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Zelenskyy Meets with Biden, NATO Leaders at Critical Summit; New Aid for Ukraine Will Be Announced by G7 Leaders; Soon: Zelenskyy to meet one-on-one with Biden; U.S. Should Withdraw from NATO, According to MTG; Interview with Judiciary Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA); Soon: FBI Director Wray To Face GOP Critics; GOP Presidential Candidate Francis Suarez Joins CNN. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 12, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good Wednesday morning, everyone. Pamela Brown back with me.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Great to be here.

MATTINGLY: Very busy news day. A lot going on. But most notably, a critical NATO Summit is in its final day. President Biden is about to meet one-on-one with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy. We will take you live to Lithuania and break down all the big developments.

BROWN: And we are learning which GOP presidential candidates we might see on the debate stage next month. We're going to talk to one hopeful who is fighting to make the cut.

MATTINGLY: And we are about to find out if inflation cooled off or heated up in the U.S. the last month. This hour of "CNN This Morning" starts right now.

And it is an important hour this hour.

BROWN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: President Biden will be set to meet one-on-one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the high-stakes NATO Summit in Lithuania comes to a close. Now, Zelenskyy has been meeting face to face with NATO leaders throughout the course of the day as he pleads for more weapons and, of course, an invitation to join the alliance. President Biden has been clear that Russia's brutal war needs to end before Ukraine can join NATO.

BROWN: Well, Zelenskyy has been openly frustrated with NATO for not giving a clear timeline of when Ukraine can join. A short time ago, he thanked the allies for pledging new weapons packages but he did not relent on joining NATO.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I would like to have a success on this summit for everyone for our soldiers, for our citizens, for our children, for everyone. We can state that the results of the summit are good, but should we receive an invitation, they would be the optimum.

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BROWN: CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz is in Vilnius, Lithuania. Arlette, we're expecting a major announcement from Biden, Zelenskyy, and G7 leaders later this hour, tell us more.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela. Well, President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will be sitting down for a face-to-face face meeting, hoping to put some of those differences regarding that path for Ukraine's entry into NATO behind them and focus on what the U.S. and allies are able to provide for Ukraine in the here and now and also long term down the road.

The U.S., along with G7 allies, are set to announce a series of security commitments that they can try to offer Ukraine to really try to help them defend themselves not just in the short term, but also in the long term. And officials here say that they are hoping to send a direct message to Russia. And that is what so much of this summit has been about. Be it trying to rally more support, more aid for Ukraine, but also the expansion of the NATO alliance that we have seen right here on the ground in Vilnius after Turkey relented on their objections to Sweden entering the NATO alliance.

But really, all eyes will be on this meeting, these conversations between President Biden and Zelenskyy in just a few hours. The first time the two men will be sitting down face to face since May. And officials acknowledged they do expect some of these differences that we've heard over the course of the summit to be talked about in this meeting. They -- you just heard a little while ago, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan telling you guys that the president plans to be straightforward and explain his reasoning, but also think -- and also listen to what Zelenskyy has to say on this matter.

But what officials have really been to stress is that the U.S. is trying to offer long-term support to Ukraine, trying to formalize that, perhaps, in this announcement that's coming in the next hour so that the -- even though Zelenskyy is not getting exactly what he wants with a timeline towards NATO membership, he is getting further assistance and commitment by the United States to help them in the future.

BROWN: Arlette Saenz live for us in Lithuania, stay with us.

And let's bring in CNN Senior National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt who is in Kyiv, Ukraine, right now. And here with us on set, Retired Major General Spider Marks and CNN White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, I want to start with you. Arlette did a nice job laying out this upcoming meeting between Zelenskyy and Biden. Clearly, the tensions have been out there in the open. Zelenskyy made clear that he is not so happy with not having the invite and not having the timeline of when an invite could come to join NATO. What message do you think President Biden will send in this meeting?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think there's going to be two messages. There's going to be the public facing message and then there's going to be the private messages behind the scenes. And those two things are distinct and they are both and equally important. Publicly, the president is going to signal U.S.'s long term commitment to Ukraine. Security, we're expecting a new security assistance package today. Long term security assistance for Ukraine alongside G7 allies. But then there's also -- NATO allies, rather.

