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Ontario Premier Declares A State Of Emergency; Biden Defensive On High Inflation: It Will "Taper Off" This Year; Rep. Adam Smith (D- WA) Is Interviewed About Ukraine Crisis. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 11, 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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[11:00:18]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Here's what we're watching at this hour. Border crisis, the so called Freedom Convoy protests have turned into an international crisis, officials on both sides of the border scrambling now to put a safe end to the protests.

Allies meet, Biden on the phone this hour with key allies as his secretary of state warns a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin at any time.

And tragic accident, a new report on Bob Saget's death and the final conclusion from the sheriff investigating.

We begin this hour for one with the protests in Canada having a serious and real impact here in the United States. Three major border crossings between the U.S. and Canada remain shut down as the demonstrations over COVID restrictions stretch into its third weekend. And patients now with the protesters seems to be wearing thin. Ottawa police have arrested more than two dozen people and issued over 1,500 tickets.

In Windsor, Canada just across the border from Detroit official are trying to get a court order allowing them to clear out the demonstrators and their vehicles. Windsor's mayor told us yesterday that police may need to physically remove protesters. All of this is having real impact on the U.S. auto industry and on trade. CNN's Miguel Marquez starts us off live in Windsor, Canada, right near that Ambassador Bridge. Miguel, the Premier of Ontario just made a big move and a big statement. What did he announce?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is -- the provincial governor, essentially the state governor of the Ontario province saying that there is now a state of emergency. He's going to convene his cabinet. And he's going to -- it will allow him to put in orders that this, this illegal, he will say this is an illegal gathering, and then is punishable.

And it will give them the authority essentially to use resources that they've already brought in to Ottawa to move this out if protesters won't leave. This big group of people you're seeing here, there is an empty space now that was completely filled with cars. Protesters a short time ago, open that lanes about a block long before the bridge.

It's -- and they open that lane saying it's a sign of good faith. Other protesters didn't think that was the right move for them to make and some tried to move cars back into it. And then they eventually relented because they don't want to be seen as negotiating with police. They have been talking with authorities here almost this entire time trying to keep at least one lane open for emergency vehicles.

So that is somewhat significant here on the ground, but it's not going to be enough the mayor here in Windsor saying that at noon, they are going to seek the legal justification essentially to move this out as well. They have lots of resources here, the federal government also putting resources in, in other places where they have protests. So seemingly, once they start to move, they're going to try to sort of roll up these protests all at the same time. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. And that provincial governor I'm hearing is threatening fines of $100,000, even a year in prison if people don't start moving out now that he's declared the state of emergency. Miguel, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it, much more to come clearly.

MARQUEZ: You got it.

BOLDUAN: The U.S. auto industry is bracing right now for continued and more disruption because of this, Ford, GM, Toyota, and other automakers are cutting back production. Analysts say auto workers in Michigan could lose up to $51 million in wages this week, due to the protests. CNN's Matt Egan is tracking this one for us. Matt, what are you seeing here?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, this is the last thing that the U.S. economy needs. I mean, we're already dealing with historic inflation and a shortage of cars. And now these protests are causing some auto companies to slow or even shut down production at some of the factories that they own.

We know that Ford, GM, Honda, and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler have had their production impacted. And we just learned this morning that Toyota is slowing production at factories in West Virginia and Alabama, hundreds of miles away from this bridge in Ontario. And I think all of this shows how interconnected the North American economy is. I mean, especially when it comes to autos, there's not just the Canadian auto industry or U.S. auto industry, they're really all joined at the hip.

We also have to keep in mind that people are already dealing with sticker shock when it comes to cars. We learned just yesterday that new car and truck prices up by 12 percent in January from the year before that is an all-time high because there's not enough new cars due to the shortage of computer chips, used car prices up by more than 40 percent.

It's hard to see how these production impacts driven by the protests are going to help that situation. The key is going to be how long does this last? I mean, does it get resolved this weekend? Does it linger for weeks? Also which vehicles, which brands are actually going to be impacted? That's going to be key here. But Kate clearly this is just one more challenge for an economy dealing with high inflation and shortages.

[11:05:14]

BOLDUAN: Yes, the ripple effects real and pretty immediate. It's great to see you, Matt, thank you for that.

