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Ukrainian Teens Reflects On Her Terrifying Escape From Mariupol. McConnell Says He Will Not Support Ketanji Brown Jackson's Appointment. U.S. Firefighter Sends Equipment to Ukraine. Europe Begins Plans to Cut Back on Russian Oil. Russian-speaking Ukrainians Turn Against Putin. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 25, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY HOST: Maria, first of all, I'm so glad you made it out. Thank you so much for joining us. I don't think people have a sense of what it's like in Mariupol for people like you who were living in basements. Just tell us what that was like.

MARIA, 18-YEAR-OLD WHO FLED MARIUPOL WITH FAMILY: I agree with you. I don't think that nobody abroad can understand truly what just happened in my hometown. Like you can't even imagine living in the basement is not the worst thing happening in Mariupol. Like this town turned into a ghost.

BERMAN: This town turned into a ghost. I know there were explosions all around you. In one case there was a shell that hit, what, I think we have pictures? You have pictures of it hit 30 meters from you.

MARIA: Yes, we have lots of pictures of rockets fell down on the street, in our houses, in our cars on the streets, on the hospitals and the schools, and it's actually terrifying. Like the sounds of bomb being just makes your blood stop and boil because of fear, and the only thing that you - that you are thinking about is like how to make out alive of it.

BERMAN: When you were in that basement, how many were you? And did you think you'd make it out?

MARIA: I can't count the amount of people living here because this basement was like a huge basement and, you know, almost every house has such basements and there are lots and lots of people. Like I think by that moment nobody is living in their houses. They are just - they have moved all into basements to save their lives because staying in your home is not safe anymore.

BERMAN: Staying in your home is not safe anymore, but also trying it leave can be incredibly dangerous. You managed to get into a car and to try to make your way out of the city. Talk to me about the Russians as you were leaving. They were telling you to delete the pictures on your phones. What were they saying?

MARIA: You know, the story was like that. We were standing in a huge line to leave the city on a Russian checkpoint, and I remember the friend of my father came to my car and he said delete everything you can delete. Delete every photo of the Mariupol photos of destruction, photos that agitate for Ukraine, delete as much provocative messages in your own messages as you can so you don't provoke the soldiers to leave you in the city.

And I remember when we just came to a checkpoint. They literally took our phones and they were scrolling and scrolling to find anything that can provoke them, and luckily we deleted almost everything so we could go through a checkpoint.

BERMAN: They didn't want any pictures of what was happening there. You think they wanted to hide the truth?

MARIA: You know, it's - yes. They just wanted to hide - to hide the truth, block the truth, but these photos cannot be hidden. Somebody catch it on the internet (ph), somebody shares it with their friends and relatives, so these photos are worldwide. So it's impossible to hide anything because we see it. We live in that condition, so we cannot be just defeated easily. And they cannot tell us that this is our soldiers shooting themselves because we see everything. We are not fools.

BERMAN: You are also - we are not fools. You are living truth, Maria. Your mere presence, your being here with us telling the story tells us everything. And just one more thing. I do understand that even as you left and made it through the Russian checkpoints you felt like the Russians were firing on you as you were leaving?

MARIA: Yes, there's a story of us leaving Russian checkpoints. You know of who is [ph] joining you from the city we have passed maybe six Russian checkpoints. They were like each 30 kilometers. They were checking our baggage, our documents, our phones, et cetera.

[07:35:00]

And I remember the story when a Russian soldiers - Russian solider after checking our documents, he wished us having a nice trip, and I was very confused by this word - by these words. And then 20 minutes after the rockets just began shooting in our spines on the cars of the civilians, cars where kids were in, and they were just shooting on the civilians leaving Mariupol.

BERMAN: Maria, as I said, thank you for sharing your story. They cannot hide the truth. They cannot hide these stories. People like you who I know you were a colleague student home on break basically, and then this is what you had to live through. We're so glad that you and your family made it out safely. We wish you the best. Please let us know if there's anything we can do.

