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CNN INTERNATIONAL: Judge: D.A. Willis May Remain On Trump Case If Wade Withdraws; Netanyahu Approves Plans For "Action" In Rafah; Polls Open In Moscow For Presidential Election; Ukraine Combat Medics Avoid Russian Drones By Operating At Night. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 15, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:37]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello. It's 3:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Moscow, 4:00 a.m. in Tokyo. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM.

And let's get right to the news.

We begin with major news and one of the several trials former President Donald Trump is facing. In Georgia, where Trump is accused of attempting to overturn the election results there, Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, can continue leading the prosecution of that sprawling racketeering and election subversion case against Trump and 18 co-defendants.

It is a win for Willis who survives a motion to disqualify her as a result of a romantic relationship with her lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade. The judge ruled that Willis can stay so long as Wade withdraws from the case. But the win did not come without some scars as the judge forcefully rebuked Willis's judgment, cast doubt -- cast doubt on some of her testimony as well.

So much to break down here on the legal reasoning what this means for the campaign, but the trial going forward.

We begin our coverage with CNN's Ryan Young.

So Ryan, walk us through the judge's decision here and his statements, some of which were scathing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Jim, to put it lightly, yes, they were scathing and folks who've been paying attention to this saw the hearings. They saw the flurry of motions going back and forth. And let's not forget this all centers around their relationship -- a relationship that they had to admit to in court that they said started after Nathan Wade started working for Fani Willis.

In fact, what it says is they started traveling together, having that romantic relationship, but they went to Aruba, they went to California. And that even though he made over $600,000, that he wasn't helping her to benefit from it because she says she was paying him back, but you could obviously understand this was creating a big situation in terms of how it looks. And in fact, the judge says the court finds that the defendants failed to meet their burden of proving the district attorneys acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and reoccurring travels with her lead prosecutor.

However, the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that inflects the current structure of prosecution team and appearance that must be removed. But you can understand why Fani Willis was so upset about this. In fact, take a listen to her in court firing back toward the defense team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's like a woman doesn't have the right to keep our private life private. And I'm speaking on this because there had been all these intimations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So you get to understand, you can hear what she's saying.

But, look, this is all played out. She said she kept money in her house that she would pay Nathan Wade, and over time, they would actually have arguments about their relationship when it comes to money.

Now that this is all played out, you understand Steve Sadow, who represents Donald Trump, came back with a fiery message of his own. Lets take a look at what Steve Sadow said.

He says: While respecting the court's decision, we believe the court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade. We use all legal options available as we continue to fight to the end of this case, which had never been brought in the first place.

Jim, we are not even talking about the structure of this case, the audio that people have heard over and over again. And when you think about this, they wanted this case to start before the election, now that seems to be sort of derailed as well.

We just had another RICO case here in Fulton County and that took more than six months to get a jury. If you get everything together now, you have to still find a lead prosecutor and try to get people to come in to say, that they want to be a part of this jury.

So much to go from this. And on top of that, we have not heard from Fani Willis yet. We have not heard from Nathan Wade. So there's so many more questions when it comes to what will happen next in this case.

But so far, Fani Willis gets to stay even after the judge pretty much said there's a lot of misconduct here that he does not like in the way it looks.

SCIUTTO: Ryan Young, thanks so much.

And the audio he's referring to there, of course, a recorded phone call from Donald Trump attempting to find in his words, the votes sufficient to overturn his election loss in Georgia. And we should note that the judges ruling in this case not affect any of the evidence effect against the president and his co-defendants. So let's look at the legal, but also the political implications of this decision.

With me now, Shan Wu, former federal prosecutor, Jeffrey Swartz, former Florida judge.

[15:05:02]

And on the politics side, CNN political commentator Alice Stewart, and Democratic strategist Adrianne Elrod.

Good to have you all here.

So I'm going to begin with the legal questions here.

Shan Wu, judge says that Willis can stay, Wade, the lead prosecutor, must go. He called Willis's choices a, quote, tremendous lapse in judgment.

As I say, nothing about the evidence -- evidence against Trump and his co-defendants.

Does that case survive this?

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Absolutely. That case completely survives, as you're pointing out. This ruling has nothing to do with the merits. I'm personally quite critical of the ruling. I think McAfee is demonstrating inexperience. He's only been on bench a while and he's a little bit losing control of the case in the glare of the lights. Reminds me of Lance Ito way back when with O.J. Simpson.

The hearing, I think kind of went off the rails and his own ruling is not that well-grounded in the law. He says that the actual conflict doesn't exist. That's the law. She's not disqualified.

