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Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse Ahead Of Biden Visit On Infrastructure; Ukraine President On Russia: "We Don't Need To Panic"; Michael Avenatti Cross-Examines Stormy Daniels In His Trial. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired January 28, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: (AUDIO GAP) news, a snow covered bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed this morning just hours before President Biden visits the city to talk about infrastructure. These pictures show several vehicles as you can see and a transit bus at the bottom of a ravine with a bridge gateway. At this point, there are no fatalities but several people were hurt.

We are also following at this hour, a major nor'easter putting tens of millions of people on the East Coast in harm's way, the powerful winter storm is expected to drop as much as two to three feet of snow in some areas with hurricane force winds, and blizzard conditions. We have it all covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Jean Casarez. She's covering the breaking news out of Pittsburgh for us, Jean, what is the very latest with this bridge?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the very latest is that the NTSB is sending a Go Team to the area because obviously there needs to be an investigation they need to know more. But this happened this morning. And ironically, schools were detained for two hours because of the weather. And so conceivably, there were far fewer less people on the roads. But there were three to four vehicles on that bridge, including a public bus. And it just collapsed in the early morning hours.

And so there you are, you see it right there, you see the vehicles, you see some turned on their side, some just sort of hanging there conceivably. And so then it came to the point of rescue. And we are understanding that what they had to do, they had to get down and we're talking first responders, firefighters, rescue teams, 100 to 150 feet, and they got down there by a rope.

And once they were down there, they got people out of the vehicles, and then they formed a daisy chain and actually pull them up to safety. Now we understand a few were taken to the local hospitals, but they are still saying no major injuries, minor injuries at this point. Now we're also learning more about this bridge. And it of course is -- this is from Penn DOT, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation built in 1970, 447 feet long. They say that the condition overall is a poor condition. The deck was poor. The superstructure was poor, which is right underneath the deck that structure. And the substructure which is a very important part that holds the bridge up basically, it was actually satisfactory. So that's the latest President Biden is on his way he will be there ironically, was to be there, as you said anyway, today, but it is just amazing that there are no fatalities at this point. They've got a look under because there was a walkway underneath, but they don't believe anyone perished.

BOLDUAN: It really is amazing when you see those images. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, Jean, for the details.

The White House says that President Biden has been briefed on the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, of course. And the President, as Jean has been talking about is, will be leaving to head there shortly for the police -- a pre-planned event promoting the bipartisan infrastructure law that he signed into law at the end of the year.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House with more on this. Jeremy, what are you hearing from the White House about this now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you said, Kate, the President has been briefed on this bridge collapse, and he is moving forward with this trip, despite the fact that this bridge collapse occurred about four miles from where the President is set to speak this afternoon. There was of course a gas leak earlier in the day, but local officials said that that was now under control. And as you said, President Biden before this bridge collapse even happened. He was already set to go to Pittsburgh, and he was set to address the American economy more broadly, but specifically to tout this bipartisan infrastructure law at $1.2 trillion, and the effect that it will have in cities like Pittsburgh and the city's mayor this morning speaking about this, so that it's obviously going to add a new dimension and an added importance to the President's remarks on infrastructure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ED GAINEY (D), PITTSBURGH, PA: We need it. You know, I said it before. It's bipartisan infrastructure law is critical to southwest Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh. We know we have bridges that we need to take care of. With him coming today to talk about this infrastructure bill to discuss why this is -- why this funding is so important. Today is significant to that. You know, at the end of the day, we could have had some serious injuries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:05:01]

DIAMOND: And Pennsylvania is actually set to receive one point $63 billion over the next five years to repair bridges through that bipartisan infrastructure law. The state of Pennsylvania as a whole has the second most bridges in poor condition. It's not clear yet, whether this is one of those bridges that would receive additional funding. That's something that's set to be resolved over the coming year by state officials. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Jeremy, thank you so much for that update.

Joining me right now for on the phone is Pittsburgh's City Council member, Corey O'Connor for more on this. Thank you for jumping on the phone. I really appreciate it. When you take a look -- when you see the images from the scene, and I believe you you've been to the scene. I was just curious, if you were surprised that things -- that people weren't worse off from the looks of this collapse.

