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New Day

Jackson Defends Record Against GOP Attacks; Fact-Checking Jackson's Hearing; Tornado Hits New Orleans; Graveyards and Morgues See Increases in Ukraine. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 23, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:14]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We'll be back to the breaking news out of Ukraine here in just a moment.

But, first, in a couple of hours, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be back in the hot seat facing even more questions in the third day of her historic Supreme Court confirmation hearing. This comes after a marathon 13-hour session where she was grilled by Republican senators and she forcefully defended her record.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Sunlen, tell us a little bit about what we've seen and what to expect today.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna.

While there were certainly some contentious moments, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson really having to defend her record hour by hour yesterday pushing back on oftentimes fierce lines of questioning from her Republican critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): This -- this second day is known affectionately by a term of medieval justice known as the trial by ordeal.

SERFATY (voice over): With that warning, hours of intense questioning from senators followed. And so was the firestorm from the Republican camp. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina questioned her defense of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Do you believe that's true, that America was acting as war criminals in holding these detainees?

JACKSON: Senator, the Supreme Court held that the executive branch has the authority to detain people who are designated as enemy combatants for the duration of the hostilities. And what I was doing in the context of the habeas petitions at this very early stage in the process was making allegations to preserve issues on behalf of my clients.

[06:35:04]

SERFATY: The sentencing of people convicted of child pornography was another contentious issue on display as some Republicans charge that she is soft on crime.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): And do you think that these -- that these laws are too tough, that we're too tough on sex offenders? Explain what you meant, in this case, in 2013, and it seems to be the same thing you said many years ago.

JACKSON: Senator, it's not the same thing I said many years ago. Many years ago, as a law school student, I was evaluating a new set of legislation, state laws about registration. And I was analyzing them, as law students do.

SERFATY: Jackson pushed back, denying that she was lenient on sentencing in these cases.

JACKSON: As a mother, and a judge who has had to deal with these cases, I was thinking that nothing could be further from the truth. These are some of the most difficult cases that a judge has to deal with.

SERFATY: Other Republicans, such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, questioned Jackson on some other broad culture war topics.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Critical race theory frames all of society as a fundamental and intractable battle between -- between the races. It views every conflict as -- as a racial conflict. Do you think that's an accurate way of viewing society in the world we live in?

JACKSON: Senator, I don't think so. But I've never studied critical race theory and I've never used it. It doesn't come up in the work that I do as a judge.

SERFATY: Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee closed out the marathon day of hearings with a question for Jackson on gender identity.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): The word "woman" is so unclear and controversial that you can't give me a definition?

JACKSON: Senator, in my work as a judge, what I do is I address disputes. If there is a dispute about a definition, people make arguments and I look at the and the law and I decide.

BLACKBURN: All right. Well --

SERFATY: And another line of questioning focused on the nominee's judicial philosophy. Jackson told the Senate Judiciary Committee how she would approach her job if confirmed. JACKSON: I have developed a methodology that I use in order to ensure

that I am ruling impartially and that I am adhering to the limits on my judicial authority.

SERFATY: As expected, Democrats gave Jackson plenty of opportunities to not only push back on the GOP attacks but to speak directly to the American people about her life story.

JACKSON: Hopefully you all will confirm me, seeing me moved to the Supreme Court, that they can know that you don't have to be perfect in your career trajectory. But if you do your best and you love your children, that things will -- things will turn out OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And Ketanji Brown Jackson will be back up here on Capitol Hill today. She will be facing a second round of questioning, the final round of questioning, Brianna. And that hearing is set to kick off in just a few hours.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be watching with you, Sunlen. Thank you so much for that report.

And joining me now is CNN reporter Daniel Dale.

Daniel, many things to fact-check. I think you were very busy yesterday. So let's go through some of these.

Republican Senator Martha Blackburn of Tennessee, who we just saw, but this is on Judge Jackson's attitude toward people who oppose abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): You made your views on pro-life -- in the pro-life movement very clear. And, in fact, you attacked pro-life women. And this was in a brief that you wrote. You described them, and I'm quoting, hostile, noisy crowd of in-your-face protesters, end quote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, what did you find here?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: This was really misleading, Brianna. Senator Blackburn tried to repeatedly suggest that Judge Jackson had expressed general distain toward women who oppose abortion, that Jackson had broadly disparaged pro-life women as a hostile, noisy crowd. But Judge Jackson did not do that.

Here is what actually happened. In 2001, when Jackson was a young lawyer in private practice, she co-authored a brief on behalf of clients who operate and support abortion clinics. The brief was in favor of so-called buffer zones outside clinics, zones where pro-life activists aren't allowed to go up to patients. And Jackson and her colleagues wrote that activists who get in the faces of women outside these clinics, shouting at them, blocking their way and such, are a hostile, noisy crowd.

