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Biden Allies Push for Fiery State of the Union Speech; Gaza Ceasefire Talks at Standstill Ahead of Ramadan Deadline. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired March 07, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:13]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Tonight, President Biden will deliver what could be the most consequential speech of his presidency as he looks to sell a second term to the American people and contrast his message with Donald Trump's vision of revenge and retribution.

Tonight's high-stakes State of the Union comes as the president trails his GOP rival in a slew of recent polls that indicate some nagging anxieties about Mr. Biden's age. The big question, will the president take some of that uneasiness head on with a fiery performance, leading Democrats say that is long overdue, telling CNN the American people who need to see the real Biden who behind closed doors called Putin a crazy SOB, that's a quote, curses Trump and blasts MAGA Republicans as extremists.

And joining me now is Neera Tanden. She is the domestic policy advisor to President Biden. Neera, good morning, happy State of the Union Day. Good to see you as always.

Let me ask you. I mean, this is the president's final State of Union speech before this upcoming election. What are we going to see tonight?

NEERA TANDEN, DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, I think you're going to the President in fighting form, talking about what he's accomplished for the American people, what is delivered on lower cost, prescription drugs, millions of jobs, more people covered by health insurance than any time in American history, but he's also going to lay out his agenda for the future and a whole host of issues and really fundamentally lay out the stakes, what he is fighting for and what other people may be fighting and why his agenda is the one that really serves the American people.

ACOSTA: And, Neera, I mean, one issue that's on a lot of Americans minds is inflation. It has cooled. I mean, the data shows that. It's clear. But it continues to be a thorn in the side for many Americans. I'm sure you've seen people putting on social media how much it costs to get a burger at Five Guys and so on and prices are still high. They haven't come back to levels we saw before the pandemic. What's the president's plan to deal with that tonight?

TANDEN: Well, let me just take one example. He's going to talk about what he has done but then also what he is going to do to lower costs. The example I have is prescription drugs. This administration has been more than anyone in history, any president in history to lower the cost of prescription drugs, $35 insulin, giving Medicare the power to negotiate ten drugs in the first year.

And he's going to talk about how he wants to dramatically expand that to 500 drugs over the next decade to lower costs for seniors. But he also is going talk how we need to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 for a prescription. He's going to talk about it. He's going cap costs for health care and prescription drugs, $2,000 for all Americans.

And so that's a way in which he is really focused on ensuring that we're lowering costs for All Americans in an area where we know it's high concern. Health care costs have been one of the top concerns of American people, and he'll really outline his agenda there.

ACOSTA: And I do want to talked about the border, because we saw the president make that high-profile trip to the border. It was also the same day we saw Donald Trump down there at the border. And, I mean, obviously, he's going to want to call some attention to the fact that there was a bipartisan deal sitting in Congress, Republicans in the House and the Senate balked at even though some of their more conservative members negotiated it. Are we going to see the president call out Republicans on that tonight and might we see president talk about taking some executive action on that issue?

TANDEN: Well I think the President is going to lay out what was at stake with the border bill and why it was important to secure the border. He had a plan with Republicans that was secure, secure the border and also was fair and humane. But it took strong actions and, honestly, was only stopped for politics.

And I think the president will really lay out why stopping progress on a real problem for the American people only because of politics is wrong. That's not the way he conducts as presidency, that's not what the American people want and that is also one of the choices we have, whether we are going to put politics above progress.

ACOSTA: But I guess that begs the question, if the president can't get it done with the other party right now in Congress, I mean, they've said they want to make it a campaign issue, Donald Trump has said he wants it to be a campaigning issue.

[10:05:04]

Why not take executive action? Why not do that tonight?

TANDEN: Well, I'm not going to preview what the president will say tonight, but the president has taken strong actions on the border, but he has also said, we know that the best way to secure the border is from legislative action. And we also know this because Republicans had called for it for years. And when they had a solution on the table, they chose to ignore it only because of politics. So, that doesn't stop us from doing everything we can at the border, but the president has been acting.

