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Navalny Issues Message from Siberian Prison; The Year in Politics; U.S. and Europe Consider Seizing Russian Assets. Aired 6:30- 7a ET
Aired December 26, 2023 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Known as Polar Wolf. It is in the Russian arctic. You see it right there, 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. Navalny has been missing since December 11th, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his re-election plans. Navalny set out a series of tweets. One of them reads, "don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm totally relieved that I finally made it."
Nada Bashir joins us live from London with more.
When I saw the news break, I was first relieved, right, that he's OK, people were wondering where he was, but what do we know about where he is now being held?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Poppy, the conditions at the Polar Wolf penal colony are known to be harsh. And, of course, while we have now heard directly from Navalny after two weeks of no contact between his legal team and the Kremlin critic and what has certainly come as a moment of relief for many, this is a huge moment of also concern considering the conditions that are said to be inside that penal colony.
Now, as you mentioned, we have heard from Navalny. He shared those updates via his aides who posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning. He spoke of his relief after what he described to be an exhausting 20-day journey to get to this remote penal colony in the northwestern Siberian region of Kharp. He also spoke of seeing what he described to be like a movie scene of a convoy, including soldiers, security forces with machine guns. But, again, he said he is doing well, that he had been able to meet and speak with his lawyer. And he thanked supporters for their concern.
But, again, there is concern amongst his closest supporters, including the director of his anticorruption foundation. He shared an update yesterday upon the news that Navalny had been located, issuing this statement regarding the penal colony, saying, "the conditions there are harsh, with a special regime in the permafrost zone. It is very difficult to get there, and there are no letter delivery systems."
There is also reporting in local government media in Siberia regarding the more general conditions of this Polar Wolf penal colony, saying that the focus there is on re-education through occupational therapy. Navalny, of course, a key Kremlin critic. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison back in August on charges relating to extremes. And, of course, these are charges he denies. His legal team believe these are politically motivated charges.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nada Bashir with the update. Thank you.
Well, George Santos, Bob Menendez, Kevin McCarthy, you could say they've all had years they'd like to forget. How political chaos ruled on Capitol Hill and beyond in 2023.
HARLOW: Right now, a blizzard is hitting the Plains in the Midwest. Forecasters warning that 75-mile-per-hour winds and heavy snow is going to make it difficult to near impossible for some people to travel. The storm blew an 18-wheeler off the road and triggered chain reactions in terms of crashes in Nebraska. Some places could get up to a foot of snow.
Back in a moment.
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[06:36:32]
HARLOW: 2024 will begin with a political bang with just weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses. But what happened this past year could create a political hangover that could last for weeks or even months. From the race to the White House, to the wars overseas and the battles on Capitol Hill, CNN's Eva McKend looks back at a year governed by chaos.
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EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to the top ten political stories of 2023, this was another big year, with unprecedented chaos in Washington, courtroom spectacles and accusations of brazen corruption.
MCKEND (voice over): At number ten, Senator Bob Menendez faces corruption-related charges.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But you're being accused of aiding a foreign government. Why is that appropriate for you to go into a classified briefing?
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Bottom line is, I'm a United States senator. I have my security credentials. And an accusation is just that. It's not proof of anything.
MCKEND (voice over): Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars, cash, and a luxury vehicle, in exchange for the senator's influence. The indictment led Menendez to step aside as chair of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee. But the New Jersey Democrat and his wife maintain their innocence and have pleaded not guilty. He has pledged to remain in his seat despite calls from many lawmakers to resign, including from some of his fellow Senate Democrats. At number nine, a moving tribute to Rosalynn Carter, the former first
lady, humanitarian, and mental health advocate. Former President Jimmy Carter emerges from hospice care to attend a public memorial service paying tribute to his late wife, which also brought together the first ladies club. The Carters became internationally known for their humanitarian work after Carter's stinging presidential defeat in 1980. They have the longest marriage in presidential history at 77 years.
MCKEND: Number eight, Hunter Biden's high stakes plea agreement with federal prosecutors falls apart.
ABBE LOWELL, HUNTER BIDEN'S ATTORNEY: The prosecutors who came forward to us and were the ones to say, can there be a resolution short of a prosecution.
MCKEND (voice over): Now he's facing three federal firearms charges and nine new tax charges. The case could pose another challenge to President Joe Biden's re-election bid, with House Republicans also investigating the president's son and pursuing an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic incumbent. So far, the GOP-led probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president.
HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: I'm here today to make sure that the House committee's illegitimate investigations of my family do not proceed on distortions, manipulated evidence, and lies.