But then he sort of makes his own law. Trial judges don't do that. If law was unclear about what you do if there's an appearance of impropriety, he should have said and the law is unclear. There's no actual conflict.

SCIUTTO: Right.

WU: That's the end of it.

But he takes a lot of digs at her, a lot of smearing of the credibility. And I think that's inappropriate.

SCIUTTO: So that raises the question -- well, a couple of questions, the judge, but also continuing questions about Fani Willis for the sake of the case, Jeff Swartz, would it be better for her to step aside as well?

JEFFREY SWARTZ, PROFESSOR, COOLEY LAW SCHOOL: I don't think at this point it would make much difference. The fact that she would still be the D.A. supervising this case, there's no way for her to step aside. And if she did, that would mean that her whole team would have to go with her. I think she shouldn't do that.

She's just going to have to live this down politically. And she's going to have to find the way to structure the case in a way that will avoid this becoming an issue for the jury, which it should never be.

SCIUTTO: Okay. Let's talk for a moment about the politics, Alice Stewart. Trump's strategy with all the many cases against him, all of which are still going on, we should note, although not very quickly, is one to delay, but also to disparage whether it'd be disparaging the judge or the clerk, or the prosecutors, or the witnesses. I mean, this is a consistent -- a consistent strategy here.

They didn't get her kicked off the case, but they have had us and the judge and the witnesses talking not about the evidence against the president for these last several weeks, but about an improper relationship between the D.A., and the lead prosecutor, is that politically Alice Stewart, a win for Trump and his team.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: For now, short-term for sure. And you hit the nail on the head. This is how he handles many cases that come against him, is delay, disparage, and also to distract and so far he's doing all three of those things with the same play.

But look, I think even the most -- Trump's critics will look at this and wonder how this decision could have been made up. Legally. You know, we all know that prosecutors are held to an exacting standard with their code of conduct.

And for the judge in this case, to acknowledge there was an appearance of impropriety between this relationship, there were two people in this relationship, Nathan Wade, and Fani Willis. And for one person to be disqualified in the other, a lot of Trump's supporters are going to question how could this have happened? Why would he be held to one standard and her be to another?

And another aspect that he brought up in this that I think a lot of Trumps supporters had issue with was after this came about and Fani Willis spoke at the church and tried to play the race card in this case, the judge pointed this out in his statement saying that that had the appearance and the possibility to really compromise this case. So I think we haven't heard the last from defendants in this case and Donald Trump to say she was compromised from the very beginning, Nathan Wade was compromised and they're going to continue to try and make the case that this was flawed case from the very beginning.

And the way they've done with all these legal cases, Donald Trump is a victim of an overzealous justice system that is simply going after him because he is a main threat to Joe Biden. And that's going to be --

SCIUTTO: Right. STEWART: -- the continue fight for Donald Trump.

SCIUTTO: That's their argument, Shan Wu.

STEWART: Right.

SCIUTTO: Does not change that Trump put pressure on state election officials Republicans to get them to overturn an election that did he lost. Where does that case go from here now, Shan? It proceeds but on what timeline. Most, -- what's the most likely timeline going forward?

WU: Most likely timeline, if there's no further delay in terms of possible appeals and sort of like working this out. There's no chance in my opinion it goes before the election. I would have been very hard to do that anyway.

SCIUTTO: Earliest, it would be --

WU: That's the earliest you're talking and the year that they'd be ready to go, even January. I mean, these cases take a long time to work up. And as Ryan was saying, in the other RICO case, it's taken a long time to get them to trial. So the delay tactic has certainly worked very well in this case.

[15:10:01]

SCIUTTO: So, Jeff Swartz -- I mean, it's a state election, so let's say Trump wins in November. He wouldn't be inaugurated until January anyway. But -- but as president, this state prosecution would proceed regardless?

SWARTZ: As far as I can see, if it starts before he takes office, I think that they could not stop it. I don't -- unless they find that he has -- unless the court finds they have -- he has immunity, and we're talking about what's pending in front of the Supreme Court right now. If they don't come back and say he has immunity from prosecution because he's president of the United States or whatever it may be, they may stop that prosecution in its tracks and then have to do it four years later.

I don't see its surviving unless the immunity issue is decided by the court. And then if they start to trial before he takes office, that's just the way it goes.

SCIUTTO: So, Adrienne Elrod, of these four cases president -- the former president is facing, you've got this one going through this drama. Now, may earliest start, end of the year. You have the New York hush money case, that might be delayed for further number of days to review new documents.