Now it's time for Congress to act. It's time for Congress to put people and our problems over their petty politics. And that's what the president will talk about tonight.

ACOSTA: Is he going to mention Donald Trump? I mean, a lot of a lot of Democrats, and this is reflected in some new reporting today from our Isaac Dovere, a lot of Democrats want to see the president go after Donald Trump as this general election campaign is getting started. Are we going to see that tonight?

TANDEN: I think the president will be very clear about what's at stake. When he talks about freedoms and democracy, he will be very clear about the stakes that this country is facing in this moment in history. When it comes to women's reproductive rights, when it comes to whether we're going to have a strong democracy or really cede to autocratic forces.

And I think that really means that he will say, and it will be clear to everyone, why it's important for people to be engaged and why these issues really matter. Because, fundamentally, it's about America's future and Americans' future, and he knows that and has to lay that out tonight. And I think he will be strong in making the case of the choices people have right now.

ACOSTA: And, Neera, I mean, one issue that has just flared up in recent days is this issue of IVF. And it's a very important and critical option for a lot of Americans across the country. I think a lot of Americans were probably surprised at what took place down in Alabama, where that option basically was no longer available because of the local politics in that state, stemming from the Dobbs decision, of course, to some extent.

Is the president going to address that tonight, this anxiety over IVF being available to Americans?

TANDEN: I think it'll be clear. We are happy to have a full, robust number of people in the box with the first lady, and one of the people in the box is a woman who really is -- who her life has been upended by what's happened in Alabama. And this is a woman who wants to start a family, desperately wants to get pregnant. And because of the ideological opposition to Roe and the ideological agenda of some people, she no longer has that ability.

And there's a lot of chaos in Alabama now. Women are really faced with desperate choices, and that was part and parcel of what taking down Roe meant, and I think the stakes on that issue will be clear as well.

A lot of people talked about this before Roe, before the Dobbs decision. A lot of people said the natural challenge, there will be natural impact on IVF, and many of us were poo-pooed when we said that.

And I think what the president will say today is this is the kind of fundamental freedom that is at stake right now. We can actually protect women's dignity, we can protect -- we can restore Roe, or we can leave women to the chaos of various state actions to undermine their ability to control their reproductive freedom, and even decide when they can start a family.

ACOSTA: And, Neera, finally, I know you're on the domestic policy side of things, but I have to ask. I mean, there's a lot of anger, even in the president's party, over his handling of the Israel-Hamas War and on what is taking place in Gaza. The vice president has been vocal in calling for a ceasefire. Will the president call for a ceasefire tonight, an immediate and lasting cease-fire?

TANDEN: Well, I am on the Domestic Policy Council, but I can say really forcefully from our perspective that it is important that we hear from all Americans on these issues. The president has done that. That's a foreign policy issue. I'll defer to my foreign policy colleagues. But most, fundamentally, it's critical that the president understands, and he does, he understands the anxiety and concerns of all Americans about what's happening in Gaza and what's happened with this war.

And so he's taken a variety of actions. I'll leave it to my National Security Council colleagues to answer, to discuss those. But he is a person who understands the pain of all Americans as they watch television at night, and he's taking actions to address that.

ACOSTA: All right. Neera Tanden, thank you very much. And I know that feeling I saw at the beginning of the interview, you might have been fighting through some of the noise in the tent next to you. I remember from my White House days having to do that as well.

[10:10:00]

But, Neera Tanden, always welcome on the program, thanks for coming on, I really appreciate it, and good luck tonight.

TANDEN: I appreciate your understanding.

ACOSTA: I know that feeling. All right, Neera, thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

TANDEN: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. In the meantime, eight organizations are resorting to air drops to get basic necessities into Gaza. We were just talking about that issue a few moments ago. We're going to dive into it again, as health officials there say, cases of malnutrition and dehydration are surging.

Up next, I'll be joined by acclaimed chef and humanitarian, there he is right there, Jose Andres, on what he is doing to help. That's next.

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ACOSTA: New this morning, negotiations between Israel and Hamas are now at a standstill, and hope is fading to reach a ceasefire deal ahead of Ramadan, which starts on Sunday.