MARIA: Unfortunately, you cannot help Mariupol now. The only thing you can help is people going on protest and educate to close the sky in the Ukraine because the main weapon of Russian soldiers are rockets and bombs dropping from the sky. You know, a week ago they dropped a huge bomb on the drama theatre in the center of the city, and there were lots and lots of people hiding here. And today our government said that nearly 300 of people are dead, buried alive in the drama theatre.

BERMAN: 300 people killed in that theatre, and we've seen some of the pictures for the first time, and it's devastating. Maria, thank you for being with us. Please stay safe. Be well.

MARIA: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: Can't imagine going what she - going through what she has gone through, and she is just one of so many thousands in this country on the run now because they're being targeted by the Russians.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell defending the barrage of attacks from Republicans against President Biden's Supreme Court nominee. Why he says he will not support her confirmation next.

And we do have breaking news this morning. This video - we were just talking about it - shows the inside of that theatre in Mariupol shortly after a Russian bomb destroyed it. Stay wit us. Our special live coverage continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:47]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY HOST: A day after tense Senate questioning, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he would not be supporting Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. He called her testimony evasive and unclear. Jackson is expected to be confirmed, but the margin for error will be slim.

Joining me now is the President of the National Bar Association, Carlos Moore. The organization has endorsed Judge Jackson. And also with us Sophia Nelson who is a contributing editor at TheGrio and author of "Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama". She's also the former House Republican Investigative Committee Counsel.

Carlos, to you first. Can you just explains to us the ABA, how it has determined that Judge Jackson, you know, what kind of jurist she is? Also in relation to a past Amy Coney Barrett or to a Brett Kavanaugh because these are different reactions that we've seen from the ABA over time.

CARLOS MOORE, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: Yes. The American Bar Association has a standard committee on the judiciary, and they did a very thorough review of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. They interviewed over 250 attorneys and across the nation colleagues of hers, people that had appeared before her, and she was rated well- qualified by the American Bar Association and everyone believed that she has the keen intellect. She's competent. She's thorough. She has the judicial temperament to be on this nation's highest court.

KEILAR: So she was well-qualified according to the ABA, Sophia. Amy Coney Barrett also well-qualified. The ABA had called for an FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. I just want to make this very clear about some of the distinctions and the differences between the reaction to some of these nominees. So I wonder then, Sophia, what you thought about Republicans, what they did during this hearing, and how they seem to say, well, Brett Kavanaugh was treated very poorly.

SOPHIA A. NELSON, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THEGRIO: Look, as someone who was a Republican for 25 years of my life as a black woman, I understand how difficult it is to be a part of that party, but the shenanigans and the disrespect that we witnessed this passed week, let's not mince words. It was race bating. It was politics. It was condescension. Nothing that this judge has done or said in her past warranted those types of attacks.

You made a good distinction about Judge Kavanaugh. I didn't think Justice Kavanaugh was well treated, Brianna. I thought they should have gone into private session with that information and spared the judge and the witness most importantly the type of attacks and scrutiny that they came under, but the point here is that if you look at the record Republicans supported Ketanji Brown Jackson in the past. Mitch McConnell has voted for her. Ted Cruz has voted for her. Boone has voted for her, Grassley.

So for them now to fast forward and say somehow this woman isn't competent or that she was evasive what because she didn't define what a woman is for Marsha Blackburn? Excuse me. And so, I think that what really disturbs me, Brianna, is that this is a historic nominee, right?

[07:45:00]

Sandra Day O'Connor, 99 votes. Thurgood Marshall, 69 votes. Sonia Sotomayor, 68 votes. We have a practice in the Senate of historic firsts, like the first black woman or the first black person or the first woman getting significant bipartisan support, and this judge deserves it. And they way they treated her was appalling. I am appalled as a black woman. Appalled.

KEILAR: Carlos, is it concerning to you, to the American Bar Association that we are seeing now this completely partisan divide when it comes to the confirmation of justices as we saw with Amy Coney Barrett and we're expecting to see with Judge Jackson here?

