Transcripts For CNN Erin Burnett OutFront 20240708 : vimarsa

Out front tonight, putin breaks his silence, speaking for the first time publicly since december. Putin taking questions during a meeting with ironically a nato country, claiming the United States has broken its word and is forcing his hand in ukraine. There are mk41 launchers on which tomahawks can be installed. That is, these are not antimissile but strike systems that will cover our territory for thousands of kilometers. Isnt that a threat to us . Let us imagine ukraine is a nato member and stuffed with weapons and there are State Of The Art Missile Systems like in poland and romania, who will stop nit crimea, let alone dumbas, a russian sovereign territory. Let us imagine ukraine is a nato member and venture such as combat operations. Are we supposed to be at war with nato . His demands have not changed, trickling down, crimea was originally annexed by russia. No one has done much about it. Which remains the reason why putin believes he can control more of ukraine. Here is something else, what you see only that image there, he was sidebyside with the Prime Minister of hungary. Despite the strong man increasing autocratic tendencyings, hungary is a part of nato. The Prime Minister today said of russias demand on nato, said, quote, the president was very clear around said that russias demands for Security Guarantees are normal and should be the basis for negotiation. And i agree with that. That is the opposite of natos position so a nato member said the exact opposite. That is a problem. Lets remind natos stance on ukraine that is nato has a right to expand that. Putin cant stop that and nato is a hurt one all defend deal. We will of course make sure there is no missile with standing about natos commitment to protect and defend all nato allies. Thats nato. If you hurt one, all rise to the defense. Thats the deal. Thats the fundamental part. Hungarys Prime Minister then continued saying hungary is able to be both a member of nato and in his word so able to quote maintain excellent contact with russia. Well, putin has no such relationship with ukraine, no Friendly Leader who can glad hand with nato gabing with putin saying all of his demands are completely unreasonable and lets go along with them. It was clear from his words in the Press Conference today, changingi that is still his number one goal. He put out more propaganda video, a flurry of military drills, including testing russian antiaircraft Missile Systems and advanced obstacle training and shooting exercises. Putin putting out moments ago, the military came equipped with a hospital, classrooms, Recreation Facilities for soldiers, an indication that Russian Troops could be there for a while. The United States is making it clear, its not just Propaganda Footage and pet ulance from putin. He is able to invade imminently. We believe that he has enough capably to move now, if he wants to. And he continues to add to that capability and those options. And he could depending on what his goal is here, what he wants to do, he could move imminently. And at any time. We have seen him provide that kind of sustainment capability with respect to those force and, obviously, that does include, you know, Field Hospitals and doctors and nurses. And the kind of things you would need to do to be able to medically care for troops in the field. Putin is clearly prepared for war. And it is a war that happens, but according to Ukrainian President , will engulf europe. There will be a tragedy in case of powerful nations against our state. And, therefore, i am being very opened. This is not going to be a war of ukraine and russia. This is going to be a a european war, a fullfledged war. Because no one is going to give away territories to some people any longer. Out front live in ukraine again tonight. So mathew, how are putins words today being interpreted in ukraine in. Reporter well they wont be doing much to ease the kremlins pants. Seeing the Prime Minister, the leader of a nato member and European Union stand shouldertoshoulder with the russian president in that way, we have reminded the ukrainians that the rest of the alliances, the western institutions, that putin wants to split so much already divided when it comes to how to deal with moscow. But more than that, Vladimir Putins words, he said that there is no russian plan to invade ukraine again. Remember it did it in 2014. But what he set out at this News Conference was scenarios in which there could be an armed conflict. So, you know, thats something that would have been alarming here. Particularly when you couple it with the fact that russia continues to build up forces near the ukrainian border, close to 130,000 Russian Troops poised potentially on an order to come into this country and the ukrainians know that very well. So there is not much they will have heard today that will have eased their concerns from moscow. At the same time, ukrainian leadership here has been pursuing diplomacy on its own. Its had visits today from the polish Prime Minister and Boris Johnson Prime Minister, they have been in can iiev today giving their political backing to Vladimir Putin Zelensky Ukrainian Presence and military backing as