Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: U.S. State of the Union; President Biden Delivers Fiery, Forceful, Political Speech; Israel-Hamas War; Biden Calls for Two-State Solution, More Air for Gaza. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 08, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So let's build the future together. Let's remember who we are. We are the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think if you look at the hostage negotiations, I think it's a mistake to think they're over. There are still conversations going on. There's still back and forth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Families need closure. The world needs closure. And somebody needs to be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world and the U.S.. I'm Max Foster.

And I'm Bianca Nobilo. It's Friday, March 8th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Washington, DC, where Joe Biden delivered what could be his last State of the Union address.

FOSTER: That's if he loses, of course, in the coming election. A CNN poll found six out of 10 Americans who watched had a positive reaction. With more than a third reacting very positively.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD CHEERING: Four more years. Four more years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joe Biden entered the joint session of Congress to rousing cheers of four more years. He touched on a tremendous amount of contentious issues. Everything from the war in Ukraine, to reproductive rights, to AI, and the crisis in Gaza. And that's just for starters, with the Vice President and House Speaker over his shoulders. FOSTER: Yes, during the address, the U.S. President attacked Donald

Trump's actions over and over without ever uttering his name. Instead, referring to Trump as, my predecessor, 13 times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Now my predecessor. A former Republican president tells Putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. That's a quote. A former president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader, I think it's outrageous, it's dangerous, and it's unacceptable.

My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6th. I will not do that. This is the moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies. Here's the simple truth. You can't love your country only when you win.

My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He's the reason it was overturned, and he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted.

I will not demonize immigrants saying they are poison in the blood of our country. I will not separate families.

My predecessor told the NRA, he's proud he did nothing on guns when he was president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: In his rebuttal to Mr. Biden's State of the Union address, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump condemned President Biden over the southern U.S. border using his oft-used anti- immigration rhetoric. In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized his successor for undoing his immigration policies.

FOSTER: Border security was an issue raised in the Republican rebuttal as well. Alabama Senator Katie Britt called Biden a dithering and diminished leader in remarks delivered from her kitchen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): President Biden inherited the most secure border of all time. But minutes after taking office, he suspended all deportations. He halted construction of the border wall, and he announced a plan to give amnesty to millions. We know that President Biden didn't just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But President Biden says it's Republicans who have torpedoed bipartisan border reforms.

NOBILO: He says they owe it to the American people to get this bill done. CNN's MJ Lee reports from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We knew, of course, heading into this evening what the major issues and the themes were that the president wanted to hit on. What we didn't know was whether he was going to actually land the delivery.

[04:05:00]

You know, there was an interesting moment when he got into the House chamber and got to the podium, and before he started delivering his speech, he said and joked: If I were smart, I'd go home now.

You could easily imagine that some of the aides that were watching the speech probably had that voice in the back of their heads. But what I am told in the conversations I've had tonight with campaign officials and White House officials is that they were very, very pleased with the way that the president was able to deliver this very important speech.

I'm told that there was applause and cheers both here at the White House and at the Wilmington campaign headquarters where aides were gathered around televisions to watch the State of the Union remarks.

Aides are telling me that they felt like the delivery was high-energy, that the president landed some of his major lines. They appreciated the banter that he had with some of the Republican lawmakers when things got a little bit more raucous as the president was trying to call them out for congressional inaction and some of their policy positions.

They also felt like there were no major mistakes throughout the course of this lengthy speech. And one campaign official that I was speaking to said one thing they appreciated was what they felt like was sort of a split-screen moment and split-screen moments that they saw playing throughout the evening where the president would talk about some of the accomplishments of this White House and the administration, things like removing lead pipes, things like taking on Big Pharma. And they liked that Republican lawmakers in some of those moments didn't stand up to cheer for some of those policies.

That sort of gets to the contrast that, of course, the president and this White House really wanted to use the speech to draw between Democrats and Republicans. And because this was a speech where the delivery was going to be so important and probably just as important as the actual awards that the president said, that was one of the major reasons that I think both here at the White House and at the campaign headquarters, aides were feeling really, really good about the president's third State of the Union speech.

MJ Lee, CNN, at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Leslie Vinjamuri is the director of the U.S. and America's Programme at Chatham House International think tank. Staying up late last night, Leslie, thank you for getting up early for us today. I mean, it was, did feel, in terms of Biden, as a very punchy speech, didn't it, in terms of style, but also substance, you know, tough words on Israel, for example, as well.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, DIRECTOR, U.S. AND AMERICA'S PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Absolutely. And, you know, he, the president began really very clearly with democracy, with values, with the attack on democracy by Vladimir Putin and the need to defend Ukraine. And then he pivoted to the assault on democracy in the United States and the importance of defending democracy, the values really were clear throughout.

