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California Rains Form Massive Lake In Death Valley; Supreme Court Weighs Immunity, 14th Amendment Cases; Soon: U.S. To Sanction 500+ Russian Targets For Navalny's Death. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 23, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "The receipt of this news this afternoon was shocking to all of us."

And as you can understand, this has sent shockwaves through this entire campus area. Classes have been canceled until Monday. But still, today, we saw students waiting for buses at night. We saw women jogging this morning on the way to this live location. This is a very active school, so you can understand -- because a lot of times, these students have nowhere else to go even when classes are canceled.

The big question right now is do police have a suspect. So far, they indicated no. There are surveillance cameras in the area. They're using that to kind of comb through the process to see if they can find any sort of clues.

We've also been told the state investigation authority, named as the GBI, has come in to help process the scene. So you know today is going to be very active as police are spread out in this investigation to try to figure out exactly what happened.

But shockwaves on a campus like this where it's been some 20 years since a murder has happened on campus.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Brian Young, keep us updated as you learn from Athens, Georgia. Thank you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now to Death Valley, California. This month, tourists are flocking to one of the hottest places on earth to witness something quite unusual -- a temporary lake. That's right. It's right in the middle of one of the driest regions in the country.

Our Stephanie Elam explains that it's all thanks to the state's heavy record rainfall this season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tourists wading in, kayakers paddling out. This is, after all, California but this is not the ocean. In fact, it's 282 feet below sea level. This is Death Valley, the lowest point in North America and the hottest place on earth now attracting visitors with its cool lake water. This group of friends drove in from Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's probably a Garden of Eden, wouldn't you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, look at it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I think --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can check it off your bucket list and you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- don't know when it's going to happen again.

ELAM (voice-over): Like the desert oasis it is, the last time the lake appeared was 19 years ago. But things are changing.

ABBY WINES, RANGER, DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: The climate change models for this area predict warmer temperatures, which we are definitely seeing, and also more intense rainstorms.

ELAM (voice-over): Yet, even for Park Ranger Abby Wines, the massive Lake Manly is a marvel.

WINES: Normally, there's a lot more evaporative potential than there is rainfall coming in, meaning that this is usually just a dry salt flat.

ELAM (voice-over): On average, Death Valley gets two inches of rain a year, but in the last half-year, the park has been walloped with nearly five inches of rain, Wines says, including from Tropical Storm Hilary last August.

WINES: It's the rainiest day we've ever had on record.

ELAM (voice-over): This is what Badwater Basin usually looks like. This is what it looks like now.

Whoo-hoo. Even I couldn't resist getting out there.

ELAM: It's had to overstate just how incredibly special and serene it is to kayak in Death Valley. Right now, Lake Manly is about six miles long and three miles wide, but it's only about a foot deep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Salty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Salty, yeah.

ELAM (voice-over): Visitors are finding out just how salty the water is. Rangers say it's more a sight to see than taste.

WINES: We haven't seen anything living in there.

ELAM: I mean -- well, and also, it's very salty.

WINES: And it's extremely salty.

ELAM: Extremely salty.

WINES: It's too salty to drink, so it's not going to help the wildlife in the area at all.

ELAM (voice-over): But no one is bitter about getting salt-soaked --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miraculous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoo-hoo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's surreal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crazy.

ELAM (voice-over): -- if it means enjoying the magic of a dreamy lake in the driest place in North America.

Now if you do want to come, time is of the essence because the evaporation rate is going to pick up as it starts to heat up here, so it's not going to last for much longer -- Poppy and Phil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: That was fun. Stephanie Elam, thank you very much.

So, the Supreme Court meeting in a private conference today as a major decision looms in two cases involving former President Trump. Our senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic with us next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:38:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

To the Supreme Court we go. We are waiting on two big decisions, still, from the high court -- whether the president, indeed, has absolute immunity, and whether the 14th Amendment means that he can be kicked off the ballot. Just two slightly important things.

MATTINGLY: Just a little bit.

HARLOW: Just a little bit.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HARLOW: Let's bring in Joan Biskupic. She joins us from Washington.

We've got a lot to get to with the court, but let's just start there. I mean, I suppose we could hear from the court because they have a conference today on these soon -- today?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's right -- mid- morning, Poppy and Phil.

First of all, it's great to see the both of you.

