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In Order to Achieve Peace, Sen. Schumer Advocates for Two-State Solution; 2024 Russian Election; As Russia Prepares for Predictable Presidential Election, Putin Expected to Win 5th Term; Don Lemon: Elon Musk Canceled Deal Hours After Interview; Major Progress Achieved Despite Loss of SpaceX's Starship; Jury Deliberating in the Trial of James Crumbley, Father of Michigan School Shooter. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired March 14, 2024 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I want to take you to something that just happened a few moments ago. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking on the floor of the Senate on the Israeli-Hamas war, calling for a two-state solution. Let's listen in.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Now, as a result of those inflamed tensions in both Israeli and Palestinian communities, people on all sides of this war are turning away from a two-state solution, including Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in recent weeks, has said out loud repeatedly what many have long suspected by outright rejecting the idea of Palestinian statehood and sovereignty.
As the highest ranking Jewish elected official in our government, and as a staunch defender of Israel, I rise today to say unequivocally, this is a grave mistake for Israel, for Palestinians, for the region, and for the world. The only real and sustainable solution to this decades old conflict is a negotiated two state solution. A demilitarized Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel in equal measures of peace, security, prosperity, dignity and mutual recognition.
Both Jews and Palestinians have long historic claims to this land, contrary to the unfounded, absurd and offensive claims by some that the Jewish people are colonizers in their ancestral homeland. Jewish people have lived in the homelands continuously for more than three millennia, 3,000 years. For centuries, Jews have made Aliyah and gone to the land of Israel to live and settle. For centuries at Passover, Jews at every corner of the globe have prayed next year in Jerusalem.
A Jewish homeland in Israel is no 20th century contrivance. Israel is our historic home. A home for people oppressed for centuries. Now, the Palestinians too have lived on the land for generations. And in past centuries they have formed their own distinct culture, identity, cuisine, literature. The idea espoused by some, "There is no such thing as Palestinians," is inaccurate, offensive, unhelpful. ACOSTA: All right. Joining me now to discuss all of this is Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Mr. Secretary, great to see you as always. Let's talk about what you're hearing the Senate Majority Leader speak to just a few moments ago. It sounds as though, Leon, that both Schumer and President Biden are trying to apply pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get a handle on the situation in Gaza, to start drawing down this conflict because of the humanitarian crisis that is just seems to be out of control there. What's your sense of it?
LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY AND FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, I don't think there's any question that both the president and the majority leader are trying to get Israel to focus on the next chapter. And that's critical. I think we're at a point where there has to be a focus on what is the ultimate way to try to resolve this issue so we don't have a war every few years in the Middle East. And the only way to do that is with a Palestinian state.
[10:35:00]
And what the parties ought to be doing now is working together to try to define where that state should be, what the leadership should look like, and what the security provisions should be in that state. That's the only way that, ultimately, we'll find peace.
ACOSTA: You know -- and, Leon, when Netanyahu is asked about this sort of thing, he says, you know, is the -- are the Palestinians going to have a state that includes a military where they can attack Israel? I mean, he's very much against this idea and has been against this idea for some time. And it seems the attack on October 7th has only encouraged him to maintain that position. But how does the president -- how do members of Congress get through to Netanyahu when it seems, at this point, he is just not, it just seems like he's not reachable. He's not persuadable on any of this.
PANETTA: Well, you know, I recall going back to the time when I met with Netanyahu during the Obama administration, and bottom line for him at that time when we talk about a Palestinian state was security for Israel. I understand that. That's his concern.
And so, it has to be clear that as we develop plans for a Palestinian state, that there are provisions for how we provide for the security of Israel. That's the best way to try to get Netanyahu to try to focus on what is the only solution to the problems he's confronting right now.