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But there's also going to be the private part of this meeting where the president is really going to go into explaining his thinking on NATO and why he didn't feel the time was right now for Ukraine to join the alliance. And what we also can see, as we saw with Jake Sullivan's response to that Ukrainian activist, you see that there are some private frustrations, and those have existed since the beginning between the Ukrainians and the United States.

But one thing I can tell you is that, you know, when President Biden speaks to Zelenskyy, those conversations can sometimes be frustrating. But at the end of those calls, I've been told, that the president says, you know what, if I were in his position, I would be doing the exact same thing.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's a really good point. Alex, you know, on the ground in Kyiv, I think one of the things that is important to some degree to point out is there is no expectation when you talk to White House officials or other NATO allies that there would be an invitation coming out of Vilnius, and I would imagine President Zelenskyy and his team knew that as well. What they are getting, however, is a very significant near-term defense assistance package from a series of NATO allies, but also the longer-term, kind of, umbrella type dynamic that's being put in place on a bilateral basis.

Do they view that as if not an invitation, at least this, this will be helpful in the near term, or is it just frustration at this point?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think it's both, Phil. I mean, they're certainly taking some comfort in the extremely robust support that they are being offered today and that they are still going to be offered today by the U.S. and other allies. But President Zelenskyy had said to CNN in the days leading up to the summit that he wasn't going to this NATO Summit for fun. He was expecting concrete outcomes. He wanted an invitation right away. And it is clear that that concrete timeline of how and when Ukraine can be -- can expect to join NATO is not coming imminently.

Zelenskyy, certainly, is going to be going into this meeting with Biden, I think, in a more conciliatory fashion than we have heard from him in the past few days. When it became clear that this invitation was not going to be coming, he tweeted a very aggressive message, saying that it was unprecedented and absurd that there was no timeline. And then earlier today, we did see him speaking alongside the Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, saying that when he does sit down with Biden, that he is going to be thankful.

He is going to thank Biden. He is going to thank Congress. He is going to thank the American people for the very considerable level of support that we have seen from the U.S. over the past 17 months. We heard Jake Sullivan earlier today bristling at that Ukrainian activist saying that the American people deserve a level of gratitude for these billions of dollars in weapons that have been sent to Ukraine.

So, I think you will see some of that tone. But again, Zelenskyy will be explaining the needs that they still have, long-range weapons was something that he mentioned, he would certainly be bringing up in that meeting. We have now very notably seen the French joining the British in sending these very long-range missiles. The U.S. still a hold-out on that front.

So, while Zelenskyy recognizes he is not going to get this invitation to NATO right away, he's going to be focusing on both the short and the long term. And the U.S. really going to say -- saying that we are going to be supporting you with weapons right now for this fight, but also for a future military. And explaining why now is not the time for Ukraine to be joining NATO. Guys.

BROWN: And I think -- I'm going to bring you in, General Marks, because we heard this from David Singer just earlier in the show that, you know, look, there is this question of what does the end game look like? I mean, we say, OK, they can join after the war is over. What does that actually look like? They haven't even really, in earnest, talk -- been talking about like peace negotiations and so forth because as he said, they want to wait to see how this Ukrainian counteroffensive goes.

But I think that's a real, real question, right? It's nebulous. It's uncertain. I mean, I don't think anyone thinks Russia is just going to pull out without, you know.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, that won't happen. You're exactly correct, yes.

BROWN: Yes.

MARKS: There is no off-ramp that Putin sees that he has to take. Look, this war is going to continue in some state for the very near future. There is no -- there is not going to be one discernible victor. There is not going to be a big parade at the end of this thing. I think there needs to be the recognition that 20 percent of Ukraine has been lost to Russia.

Is Ukraine in a position to reclaim that? And the answer is, no. We are going to see the counteroffensive, it's ongoing right now. There's very cautious action taking place on the ground. But bear in mind, over the course of the last six months, Russia has been able to put a defense in depth and the defense is the most difficult thing for military guy to attack into and through. So, no magic is going to occur on the battlefield.

And the only way that Ukraine would be able to isolate Russian forces, give them an incentive to leave, is if they could isolate.

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They could tie some tactical victories together. Create what's called operational maneuver and operational success, and then Russia would be isolated. Ukraine could continue to slaughter -- I hate to use the term, but that's what needs to take place on these battlefields. That would need a heck of a lot more than what Ukraine has right now.

