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Any Minute: Biden To Hold News Conference With Kenya's President; China Launches Large Scale Military Exercises Around Taiwan; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Is Interviewed About Border Bill Vote Expected To Expose Divisions Among Democrats. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:29]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with breaking news at the White House, where any minute now we're expecting President Biden to speak at a news conference with Kenya's President William Ruto. The two are marking 60 years of diplomatic ties between these two countries.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yesterday, President Biden rolled out the red carpet for Ruto's arrival, the first official state visit of an African leader since 2008. And it's happening as both China and Russia expand their influence in Africa. CNN's MJ Lee is live for us waiting for President Biden at the White House. MJ, what more can you tell us about what's on the agenda today?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, we are running just a little bit behind schedule. But we do expect any moment here President Biden, and President Ruto of Kenya to walk into the East Room for that two and two press conference. That, of course refers to the fact that each leader is going to get to call on two reporters of their choice from the respective press delegation.

But one of the major announcements that we do expect to see coming out of their bilateral meeting is the designation of Kenya as a major non NATO ally. This, of course, gets to the point of the U.S. wanting to demonstrate its dedication to strengthening the U.S.-Kenyan relationship. And importantly, just keep in mind this broader dynamic where we are seeing a lot of competition by not just the United States, but including its rivals as well, including China, including Russia to really court Kenya.

We have seen that play out over the course of a number of months. And the U.S., for example, is concerned about the fact that Kenya is saddled with a huge amount of debt, a lot of that coming from high interest loans coming from Beijing. And it wants to make the point and send the message that it would like to play a role in alleviating that kind of debt burden on a country like Kenya and other developing countries.

Now, this invitation to Washington where we're really seeing the full red carpet treatment being given to the president of Kenya. Keep in mind the context here that President Biden had said, had promised that he would be visiting Africa sometime this year. It definitely looks like that is not going to happen. And yesterday, we did hear him telling reporters that perhaps he will make that visit in February once he is reelected.

KEILAR: Yes. And, you know, one way of course that you can show a world leader you're very happy to have them here in Washington is to have one of these big black tie steak dinners that's happening tonight. MJ, tell us more about that.

LEE: Yes. And you know, weeks and months of planning usually go into the coming together of a state dinner like this. And we expect to see a lot of pomp and circumstance a lot of glitz. And one of the things that the White House previewed is that the entertainment, the music is going to come from country star Brad Paisley and also the Howard Gospel Choir is going to be performing.

And according to the White House that reflects the fact that they understand the President Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto, really do love country music and gospel music. And also when you look at even just the menu, the dinner for the evening, that tends to represent sort of a tribute to the visiting country as well, I can just tell you, the starter is going to be a chilled heirloom tomato soup. And then the main course is going to be, according to the White House, a butter poached lobster and a smoked beef short ribs.

The White House going to some lengths to say this is a representation of really a reflection of the two countries and the relationship between the two countries. So there's going to be again a lot of pomp and circumstance coming later this evening. But for now, we are awaiting that press conference between the two leaders. Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Heirloom tomato soup and some short ribs, sounds pretty good. MJ Lee, we'll come back to you as the situation develops at the White House. Thanks so much.

So the U.S. now says it's keeping very close tabs on the situation in Taiwan after China launched large scale military drills around the self-governing island. It is a massive two-day operation involving China's Army, Navy, Air Force and rocket force. And it comes just days after Taiwan's newly elected president took office.

KEILAR: We have CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto here with us to talk more about it. Jim, I know you're watching this carefully in Beijing is calling the exercises punishment for what?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, there are punishment, there are also practice and that's the real concern here. The U.S. believes China is at a minimum preparing for an attack on Taiwan in the next several years whether the President makes that decision to do so, we don't know, but at least preparing for it. And in terms of how that attack might look, there's been talk of an invasion, a D Day style invasion or something like these very exercises which is to encircle Taiwan basically blockade Taiwan and kind of push it, force it into submission.

[13:05:00]

So what you're seeing is practice here for one of the Chinese options to not just punish Taiwan for punishment for, what, for electing a leader who is not for real unification with China, right? I mean, that's basically his sin in the view of Chinese leadership. And I know that the Taiwanese are taking this very seriously. And certainly, the U.S. officials, U.S. officials watching Taiwan are taking it seriously.

SANCHEZ: And that newly elected leader, this is the first real test for them. How is Taiwan responding?

