Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
U.S. Blames Putin For Reported Death Of Critic Alexei Navalny; Biden To Visit Ohio Town After Train Derailment A Year After Fiery Blast; Buttigieg Calls On Congress To Act On Railway Safety; Israeli Special Forces Raid Nasser Hospital In Gaza's Khan Younis; Prince Harry Hopeful King's Cancer Diagnosis Will Unify Family. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 16, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
ANGELA STENT, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION & AUTHOR: The Kremlin dismissing this because the Kremlin's responsible for Navalny's death. After all, their intelligence agents poisoned him in 2020 -- (TECHNICAL PROBLEM).
It's a bleak situation in Russia. The key opposition leader is now dead.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Angela --
STENT: And --
KEILAR: I'm sorry, Angela, continue. We had a little glitch with your audio there. But please continue.
STENT: Well, no. And of course, as you say, it's come to the moment when Tucker Carlson, reminiscent of people went to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, Americans and said they'd in the future and it worked, is praising this country where President Trump has said, Russia can do anything at cancel.
So I think that the Kremlin is realizing that it will have people even in the United States who are not going to criticize them for Navalny's death and will brush it off.
So I think it's a real moment where, hopefully, the Biden administration will take action.
I would just caution, of course, that we have two American journalists, including Evan Gershkovich, who are imprisoned. We have Paul Whelan, the ex-Marine. We have a teacher from the now-closed American School in Moscow. We have Americans who are in prison in Russia and who we're trying to get out.
And so I think this will be a very delicate balance for the Biden ministration as they react to Navalny's death.
KEILAR: I'm so glad you bring that up because all of that hangs in the balance. All options on the table, it sounds, like from the president. What do
you think that can mean?
STENT: I mean, there are always more sanctions, personal sanctions, other sanctions, but they only go so far. You know, but Putin has already been indicted as a war criminal and can't travel to most countries in the world.
So there's actually a limit to what the U.S. can do. We can clearly prevent other Russian officials from traveling here, but we've already done that with most of them. So our options are less limited.
KEILAR: It seemed like we heard the president hinting at that, that a lot has been done since he made is threaten in 2021.
Alexey Navalny, Angela, had openly spoken about his death before. He seemed to almost accept that it was his eventual fate.
Let's listen to what he said in the CNN documentary about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER & PUTIN CRITIC: My message for the situation that I'm killed is very simple, not give up. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: What he was saying in the Russia part of that was: "I've got something very obvious to tell you. You're not allowed to give up. If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up, to remember, we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes."
Is that how you see this?
STENT: Well, I think what will have to happen though is, yes, but unfortunately, all of his followers, the people who worked with him, or at most of his followers, at least the active ones, are now an exile.
They are carrying on the work from exile, from Europe, from the United States, from other countries. But what they really have to do is to reach the people inside Russia.
So we have seen today queues of Russians presenting flowers to a monument to victims of the gulag in Navalny's name with an official -- this is in Moscow -- barking at them and telling them to move on.
In other cities, they've already turned people away who tried to lay flowers or arrested them.
So this shows you the struggle to continue the work inside Russia because of the repression there. And because the Kremlin won't brook any opposition. And Putin wants to ride into glory with his so-called election in March with 80 percent of the vote and an adoring public. So it will be a challenge to carry on this work, but I'm sure that his
followers and his family in exile will continue to do it.
KEILAR: Yes, the government has warned people against protesting. You don't need to warn them not to do it if you - obviously, that's a big possibility that it's going to happen.
Angela, thank you so much. We do appreciate your time today.
STENT: Thank you.
KEILAR: And still ahead, President Biden is heading home -- or pardon me, heading to East Palestine, Ohio, more than a year after that toxic train disaster devastated the community. We're going to take you there live.
[14:34:54]
Plus, reports of catastrophic conditions at Gaza's largest functioning hospital after Israeli forces raided it. We're going to have the latest when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just a few hours from now, President Biden will be meeting with members of the community in East Palestine, Ohio.
Remember, that's the town where a Norfolk Southern train derailed and exploded into flames, sending more than a million pounds of toxic chemicals in the air, soil and water.
This happened more than a year ago, but some residents there are still afraid to even drink the water. And critics of the president say that this trip is too little too late.
CNN national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is live for us in East Palestine.
Jason, you've been talking to members of the community, there. What did they share with you, their reflections of the president's visit?
[14:40:08]
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, one of things that we -- that we've heard over and over after speaking to residents here over this period of time is what took the president so long.
We've been out covering this story over the past year. And for a time, folks were wondering whether or not the president would show up. Now that he's finally here, some -- some are saying, why at this point? What took so long?
It just -- we were in the center of town just a short while ago, a number of Trump supporters were there. They'd gathered voicing their opposition to President Biden coming at this time. But still, we've spoken to residents who say, now that the president is coming here to East Palestine, the focus should be on helping the community.
What they're looking for is long-term health monitoring. They're also looking for some sort of program to make sure that economically this town is looked out for in the long run as well.