[06:40:02]

So, Jackson was most certainly not insulting say pro-life women sitting at churches. Blackburn hinted later in her questioning. You can find this brief yourself from Jackson online if you just Googled the phrase hostile noisy crowd. It does not say what Blackburn suggests.

KEILAR: OK, so, next, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas claiming Jackson had describe the U.S. government in general, or President George W. Bush specifically, as a war criminal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You know, I've been a lawyer, too, but I don't think it's necessary to call the government a war criminal in pursuing charges against a terrorist. I just think that's too far. I don't know why you chose those words. That's just too far.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): When you referred to the secretary of defense and the sitting president of the United States as war criminals. Why would you do something like that? It seems so out of character?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What did you find?

DALE: Brianna, both Senator Graham and Senator Cornyn left out really important context here. Senator Graham left the impression that Judge Jackson just generally called the government a war criminal in pursuing charges against terrorists. But, no, Jackson actually alleged, in 2005, that the government committed war crimes in its involvement in torturing, torturing and otherwise mistreating four Guantanamo detainees she had been assigned to represent as a federal public defender. All of whom were eventually released.

Senator Cornyn was like, why in the world would you make her out to be some sort of lefty radical making wild allegations about Republicans in defending terrorists. In fact, this was a very specific allegation that very specific inhumane acts violated the Geneva Conventions.

In addition, Jackson never explicitly called Bush and Rumsfeld war criminals. The phrase war criminals does not appear in any of these Jackson petitions.

Now, it's a bit complicated, Brianna. She did argue that the respondents in her lawsuits committed war crimes. Bush and Rumsfeld were among the named respondents. But, basically, they had to be named as respondents in their official capacities under the rules for these kinds of filings.

So, people can debate how accusatory she was or wasn't here, but it's worth noting there was no sentence from Judge Jackson that says George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld are war criminals. KEILAR: Yes, the question really is, is torture a war crime, which I

think John McCain -- the late John McCain certainly would have agreed to that.

DALE: Sure. Absolutely.

KEILAR: OK, Senator Ted Cruz, on Jackson's sentencing record in child porn cases. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): In United States versus Savage, the prosecutor asked for 49 months, you imposed 37. That was a 24 percent reduction. In United States versus Stewart, the prosecutor asked for 97 months, you imposed 57. That was a 41 percent reduction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: OK, tell us about this one.

DALE: So, there are two main things I think we need to know here.

Number one, there are some key numbers that Senator Cruz did not have on his handy chart. He did not list what sentences the U.S. Probation Office, the arm of the court, recommended that Judge Jackson impose in these child porn cases. Figures released by the White House show that Judge Jackson's sentences were repeatedly right in line with that office's recommendations and that she sometimes went higher in her sentences than the office recommended.

Now, Senator Cruz correctly pointed out that the probation office reports were not publicly released to senators. But the White House did disclose the office's figures in these cases and there's no reason to suspect that the White House is lying here.

Now, number two, and, Brianna, I think this is critical, it is totally normal for judges to impose sentences below the guidelines, let alone below what the prosecutors had asked for. There is a pretty broad view among judges that the sentencing guidelines for so-called non- production child porn cases, cases where the offender didn't make the pornography, are too harsh.

In 59 percent of non-production sentences issued in fiscal 2019, the offender was given a sentence below the range of the guidelines. Less than a third of all non-production sentences that year were within the guidelines.

So, Senator Cruz is absolutely entitled to his sentencing criticism, but there is important ad context here that shows that Judge Jackson is mainstream, not some sort of, you know, lefty extremist.

KEILAR: All right, Daniel, thank you so much for taking us through all of that. Really appreciate it.

DALE: Thank you. KEILAR: As the war is intensifying in Ukraine, CNN goes to a graveyard

and a morgue that is holding the bodies of Russian soldiers left behind.

Plus, breaking overnight, a tornado just tearing through parts of New Orleans, leaving a trail of destruction. We'll take you there.

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[06:48:42]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, search and rescue teams combing through devastated areas of New Orleans that were hit by a large and deadly tornado last night. The Arabi neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish one of the hardest hit areas. The powerful storm flipped over cars and ripped some homes right off their foundations. At least one person was killed, multiple others injured. Thousands of people are without power. Emergency officials say they haven't seen this kind of destruction since Hurricane Katrina 17 years ago.

I want to bring in meteorologist Chad Myers.

These seem like some terrible storms, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They really were. I think this is EF-3 or greater, John. A big wedge here. You can see the dark skies there behind me and the cloud all the way to the ground, likely somewhere in the ballpark of 140 miles per hour or greater.

