Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

NYC, Feds Allow Supervised Drug-Injection Sites To Cooperate; CNN Tours Luhansk Region Of Ukraine With Ukraine Military; Biden, Blinken, Austin Send Unified Message: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Is Imminent; Biden: Russia Could Invade Ukraine With "The Next Several Days"; President Biden Speaks On Infrastructure Law In Ohio; Parents' COVID Fatigue Takes Center Stage In Election Year. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 17, 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]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But again, it's going to be up to the Department of Justice to ultimately decide on this. The Department of Justice already reaching out to state and local regulators about this. The guardrails can be put in there, but it rests with the DoJ on this.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST, AT THIS HOUR: It's really an unbelievable look that you're offering up. And it's complicated, but it's really good to see. Thank you, Jason. Great stuff. Thanks so much for being everybody. Inside Politics with John King starts now.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Hello, and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King in Washington. A very busy breaking news hour ahead and we begin with Ukraine. A diplomatic show of force from the United States, President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Defense Secretary Austin, all sounding red alert today. Their message that Vladimir Putin is not telling the truth about what Russia is up to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: Every indication we have is they're prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia says it's going down those forces.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We do not see that happening on the ground.

LLOYD AUSTIN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It will be Mr. Putin, who will bear the responsibility for the suffering and the immense sacrifice that ensues. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Right now, one of the big questions is Russia trying to cause a pretext, to create a pretext for war in Ukraine. Then we start our coverage right there with CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward. She is on a tour with the Ukrainian military in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. Clarissa, tell us why you're there and what you're seeing.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, John. So, we are here at a kindergarten less than three miles away from the front line where Ukrainian authorities are telling us that pro-Russian separatists fired two shells on this - on this kindergarten. There were 20 kids roughly here, at the time it happened this morning between 8 and 9am. Fortunately, they were in a different part of the building.

You can see just behind me. I'm trying not to move too much because our signal isn't great here. But you can see behind me the aftermath from where that shell hit. And three people who worked at the school according to local authorities were treated for concussion. They have subsequently been released from the hospital. The children were all safe, as I said, but really what this goes to show is an escalation of incidents here on this frontline.

There had been regular ceasefire violations along these frontlines, but you might see two or three a day. Ukrainian authorities say today, they have seen more than 30. And hitting a kindergarten is of course, a significant escalation, no sense that this was specifically targeted. But I think what this gives you a sense of, John, is just how dangerous things can become very quickly with, you know, a lot of people believing that the Russian side is looking for a pretext to launch some kind of an incursion.

And I should say, while we're here on the Ukrainian side, looking at this aftermath of a of a pro-Russian separatists' shelling. On the other side of the border, they're claiming that Ukrainian forces have been shelling them as well. I don't know if you could hear that, there is some shelling in the distance there that we can hear. As I mentioned, less than three miles from the frontline, but clearly a lot of fears that the situation is certainly escalating here, John.

KING: So, Clarissa, you know this issue better than most, as you just mentioned. It's the Russians are saying that Ukrainians are causing trouble.

WARD: John, please excuse me, but our Ukrainian military minders are asking us to move because of that shelling. So, we will check in with you as best as we can.

KING: Clarissa Ward, most of all, stay safe. Most of all, stay safe. Check back when you can. We appreciate that. Exclusive CNN reporting from the frontlines. Let's get to the state department now with CNN's Kylie Atwood. Kylie, are the administration trying today to say the world should be on red alert and the world should stop listening to anything out of Moscow? KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, John. The secretary of state at the United Nations today calling this a moment of peril and explicitly saying what the United States has seen Russia do in the last few weeks, in the last few months, with this military buildup of more than 150,000 troops along Ukraine's border. Being very clear that the United States has not seen any of those troops pull back, despite the fact that Russia has said that they are pulling back some of those troops.

The secretary of state also being very clear about what Russia could do next, right, in order to manufacture a crisis, in order to manufacture a pretext for a potential invasion. He laid down some of those details in striking specificity. He talked about the potential for a manufactured terrorist attack, the potential for a fake or real chemical attack or a drone strike. All of those things he said, are in the realm of the possibilities as something Russia could do to then use it as an excuse to go into Russia.

And here's what he said about why this moment in time. What the United States is saying, its season, its intelligence is different than what it has said in the past when it's talked about its intelligence publicly. Take a listen.

[12:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLINKEN: I'm mindful that some have called into question, our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out. But let me be clear, I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, he said that the United States obviously is laying out this information because they want Russia to avert the track that is leading towards a war. And of course, they would welcome if Russia decided not to do that. But being very clear that every, every indication here, John, is coordinating towards escalation. The secretary of state also said, he hopes to speak with his Russian counterpart at a meeting next week in Europe. He has put that forth. We'll see if the Russians accept.

