Transcripts For CNNW State 20240703

Stay unified . Secretary of state Antony Blinken is here in moments. Plus, headtohead, shes the strongest republican to take on biden according to cnns new poll. Can she convince republican primary voters . You can do it i know i can. Former u. N. Ambassador and former president ial candidate nikki haley joins me. And republicans draw Battle Lines Over Support for ukraine. Who will blink first . Ill ask House Foreign Affairs chairman, michael mccaul. Hello. Im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is focused on the larger world and foremost, the fims of that devastating earthquake in morocco. Were all waiting to hear from President Biden in vietnam. His last stop on a whirlwind International Trip aimed at strengthening global alliances at a time of hite anxiety. The president is going to give a News Conference at any moment and we will bring that to you live. He will surely be asked about his goals at this weekends g20 summit, which focused on countering china, its splintering economy, and its aggressive posture around the globe and on russias grinding war against the ukrainian people amid dwindling hopes of a resolution anytime soon. Ukraine is reacting today with frustration to a joint statement from the g20 nations, which include russia and china, a statement that did not directly condemn russias war. A spokesman for the government of ukraine said that the statement ignored reality and called its written texts about the war, quote, nothing to be proud of. Lets get straight to republican president ial candidate nikki haley for her response to President Bidens trip. Shes also the former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador hailey, thanks so much for joining us. Lastiers g20 statement, as you know, explicit condemned russias invasion of ukraine, although russia did not sign off on that part of the statement. This year, the final statement stopped short of any direct condemnation of invasion. What is your reaction . What do you think is more important . You mean nimty or an explicit condemnation . It was a win for russian and china. Theyre celebrating today. What we should have had is biden should have really pushed hard to acknowledge what he acknowledged a year ago. That russia invaded a proamerican, freedomloving country. And thats a fact. And to deny a fact a year later is giving a win to russia and china is diplomatigloating, bec theyre looking at taiwan as this is happening and its a shame. Some House Republicans are looking to strip 24 billion in aid to ukraine out of the upcoming Government Spending bill. Do you think that would be a mistake . I think that you have to look at the fact that 3. 5 has been spent from our Defense Budget towards ukraine. Thats just 3. 5 . That percentage of gdp, 11 European Countries have spent more than us. We know that russia have said, once they take ukraine, poland and the baltics are next, and then youre looking at a fullon war. What were trying to do is prevent war. Thats a pretty good return on investment to prevent war. I think that we need to continue giving them equipment and ammunition with our allies to win. I dont think we need to give them straight up cash, i dont think we need to put troops on the ground, but we need to finish this. We have to always remember, a win for russia is a win for china. Theyve made that very clear. And right now, china is our Number One National security threat. So House Republicans should keep that ukraine spending in the Spending Bill and should not separate it, and should support it . Republicans and democrats should not pull an afghanistan. Dont go pulling out now. Putin is at rock bottom. We know that, because hes getting drones from iran and missiles from north korea. We know that because theyve raised the draft age in russia to 65. Finish this. Biden has missed multiple opportunities to finish this. We need to make sure that we end this war quickly, that we finish it, but that we do it the right way. We dont want to further war. And the only way we can do that is to have ukraine win. And theres no one that wants the ukrainians to win more than the taiwanese. Because they know that if ukraine wins, china will stay away from taiwan. Yes, i think republicans and democrats need to keep their eye on the ball, and that is, lets finish this mission in ukraine, and we will handle russia and china by just doing that. Your fellow candidates, Chris Christie and mike pence have traveled to ukraine this year. Are you planning on traveling to ukraine . I plan on traveling to iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, nevada, and the rest of the country. I dont have time to go to another country right now miami trying to earn the support of many americans. Especially a United Nations commission looking into Human Rights Violations in ukraine say they have not reached a conclusion whether there was genocide in ukraine. Is that finding acceptable to you . Do you think russia is committing genocide in ukraine . Well, first of all, its hard to believe anything the u. N. Says. Its a bit political. Its usually china biassed. And st also intruding into whatever they put out there. I think that what you have is, you know, when i was at the United Nations, we had no better friend than ukraine. They voted with us on everything. They were supportive of everything we did and theyre proamerican. And i think what we know is that theyre a democracy. And the reason