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Russia And U.S. Face Off At UN Security Council Meeting; British PM Boris Johnson Apologizes For Lockdown Parties; Trump Vows To Pardon Capitol Rioters If He's Re-Elected. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:32]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Here's what we're watching at this hour. Making their case, the U.S. heading to the U.N. to call out Russia trying to prevent an invasion that threatens peace and security far beyond Ukraine.

He just came out and said it, Donald Trump admitting he wanted Mike Pence to overturn the election and declaring that he could pardon the rioters charged in the January 6th insurrection if you were president again.

And tuning out Spotify, the company responding now to criticism over host Joe Rogan and COVID misinformation on his podcast.

Thanks for being here all. We begin this hour with United States and Russia facing off at the United Nations. Right now the U.N. Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the crisis in Ukraine. The U.S. requested the meeting in hopes of forcing Russia to publicly explain why it is amassing tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border.

The U.S. Ambassador laying out her case declaring Moscow's recent actions pose a clear threat to international peace and security. While those talks play out in New York, the White House continues to look for ways to punish Russia -- to punish Moscow if it does further invade Ukraine identifying several elite Russian government officials and business leaders to hit with sanctions.

And CNN has also learned that senior administration officials including Secretary of State Tony Blinken will deliver a classified briefing on the crisis to all members of Congress this week. CNN's Kylie Atwood is live at the United Nations with these breaking details on today's really critical meeting. Kylie, what have you heard so far from this meeting?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well listen, very, very stark language here from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She called this a urgent and dangerous situation. She said that this is unlike anything that Europe has seen in decades in terms of how many troops Russia now has amassed along Ukraine's border. And she said that if Russia goes forth and does in fact invade Ukraine, none of the countries that sitting around that table will be able to see -- say that they didn't see it coming.

And she said there has been a ton of diplomacy behind closed doors, hundreds of meetings in the last few weeks. But she said now is the time to address this in public. And this is an open meeting. That means that we have seen the remarks from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. this morning. We are waiting for the Russian ambassador to the United Nations to give his remarks. But listen to what Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Russia's aggression today not only threaten Ukraine, it also threatens Europe. It threatens the international order this body is charged with upholding, an order that if it stands for anything, stands for the principle that one country cannot simply redraw another country's borders by force, or make another country's people live under a government they did not choose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, one other thing that the ambassador also said is that the United States has information that Russia continues to amass those troops along Ukraine's border and that they could have up to 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which of course, is close to the capital of Ukraine over the next month during the month of February. Now, later this week, Secretary of State Tony Blinken is expected to speak with Foreign Minister Lavrov of Russia that's expected to be tomorrow. And then later in the week all senators are going to be briefed on this crisis. So there is a lot this week, but clearly the Biden ministration setting the tone here that they think the stakes could not be higher.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Kylie, thank you so much for that.

Now, let's go to Russia where Vladimir Putin has yet to respond to the written response that the U.S. and NATO -- from the U.S. and NATO that he had been asking for four weeks really. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Moscow for us. Nic, what is the latest there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, well, President Putin spokesman said, President Putin will respond when he's ready, they clearly not about to do it at any moment. And it was very interesting to listen to the language of the Russian ambassador before this debate began. There was a vote on whether or not the debate was going to go ahead under the terms laid out and call for by the United States of Russia lost their argument and this is continuing now.

[11:05:07]

But before that, he used language that we've heard Russian officials use before that he said that it was provocative to question Russia about where its troops were around Ukraine, that this was their sovereign territory. He said, this was his creating hysteria in the in the region that it was destabilizing the situation in Ukraine. So these are all things that we've heard coming from Russian politicians and indeed from, you know, from Russia's representatives at the U.N. as well. There is not any indication that the Russians are backing down.

There are indications that they're willing to continue some discussions on the diplomatic front over the weekend, the foreign minister said he was reaching out to the U.S. into NATO, rather reaching out to NATO and the OSC for some clarifications, but demanding urgent answers. So at the moment, it doesn't seem as if this session at the U.N. Security Council is in any way going to convince Russia despite putting what it's doing in the spotlight of global attention is going to get Russia to change what it's doing.

BOLDUAN: Nic, thank you so much. Joining me right now is retired U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard, and also with us is CNN Global Affairs analyst Susan Glasser, she's a staff writer for the New Yorker. We all -- we just got a statement in from President Biden himself on the United Nations Security Council reading, let me read just part of it, Susan, and get your reaction, the President really backing up his U.N. ambassador and what she laid out before the Security Council.