And what Ukraine has not been able to do is -- and they've done magnificently, so let's just put that out there. And we think Zelenskyy is a Churchillian in terms of his leadership. But Ukraine has to be able to create this three-dimensional battlefield, they've not been able to do it.

BROWN: All right. Thank you for that perspective. We appreciate it. We're going to just stay tuned to this upcoming meeting with Zelenskyy and Biden. So, stick around. Expecting them to speak this hour. We're going to bring it to you live.

MATTINGLY: All right. Let's bring in Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, she's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she's also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which means you're going to have a busy and, perhaps, arduous morning at some point. Very big hearing going on over there. But I do want to start on the foreign policy side of things. When you take a look at what has transpired in Vilnius over the course of the last several days, how do you feel like the NATO alliance is coming out of this?

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): I feel like it's coming out very strong. I think about it and the conversations that are going on, the progress that has been made in the support of Ukraine, the robust support of Ukraine, and how indispensable the United States and this administration have been in summoning the support of so many nations, whether it's through sanctions or munitions and other humanitarian aid.

So, while I imagine that it's extraordinarily frustrating for President Zelenskyy not to have a roadmap and a calendar and a timeline or an invitation, I think it's understandable why we wouldn't want to invite now into NATO as NATO is growing and becoming more robust and more unified because of Article 5. We know all about that, that an attack on one is an attack on all.

So, what I hope is that we will do everything in our power to make Ukraine successful, to win this war sooner rather than later, and then a clear path for Ukraine to join NATO. I have a lot of Ukrainian- Americans in my district and that is what they want, many of them want.

MATTINGLY: Well, you as a member of the House, you are going to have a role in ensuring or whether or not that's possible in terms of resources going forward. Almost certainly there is going to be new funding that is necessary probably by the end of this fiscal year. It is a very different House of Representatives than it was when the last major funding package was passed. What do you think the chances are that a significant funding package for Ukraine could get through on a supplemental?

DEAN: I believe it will happen. I think it's essential. What happens in Ukraine matters to what happens around the world. We know that what Russia has done is a series of war crimes in invading, attacking and slaughtering Ukrainians, and destroying property, of course. But as China is watching what happens, we cannot let Ukraine fail. Ukraine must succeed. And think of the courage of the people and the president there. We have to pass a strong supplemental over and over again until this is done.

I know there are factions in the Republican caucus that are noisy and are questioning and are actually saying very irresponsible things around support for Ukraine.

MATTINGLY: Right.

DEAN: And the operations that are going on there, but they are a minority and I believe they will be drowned out.

MATTINGLY: I think one of the reasons I ask the question, and again, I feel like to some degree it's been overstated at times in terms of the resistance and the scale of it, but it does have voices that are listened to, particularly inside the speaker's office. And part of the reason I ask, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene had an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is moving right now, that would have pulled the U.S. out of NATO. And I think to some degree you, kind of, chuckled or think that's kind of crazy, except she is a prominent figure inside the conference.

DEAN: Think of how irresponsible that kind of an amendment is. Think of how irresponsible it was when she said this was a proxy war the United States is waging. She is someone who really doesn't understand the Constitution, her oath of office. Just likes to throw bombs and raise money from that. I hope she will be more and more isolated in her conference, and I call upon speaker McCarthy to do just that.

MATTINGLY: I do want to ask you before I let you go, you are in the judiciary committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray does testify in about an hour and 45 minutes. We were talking earlier on the show that, you know, there is kind of the show horse, workhorse mentality in a committee hearing where there is a lot of people who are doing it for their YouTube clips that they can send back home. And then there's the substance of things that members on both sides of the aisle we'll get into. Are you concerned that this will entail no substance and will just turn into a political food fight as these often do?

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DEAN: They often do. But I have found that in this new majority with Chairman Jordan, they have been very ineffective in the circus that they like to bring to town.

MATTINGLY: How so?

DEAN: Take a look at some of the hearings we have had. They have not gotten from their witnesses the stuff they want to get, which is that President Trump has been treated unfairly. What I would say is President Trump has been treated unfairly fair.

