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CNN This Morning
Soon: Zelenskyy Heads To Capitol Hill With Ukraine Aid At Risk; Showcasing The Positivity Of Hip-Hop Culture; "Jose Andres & Family In Spain" Airs Sunday At 9PM ET/PT. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 21, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): This is an unwarranted war that they did not ask for, but they're willing to defend the right of freedom. We should stand with anyone that's willing to defend freedom. I think that room is united to defend and help Ukraine get the weaponry they need to defend themselves.
Is Zelenskyy elected to Congress? Is he our president? I don't think I have to commit anything. I have questions for him. Where's the accountability in the money we've already spent? What is the plan for victory?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us now is CNN's chief international anchor, Christine Amanpour.
The contrast of the reception --
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- not just going back to March, which was a video speech that he gave, but late last year when he was in person and it was very dramatic from both sides of the aisle, that shift -- is this a political issue right now or is it deeper than that?
AMANPOUR: You know, it's hard to tell. Obviously, politicians react to their people. You've seen some of the polls that have come not just here, in Europe as well. President Zelenskyy spoke to a much less full house than the last time he addressed the U.N. Biden and Zelenskyy stood very firm at the U.N. this week. It was a week of solidarity for the protection of democracy against dictatorship and autocracy. And so they need to keep making their case.
It is not surprising that he's not again being asked to deliver -- to address a joint session. That's not surprising. The question is will the United States' commitment from the administration continue -- i.e., that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes? President Biden wants to, I believe, deliver another $24 billion in military --
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. AMANPOUR: -- and other assistance and we'll see what the Congress says.
Clearly, in the Senate, the minority leader -- Republican leader Mitch McConnell is very pro-defense of freedom and sovereignty for Ukraine.
HARLOW: You've been back and back to Ukraine reporting --
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HARLOW: -- from the ground during this war. Just explain to people what happens if Congress doesn't re-up funding.
AMANPOUR: Well, you can see what's happening now, to be frank. The American administration has given an enormous amount of aid over the last year and a half. It has created and sustained an incredible and unprecedented alliance that is still firm despite all the chit-chat and chatter on the -- on the outskirts.
But the fact that the counteroffensive is not going as it was way too highly touted -- by the way, expectations were raised to here --
HARLOW: Yeah.
AMANPOUR: -- and they will never match that. It is a slow, long slog.
But without the proper weaponry at the right time, it's just a simple equation. If you don't have it you can't do it. And so, they need to get more of the correct weaponry.
And you say today -- I mean, the Russians -- they don't do things by accident -- this massive barrage against the capital, Kyiv. Obviously, great -- the anti-missile systems that the U.S. and others have sent keep getting most of them but not all of them. You know, they can take down most of these things but not all of them.
And we're starting maybe another six weeks maybe of fighting season and then there's the winter. Then there's the whole thing about bashing civilian infrastructure again --
HARLOW: Yeah.
AMANPOUR: -- and the cycle continues.
MATTINGLY: Zelenskyy is in town -- or in the United States because of the U.N. General Assembly.
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: Most people think of this week in New York, in part, for the traffic but also because there are critical speeches from world leaders throughout the course of the week. It also means that you have interviews with, like, 600 really important people.
HARLOW: Basically, it --
AMANPOUR: Yes.
HARLOW: It's basically everyone.
MATTINGLY: Every single important topic in geopolitics.
You also -- in this case, you spoke to Al Gore --
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- the former vice president. What did he say?
AMANPOUR: Well, he is the major grand -- I was going to say grand dame but, of course, he's a guy. He's the major leader of the climate activist movement worldwide.
MATTINGLY: Oh, I -- can we play --
HARLOW: Should we listen to him?
MATTINGLY: Yeah, sorry.
AMANPOUR: Well, sure. Let's do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL FORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And one of the reasons why President Biden became president was his advocacy for solutions to the climate crisis.
AMANPOUR: Right.
GORE: And what he has presided over is the passage of, by far, the biggest and best climate legislation that any country has ever passed in history. He's done some things I don't agree with but what he has done in a positive way far outweighs the rest. He has been a genuine leader on this issue. And the Congress passed the IRA. It's going to put more than a trillion dollars into speeding up the deployment of alternative sources of energy.
AMANPOUR: And what happens if a Donald Trump comes back?
GORE: Oh, I --
AMANPOUR: We saw the --
GORE: I'm not even going to speculate on that.
AMANPOUR: On climate -- or somebody like him with those views.
