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Biden Warns Putin: Any Russian Move into Ukraine is an Invasion; Blinken Promises "Swift, Severe" Response if Russia Troops Enter Ukraine as Biden Faces Blowback for Earlier Comments; NATO Diplomat: "Some Truth" to Biden Comments, But Can't Say "Out Loud"; Supreme Court Rejects Trump Request to Block 1/6 Records; Biden Searches for Way Forward as Presidency Begins Year Two. Aired 12- 12:30p ET

Aired January 20, 2022 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Hello, everybody, welcome to "Inside Politics". I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing your day with us.

The Supreme Court says no, again, the former president, the January 6 Committee gets access now to White House notes and records detailing what Donald Trump did and what he refused to do, as his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Plus, President Biden closes a consequential first year and says; going smaller is the path to success in year two. And just moments ago, the president cleans up a mess of his own making warning Vladimir Putin, any military action in Ukraine will bring a heavy price.

We will begin right there with the breaking news from the President of the United States just moments ago trying to quiet international alarm about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. Let's get straight to the White House of CNN's Jeremy Diamond Jeremy, the president trying to fix his own mistake here.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. Listen, I was in that meeting with the president. He was supposed to sit down with his team working on the infrastructure, the implementation of the infrastructure legislation, but he instead began right off the bat talking about Ukraine and making very clear where he stands should Russian troops move across the Ukrainian border? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding, if any, any assembled rushing units move across Ukrainian border that is an invasion. But it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response. And let there be no doubt at all that Putin makes this choice Russia will pay a heavy price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And yesterday, President Biden had suggested that something like a "Minor Incursion" might not result in the same kinds of severe costs. Listen, this is not the first attempt to clean this up.

We saw yesterday statements from the National Security Council Spokeswoman, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and ultimately the President of the United States, his words necessary to make very clear to us allies like Ukraine, as well as adversaries like Russia, that any kind of movement of Russian troops across the border will result in those severe costs.

The president also expanded and made clear that what he was referring to was the fact that Russia has also tended to use other tactics, the green men that have been seen in the Donbas that disputed region in eastern Ukraine, or cyber-attacks, for example, as well.

And the president said that he believes the U.S. and its allies need to be prepared to craft some kind of other response to those types of Russian activities. The president, though, did not take questions. I tried to get him to respond to comments by the Ukrainian President and to see whether or not he's spoken with Ukrainian President.

We do know that the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he has been in Kiev, and he's certainly working on that cleanup, as well, John.

KING: Jeremy Diamond appreciate it kicking us off very important news from the White House. And as Jeremy notes, this is a huge deal internationally before the president delivered those remarks his top diplomat attempting to clean up on the president's behalf as well the Secretary of State Tony Blinken in Germany today consulting key allies before he has to Geneva for a very important sit down tomorrow with Russia's Foreign Minister.

Our National Security Correspondent, Kylie Atwood is here Kylie, the president now cleaning up his remarks, Tony Blinken taking the lead out on the world stage.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Secretary of State's saying that if Russia moves forth with any further aggressions into Ukraine, of course, that would include a minor incursion that Russia will be met with united, swift and severe consequences.

So making it clear that if Russia does anything here to cross that border that they are going to face consequences. The Secretary of State was standing next to his German counterpart, who said there would be grave consequences for any additional Russian aggression into Ukraine.

You've heard similar sentiments from other NATO allies over the course of the last few hours. They're all trying to create a united front so that Russia hears it clearly that if they move forward with anything, they're going to face consequences.

But there are questions for these NATO allies today because of what President Biden said yesterday, but NATO Secretary General spoke with our colleague, Kate Bolduan, earlier today, he was asked by her Did President Biden's comments give Russia the green light to go into Ukraine?

He said, no, not at all. He noted that the United States has been trying to get NATO allies lined up and really in agreement about what the consequences Russia will face are going to be. But of course, there are some divisions within those sets of allies.

And so that is a reality here. But you watch the diplomat Secretary Blinken playing cleanup and tomorrow, he is seeing the Foreign Minister of Russia.

KING: Question is just a message break through a very important meeting tomorrow. Kylie Atwood I appreciate the live reporting from the State Department. With me now to share their reporting and insights CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Tia Mitchell of "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution" and Julie Hirschfeld Davis of "The New York Times".

[12:05:00]

KING: Julie let me start with you. The president now trying to clean up again a mess of his own making from yesterday in the face of this remarkable tweet from President Zelensky of Ukraine, we want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations, just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as President of a great power".

