vegas: The Story of Sin City" premieres tonight on CNN at 10:00 PM, which will be a lot of fun.

And I want to thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. The Fareed Zakaria special: "Why Iran Hates America" starts right now.