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Israel Issues Ultimatum To Hamas, Setting A Deadline For The Return Of Hostages By The Start Of Ramadan; Tragic Loss In Minnesota As Two Police Officers And A Firefighter Are Killed During A Domestic Incident Response In Burnsville; Former President Trump's Response To Navalny's Death Draws Criticism For Refraining From Condemning Putin And Making Controversial Remarks; Global Leaders React To Navalny's Death, With President Biden Considering More Sanctions Targeting Russia; Humanitarian Crisis Worsens In Gaza, With UN Agencies Reporting Acute Malnutrition Among Children And Dire Conditions For Civilians; Senate Passes $95 Billion Spending Package, Including $60 Billion In Military Aid To Ukraine, Facing Uncertainty In The House. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 19, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:13]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Setting a deadline, Israel now says it will expand its military operations in Rafah if Hamas does not return all hostages by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The new warning for when Israel could launch an all-out ground assault as the death toll rises in Gaza. And an entire town is in mourning after two police officers and a firefighter in Minnesota are killed while responding to a domestic incident. What authorities are saying about the investigation and how the community is remembering the victims.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And a late-night TV host sued ex-Congressman George Santos, taking Jimmy Kimmel to court over allegations that he was tricked into creating cameo videos for his show. The drama has not ended with Santos. We're following all these developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: We begin with a major ultimatum in the Israel-Hamas war. An Israeli war cabinet minister says Israeli forces will expand into the southern Gazan city of Rafah if hostages held by Hamas are not returned by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, just three weeks from now. More than half of Palestinians are believed to be living in Rafah, half of the Palestinians in Gaza, we should say, after fleeing Israeli operations further north. And the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues. The health ministry there, which is run by Hamas, says that the number of people killed since October 7th has exceeded 29,000. That figure does not distinguish between militants and civilians.

We're going to begin this hour with CNN International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. He is in Tel Aviv reporting. Nic, Ramadan is expected to start on March 10th or 11th. How is Hamas responding to this? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Hamas hasn't responded so far, but it's clearly an intention of the Israeli government to heap pressure on Hamas to give into their terms. Now, Hamas has said, if you want the hostages, you've got to give us a complete and final ceasefire, pull your troops out of Gaza. Israel, the closest it's coming, is saying it'll give a 45-day pause in the fighting to get the hostages back. And Israel is trying to pressure Hamas to give into its position. But I think it tells us another thing as well, and that is that the IDF is not actually yet ready to go into Rafah, and several reasons for that.

Look, just north of Rafah is Han Yunis. The IDF went into there in mid-December. It is still fighting Hamas targets there. It is still stuck there, partly because of the tunnels. So, it really appears, on the one hand, that they're trying to double down and put pressure on Hamas to give into what the government wants in terms of release of hostages. But at the same time, if we go back just a couple of weeks, the minister was saying we'll get this operation in Rafah done before Ramadan.

So you get the impression, actually, the troops aren't ready to do it before Ramadan. Hamas, for its part, as I said, they're not responding to this particular piece of pressure at the moment. But the international community is ramping up the pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu not to go into Rafah. UN organizations, other NGOs, governments, European governments, and others, are all saying if you go in, there is a real risk of a massive humanitarian disaster, massive civilian casualties, albeit the Israeli prime minister says the IDF won't go in until the civilians are safely out of the way.

But as we saw over the weekend, civilians in Rafah that tried to move north to get out of the way of the coming force in Rafah, they found themselves under aerial bombardment. Nowhere is safe, even when these civilians move.

KEILAR: Yeah, nowhere. Nic, thank you for that report. Let's turn now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who has the latest on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I know, in particular, we are keeping our eyes on the Nasser Hospital, where things are incredibly chaotic and have turned very much into a disaster, Jeremy. And also, you have the United Nations issuing a report today about the dire conditions, especially for starving children in Gaza.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Brianna. I mean, for all the attention on southern Gaza at the moment, given this looming potential military offensive, in that city, in northern Gaza, the conditions are extremely dire. And that is made even clearer by this new report by UN agencies, which conducted a survey of nutrition in Gaza at the moment. In northern Gaza, one in six children under the age of two are now acutely malnourished according to those UN agencies.