MCKEND (voice over): Number seven, foreign wars create political fractures at home, from the halls of Congress, to college campuses. President Biden calling on Americans to unite behind Israel and Ukraine in their respective conflicts.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe.
MCKEND (voice over): But the president facing skepticism from Republicans on providing more aid to Ukraine.
[06:40:06]
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH): Republicans disagree amongst themselves about exactly how we should respond to the Ukraine question.
MCKEND (voice over): And pressure from some in the progressive wing of Biden's own party over Israel.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): President Biden, not all Americans are with you on this one! And you need to wake up and understand that!
MCKEND: Number six, the Republican race for the White House takes shape.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win the Iowa caucuses.
MCKEND (voice over): Donald Trump closes out the year as the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination, as his rivals vow to emerge to the leading alternative to the former president. After entering the race as the top threat to Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' rise was slow amid a shaky campaign launch and a series of campaign resets.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to have this debate in Iowa before the caucus. I will be there. Donald Trump should be there.
MCKEND (voice over): Meanwhile, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley gained momentum late in the year after several strong debate performances.
NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where have y'all been?
MCKEND (voice over): Amid Trump's dominance, several GOP hopefuls dropped out before the calendar turned to 2024, including former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Number five, the potency of abortion rights in a post-Roe America. More than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion rights proved to be a galvanizing issue for Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to protect abortion access.
MCKEND (voice over): Helping deliver victories for Democratic candidates in off year elections in Virginia, and deep red Kentucky, and voters in Ohio passing a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did it!
MCKEND (voice over): Number four, President Joe Biden announces his re-election bid, facing significant political headwinds, and setting up a potential rematch with Donald Trump.
J. BIDEN: It is time to finish the job. Finish the job.
CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
MCKEND (voice over): Biden's bid for a second term is imperiled by stubbornly low approval ratings and persistent questions about his age. His campaign leaning on his legislative record and drawing a contrast with his 2020 rival.
J. BIDEN: It was an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy. The MAGA movement.
MCKEND (voice over): Despite weariness from some Democrats, Biden is expected to face little resistance in winning the party's nomination in 2024, drawing long shot challenges from Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, and author Maryann Williamson. Several third party candidates have also announced, including Robert Kennedy Jr. and progressive scholar Cornell West,, who could turn into wild cards in the general election. MCKEND: Number three, embattled Congressman George Santos expelled.
GEORGE SANTOS (R), FORMER CONGRESSMAN FROM NEW YORK: I don't care.
MCKEND (voice over): The U.S. House voted to expel the New York Republican after a scathing ethics report in a yearlong swirl of controversy about Santos' litany of lies. Santos becomes just the sixth member in history to be expelled from Congress, and the third since the Civil War.
SANTOS: Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.
MCKEND (voice over): After winning a battleground House district, major pieces of Santos' biography fell apart, including his claims around his education, professional experience, and family background. Santos was later indicted on federal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering but pleaded not guilty and has denied the allegations.
SANTOS: And I'm not really commenting on the ongoing investigation.
MCKEND (voice over): Santos re-emerged soon after being removed from office on the celebrity video message site Cameo.
SANTOS: Well, happy, happy birthday!
MCKEND (voice over): Number two, Kevin McCarthy becomes the first House speaker removed from the post. McCarthy's ouster came ten months after he claimed the gavel, following a floor fight that went five days and took 15 rounds of voting that divided the GOP and saw the California Republican bend to a series of concessions to hardline conservatives. In the end, eight House Republicans joined with Democrats to depose McCarthy.
REP. Kevin MCCARTHY (R-CA): It's frustrating because it's just a few, these eight, working with all the Democrats, to ruin the reputation of the Republicans.
MCKEND (voice over): The move sparked weeks of chaos, and infighting among House Republicans, as they struggled to coalesce around a successor, before ultimately voting to elevate little known Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson as the new speaker.
[06:45:09]
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I want to thank you all for the trust you have instilled in me.
MCKEND (voice over): Number one, the country's 45th president and leading Republican presidential candidate becomes the first former president to face criminal charges.
TRUMP: I won't be able to go to Iowa today. I won't be able to go to New Hampshire today because I'm sitting in a courtroom.
MCKEND (voice over): Trump is facing 91 criminal counts, ranging from conspiracy to obstruct justice, to racketeering, across four separate jurisdictions, in New York, Washington, D.C., Georgia and Florida. Trump denying all those accusations.
JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL PROSECUTING DONALD TRUMP: An indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result.
MCKEND: The Fulton County, Georgia, indictment resulting in this historic image, the first mug shot of a former U.S. president. The former president regularly turning his courtroom appearances into campaign-style events.