KING: See if the Russians accept, is a big question. Kylie Atwood, the state department and to that question, let's get straight to Moscow now with CNN International diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. Nic, Moscow is saying this is NATO and the Europeans and the United States this is not us. The United States saying satellite images show Russians working on a bridge in Belarus from which tanks could easily more quickly attack Ukraine, attack helicopters moved into place. So, what is the perspective from Moscow?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Moscow continues to say that over the past 48 hours that its withdrawn troops is given imprecise information about where they're coming from and where they're going to and said some have traveled several hundreds of kilometers back to their bases.

The video that's provided by the ministry of defense requires substantial verification. And so far, been called into question, as you say, by the United States, by its allies at NATO. NATO Secretary General British, defense secretary today, Secretary State Anthony Blinken, President Biden everyone is calling into question.

We've also heard today from Russia now issuing its long-awaited written response to the United States response to Russia's security proposals or demands. This has taken three weeks for Russia to write this all down. And what they are saying is that because their core security concerns have not been met, they will have to take steps that may include military technical measures.

Now this is a sort of language they were using many weeks ago, when implying that if they didn't get their requests for their concerns over Ukraine, being able to join NATO, NATO going back to 1997 levels, then these military technical measures would be an option. Now, to put it in the context. Now, this is their now considered response. After weeks of consideration, they are again threatening those military technical measures. John?

KING: Nic Robertson, keeping track of a very tense situation in Moscow. Appreciate it. Nic, let's get some expertise and insights now from our CNN national security analyst, Beth Sanner. She's the former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration. Beth, grateful for your time today. I want to start with what I called it this red alert. You have the president United States, the secretary of state, the defense secretary, all in different places saying everything they see tells them, A, Putin is lying, and B, this could happen within a matter of days. What do you make of that and why?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think this is what strategist would call a culminating moment. I mean, we're seeing it both on the military side and on the diplomatic side. The military exercises that Russia has underway are supposed to come to an end on the 19th and the 20th. So, that's happening, at the same time, we're having military forces moved in the Russians. You mentioned the bridge.

Lloyd Austin mentioned blood supplies still moving in, combat aircraft. And he said, I think quite right, this is not the kind of activity you see. People are packing up and going home. So, we're at a military moment of culmination. And then as the correspondents just noted, we're having a diplomatic culminating moment as well. Secretary Blinken laid out to stark paths, either go this route that we're seeing clearly, that's intelligence, at least highly informed by intelligence, or you take the diplomatic path.

KING: So, help me if you will, that's a difficult task I'm about to make here, but put yourself in the Russian intelligence services. What is Vladimir Putin being told right now? What is Vladimir Putin being told right now, as he sees the secretary of state changes scheduled to go to the United Nations Security Council. When he hears those words in the president United States. When he has been looking for cracks among the NATO allies and at the moment, there doesn't seem to be cracks. What do you think the intelligence advice to Putinist at this moment?

SANNER: Well, it's hard for me to put my feet in those shoes because the Russian intelligence service operates so differently. And what I really worry very much about is that Putin is not getting good answers, not getting good intelligence, not getting actual facts, and he's being told what he wants to hear. That's often what happens in these authoritarian situations.

[12:10:00]

And also, it is very, very much colored by their perceptions. That I mean, I think they truly believe that the Ukrainians are the problem. I think they're believing their own rhetoric about the genocide. So, I think he is saying, you know, the U.S. is not blinking. I mean, that's pretty clear. In that response, there were two parts of the Russian response to US. One was a direct threat, and the other one was forced Kyiv to capitulate. Force Kyiv to sign up to our interpretation of Minsk.

So, they haven't quite left that out. There's a lot of pressure to try to force Kyiv to do what Russia wants. But I don't think that that anybody's going to cave there. And for that reason, I think this is going in a very bad direction and feels pretty quickly.

KING: Feels pretty quickly, I think it's a great way to put it. So, we focus a lot on, you know, what's the president United States saying? What is Vladimir Putin saying for Russia? President Zelensky inside of Ukraine, obviously his country is under the imminent threat. He has traveled of late to see the troops. Now there's a conversation just saw Clarissa Ward, many in Ukraine worried that there's some sort of a perhaps, an attack by a false flag attack being made to set as a pretext. And Zelensky also, in some of his comments, seeming to open the words, to have a referendum in his country. And what do you make of that?

SANNER: I think it's a very astute political move, because Zelensky cannot say no NATO membership. So, he has to kind of bring it to the people. At this point, I mean, I'm not sure you can bet on the Ukrainian people voting no. But I also don't think that satisfies at all, but Putin wants. It's not just about NATO membership, it is about having a subservient Ukraine. And that's not going to get him there.