In mid-morning, the justices will meet in private in the conference room off the chambers of the chief justice, and they'll look at the week's business.

Now, as you know, they heard some important cases this week, too, that they're going to have to take preliminary votes on, so Donald Trump is not the only things on -- thing on their mind. But it is on Jack Smith's mind, and Jack Smith and Donald Trump have both submitted filings. As you know, they've been up there for a week with their filings, saying are you going -- you know, intervene or don't intervene in this.

And I think what we could get, as soon as this afternoon but maybe not until early next week, some kind of schedule that says what kind of timetable the justices would set for filings and oral arguments in the case that would decide whether former President Trump should be immune from criminal prosecution.

And the reason this is so important to everyone outside the court, at least right now -- and especially, Jack Smith, the special counsel representing the United States government, and former President Trump -- is that whether the justices intervene will determine whether he is actually tried for conduct related to his protesting the 2020 election before the 2024 election.

HARLOW: Um-hum.

BISKUPIC: Now, one thing I will add. The justices could decide just to let stand a ruling by a lower appellate court -- the D.C. Circuit -- that said whatever protections Donald Trump had when he was president from any kind of criminal prosecution have evaporated now that he's a former president.

[07:40:00]

But I have to say, Poppy and Phil, the Supreme Court tends to like to have the last word on questions of presidential power and we can see right now they're looking to have, potentially, the last word on their own timetable.

MATTINGLY: Clearly. I mean, just to put my really astute analysis, this is a huge deal --

BISKUPIC: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: -- for what's going to be happening in the year ahead.

I look forward to your reporting based on the private gathering that happens today. And the reason I say that is because you also have great reporting about the frustration of liberal justices over how conservatives have really accelerated the moves to limit the power of federal agencies and to, again, be very clear. In fact, you have this reporting. It underscores a level of access to this world that I just didn't think existed.

But walk people through it. It's a fascinating story.

BISKUPIC: Well, here -- as we're all watching these two Donald Trump cases, the Supreme Court is going about its regular business -- and business that, frankly, really affect a lot of Americans in their daily life. It -- they have a whole slate of cases this session that goes to the power of the federal government to protect Americans in ways from environmental pollution, air and water pollution kind of concerns, consumer fraud concerns. We have a big case coming up in March that tests the Food and Drug Administration's ability to declare abortion medication, Mifepristone, safe and effective for nationwide use.

So these kinds of cases are continuing.

And I know that the liberal justices have been so frustrated with this pattern of conservatives really reining in federal regulatory authority, and that burst through during oral arguments this week in two important cases -- one involving the environment that the justices will likely vote on today in their private conference that has to do with President Biden's plan to try to stop -- you know, control pollution in upwind states to protect what would flow across borders into downwind states. Something called the Good Neighbor Plan.

So those kinds of issues are really front and center for the justices and, frankly, will have as much effect on the American public as anything they do in the Donald Trump cases.

HARLOW: Joan Biskupic, thank you so much. I am here to talk Chevron deference with you any day --

MATTINGLY: Every day.

HARLOW: -- and all day. But on a serious note, you have been such a delight bringing your reporting to us --

BISKUPIC: Oh.

HARLOW: -- every day, and I continue to look forward to watching it and cheering you on. Thank you, Joan.

BISKUPIC: Well, thanks. Great to be with both of you. Thank you.

HARLOW: President Biden says he will impose sanctions directly against Vladimir Putin for Alexei Navalny's death. What we're learning about those ahead.

MATTINGLY: And this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiling a plan for the future of Gaza. What's in it and what's not when it comes to the plans? We'll have it next.

(COMMERCIAL) [07:46:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage. And it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. And we're going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin who is responsible for his death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: That was President Biden after meeting with the widow and daughter of the late Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny. The president reiterating that Putin is to blame for Navalny's death and making it clear that new U.S. sanctions will hit Putin directly. Those sanctions are set to be announced later this morning.

HARLOW: And sources tell CNN more than 500 Russian targets are included in these sanctions as the world prepares to mark two years this weekend since Russia invaded Ukraine.

With us now is Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer. Always good to have you. So nice to have you here in person.

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, EURASIA GROUP AND GZERO MEDIA: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Five hundred -- they go all the way up to Putin.

The question is what, if any, deterrent effect have the sanctions up until this point had?

BREMMER: Yeah.

HARLOW: Is this markedly going to be different?