TRUMP: This is a witch hunt, the likes of which are probably nobody has ever seen.
MCKEND: In a preview of 2024, when the political and legal calendars are set to collide.
Eva McKend, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Our thanks to Eva for that.
Overnight, Ukraine says it launched an explosive attack on a Russian warship. A fireball erupting at a port. How Ukraine's defense could actually get a boost from Russian cash.
MATTINGLY: And what once promising campaign of Ron DeSantis may be on life support. What one close adviser is reportedly saying behind closed doors. That's next.
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[06:51:09]
MATTINGLY: New this morning, Ukraine claims it struck and destroyed a Russian warship in Crimea, killing one person. The video shows a massive explosion -- you can see right there -- at a port in Crimea this morning. Now, CNN has not been able to verify the video or the claims, but Russia has confirmed the ship was, quote, "damaged," by a Ukrainian airstrike using guided missiles.
HARLOW: And now with aide for Ukraine clearly in doubt, "The New York Times" reports that the U.S. and Europe are considering seizing up to $300 billion in Russian assets to help fund Ukraine's defense.
CNN political and national security analyst and "New York Times" correspondent David Sanger is back with us.
Obviously, David, this is your reporting. It comes with a lot of risks, right? It didn't happen actually. It
wasn't done after Russia seized Crimea. How likely do you think it is that this would happen now?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, that's right, Poppy, there were a lot of - there was a lot of opposition to the idea, chiefly from the Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, and also from the Fed. And their argument was pretty simple. It was, if countries are -- get accustomed to putting money in the New York Federal Reserve, some of which they keep in the form of gold, some of it they just keep as assets in U.S. dollars, and they think the United States could seize that money in a war time situation or for any other reason without going through a lengthy legal process, they might be less willing to put their money and their assets in U.S. dollars.
But I think as time has gone on, and as it has become clear that Congress either won't provide additional aid to Ukraine or will provide it in lesser amounts than we've seen in the past two years, there has been greater and greater pressure to find a way to go do this. And so they're doing it through the group of seven nations, hoping to have the cover of international law and most of the assets are here in Europe.
MATTINGLY: Do they think that from a liability -- from a legal perspective things have actually changed, or is this purely because they're not - they're no longer convinced Congress can provide it?
SANGER: I think, Phil, the arguments haven't changed. I think that they're mostly concerned that even if Congress does pass additional aid now, it may not later on. The original idea, Phil, was to take this $300 billion and use it for Ukrainian reconstruction of the cities. Obviously, it's going to take more than $300 billion to make up for the damage that the Russians have done in nearly two years of war. But now there is actually some discussion underway about maybe using some of the money to fund artillery, other arms and support for the war itself because Ukrainians are really feeling the pinch.
HARLOW: What about the reporting from your colleagues at "The Times" that Putin has been sort of quietly signaling that he is open to a deal or a cease-fire in Ukraine that would essentially have him hanging on to the territory that they have taken so far, far less than they set out, obviously, to call it an end?
SANGER: This was really fascinating reporting by Anton Troianovski and Julian Barnes, Adam Entous at "The Times." And what they found was that twice Putin has signaled quietly and through third parties to keep some deniability about him, that he's open to a deal. But the deal he's discussing would require that Ukraine agree that he's basically holding the nearly 20 percent of the country where Russian troops are now dug in.
[06:55:03]
And it's really hard for me to imagine President Zelenskyy, having declared time and time again that Ukraine would not give up one inch of territory the Russians have seized, would enter into the negotiation with that as a prerequisite, or even with a likely outcome.
HARLOW: Right.
MATTINGLY: So, what happens next? You know, this year seems to be a critical year when you look at funding, when you look at whether or not there would be negotiations. Is there an endgame? Has an endgame been discussed?
SANGER: There have been a lot of endgames discussed, Phil. And, you know, the images that you just showed before of that Russian ship aflame tells you that the Ukrainians are still capable of really ingenious and sometimes long-range strikes. That ship was moored off Crimea.
But it's really hard to imagine right now how either side breaks through from the current line of combat. And if anything, in 2023, the Russians gained a bit of ground. Not much, but a bit. And so you've got to think, at some point, you know, all wars end and they all end in a negotiation. And one's got to hope that at some point they can move to a negotiated end here just to stop the bloodshed on all sides. But it's really hard to understand how you get from here to there.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
HARLOW: David Sanger, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being with us.
SANGER: Great to be with you, Poppy.
MATTINGLY: Well, at this hour, a new caravan of migrants is headed for an already overwhelmed U.S./Mexico border. We're going to be live from Eagle Pass, Texas, with that story, next.
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