The Supreme Court, in effect, delayed the federal January 6 election subversion case as it considered and it can still considering an immunity question claimed by the president and what other case am I missing? We're missing the classified documents case because the judge there is still considering a whole host of questions. Has the system failed to effectively -- whether they -- whether they convict or don't convict, but to come to an answer in a timely fashion as to whether Donald Trump is guilty of any of these crimes

ADRIENNE ELROD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yeah, I think, Jim, in many ways it has, and, look, if you are the average American looking at this and you're saying, wait a minute, so Trump has been evading taxes for decades, you know, he gave illegal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. He had illegal possession of classified documents, and, you know, he also thinks that he should have sheer immunity as the former president and potentially the next president of the United States, you're looking at this holistically are saying, why has he not been brought to justice? Why are all these cases, you know, still not settled or have not really officially started in many respects?

And so, in that sense, I think it is discouraging and -- look, I mean Trump's team obviously didn't want Fani Willis. Willis, who by the way, I think we need to keep in mind she was elected by the people of Fulton County to do a job. Of course, Trump's team doesn't want her in that position because they know that she's effective and that she's good and they've tried to do everything to stall this case.

The bottom line is just justice has to be served. I'm hoping at least I think many of us are hoping that at least one of these cases will be resolved before the election. But the Trump team has been employing stalling tactics, which quite unfortunately have worked in essence to his favor.

SCIUTTO: Alice Stewart, just before we go, would Trump want any of these cases to be to be actually tried? So I mean, presumably he might want to be clear to the charges or is his preferred outcome, they just never happen?

STEWART: Well, Jim, if you look at this from his political standpoint, every time he's gone to court, every time there been a new case against him, his poll numbers go up, he gets more support. Of course, that's in the primary and that is his base voters. But they get more engaged.

SCIUTTO: Among Republicans, yeah.

STEWART: Exactly, among Republicans. But what he will continue to try to do as he's done to date and they see this as successful as he will paint this as overzealous members of the Justice Department, using this as a witch-hunt and criminalizing him in his activity because he is a major threat to Joe Biden. And look, it doesn't make sense to most rational thinking people, but that's what he believes, and that's what he's convinced a lot of his supporters.

And they're not looking at each of these cases this is individually in each individual charge. They're looking at this as a full scale effort by justices and those on the left to silence him and potentially have him face legal challenges because he is a threat to Joe Biden. That's certainly his argument.

STEWART: Right. SCIUTTO: We'll see how -- how the justice system -- well, whether answers these questions, open question.

Shan Wu, Jeffrey Swartz, Alice Stewart, Adrianne Elrod, thanks so much to all of you.

STEWART: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we are following several developments overseas as well in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to green light a further military operation in Gaza. This one targeting Rafah.

Plus, there appears to be at least the hope of some movement in the ceasefire negotiations. We have been here before with this appointments. We'll see where it stands. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:47]

SCIUTTO: We do have some breaking news now, an update on the Fulton County, Georgia case against Trump and his co-defendants. And that is that the special prosecutor, the lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, has submitted a letter of resignation to the district attorney, Fani Willis. That letter obtained by CNN.

Jeff Swartz, former Florida judge, he's still with me.

I imagine given the judges decision this morning, this is expected Nathan Wade to go, Fani Willis stays. What's the significance?

SWARTZ: Well, the significance is that now Fani's going to have to find someone to be her lead prosecutor, that could slow things down.

Although she has a team in place that can bring someone up to speed pretty quickly. She's going to have to find someone of some standard that would be acceptable to everyone. This is the right thing for Mr. Wade to do, not to make Fani let him go, to just accept that this is the way things have to be and to save the prosecution to resign.

I think this is going to slow things down a little. Bit in truth, a really good prosecutor can come in here, work with his team and come up to speed, know exactly what has to be done in fairly short order.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because there had been some criticism of the decision to appoint Wade to this position, not just because of the relationship with Fani Willis, but because lack of experience on this kind of case, these kinds of charges, could you arguably end up with a better lead prosecutor at least for this case given -- I mean, I suppose it depends on who she chooses?

SWARTZ: I think that's exactly what Ms. Willis is going to be looking for. She's going to be looking for someone who has a high reputation in the community someone who is unimpeachable in their abilities and in their ethics. I think this is probably a good move in the end, its going to be a good move for the team.

It just is going to take time for that person that come up to speed, but not as long as people think it'll take.

SCIUTTO: Jeff Swartz, good to have you on. Sure it's not the last time we talked about that case.

SWARTZ: OK.

SCIUTTO: Overseas now, as we mentioned earlier, we are following several of elements in Israel. A source tells CNN the hostage negotiations are moving in a, quote, positive direction. We're going to get to that in just a moment.