that they are so careful in this war is that theyre trying to protect people and trying to prevent ukrainians from dying. I think if theres any bullseye, you need to be looking at russia. Theyre the ones that have invaded. Theyre the ones that are targeting schools, theyre the ones that continue to have death that they dont care about. And i think thats the one we really need to be talking about. So i dont take any u. N. Report too seriously. On the subject of china, the Biden Administration, as you know, recently sent four top officials to china to try to stabilize relations. You have said the Biden Administration has the wrong approach, because theyre looking for win win cooperation with china. You say, quote, they dont see us as a competitor, they see us as an enemy, unquote. Do you view china as an enemy . China has been practically preparing for war with us for years. Yes, i view china as an enemy. Whats disappointing about what biden has done is here you have china has bought up 400,000 acres of u. S. Soil, most recently Near Grand Forks Air Force base. They bought our largest Pork Producer in the country. They continue to steal 600 billion worth of intellectual property. Theyre sending millions of dollars to our universities and stealing research and spreading propaganda. 90 of our Law Enforcement drones are chinese. So while americans freaked out over the chinese spy balloon, just imagine whats happening with all of these mini spy balloons. They have killed more americans than the iraq, afghanistan, and vietnam wars combined with their sending fentanyl over. I mean how much more has to happen for biden to realize, you dont send Cabinet Members over to china to appease them. You start getting serious with china and say, were not going to put up with it. They keep sending different Cabinet Officials over, jake, and its embarrassing. You sent raimondo right after her emails got hacked by the chinese. You sent all of these Cabinet Officials over after a chinese spy balloon went over our country. They are putting a chinese spy base up on cuba, off the coast of florida. And dont wait for the fact that they are going to be sending Chinese Military troops there. What are we doing appeasing china . Instead, we should say, youre not buying anymore u. S. Soil, and were going to take back what youve already bought. Were going to go and make sure that we dont have chinese infiltration in our universities, because our universities will have to pick between chinese money or american money. Were going end to all Normal Trade Relations with china until they stop Killing Americans with fentanyl. And then were going to build up our military. Because china now has the strongest naval fleet in the world. They are developing hypersonic, artificial intelligence, cyber, space, neurostrike weapons, which will theyre the biggest developer, which actually affects military commanders thinking and populations of people. We need to make sure that were serious about china and they know that were serious about them. Not going and being nice to them and thinking that theyre going to change. On the subject of fentanyl, i just wanted to take a diversion for one quick second. Ive heard some of your colleagues bring up an interesting subject, which youre right. Fentanyl is, its obscene and horrific, with whats going on in terms of americans being killed by this fentanyl crisis. American kids, who might take an herbal supplement, that is not illegal, and it has fentanyl in it and they die. A friend of mine, his nephew died that way. Ive heard some of your colleagues talk about treating the drug dealers in mexico as if they are a Terrorist Cell and having the military, in cooperation with the mexican government, obviously, treat those mexican drug dealers as a Terrorist Cell. What do you think of Something Like that . Well, first of all, i think we deal with china first, because thats the originator, thats where its coming from. But i actually do think that we should send our Special Operations over to eliminate the cartels. We cant wait on mexico anymore. We cant wait on anymore americans to die. We have to be aggressive on this. And we treat them like the terrorists that they are. Those cartels, theyre trafficking people, theyre trafficking drugs, and theyre Killing Americans. And we have to put an end to it. So on the subject of china and taiwan that you brought up a second ago, Vice President harris was in jakarta this week for a summit with Southeast Asian countries. President biden has been criticized for being too direct on the subject of taiwan, for abandoning what was called strategic ambiguity and saying directly that the u. S. Would defend taiwan militarily. Whats your position . Let me ask you directly, if you were president , would you would the u. S. , with president haley, defend taiwan militarily if china invaded . We would defend taiwan and we would let china know that there houb hell to pay if they did anything to hurt the taiwanese or any of our allies. A Strong America prevents wars and thats what we have to do. You have to appease them. I was very disappointed that biden sent kamala over there for the asean summit. This is an important summit. Its ten countries that are focused on chinese aggression in the South China Sea. And china is going to go bully these countries who are desperately trying fight back. The philippines, malaysia, and others who want them to stop. By sending kamala there and not really