The Ukrainian President essentially saying, Mr. Biden, take us seriously, there are no minor incursions don't count here.

JULIE HIRSCHFIELD DAVIS, CONGRESSIONAL EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Right. I mean, you can see how the remarks that the president made yesterday really set off alarm bells, both in Ukraine and around and around Ukraine.

Because the whole situation here calls out for, you know, a big show of force and strength and unity on the part of the United States and its allies to push back against what Putin is doing. He has actively tried to sow divisions between the United States and its allies on this issue in a lot of others.

And so any hint of a sort of acknowledgment that there might be divisions or there might be difficulty in moving it to the united front if Putin did something that fell short of a huge ground invasion is cause for alarm for the Ukrainians.

So I think that is why you're seeing this entire cleanup, right up to the president himself. You know, of course, he said that he was and his and his staff has said that he was referring to the fact that NATO allies actually are not completely on the same page about how they would react to something that was short of a ground invasion or a large ground invasion.

But again, any hint of division here is something that Putin will take advantage of, and the president knows that as well as anyone. So there is kind of this scramble to make it clear that the United States is very much solid in its commitment to reacting to whatever Putin does, and then that the allies will be behind whatever that response is.

KING: And so perhaps Jeff Zeleny it is, you know, goal accomplished, if you will reset accomplished, if you will, that the Secretary of State says it and the president says it. And the Secretary of State will meet with Lavrov tomorrow.

But that's what made it so remarkable. You're in the room yesterday, during the president's press conference. Of course, this was one of the major prep session topics that came up, he knew he was going to be asked this and yet, let's listen; this is clearly just an unforced error.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. Its one thing if it's a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force of mass on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Jeff, he just plainly he knows better. There may be a divide in NATO, but you do not talk about it publicly at this moment with 100,000 plus Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John, the president didn't necessarily misspeak. But he misspoke in public. And the difference here is this. I mean, there is a disagreement.

In fact, his words shine a bright light on that disagreement with the NATO allies, with Germany and others, particularly what the definition of an invasion would be? There are differences clearly, as President Biden was underscoring there with, yes, if there is a huge ground invasion, that's obvious.

But if it's something less than that, there is a difference of opinion so the president certainly saying that out loud oh, we've been hearing for several days, these have been quiet conversations and national security meetings, and other things.

What exactly constitutes an invasion? But again, a president's words carry the weight of unlike anything else. So that's why he is going to such great lengths to clean this up today. But it didn't unnecessarily clean up the difference in opinion among a NATO allies. So that, of course is essential question here, when something happens, and we'll have to see what an invasion looks like if it should happen. And the president said he expects it will happen. What does that look like?

So even though he's cleaned up these comments, that necessarily does not mean that they've bridged any divide among leaders that likely still exists, John.

KING: Right. Tia that gets to the point, though, about the discipline of the President of the United States, this has been an issue for Joe Biden throughout his political career and NATO diplomat, telling CNN. The problem is there's some truth there, which didn't need to be said out loud.

His hearts in the right place, of course, but you don't have to say things. This is a question and a commentary about Senator Joe Biden, Vice President Joe Biden, and now President Joe Biden. And this is not an insignificant on sometimes this is not insignificant issues, and it passes. This is about war and peace.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yes, and I mean, this is who our president is, as you've mentioned, it's always been who he is, in sometimes telling the unvarnished truth is incongruent with giving an answer that's the most politically skew.

And we know that President Biden sometimes skews toward the unvarnished truth. And this one has really hurt him as far as international policy. But I do think you know, of course, he's trying to clean it up and I do think his handlers you know knew that speaking for nearly two hours at a press conference there were likely to be gaffes.

[12:10:00]

MITCHELL: Because, again, we know who our president is?

KING: Right. They're moving quickly. I ask everybody to stand by the conversation will continue in a few moments about. - breaking news right now to bring you the Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee telling reporters just moments ago, the panel plans to invite the former president's daughter, Ivanka Trump to come meet with lawmakers and staff on that January 6 Committee. CNN's Paula Reid is here with more of the details, Paula, this is a big deal?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's a huge deal, a significant move by the Committee on Trump's inner circle. And we know that the panel has been gathering evidence about Ivanka Trump on January 6, including they say what they have is firsthand testimony that she spoke to her father at least twice on January 6, asking him to try to stop the violence.