So, I mean, it could possibly play out and it could play out for another week. If Putin picks up on the Lavrov, on the Blinken request for Lavrov meeting and a NATO Russia council. We're going to know in a couple days, whether they're going to pursue is the diplomatic off ramp or not. And that's what Blinken is trying to force them to do.

KING: Trying to force them to accept the offer.

SANNER: On the Donbass, John, I just want to also add in some context. A year ago, in a period of a week, exactly a year ago, there were 800, almost 900 ceasefire violations. So, this is something that's been going on for a long time. This week looks about double the number of ceasefire violations. So, 157 yesterday. Now, you know, this directly on this kindergarten, they knew exactly what they were doing. They're hoping that the Ukraine respond.

KING: Beth Sanner, grateful for your important insight, especially that last point. We'll keep an eye on it. We'll keep an eye on Moscow's response to Secretary Blinken. A quick break for us. The president of United States in Ohio this hour, due out to speak momentarily, in speaking about a domestic priority. But we will see if he also has any words on this urgent, global situation. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We'll take you straight to the president United States. He's in Lorain, Ohio, talking about infrastructure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: Former Congresswoman just on the other side of this district. And she said something that reminded me of what I miss as well. She said it's so good to be home in Ohio. Now, I really mean it. And I said, you're probably the only one here now understands that. Every time I get a chance, I go home to Delaware. You think I'm joking. I'm not, I represented Delaware for 36 years as a United States Senator. And just like most congressional districts, the good news, the bad news, everybody knows you. I was great to hear you say that. It's crazy to say that.

Well, Administrator Regan, I talked him into coming out of what they consider God's country downtown North Carolina area. And he came up and took on this job. And as I said, and a proud daughter of Ohio Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs, Marcia Fudge, who's represented the district well.

And Mitch Landrieu who's leading the implementation of Infrastructure, and Mitch, they don't know anybody from New Orleans down here. He used to be the mayor of New Orleans, and I called to be mayors know how to get things done as America here, and I call them ask him, what he be the hands-on guy to actually implement the law, implement, get it done and let people know how they can access it.

And, Brenda, Brenda Mallory, chair of our council of economic quality. Brenda, where you. There you are. Thank you, Brenda. We wrote up together on the aircraft, together and it's great to have you as well. I also asked to say hello from someone who you know in Lorain but couldn't be here today. A tremendous fighter and Ohio for Ohio workers and a guy could easily be standing where I'm standing right now, Sherrod Brown. Sherrod Brown working in the Senate, keeping an eye on those other team, that other teams who is going on.

It's good to see a Congresswoman Shontel Brown. Where are you, Shontel? I said that there you go right in front there. Congratulations. And it's great to have you here. And, of course, Marcy Kaptur. Marcy has not only made history as the longest serving woman in the history of House of Representatives, every day, she's making a difference. She never ever slows up. And she's helping this region compete and thrive and come back.

You know, that's what I want to talk a little about today. Excuse me. The historic investment we're going to make to restore the Great Lakes, strengthen the region's economy, provide clean drinking water, clean up our communities and create good paying jobs. A year ago, when I spoke at a joint session of the Congress, I was coming off the podium platform and Marcy came up to me and with all the press in the gallery looking down, handed me a note, a letter. And the commentators' reporters were so damn curious. What does she hand you? What's in that note? And I said, I can't tell you. No I.

But well, if you know Marcy, you know what that letter was about? The Great Lakes. The Great Lakes. She described the treasure. A treasure the Great Lakes are. They connect eight states, two nations. To provide more drinking water than any set of lakes in the world and more than 40 million people benefit from that. I support more than 1,300,000 jobs in manufacturing, tourism, transportation, warehousing, farming and fishy, and they're essential the shipping goods made in the Midwest, all across the country and around the world. Generations of families have depended on them being---

[12:20:00]

KING: You're watching the president United States. He's in Lorain, Ohio today, talking about a big major investment in the Great Lakes from the big bipartisan infrastructure plan. The president out on the road at a key moment globally. Also, a key moment in the COVID crisis domestically, two more states, one blue one red, moving away from masks in schools.

Michigan's Department of Health for example, dropping its recommendation that students ware masks in class. And in Virginia, the new Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, signed a bill yesterday that banned school masks mandates. It gives parents instead the option to choose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R) VIRGINIA: Today, we are reestablishing and restoring power back to parents. We are also reestablishing our expectations that we will get back to normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Are the politicians in sync with science? Or are they more in sync with parents? With me in studio to share their reporting and their insights, CNNs Abby Phillip, Olivier Knox of The Washington Post, CNN's Lauren Fox, and Kristen Soltis Anderson, Republican strategist and pollster. Let me start with you on that very question. We have seen this. We see the recall election out in San Francisco about the school board, that's COVID related.

We see Governor Youngkin happy in his early days in office to sign this bill saying no, you cannot mandate masks in schools, parents should have this option. Just want to look, is this the CBS/YouGov poll from a little bit earlier in the month. Should masks be required in school? 57 percent, a majority of Americans say yes, 36 percent say optional, 7 percent said not allowed.