showing that youve got sooerns on the fact that this chinese aggression is hurting, when we know most of the world trade goes through that the, you know, through that area of water. Its a mistake. And again, he says things, i appreciate it, words are fine, but actions matter. If he would have gone and made a strong point there, that would have been much more important than to have kamala go there and smile and take pictures. Speaking of having a Strong Defense and having a strong navy, republican senator Tommy Tubberville is currently and for months has been holding up more than 300 military promotions in the senate, nonpolitical positions, including the Chief Of Staff of the army, the commandant of the marine corps, the chief of naval operations, the chairman of the joint chiefs role is set to be vacant at the end of this month. I know you have criticized his decision. The military says this is hurting readiness. I know as a military spouse, you know, military spouses are really upset about this. Why is the Republican Party tolerating this . Okay, theres a couple of things here, jake. Lets speak hard truths. First of all, Department Of Defense never should have done this. Ill disagree with it and ill put an end to it as congress. Youre talking about the reimbursement policy for travel, for abortion. Yes. Because you have to do these things through congress. We have three branches of government for a reason. You cant slip something in there like that and think that congress is not going to be upset. First, ill put an end to that and youll handle it through the proper channels. Secondly, we dont need to be using military families as political pawns. Thats a mistake. These the military members and families, they sacrifice enough, they dont need to be a pawn in congress. But look at the political games that continue to play. Schumer and a first vote on each member. But ambassador, do you know what that would do do you really want to have the tradition is generally speaking that the senate just votes unanimous consent for 300 people to be promoted. You think the military is political now, you really want to have the u. S. Senate voting on somebody being promoted to major, to lieutenant colonel, to ambassador i mean, to admiral. I mean, every Single Person will have their social media posts scrubbed. You really want in the u. S. Military, bernie sanders, joe manchin, like everybody is going to decide everybodys promotions . This is how were going to do promotions from now on . Well, if youre going to talk about tradition, shouldnt Department Of Defense do things the right way so were never in this mess like we started with. I dont say that hes right in doing this, because i dont want to use them as pawns. But if you love our military and are so adamant about it, go and make congress, republicans and democrats, have to go through person by person. Do you honestly think they wont say, okay, this is ridiculous, lets put an end to it. They will. But show your true grit by going out there and saying, fine, if yall are going to play the military for pawns like this, lets go member by member. Lets make them pay the price. Lets make them do their job. Lets make them suffer so they know what theyre doing to these military families. This isnt about making it convenient for congress. This is about making sure that youre doing right by members of the military. This is making sure you hold the Department Of Defense accountable. Lets call that what it is, jake. Right now, everybody is saying, oh, but do you really Want Congress doing this. You know what i Want Congress to do, i Want Congress to do their job. I want them to deal with inflation and gas prices and groceries. I want them to deal with the lack of transparency in schools. I want them to deal with the fact that, yes, military members are being used as pawns and they need to make sure that these families dont suffer. I want them to do their job. And the majority of americans feel that the government is not working for people, its the people working for government and its got to stop, including these political games they play. Spacex ceo elon musk has confirmed a report in Walter Isaacsons new biography of him that last year musk personally blocked access to his Starlink Satellite Network in crimea in order to disrupt a major ukrainian attack on the russian navy in crimea. Do you think what musk did was appropriate and are you okay with a private citizen having so much power over war . First of all, i dont know enough of the details about that to comment, but if theres any sort of smoke, we should have transparency. We should be able to find out exactly what happened, who did it, why they did it and when they did it and we should be able to take the appropriate action. The bottom line is we should always watch out for the National Security of americans and our allies. If theres anything that came in the way of that, we should address it. If theres something there, we should ask questions about it. But i think we need to look into it further. Your campaign got some good news. Some brandnew polling from cnn suggests that you are far and away the strongest republican candidate to take on joe biden. In fact, youre the only one if our polling that would decisively beat President Biden in a headtohead race. Everyone else is within the margin of error. Still, on the republican side, you and all the other republicans, Trail Donald Trump in the primary. Why do you think