COREY O'CONNOR, PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL: Yes, so I'm actually here now. I live only a few blocks from there and represented this area for a long time. When you're on scene, and you see the very steep cliff, and how these cars are upside down buses jammed into debris, it is amazing. It's a credit to our police, fire, EMS, those rescue workers that chained together to pull people out of there. And I will tell you, if this would have occurred an hour later, this is a road that gets probably about 15,000 cars on it a day. And if it was rush hour, we would be looking at a couple hundred cars down in that valley. So we got very, very lucky today. And hopefully those individuals at the hospital recover quickly in their home safe in the next couple days.

BOLDUAN: It is really scary to think when you talk about how many cars could have been on that bridge if the collapse that happened at a different time of day. How important is this bridge to the city?

O'CONNOR: It's very important. It's a gateway through two neighborhoods over a park. It's a lot of people use it as a detour to get around our rush hour traffic through a tunnel and over a bridge. So this is one of our major detours that a lot of people use and when our bridges are under construction, this is one that is often used. So we are now working with our fellow municipalities around the city of Pittsburgh just a couple blocks from where we're standing right now. And working on, you know, traffic detours, you know, a business owner called said, how long do I have to be shut down?

You know, there's a lot of concerns with the follow up. Now that we know that everybody's safe, it's what do we do now? How do we clean this up? We have a lot of workers that are going to be here around the clock. And then also working with the community to see how they get into downtown. A lot of people, this is on a bus way. They use this bus way every day to get to work. So we're looking at a lot of changes that are going to have to be made in the next couple months.

BOLDUAN: And of course it is also wildly ironic that President Biden is coming to Pittsburgh today to talk about infrastructure investment. Before today, was this bridge project that you thought was in need of rehab and investment?

O'CONNOR: So I think all of our bridges are. We had just inspected it. We go to a third party inspection. And they did an inspection this past September. I know there's photos on about beams and things like that. And we did do some rehab a couple years ago, we did repave it at that point on the top. But again, we have -- we are the city of bridges. There are so many bridges in the city in the county that we live in. And this infrastructure bill, you talk about irony, the President is coming to talk about infrastructure, we need it, cities like ours that rely on our bridges for transportation. This is something that's key. And I will also mention, you know, not only is it a thoroughfare to a park, there are trails underneath. And, you know, people use this access every day. So infrastructure is much needed. We've looked at a number of bridges. We just rebuilt a $20 million bridge a few years ago.

And the more money we can have for that, the better off our cities are going to be because we rely on it. But the safer our residents are going to be. And I think that's the main focus that we have right now.

BOLDUAN: This is a very scary example of what you're talking about, that's for sure. Thank you so much for jumping on the phone. I really appreciate it. Good luck today.

O'CONNOR: All right. Thank you very much. Take care.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

All right, now let's turn to the other breaking news story that we are following, a dangerous nor'easter is barreling towards the east coast right now. More than 75 million people from North Carolina to Maine are under winter weather alerts. Many parts could be facing crippling snowfall. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has been up at all hours tracking this at this point with the timing. Chad, there had been a question about where it was really going to hit. What are you seeing now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think the worst of it will be around the Boston area Foxborough, Boston all the way down across Connecticut, Rhode Island and across parts of Eastern Long Island. But there are 10 million people right now in Blizzard warnings. And you can even find the storm it's going to develop down here tonight. And it's going to make some so much snow in so many places. That's why we're calling it a bomb cyclone, not because it's going to make a snowman, it's because the bombing out of the pressure. The pressure is going to go down like a rapidly intensifying hurricane. And by tomorrow, 11 o'clock, there is snow everywhere from Boston all the way down the Delmarva.

[11:10:11]

Even snow in the Tidewater, Hampton Roads, Virginia, this is the problem too. We're going to have wind with it, 40 to 50 miles per hour as the storm gets cranking here. The pressure by tomorrow afternoon and into Sunday will approach what would be a pressure in a category two hurricane. Now we don't have an eye, we don't have that kind of wind around it but that's how low the pressure is going to get. And then it's going to approach on up there toward Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

So the snowfall totals still very significant, 8 to 12 for New York, much more if you get out toward Montauk, much more, I mean maybe 25, 30 out there in across parts of Eastern Long Island. And then again, very heavy snow Boston, lighter snow there to the south, but still significant when you talk about 15 to 20 inches across the beaches of Atlantic City. So warnings are posted. Get ready. It's a Saturday.