Now, what's interesting about the Chairman's remarks to a group of reporters is it sounds like this is an invitation as opposed to a subpoena. They can we haven't seen it yet, and it's unclear how she will respond to this request for her to appear and participate in this investigation.

But notable this is the second time this week we've been reporting on the committee, so reaching out for information related to a member of the former president's family. Earlier this week, we reported how the committee sought and obtained phone records related to the former president son, Eric Trump.

And of course right now the committee is waiting to receive hundreds of pages of Trump White House documents after the Supreme Court cleared the way for them to receive those materials yesterday, declining requests from Former President Trump to block the committee from getting some of his White House records.

KING: Paula Reid I appreciate the hustle and the breaking news. When we come back more on what apologists teed up right here the Supreme Court tells Donald Trump no. And the January 6 Committee now gets White House notes and records the former president very much wanted to keep secret.

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[12:15:00]

KING: A huge setback for Donald Trump and a big win for the January 6 Select Committee. The Supreme Court last night rejecting the former president's appeal clearing the way for that House panel investigating the insurrection to see more than 700 pages of Trump White House documents among the nine justices only Justice Clarence Thomas said publicly, he would have granted Trump's request.

Our Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent Paul Reid is back with more again, a big decision a big setback for the former president.

REID: A big setback for the former president interestingly, to this morning, the Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson says they haven't yet received these hundreds of pages of documents. They did get just four pages of documents that they were actually scheduled to get even before this ruling. But he expects to receive these documents soon.

And John these could potentially help the committee really better understand what was going on inside the White House on January 6? Now among the materials that they are expected to receive are our logs, activity logs, call logs, schedules, correspondence, drafts, speeches, handwritten notes from Former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, and even documents alleging voter fraud and those efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Now, interestingly, Thompson said they may post these documents publicly at some point, but he wouldn't give a timeline. The big question now going forward is how this decision will impact other challenges because of course; Trump isn't the only one challenging the committee's authority to gather evidence.

Other witnesses have tried to raise executive privilege concerns or challenge the legitimacy of the committee. Today, a federal judge said that yesterday's ruling does affirm the legitimacy of the committee and its work. But there are other different challenges that are still untested, including people were questioning how the committee was put together, how the Republicans on the committee were assembled right now.

It's unclear how yesterday's ruling will impact those challenges to the committee's important work.

KING: Paula Reid I appreciate the hustle on the reporting there. Let's get perspective on that very question that was asked from CNN's Elliot Williams. He's a Former Federal Prosecutor, Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

So Elliot, the Supreme Court will get into the legal argument submitted but to Paul Reid's point. So many other witnesses have said, well, Trump's claiming executive privilege and I'm going to hide behind that until the courts rule. I won't cooperate until we know what they say about the former president.

Eight to one you don't get that very often from this Supreme Court eight to one, the court says turn over the documents. Does that open the floodgates? Does anyone else have a case now, if Trump has to give up the documents, don't they?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Maybe Mark Meadows has somewhat of a case because of the fact that there will be conversations that Mark Meadows will have had with the president - the Former White House Chief of Staff that ought to be entitled to some degree of protection.

I think, frankly, we as Americans ought to agree with that, you know, the White House Chief of Staff and the president should be able to communicate, there may be some conversations that he had with his lawyers that also should be subject to some sort of privilege.

But no, but allies of the president cannot indefinitely hide behind this idea of executive privilege that the court really threw water on last night.

KING: They threw water on it. It's interesting. Again, you know, Donald Trump has three appointees to that Supreme Court. One of them Brett Kavanaugh wrote a footnote. None of the Trump appointees objected to essentially saying sorry, Mr. Trump, you need to turn up your docket.

Kavanaugh wrote a footnote we know that he is a defender of executive power. And he made clear down the road, I might agree with another former president who says I want to protect my records. But he's made clear in this case, no.

WILLIAMS: Yes. And he's onto something what's notable about this decision yesterday is what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that a former president can never assert executive privilege. It just says that here. The circumstances were so extreme that require Congress to the National Archives, turning the documents over.

Congress has a very important interest. The American people have a very important interest. And they say that even if Donald Trump were the current president, he still ought to be able to turn these documents over.

What Kavanaugh was saying is that look there might be a circumstance at some point down the road when we look at this again where we say that maybe a former president might have some basis for asserting executive privilege.

[12:20:00]

WILLIAMS: I think he's got a point. Because none of these privileges often are absolute. So we'll see what happens if the court takes this up again but needless to say, like you said, John eight to one, this is a pretty resounding point and win for frankly, transparency and Congress's right to investigate.