the electability argument doesnt seem to be resonating more with Republican Voters . I think the reason that it shows that i would beat biden by six points is simple. I think the majority of americans know we need a new gene generational leader. We need to leave the negativity of the past behind us. The majority of americans dont want to see a rematch between trump and biden. Thats been very clear. And the majority of americans think that we need to go with younger faces, younger voices and we have some work to do. In terms of the primary, were just getting started. Debate season is what kicked off the primary. We have made huge jumps in the primary polls so far, but this is the beginning of it. Weve got quite a bit to go before we get to january. Im going to work hard to earn every persons vote, iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, across this country. We have a country to save and im determined to do it. It is time we finally address the debt and the economy so that taxpayers dont feel like their moneys being wasted. Its time to address the fact that we need to have transparency in the classrooms so that parents feel like theyre in control of their childrens education. Its time we deal with crime and bring Law And Order back to our country and time that we secure our borders and start focusing on americans instead of Illegal Immigrants coming in. And its time we finally have a strong National Security, where america is safe and were strong abroad. Thats whats americans want. Its not rocket science, its common sense. And i think well continue to see that its resonating. Can the Republican Party credibly claim to be a Law And Order party with a nominee thats facing 91 Felony Counts . Jake, ill tell you this. I was at the United Nations and saw many countries who would say someone was a criminal before they were tried. This is america, we dont do that. Youre not convicted until you have had the opportunity to defend yourself if if hes convicted, the peemt will deal with it now. Lets have the blessings we have in america, which is everyone is guilty until proven guilty. Lets let the evidence play out, let the lawyers do their thing and see what donald trump is. I have faith in the American People. I trust them. And i trust what will happen lei will be the right thing for our country. One of pyatt eid biggest achievements is a 35 price cap on insulin for american seniors on medicare. Some companies have extended that price, pad to all of their patients. As president , would you keep 2345d price cap on insulin, or would you try to reverse it . I think what biden did was a bandaid. Do we need to do something about health care . Absolutely. My dad just got out of the hospital. I know the cost. But the way we deal with it is we need to start exposing the Insurance Companies, the hospitals, the daughter and son, the pbms, the pharmaceutical companies. Make them all transparent. Why should anyone go to the hospital and have Insurance Company and the hospital negotiate without the patient being involved. Why are drugs so expensive . Why do the pharmaceutical Companies Get to decide this with government and not have patients at the table. Why dont we have more competition and transparency in this. When i am president , we will go through and expose all of that. If we just dealt with the Insurance Companies alone, we would cut health care in half. Its great when you say, were going to lower the cost of these drugs, because people cannot afford them. But its a bandaid. Its not fixing the real problem. Lets do the hard work and fix the fact that we are the best country in the world, with the most Expensive Health care, and regular, Normal Americans cant afford it. You know, when my mom went to the hospital, day gave her two tylenol. She said, i dont need it. They said, honey, you might as well take it, because youre going to pay for it anyway. Thats ludicrous. We need to bake the system and refix it, not just keep putting bandaids over. Its leaving more and more americans suffering and unavailable to be able to afford their health care. Your 2024 competitor, Vivek Ramaswamy just recently said that he would deport the children of undocumented immigrants who were born in the United States, children born in the United States, although those kids have been widely considered to have been Birthright Citizenship under the 14th amend. What do you think. Do you think children born in the United States have Birthright Citizenship, or do you think they should be deported . I think that conversation is putting the cart before the horse. What we need to do is go to congress and say, do your job. They need to do immigration reform. First of all, we need to secure the border, stop anyone from coming over and make sure we do that by stopping catch and release, go to catch and deport, defunt sanctuary cities. Make sure we go back to the remain in mexico plan, because nobody wants to the remain in mexico and put 25,000 Border Patrol and ice agents and let them do their job. When it comes to legal immigration, Congress Needs to get in a room and fix this. We need to go and deal with the fact that we shouldnt be bringing people into our country based on quotas. What about if we brought people into our country based on merit. Where you looked and said, what do we need in our economy . What Companies Need workers . What jobs are we not able that to fill. If you brought them in based on that, all of a sudden youre