ACOSTA: And what is your sense when you see the pictures, I'm sure you've seen them here on CNN and in other places where we show these children in Gaza starving to death. Clearly showing signs of malnutrition and famine, you know, obviously they're seeing these images in Israel as well. What more could the United States do? We saw the President the other night at the State of the Union call for a temporary port so humanitarian aid could get into Gaza, I guess, in a more effective fashion. What's your sense of it? I mean, is there a way to get this humanitarian aid into the people there more effectively? PANETTA: Well, Jim, we've just been talking about what the next chapter ought to look like. But in order to get there, it is critical that Israel and Hamas agree to some kind of temporary ceasefire. That's really absolutely urgent to our ability than to try to provide humanitarian aid, exchange the hostages, and do what's necessary in the here and now.
Look, I think the president's provided the right approach here, which is that if there is no ceasefire, we absolutely have to provide humanitarian aid. So, whether we're doing it from drops from an airplane or whether we're doing it with a new port in delivering ships and supplies to those that are hungry, that's something that the United States ought to be doing.
But ultimately, the answer here is get a ceasefire, exchange the hostages, if there's -- God knows if the hostages are still alive right now, but that's critical. And lastly, provide the humanitarian aid that's essential for these innocent men, women and children that have been caught up in this war.
ACOSTA: And I do want to talk to you about Russia. They are having an election, or what they're calling an election. And despite the scenes of defiance that we saw following Alexei Navalny's death, Putin's approval, if you can buy the polling into all of this, this is according to a non-governmental polling organization, sits around 86 percent.
I mean, your assessment of what is taking place in Russia right now post Navalny's death. I mean, we should note to our viewers, just in the last several minutes, the Lithuanian State Security Department said that their assessment is that the Russian special services probably recruited somebody to go after Navalny's chief of staff. So, they are continuing to go after critics, dissidents, and so on, and yet Putin is riding high.
PANETTA: You know, that's what Putin does. This is an autocracy. It's an autocracy. And in an autocracy, autocrats win. So, there's not much question whether or not Putin's going to win this election. He will win this election. And he will continue the reign of terror that he's been involved with, not only in Ukraine, but in Russia as well. That's tragic.
[10:40:00]
But it says something very clearly to the United States that we have to, working with our allies, do everything necessary to be able to stop Putin from trying to invade other countries and trying to undermine democracy. That's what Putin is about, undermining democracy. We have got to play a role of stopping that.
ACOSTA: All right. Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Leon, as always, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being on the new program. I used to have you on all the time on the weekends. Your insights are so valuable. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
PANETTA: Good to be with you, Jim. ACOSTA: All right. Good to see you.
In the meantime, Elon Musk, souring on Former CNN Host Don Lemon -- pardon the pun there. Why he says, Musk canceled his show deal with X just hours after their sit-down interview, that's next.
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[10:45:00]
ACOSTA: All right. We've been monitoring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's speech on the Senate floor. Here's what he said a few moments ago, calling for new elections in Israel. Let's listen.
SCHUMER: And ask, must we change course? At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.
I also believe a majority of the Israeli public will recognize the need for change, and I believe that holding a new election once the war starts to wind down would give Israelis an opportunity to express their vision for the post-war future.
ACOSTA: All right. And we'll be staying on top of that following those developments as the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel. He and President Biden have been pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change course in Gaza. We'll, of course, bring any developments as they come in.
In the meantime, switching gears now. The very first episode of the Don Lemon show will premiere on X this coming Monday, and Don can only thank ex-boss Elon Musk for one heck of a rollout. Musk had courted Lemon twice to create content for distribution on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. But according to Lemon, just hours after the two taped in that "Times" 10 sit0down interview for Lemon's first episode, Musk pulled the plug on their agreement, and Don spoke to my colleague Erin Burnett about what happened.
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DON LEMON, HOST, THE DON LEMON SHOW: I said to him, I think it's good that people see folks like you and I who have different worldviews come together and talk, as he says, of -- have free speech. Apparently, that doesn't matter to Elon Musk. It's just for maybe talking points for him or rhetoric because it doesn't seem to matter when it's about him. Questions about him from people like me.