In this statement, he says if Russia is sincere about addressing our respective security concerns, through dialogue, the United States and our allies and partners will continue to engage in good faith. If instead, Russia chooses to walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine, Russia will bear the responsibility, and it will face swift and severe consequences. What do you think, Susan?

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, you know, first of all, I think it's an important effort to call Russia to account, you know, in public and forced them to come and answer what exactly they think they're doing there. You've seen in Nic's report that they sort of gas lighting that you're hearing from Russian officials right now, how dare they, you know, ask us that reflects that this is an important tool in the toolkit of the Biden administration.

I do think it's interesting that they have chosen up until now not to do this. You know, it's such a destabilizing thing for Russia to have sent more than 100,000 troops to Ukraine border. It's a little bit surprising that it's taken this long to get to this point. But I think it also reflects an effort by the administration to change the conversation. We've been in the sort of unfortunate negotiating with ourselves and our allies phase of this crisis to a certain extent, you know, lots of reports about disagreements between the Germans and other Western allies, things like that.

So this puts the focus squarely on Russia's behavior and forces them to explain it, it's an effort to change the storyline back to Russia, having created this crisis in the first place.

BOLDUAN: General, one thing we heard from the U.N. Ambassador just this morning is that this is not about antics, because that's what Russia was saying this whole meeting was about. This is not about the U.S. and Russia. This is about the peace and security of one of our member states. Does what you've heard so far play out in the Security Council meeting or what you think may, you know, eventually be said, do you think this does anything to change Russia's calculation? Do you think it will make Russia think twice about invading now?

MAJ. GENERAL DANA PITTARD, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, good morning, Kate. I hope it does, in some ways. I agree with Susan that I'm glad that the Biden ministration is taking this to the U.N. Security Council. It's like why did it take so long to do that? The fact that Russia is amassing troops 125,000 troops along the Ukrainian border in various places, in some ways is alarming. But let's look at that. The number of troops is not enough to take over Ukraine. It's enough troops to maybe attack and take over limited objectives, possibly the capital of Kyiv. But I would hope that Russia shows restraint and understands that not only is it NATO, but also the world through the United Nations is against this.

BOLDUAN: Susan, you know, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, he's right with you and what you just said. He said this is exactly where the U.S. should be making the case. Let me play how what -- how Ambassador Taylor said it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: The U.N. Security Council would be a place, not the only place obviously, but a place to have this confrontation, to have this discussion. Make the make the Russians defend themselves. Make the Russians say why this is not about violation of the U.N. Charter of International Law. This would be -- this would put the evidence right on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:10:07]

BOLDUAN: But here's the thing Susan, Russia doesn't think -- Russia continues to, I mean, one way of putting it is just gaslight that this is, you know, there's no evidence to be put on the table because they deny at all?

GLASSER: Well, look, again, I think that having a process in which you're forced to, you know, sort of account for yourself, even if what you say is untrue, or, you know, sort of risible is still an important part. First of all, it's an important part of showing the world that the United States is, and its allies are committed to using every tool in the diplomatic toolkit. And so that's why I think you're hearing some people say, why did it take so long? Because obviously, the U.N. Security Council is a flawed vehicle, but it is the only vehicle in some ways for international engagement it's got. So it's important to matter what, number one.

Number two, you're interesting, I think, because you -- hypocrisy having them get out there and say what they're arguing today at the U.N. Security Council, which is, you know, this is a matter for us. It's none of your business. This is -- we're a sovereign country. Well, how come Ukraine sovereignty is discounted by Russia, but Russia, sovereignty is paramount, right? So it underscores I think some of the ridiculousness of the arguments that they're making right now.

You know, it's a limited tool. I think it's important for people to understand Russia has a veto from the Soviet times when the U.N. was created, China has a veto. So it's not like the U.N. Security Council is in a position to take dramatic, you know, sanctions on Russia given that veto, but it remains an important forum.

BOLDUAN: Yes, you have been warned is you can't deny it after what will have, you know, what's being said here, the statement from President Biden included. We're going to continue to watch this. But General before you go, I did want to ask you about another brewing crisis overseas. This weekend, North Korea launched its longest missile test since 2017. A U.S. assessment found that to be a class of missile that could reach as far as Guam. And it's the sixth missile launch from North Korea this month. Can President Biden continue to ignore this because they just keep ramping it up?