But first, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just announced he has approved a military operation in Rafah in Gaza. We should note more than 1.4 million Palestinians displaced from fighting elsewhere in Gaza are in Rafah, concentrated there.

CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt joins me now.

Alex, do we know what the IDF specific plans are there and does it crucially have a plan to limit civilian casualties, in what we see?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's -- we only know the broad strokes and this is what has everyone worried and it was quite a surprise that Netanyahu today came out and said that he has approved these plans of action and that he has essentially told the IDF to start working on the operational side and on the evacuation of civilians, beyond moving these 1.4 million civilians out of the way, we don't really know too much more.

A spokesman for the Israeli military, Daniel Hagari, he said yesterday that the plan is to move these civilians two humanitarian enclaves, as he called them, essentially islands as others have said outside of Rafah, where, of course, Israel wants to go into continue dismantling Hamas.

[15:20:12]

Those enclaves Israel argues should be supported by the international community in terms of shelter, food, medicine, and all the rest. But it is a massive undertaking, of course, to do that. But this is something that Israel is holding firm to, because there are multiple battalions, Hamas battalions who they say are still intact. And, of course, there -- Israel goal is the complete eradication of Hamas.

TAPPER: He's doing the sun effect over the objection of the U.S. president, is he not? Biden said in quite clear terms that this is a red line graham. He said this was -- Biden said this was a red line and that he didn't want to see another 30,000 dead in Gaza. Now what the administration is essentially saying is we're not, you know, vetoing this. We're not telling you, you can't do this, but what we want to see is a real operational plan, a real plan that takes into consideration the lives of these civilians. And so far, we're told the administration has not gotten that in Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked about this earlier today. Here's a little bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Given the large number of civilians in Rafah, about 1.4 million, many of whom is the foreign minister said had been displaced from other parts of Gaza. We have to see a clear and implementable plan. Not only to get civilians out of harms way, but also to make sure that once out of harms way, they're appropriately cared for with shelter, with food, with medicine, with clothing. And we've not yet seen such a plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So, Jim, we don't think that this is imminent, but clearly based on the prime ministers remarks today, this is something that is in the works and has the administration really worried.

SCIUTTO: Okay. Let's talk about these negotiations there because the ceasefire talks, they've been on and off. There have been hopeful moments before and then those hopes disappear. Where do they stand and is their actual positive progress?

MARQUARDT: There's positive progress in that there are conversations and they are moving forward, which is progress they had been stalled. And essentially, the administration had been saying that the ball is in Hamas's court. We're waiting on them to respond to a framework that Israel has essentially agreed to.

Today, we learned more about that Hamas response and Israel essentially dismissed it out of hand, calling it absurd and ridiculous. But they did agree to send a negotiating team to Qatar to continue the negotiation. So in that sense, it is positive, but I got to say, when you look at these demands from Hamas, its hard to believe that Israel is going to agree to them. So in this multi-phase deal, Hamas would agree to release the elderly wounded and female hostages over the course of about six weeks.

But they are demanding around 700 to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, a huge amount of Palestinian prisoners in that first phase. But, Jim, I really think its in the second phase where this gets really, really complicated because Hamas is really sticking to their demands that Israel agree to an end to the conflict and to withdraw IDF troops from Gaza.

That is not something that Israel has agreed to yet. In fact, they've rejected because as we are saying, they still have every intention of going into Rafah.

SCIUTTO: And I believe some of those prisoners have been convicted of murdering Israelis, too.

MARQUARDT: Five sentences.

SCIUTTO: So, tough one for Israel to approve. Alex Marquardt, thanks so much.

Joining me now to discuss further, CNN political and global affairs analyst and "Axios" politics and foreign policy reporter, Barak Ravid, and CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier.

Good to have you both on.

Barak, you've been covering these ceasefire negotiations very closely to some progress. We have heard that before.

Are we any closer to a deal because the ratio, even of hostages to for prisoners that we're talking about, the two sides seem to be quite far apart?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: First, I think where we are closer, I think the things that happened in the last few days that is closer to a deal. First, Hamas for the first time, gave a real answer to the Paris framework for a hostage deal. That's very positive thing.

I think also when you look at Hamas' demands regarding the prisoners, at least from what I hear from Israeli officials, there are gaps, but it's not gaps that are unbridgeable and this is why the Israeli negotiations team is going to ask tomorrow from Prime Minister Netanyahu and the war cabinet to expand the mandate that Israeli negotiators have to agree to more concessions so that those gaps might be bridgeable.