And of course, has been a lot of talk, Boris, about why the Railway Safety Act, which received bipartisan support to -- in the wake of this train derailment -- why it's still has not been passed, why it's stuck in Congress?
I spoke to the transportation secretary about that to get his insight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There are a lot more things that we can only do if Congress acts.
And here we are more than a year later and some of the same people who had a lot to say about this a year ago are nowhere to be found. They're not even on the record whether they're for or against the Railway Safety Act.
And I think that reflects the power of the railroad lobby. And now is the chance to show that this is a country that can stand up to lobbyists and do the right thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And once the president is here on the ground, he's expected to receive an operational briefing from community members here.
He is also expected to make remarks once he's here as well. And of course, many of the residents are hoping their voices are heard -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: Jason Carroll, live for us in East Palestine. Jason, thank you so much.
Still to come, no power, water, food or heat. Reports of dire conditions at the main hospital in southern Gaza after Israeli forces raided the complex. The IDF saying it captured more than 20 suspects involved in the October 7th terror attack. More in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:46:51]
KEILAR: Now to the latest on the Israel-Hamas war. Today, the IDF says it has detained more than 20 people suspected of taking part in the October 7th attacks as it raided one of the -- as it raided the largest functioning hospital in Gaza, and that raid continues.
The Israeli military also saying that it found weapons inside the facility, but CNN could not independently verify the photograph. The IDF says the mission inside the hospital is still ongoing.
We have CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us.
Jeremy, what are you learning?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, Israeli Special Forces are continuing to search Nasser Hospital. But so far, they have yet to find what they went looking for inside that hospital.
And that is the bodies of hostages that they acted on credible -- the Israeli military says they acted on credible intelligence that they were there.
And that was their reason for going into a hospital, which can only happen under extraordinary circumstances under international law.
Now, what the Israeli military says that they did find is they say that they detained over 20 suspects on the grounds of the hospital that they say were involved in the October 7th attack.
They also say that they found weapons, releasing photos of mortar shells, and a case of ammunition that we could not independently verify where or when that photo was taken.
Now, the Ministry of Health in Gaza is saying that, as a result of these operations and the damage to the hospital, the cuts in power and in oxygen supplies, that five patients have now died because of a failure in the power generators and oxygen supplies at that hospital.
They also say -- the World Health Organization is now saying that they are coordinating with the Israeli government, urgently seeking access to the hospital, calling the situation they're deeply alarming.
And all of this is happening as there are still questions about this potential ground offensive in Rafah.
I met today with the Israeli defense minister who held a briefing for reporters. It was clear that there is still no fleshed-out plan for evacuations from Rafah.
But what he did say is that Israel has, quote, "no intention of sending Palestinians into Egypt," which is a question that's been raised in recent days.
KEILAR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that report.
[14:49:07]
Still ahead, Prince Harry speaking publicly for the first time since his father's cancer diagnosis. We'll have more on that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Here are some of the headlines that we are watching this hour. Utah's state legislature has voted to censure State Board of Education
member, Natalie Cline, after she appeared to question the gender of a teenage athlete in the social media post.
Cline was also stripped of her committee assignments and asked to resign from her seat. Utah's governor condemned Clines actions, calling her behavior unacceptable.
The father of a Michigan high school shooter wants his upcoming involuntary manslaughter trial moved. Attorneys for James Crumbley say they can't get a fair trial in Oakland County because the 2021 mass shooting affected the community so deeply.
The motion also cites the media coverage of his wife Jennifer Crumbley's high-profile trial that happened earlier this month for making it difficult to find impartial jurors.
But prosecutors argued the judge in the case has already rejected a 2022 change of venue request and they say the circumstances have not changed since then.
And the world's biggest tech companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have pledged to collaborate to detect harmful A.I. content in elections, including deep fakes of political candidates.
In a statement from the Munich Security Conference -- from the Munich Security Conference, Microsoft president said, "A.I. didn't create election deception, but we must ensure it doesn't flourish."
[14:55:00]
Boris?
SANCHEZ: Prince Harry is speaking out about his father, King Charles, and his cancer diagnosis, which he says will hopefully help unify the royal family.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: Look, I love -- I love my family. The fact that I was -- the fact that I was able to get on a plane and see him and spend any time with him, I'm grateful for that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I've also found it in my own life that this sort of -- an illness in the family can have a galvanizing or sort of reunifying effect for a family.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is that possible in this case?
PRINCE HARRY: Yes, I'm sure. I mean, for all these families, I say, on a day-to-day basis, again, the strength of the family unit coming together. I think any illness, any sickness brings families together. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The duke of Sussex also said that he's considered getting an American citizenship, but that right now it's not a top priority. He says that while he doesn't know if he feels American yet, he loves living in the United States.
At any moment, were expecting a verdict in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in New York. It could be posted online literally as we speak.
Judge Engoron is going to decide if Trump and other defendants are going to be fined hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially get banned for life from doing business in New York.
We'll have that as soon as it's posted. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