well. That i think for the ukrainians is symbolically important. Thank you very much. Out front now retired colonel, former member of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff and National Intelligence officer for russia eurasia National Intelligence council. I appreciate you taking the time to be with me. Colonel, have you putin saying today the goal is to quote draw up into an armed conflict. That thats the goal of the United States and the west. He stood firm on every single one of his demands with Missile Presence and his entire list as we played it. What did you take away from what he said today . I think the main thing is the reality is, of course, exactly the opposite of this. It is russia that is drawing amid the alps. Each of this conflict with themselves and because of their designs on ukraine. What i took away from it is the fact that putin has not changed anything. He is basically rejecting at least so far all of the western positions loaded to ukraine. The fact that ukraine is considered a country that is, at best, a candidate for nato membership, is something that he, of course, rejects out of hand. He believes that all of the things that we associate with western europe, all of the things we associate with the expansion of nato, all of that is a direct threat to russia. Because of that, he will continue with his movements, his Troop Movements plus his asymmetric activities as well. As you say, as he spoke, the Ministry Of Defense put out all those videos so everyone understands, right, what their actions are, putin was very clear today, his demand to nato and the United States have not been met. Here is another thing he said. It is already clear that the fundamental russian concerns were ignored. We have not seen adequate consideration for our three key demands regarding nato expansion. The renunsiation of a deployment near the russian border and the return of the blogs military infrastructure and europe to the state of 1997 when the russian Nato Finding Act was signed. He is saying the return of the infrastructure to europe to the state of 1997. I just want to be clear. He says that standing in effect to a that to member who said that russias Security Demand were reasonableagrees with them. That was quite jarring. Jarring and incredibly counterproductive. The Biden Administration has worked incredibly hard to afford unity and cohesion among its allies. That unity is crucial to deterrent. With traveling to the kremlin and standing there, calling into question, it is like the utility extension. That undermines the deter rent message that the United States and its allies are trying to sentence. I also think that putin, himself, probably questioned whether or not the United States and its allies will stand shouldertoshoulder if push comes to shove and so unfortunately, i think the message there only reenforces that need for president putin. So colonel, let me ask you about that. He knew what he was doing and what he was saying and the impolitician is very clear that nato may do what nato does, hungary will do what hungary does. Its still incredible for a country to come out and say it. It puts it right out in the open and it opens the door to others. How significant is that . Very significant, erin. The big thing here so keep in mind, that is as key as hungary is to certain things that nato does, it is not france. It is not germany. It is not britain. So those are key factors when putin looks at this in that way. Because those countries are going to be very important to the cohesiveness of nato. The smaller countries are important. But the Key Countries are big countries. If they stay together, then putin has a lot of pressure that he has to deal with and hell have to calculate differently than he would otherwise calculate. Which brings me to the questions of sanctions that you raise. Obviously, germany is reliant upon russia for its gas coming to the pipeline that goes under ukraine. Germany has been low to support the military in anyway. Today you heard say sanction doesnt work. So is he right that sanctions dont work . Obviously, they didnt work in 2014. Those sanctions are by all accounts much weaker than those now being considered. Do you think the sanctions they are talking about would work now . Well, i think, you know, they are a key part of the deterrent package. The bietden administration i think is trying to make the point that putin faces incredibly clear. On the one hand, the Biden Administration offered a path to talk about things like arms control. Conventional arms control. Transparency measures, risk reduction. Along with allies, theyve threatened a severe passion only of sanctions that evades the costs. The key question is whether or not not to deter putin on something as vital as ukraine. There is a very significant asymmetry of interest that putin exploits. He understands russia cares more about ukraine than the less. Nonetheless, its very important to continue to go down this path and if they dont end up deterring and putin takes action, implementing those tensions is extremely important to raise the cost and input and Export Control to start to choke him off, key factors of russian economy that support this aggressive