What has happened in terms of oversight and, for example, Mar-a-Lago, it took 18 months -- 19 months in order to get the documents back after he was asked over and over again. So, I would say, I would watch them today. I think they will be less effective than you think. And I'm confident that folks on our side of the aisle will take this seriously.

We have a responsibility for oversight. Mr. Wray has some very important things, if you read through his testimony, to convey to us about the grave dangers around the world, for our national security, for criminal activity. Congress has a role to play in oversight and also support.

Think also of the irresponsible nature of some of these. We had ATF in front of us. And it turned out that we have people like Matt Gaetz saying he wanted to defund ATF.

Really, this show today will be about how do we cut -- undercut FBI. For all those folks who ran a couple of sessions ago or a couple of election cycles ago saying Democrats want to defund the police, it turns out these are the fellows who want to defund law enforcement agencies that are essential to keeping the American people safe.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Congresswoman, we appreciate your time coming in. I know you have a very busy morning. Thanks.

DEAN: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And we will continue to keep an eye on the NATO Summit Lithuania. Also, federal regulators ordering Bank of America to pay more than a hundred million dollars to customers. We're going to explain why. Just ahead

MATTINGLY: And Miami Mayor, Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez, he's here. He'll be joining us to discuss the state of the 2024 race and his push to make the debate stage. Stay with us.

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BROWN: Well, this morning, we're getting our first glimpse at who may be on the Republican presidential debate stage in August -- who might be on that stage. And the first national poll that meets the Republican National Committee's criteria is out of meeting the one percent threshold. Former President Trump, Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Vice President Mike Pence. Former governors Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. Senator Tim Scott and former Governor Asa Hutchinson. They're going to have one percent -- they'll have to make one percent in two other national polls -- or one percent in two national polls and one percent and two early state polls.

And in addition to that, the candidates must receive donations from 40,000 individual donors. Several candidates running have not yet met that threshold in this poll, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is joining us now. Mayor, thanks for your time.

So, you didn't make this first poll. And your fundraising tweet suggests you're still trying to reach that 40,000 donor threshold. Several candidates are coming up with creative ways to meet that threshold, like dishing out $20 gift cards. Do you plan on doing anything like that to get on that debate stage?

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ, (R-MIAMI, FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm sure we'll get creative as well. You know, I've said from the beginning that you know I agree with the threshold, and will abide by whatever rules the Republican Party sets. I do think there should be minimum criteria. Because time is valuable. I mean, just this time now with you is valuable to get my message out there.

So, every time I'm on television, one of the things I do is, I say look, please go on my website, www.francissuarez.com. And if you like what you hear, donate a dollar. Give me an opportunity to continue to have the conversation.

I think the Republican Party has tried to set a relatively low bar, and they've tried to create a diverse candidate pool so that people have options. And I think that's what you would hope from a primary process. And that's what I want to engage in. I hope that I have been given an opportunity to continue the conversation so that people can see why I'm different and why I have something to offer that could be exciting for Americans.

BROWN: A few weeks back, you were caught off guard by a question during an interview about Uyghurs, a persecuted minority group in China. Here's the bite.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: Will you be talking about the Uyghurs in your campaign?

SUAREZ: The what?

HEWITT: The Uyghurs.

SUAREZ: What's a Uyghur? And you gave me homework. You -- I'll look at what it was. What'd you call it, a weeble?

HEWITT: The Uyghurs. You really need to know about the Uyghurs, Mayor. You got to talk about it every day. OK.

SUAREZ: I will -- I will talk about -- I will follow -- I will search Uyghurs. I'm a good learner. I'm a fast learner.

(END AUDIO CLIP) BROWN: So, after you said you didn't recognize the host pronunciation of Uyghurs, China is of course a central part of any presidential election. As president, how would you address the issue with his predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in China?

SUAREZ: Well, I was definitely caught off guard. You know, I used to the Turkish pronunciation of the word which is Uyghur. And it's spelled phonetically in -- a little differently.

But absolutely, I think, look. You know, human rights is an issue that we have to deal with as a country. Just yesterday, we had the two-year anniversary of the July 11th protests in Cuba. That's in our own hemisphere.

I think the U.S. president has to address fundamental human rights abuses. Whether they be religious persecution. Whether they be putting people like the Uyghurs or the Uyghurs in concentration camps where they're potentially shot if they try to escape where they're being indoctrinated.

