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Putin Wishes Biden "Good Health" After U.S. President Called Him A Killer In Interview; 12 House Republicans Vote Against Honoring Police For Jan. 6; Biden Administration Tries To Combat COVID Vaccine Hesitancy. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 18, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Today, this simple wish from the Russian leader Vladimir Putin to President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): What would I answer him? I would tell him be healthy. I wish him good health. I say this without irony, without jokes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That there is trademark Putin, though he also went on to sharply criticized the United States on issues ranging from slavery to its use of nuclear weapons back in World War II. It was Putin's counter to a Biden broadside, an interview in which the President of the United States rebuked his Russian counterpart, including calling him a killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Director of National Intelligence came out with a report today saying that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to undermine -- denigrate you, support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society. What price must he pay?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will pay a price. I -- we had a long talk. And I -- we've -- I know relatively well. And the conversation started off I said, I know you and you know me, if I establish this occurred, then be prepared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said he know, he doesn't have a soul.

BIDEN: I did say that to him. Yes. And to -- and his response was, we understand one another. I wouldn't be in a wise guy. It was alone with him in his office. That's how it came about. It was when President Bush had said I've looked in his eyes and saw his soul. I said, I look in your eyes and I don't think you have a soul. And look back me said, we understand each other. Look, most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience and I've dealt with an awful lot of more my career is just no the other guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you know Vladimir Putin, you think he's a killer?

BIDEN: I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what price must he pay?

BIDEN: The price he's going to pay, well, you'll see shortly. I'm not going to -- there's -- by the way, we want to be able that old that trade expression and walk and chew gum at the same time. There are places where it's in our mutual interest to work together. That's why I renewed the start agreement with him. That occurred while he's doing this. But that's overwhelming in interest to humanity, that we diminish the prospect of a nuclear exchange.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining our conversation, Jill Dougherty. She's a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and an esteemed former CNN correspondent whose tenure included being a White House correspondent and our Moscow bureau chief, it's good to see you, Jill. You understand Putin, you covered him for a very long time. In his snark, his snide, if you will, about wishing Joe Biden health, you see something important?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. Well, number one, I take from this is, you know, when Vladimir Putin gets angry, a lot of the way he expresses is that is exactly what you said snide, snarky. And this is kind of a bit of trolling that first line, especially be healthy. I wish your health. That's pretty -- that's a lot of trolling.

But seriously, when he gets into it, he says, he really laid in, in fact, when I heard that video I was quite surprised. He said, look at what Americans did with the Native Americans, Indians, look at what they did with black people. And he even used the phrase in English, Black Lives Matter, which I haven't heard him say before. And then he talked about Hiroshima and dropping the bombs.

So he's saying, you think, you know, we're bad, I'm bad. Look at yourself. And that's where he's kind of schoolyard, you know, he takes one to know one type of comment. But what he is saying, I think he is genuinely angry. I think, John, that they feared in the beginning, well, maybe there was way to do something. They got the New START agreement extended.

But now I think there's very little expectation on the Russian part that really, they're going to accomplish much of anything. They're being blamed, you know, solar winds, the DNI report. So it is really looking very bad for relations.

KING: It certainly does look very bad. And you have these two leaders, Putin more so than Biden, but both of them who are very proud, who pride themselves on being tough guys, if you will, and strong on the international stage. They're in a stare down right now. And you mentioned the next move actually comes from the United States unless Putin does something provocative. We do expect some response to the hacking. We do expect, the President said, there will be a response shortly to the election meddling.

Are there tangible things the United States can do to sort of put Putin back on his heels to prove to him we will punish you or is this likely to be more symbolic?

DOUGHERTY: I don't think will be symbolic. I think it's the question of how obvious will it be. He said you will see. So that would mean that the public will see something that looks like the United States responding. But they can do certainly things that are asymmetric. They can send a message to Putin in a way that the public, the world public, won't even know. But Putin will understand.

[12:35:01]

So I think there are a lot of messages being sent here. And, you know, John, you know politics and I think that you've got a couple of men who've got domestic considerations. Vladimir Putin has a really important parliamentary election coming up in the fall. It -- there are a lot of efforts right now to win that for the party that Putin represents. And here, you know, in the United States with Joe Biden, he has to look strong with Russia at the same time trying to deal with Russia. So, you know, the domestic considerations are playing a role I think.

KING: That's a fascinating moment. Jill Dougherty, grateful, it's nice to see you. And also grateful for your very important insights, we'll continue the conversation as this all plays out, thank you.

Up next for us, in a rest outside the Vice President's residence and the evidence log is eye opening, eye opening. But first 90 million and counting as new stimulus checks are issued. Those on the receiving end are making plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI MARTIN, USED STIMULUS CHECK TO PAY BILLS: I just immediately got online and paid every bill I had and got caught up for the first time in months.