SCIUTTO: So they're responding, we were just showing some video there, which is just from the last 24 hours as shared by the Taiwanese defense forces. They scrambled their jets to respond to the Chinese jets who are surrounding the island. They also had a number of ships in the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere, who were in effect monitoring those Chinese exercises. And it's actually interesting, one of the bases you just saw that jet takeoff from, well, there's one right there. I visited last year in Taiwan, visiting Taiwanese forces as they train for this very possibility.

They don't treat this as a, in fact, those are some of those training sessions right there you're seeing on the screen, as a theoretical or hypothetical possibility. They trained for it every day, as a defense, they might very well have to put up to keep their island not independent. They don't use the word independent, but still separate from China. And one thing President Lai said in his inauguration speech, which particularly work to the Chinese as he said, in effect that Taiwan is equal with China, that we are peers in effect. China doesn't like that. China looks at Taiwan as a sort of renegade province.

KEILAR: How much does the U.S. feel that it has a sense of what China means by what it's doing that they understand China?

SCIUTTO: The U.S. approach basically is not today. That's their approach that they can't make it so that China will never attack Taiwan, but they want to supply Taiwan with weapons, they want to inform China of the consequences of an invasion so that every day China decides not to invade, in effect, just kind of push it out, push it out, so it never happens. That said, you speak to people in the Pentagon, they say it's not a matter of if China attacks Taiwan, it's a matter of when.

SANCHEZ: We'll see how long that posture from the U.S. can help put off what seems like the inevitable. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much for the reporting.

SCIUTTO: Thanks, thanks.

KEILAR: Thanks Jim.

So turning now to another big story today that a lot of people can relate to, if you're frustrated by sky high ticket prices, extra fees, you just never really know what something is going to cost, right. The Department of Justice sees you, the DOJ suing to break up Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, is accusing the company of abusing its monopoly power over live events in the U.S. and just driving up those prices.

SANCHEZ: You might recall Live Nation made headlines back in 2022. And millions of people were fuming that they couldn't buy tickets for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour because of glitches on Ticketmaster's website. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is with us now. Katelyn, what more are you learning about the lawsuit?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, this lawsuit has been filed. It's in the Southern District of New York. And the Justice Department and 30 state governments Republican-led governments, Democrat-led governments, they want it to go to a jury with the intention of essentially breaking up Ticketmaster and Live Nation. So the Justice Department is suing this company Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, because of the dominance that they have and the lock that they have on ticket sales, on venues and on artists that perform in their venues.

The Justice Department today was quite strong in saying that Ticketmaster essentially puts a tax on consumers by collecting many, many service fees and stacking them on top of one another. Here's a little bit more from Attorney General Merrick Garland, who spoke at a news conference this morning.

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MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: With exclusive agreements that cover more than 70 percent of concert ticket sales at major concert venues across the country, Ticketmaster can impose a seemingly endless list of fees on fans. Those include ticketing fees, service fees, convenience fees, Platinum fees, price master fees per order fees, handling fees, and payment processing fees, among others.

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POLANTZ: So General Garland in his comments as well cited how personal this issue is to so many fans. It was something that came into the public discussion last year, when there were glitches on Taylor Swift Eras Tour and the ticket sales around that. General Garland though he mentioned whenever he was a concert fan as a youth and seeing Bonnie Raitt perform with Bruce Springsteen years ago.

KEILAR: Yes. No sounds like it was a great concert. I wonder if it was as frustrating to buy tickets for. So if successful, Katelyn, how would this change the industry and how quickly. Well, Brianna lawsuit like this takes time not only to try but even to get to the point of a lawsuit. So it could take some time for this to be worked out.

[13:10:08]

But a senior Justice Department official did tell us that a breakup of Live Nation is potentially on the table here. And some of the things that the officials from the Justice Department were saying this morning in that news conference is that this is not a lawsuit that is just about inconvenience or frustration around ticket sales and how people can resell their tickets only within certain platforms that this is anti-competitive, and it's illegal.

Now Live Nation is going to be fighting back against this. And they have reiterated over and over again, they believe their practices do allow artists to set their own pricing, and that they have done much for the industry to keep scalpers from gouging consumers. But there's a lot that the courts and potentially a jury may have to work out here.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be looking for that. Katelyn, thank you for that report.

SANCHEZ: Still to come this hour, Justice Alito has got a controversial flag problem, the first time he blamed his wife. What's the explanation for this latest provocative flag seen outside one of his properties?