[14:05:09]

Ninety-five percent of households in Gaza altogether are limiting meals, with 64% of them having only one meal per day. And we saw the scenes in northern Gaza today, actually, as eight different aid trucks came into northern Gaza and were met by throngs of people, thousands of people crowding around these trucks, some of them jumping onto the trucks to try and take some of the flour that was being carried. But chaos then erupted as gunfire was fired in that area, sending thousands of people running in different directions. Just an absolutely chaotic scene. One man telling a journalist on the ground, we are ready to die if we can get some food for our children.

We have gotten reports, of course, of people eating animal feed, eating grass, just to try and survive. And in central Gaza, we are witnessing a different situation as well. The fears of that Rafah offensive have started to send people fleeing the southernmost city of Gaza towards the central areas. And there, yesterday, we saw an airstrike hitting a home where about 40 displaced people had just arrived from Rafah. Eighteen people, at least, were killed in that strike, most of them children.

And you can see the scenes at the hospital just yesterday in central Gaza, child after child after child being brought in, some of them dead, some of them injured. This just gives you a sense of how desperate the situation is growing, and also the impact that that rhetoric, that those threats of a military offensive in southern Gaza are having, and the fact that amid that potential southern offensive, we should still keep very close eye on what's happening in central and in northern Gaza as well. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah, nowhere is safe. Jeremy Diamond. Thank you for the latest. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to the global fallout after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny's family is blaming Vladimir Putin and his regime and demanding answers. But they're now being told that they're going to have to wait two weeks before Navalny's body is returned. Today, President Biden said that he's considering more sanctions targeting Russia. And also today, Donald Trump broke his silence on Navalny's death. He didn't actually mention Vladimir Putin or even condemn the death of Alexei Navalny. Former President Trump declined to condemn Russia after Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet- era chemical nerve agent back in 2020, we should point out.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is here now with more. Kristen, this is a pretty stunning statement from Donald Trump trying to sort of cast himself in the same light as Alexei Navalny, this prominent opposition leader.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, I mean, stunning but not that surprising. Donald Trump often seeks to turn the tables on various events, making himself the victim, trying to link himself to these various events. And as you said, you were talking about him breaking his silence, but there is no actual mention of him condemning Navalny or condemning Putin in any way. Here's what the statement was. He wrote this on Truth Social. He said, the sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country. We are a nation in decline, a failing nation.

Obviously, here, essentially saying that he is not a country that is the Navalny of the situation and Joe Biden is the Putin. As we have continued to talk about, Donald Trump has tried to paint all of his various legal cases, even the ones that are not linked at all, as completely linked and as a product of Joe Biden, that the president doesn't want him running for office. Again, none of this is something that we have any evidence of at all. In fact, these are cases in different districts, different states. Some are federal, some are state, some are civil, some are criminal. But again, this is Donald Trump's starting line.

The other part of this that is very interesting is that last week, we asked them for some kind of statement on Navalny, and they pointed us to a statement in which he was just saying how weak the country is under Joe Biden. He didn't even mention him by name, didn't mention Putin by name. Again, some of this unsurprising, given the fact that Donald Trump often doesn't push back against Vladimir Putin, but still in this case, it is quite striking.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, even in Helsinki, back during the Trump administration, when he had a chance to one-on-one address the fact that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, Trump cowered before Putin and then essentially the next day said that he misspoke and meant to actually say something that he didn't say. This comes as the former president is being criticized by some of his competitors in the 2024 election, obviously President Biden, Nikki Haley as well. I imagine that criticism is not going to go very far.