KING: So bring your prosecutors' mind to the context of what this means. So we talked about this many times before. We know the committee has been pretty successful phone records, other documents from other people involved interviews with a lot of mid-level Trump people about trying to piece together the timeline of that day.

Now they have handwritten notes in the Chief of Staff presumably call logs to the President of the United States who called when? What requests were made at him at what time? What did he say? Yes? What did he say? No. How important is getting these documents, 700 pages to that critical timeline?

WILLIAMS: Yes, it all depends what's in them handwritten notes are incredibly valuable. Because in the log things that people write at the moment that they happen are just given more credibility than other things is something that not notes that I jot down right now are far more valuable than notes that I write a week from now trying to remember what you and I talked about here.

And so those will be very, very valuable, like you said, John, call logs, as well provide a trove to prosecutors and investigators who called whom when? You don't even need the contents of the conversation to know which people were speaking to whom in the White House and outside?

KING: Right. We have legal questions here. We have the historical timeline the committee is trying to build here. When you hear Paula Reid report, the Chairman suggests maybe some of these documents will be posted publicly. The former president also believes he has a political future. That could be damning.

WILLIAMS: Yes, some documents should be made available publicly. But I don't know if the Chairman is corrected, every single document is going to be made public because there are all kinds of concerns that are implicated there. Number one National Security attorney client privilege in identifying information of some people so you know, not so fast.

There are limits, I think, to transparency when it comes to government documents. But yes, most of these, I think will be in the public interest. And hopefully, we and the media will have to see them.

KING: Elliot Williams grateful for the important perspective. We'll continue this conversation. And when we come back--

WILLIAMS: Thank John.

KING: --the president, this is hour one of your two. He reflects on his first year agenda, and he says he's now considering some big changes, whose economic strategy including breaking up his big ambitious domestic spending plan.

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[12:25:00]

KING: One year ago today, this hour, Joe Biden assumed the presidency which means right now we are 27 minutes and change into year two. And the president promises some changes, he is prepared to break up and slim down a big social safety net plan he could not pass in year one.

And he is prepared to accept for now a big defeat on voting rights and work instead on a much smaller but important plan to improve election integrity. The same political forces are driving both shifts. Republicans are unified in there just say no strategy and the same to Democrats.

Senate Democrats would not support their president either on the big spending plan or on changing Senate rules to pass the filibuster. Our reporters are back with us to discuss the challenges ahead as well as look at the year back.

And again Jeff Zeleny, you were at this press conference yesterday, Democrats resisted for months of negotiations breaking up the social safety net plan, listen to the president says I guess I have no choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's clear to me that that we're going to have to probably make it up. I'm not going to negotiate against myself as to what shouldn't be in it. But I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now and come back and fight for the rest later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The question is now that he has made that concession publicly, how fast and what pieces?

ZELENY: That is the open question here and is that throughout the press conference, the president was really blaming Republicans for being so obstructionist. But he was also sending a very clear message to Democrats to check their expectations at the door.

In the second year of this presidency if they want to get anything accomplished. They are going to have to trim back their expectations without question. The president gave a couple hints. He said the child care, a tax credit, something he has campaigned on the free community college which is already out of it neither of those will make the bill there simply is not the ability to pay for those and he left open other possibilities.

But John, this is going to set up a whole new scramble between the House inside the House, of course, between the progressives and moderates as well as the House and Senate. So it's unclear how the president is going to reconcile that particularly because at the very end of the news conference, he said something I thought was the most interesting window into his a new approach here if he'll be able to do it.

He said he spent too much time as a President, Senator. He said the Senators need to focus on negotiations. Well, how will the White House sort of work with these negotiations if he's not at the middle of them? Will it go better? Will it not? We'll have to see about that. But that's a big question hang over this new second year.

KING: And the biggest question, Julie Davis is what pieces can you get the necessary votes for which pieces of the so called build back better plan reconciliation call what you will the big social safety net? But then also a big question is can you calm the Democratic nerves, some of the anger and some of the frustration and the disappointment?

Senator Elizabeth Warren says we need to get as much as we can across the finish line. So a pragmatic approach there from a leading progressive on the Senate side, but Bernie Sanders is still white hot at some of his Democratic colleagues last night the voting rights legislation failed. The effort to change the Senate rules failed. Bernie Sanders said after that it's not just this--