i m erica hill. i m jim skciutto. president biden in japan, launching economic initiative in the region. the group, which includes 13 nations, aims to level the economic playing field with china. perhaps a replacement for the tpp, which had been scrapped by the trump administration, but it was biden s off-the-cuff remarks regarding taiwan garnering the most attention this morning. the white house walking by president biden s remarks they would help militarily if china would invade. the president was speaking about providing weapons to taiwan, which is already u.s. policy, not putting u.s. boots on the ground, sending soldiers or sailors to defend taiwan. that s an important distinction. we ll have more on this in a moment. also this morning, 35 tons of desperately needed baby formula arriving in the u.s.
the lesions on the skin there. again, this is something that does not spread as easily among people. the cases we have seen recently, you do need direct contact, direct contact with large respiratory droplets, with bodily fluids or the lesions on the skin if one develops into a wound. you need that level of direct contact for this to spread. some of the cases that have been reported, health officials think that it might be associated they might be associated with sexual activity. there s one part of the investigation that s being looked at. but in general, jim, we do not see this as being something that the public should panic about based on the information that we know so far. that s an important clarification and really important context as well, appreciate it. if you have a jif peanut butter at home, there s a recall in effect linked to a possible salmonella outbreak in 12
the weekend. quite a race to watch among many. thank you so much. cnn will be watching it closely. here s another reason to watch. the new york times is suggesting that former vice president mike pence is using that primary to reintroduce himself to voters, ahead of the 2024 presidential election. here to discuss is new reporting, jonathan martin, a national political correspondent for the new york times as well as cnn political correspondent. pence reintroduce himself to georgia voters and to some degree, i imagine, national republican voters. is that reintroduce to lay the groundwork to run, even against trump? re hey, jim, thanks for having me. pretty clearly pence wants to keep the option open of running in 2024 and he s miethodically creating distance between him and trump. talking about differences when
official way in the coming weeks or months, we ll see. that s what the administration is saying this morning. appreciate it, jim, as always. a lot of news we re covering not just in asia this morning, but, of course, also out of russia and ukraine. new this morning, the first russian soldier to stand trial tore war crimes in ukraine found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. 21-year-old sergeant vadim shishimarin was found guilty of killing a civilian, 62-year-old man in the sumy region in the early days of russia s invasion. cnn s melissa bell is in kyiv. this is the first, frankly, in a number of planned war crimes trials involving russian forces there. do we expect more of this coming soon? how many, in fact? reporter: well, we do. ukrainian prosecutors have been extremely clear they want to move swiftly ahead with ukrainian justice in the context of their civilian courts, even as the war continues in order to
certain proteins need to be prioritized for infant formula. we want to be clear-eyed about this. these are all steps that are hopefully going to go in the right direction. 1.5 million bottles prioritizing ingredients for formula. it s not going to change things today, tomorrow, the next day, for every parent, for all parents, they are still going to be showing up at stores and seeing shelves that are not full. it could take many weeks to get out of this. erica, jim? important developments as you point out. step one at this point. elizabeth, appreciate it. thank you. so many failures along the way. still to come, former vice president pence is in georgia campaigning for incumbent governor brian kemp, not david perdue, the candidate supported by the man he served under, former president trump. this morning the new york times says pence may be laying the groundwork for a run against trump potentially in 2024. we will be live in atlanta next. plus, president biden says