[14:10:09]

HOLMES: It never does with Donald Trump, or at least it hasn't so far. As you've noted, his only GOP rival right now is Nikki Haley. That is because all of the other rivals in the field have dropped out because Donald Trump had such a significant lead. This kind of commentary doesn't really hurt him with his base or with Republicans. It is something to watch as we head into a potential general election rematch between him and President Biden. This is something that works with independents. Obviously, it's the same thing with his court rhetoric, right?

This idea that he consistently calls himself the victim, says he's a victim of political persecution. Is that something that really plays countrywide? And I do want to note one thing. You mentioned what happened back in Helsinki. Even just a few weeks ago, he was under scrutiny by world leaders because he said that he would essentially encourage Russia to invade NATO countries if those NATO countries hadn't paid their bills. I mean, this is a pattern that we have seen from Donald Trump for eight years now. So, it's again, while it is not surprising that he's a victim of political persecution, it's also a pattern that we have seen from Donald Trump for eight years now. So, it's again, while it is not surprising, it is still striking.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thanks so much for the update.

KEILAR: And let's expand this conversation now. With us now, we have CNN Global Affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier and CNN political commentators Maria Cardona and Alice Stewart. SANCHEZ: Kimberly, first to you, Donald Trump is not connecting Navalny's death to Putin. Does that to you send sort of a tacit signal from Trump to the Russian leader?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it certainly sends a signal to Trump's followers that the loss of Navalny is something to shrug at rather than a devastating hit for democracy and for the future of Russia and any Russian that doesn't agree with Putin's policies. When you talk to European officials about this issue in general, Trump's comments about NATO members having to quote unquote pay up, they are worried. They're bracing for a potential Trump presidency and they think it means you're going it. alone and risking more threats from an emboldened Russia, an emboldened Putin, who isn't held back by the threat of the White House under Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Alice, Trump's reaction was to say that Navalny's death made him more aware that the US is a nation in decline. And he's likening himself to be the US's Navalny. And I wonder what you think of that, considering Navalny is someone who very much stood up to Putin to this end, and yet Trump is someone who has not at all stood up to Putin.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Navalny died a hero, just as he lived. Donald Trump is afraid to stand up to Putin. Donald Trump's statement here is stupid, it is self-serving, and it is wrong. Look, Navalny stood up to Putin. And now with his death, there is no mistaking, there is no question that Vladimir Putin has blood on his hands. What this reminds us is it doesn't as Donald Trump says, this doesn't remind us what's happening in our country. What this reminds us of is that Vladimir Putin is a brutal dictator.

We're seeing bipartisan comments from people on both sides of the aisle here in Washington that's saying he is a bloodthirsty tyrant, and this type of behavior should not be tolerated. There's one person responsible, it's Putin. And for Donald Trump to fail to acknowledge that, that just goes to show that he is afraid to stand up to Putin.

SANCHEZ: This comparison that Trump is making and casting himself as the Alexei Navalny of the United States, it doesn't make any sense in large part because of Donald Trump's own words. Let's listen.

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DONAL TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he's smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. The fact is President Putin totally outsmarted President Obama on Crimea and other things. Putin outsmarted him. President Obama thought it wasn't a good thing to have Russia in. They actually taunted him. If you really look at it, our country and our so-called leadership taunted Putin. We did discuss it. We had a very good discussion on Russia, President Putin, and lively discussion, but really a good one. And it was certainly positive. It was a very positive conversation I had with President Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Maria. It seems like there's this attempt to have it both ways.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is so incredibly ridiculous, bone chilling, but not surprising because clearly everything that you just played tells us what Alice just said as well, which is not just that Donald Trump is afraid to stand up to Putin, but that he admires Putin. And let's remember, during the whole arguments of presidential immunity, Donald Trump had his legal team argue that the President of the United States could have SEAL Team 6 go after and take out his political opponent, and the President would have political immunity.