GORE: I don't like to speculate on that for the same reason I don't like to watch horror movies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: I mean, you could have let him go after I don't like to speculate -- AMANPOUR: I did, but you've cut it.
MATTINGLY: -- but you pressed him and you got him -- you got him over the --
HARLOW: Whoa!
MATTINGLY: -- there. You got him over the line.
AMANPOUR: I did.
MATTINGLY: What was your takeaway both on the analysis of the climate efforts --
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- from the Biden administration --
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- but also I think he gets at a critical element --
AMANPOUR: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- behind the scenes --
AMANPOUR: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- and on (INAUDIBLE).
AMANPOUR: The takeaway is that climate is a net positive for the economy because of the alternative energies in economic endeavors that can -- that can really make the situation move ahead.
[07:35:00]
But also, he points out that the climate case is supported by the majority of people here -- people here and in many of the democracies, including, as he pointed out to me, a majority of young Republicans.
And he was very upset that the British prime minister, that very day -- the beginning of climate week -- decided to slow roll Britain's climate promises.
HARLOW: Right.
AMANPOUR: So he was very upset about that.
HARLOW: Which he'd been warning of.
AMANPOUR: Yeah. And, of course, it's -- he's just trying to say don't play politics with this existential threat. And we've all been reporting on it. CNN has been doing breaking news for weeks and months of the terrible weather all over the world and all over this country.
HARLOW: Another -- MATTINGLY: Don't leave.
HARLOW: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: Interesting.
HARLOW: Let me ask --
MATTINGLY: Just stay. Don't go back.
HARLOW: Christiane told us she's flying home --
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HARLOW: -- after this and we're sad because we've gotten you at the table for a week.
AMANPOUR: Well, it's been my pleasure.
HARLOW: Thank you very much.
AMANPOUR: Next time, yeah.
HARLOW: Next time.
All right, using the power of hip-hop to help his community. Next, you're going to meet the champion for change who has created a safe space for people to talk about their lives and fight against harmful stereotypes.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:40:00]
HARLOW: All right. This week, CNN is bringing you a series that we love called "Champions for Change" -- stories of everyday people who embody humanity at its best with new ideas that are leading to great changes.
MATTINGLY: Now, of course, hip-hop involves rhythm, wit, and a whole lot of creativity. I had to define that for you. Listen to hip-hop, please.
Victor Blackwell's champion is tapping into the power of hip-hop to stretch young people's minds. He calls the innovative gatherings Soul Food Cyphers. And Victor Blackwell joins us now -- Victor.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: This was fun to shoot. It was a really good time and they're doing some great work with Soul Food Cyphers. So my champion is Alex Acosta, also known as "Cost One." And this is a great example of a man who took his passion -- one of his loves and "hmm, I wonder if that would work" moment and created something that I think is extraordinary -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the way you're rapping. Embracing the freestyle. I see just how it happens.
BLACKWELL (on camera): So I chose this story first because I love the art form. I love the music. Hip-hop and rap have been the soundtrack of my teen years, my 20s, 30s, and now 40s, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call me Jetson. Oh, like I'm Elroy.
BLACKWELL (on camera): And often when we see these cyphers or we see or hear hip-hop or rap people assume that it's negative. But in these cyphers, that's not what we see. What we see is people telling their truths, and sometimes they are difficult but these are loving spaces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so real it stopped the lungs. You're giving it to them and you want some. Hey, you (INAUDIBLE) want some.
ALEX ACOSTA, COMMUNITY LEADER, ARTS ADVOCATE, FOUNDING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SOUL FOOD CYPHER: Yeah. Juveniles want some. I'm going to switch it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Alex, also known as "Cost One," creates this safe space where people feel comfortable to talk about what is happening in their lives and where they want to go. It's aspirational as well.
BLACKWELL (on camera): Tell me about how you got to not just loving the cypher, loving hip-hop --
ACOSTA: Yeah.
BLACKWELL (on camera): -- but doing something with it. Where did that start?
ACOSTA: I realized that there was a magic there. By design, cyphers are ephemeral. They pop up and then they dissipate. Why not create a permanent cypher? So I brought some of my best friends together and we created Soul Food Cypher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Rapping).
ACOSTA: Our organization has been around for 11 years and we look to showcase the positive elements of hip-hop culture through our cypher events and also our workshops and performances as well.
So a lot of times, rap music, especially popular mainstream, et cetera, et cetera -- the music and the message that you hear justifies a historical negative that Black men are violent, misogynistic, Black women are overly sexualized, XYZ. So why is the lyrical content important? It's important that we change that narrative.
