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Doug Jones is Interviewed about the Supreme Court Nomination; North Korea Launches ICBM; William Taylor is Interviewed about Ukraine. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 24, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:52]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Following two contentious days of questioning, an emotional moment for Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as Senator Cory Booker addressed her historic nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): You did not get there because of some left- wing agenda. You didn't get here because of some dark money groups. You got here how every black woman in America who's gotten anywhere has done, by being like Ginger Rogers said, I did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards in heels. And so I'm just sitting here saying, nobody's stealing my joy. Nobody's going to make me angry, especially not people that are called in a conservative magazine demagogic for what they're bringing up that just doesn't hold water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining any now is White House Supreme Court nomination adviser for legislative affairs, former Senator Doug Jones, who has been guiding Judge Jackson during this Senate confirmation process.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

That moment has kind of ruled the day after what was really Republicans hijacking so much of this hearing with some of their questionable questions. Can you tell us more about that response from Judge Jackson?

DOUG JONES, WHITE HOUSE SUPREME COURT NOMINATION ADVISER FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS: You know, I think that the whole hearing has overall been something everyone should be pleased with. There were those moments in which the folks I think got out of line. But Senator Booker brought it back home. He brought it back home in so many ways to highlight her accomplishments, highlight her brilliance, highlight her grace.

And the historic nature, not just of this nomination, but how important this nominee as a person, as a jurist, has become and an inspiration to so many across this country. Millions of people that are looking not just to the nomination, but to her for inspiration. KEILAR: You worked with some of the folks who were asking the

questions that I think were a little more eye-popping. And I wonder what you thought was behind that. Why did they do that, do you think?

JONES: Well, I think you only have to look at their Twitter feeds to see why. You have some that are looking to run for higher office, some that just play to a political base. It was the questions that were important to them and not the answers. They knew that there was not going to be any real answer to most of the questions that were there.

This was a show and tell, and that was expected. We saw that. But, again, I want to make sure people understand that from a -- the standpoint of her answers and the substance of this hearing, she has done a remarkable job. She has shown her brilliance, she has shown her principles and her approach to judging that I think is second to none.

KEILAR: Were you surprised by some of what was thrown her way? And I wonder what some of the discussions were and your expectations of that going into this -- this hearing?

JONES: Well, you always get surprised at questions that truly can't be answered. I don't think there was any topic that was brought up that was much of a surprise. Just a manner and the means in which that is done.

I think clearly she was prepared. She had gone back over her record. She has seen that. She continually described a methodology. And, quite frankly, that methodology is very consistent with most Supreme Court justices, I think.

You look back at the testimony of Justice Roberts. He didn't say that he had a philosophy. In fact, he said he didn't. He calls balls and strikes. And that's exactly what Judge Jackson does, and she does it in a methodology, in a way that she's got a really consistent strike zone out there so people know the kind of judge she'll be.

KEILAR: Yes, I go back to, in particular, Senator Blackburn's line of questioning, especially following the questioning that she had of another black judicial nominee, Andre Mathis (ph). She was making cognitive leaps that were really impossible to make about issues of race and education as she was questioning the judge.

Did you see racism in any of that?

JONES: You know, I -- look, I am not going to ascribe any particular motive or anything. I'm not going to put the label on anyone at this point.

[08:35:03]

The main thing I want to do is highlight Judge Jackson and her qualifications and her brilliance and the type of justice, a true justice for all that she's going to be on the Supreme Court. So I'll let others judge individual senators.

KEILAR: Look, this is a historic nomination, right? This is going to be historic assuming she is confirmed. This is a big day in history, you know, for the country, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. I do think some of that got lost in some of these hearings.

Do you -- are you confident you're going to hold Joe Manchin in the vote?

JONES: We believe that Judge Jackson is going to get confirmed. As I've said all along, and even to this day, we're not taking any vote for granted, whether it's a vote that people perceive as positive or a vote that people perceive as negative. We want as many votes as we can get, but the objective is to make sure she gets confirmed for this historic nomination.

So, we're approaching it. We still have work to do. We're still going to be meeting with senators on both sides of the aisle from now up until the time of the vote on the floor.

KEILAR: Can you get any Republicans, do you think?

JONES: I hope so. I believe so. You just listen to some of the questioning. And -- and if you listen to the answers, so much of the answers she gave about her methodology of approaching cases is exactly what so many people on both sides of the aisle are looking for. They want a consistency. They want to have an idea of where this judge is going to be. And they see that in her. This is not an activist judge. This is a judge that calls balls and strikes, every time, and follows the law.

KEILAR: All right, Senator, thank you so much for being with us. We do appreciate it this morning.

JONES: My pleasure. Thank you.

KEILAR: So, with more on all of this, let's bring in Kasie Hunt, CNN Plus anchor of "THE SOURCE WITH KASIE HUNT," which launches very soon on March 29th. I can't wait for it to come, by the way.