building our economy, youre not bringing illegals who are cominging in and using our system and taxpayers are paying for. Lets do it the right way. The fact that you want to talk about children of Illegal Immigrants, thats the cart before the horse. Why dont we talk about legal immigration, reforming it, stopping the border and then talk about what were going to do to do to deal with the children of Illegal Immigrants. One last thing before we go. There are a lot of candidates still in the race who are routinely polling in the very, very low single digits. As somebody not there, a little bit higher, do you think its time for the field to consolidate a little bit . Should some of the other candidates drop out . I think weve seen the field consolidate some. We started with 12. The criteria will go up for the September 27th debate. I think the field will wind down a little bit more and so as this goes on, it will continue to gel smaller and smaller. In 2016, we had 17 people on the stage. Im thinking that well have six when it comes to the next debate stage and well continue the wind it down. Im comfortable with the process taking place the way that it is. And i think that the American People will start to force this on their own and well end up with the right nominee. I expect to be the president and expect to get our country back on track. Is california a mustwin for you, do you think . I think iowa and New Hampshire are states that we need to do well in. I need to have a strong showing in iowa, a strong showing in New Hampshire, and if i do both of those, the people of South Carolina will show me the grace that they showed me before. We had a thousand people. The week before that, we were in ind indianland, South Carolina. So south carolinians have been good to me. They know i work, they know i fight for them, and they know at the end of the day, i produce results. And soy expect that they will continue to want me to do that for them as we go into the president ial part of this of taking the lead in this country. Ambassador haley, always good to see you. Thanks so much. Come back soon. Thanks so much, jake. Go to nikk nikki haley. Com to j our cause. Were watching and waiting for President Biden to come before the field of reporters there and take questions. Well sneak in a quick break and be right back. Why do dermatologists choose dove . 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I do want to start with this devastating earthquake in morocco saturday morning. The death toll staggering, expected to rise, of course. Rescuers struggling to reach some hardhit areas. Obviously, the first 24to48 hours are the most crucial. What is the u. S. Doing to help . Jake, youre right, this is devastating. And we reached out immediately to the moroccan government to offer any assistance that we can provide. We have mobilized the government itself to be ready to provide that assistance. We have u. S. Agency for international development, which is ready to go and await word from the moroccan government to find out where we can help, but were ready to go. G20 leaders agreed to a joint declaration that in part called for countries to, quote, refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against other sovereign nations. That is significantly weaker language than last years joint statement, which called for russias, quote, complete and unconditional withdrawal, unquote, from ukraine. Why did the u. S. Agreed to a watered down declaration that does not even condemn russia by name or explicitly call for russia to leave ukraine . Jake, the g20 statements in this country all stood up with the importance of territorial integrity, sovereignty. I was in the room when all the leaders spoke today with President Biden and it was very clear from everything that they said that not only do they want to see this war end, but end on durable terms and very clear that the consequences of russias aggression are being felt throughout the g20 countries and throughout the developing world. And the statement strongly affirms the proposition that this is about ukraines territorial integrity and sovereignty, the principles that are at the art of the United Nations charter. Ive heard you talk about this issue. You must have been disappointed that they couldnt agree to stronger language. I think its very important that the g20 spoke as one. To some extent, maybe its the g19. Obviously, russia is also here as part of the g20. But as part of the fact that we have a statement coming out again, that speaks loudly. But what really speaks loudly are again are the leaders in the room itself. And i think if you were on the Receiving End of what so many of them said. If you were in the russian seat. Its pretty clear where the rest of the world stands. So Speaker Mccarthy right now appears to be moving to separate the nearly 24 billion in new funding to help ukraine from this potential spending deal, to avert a Government Shutdown later nthis month. What would that mean for ukraines offensive if the aid is separated and if that aid ultimately is not approved by congress . Look, this is a moving picture, and i think its very clear to us and to many in congress that this additional assistance is something that ukraine needs in this moment to continue to carry out the counteroffensive, to regain its territory, as well as to strengthen its defense, its military going forward. Its not only the right thing to do, its the smart and necessary