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ACOSTA: And Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy joins us now. Oliver, I mean, first of all, I have to say it was nice to see Don back on CNN. I was personally glad to see that. But I have to think that Don almost has to thank Elon Musk this morning. I mean, you know, he, sort of, helped him promote the new show. OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, I mean --
ACOSTA: It didn't work.
DARCY: I mean, Jim, Elon Musk is a thin skinned, unhinged, erratic ruler of this X platform. And so, it's not actually very surprising that this deal went down in flames. And that's because Don, during this interview, he asked him some tough but fair questions. One of those questions that Elon Musk clearly did not appreciate was about the rise in hate speech on the platform since Elon Musk took over.
And while Elon Musk might claim he believes in free speech, absolutism, and wants a free exchange and debate of ideas on his platform, that's not really what he wants. He's taken a lot of steps over the past year and a half since he's taken over the platform to limit the speech of his critics.
He's banned journalists and allowed them back on, sort of, after they censor themselves and delete the posts he doesn't like. He's throttled the "New York Times" on the platform. He sued watchdog groups that have been critical of the way he's run the platform. And so, this is not someone who believes in free speech. Not surprising that he canceled Don Lemon's partnership when he got some questions that, I guess, he didn't like.
ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, I thought there were all these complaints about cancel culture, but I guess when you're doing the canceling that -- that's OK.
DARCY: And, Jim, one notable thing too is Elon Musk, while he doesn't seem to elevate any of these, you know, left of center voices, he does spend a lot of time elevating right-wing extremists, conspiracy theories, which Don Lemon asked about, and really dangerous stuff to the platform which has driven away the advertisers. And so, it's very clear, again, that for Elon Musk free speech is stuff that he agrees with, and that tends to be some of this dangerous, swampy stuff on the internet.
ACOSTA: Yes. All right. Fascinating stuff. Kudos to Don. And Don kept his cool. He just asked normal questions that any journalist would ask. Oliver, we could go on and on. Great to see you as always. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
In the meantime, shifting gears once again. At any moment, we could learn the fate of James Crumbley, the father charged in connection with the deadly Michigan school shooting carried out by his son. We're going to have a live update on that just ahead. Stay with us.
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[10:50:00]
ACOSTA: All right. Some breaking news to tell you about right now about SpaceX's Starship. According to SpaceX -- and this just coming into us a few moments ago, SpaceX has lost the Starship. That is what SpaceX is saying right now. It says, SpaceX lost two pieces of communication. At the same time, contact with Starlink, SpaceX's internet service, and with TDRSS or Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, losing both simultaneously, hence that Starship may have broken apart.
SpaceX's Dan Huot just made this call, saying in the last few moments, we are making the call now that we have lost the ship. No splashdown today, but again, just -- it's incredible to see how much further we got this time around.
[10:55:00]
So, this appears to be, obviously, a mishap with SpaceX is Starship. We're going to be staying on top of that, and we'll bring any further developments in all of this as they come in.
In the meantime, right now the jury is deliberating in the trial of James Crumbley, the father of Oxford high school shooter, Ethan Crumbley.
CNN's Jean Cazares joins us outside the courthouse. Jean, can you give us a quick update?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. They've been deliberating about two hours at this point. Haven't heard a peep out of them. So, they're just very, very focused. No questions yet at all. The jury is six men and six women.
This charge is involuntary manslaughter. It's very serious because this is a homicide charge. And this precedent setting case is that it would be the first time that a father of a mass shooter is convicted in this country for actually causing the death of the victims in this case because he got him a gun shortly before this happened, didn't lock it, stored it in the cupboard. The son got it, and the son committed the shooting. But an important aspect of this case is foreseeability.
James Crumbley had to know that his son could harm others. And that potentially could be an issue. He would never been disciplined at school. There was never any evidence that he publicly showed any type of emotional disturbance. This jury will continue working. Jim.
ACOSTA: All right. Jean Cazares, we'll be looking forward. That verdict could come at any point today from the jury. Thank you so much.
A lot of breaking news this morning. Thank you very much for joining us. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom" with Wolf Blitzer starts after a quick break. Have a great day.
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