activity across. That is one question. There is still the prudent path to raise the costs and to start to choke russias ability to sustain this aggressive posture. So how long can you wait . You know, the emphasis today from both the videos and you heard Admiral Kirby talking about was that theyre putting in things to stay for a while. Right . Its not just hospitals, its recreation rooms, classrooms, its sort of we dont have to move our troops out in march when things start to thaw. We can sit around and wait as long as we need to. How long do you think he is willing to sit there . You know, putin has a calendar where most of us have a watch. That one thing that you know i think we have to consider. But in terms of actual logistical sustainment, i think the current russian posture will probably allow them to stay in that position in an invasiontype posture for about ten days the of sustained combat. Now, of course, hell move other forces in, do those kind of things that he needs to do in order to keep that momentum going. But after ten days, then it gets a bit questionable and also, of course, depends on how much resistance the ukrainians forward and that could change equation quite a bit. I give them ten days at the outset at the least. Thank you both. I appreciate your time. Next cnn is Learning Trump gave two Executive Orders to seize the computers from the 2020 election. He is raising money and using it right now to get revenge on one republican who voted to impeach him. See the incredible length china is going to keep covid from making its way inside the beijing bunt one prilosec otc in the morning blocks heartburn all day and all night. Prilosec otc prevents excess acid production. Tonight greg jacob the former Chief Counsel to Vice President Pence Meeting earlier with the january 6th select committee. Hes the latest member of the Vice President s inner circle to meet with the committee. As you know now the former Chief Of Staff mike short did so as well. Jacob has been a Significant Interest to the committee because he played a key role pushing back on efforts to persuade trump, pence, im sorry, to fought certify the election. It all comes as former President Trumps advisers drafted two versions of an executive order. The time to draft two versions. Tell meant this, what more are you learning about greg jacob and his testimony. Reporter well, his appearance shows even though the committee has had tough time getting top allies to cooperate, they are making inroads in pences world to better understand what was happening at the white house in and around january 6th. Now as pences General Counsel he played a Critical Role in this effort to persuade pence not to certify the electoral results. Jacob has always sent his son by the committee. But it became more prominent that conservative lawyer john eastman advising trump sent jacob an email during the riot blaming pence for the violence at the capitol. In his interview comes as cnn reported pence former Chief Of Staff mark short was interviewed last week and all of this begs the question whether pence, himself, will cooperate with the committee and all this comes amidour new reporting traump ally drafted two Executive Orders to seize Voting Machines after the elections. One version. Tasking the pentagon with seizing machines and the second version instructing the department of Homeland Security to carry out the same tasks, even though according to all reporting a top dhs official told trump attorney Rudy Guiliani that dhs didnt have that power. While neither memo was issued, it shows the length the trump advisers were willing to go to as a part of a broader effort to undermine the election results. Thank you very much. I want to bring in mathew travis. He served in the Trump Administration as Deputy Texter of the Cyber Security Infrastructure Agency which, of course, is a lead federal Agency Responsible for Elections Security and our chief political analyst gloria borger. Two draft Executive Orders to seize Voting Machines. First they try the pentagon. Then the dhs. Clearly, there were a lot of efforts made. Is there any possible way to get this done . Is there anyway this wasnt a big point looking at this, an intended coup for all intents and purposes or is it possible trump truly believed all of this stuff about the Voting Machines . Erin, good to be with you again. I think he must have believed a lot to go this far to have Executive Orders drafted. I havent seen the dhs version. If its anything like the dod calling it a Hair Brained Plan is too kind. Its absurd and sinister, absurd because on face of it, its unconstitutional, article 1 section 4 gives the authority over federal elections to the states. And in terms of authority, most americans dont realize how many Law Enforcement authorities and regulatory authorities Homeland Security has. It doesnt have this. When i was at sisa, we were looking to strengthen the election security, we had to get concept, per mention to do Vulnerability Assessments or malware assessments. We barge in and seize the machines is laughable. It would never have been carried out. Also i think its also sinister in that you take it apart, Homeland Security which is professionally responsible to