[10:15:06]

Caught in the middle, the people of Gaza, who are starving amid Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas. The head of the World Health Organization said this morning that children who managed to survive the bombardment may not survive famine.

We want to warn you, that next story is very distressing but it's important to show. CNN's Nada Bashir takes us inside a Gaza hospital and captures the pain as families are now losing their children to starvation.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Tiny limbs, bones protruding, the constant sound of crying from children now facing starvation in Gaza.

In this overrun hospital ward, anxious mothers watch on as doctors provide whatever care they still can. But for some there is nothing more to be done.

Three-year-old Mila (ph), who had been suffering from acute malnutrition, now another victim of this merciless war.

She was healthy, there was nothing wrong with her before, Mila's mother says, then suddenly everything dropped she wasn't anything. We had no milk, no eggs, nothing. She used to eat eggs every day before the war but now we have nothing.

Across Gaza too many are feeling the pain of this deepening hunger crisis, small children emaciated and malnourished.

These were little Yazan's (ph) final moments. His tiny fingers gripped in his mother's hand. He, like Mila, would not make it.

Others are still just barely holding on but there is no telling how long they will survive.

Standing beside Mila's body, Dr. Ahmed Salim (ph) says many children at this hospital are now dying due to a lack of food and oxygen supplies. With limited aid getting in, many have grown desperate, searching for food wherever they can.

Nine-year-old Muhammad (ph) says he walks for about a mile every day to collect water for his family.

You seem sad. Why? This journalist asks him. Because of the war, he says. It is all too much.

On Tuesday, U.N. experts accused Israel of intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza, noting that the Israeli military is now targeting both civilians seeking aid and humanitarian convoys.

Israel has denied targeting civilians and says that there is, quote, no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza. But the reality on the ground paints a very different picture.

There is no food, no water, no flour, cooking oil or anything, this woman says. Death is better than this.

According to a senior UN official, at least a quarter of Gaza's population is now said to be just one step away from famine.

With aid agencies facing overwhelming obstacles in getting the bare minimum of supplies into Gaza, and as Israel's ground offensive threatens to push further into the strip's densely populated south, time is quickly running out.

While international efforts to airdrop humanitarian supplies have provided some respite, it is simply not enough, with stalling negotiations leaving a little hope for an end to the suffering and hunger of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And our thanks to Nada for that very important report.

One group carrying out airdrops of aid like you just saw in Nada's piece is World Central Kitchen Chef Jose Andres, he joins me now. Chef, thank you so much for being with us. I really appreciate it.

I mean, you just saw a Nada's piece, some of the awful images there of children starving. You've been on the ground, your team is on ground. What's it like there?

JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Well, it's what you see. Obviously, the place I've being is in the south, in Rafah. Those images are on north. The north is where the real need is. Why are we trying to use every opportunity we have to deliver food in the north like these planes? An initiative that began by the king of Jordan, King Abdullah, for he is the one that began doing it for his own hospitals that needed food and needed medicine.

[10:20:08]

And I'm somehow very glad that this has expanded to more planes. But, again, this is only a drop of water in an ocean of need. More needs to be done. We need to make sure that more trucks are able to flow in. This should be a very simple solution. If Israel allow other entry points, all of a sudden we can bring enough trucks to make sure that everybody is fed, that everybody has medicine, that everybody has access to water.

ACOSTA: And during Nada's piece, I mean, we saw obviously the children who were suffering right now, but we also saw images of these trucks lined up trying to get in, and you've been in Rafah. I mean, what's it like when the trucks come in and the people want to get that food right away? It obviously creates a very volatile situation.

ANDRES: Well, it's a lot of complications. It's -- everybody needs to be checking those trucks. Egyptians check the trucks, Israelis check the trucks, then Palestinian they need to keep changing from truck to truck, believe it or not. Then you have to get to the U.N. security zone where again they will be moved sometimes once again to track. Then those trucks need to be rich in camps, warehouses, kitchens, and what you find sometimes is people in need that they use get all over the trucks and they start getting the food so those trucks are not able to deliver to have a normal functioning of the humanitarian system.