thing to do in our own interests, because as weve said from day one, if we allow this russian aggression to go forward with impunity, its not just ukrainians who are suffering, its virtually everyone around the world who relies on the principles that are at the heart of the u. N. Charter, including that one big country cant simply trample on the borders of another, invade it, and try to take it over. If we allow that to go forward with impunity, if we dont stand up against that, then its open season everywhere around the world. Ive heard leader mcconnell speak very powerfully to this. O other colleagues on the house side, like chairman mike mccall. So weve had a strong bipartisan partnership with congress throughout. I would expect that to continue. So, spacex ceo elon musk has recently confirmed a report thats in Walter Isaacsons new biography of musk that last year musk blocked access to his star link Satellite Network in crimea in order to disrupt a major ukrainian attack on the russian navy there. In other words, musk effectively sabotaged a Military Operation by ukraine, a u. S. Ally, against russia, an aggressor country, that invaded a u. S. Ally. Should there be repercussions for that . Jake, i cant speak to a specific episode. Heres what i can tell you. Starlink has been a vital tool for the ukrainians to be able to communicate with each other, and particularly for the military to communicate in their effort to defend all of ukraines territory. It remains so and i would expect it to be critical to their efforts. What we would hope and expect is that that technology will remain fully available to the ukrainians. It is vital to what theyre doing. I dont know that you cant speak to it. You wont speak to it. Musk said that he was reportedly pa afraid that russia would rally with nuclear weapons. Musk says thats based on his private discussions he had with senior russian officials. Are you concerned that musk is apparently conducting his own diplomatic outreach to the russian government . Really, none of this concerns you . Jake, i cant speak to conversations that may or may not have happened. I dont know. Im focused on the fact that the technology itself, starlink, has been really important to the ukrainians. It remains so. And it should continue to be part of what theyre able to call on to communicate with themselves and have the military be able to communicate. Throughout this russian aggression. We ourselves have always had to factor in what russia may do in response to any given thing that we or others do or the ukrainians do. And we have. But whats so critical now is ukraine has had real success over the past year. I was just in ukraine, as you know. The last time i was there was almost exactly a year ago. In that year from the last time i was there until this week, the ukrainians have taken more than 50 of the territory seized by russia since February Of 22 and were doing everything we can to maximize our support with them along with many other countries so they can be successful. Starlink is an important part of their success, and as i said, we expect that it will continue to be so. It sounds that starlink is so important, the United States doesnt want to offend a capricious billionaire, that did some other things that the United States might want to Say Something about, but lets move on. Last month marked two years since the abbygate bombing in afghanistan that killed 13 Service Members during the chaotic afghanistan withdrawal. I recently spoke to gold star Family Members of tloesz Service Members and they told me that they think that the Biden Administration, specifically the pentagon, is not giving them the answers and the accountability that they need to what happened to their loved ones that day. Does the pentagon need to be more forthcoming about what happened that day to those 13 Service Members . Jake, i cant even begin to put myselves in the shoes of those who lost their loved ones and who were acting so heroically and bravely. I cant begin to imagine what theyre feeling. I can just say, if i were in their shoes, i would probably feel exactly the same way. And were determined, as an administration to make sure for the entire drargs of the war, including abbeygate, that we draw the lessons we need to draw from it and act accordingly, and we are and we will. And at the same time, the president made a very difficult but very important decision to end americas longest war. 20 years. And we want to make sure, and as a result of what the president did, we can make sure that were not going to have another generation going to afghanistan to fight and die there as we have for 20 years. So we did the right thing. But of course, we will look very hard at everything, every aspect of the decisions that we made to make sure that we get it right every time going forward. And that everyone who was involved feels that appropriate justice has been done to the sacrifice of their loved ones. But again, for me, i had a chance to see many of these families when we brought their loved ones home, and its a again, something that i cant fully put myself in their shoes. I have so much admiration for the extraordinary courage of service, sergeant xi, corporal lopez, espinosa, so many others. They were extraordinary. But ill say one last thing. Like so many other people, ive been engaged as you have in the War In Afghanistan iraq, over 20 years. And in that time, i was in government virtually the entire time. I was out at dover, repeatedly, as we brought the remains of our Service Members home. I was in a c17, with a flagdraped coffin coming back from one of those battlefields. I know the sacrifice of so many over so many years and i know that because President Biden ended americas longest war, that will not be the case going forward. That we will not be sending another generation of americans to fight and die there. Secretary blinken, thank you so much for your time today. Thanks, jake. We are told that President Biden is about to take questions from reporters. We will bring that to you live after this quick break. Nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. 