BOLDUAN: That's I guess the good news in all of this. Thank you so much, Chad. I really appreciate it.

MYERS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's turn the very latest developments on the fears of a Russian invasion. Ukraine's President is speaking right now at a press conference insisting that his people quote, do not need to panic. It comes though as the White House in Ukraine are offering two starkly different assessments of the current crisis. Both administrations are facing new questions now after a tense phone call between President Biden and Ukraine's leader.

CNN's Sam Kiley is standing by for us at this hour live in Kyiv. Sam, what is the disagreement right now?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The disagreement is the one that they've been having in public that apparently now they've had in private mano a mano over the phone, which is really the pace or the imminence or otherwise of the threat been posed by this Russian buildup not just on Ukraine's or close to Ukraine's borders, but also now in Russia and in Belarus, and indeed, in the Black Sea. And that is that the U.S. analysis of the same information is that a threat is imminent, even though perhaps, according to sources and talking to Matthew Chance here in Kyiv, from the president's office here, it could be a threat to Kyiv.

Now, the Ukrainian President has made it very clear that the analysis of his people is that there isn't an imminent threat. He does need support. He does, he's was also saying if there is an invasion, it could suck in other European countries. So he's saying things could get bad when they get really bad. But he's really also saying that the talk of an imminent threat is having a detrimental effect on the Ukrainian economy, that it's rattling the markets, causing capital flight. And that is unhelpful at a time when he's trying to stabilize the Ukrainian economy ahead of what may be a conflict.

And also, of course, that does play into the Russian playbook of hybrid warfare to weaken an economy ahead of invasion would be a smart move by the Kremlin. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Sam, thank you so much for that. So amid all of this diplomatic turmoil, the Pentagon just announced that the Defense Secretary and the Joint Chiefs Chairman will be holding a press conference today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Joining me now for more on where we are in this conflict, CNN military analyst retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling and CNN's Jeremy Diamond is back with us from the White House. General Hertling, first, on what we're hearing this announcement of this press conference, what do you think we could be hearing from military leaders today? When they hold a press conference, they hold it with a purpose.

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, they do. And I believe today will probably be focused on the deployment of forces, the deployment of equipment, logistics, the timing of things. They will certainly answer questions about the NATO Response Force. And what is going on at EUCOM, European Command and NATO headquarters. They will talk probably about or I think they would talk about the deployment of soldiers to different locations potentially, and the overall goals and the strategic end state of what they're trying to do in terms of deterrence. So it is reinforcing the desire to inform the American public of what NATO is doing and what the U.S. is doing as part of that.

BOLDUAN: And this is something you know so well from your time in service. I mean, these two, I wanted to ask you about what Sam Kiley was reporting about these two different takes, General, coming from this call between Biden and the Ukraine president, a clear difference of opinion on how serious the threat of a Russian invasion is, and what should it be done right now, about it. Are these disagreements surprising to you? Or do you think they should be, I don't know, expected?

HERTLING: No, they should be expected, Kate. This happens all the time. You're talking about a leader in Zelensky, who is not only trying to prepare his military after, by the way, they've been at war for eight years. So he's used to this kind of stuff. But he's also trying to stabilizes domestic audience. And, you know, he sees many nations in the world kind of getting hyperbolic about the forces that are surrounding Ukraine right now. And certainly there's a lot of them over 100 battalion tactical groups. That's a lot.

[11:15:11]

But, you know, what's happening in the press is journalists are showing overhead photos of large motor pools and saying, holy smokes, look at all these people. I guarantee you from a military perspective and knowing the Russian way of war, that it isn't going to be those tanks rolling out of the motor pool that will provide the imminent threat, if you will, there will be other things that will happen.

Certainly, we've seen some of them already, the attempt to persuade Ukrainian officials to say negative things about the government, some uprisings within Ukraine. We saw that a couple of weeks ago, you're going to see potentially cyberattacks first. And in fact, I would not be surprised that those are already going on. And if I can just say something about that very quickly, Kate, that can go from zero to 60 very quickly, from minor cyber incursions to full scale operations.