I mean, that should all be part of our foreign policy. I mean, we're giving China a trillion dollars of our wealth on a net annual basis. And I gave the key to the city to Enes Kanter Freedom, you know, who is a dissident, a former NBA player, who has criticized the NBA for doing business with China, and sort of not dealing with issues like the Uyghur issue you know in Xinjiang.

So, I think it's important for us to call these things out. It is important for us to talk about them, not just in China, in Cuba, and throughout the rest of the world, frankly.

BROWN: I'm going to ask you because where you are right now in your home state, we're seeing record temperatures. I mean, we spoke with a CNN reporter in Miami earlier who described extreme heat making the air drinkable and the ocean into a hot tub. Your city is not alone, more and more states are experiencing these extreme temperatures with little relief in sight. And I'm wondering what exactly would you do if you became president to combat climate change.

SUAREZ: I think you could look at what I've done. One of the things we've done in Miami is we haven't put our heads in the sand and pretend like it doesn't exist. You know, hurricanes are not Republican or Democrat. We have spent tens of millions and will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on resiliency, on upgrading our infrastructure.

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We actually got upgraded, believe it or not, by FEMA, to actually make us less risky, which means that all of our citizens in the city of Miami got a reduction of approximately eight percent in their policies. So, it's important for us to recognize the issue. And I think this is where a mayoral personality when you're considering who should be the president of the United States.

I was elected by 86 percent and reelected by 80 percent. I know how to bring people together -- how to unify people around solving issues. In Washington, we've got very good at blaming other people at fighting with each other. But we're not very good at solving issues. I think you have to confront these issues.

You have to understand that throughout the country, not just in Miami, but across the country, we're seeing these climatic events that are -- that are devastating in nature. And we have to confront it head-on as a -- as a country.

BROWN: I got to ask you before we let you go. Donald Trump's lawyers are asking to postpone his trial in the classified documents case potentially until after the election. They cite the election as one of the reasons arguing it would be unfair to him in the election process. As a candidate in this race, would you want to see this trial take place before or after?

SUAREZ: You know, to be honest with you, I don't spend that much time thinking about it. I'm focused on -- I'm going to be in New Hampshire on Friday. I was in Iowa, Cedar Rapids last week for July fourth.

And what people are telling me is they want to hear a coherent plan for their future, a coherent vision for their future that is not toxic and that is not falling into this sort of constant division. That's what they care about. They care about their children's future.

Whether Donald Trump gets indicted, whether he gets convicted, when the trial is, those are not things that they discuss with me. And frankly, are not the things that I'm focusing on. I'm focusing on spending this precious time with you trying to convince the American people that I'm an option worth getting to know more about.

BROWN: OK. So, let's talk about that coherent plan and how this might fit into that. That you say the voters are -- want. So, your candidacy has played into what some have labeled a "testosterone primary." Taking a look at this tweet right here, what you recently tweeted.

You recently told Politico that you are contemplating a shirtless advertisement. Where does that stand? How does that help voters get to know you better? How does that fit into this coherent plan for the future that these voters want to hear?

SUAREZ: I think voters want to know that their candidate for president is someone that can handle the job. It's a very difficult job. Right now, if the status quo remains, we're going to have a potential repeat of the 2020 election where two candidates who are getting very advanced in their age are going to be running against each other.

And I think what people want to see, and we've seen some virality to the fact that some candidates are emphasizing the fact that they can work hard that they have the energy and the strength to run this country, which is, you know, the most difficult government to run the most difficult economy to run in the world. And I think that's important for people to know. I think people -- you know, listen. In a campaign, that's as long as it says, as you can imagine, there are things that you do that are kind of fun, that are kind of just tongue in cheek, and that are meant to sort of provoke discussion and conversation. So, I think that was one of those tweets. BROWN: All right, we have to leave it there. Mayor Francis Suarez, thank you.

SUAREZ: Thank you so much. Thanks for the opportunity.

MATTINGLY: Well, in just moments, President Biden and President Zelenskyy will meet on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, Lithuania. We'll take you there live. Plus.

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MATTINGLY: An old-timer. A jury has made a decision on the validity of Aretha Franklin's hand-written will that was discovered on her couch.

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