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The new turbocharged volkswagen atlas. Does life beautifully. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. President biden is in hanoi, vietnam. Hes about to take questions from reporters. He and other World Leaders right to confront the influence of china and russia. Joining us now to discuss the former Deputy Director of National Intelligence under both president s trump and biden, jeff saner, david gergen, president ial historian, tim naftali, and the cnn White House Reporter at the News Conference, jeremy diamond. The president doesnt take questions in formal Press Conference settings like this very often. Jeremy, i dont know if youre going to get a question, but whats important here, do you think . Oh, jeremy cant hear us. Okay, let me start with david gergen, then. What are you going to be looking for . Well, theres been much talk about how hes going that President Biden will declare that hes running for a second term. Earlier this week, as you know, jake, there were questions that surround that, but i think there are Big Questions that came from your conversation with secretary blinken. The secretary, i felt sorry for him. He ducked and dodged so often that you didnt get straight answers, and i think that left it to the president to be clearer and more emphatic and make it clear exactly where we do stand with the g20, where we do stand. Why was this statement watered down from last year, last years statements. And thought your question was right on target. The idea that the g20 statement did not explicitly condemn russias brutal invasion of ukraine, while last years did, we dont have an explanation as to why that is. Former ambassador to the u. N. , nikki haley on the show, said it was a win for russia and china. How do you see it . I think it youre breaking up. I cant hear right now. For the last um im sorry, can you start that again. Give us your answer again. Sorry, i think the control room has my volume on. So the g20, i think its very clear its about china and russia having blocked every single ministerial statement during the entire year of the g20. It was clear they were going to do the same. And people were kind of surprised that india managed to get any statement at all. And i think we spend a lot of time thinking about these words. Sure, theyre important, but also, we already know where everyone stands on this. China is not neutral. Russia, obviously, is not neutral. They are the belligerent here. So thats whats going to happen. And i think that we shouldnt get too distracted. Its very disappointing, but at the same time, its predictable. And we should kind of, i think, focus on some of the things that actually came out of this. So we also have with us in studio, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, michael mccaul, republican of texas. What do you want to hear from President Biden at this Press Conference in hanoi, vietnam . Well, i think two things. I think last year, it was President Biden and germany that watered down the ukraine provisions. And it seems like theyre going the same pattern this g20. When it comes to china, i think we need to hear very Strong Language about how were going to counter the influence of china. The reason chairman xi is not in india is that they are opposed. They have a kinetic war on their border, and hes basically saying, im not going to be a part of this. I think its a Good Opportunity to say, look, we need to Work Together to counter any invasion of taiwan, any invasion of the South Pacific sea. Because as we look at taiwan, that is very connected to the ukraine battle. Theyre all interconnected, because beijing is tied to moscow. Pugh and chairman xi are tied together. I think that they immediate to be clear about what were going to do. And you issued a statement praising President Bidens work, strengthening its relationship with vietnam. I think thats a i mean, look, ill call the balls and strikes here. That was a good move. I think we need to we dont have nato in the pacific, so what we need are allies and friends. That would be japan, that would be south korea. That would be the philippines for a Forward Operating base, and also, vietnam, the aukus, the australia and uk. Those are our main allies and friends going into what could be a potential conflict. But what i heard, is what happens in ukraine will happen in taiwan. Thats why theyre interconnected. Jeremy diamond in hanoi with President Biden. Is i believe that this Press Conference is just kind of intended to be a summer of the trip. Hes not hoping to make any specific news. What are you hoping to hear, if you get a well, i coo tell that you President Biden is going to come out here and hes going to focus first and fort moment on what is happening