And he ends on them, too, saying that we haven't always lived up to our idea that Americans are equal, that equality is essential, but we've never given up on the idea. And that contrast, again, you know, we've talked about the use of the word predecessor. He talked about the alternative set of values, revenge and retribution, and really, you know, draws that very clear line in the sand.

And then, of course, you know, as we anticipated, a very significant part of that speech being about the value, the delivery, the focus on working class Americans, on middle class Americans, on protecting them from further tax increases.

But, and here again, another real line in the sand with Donald Trump, that he will raise taxes on wealthy Americans and on corporate America. That is a bold choice to put right out there when, you know, we are now in a moment where that race is very clearly going to be between Donald Trump and Joe Biden and where traditionally economics matter a lot and where getting business and wealthy Americans on side is going to be important.

NOBILO: Leslie, it's not typical for U.S. presidential candidates to have huge amounts of success leaning heavily into foreign policy issues, but Biden did emphasize Ukraine. He spoke about what was happening in Israel and America's position in the world in that sense. How do you think that would have resonated with the various audiences of this speech? Because, of course, there's the immediate one in front of him, then there's the voting public in America, and then there's the world at large.

VINJAMURI: Yes, I think that the president and obviously those people advising him and looking at the polls and looking at public opinion understand that if you go back to that moment when Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans were deeply supportive of Ukraine, of America's defense and spending on that.

[04:10:21]

And I think there's a strong suspicion grounded in evidence that that's defense and spending on that. And I think there's a strong suspicion grounded in evidence that that support is a function of leadership that Americans care about that value.

And comparing it again to 1941, he takes it back to World War II and America's role in the world. So I think it was actually very powerful.

On Israel and Gaza, we know that the president is struggling with young voters, with Arab American voters. We saw the non-committed voters in Michigan and in Minnesota. And we're seeing a very careful line still, but those words of, you know, support for Palestinians and calling on Israel to respect the lives of civilians, talking about getting more humanitarian relief in, it won't be enough for those who feel very passionately about Palestine and the protection of civilians. It's not enough for the people on the ground, but it is a significant move and that was a very powerful message last night.

NOBILO: Lesley Vinjamuri, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

NOBILO: And CNN correspondent, Kristie Lou Stout, joins us now from Hong Kong to discuss more of that international reaction.

Kristie, this was a fiery State of the Union speech as Max was saying, and the president didn't mince his words about China, which is an issue that looms very large for both Biden and his presumptive challenger, Donald Trump. What did he say?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Joe Biden really flexed American might in this speech. He said that the U.S. was stronger than China in the State of the Union.

And even though he did reiterate what we always hear from him and his Biden administration officials that the U.S. wants competition with China, not conflict. He said that the U.S. will win the competition for the 21st century against China or anyone else. Biden said that American is standing up against China in terms of both trade, in terms of foreign affairs. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're standing up against China's unfair economic practices. We're standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. I revitalized our partnership and alliance in the Pacific. I've made sure that the most advanced American technology can't be used in China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: And those really strong comments come right on the heels of strong words from Beijing on Thursday when we heard the foreign minister slam U.S. trade policy and tech policy. This happened on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing, as reported here on CNN. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he criticized the United States for what he called a bewildering level of trade curbs.

And Wang also said this -- I'm going to bring up his words for you.

He said: If the U.S. is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.

Now, some background here. The Biden administration has been limiting China's ability to access sensitive technology, high-end technology like chips and semiconductors over the fear that such technology could be used to bolster the Chinese military. And the U.S. has also used sanctions against China, against a number

of Chinese actors over a full slate of issues, from allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to the illicit fentanyl trade, to support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And Wang did say yesterday that there were some improvements in the relationship, especially since that meeting between Biden and Xi in San Francisco in APEC in November.

And we have seen improvement in the tone of this relationship. High- level military communications have resumed. A working group has been set up to stop the flow of fentanyl and fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States.

But last month, it was Wang Yi who called on the U.S. to lift sanctions. That is a sore point in this relationship. So that, along with the tough language that we heard this week in Beijing, as well as in Washington just a few hours ago, all of this coming together to remind us of just the diplomatic challenges that remain in this very, very critical relationship. Max and Bianca, back to you guys.

NOBILO: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong for us, thank you.

FOSTER: During his State of the Union address, President Biden announced he's directed the U.S. military to establish a temporary port in Gaza for aid deliveries.

NOBILO: It's not clear when the port would be up and running. Some reports do suggest a month, perhaps two, would be needed. And it, of course, needs Israel's buy-in.