KASIE HUNT, CNN PLUS ANCHOR, "THE SOURCE WITH KASIE HUNT": Thank you. Yes, it does.

KEILAR: I wonder what you -- just what you think of the last few days and also what you thought of what Doug Jones was saying there.

HUNT: Well, he's a -- Doug Jones, very -- ever the diplomat, shall we say.

KEILAR: Sure.

HUNT: And, he, of course, was kind of a centrist member of the Senate when he was there, had relationships on either side of the aisle. He's been around the legal world a long time. So, I wasn't surprised that his message to our viewers was to say, hey, let's focus on the judge and her accomplishments and what she did as opposed to what Republicans did in that hearing.

But, you know, I've covered a lot of these hearings. Republicans are still extremely angry about what they view as injustices done to Judge Kavanaugh. And this was sort of their first opportunity to hit a Democratic nominee at a level that they, I think, would equate with how he was treated. I'm saying this is how they feel, not how I look at it.

KEILAR: Yes.

HUNT: But I think that had everyone feeling like the process has really changed. Certainly, the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, I think, were more restrained, more in line with kind of what we typically have seen historically. I mean you have to remember how much our partisan divisions have really affected how these hearings go down, and the final vote tallies.

I mean Ruth Bader Ginsburg was approved with 90 plus votes in the Senate. We are so far from that. I mean, if she is confirmed, it's likely she'll be confirmed with 50 votes. It's likely it's going to be a party-line vote. We may see one or two surprises but that's just the reality, even for an historic pick, like Ketanji Brown Jackson.

KEILAR: Yes, it's pretty stunning.

How do you think that works for Republicans? Is this going to work for them?

HUNT: Well, it depends on -- in what context you are saying will it work. I think there are some traffic online this morning, An "L.A. Times" photographer caught Ted Cruz searching for his own name on Twitter while in the wake of his back and forth with Dick Durbin.

KEILAR: Buried in his mentions.

HUNT: He is one of several members of this committee who are potentially running in a Republican primary in 2024. So, I think there was a lot of performative actions toward that particular audience, and a lot of them are competing in the same space. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are -- if they both run for president, a lot are going to be competing for a lot of the same voters. It's the same chunk of the Republican Party and there are voters that are focused on the issues that they brought up repeatedly.

And you raised Marsha Blackburn as well. I mean I think you saw there some examples of dragging a lot of the worst of the internet conspiracy theories on to this particular very public mainstream stage, including this focus on child pornography. Clearly, looking at sentencing and child pornography cases or any of the case she judged is fair game in terms of talking about the hearing, but the obsession with child porn in general is something that's, you know, native to QAnon and come -- like, hits a lot of buttons for people who have found conspiracies on the right in recent years.

KEILAR: And the private school that Brown Jackson is on the board of trustees on. It was just Marsha Blackburn's body of work, not just in this hearing, but in others, certainly, requires some examination. I will leave it at that.

Kasie, it's great to see you.

HUNT: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: And I can't wait to catch you next week on CNN Plus. Next week.

HUNT: Can't wait to see all of our viewers there.

KEILAR: So soon. I know.

HUNT: It should be fun.

KEILAR: All right.

So, North Korea firing what it's -- what is believed to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017.

[08:40:02]

So, we have some details on this new type of missile that could potentially reach the U.S.

Plus, this meeting of NATO leaders could be a turning point that shapes what happens next in Ukraine as the Russian invasion enters its second month. What we can expect from this critical moment in Biden's presidency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, North Korea firing what is believed to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile in more than four years. Close to five years. Officials say it flew about 71 minutes before landing in waters off Japan's western coast.

CNN's Will Ripley has been to North Korea many times, knows the subject really well. He's joining us from Taipei right now.

So, Will, explain the significance why this is happening and also the timing of what's going on.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly is remarkable that North Korea is launching this what's believed to be a new type of ICBM, possibly the Hwasong-17. They were believed to have been testing components for that missile earlier this month and last month and there was just a failed launch last week. We don't know if they were trying to launch this intercontinental ballistic missile or something else.

But what we do know is that this missile, whether it's the Hwasong-17 or some other type of missile, it has gone higher and traveled further and was in the air longer than any other North Korean ICBM that has been launched to date. Even the one that was launched back in November of 2017, Wolf, that was the Hwasong-15.

There is widespread condemnation coming in from the South Korean president, from the Japanese prime minister, and all of the countries in this region are watching very closely what North Korea is going to do. This missile actually touched down very close to Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, just within 150 kilometers or so of the shoreline there.

[08:45:01]

So, Japan's prime minister calling this reckless, unacceptable. He is there in Brussels meeting with, among other world leaders, the U.S. President Joe Biden. And North Korea doing this at this time, you can look at it two ways, either they're trying to do it while the rest of the world is focused on Ukraine or they want to insert themselves right into the conversation while all of the world leaders are gathered there.

North Korea wanting to remind everybody they're still here, even though they've been hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world and more arguably more isolated now than ever before due to Covid, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good point. Will Ripley reporting for us.