SCIUTTO: Kimberly Dozier, I wonder, does Hamas benefit in its cynical point of view from dragging these negotiations out? It seems Israel, in somewhat of a public disagreement with its main ally, the U.S., it seems the Arab world showering Israel with criticism for the deaths of so many civilians there, does it see advantage in stretching this out of perhaps not coming to a deal at least for some time?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Absolutely. Every time Hamas says yes, and it forces Israel to say no in the larger world stage, it's a mark against Israel. I just recently visited Baghdad and was shocked, not so shocked at how people there see everything Israel does as backed by the U.S. hand in glove and a real rising anti- Israel, anti-U.S. sentiment with blame going to the U.S. for the violence on the ground and shear skepticism that Israel will agree to any sort of actual ceasefire, that would let people get resupplied with food and would allow any humanitarian aid in there.

So every time Hamas says yes, and Israel says no, the Arab world says we told you.

SCIUTTO: So let's talk then about the next step. In the meantime, and that is the possibility -- well, the plans, as Netanyahu says it, for expanded military action in Rafah. There are, as we noted earlier, 1.4 million people in Rafah in southern Gaza, many of whom displaced from other parts of Gaza, several times to flee the fighting there.

Biden has made his discomfort, his dislike for the possibility of expanded military operations -- they're very public. Is Netanyahu willing to defy Biden here?

RAVID: Well, I think that, first, without -- no disrespect to Mr. Netanyahu but I think he has quite a long track record of not being the most credible person in the world, okay? So, you know, as long as -- I know that he's the prime minister when he says stuff, you know, we need to report but I think we need to take it with a know 500 pounds of salt because there is no operation in Rafah at the moment. The IDF did not get any order as far as I know to start such an operation.

The evacuation of Rafah will take between two to three weeks, this is the best-case scenario, so we're not going to be surprised, we're going to see it.

And Israel right now in Gaza doesn't have enough forces to go on such an operation.

So I think we need to look at Netanyahu's statements about an operation in Rafah and by the way, he already announced three times in the last few weeks that he approved the plans. This is an operation that has been approved three times and did not happen.

So we need to look at it as part of the Israel psychological warfare against Hamas, maybe also against the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt in order to press Hamas more to agree to hostages.

SCIUTTO: So, Kim, this happens as the public criticism, not just from the president, but from the senior Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, also the highest-ranking Jewish American official in this country.

Let's play back his comments on the Senate floor. And I want to get your reaction.

Sorry. Well, we're talking about President Biden's reaction to Schumer's comments on the Senate floor. Let's play those and we'll get your thoughts on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've made a good speech and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him up by many Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Sounds like the president endorsing that criticism, Kim Dozier. How does Israel respond to that? Do they respond? Does Netanyahu say, uh, forget it, I'm going to try to wait out until a Trump reelection?

DOZIER: Yeah. I think that's another reason to double down on what Barak was saying, for Netanyahu to double down on a Rafah operation as a political repost, if only to look strong within the United -- within Israel with his right-wing allies, that he's not being pushed or bullied by Washington. But I think Biden also appreciated Schumer's comments in that it gives

Schumer a chance to say what is that hot mic moment we had from Biden at the State of the Union where he said he was about to have a come to Jesus conversation with Netanyahu about getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians. We're seeing that come out in other forms.

Schumer is saying the criticism that we might at one point here from Biden himself. I think Biden is aware, not just of the part of the Democratic Party that is so upset over the handling of Gaza and Biden's part in that. But also, U.S. intelligence chiefs warn the administration in open testimony that ISIS al Qaeda, other militant groups, have stepped up their calls for attacks on U.S. targets because of what's going on in Gaza. Calls for a change in direction.

SCIUTTO: Certainly, folks in that part of the world connect U.S. directly to those Israeli military decisions.

[15:30:00]

Barak Ravid, Kim Dozier, thanks so much to both you.

RAVID: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, Russians are heading to the polls to vote in sort of presidential election under harsh restrictions and many candidates barred from challenging him. Putin's going to win. We are seeing some form of protests.

We're going to go to Moscow, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: In Russia, voters started heading to the polls for the presidential election under harsh restrictions that will keep Vladimir Putin in power for a fifth term. Putin's opponents have been Kremlin approved, do not pose any threat despite Putin's and Russian officials attempts to silence any opposition, there have been protests at some polling stations. Very brave thing to do in Russia today.

In Moscow, a woman set fire to a voting booth, according to stay controlled media. And this is video of a woman pouring green dye on ballots at opposed polling place in northern Moscow. She has since been detained, now facing criminal charges. Of course, according to Russian state media, again, protests like that require a lot of courage there.

Similar incidents were reported at several other voting precincts.