PITTARD: Yes, obviously, that's a concern, Kate. I think by ignoring the North Koreans, the administration is probably making an error. You know, the previous administration, good or bad, started discussions at the highest of levels. That's something that the Biden administration needs to take a look at. I mean, there's a reason why we haven't seen the kind of missile testing in nearly five years since 2017. So I think the Biden administration needs to take another look at that and look at possibly meeting at the highest of levels with the leadership of North Korea.

BOLDUAN: Really unbelievable moment. We continue to find ourselves in. General, thank you. Susan, thank you, as always, really appreciate it.

PITTARD: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We're following some more breaking news need to get to, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson just apologized to call in after a damning independent report was released this morning. It's pretty highly anticipated to see what was in that report which condemns, quote, failures of leadership and judgment by Johnson's office over those parties at 10 Downing Street held during COVID lockdowns. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is live in London with more on this. Salma, what did Johnson say now?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Kate, this is an absolutely damning report that was dropped today. And this was considered to be the soft flow because remember, there's a second investigation, a police investigation that's still ongoing. In this report, though, really, the government being scolded like children. The report says there were serious failures to observe the high standards. It says that excessive alcohol shouldn't be drunk at the workplace, that there were failures in leadership and judgment. It repeatedly describes a culture of drinking and partying.

It says that some employees felt so uncomfortable with this and wanted to raise their concerns, but were unable to do so. It paints a terrible picture of the government just behind me here. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was back in Parliament to try to justify -- the unjustifiable here today. He started with an apology. But he very quickly started to make the argument that although this is his government that's in question, he's the one to fix it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Speaker, I get it, and I will fix it. And I want to say -- and I want to say to the people of this country, I know what the issue is. Yes, Mr. Speaker, yes, yes, it's whether this government can be trusted to deliver. And I say Mr. Speaker, yes, we can be trusted, yes, we can be trusted to deliver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, Kate, I know the Prime Minister says he gets it and he will fix it. But many people in this country think the Prime Minister simply does not get it. Two-thirds of people according to the latest polling want to see him resign because this is no longer just about partying it up during lockdown. This is about the disrespect that many in this country feel towards their own government breaking the rules they set during lockdown. Kate?

[11:15:18]

BOLDUAN: Salma, thank you so much for that.

Coming up still for us, former President Trump says the insurrectionists who violently attack the Capitol, they should be treated better. What Trump is vowing to do to help them if he's reelected, next.

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BOLDUAN: Developing this morning when 140 police officers were injured a year ago when they and hundreds more were attacked by a violent mob incited by then President Donald Trump, storming the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election victory. Over 700 of these rioters have been charged with federal crimes from the insurrection. And yet this is what the defeated former president is vowing to do to help them if he gets reelected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:20:22]

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly, we will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. This hasn't happened to all of the other atrocities that took place recently, nothing like this has happened, what that unselect committee is doing and what the people are doing that are running those prisons. It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN White House correspondent John Harwood and CNN chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey, what strikes you about what Trump is saying and effectively doing there in dangling pardons?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's the same thing he was doing dangling pardons when he was president, which is trying to influence the administration of justice. He, you know, if you think you are going to get a pardon down the line, you as a potential defendant or an actual defendant might not plead guilty, you might not cooperate against other defendants, that has a real impact. That's what prosecutors need. They need guilty pleas, they need cooperators. But if you have a --

BOLDUAN: So it has a practical impact right now, not even it after the next election.

TOOBIN: That's right. I'm talking about the January 6th investigation that's going on right now. I mean, obviously, one of the key issues is whether and how the insurrection was supported by people close to Trump and potentially Trump himself. He by dangling pardons is making the investigation harder for the Justice Department today. So you know, that the -- it's a very concrete influence and very intentional.

BOLDUAN: John, I want to play some of the reaction from some elected Republicans to this.