BLACKWELL (on camera): Outside of the monthly cyphers, Soul Food Cypher goes into schools, and this is the part that I think is the most fantastic. What I've learned also from some of the instructors is that it helps them grow as well. BUNDUKE, TEACHING ARTIST, SOUL FOOD CYPHER: As we go through the curriculum and I'm teaching them and allowing them to express these gifts that are already inside of them, they get this feeling and it builds a connection. It builds a bond. They'll share some things that's, like, crazy. And it's like dang, that's what you're going through at home, you know?
And they'll be like oh, can you come to my soccer game? Nobody comes to my soccer game. Bro, I used to be that. Like, that's just crazy to me, man. So I'm, like, I've got to come back.
BLACKWELL (on camera): You get, obviously, a lot out of it as much as you give to these students. Speak to the question of why it's important to pass the art form to the next generation.
ACOSTA: We're using this English language in order to be able to inspire influence because sometimes, our voice is the only thing we do have. But then you're reminded by instructor Bunduke, Ana (PH), Brad (PH) from Soul Food Cypher that you have a power and that your voice matters.
We're building community and we're building rapport between people, and it's a very, very powerful thing to have, like hip-hop church. You're going to see love and you're going to see respect, knowledge, and joy. You're going to see smiles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Isn't that a fantastic idea? I mean, what I love most about it -- and I want to talk a little bit more about taking this into the classroom -- is that, yes, this helps to teach language and you meet the students with an art form that many of them already love. They know the beats. They wanted to be a part of this. And you have these older M.C.s come in and say yes, you can do this.
[07:45:00]
But it's also so therapeutic and a space in which they would tell a truth that maybe if you sat them down with a therapist or if a teacher simply asked, they would not tell some of those truths. But in that space, the creation of that really safe cypher -- these children -- these students tell more than they would in other spaces and then you can get to maybe solving some of these things.
Fantastic. It was -- it was also a lot of fun to shoot.
HARLOW: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: That's so good. It's like the best part of every day --
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: -- this week. And Victor, that was absolutely outstanding. Victor Blackwell --
HARLOW: Yeah. MATTINGLY: -- thanks.
HARLOW: I loved it.
MATTINGLY: And you should -- as we've reminded you every day this week, be sure to tune in Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one-hour special.
HARLOW: Also new this morning, Hollywood going back to the negotiating table. What we're hearing about a potential deal to end the writer's strike.
MATTINGLY: Plus, Jose Andres has spent more than a decade helping to feed millions of people facing humanitarian, climate, and community crises. There's a reason. His new cookbook is called "Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope." We're going to talk to him about it live -- his new CNN series. That's next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL)
MATTINGLY: Ukraine says its air defense shot down 36 of 43 Russian missiles fired across the country overnight. Officials there call it a quote, "terrible night" of shelling on residential areas.
Award-winning chef Jose Andres is no stranger to devastation like this from the war in Ukraine to the earthquake in Haiti, tornadoes in Kentucky. Chef Andres has spent more than a decade helping feed millions of people facing humanitarian, climate, and community crises.
[07:50:05]
Now, he's traveling back to his home country of Spain to share the country's food and culture with his American-born daughters. The journey was documented on our sister platform Discovery+ in the series "JOSE ANDRES & FAMILY IN SPAIN," which is now coming to CNN. Here's a taste.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSE ANDRES, CHEF, AUTHOR, HUMANITARIAN, FOUNDER, JOSE ANDRES GROUP: My girls have a sweet tooth and, of course, they are look for something sugary to start their day. In Barcelona, the obvious choice is the chucho.
CARLOTA ANDRES, ANDRES' DAUGHTER: Oh, the chucho.
J. ANDRES: And what is a chucho?
C. ANDRES: A croissant?
J. ANDRES: Carlota, what? No!
C. ANDRES: (INAUDIBLE).
J. ANDRES: Take a look. This is like this amazing dough that is fried and filled up with cream. Not just any cream, Crema Catalana. Almost like a sweet, velvety custard with sugar dusted on the crunchy outside.
A good croissant is a great thing, lady, but a chucho -- a chucho is for the gods.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is it, Carlota?
C. ANDRES: Oh my god.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god, your lip's all sugary.
C. ANDRES: It's so creamy and crunchy, and sweet.
The chucho -- oh my gosh. The chuchos are the best thing in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are croissants everywhere in America? Why can't chuchos be everywhere in America?
C. ANDRES: I think we should take chuchos to the U.S.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: That's just asking the right questions, right there.