CNN's Matthew Chance was that one of them in Moscow earlier today where Russians were casting their ballots even though the outcome all but certain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: All right. Well, Russians are certainly going through the motions when it comes to this presidential election. They're coming here to register their votes here before casting their ballots at the ballot box over there. There's also the option of electronic voting. There were various machines that been set up. People can vote on apps as well.

But make no mistake, the outcome of this presidential election in Russia is inevitable. Vladimir Putin is expected to win a fifth presidential term, and that's because the opposition in this country have not been permitted to take part. There's been a brutal crackdown on dissent across Russia, opposition supporters have been silenced, Their leaders have been exiled, jailed, or a dead.

Alexei Navalny, of course, died in his arctic penal colony last month. There's an official choice of candidates, but none of the other three people on the balance sheet and are particularly against the Kremlin or have any particular public support going into this vote. Now, one of the things though we are watching carefully for is any possibility of protests. The widow of Alexei Navalny has called for Russians together on mass at polling stations at a particular time over the weekend.

The authorities have issued a stern warning saying that anybody in Russia, you engages in unsanctioned protest during this Russian election period well be facing dire legal consequences.

Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Matthew Chance there.

So what would Putin's very much expected victory in Russia's tightly controlled elections? What do you mean for the war in Ukraine?

U.S. military officials tell me the U.S. assesses that the Russian leader feeling emboldened by extending his control for yet another term may further expand Russian military operations in Ukraine, including the possibility of a further mobilization of Russian draft age, men for military service in the war. They say the long delay in U.S. military assistance to Ukrainian forces, as well as public divisions here in the U.S. and in Europe over continuing aid are likely to contribute to Putin's confidence that Russia can outlast Ukraine and its allies in this war.

Joining me now to discuss is Julia Ioffe. She's the founding partner and Washington correspondent for "Puck". And Shawn Turner, he is the former director of communication for U.S. national intelligence.

Good to have you both here.

And, Julia, just, just to begin, Putin, 71, he's going to win another, another sort of election for another six years.

Is this an election or a coronation? JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER & WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Well,

this is actually a carefully choreographed performance that's designed to bestow more legitimacy. However, the state envisions it on the reigning champ, on the king, Vladimir Putin. What the officials in the Kremlin have been really focused on is not so much the -- just the result he gets, which I'm sure is going to be in North Korean range.

But also the turnout, the Kremlin has been obsessed with driving turnout and trying to get it as high as 80 percent across Russia. In part, that's why it's now a three-day election. And instead of one day is as it has always been. And why directives have gone out to workplaces across the country, especially those that receive contracts from the state or are state enterprises themselves, that people have to not just go and vote themselves to keep their jobs, but have to bring others along with them.

In fact, United Russia -- United Russia party members, that's Vladimir Putin's party, have to bring ten people with them when they go to vote. There are obsessed with this turnout. They want to choreograph this image of the -- it's almost Soviet, of the people rising up and sweeping Putin back into power kind of -- you know, re-stamping him with their approval.

SCIUTTO: We've had Potemkin villages, maybe call this a Potemkin election.

Are you concerned, Shawn Turner, that post-election, Putin will feel even more emboldened and not just in Ukraine by the way, but against any opposition? I've been told as you -- as you heard from U.S. military officials, they expect them to expand the war after this election.

SHAWN TURNER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION FOR U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Yeah, Jim, you know, there's -- there's no doubt that he will. In fact, there's some evidence to indicate that since the war started, that Putin's grip on the public in Russia his popularity, his ability to sort of operate unfettered, has actually increased.

You know, Jim, we have to remember that this election is happening at a time when there have been relentless crack-downs on independent media in Russia, they're being crack-downs on any organization that supports individual Russian rights. And so, what Putin has done is he's basically taken control of the entire political establishment, but he's also controlling the information environment.

And so when you live in a situation where the information that you received information is fed to you is all information that sort of contributes to the righteousness, to the goodness of what you're doing, which is exactly what Putin -- Putin does. He tries to make sure that people see this through his lens. He not only can and will feel more emboldened, but he will in many cases have the support of the Russian people as he does that because they're operating basically in an environment this fraught with mis- and disinformation.

So, yeah, I think absolutely the case that he will feel emboldened. SCIUTTO: Julia, and I'm sure you feel the same way, impossible to think about this election without thinking about the death. Only a couple of weeks ago of Putin's chief opposition, Alexei Navalny, in a penal colony where he was sent on trumped-up charges, perhaps even non-existent charges. Certainly the U.S. view, that's what the evidence points.

Now, he's gone and Putin's Russia tried to kill him before that as well.

Is that loss still on the minds of many Russians? How does it make them look at this election?