Will, thank you very much.

We're, obviously, going to stay on top of this story as well.

John Berman, back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, major developments here in Ukraine, Wolf. The breaking news, forces here say they have destroyed a large Russian ship in the Russian occupied Port of Berdyansk. We're going to have the latest details coming up.

But first, a young woman whose dreams of a professional dance career were shattered by repeated injuries as she opened a different kind of dance studio, creating a safe place to dance just for the love it in today's "The Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMBER BRYAN, TRUE MOVEMENT DANCE STUDIO: People say that dance is therapy, and I 100 percent agree with that. When you're just feeling and moving and whatever is going on in your head, you can just forget about it, and express whatever you're feeling through movement, it's really beautiful and healing.

I started dancing when I was three years old. The mindset of a dancer is, if you're hurt, get over it. You still see kids competing with casts on.

I ended up needing hip surgery at 16 years old. A couple of years later, I needed another hip surgery to fix everything that had been done within the past couple of years of me dancing.

I had to realize that my dream, what I thought was my dream, was over.

I started seeing what else my life could be. In 2019 I opened True Movement Dance Studio. I think just emphasizing correct training and not worrying so much about, I can get my leg this high, but, are you doing it correctly, are you doing it safely?

Beautiful!

I can truly say, this is definitely my purpose. And being able to share what I love with kids has just been the greatest joy of my life. I am creating exactly what I wanted, which is a safe, healthy space for dancers to just be themselves and to love what they do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:02]

KEILAR: Breaking this morning, President Zelenskyy virtually addressed the 30 world leaders at the NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium, this morning, but he did not urge the group to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, something that he has been pushing for since the invasion began.

Let's talk about this now with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor.

He didn't push for NATO membership. He was asking for security guarantees. What does that mean?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Brianna, I think this is a very important development. He has -- President Zelenskyy wants to secure his country. He wants some security guarantees, assurances. But more than just assurances, he wants some way to be sure that his people are going to live in peace.

He thought that was going to be NATO. He thought NATO would defend him. And if he could get into NATO, that he would be as secure as the Lithuanians, or the Poles. And it turns out that he's recognized that that's not going to happen anytime soon. So he's -- but he still wants that. And now he's looking for other kinds of security guarantees.

It might be associated with or part of this whole question of neutrality. If he can put to President Putin with the backing of the United States and Germany and France and Britain an idea that he will say, OK, I'm not going to -- I'm going to secure my people, but not with NATO membership, but with another treaty, an actual treaty that parliaments would confirm, would ratify, that would say that if attacked -- then this is what Zelenskyy needs, if attacked, Ukraine could count on the active support, the military support from other guarantors, whether it's the Russians or the Americans or the Germans or the French and the Brits. Others. Turks. And so that's what he's looking for.

KEILAR: Why do you think Putin would be on board with that?

TAYLOR: First of all, Putin will only be on board with negotiations, which this assumes, when he acknowledges, recognizes that he's not winning on the battlefield, that he's not -- he's able to take Kyiv. He's not -- his people -- his soldiers are demoralized, they are out of fuel, out of food. And if he's looking for something to get out of this mess that he's gotten himself into, economically, militarily, if he's looking for some way out, then it gets to your question, what could he get? If he got neutrality, Ukraine's neutrality, he could say to the Russian people, I got what I was after. I wanted to be sure that Ukraine never joined NATO, and now we've got a neutral -- and so he could -- he could spin that. He could make that case to the Russians.

KEILAR: You're describing an historic treaty process, right, of various nations, leading nations, sitting down together and hammering out some sort of deal. That is a huge undertaking.

[08:55:00]

TAYLOR: It's a huge undertaking. It would be a major shift, a pivot. We -- this is a pivot. We were at a pivot point. And now we're talking about, where do we pivot to. And this would be a way to guarantee, assure but guarantee security across all of Europe, a broader -- broader than just the NATO nations. It would include others.

KEILAR: So is this -- in your mind, what this requires, this moment, is a shifting or a revision of the world order, the post-World War II order?

TAYLOR: I think in Europe, yes. I think this is a shift in how we think about European security. I mean we've thought about European security in the most successful alliance, NATO, in history. And that, in this new order, would probably continue. I mean it -- there's no reason why NATO would not continue to do what it has done. It has defended its members.

Now we're asking, what else should happen? It's clearly -- NATO has not been able to deter Russia from invading Ukraine. What's an order, what's a security arrangement that would address Ukraine and Moldova and Georgia, but really Ukraine, going forward as a -- as a secure country, able to live in Europe and doing what it's trying to do.

KEILAR: Going to be very interesting to see how Russia responded to his comments. Clearly they were part of the audience, even though very much they are not there, they're part of the audience listening to what Zelenskyy said.

Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: President Biden is expected to join leaders of the other G-7 nations for another critical meeting here in just minutes.

CNN's breaking news coverage continues after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]