And officials are giving an update on the investigation of golfer Scottie Scheffler. The new video just released showing his arrest. What his attorneys saying about the case when we come back.

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[13:15:48]

SANCHEZ: Today, officials in Louisville release new video of world number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, being arrested during last week's PGA Championship. Take a look at this footage from a poll camera across the street from the incident. In the top left corner, you see that officer in a yellow jacket he appears to run up on Scheffler's vehicle and it looks like the officer possibly strikes it just before it comes to stop.

KEILAR: A little later in the clip, you can see what appears to be Scheffler being led away there. So let's get to CNN's Gabe Cohen who is live in Louisville. Gabe police there just gave an update on its internal probe they're doing into Scheffler's arrest. Tell us about what you learned.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, they didn't say much. As you mentioned, they released those two new angles of the arrest. The really relevant one is the one from the traffic pole nearby. It is hard to see the arrest as it happens really way up in the left hand corner of the video. But you can see Officer Gillis chasing Scheffler's vehicle. He appears as you mentioned to strike the vehicle then you can see him speaking with Scheffler through the driver's side window.

It's hard to tell what that back and forth is like before other officers come in, and Scheffler's removed from the vehicle and taken away and then of course the other, the dashcam angle you mentioned which shows Scheffler being led away in handcuffs. In terms of the update really not much from the police chief and the mayor who said they want the legal process to be able to play out. They did talk about the fact that the officer who arrested Scheffler, who was allegedly dragged by the car did not have his body worn cameras, body camera turned on at the time, which is a violation of the police department's policy. Take a listen. Here's a little bit of the police chief addressing that.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detective Gillis did not have his body worn camera operationally ready as required by our policy. He was performing a law enforcement action as defined in our policy. We understand the seriousness of the failure to capture this interaction, which is why our officer has received corrective action for this policy violation.

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COHEN: But they didn't Boris and Brianna address the charges that Scottie Scheffler is facing. He's facing four charges. But by far the most serious is that second degree assault of a police officer charged. It is a felony, as I mentioned. And as I've been reporting over the past 24 hours, a source has told me that behind closed doors, at least some of the top brass within the police department have started voicing some concern that perhaps that felony charge is excessive. That source telling me that during a recent meeting that included at least some high ranking officials within the police department, they had voiced concern about the charge and perhaps saying that it should be reduced. But they didn't talk about that. And they did not take any questions Boris and Brianna. So we don't know if that those feelings have been shared with the county prosecutor's office.

I will say the police department had told me yesterday in response to my reporting that I should listen in today that it would be -- there would be no question, no doubt about where they stand on these issues. But as of now, there are still a lot of lingering doubts and a lot of questions.

KEILAR: Yes. So glad that you point that out. Also, listen, they want to take this all the way with a felony charge and then you don't have body cam video. We'll see how that goes. Gabe Cohen, thank you.

SANCHEZ: And about a half hour or so, senators are going to hold a vote that is expected to go nowhere. Senate Democrats are going to put up a procedural motion to revive what would have been a landmark border bill but was rejected back in February. Donald Trump pressured Republicans to kill it. And this afternoon they're likely to reject the measure once again, but this time, more Democrats could be joining the no votes. However, several Democratic senators signaled this revote will give them ammunition against Republicans come November. Listen.

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SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): I think you have to look at Republicans as basically being very hypocritical and are hypocrites. They just want to use this as a campaign issue but they're not willing to actually debate these issues and vote on these issues which is necessary for us to make sure we have a secure border.

SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): Did they forget who told them to vote against a perfectly good border security bill that would have secured the border for public or for political reasons, really?

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[13:20:08]

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut who was one of the bipartisan negotiators of the initial border bill. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. You said that you plan to vote to move forward with this bill. Does it really stand a chance of passing?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Well, it could pass if Republicans decided to vote for it. Remember, the entire reason that we entered into this bipartisan negotiation was at the request of Republicans. Republicans said we want to pass bipartisan border security legislation, they appointed a negotiator, Senator McConnell, the leader of the Republicans was in the room. And we negotiated for four months. We delivered on every single priority that Republicans asked for.

The leadership of the Republican Senate caucus signed off on the final product. And then Donald Trump said, stop, don't pass any border security legislation because I want the border to be a mess for this election. And Republicans turned on a dime. Now we think border security is important. The people we represent think border security is important. And so we don't want to just abandon this bipartisan bill that we worked so hard on after one failed attempt.