I've seen a lot of people ask about, why was the lightning blue? That's not lightning. That are the power lines that are being destroyed by the tornado. Many times chasers in the overnight hours only know that a tornado is on the ground because of those blue flashes.

This lower Ninth Ward area was hit so very hard with Katrina. Over here, this is the French Quarter, as we all know. But off to the east, where people actually do really live, off to the lower Ninth Ward, and you said, toward Arabi, that's where the tornado was.

Over the past couple of days, almost 60 tornado reports. But it doesn't take 60 to make a very bad day.

[06:50:03]

And we won't get 60 today, but it just takes one.

There were so many areas here of four inch rainfalls or greater. An area that actually did need some rain, but four inches can cause some flooding.

Right now the weather is down across the Gulf Coast, down across parts of Florida, and even raining up all the way into parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Here's where we go for today. There's still a risk of severe weather. That risk is a two out of four. We call that slight. We go from slight, to enhanced, to moderate, to high. Yesterday we were level four out of five. So, there you go, 1:00, moving on toward Charleston by 6:00. But notice the big weather up here into parts of Ohio and Michigan. There's enough energy to push some storms all the way up into the Great Lakes.

Now, by tomorrow it's all gone. But, for now, we still have the threat of severe weather. Not that we had yesterday, but it just takes a couple of storms in your neighborhood to make a big difference, John.

BERMAN: All right, Chad, thanks so much.

We do have breaking news this morning out of Ukraine. We're getting word that Russians have struck private homes as they increase attacks on civilians. CNN is there live.

Plus, the death toll in Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine rising on both sides of the war. CNN gets a look at where bodies of Russian soldiers are going.

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[06:55:36]

KEILAR: It's been nearly a month since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. And now hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian troops are losing their lives. Their bodies piling up in a graveyard in central Ukraine.

CNN's Ivan Watson has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This military cemetery brings home the stark reality Ukraine has been living with for years. All of these crosses, they mark the graves of Ukrainian servicemen who have died fighting against Russian-back separatists in the Donbas region since 2014.

And on this side we have new graves and they are devoted to casualties from Russia's invasion of Ukraine that was launched on February 24th of this year. One of the fallen is Mikhail Zedaraca (ph), born in 1997. Just 25 years old. And if you come over here, you see something else which is a reminder of how grim this conflict is. The authorities have dug dozens of additional graves, anticipating the likelihood of more casualties in this terrible conflict.

WATSON (voice over): This refrigerator truck represents another side of this war. It's parked outside a city morgue. And city officials say that it is partially filled with the bodies of some 350 Russian soldiers.

There is another refrigerator truck, they say, that is parked in another part of the city with around 400 Russian corpses.

And when you come to this side here, you can smell the stench of cadavers. The Ukrainian officials say that they are conducting DNA tests of the Russian dead and that they are then going to send these bodies to the Ukrainian capital to eventually be returned to Russia and to the families for proper burial.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: Good morning to our viewers here in the U.S. and also all around the world. It is Wednesday, March 23rd. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington. John Berman live from Lviv, Ukraine.

And the breaking news that we're following this morning, Ukrainian forces attempting to turn the tables on Vladimir Putin, launching counter offensive missions north and west of Kyiv to take back towns that were captured by Russian forces.

But as Ukrainians go on the offensive in some parts of the country, Russian forces are advancing in others. They are now moving in from the north and the south. They are attempting to surround Ukrainian troops in the eastern part of the country, but Ukrainian troops do appear to be making some headway. They have regained control of Makariv, which is a city 30 miles west of Kyiv. And this could prevent the Russian forces from encircling the capital and it could threaten their ability to resupply.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That intense video is of a firefight between Ukrainian forces and the Russian military, caught on video there near a train station in the village of Velyka Dymerka, which is roughly 18 miles from the capital.

BERMAN: Moments ago, Russian forces fired on a shopping mall, high- rise buildings and private residences in two areas of Kyiv. We're told that four people were injured in those attacks.

It's a horrifying scene in the port city of Mariupol. New satellite images from Maxar reveal fires, widespread destruction there. A U.S. defense official says, the Russians are firing on the city from ships in the Sea of Azov. We have video that shows cruise missiles being launched off the coast of Crimea.

This morning, the Russians claim they struck a military arsenal in northwestern Ukraine with sea-launched missiles, continuing an apparent campaign against targets closer to Ukraine's western border. That means the border with Poland.

And reinforcements could be on the way for Russia. The U.S. and NATO believe that Belarus could soon join the Russian war effort and is already taking steps to do so.

[07:00:05]

President Biden leaves Washington for Brussels very shortly.