Israel, for its part, has prepared a new land crossing directly into northern Gaza, and that is according to a senior U.S. official.

FOSTER: And it comes as the U.S. and Jordan carried out a third airdrop of food and supplies to Gaza on Thursday. The U.N. welcomed these efforts, though one official called it a drop in the ocean of what's needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:00]

GEORGIOS PETROPOULOS, HEAD OF GAZA SUB-OFFICE, OCHA: Of course, any kind of maritime corridor would be good, but I think we have to be clear that roads are going to be the only solution for the amount and acuteness of hunger that we now have, especially in north Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meanwhile, it appears a cease fire and hostage deal is unlikely to happen before Ramadan begins on Sunday evening. The CIA director is in the Middle East right now for more negotiations. The U.S. has been pushing for a deal before Ramadan, as Israel had threatened a ground offensive in Rafah if there isn't a deal in place by that time. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Thursday after days of talks with no apparent breakthroughs. Egypt's state-run media, citing a senior source, says negotiations are expected to resume next week. Here's how the U.S. ambassador to Israel described the state of those talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK LEW, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: I think if you look at the hostage negotiations, I think it's a mistake to think they're over. There are still conversations going on. There's still back and forth.

Everyone's looking towards Ramadan, which is coming close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: OK, let's bring in Elliott, in the studio, looking at the Israeli response. I'm just wondering how -- you know, he was pretty punchy, wasn't he, on Gaza, Biden in his speech. How would that have gone down in Israel?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: I don't think President Biden said anything that much different from what he said already. I mean, he's trying to tread this very delicate line, and it's not necessarily clear that he's managing to do so successfully. Between getting Muslim voters on board in terms of the U.S.'s push to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and to remind Israel constantly about the need to, you know, take extra care when it comes to civilian casualties.

And at the same time wanting to obviously appeal to Jewish voters to make sure to show them, look -- and he said this in his speech -- that he's the first U.S. president to go to Israel during wartime, that he's, you know, that they've showed their support for Israel and its objective to defend itself, to destroy Hamas, and to free those hostages.

And he even said, look, he said that the onus, it's in Hamas' hands right now, and he said that Hamas could end this law tomorrow if it were to free the 100 or so hostages that Israel believes are still alive and held in captivity in Israel, lay down its weapons, and hand over those responsible for the October 7 terrorist attacks.

Now, that's obviously a nonstarter as far as Hamas is concerned, but I think, as I say, Biden is trying to tread this line. Where the paths obviously diverge is, of course, his reiteration of U.S. support for a two-state solution, something that the current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is dead set against. And we had that plan for the day after from Netanyahu just the other week, talking effectively about Israel maintaining a presence and freedom of operation in the Gaza Strip for as long as is necessary.

NOBILO: We've had increasing public pressure from senior figures like the British Foreign Secretary and also Joe Biden over the last week when it comes to this hostage and ceasefire deal. As we just said, it doesn't look like that's on the immediate horizon. Where do things stand? GOTKINE: We heard from the U.S. ambassador just now, no breakdown but

no breakthrough either. And that's not the first time that, you know, I've sat here and we've said this during these talks which have been going on for weeks now, and the hope that President Biden expressed when he was in that ice cream shop in Michigan, I think it was, that a deal was going to be done by last Monday. Well, that obviously came and went. And then the unofficial deadline moved to Ramadan, which starts on Sunday. Well, the chance of that happening before then are vanishingly small, despite, as President Biden said in his address yesterday, despite his best efforts.

NOBILO: And just remind us and our viewers why there was this emphasis on trying to achieve some form of deal before Ramadan. What could the implications be for people in Gaza?

GOTKINE: So it's not just the implications for people in Gaza but also for the region for the simple -- well, two things. First of all, Israel has said that if a deal wasn't done in time for Ramadan that it would start a ground operation in Rafah, which it sees as the last stronghold of Hamas with those four battalions.

And just yesterday, in fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing troops saying that we will continue to operate where we need to and that includes Rafah.

A deal not being done, that I don't think necessarily means that, OK, as soon as Ramadan starts, you know, Israeli tanks are going to start rolling into Rafah, but Israel says it will go in. So that's one issue.

The other issue, of course, is that Ramadan, the holy month of Ramadan, is always a time of increased tensions, certainly in Israel, and there's every possibility that tensions could spill over into violence, particularly around the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Haram al- Sharif, which is the third holiest site in Islam, known to Israelis as Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. That's always a potential site for violence during Ramadan.

And I suppose the concern is that in the absence of any kind of deal now that those tensions could boil over and could lead to escalations, whether it's on the northern border with the Iranian back to Hezbollah or elsewhere in the region. And because tensions are obviously incredibly high and Ramadan just heightens those tensions even.