MADELINE AGUIAR, WILL USE CHECK TO PAY BILLS & CREDIT CARD DEBT: I've had to actually incur credit card debts to be able to survive. And you know, and continue forward. This is the first time that I qualify for a stimulus check. So I will be getting it and I'll have to use it to pay bills, credit cards,

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:49]

KING: Topping our Political Radar today, the House is voting on two separate immigration bills today. One would provide a pathway to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers. The others would allow farm workers and their families to earn legal status through continued employment.

Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks telling CNN he is considering, strongly considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Congressman Brooks says he will make an official announcement about his plans on Monday. Brooks was among those leading the House effort to object to the election results back on January 6th. He says he has spoken with the former President Donald Trump about running for the seat now held by the retiring Richard Shelby. Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller is advising the Congressman it will join him at Monday's announcement.

Thirty-one-year-old Texas man now facing weapons and ammunition charges after being arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris's official residence here in Washington yesterday. And the man, listen to this, Paul Murray had an arsenal in his car, an assault style rifle more than 100 rounds of ammunition and multiple magazines.

Up next for us, a dozen House Republicans try to rewrite the history of the January insurrection by using a bill set to honor the police officers who fought to defend the Capitol.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:39]

KING: Even a tribute to heroic police officers is caught up in a Republican effort to rewrite or ignore the truth about the January attack on the United States Capitol. The House did advance the effort yesterday passing legislation to award Congressional Gold Medals to the U.S. Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police for their response to the January 6th insurrection. It was in the end a big bipartisan vote. But 12 House Republicans did not support the measure.

The 12, you see them there, oppose using the word insurrection in the bill. And one of them Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas tried to push an alternative measure that did honor the officers but it had no mention of January 6th, no mention of the Capitol attack. Facts or facts, we all saw it. The violent insurrection was carried out by a pro Trump mob that wanted to disrupt the process of accepting the Electoral College results.

Members of that mob attack police officers and some of them chanted hang Mike Pence, some erected a gallows outside the Capitol. One of the 12 congressmen though Thomas Massie of Kentucky says I have a problem with the term insurrection. It could have implications for somebody's prosecution later that if we give weight to the word insurrection, then that comes up in somebody's prosecution.

Melanie Zanona, congressional reporter for POLITICO has been on top of this story from the beginning, joins us now. Melanie, Congressman Massie saying, oh, gee, I don't want to adversely affect somebody's prosecution. But isn't the facts here that there are some Republicans who just want to try to pretend that they never happened?

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Absolutely. I mean, I think what you're seeing here is Republicans don't want to face the truth, they have no interest in finding out what actually happened. I think some of them also don't want to look in the mirror. Many of these same Republicans also voted to challenge the election results. And they are culpable for spreading this big lie that led this mob of protesters to overrun the Capitol.

But I think the big picture here, John, is what you're seeing is there is still a segment of the GOP that is still so beholden to Donald Trump, and they would do anything to protect him. And that really does not bode well for efforts to have a bipartisan commission to investigate the origins of January 6th. They can't even agree on how to honor the police force that protected us that day. How are they going to agree on, you know, looking at these things and giving a thorough accounting of why these protesters were inspired to calm and ransack the Capitol in an effort to overturn the election.

And so I just think what you're seeing is this really broadening widening gulf between Republicans and Democrats when it comes January 6th.

KING: Right. And just earlier today, we had Evan Paris in the program, the FBI releasing new videos of some of these insurrectionists, congressmen, attacking police officers. They should watch that video and see if they want to change their language about what to call this. But this is so ridiculous that just moments ago, the leader of House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy has to get asked a question like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leader McCarthy, would you defined January 6th as an insurrection?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A one word answer, yes, which good for him, Kevin McCarthy, at least on this day willing to acknowledge, you know, undeniable facts. But the bigger question, Melanie is that that 12 Republicans were allowed to do this, to circulate this as the Louie Gohmert started this, the alternative, no reference to January 6th, no reference to the attack on the Capitol. Does the leader and I think I'm giving the answer in the question have control of his caucus.

[12:50:02]

ZANONA: No, the answer is no, John. I mean, earlier this week, we actually reported that there was a behind the scenes fight over this strategy that conservatives are trying to push. It's not just opposing the gold medal bill. They've also been forcing procedural votes. They've been, you know, requesting recorded both of these typically noncontroversial bills. And Kevin McCarthy tried to make the case behind closed doors like, hey, this is counterproductive. We need to stay unified. You know, we're trying to win back the House. Let's keep you guys all together. We can't have you out there robe, forcing these votes that are creating headaches really for everyone. It's not just Democrats. Republicans are also getting annoyed with these tactics. But Andy Biggs, the chairman in the Freedom Caucus made very clear in that meeting, according to sources that he was not interested. He in fact, took a shot at Kevin McCarthy over his visit to the border and said something along the lines of well, some of us lawmakers have been going to the border for years and didn't just show up there this week. So I think that just really shows you the tensions inside the conference and the fact that Kevin McCarthy does not have control over that right flank that's forcing all these delay tactics on the floor.