BREMMER: No, no.

HARLOW: No.

BREMMER: I mean -- I mean, if you tell your kid that you're going to be grounded for the 13th time --

HARLOW: I am guilty of this.

BREMMER: -- then the 14th time isn't going to work.

HARLOW: Yeah.

BREMMER: And we've been through 13 rounds of sanctions from the Europeans and roughly the equivalent from the U.S. They are running out of important things to sanction.

The most important thing they did was right at the beginning of the war when they froze the Western assets -- the assets the Russians had that were sitting in Europe, and the United States, and Japan. Hundreds of billions of dollars. That didn't stop them.

Russia's growing at three percent this year -- 2 1/2, let's say, in 2024 -- three.

HARLOW: Isn't that confounding?

BREMMER: No. Because the oil, the gas, the food, the fertilizer they have --

HARLOW: They sell.

BREMMER: -- the world needs -- the world needs.

HARLOW: Yeah.

BREMMER: The United States isn't trying to cut all of that off because that would lead to a recession.

But the point is the only thing that the West has done that has changed Russian behavior has been military support for the Ukrainians. There is no sanction effect -- literally zero -- and we all know that. The White House knows that. The Europeans know that.

The point is that you can't say there will be hell to pay if Navalny dies in jail -- as, by the way, Biden did say as president a couple of years ago -- and then not do anything when Navalny is killed by the Russians in jail.

MATTINGLY: It was a -- it was a very newsworthy statement. He said it in Geneva after meeting with --

BREMMER: With Putin.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. We all remembered it very closely.

You mentioned the frozen assets. There are proposals on the table. U.S. officials seem to be warming to the idea of utilizing those assets whether for money for defense or reconstruction.

This is what Bill Browder -- obviously, a very well-known Putin critic -- said earlier this week -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BROWDER, ANTI-KREMLIN ACTIVIST: A week after the war was started, $300 billion of Russian government central bank reserves that were held in the West were frozen. Since the war has carried on he's done, based on some estimates, up to $1 trillion of damage to Ukraine.

And they desperately need money. And it just seems to obvious that while we're digging into our own pockets to fund Ukraine we should also grab Putin's money. It seems to make moral sense, it makes financial sense, and it makes political sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I think your point about defense assistance being the critical --

BREMMER: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: -- necessity at this point -- but the warming to the idea of -- from U.S. officials trying to utilize those assets is fascinating to me because they were very opposed to the idea earlier on.

What effect would that have?

BREMMER: I was with Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, a couple of weeks ago. She told me she's strongly opposed to this.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

BREMMER: Most of the European leaders are strongly opposed. And it's not because they think that there's a moral problem. It's because they would be setting a legal precedent, and that precedent would undermine the euro, would undermine the yen. Less so the dollar --

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

BREMMER: -- because the dollar is the world's reserve currency.

[07:50:00]

But they're concerned that it would also lead to their assets getting seized in Russia. And it would lead to other countries to say well, I mean, if you can seize our assets because you don't like what we're doing, what's going to stop you from going after us?

By the way, this wouldn't be a decision by the world. It wouldn't be a vote taken by the General Assembly. It would be a decision by the G7 -- the advanced industrial democracies.

And what does that -- what message does that send to the global South when you're willing to do it when someone attacks the Europeans -- fellow white people -- but you're not willing to do it like, let's say, in Sudan, even for small amounts of money.

There are many reasons why this is problematic, but the reason it's being discussed is because there's more desperation. There's more sense of well, what happens if we run out of money for the Ukrainians? Are we just going to let them fail?

The Munich Security Conference, last week --

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

BREMMER: -- I was sitting there when Navalny's wife got up -- widow -- and only an hour after she found out that he had been killed.

HARLOW: Um-hum.

BREMMER: And the congressional delegation there recognized that hey, this is a message from Putin to us that he's going to do whatever he wants.

I was there when Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, was talking about how he just lost a major town -- a strategic town -- Avdiivka. And the congressional delegation recognized the reason that town was lost wasn't because the Ukrainians stopped fighting courageously; it was because they no longer had the ammunition to turn the Russians back.

I do think that those messages make it more likely that for 2024, the Republicans and Democrats will find a way to get these guys more military support. Long-term, though, the Ukrainians are fighting an uphill battle. That's very clear.