FOSTER: Just on this, if viewers will remember, the aid convoy going into Gaza and the many people that died as a result of that in the aftermath, and there has been an investigation from the Israeli side that's come out.

[04:20:00]

GOTKINE: Yes, so this was a couple of hours ago, initial findings from the Israeli investigation. I'll be honest with you, it hasn't really revealed much more than what Israel has been saying all along, namely that the stampede that occurred around this aid convoy in northern Gaza occurred before Israeli forces opened fire on a number of Palestinians that approached their tanks, that approached their troops, they opened fire, warning shots, they fired, and then they continued to approach.

And then they say that they've been precise shots on a number of Palestinians there -- on a small number of Palestinians there. And they say that this stampede was caused by about 12,000 Palestinians they say were swarming around these aid trucks, which is, you know, further evidence of the desperation of these Palestinians to get much- needed aid, especially in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. So for now, Israel is maintaining that it did not cause the large number, just the more than 100.

FOSTER: It wasn't the shots fired at Palestinians that started it, that's what they're saying.

GOTKINE: They're saying that the sequence of events, effectively, the Israeli stampede, warning shots, and that they did not fire on the people that were killed around the convoy. Eyewitnesses we spoke to at the time have a different version of events. And indeed a U.N. team that visited hospitals in the aftermath there say that most of the wounded that they saw, many wounded that they saw, were there because of gunshot wounds.

FOSTER: OK, thank you so much, Elliott.

And now, just ahead, no longer neutral, Sweden is taking sides, and it's joined the NATO alliance.

NOBILO: Also ahead, the U.S. president echoes a sentiment from 1941 to make a case for more aid for Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Russia is apparently setting its sights on new targets following its recent capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka.

FOSTER: Kyiv says Moscow is now concentrating troops near three more towns in eastern Ukraine, including Lyman and Chasiv Yar.

NOBILO: Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is headed to Turkey today for talks with his Turkish counterpart. Among other things, they're expected to discuss the Black Sea Grain Agreement, which Turkey has been trying to revive.

FOSTER: In Washington, President Biden used his State of the Union speech to push Congress to pass a Ukraine aid bill. He referenced the famous Four Freedoms Address by former President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 to make a point that democracy is under attack both at home and abroad. Nick Paton Walsh has more from Odessa in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We didn't have some magical new policy wheeled out here to get over that Republican roadblock, and indeed, the Republicans and their rebuttal didn't even seem to address this heartily themselves either. So I think Ukrainians will hear some sense of backing for how prominently Ukraine was in his discussion there and how he sounded that alarm about what an imminent threat that is for U.S. security as well.

That 1941 comparison, you know, it's stark, frankly, to stand there and say we are on the brink of potentially another world war. Not exactly the words he used, but the timing, you've got to bear in mind. Three years after 1941 came 1944.

[04:25:00]

And while Biden said he doesn't want American troops on the ground here in Ukraine, his plan is not for that, by 1944, they certainly were. So I think it's a deeply serious series of comments we heard about Ukraine.

But again, no way of getting round that roadblock. The $60 billion isn't suddenly here. There are other mechanisms potentially for frozen Russian assets that have been floated. That wasn't put out tonight. And so I think maybe some Ukrainians seeing him there essentially pointed the finger again at Republicans for not getting the aid through, despite reminding everybody how utterly dire it is right now. They need that aid, not in a few months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: It is official. Abandoning its long-held neutrality, Sweden is now the newest member of NATO. In Washington on Thursday, the Swedish prime minister formally handed over accession documents to the U.S. State Department. That's the last step in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ULF KRISTERSSON, SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER: We are humble, but we are also proud. We will live up to high expectations from all NATO allies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed the Scandinavian country to reconsider its defense policy and become the alliance's 32nd member. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the news, calling the addition a win for everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, it is important to note that one more country in Europe has become more protected from Russian evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Ten years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, families of those on board the plane hope a new search may finally solve this mystery. A live report for you from Hong Kong after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Well, today marks the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. And earlier this week, the Malaysian government said it may renew the search for that doomed flight.

NOBILO: Families of those who perished on that flight have urged officials to relaunch the search. Aviation experts tell CNN improved detection technology could help them find out what happened.

FOSTER: In the early hours of March 8th, 2014, Flight MH370 was heading to Beijing. But after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, it dropped off radar after turning unexpectedly to the west, then vanishing. Fragments of the aircraft have washed up on the eastern coast of Africa, but the plane and its black boxes have never been found.

NOBILO: Let's bring in.