[14:15:19]

Who's to say that that did not inspire Vladimir Putin to, at this moment in time, kill his most ardent opponent? Because he says one of the most powerful politicians in the United States of America is not going to say anything against this. In fact, he's going to admire me for it. And who's to say that in secret, or maybe not so in secret, when this happened, Donald Trump didn't say, you go, bro, I wish I could do that here. And we need to do everything in our power to make sure that he does not get, Donald Trump does not get anywhere near the Oval Office, because it has everything to do with the future of our democracy as well.

KEILAR: It may as well, Kim, have something to do with the future of some NATO countries, right? Because Donald Trump, not Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin frequently takes aim at Poland. But right now, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, kind of in his crosshairs. Estonia brought in the Russian ambassador, because the Estonian prime minister and foreign minister have been put on Putin's wanted list. I mean, what do you make of what is going on with these countries in Eastern Europe and how Putin sees them amid what Donald Trump has recently said?

DOZIER: Yeah, way before the latest Ukraine invasion, because remember, the first one was the seizure of Crimea. The Baltic nations were warning about Russia's plans to expand and potential for seizing territory in Europe. And a lot of people thought they were crying wolf, that they were exaggerating, that they were paranoid. But fast forward now, Ukraine is going into a third year of being under attack by Russia. And according to the Estonian intelligence service, they think Russia is preparing to attack Western states, possibly not right away.

But other European politicians that you speak to think that if there's a Trump White House, that Vladimir Putin might feel emboldened that this is the time to seize another possibly small Baltic country because he doesn't think that NATO, led by the White House under Trump, would have the guts or gumption to fight back.

SANCHEZ: On the question of fighting back, Alice, perhaps the strongest thing the United States could do to serve as a bulwark against Putin's ambitions in Eastern Europe is to send aid to Ukraine. The Senate passed this $95 billion deal last week, some $60 billion in military aid goes to Ukraine. It doesn't appear like it's going to get a shot in the House of Representatives led by Republicans. STEWART: Look, I think what's really important is to make sure that Republicans, but everyone understands that the money that we're sending to Ukraine, as well as Israel, it's not charity. This is an investment in democracy. And if we're providing them the money that they need to protect their country, that is an investment in democracy. And what I think is especially troubling is there are some Republicans who say we need more of an accounting for how this money is being spent. We need to see that. Well, then sit down and get the information. Find out exactly how that money is being spent because we know how this will play out.

If Russia is successful, if Ukraine is successful in Ukraine, he's not going to stop there. He's going to go to the next country, potentially Poland and surrounding countries and America potentially could be next. So the more we can do to protect Ukraine and we can do to protect NATO and continue to provide the assistance we need for NATO, it's not just good for those countries, but it's good for America as well.

KEILAR: It's also -- it's not like this money is given willy nilly. We just have to be clear. I mean, there are so many reviews. I don't have them at my fingertips, but once you get into it, it's almost ridiculous how many reviews. It's not to say it's perfect. It's not. But there are a lot of reviews of where this money is going. I guess it can be improved. I wonder, I wonder, Maria, how Democrats are seeing this moment because you now have the army looking at pulling money from barracks, which clearly need to be replaced and recruiting bonuses, which clearly are needed.

There's a recruiting problem in the armed forces. I wonder, though, can shed some light on this? How do Democrats how is the Biden administration seeing this? Are they sort of saying, like, let's just pull whatever money we need to from wherever to whatever effect because it is that necessary for Ukraine? And just let's get to November or what are they doing?

CARDONA: Well, I think that they are certainly trying to do everything that they can within the parameters of not hurting other projects, like you said, but to also underscore and frankly, shame and force Republicans here.

KEILAR: It will hurt projects Is my point. Theres no way around that.

CARDONA: Well, so if that happens, then what the Biden administration needs to do is put that at the Republican feet because it's going to be their fault if the army or if our armed forces services are depleted or somehow making -- it's weakened them.