Imagine, this only in Rafah. Imagine when you are trying to reach the very north. That's why very often we hear that during days, sometimes weeks, no humanitarian aid reaches the north, that's where you see those images.

World Central Kitchen, obviously we have 64 kitchens with community organizations, plus one more on our own. We have a plan to build a total of 100 kitchens all the way to the north. But in order to fulfill all the food needs that those kitchens need to keep making sure that every kitchen needs to have to feed the people surrounding that kitchen, we need a constant flow of food, constant flow of water and this, unfortunately, is not happening. Some days has been the case that no truck has reached into Gaza and that puts us behind.

ACOSTA: And talk about the airdrops of food into Gaza. I mean, we have some images of the work that your team is doing there. We've seen, I mean, in Nada's piece, some of this is obviously going on. I guess that we have to see airdrops because of the issue with the trucks. Is that it? And is this just an easier way of doing it? Can you talk about it? I mean, it's not easy.

ANDRES: I know it's been some criticisms by other organizations of why there are drops. In any case, I will clap at the initiative of the king of Jordan from being the one that really began these. More countries have joined. But, again, it's a drop in an ocean of war.

But this shows you how big is the need that countries will think it's the right thing to do to do food drops. Today, three hours ago, we were able to drop ourselves 48,000 meals. I know World Food Program also used some of the planes with a total of eight to ten planes that took off. My God, I wish we didn't have to do this. It's expensive to do airdrops. But if you have --

ACOSTA: There must be a lot of coordination you have to work through to.

ANDRES: But if you have the military that have the planes and they're willing to do this, and we are able to reach the north and deliver some meals that are necessary so children like this will not perish, I think it's worth every effort.

Obviously, right now, as we speak, we have this plan with the Emirates. We're trying to arrive to the beaches of Gaza, but that also requires a lot of coordination. Imagine how desperate we must be to be thinking that we need to be sending food by the air, and now thinking like we need to arrive to the beaches of Gaza to start bringing big quantities of food. We can end this humanitarian disaster yesterday. Only we need to make sure that we use every resource we have to bring food and water to the people of Gaza.

ACOSTA: And do you have any insights into some of these clashes that we've seen around these trucks? I mean, you and I have talked about this a little bit. Are they avoidable?

ANDRES: Well, they are avoidable if we were able to bring massive quantities of food. I saw it in Syria after the earthquake. If people don't have food and you arrive with one truck, everybody is going to come around you.

If you show up every day, all of a sudden, everything is much more calm. It's been cases of the trucks running, obviously, over people when they are delivering in the middle of the night. It's been cases that sometimes some of the guards protecting the trucks have shot.

Obviously, we've seen what happened the other day. It seems the situation with the Israeli, with the IDF. It's many, many situations. They are avoidable if we keep bringing food to the north. We are doing something like what's very important.

We've been talking to the Mukhtars, the wise men of the tribes, that they've been there for centuries.

[10:25:02]

We are establishing those contacts. We're talking, obviously, to them. They have, in a way, the key to make sure all this happens in a more organized way. We need to be talking to the true tribesmen, the leaders inside Gaza, that they are the ones that want to be included in how to deliver humanitarian aid in a calm way, in an organized way. Let's hope more tribes will go in. Let's make sure that we can end this humanitarian crisis tomorrow.

ACOSTA: And the State of the Union is tonight. What would you like to hear the president say? Not that you're writing his speech for him, but what would you like to hear him say about this?

ANDRES: Well, the humanitarian crisis should stop, that food and water is a universal right, and that no person should be going hungry. I hope that he will push for a ceasefire. I hope, yes, he can say, we need to be protecting our partner, Israel, but you can also be protecting the men and women and children of Palestine today.

ACOSTA: All right. Chef Jose Andres, I always appreciate it. Thank you very much, my friend. Best of luck to you. Godspeed.

And for more information about how you can help the humanitarian efforts in Gaza, go to cnn.com/impact or text relief to 707070 to donate. And we'll be right back

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