MOORE: Unfortunately, it is very disturbing to the National Bar Association. I could not speak exactly for the American Bar Association, but to the National Bar Association it's very disturbing to us. We do not believe politics should belong when it comes to confirming judges or justices to our nation's highest court. Unfortunately that is the political climate at this time, and we are hoping and calling for a bipartisan confirmation of Justice - Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, but we will take it with just 50 votes plus one.

KEILAR: Yes.

MOORE: However we get it, we'll have it. Yes.

KEILAR: I'm sorry I misspoke. Credit to you, of course, the National Bar Association there. Sophia, I want you both to listen to something that Mitch McConnell said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: The last 48 hours were a dry and friendly legal seminar compared to the circus the Democrats inflicted on the country just a few years back. The American people know it is not asking too much to ask a federal judge legal questions about her record. I just wish the Senate had gotten more answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What did you think about that, Sophia?

NELSON: This is a partisan hackery (ph) job on this judge. Let's face it. The reality is, as you said, this system is broken, Senator Cruz was a disgrace. Senator Graham was a disgrace. They didn't ask her questions. They yelled at her. They interrupted her. They didn't let her respond. Senator Durbin wasn't as forceful as I would have been had I been the Chair, but to your earlier point, Brianna, the challenge here is that we've just evolved into politics now.

And so, the judges don't get the proper respect. The Republicans are playing politics. I'm disappointed because I actually thought McConnell might be someone that would vote for her based on his past record of voting for her, and she's a historic first, but this is payback. This is vengeance. They are angry about Amy Coney Barrett that they rushed through in, what, three weeks? They're angry about Brett Kavanaugh, and this is payback on a woman who's done nothing! She didn't do it. They took it out on her.

KEILAR: I appreciate you both. Carlos Moore with the National Bar Association, thank you so much. And Sophia Nelson, appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you.

BERMAN: So firefighters across the United States are sending emergency gear and suppliers to their fellow first responders here in Ukraine. CNN's Alexandra Field has more in this week's BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OLEG SKACHKO, CLIFTON, NJ FIRE DEPT.: Everything that you see in here in this trailer, it's going to be get shipped out to Ukraine.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where emergency responders on the front line badly needed.

SKACHKO: I need more.

FIELD: 10 tons of firefighting gear and supplies have already been boxed up here in Clifton, New Jersey. They're en route now to the warzone. The plan is to send it all to the Polish Fire Service, which will pass it over to Ukrainian firefighters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How's it going?

FIELD: The collection effort, nothing short of monumental, was the idea of Oleg Skachko, who was born in central Ukraine and moved to the U.S. when he was 14. Three years ago he joined Clifton, New Jersey's Fire Department.

SKACHKO: Seeing how the brotherhood winds through the departments, that was one of the reasons.

FIELD: When Russia invaded his home country, Skachko says he knew his Ukrainian brothers needed him, too.

SKACHKO: You see the brotherhood not just in United States but all over the country, and including our cities. Everybody comes in at once in the time of need.

FIELD: What started as an effort to collect a few sets of turnout gear to send over quickly turned into 1,100 sets and so much more.

LT. MARK DREW, CLIFTON, NJ FIRE DEPT.: We wanted to focus on firefighter personal protective equipment, which would be your coat, your pants, hood, helmet, and gloves and boots. And then we branched out just a little bit further and told people that we would need hand tools. And then we branched out a little bit further onto the medical side with backboards.

FIELD: Today the donations mostly retired gear but perfectly useable have come from more than 100 fire departments across the country.

[07:50:00]

DREW: We were getting contacted by departments in Colorado and Minnesota and Wisconsin and Ohio. That's what firemen do.

FIELD: The deliveries haven't stopped. On this morning a load comes in from Parsippany, New Jersey.

JIM LUKASHUK, PARSIPPANY, NJ FIRE DEPT.: I am Ukrainian, so when I heard about this through Facebook I brought it up in our meeting. We had some gear that we were going to get rid of anyway. It's like why don't you donate it? Put it to a good cause.

FIELD: Another truck full from Haledon, New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We brought bunker gear, jacket, helmet, gloves, some boots. You got to help out one another.