So yes, we brought it before the Senate again this week to see if maybe Republicans had changed their mind, maybe they were going to choose the security of this country, and bipartisan cooperation on the border, instead of choosing Donald Trump who wants the border to be a mess. You are right, as we're nearing this vote, it doesn't look like we have changed the mind of enough Republicans to get this across the finish line. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't hold a vote to try to take advantage of this opportunity. It's once in a decade when we get Republicans and Democrats to agree on a bipartisan security -- border security bill. That's why we're bringing it before the chamber today.

SANCHEZ: I imagine a number of Republicans who would disagree with some of your characterizations in the response. Speaker Johnson was on "Fox" this morning. He said that President Biden was quote in denial about what's happening at the border, he added that the White House has no interest in his view of solving the crisis. You mentioned just now that part of the reason that this bill came about is because Republicans signaled that they wanted to get something done on this. It did take roughly three years and record breaking migrant crossings for the White House to really make this a priority. Why do you think that is? MURPHY: Well, I just don't think that's true. The Biden administration issued some very tough new rules on how to deal with migrants at the border. But the courts struck down much of what the Biden administration was trying to do. Why? Because you have to change the law --

SANCHEZ: But the question, though, is timing on those rule changes, because those --

MURPHY: Those rule changes happened in the first two years of the Biden administration. What the courts have said is that you cannot, as an administration, change the laws of the country, the Biden ministration doesn't have the ability to just reorient and conjured out of thin air new resources. Congress has to change the law. Congress has to put more resources to the border. Republicans talk a tough game, when it comes to changing the law and delivering more resources to the border. But when they have the opportunity to do it, instead, they choose to keep the border a mess. I just think we had a chance here to do something really important. And I'm sorry that we're not getting there.

SANCHEZ: Well, one of your negotiating partners for the bill, Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, said that he's not supporting this procedural motion today. Let's listen to what he has to say.

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SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): Let's at least sit down and figure out what will pass. Let's not just keep pulling the same builds up over and over again, that we know we're not going to pass and pretend we're doing something. We're not getting it solved. We know it's not going to pass again. Senator Schumer is bringing this up for a political reason on it. And I've said, Hey, Senator Schumer, if you want to actually pass something, let's sit down and actually work this out. But this is not a bipartisan attempt to be able to solve something. This is a partisan attempt for fundraising or for whatever attempt they're trying to do.

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SANCHEZ: What's your response to the argument from Republicans that this is being put up for a revote purely for political reasons?

MURPHY: Well, obviously, I have a great deal of respect for Senator Lankford. He and I were locked in a room for four months negotiating this bill. And I know that he supports the bill, he would tell you he supports the bill. This vote we're taking today is not final passage on the bill, right? This is just a vote to start debate on the bill. If Republicans want to amend the underlying proposal, we'll then vote to start debate. And then we can have an amendment process. This is how the Senate used to work.

You'd begin debate on a bill and then you would try to change it so that you could eventually get the 50 or 60 votes that you needed. I just think Republicans refusal to even begin debate on this bill is a signal that they are listening to Donald Trump who does not want the border fixed. That's not James Lankford. James Lankford wants to fix this problem sincerely, but he is unfortunately in the vast minority right now in his caucus.

SANCHEZ: Senator, I also want to ask you about Democrats that don't want to see this bill pass. I'm thinking of examples like Senator Cory Booker who said that parts of this bill violate Americans shared values. Alex Padilla says that, quote, this should not be the Democratic starting point for border security. What's your message to those members of your party?

[13:25:23]

MURPHY: Well, listen, it's frankly proof that this is an actual bipartisan bill. I mean, if all 51 Democratic senators were voting for this bill, it wouldn't suggest that we had made many compromises. We did make compromises. That's in fact why there will be a handful of Democrats that are voting no on this proposal. But the proposal will likely fail today not because there are too many Democrats voting against it. There will be a handful of Democrats, many of my friends voting no. But they will fail because almost every single Republican will vote against it.

Again, a compromise is a compromise. That means that there are going to be Democrats that don't support a bill like this. And I just think America wants us to compromise. They want us to find room in the middle. That's just unfortunately not going to happen here because Republicans are refusing to support the compromise that they helped negotiate.

SANCHEZ: Senator Chris Murphy, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you joining us.

MURPHY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, we're keeping a close eye on the White House where President Biden is set to hold a news conference with Kenya's president. We're going to bring you those remarks live once they begin right here on CNN News Central.

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