IOFFE: It depends which Russians you're talking about. There are Russians who ardently support Vladimir Putin and his war. There are those that are in different and just want to live their lives on disturbed understanding correctly that they can change absolutely nothing in this country, that they will only get there freedom taken away.

Then there are those who, of course, support of -- excuse me, supported Alexei Navalny who don't support this regime, don't support this war.

[15:40:08]

They feel, you know -- they felt hopeless and crushed after news of Alexei Navalny's death emerged on the go. They are now heartened by the funeral, where hundreds of thousands of people came out and laid flowers on his grave.

And we'll see what this weekend brings in terms of protests. I've spoken to Muscovites who are -- who were so encouraged by what they saw in during the funeral that they want to come back out and they want to come and show that they're discontent, that they understand that they wont change anything, but they just want to register the fact that they don't agree.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, it takes such enormous courage to do that because they know the price that you pay for that.

Sean Turner, 30 years in power -- I mean, that's a Soviet length term. I mean, should we look at -- despite the veneer of an election here, should we look at him as a sort of resurrection of a Soviet type leader?

TURNER: You know, I think that from outside of Russia when the international community looks at 30 years and power and the steps that were taken back in 2020 to ensure that Vladimir Putin could stay in power. I don't know that there's any other way to look at it, Jim.

Look, I think the opportunities for Vladimir Putin to give up power in Russia, you know, we've seen what's happened in each of those cases -- obviously, the most recently being with the lesson of Alexei Navalny.

So I think that we've got a look at this at through the same type of lens that we looked at old Russia through. Putin's going to do absolutely everything you can to stay in power and it's not just about staying in power for him. It's about maintaining that grip on the Russian people and controlling what they see, what they think and what they believe.

And so, yeah, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: I want to talk about events back here in this country, Yulia, as it relates to the war in Ukraine. CNN has learned that the House Speaker Mike Johnson has told Republican senators during a closed-door retreat, he is committed, he says, to finding a path ahead for Ukraine needed at the House of Representatives.

We've heard that before, a lot of skepticism. Donald Trump himself putting pressure on this. It seems against aid. But there are Republicans as well as Democrats, but Republicans who really do want to get a vote on the floor. They want to move forward with this.

I know you cover this closely. Is the path open now? I mean, do you send some momentum towards a vote here?

IOFFE: You know, I find Mike Johnson to be a pretty incredible guy. I mean, he -- it's like he doesn't know who he is himself. You know, he -- a month ago, Alexei Navalny died, he said something similar, while the much of the House and Congress was at the Munich security conference, he keeps saying these things like he wants to find a path forward.

He's the speaker of the House. The path forward is right in front of him, because just simply allow a vote on this package that passed the Senate with overwhelming support, 70 votes out of 100, it would pass easily in the House. And so saying things like, oh, id really love to find in a way forward, well, he could just look straight ahead at the door that's right in front of him, open and let the vote happen.

I mean, it's kind of incredible. He speaks like he's somebody else.

SCIUTTO: Sounds like you're somewhat doubtful.

So I suppose we could remain and believe -- believe it when we see at mode, which I think is healthy in Washington today.

Julia Ioffe, Shawn Turner, thanks so much to both of you.

TURNER: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, we will go to the front lines in Ukraine with the threat of Russian drone strikes is forcing Ukrainian combat medics to operate under the cloak of total darkness. That story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:27]

SCIUTTO: In Ukraine, combat medics are being forced to adapt to the constant threat of Russian drone attacks. Medics on the front lines are changing their schedules, as a result, to avoid the danger of daylight, operating in the middle of the night to care for wounded soldiers.

Here's an inside look from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Light is also their enemy here. Daylight brings the threat of attack drones. So it's hard to collect casualties from the front line, dark it when they bring most wounded out. The medics, hiding in the tree line.

The other light flashes from enormous bonds hitting the village of Orlivka and around a tiny place of outsized consequence, it's Ukraine's defensive line, but Russia is raging hard for a breakthrough. The flash is constant. A seven-mile slog from there to here for the wounded.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): There was a lot this morning. Six or four. But they were heavily injured. It depends on the day. Right now it's relatively few. The Russians have more vehicles, more weapons, more men. And that's the biggest problem.

WALSH: They wait underground for the radio to say who, when, where. It feels almost mundane, often hours of silence. The thump of shelling hidden by a TV series.

ARTEM, COMBAT MEDIC, 59TH INFANTRY BRIGADE (translated): Drones are a huge problem. We rarely evacuate during daylight. Mostly at night. We try to extract the heavily injured during the day too.

WALSH: Then it is time.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): One wounded to pick up.

ARTEM (translated): What's the condition? When and who delivers?