FIELD: The money to send the gear is being raised by a nonprofit, New Ukrainian Wave, Passaic, which is relying on a GoFundMe page. Getting it there quickly is now the biggest concern. The shipments will include Ukrainian flags with the insignia of the departments that donated stitched on them.

SKACHKO: Hopefully someday eventually I'll find the pictures of the flag and the gear making it to the front lines where they need it right now.

FIELD: What do you want to say to the people who will wear this gear?

SKACHKO: The people who wore the gear before you, just know that they stand behind you.

FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, Clifton, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:55:30]

KEILAR: Before leaving Brussels this morning, President Biden announced a joint effort to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas. The new strategy is meant to deprive Vladimir Putin of European energy profits use to, quote, "drive his war machine." CNN Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans, is joining us more - with more on this.

It was interesting, Christine. I just spoke with the French Ambassador to the U.S. He is stressing how significant this is, but he admits it's not something that kicks in overnight.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is going to take time. It's going to take investment, and this is the president and the European Commission vowing to help Europe find ways to wean itself from Russian energy supplies. Biden says that Russia uses that hold it has on providing Europe with oil and gas to coerce and manipulate its neighbors.

To punish Russia for its invasion in Ukraine the U.S. has banned Russian energy imports. For Europe it's not that easy. It's much more difficult. Russia supplies nearly 40 percent of its natural gas. It won't be easy. You're right, Brianna. It will take time, but it shows a strategic, long-term pivot away from the Russian oil and natural gas that pays for Putin's war.

Over the past decade 43 percent of Russia's annual revenue, 43 cents of every dollar came from crude oil and natural gas. The White House as well as other countries aims to supply Europe with at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas this year at the same time this European-U.S. task force wants to cut demand overall for natural gas in line with climate goals.

Also new, Brianna, are sanctions on more than 300 lawmakers of the Russian State Duma and these new tighter sanctions on the Russian Central Bank to help stop it from propping up the ruble. These global sanctions the most sweeping in memory.

With all of this has a cost for the Russian economy. By one measure 15 years of economic gains for Russia will be wiped out by the end of next year. The Russian economy contracting 15 percent just this year alone. Putin's war on a neighbor will no doubt crash his own economy, isolate his citizens, and lower their standards of living. Brianna - KEILAR: Yes. It certainly will. Christine, thank you so much for walking us through that. Appreciate it. John -

BERMAN: So the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, seemed to believe that the nearly 16 million Ukrainians who primarily speak Russian at home would welcome his invasion, even maybe celebrate it and support his cause, but that has not come to pass. Far from it. I spoke to one man here in Lviv who was once proud of his Russian heritage, used to speak Russian at home but says not anymore. His name is Nikita or he told us Nikita in Russian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: You grew up speaking Russian at home.

NIKITA KLEYMENOV, RUSSIAN-SPEAKING UKRAINAN: Yes, I've been speaking Russian with my family, with my parents all my life from the day I was born until today.

BERMAN: You were born here?

KLEYMENOV: Yes. I was born here in Lviv in western Ukraine.

BERMAN: Your dad is from Russia?

KLEYMENOV: Yes. My father and his parents are from Russia. They are from a small village near Ryazan, and he was born in St. Petersburg. My grandfather on my fathers side is - was an army officer. He was a weatherman for the air force. And during the second world war, they had to go back. They had to defend Moscow with their rifles, with their hands. He always teared up when he talked about it because like from his regiment or something there were only 19 people left alive then.

BERMAN: I'm asking you all this because it sounds like for most of your life part of your identity was as a Russian.

KLEYMENOV: Yes. I've always kind of prouded myself that even though I live in Ukraine and I speak Ukrainian I also carry a bit of Russian culture and heritage in me, and this is tough these days. When I was a student at university I was a member of what's called the Russian Movement (ph). It was an NGO that tried to preserve Russian culture and heritage all across Ukraine.

BERMAN: And I find this so interesting because when Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine he gave the impression that he thought that the huge Russian-speaking population here would cheer Russian troops coming in.

[08:00:00]

KLEYMENOV: Yes, if ever protection or help to Russian-speaking population was ever.