And I think that's what concerns President Biden, as he's looking at, how do we state an imminent threat? It isn't just always tanks rolling out of the motor pool. There are a lot of other things going on. My military training has taught me, don't take first reports from single source Intel. And that's what some of the reporters are reporting on. And in terms of Zelensky's advisors, one guy saying, hey, there's tension between Biden and Zelensky, I'm not sure I put a lot of faith in that.

BOLDUAN: And Jeremy, give me the perspective from your reporting of the White House right now. What are you hearing the White House is doing now that this is out there or what their position is today?

DIAMOND: Well, look, there's obvious disagreements between this account from the senior Ukrainian official and what the White House is saying also, what Zelensky spokesman is saying, disagreements over the characterization of this call. But one thing that is clear is that there is frustration on both sides. There's frustration here at the White House with Zelensky. And the way in which he has been outspoken about the situation. And there's also frustration clearly from Zelensky.

And you heard it in his own remarks with how President Biden and other world leaders are characterizing the imminent possibility of an invasion here. The White House, though, is standing by this view that an invasion of Ukraine by Russia could happen at any moment now. The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was saying that just yesterday from the podium and even in the pushback from the White House that we got over this account from the senior Ukrainian official, they did say the President Biden told Zelensky that there is a quote, distinct possibility of a Russian invasion into Ukraine.

But there's no question that hearing this account from the senior Ukrainian official, hearing Zelensky disagree with some of the assessments from the United States, it's not helpful to what the White House is trying to accomplish. And that is to try and keep a united front against Russia. We have seen the White House repeatedly do that this week, whether it was with that call with several NATO Allies earlier this week, a meeting with the Norwegian Prime Minister just yesterday, and of course that call with Zelensky yesterday. They're trying to put on a united front and right now it doesn't seem like they necessarily have 100 percent with the Ukrainians.

BOLDUAN: Jeremy, thank you so much. General, it's great to see you, thank you as well.

HERTLING: Thank you.

[11:18:19]

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, a car chase, a shootout, and a standoff leaves three Houston police officers shot. Up next, we're going to show you the video of this chaotic incident.

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BOLDUAN: Happening right now Stormy Daniels is back on the stand in a New York City courtroom. She's been cross examined by her former lawyer Michael Avenatti, who's representing himself against federal fraud charges. Avenatti is accused of stealing $300,000 from Daniels from a book deal. CNN's Kara Scannell is live at the courthouse. She's been watching all this play out. I mean, Kara, you've got a defendant acting as his own attorney cross examining his former client who he's accused of stealing from. I mean, what is happening?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Kate, it certainly a recipe for a lot of tension. And now Avenatti has been cross examining Daniels for about two hours this morning. He picked up where he left off yesterday asking her about her belief in the paranormal, asking her about statements she's made about having seen shadows and hearing voices and sounds and even seeing a woman she claimed in the kitchen of her then New Orleans home.

Now Daniels doesn't deny any of it. She says that those are all true statements, and that she's also filming this for a show that she has in production called Spooky Babes. And after about those 30 minutes, Avenatti then shifted into more of the substance of this case here this question of whether he as he claims was entitled to any money as part of this book deal. He was walking Daniel's through the contract going line by line asking her at one point that you know the attorney shall be entitled to some money if the deal was reached. And Daniel said you're very entitled. Yes.

Then she also asked her, you know, shouldn't an attorney get paid for their work? She said that, yes, she was surprised that he was willing to work for free. Now, he then pulled up some bank records showing that they received a lot of money from crowd funding efforts that they did online to pay for defense. He showed that he had made some transfers for her totaling $26,000. He also showed a transfer for $100,000 that he says were paid right before her 60 minutes interview to get rid of two videotapes.

Now outside the presence of the jury, the judge had asked Avenatti if he was going to delve into what was on those videotapes. He said he had no intention of doing so. The judge also asked Avenatti about he warned him actually about some of the repeated questions he was asking. The judge said he would not let that continue. He couldn't, Avenatti couldn't keep rephrasing a question multiple times. Now, Avenatti said that he expects his cross to continue for another two and a half hours. The judge again warning him that less is more. Kate?

[11:25:09]

BOLDUAN: Kara, thank you so much for that update, much more to come there.

Coming up still for us, New York honors hero, thousands of police officers paying their respects to slain NYPD Officer Jason Rivera.

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[11:30:00]