WALSH: They never really know what they'll find until they get there. And they too the targets.

But along this eastern front, these slick routines carry on, minus one key thing, hope.

Because of the intensity of the fighting here, this happens all night every night, the desperate race to use dark the cover of night to get the wounded to hospital as fast as possible. Here comes some more.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): Put the camera away! Put it away!

WALSH: From one Humvee to another, the wounded of a war they're losing because the U.S. is dropping out.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): I don't see blood. Roll the sleeve brother.

WALSH: The force of a blast appears to have broken his upper arm.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): It's my bone.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): Yes, I can see it.

WALSH: It's going to be a painful drive until the drugs kick in.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): Drive slowly, no potholes please!

WALSH: He says he only had stitches out four days ago from another injury. A Russian attack drone ripping into their armored vehicle two weeks ago.

One of the five men hit inside then, they're still in hospital.

[15:50:04]

Tonight, it was also drones.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): We were running for kilometers. Under the drones, under everything. They were waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Our two groups were pinned down by drones. The medivac was coming but we can't see it. It's also being shelled with everything they have. I just heard a bang right on my side. I fell down inside the Humvee, couldn't feel my hand, couldn't move the fingers. So the arm is still there, in its place. Can they fix it?

UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): Yes, there is nothing serious. You are very lucky the artery isn't damaged.

WALSH: When they get to the hospital, all his blacked out when we cannot even film doors. Russia is scouring the front lines for any part of a medical chain to hit, to make help harder and further away, just like American money.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, near Orlivka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Nick Paton Walsh and his team for that story.

When we do come back, our colleague and friend, Sara Sidner, takes us behind the scenes in her ongoing battle with stage three breast cancer. How her road to recovery is unlocking a new outlook on life. You won't want to miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: It is a terrifying moment that far too many women all over the world know, sadly, firsthand -- the moment you're diagnosed with breast cancer.

For our anchor and friend and colleague Sara Sidner that moment came last November. Her cancer was at stage three. Today, she shares her courageous and remarkable journey towards recovery, but also how its transformed her attitude on life. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When I found out I had cancer and I had to go through chemo. I thought oh my God, I'm going to be lying in bed, drinking food out of a straw, unable to do anything, unable to live my life, my normal life.

Thank you.

This is also my country.

There is no where to take cover here.

All right. All right Primetime, here we go.

Today is chemo number six of the 16 that I have to do. It is poison going into your systems. So, you are being poisoned in order to try to heal you, which I find absolutely insane, but that is the way it is.

Everybody gets different drugs and has different issues but for me, the first couple of infusions, I was fine in a way I could not have imagined.

And I don't want to be sick, so for haven't been.

I mean, actually said to my doctor, is this ship working? I felt like superwoman. By the fourth one, I felt pretty bad for awhile. I still went to work, but there were a couple of times, one in particular, I said, can you guys bring the bucket over here? I might be sick.

Just making sure it won't --

We decided to try cold capping, which is something that you can you can do to try to save your hair.

Normally, 60 to 80 percent of your hair goes after your second infusion. And if you're lucky into your third.

So I was prepared for it.

[15:55:02]

There's another thing to do about it, and that doesn't look like a lot probably, but it sure the hell feels like it.

There is a six in my case, stage three, 60 to 70 percent survival rate. I've got several more months of chemo. Once that finishes, there is a break so that your body deals with the residuals of the chemo treatment and then I will get a double mastectomy. I will get radiation.

I mean, it feels like its never going to end but its just one treatment at a time.

I know cancer not supposed to be funny, but what can you do? I got to laugh. Be kind to yourself.

From the time really of puberty for me, I've disliked the way that my body is.

When I asked my body to take in poison on a regular basis and asked by body to survive, there was one day I was in the gym. I picked up my phone.

I'm thinking the spine his body that I have mentally tormented, I need to apologize to it.

I was really neglecting myself and that makes me sad that I was sort of taking advantage of this body and not giving it back what it needed, what kind of idiot does that? This is a real lesson about what real self-care is in real self-care to me is I'm drinking my water, drinking enough water, is going for a run, is being able to work out, letting yourself be mad, letting yourself cry. And why am I not just learning this now at 50? I don't know.

Because I'm trying to tell people that I'm visiting with you people.

We say all these things, like make sure you live every day like it's your last.

Most of us are just not capable of doing that. Now, I actually do that.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED) cancer. I'm running. I'm still here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: What a story. Thanks so much. Sara Sidner for that report.

Also, that reminder to all of us, live every day to the fullest. Sara, most importantly, we're rooting for you, and a quick recovery.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.