KING: I want to fight over policy or fight over travel, fine by me. But fighting over facts is one of the problems we have in the country right now. Melanie Zanona, great reporting, really appreciate your time today. I should note before we go to break, number one the Senate has just confirmed Xavier Becerra as the Secretary of Health and Human Services just barely but he is now confirmed to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Up next for us, the COVID vaccine race and the challenge when someone is offered a vaccine shot, and says no thanks.

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[12:56:08]

KING: President Biden today will highlight significant progress in the coronavirus vaccine rollout. The United States on track to soon hit 100 million vaccine doses administered since Biden took office. The progress is undeniable. There also are some pockets of concern. Take a look at these numbers. Thirty percent of adults say they will not get the vaccine when it's available to them among younger people, those 18 to 39 years old, 36 percent say no thanks, in rural communities it's also 36 percent not planning to get vaccinated and nearly half, 47 percent of 2020 Trump voters are saying no thanks to the COVID vaccine. At a Senate hearing today, the CDC director said work needs to be done to combat this vaccine hesitancy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We need to understand exactly the reasons for vaccine -- for lack of vaccine confidence and we're going to address them at the local level. We need to address vaccine hesitancy with regard to its roots. Is it because it's not convenient? Is it because people are not deeming it safe? Is it because they felt that it happened too fast or they're worried about side effects? They need to hear this information from trusted messengers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So vaccine hesitancy as you hear right, there is one challenge. Vaccine access in some places is another. Mariah Parker is the county commissioner in Clarke County, Georgia, her district in the University of Georgia community in Athens. Mariah, grateful for your time today. Let's start as you go through the vaccine hesitancy issue with the 18 to 39 community. You're in a college community. What is it when you encounter younger people who say, what do they say I don't trust it or I'm young and invincible, I don't need it? MARIAH PARKER, DISTRICT 2 COMMISSIONER, ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY, GA GOVERNMENT: Yes. You do get some folks that, you know, have that invincibility complex in this age group. But as well getting people up to date information about where they can get vaccinated, what the effects are, all those sorts of things because the eligibility requirements have been shifting in recent weeks and months, it's hard for people who may not go see a doctor regularly and be plugged in into our healthcare infrastructure on a regular basis to get the information they need to make that decision for themselves in first place.

KING: And at the -- there's been a lot of effort from the beginning, especially because we know the disproportionate impact of the virus itself on communities of color, the Ad Council among those trying to reach out to those in the African American community, the Latino community to try to address their hesitancy issues. Let's have this piece of an ad campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've got questions, and that's normal. The fact is, the vaccines are safe and effective. They're going to save lives. To get the latest on the COVID-19 vaccines visit GetVaccineAnswers.org. Because getting back to the moment we miss start with getting informed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: You're doing this every day, what is effective and what isn't in the community in the sense that do advertisements like that help or does it has to -- have to be from somebody local, the district commissioner, that they voted for like yourself or a local pastor or the local pharmacist what works best?

PARKER: I think hit the nail on the head, John. It really depends on having trusting connections with folks that are reaching out to make sure people are getting vaccinated. So folks from their faith community, folks from their school district, folks in their neighborhood, folks have a, you know, I think it's been helping a lot of people sharing their selfies on social media to see that their friends and their fellow church goers, their neighbors are all getting vaccinated. So they see that folks in their community are getting the job.

And so we've been working on a program here to partner with folks doing local food distribution, you know, nonprofits that are trusted in the community to help get some information about out, about where you can get vaccinated, what the eligibility requirements are, as a way to put, bring in that personal touch that shows that we are asking you to get it done because we care about you because we know you.

KING: Mariah Parker, grateful for what you're doing. We sit here in Washington talk about this a lot. It's nice to meet people on the frontlines doing the part in their community. Thank you very much.

PARKER: Thank you. KING: This footnote we talked earlier in the program, the CDC, we're awaiting new guidance from the CDC about whether students and schools need to stay six feet apart or whether it's safe to them for them to be just three feet apart. We are told what to expect that guidance tomorrow, so tune in tomorrow for that.

[13:00:07]

Grateful for your time today, don't go anywhere, very busy news day. Brianna Keilar picks up right now. Have a good day.