But if you break it down by party, this is where, it gets interesting. 81 percent of Democrats say keep those masks in schools, only 15 percent of Republicans say that. If you look at it down, I'm sorry, yes, 23 percent of Republicans say that. So, is this Governor Youngkin responding to the voters who just put them in office? Is he got ahead of the parents? Is he with them?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this is very in sync with what he ran on in November. And so it makes perfect sense that this is the policy he pursue more curious, or some of these, you know, blue state governors, Democratic leaders, even here in Washington, D.C. this week, you have Mayor Muriel Bowser saying, they're going to rollback not for kids, but for adults rollback masks mandates.

In a place that voted for Biden 92 percent, the specifics of the polling there, I doubt a majority of D.C. residents are saying get rid of the masks. But what we are seeing is polling that's more general about fatigue around COVID frustration, that is really growing. A growing sense that we will never get back to normal, that will never fully beat the virus.

And so, I think a lot of these leaders are just saying, it may be better for me politically, it may be better for me to pursue other priorities, if we just begin to move to a posture that says, we can't keep fighting an unwinnable war against COVID.

KING: However, you describe normal out there. And it is interesting. You mentioned the D.C. mayor, a lot of blue state governors. It's not just the new Republican governor of Virginia, and you have the CDC saying, you know, we're getting to new mask guidance. Hang on, we'll be with you in a little bit. They seem behind that the - a lot you see whether it's mayors or governors, Democrats or Republicans, they seem to be saying we can't wait to Washington anymore. We feel some need, whether it's pressure.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the smart political strategists are saying, you're not necessarily move, you're responding to where the polling is right at this moment, but where it's heading. And the trend is clearly heading in a direction where people are tired. This is not just about masks. It's not just about vaccine requirements, or what have you.

It's also about how people feel about whether normalcy is coming. And they are for better or worse, taking out their pessimism on Democrats. And so, that's why you're seeing Democratic governors and mayors in places that are deep blue, responding to where this trend is moving. Parents may not have a whole lot of problems with their kids wearing masks.

But what's problematic and this is where the Republican messages. What's problematic is when you open the bars and people are out, and they're having dinner and they're out and they're doing normal life, adults are doing that. But then you also say that kids can't do that, too. That's why I think you're seeing this shift happening as quickly as they can when it comes to the rest of society. And I think you'll soon see it in school.

KING: And it's interesting to get at the shifting politics in the sense that, let's just listen here. There's one person who we were told during the Trump years, listen to him, not the president for the Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: It is really not prudent to pull masks off children. You don't want to say, it's an absolutely wrong decision. It's understandable why people want to take masks off the kids. But right now, given the level of activity that we have, it is risky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is a different world in the sense that during the Trump presidency, Democratic governors, Democratic mayors would say, listen to Fauci, not to the president. Now, a lot of the Democratic governors, mayors, to Kristen's point seem to be saying, we're tired. Our people are tired. Our business community is tired. Our parents are tired. We need to do something.

[12:25:00]

OLIVIER KNOX, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT. THE WASHINGTON POST: They're tired and they're also frustrated and angry. They're frustrated and angry with public health officials whose trust in them has fallen over the past couple of years. They're frustrate with their local and state officials trust in them as their handling of the pandemic has dropped.

But I want to highlight something which is the frustration of vaccinated America with unvaccinated America. And you saw that in the comments from Democratic Governor Jared Polis of Colorado. He's steadily talked about this. But in December, he came out and said, if you get sick, it's your own darn fault. It is not my job to mandate that you were a winter coat. If you get frostbite, it's your own darn fault.

And I think that's that reservoir frustration is also making this an easier transition, because the polls do show pretty robust support for a lot of these mitigation measures. But they're also listening to their own voters and their own people who are saying like, why are we being held hostage by the people who don't care enough to take the cheap, easy, effective vaccine.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But there's also this moment, right, where the Biden administration is looking at the numbers, looking at the polling and also thinking about that moment back in July, where they dropped parts of mandates. And look what happened, they had to go back to them. And that is another fatigue element of this.

Is that Americans thought back when we were all getting vaccinated in May and June, we're heading into the summer that this was going to be over. And then we went into a period where things shut down again, where we had more mandates, where, you know, kids were missing school once again. And I think that that is the challenge the Biden administration is facing, when do you say it's over?

KING: When do you say it's over? Or when do you lay out new guidelines that say, if we're going to sort of accept that the virus is with us, just flex. This is where you get off the ramp. This is where you have to ramp back up, lay those out. We'll see where it goes. Up next for us, the Democrats middle America midterm dilemma. The map has a lot more read these days. And one democratic survivor, thinks he knows why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)