here in vietnam. And what is happening here in vietnam is part of a prouder indo pacific playbook. Hes expended a lot of personal capital on relationships in this region over the last several months. You look five back months ago, he hosted the philippina president s at the white house and that is the first leader by the philippines in more than a decade and you had the state dinner from india and the Camp David Summit with his japanese and south korea counterparts. All of those are all of those countries are chinas neighbors and these meetings and these summits are very much intended to try and bring these countries closer to the United States and it is also because a lot of those countries have growing concerns about the way in which china is throwing around its military and economic heft in this region. And with vietnam in particular, what is so striking as these countries, the u. S. Is going to be on par in terms of diplomatic relationships with china and with russia as it relates to vietnam, that is a sign that vietnam is looking to counterbalance chinas influence in the region. And also that vietnam has some concerns about the ways in which china has been the moves that it has been making in the South China Sea in particular. But as you mentioned, jake, we dont get a solo News Conference from the president all of the time so this is an opportunity to ask the president not only about his treat in the indo pacific, but also as it relates to ukraine. A day after we saw that statement from the g20, the g20 leader statement not condemning russia for its invasion of ukraine showing that despite the president s best efforts there still remains division and countries not fully on board with the u. S. Pressure campaign towards russia as it relates to holding it accountable for the war in ukraine. And, of course, jake, there are always political. Even when the president goes abroad, he remains the president of the United States and a candidate for reelection and just this last week we saw the president , among his lower poll numbers, a job Approval Rating under 40 . Not where the president wants to be heading into this reelection battle. So how the president works to improve his standing to the public and sell his message and whether he believe where trips like this where he gets to be on The World Stage as the commander in clehief, whether that improv his political standing in any way and if the American Public is paying attention. Tim, your thoughts as President Biden gets ready to meet. I think the chinese Read International statements very closely and i think the china are very disappointed with the g20 statement because the United States and india and the europeans and saudi arabia, basically laid the foundation for a challenge to the belt and Road Initiative of china. What is called imac, which is a very unwielding way of describing a corridor that will provide not just low tech, but hightech between india and europe via The Middle East is a big deal and it is anchors in india. At the same time, the United States and europe have Just Announced an Infrastructure Project across Subsaharan Africa that is a challenge to both china and russia and the United States ended its Trade Disputes with india. All of this happened at the g20. So it is a big deal. At the same time, the United States is just upgraded its relationship with vietnam to comprehensive strategic which means intelligence cooperation. Yes, it is true vietnam maintains military relations with russia, and vietnam has used the Russian Military to balance china but it is using the u. S. Navy to balance china and were now going to start, i believe, intelligent cooperation at a higher level with vietnam which will help us in asia and might help ukraine. So behind the scenes, i think some major strategic and diplomatic changes have occurred in the last week that will strengthen not just the u. S. Position there, but will strengthen World Stability and the rule of law around the world. And i cant imagine that beijing and moscow will be happy with this outcome. Michael mccaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, one of the things that is interesting is that chinas economy is struggling quite a bit. Even as it continues to flex its military might. And continues to invade other countries in the cyber area. How is it able to continue doing that even as its economic power weakens . Well theyre over leveraged but their in 40 Different Countries in belt and Road Initiative. Which is funded by the world bank itself. They get other developing nations truly in a debt trap and the imf has to bail them out at the end. It is a bit of a scheme they play. And with the one child policy, they have a younger population that could not sustain the older Generation Population in china. I would argue that this is this is a real positive that china did not aend it to have the g20 stand up against china to because we dont have the nato in the pacific, we cant draw on our friends and allies like South Korea And Japan and the philippines, uk and australia and the quad, japan, india and the the United States, and this is our ability to show our counter to china however they w they were weak on russia. Were going to sneak in a quick break. President probiden is about to the microphones, well hit that live. Stay with us. Its started. Its. The side hug. 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To this special elongated version of state of the uon