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SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the president should have made, that President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Look, the folks that were part of the riots and frankly, the assault on the U.S. Capitol have to be held accountable. There's a rule of law, I don't care whether you were part of the burning cities and Antifa in 2020, you are storming the Capitol in 2021. Everybody needs to be held fairly accountable.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think is inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce that the filing the Capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter people who did what on January the 6th, and those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So they think it's inappropriate, John, but what does that do?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not a lot. And look, it's a pretty simple challenge confronting Republicans both in 2022 and 2024. The leader of the Republican Party is an openly corrupt and dangerous person who does not believe in the rule of law, or the principles of democracy. And the question for Republicans is do they stand with that or not? The fact that Susan Collins on that show that from which the clip that you just played was drawn, did not rule out supporting Donald Trump in 2024, that tells you something if she's the most liberal Senate Republican, if she is going to equivocate on whether or not she could support Donald Trump that shows you how in deep the Republican Party is with Trump, and they're just simply going to have to, they will show themselves in 2024 as to where they stand on these issues. And it's a big challenge for the country.

BOLDUAN: Guys, if you could stand by for me, we need to go to the White House, real quick go inside the White House, President Biden is speaking.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we were out on the trail, Governor Vilsack telling me that the first industry in the world that was going to have net-zero emissions is going to be agriculture, and he was right. At the time, it was a fairly novel idea, but a lot of you picked it up and moved beyond.

And I know that, look, the American Rescue Plan was a lot of money. And it was designed to make sure we could carry the nation forward in dealing with vaccines, boosters, or creating jobs, and keeping schools open, and a number of other things.

[11:25:05]

And, Gov., you said send you money we have. We've sent you a whole hell of a lot of money. And we're going to send you more if you keep using it as well as you have.

And we're talking about the ability to really, the way I look at it and I mean this sincerely, and I've said it last night in a more casual way, we are at an inflection point. And we have an opportunity, America is one of those nations, I think the only nation, that's come out of every crisis stronger than it went into the crisis. And I'm not being, it's not hyperbole. We have had a crisis. We've come out. We've been stronger.

And I think that's where we are again. And I think we have a chance to sort of restate and reassert our world leadership on a whole range of issues, and lead the world on everything from the environment to dealing with the issues of immigration, a whole range of issues, Gov.

And -- but the American Rescue Plan gives us the resources to do many of those things. And, you know, there's a lot of challenges out there that we're not even talking to directly, today there's so many but the surge of gun violence since the start of this pandemic.

I made it clear we should use these funds to combat violent crime as well, including hiring additional police officers and investing in community violence interventions that have been proven to work in communities.

And I know you're making those investments in Michigan. I know you're making those investments in New Jersey. You're making those investments in Ohio. A lot of you are making them all over the country. Another one of the national challenges, we need to bring back workers to better jobs with better pay and better working conditions than the ones that they left.

The American Rescue Plan, there was a major part was $350 billion to allocate to your states and local budgets, as well as funds for school and for childcare. And we know the difference this has made in jobs. Last year, we had the greatest job growth in American history. And as part of that, state and local jobs grew by 464,000, the most in 20 years.

And, Governor of Hawaii, you've worked -- you've talked about the 10,000 state workers that are -- you're able to keep on the job thanks to the American Rescue Plan. I'm not sure where you're sitting, but anyway, there you are, Gov. Sorry.

And I know that the education funds helped many of you stay open, keep your schools open, and keep them open safely. There's a lot of money you have there for everything from dealing with ventilation to clean buses, school buses and everything in between. There's no reason why we can't keep our schools open, in my view.

And getting kids to school was an essential step getting our economy back to normal. And we're not quite there yet. But we also know that if people find they can afford childcare, they get back to work as well.

I think we're going to be coming back to you. There's one reason why there's 1.2 million women who were working, who are not in the job market now, because it's hard to get back and the combination of worrying about is school open, as well as whether or not there's a cost of childcare.

In 43 of your states, you've already gotten relief, with 150,000 childcare providers to help many of them keep their doors open, and at a critical time, the actual physical facilities.

And now we need it even more to get Americans keep them at work and the essential workers on the job. And that can mean, as some of you used, hero retention bonuses, higher pay, temporary paid leave to combat burnout in essential healthcare workers, like Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania have all announced. It can mean paid leave, as is being done in the state of Washington.

But to keep schools open, to keep kids in school, to make up for learning losses, we need to bring back more teachers, more tutors, bus drivers, school nurses. And we're seeing creative efforts in North Carolina, for example, which is providing bonuses for all school employees, and Arkansas, as you know, Gov., which is creating a Tutoring Corps.

And we're seeing states like Kansas and New Jersey and Nevada using funds to expand the pool of counselors and mental healthcare workers in our schools which are badly needed, in my view.

[11:30:00]