Joining us now is award-winning chef, author, and humanitarian, Jose Andres. Thanks so much for being here and for being at the table. As the president of the White House Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, I very much appreciate what you brought in today.
HARLOW: Were you -- were you really?
MATTINGLY: No, I wasn't. He is.
HARLOW: But you really were that?
MATTINGLY: No. He is literally President Biden's --
J. ANDRES: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: He's -- that's what he was.
HARLOW: I thought Phil was talking about himself. I know. I remember.
J. ANDRES: No. I am, but this is only to showcase --
MATTINGLY: Yeah, we appreciate it -- yes.
J. ANDRES: -- my country.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. It's purely -- yes.
J. ANDRES: If you eat with moderation, everything is great.
HARLOW: No chuchos there, yeah?
MATTINGLY: The genesis of this idea -- like, especially with the kids going back to your home country -- where did it come from? J. ANDRES: Well listen, this was simple. I am an emigrant. I came to America 32-33 years ago. And it's a country in the world that different people from different parts can feel welcome in America and learn the traditions. I love Thanksgiving. I love -- you know, this American and Spanish boy growing up. But I feel like a role a family runs like me, so opening the doors to America to the other countries. That's the role a family runs -- building bridges.
This show, in a way, is opening a door, it's opening a window, it's building bridges between America and Spain.
HARLOW: When you were with us almost a year ago when this was launching on Discovery+, you talked about what it meant to you as a father to do this with your daughters. To see the world in this way through their eyes -- what you have dedicated your life to.
J. ANDRES: Obviously, my daughters feel somewhat like they have the perfect switch in the way they behave when they are in the states and the way they behave when they go back to Spain where their mother and myself come from.
And for me, taking my daughters -- which they've been going every summer to Spain -- but take them to all the places. Spain is a small country but then, like everywhere, is a big country. And take them to new places and use -- show them the places that grow up as a young schoolboy going to culinary school.
For me, this was the most amazing moment -- not so much a show of travel and food but at the end, that the daughters having a great time together.
We even went shooting this show to Ukraine. You mentioned the missiles.
HARLOW: Yes, you did.
J. ANDRES: I took one of my daughters with me to Ukraine where missiles already began falling down -- going back last year in March- April.
So you see life is celebrating the good moments but then keeping in touch with the reality that the world is a complicated place. But here, what we are doing is completely celebrating family.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. The father-daughter relationship and watching -- one, it's hilarious at various points. But it's -- but by far, my favorite part of the show.
I also want to ask you, though, about your cookbook. Obviously, everybody knows the humanitarian work you do. We listed not even probably one-fiftieth of the places you've been to help. The -- you recently released the "World Central Kitchen: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope." Why did you decide to do this cookbook?
J. ANDRES: Well, this is a cookbook that really is not mine. Even my name is kind of in the cover. This is a book of tens of thousands of people that on every mission they work alongside the men and women of World Central Kitchen to bring hope in the form of food in some of the biggest disasters -- from Turkey earthquake to the volcano in Hawaii or the latest fire, to floods and fires in Chile, World Central Kitchen has been there.
[07:55:04]
And those recipes are not really recipes. They are the story of the people behind those dishes that brought hope in a very dark moment.
HARLOW: And you're so intentional about bringing local food to those local areas of disaster so people really feel that comfort from it and it's not something foreign to them.
J. ANDRES: But it's also the smart thing to do.
HARLOW: Yeah.
J. ANDRES: What really do you have when you go to --
HARLOW: Of course.
J. ANDRES: -- to Haiti? There, the ingredients of Haiti.
HARLOW: Yeah.
J. ANDRES: And the people of Haiti -- what they know what to cook. The traditional Haitian dishes.
So it makes sense. It's logical. That's what we do.
HARLOW: We are so glad you're here taking action. I know you've called on leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week not just to give these speeches but to take real action. Thank you for what you do.
J. ANDRES: Thank you.
HARLOW: And congrats. We can't wait to have it here on CNN.
J. ANDRES: All right. I'm happy to be part of the family.
HARLOW: Oh, good.
Be sure to tune in as CNN presents a Discovery+ original "JOSE ANDRES AND FAMILY IN SPAIN." It is Sunday, 9:00 PM Eastern and Pacific right here.
MATTINGLY: Well, new and disturbing allegations against Rudy Giuliani. A former White House aide and star witness in the January 6 hearings is now claiming she was groped on the day of the insurrection. We'll have those details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL)
HARLOW: All right, it's the top of the hour. We are so glad you're with us.
Let's start with five things to know for this Thursday.
[08:00:00]