[14:20:09]

That is the fault of Republicans. And this, I think, is where the Biden administration and President Biden is really leaning into this, because we talked a little bit about this yesterday. It is something to see how this Republican Party has shifted from where they were with Ronald Reagan, right? They were the ones who sort of flew the flag of anti-Americanism across the world, and they are now focused on the one person both here, Donald Trump, who is about to hand Ukraine and hand, frankly, other NATO countries possibly on a silver platter to Vladimir Putin. And Republicans will have blood on their hands if they let that happen. And if they don't pass aid for Ukraine, they are letting that happen.

STEWART: That's a little bit too far in terms of saying that. But look, I think one important thing to point out is that many Republicans did push back in this spending package that they wanted to see cuts elsewhere, and there were no conversations about that. So, I think it's important to realize some Republicans did want aid for Israel and Ukraine as well as Taiwan, but they wanted also spending cuts elsewhere. So, it's not as though everyone was saying absolutely not, but they wanted to see where they could save money elsewhere.

CARDONA: But what's interesting here is that there's a lot of people who are saying, you know, if you're going to let that bill go to the floor, it would pass. It would pass possibly with majority Democratic votes. But there are enough Republicans in Congress who understand what's at stake here. Sadly, not enough, not enough to show that the MAGA Republicans are, frankly, focused on something that is completely dangerous and anti-American.

SANCHEZ: Maria, Alice, Kim, thank you all so much. Appreciate the time. Still to come, a Minnesota town mourning the loss of three of its first responders killed in the line of duty. What officials are saying led to this deadly shooting. And a controversial new law in Utah would allow the state to overrule or otherwise ignore federal rules and decisions. Is this constitutional? We'll discuss with an expert. And later, the U.S. is investigating what happened after an unmanned Air Force drone crashed in Yemen. The Iran-backed Houthis claiming to have shot it down. We're following the latest developments all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

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KEILAR: Flags are flying at half-staff across Minnesota today in mourning of the people, -- in mourning with the people of Burnsville. After two police officers and a firefighter were shot and killed there early on Sunday. Authorities say the man who shot them is also dead. A third police officer is wounded. The officers were responding to a domestic incident at a home where a man was reported to be armed and barricaded inside with family members. That's according to a news release from the city. Officials are piecing together what happened next. We have CNN's Camila Bernal, who is here with details. What can you tell us? What are you learning?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. Today, this is a community mourning the loss of these three men, remembering them as heroes and as people who made that ultimate sacrifice. Now, in terms of exactly what happened, authorities say that it all started at 1.50 a.m. on Sunday when they received a call about a man who was armed and who was barricading himself inside of a home with family members. There were seven children inside of that house, ages 2 to 15, and authorities were there for a while, negotiating for quite some time, and then at some point, this man opened fire. He fired from multiple locations, and authorities saying that he had several guns, that he had a large amount of ammunition, and at the moment, they're really trying to figure out exactly how this all played out. We do know that that man is dead, and this is while authorities continue that investigation, and while they also try to honor and remember these three men, it's been very difficult for city officials. Take a listen.

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GREGG LINDBERG, BURNSVILLE, MINNESOTA CITY MANAGER: Words can't express how hard today has been.

CHIEF TANYA SCHWARTZ, BURNSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are all hurting. Our officers, our fire department, our families, all of our staff, our community. We're heartbroken.

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BERNAL: And all of them just so emotional, the chief saying that they need time and that they need prayers. Now, it is important to point out that the children that were inside that home, they were able to exit safely, and that officer that was injured. Well, his injuries are non-life-threatening, but again, it's just been very, very difficult for the Burnsville community. Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah, you can hear it there. Camila, thank you for that report. And still ahead, the FDA just gave the green light to a drug to help people with food allergies. We're going to tell you how it works, and we're going to talk about its potential impact for millions of people. Plus, a new bill signed into law in Utah is raising questions about constitutionality. It would allow the state to essentially ignore, some federal decisions. We're going to break it all down right after this.

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