HARLOW: If that's the case -- if you're right in 2024, when will that -- when will it be too late? And I ask that because we had the former Ukrainian first lady on --

BREMMER: Yeah.

HARLOW: -- Kateryna Yushchenko, yesterday and she said this to me. If we, meaning Ukraine, had gotten the aid when the threats had first started -- if we'd gotten the aid when the escalation had begun, it would be over, meaning the war would be over.

BREMMER: Hey, if they had gotten the aid 10 years ago when the war started, when the Russians illegally annexed Crimea and sent their little green men to occupy southeast Ukraine, Russia never would have invaded Kyiv to begin with. If the Americans had stood up when the Russians invaded Georgia they wouldn't have had 2014.

So we can see all of these moments when the United States and the Europeans, through their revealed preferences, showed to Putin that we don't care that much about Ukraine. That is real. That is true. And in the first days of the invasion of Ukraine, the presumption of the West -- of NATO, of the intelligence community -- was that Zelenskyy was going to fall. That the -- that they were going to get overrun. And, indeed, that almost happened.

And it was only when the Ukrainians started showing that they could fight and stand up to the much bigger Russians -- when they were the Cinderella team -- the number 16 seed that was suddenly making it into the final four, Americans responded to that. And we said well, maybe we need to do more for these guys.

But two years later, the Ukrainians are running out of gas and the Americans and the Europeans are having a harder time finding it in their hearts to continue to support -- finding their pocketbooks to continue to support them. And that's the reality Ukraine is facing in 2024.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. There's a reason President Biden's "as long as it takes" shifted over the course of the last --

BREMMER: Do whatever we can.

MATTINGLY: Whatever we can.

BREMMER: That's right.

MATTINGLY: Ian Bremmer, we always appreciate it. Thanks for coming on.

BREMMER: Good to be with you.

HARLOW: Thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: Well, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley -- they're going to be in South Carolina today ahead of tomorrow's big primary. Their final message to voters? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:57:40]

MATTINGLY: Welcome back.

In today's Beyond the Call, we meet Aurora Torrez, a woman who had a nursing career in Nicaragua before immigrating to the United States. Now, thanks to an American nurse, Torrez is back to doing what she loves.

CNN's Camila Bernal has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): For nine years, Aurora Torrez walked these hospital hallways as a cleaner. She was a nurse in Nicaragua but after immigrating to the U.S. tried taking the nursing board exams and failed.

AURORA TORREZ, REGISTERED NURSE, CEDARS-SINAI: It was really hard. It was really hard. But at the same time, I say someday I'm going to be like them. I was wearing a different uniform and when I saw -- when I saw nurses with their -- this uniform, I was, like, someday, I'm going to -- I say someday, I'm going to be wearing that uniform.

BERNAL (voice-over): Aurora needed help --

PEACHY BUHAIN HAIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NURSING, CEDARS-SINAI: Are you going on night shift soon?

BERNAL (voice-over): -- and it came as she cleaned the office of the hospital's executive director of nursing. The two simply had a conversation.

HAIN: I knew right then that she had a lot of potential and we can help her.

BERNAL (voice-over): Aurora shared her struggles and Peachy Hain immediately started helping her with the process, pointing her to the right training and giving her tasks to complete.

HAIN: Everything I told her, she was doing it and delivering the following day. It's amazing. OK, Aurora, how are we doing?

BERNAL (voice-over): And after months of hard work, studying, and gathering paperwork --

HAIN: She got to my door and just cleaned my room again -- my office -- and told me she passed. I'll tell you, I cried for sure, and I'm going to cry again. I don't want to do that. It's a joyful feeling to be able to see someone who was cleaning rooms become a registered nurse. It's -- I wish we could do more of that.

BERNAL (voice-over): Peachy called recruiting --

HAIN: You are doing such a great job.

BERNAL (voice-over): -- and the hiring process began.

HAIN: At the end of the day, you just have this feeling of yay, I helped someone. And I helped someone who can be someone at Cedars- Sinai.

BERNAL (voice-over): And that is what Aurora is grateful for today.

TORREZ: Sometimes you want something and sometimes you need help to reach your goal.

BERNAL (voice-over): She recently started working in the hospital's orthopedic department.

HAIN: I think it was meant to be.

BERNAL (voice-over): For Peachy, that help came naturally.

HAIN: When you're from another country you need a few.