As he as Matt is saying these protests now adding to the challenges in front of President Biden, and a new CNN poll shows that Americans are rapidly losing confidence in the President's handling of this of this economy right now. Just 18 percent of those who were surveyed say they have a lot of confidence in Biden's ability to deal with the economy. Half of respondents saying they have no confidence. And in a new interview, President Biden is speaking to this mood, and also acknowledging the pain Americans are feeling from inflation, which we know just hit a 40 year high. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: I think it was back in July, you said inflation was going to be temporary. I think a lot of Americans are wondering what your definition of temporary is.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you're being a wise guy with me a little bit. And I understand that's your job.

HOLT: When can Americans expect some relief from this soaring inflation?

BIDEN: According to Nobel laureates, 14 that contacted me and a number of corporate leaders, it's odd to be able to start to taper off as we go through this year. In the meantime, I'm going to do everything in my power to do with the big points that are impacting most people in their homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, CNN White House correspondent John Harwood and CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. You know, John, I asked something very similar what Lester Holt asked to Biden. I asked something very similar of one of Biden's top economic advisors, Jared Bernstein, just yesterday, and Jared had no problem answering the question. But the President's response, I don't get it. Do you?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I actually do Kate. Look, first of all, Lester Holt is not a wise guy, terrific journalist, nothing wrong with the question. Certainly, President Biden's political advisors do not like it when he expresses annoyance and public, stipulate all that. But the reason that he was annoyed is that there's a lot wrong with the inflation conversation that we're having right now.

First of all, a lot of the inflation that we're dealing with is, in fact transitory. The question is, how long does the pandemic last? That's what transitory means. It's about disruptions related to the shutdown of the economy and the restart of the economy after the pandemic. Second of all, a lot of the discussion of inflation concerns or includes the assumption that it's President Biden's problem to solve, it is likely true, that the excess, the American Rescue Plan he passed last year was too big and contributed to this inflation.

We don't know exactly how much. But in terms of the problem right now, this is principally a problem for the Federal Reserve to solve, not for the President. And then the final reason is that a lot of the inflation discussion obscures the fact that there are very many good things about this economy, unemployment, at 4 percent.

Everybody who wants a job can get a job. People at the bottom of the income spectrum are seeing their wages rise faster than inflation, that reduces income inequality. That's because there's tremendous demand for labor. People at the top are seeing asset prices like home prices rise.

So there are a lot of Americans doing very well in the economy that sometimes gets obscured in the discussion that we're having about inflation.

BOLDUAN: But again, we've been talking about the trends are confusing. I mean, the economic data coming in is in contrast to each other. And that's part of the discussion. I think that's what Lester was trying to get at with the President.

And as -- but Gloria as John perfectly lays out, you cannot talk about the economy without talking about the pandemic. His approval has dipped there. I think down nine points since December. And fewer people are saying they have a lot of confidence that he can leave the country out of the pandemic. What does that say to you?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, his handling of the pandemic was his calling card. And it was very important to getting him elected because he promised that he would bring the country back to a sense of normalcy. And what you see in those numbers of people saying, we haven't done that you haven't done that. Now, what this White House confronted was the headwinds, of course, that were unexpected, that came with the Delta variant over the summer and then with Omicron more recently.

And, you know, when you when you take that as a whole, the public expected a certain amount of competence from Joe Biden and whether right or wrong, they say, you haven't fixed the problem that you came here to fix. And when you talk to people in the White House, they will tell you, number one, they couldn't have predicted Delta. And number two, they did not predict how many people would be anti-vax.

But the President, you look at him, you say you promised, you didn't do it, you didn't fix it, and so it really is it dampens Democratic enthusiasm and going out for the polls in the fall and we also see that in our poll that Republicans are much more enthusiastic about going out and voting than Democrats. I think by that eight points. So, you know, all, you know, all put together, it's not a really good picture for Joe Biden right now. [11:10:22]

BOLDUAN: And there's a number I mentioned at the top, there were few people, John, 18 percent, saying that they have a lot of confidence in Biden's ability to deal with the economy. But I have to say, and I know we often talk about this, there's still a lot of time left between now in the midterms, I mean, time for a lot of things to change external events to quickly shift the country's focus and the country's priorities. Are Republicans wrong then to read good news in the numbers that we see in this survey?

HARWOOD: No, I don't think they're wrong at all. I think there's very good news for Republicans in this survey. It's a very bad, as Gloria just laid out. It's a very bad political environment for Democrats. And as we look ahead, now, it seems very likely that Republicans are going to hammer Democrats in this fall's election retake, certainly the House of Representatives, perhaps even the Senate.

Is it possible things could change? Yes. If you see, in fact, we make a transition from the emergency phase of the pandemic to the endemic phase, if President Biden is able, feels comfortable coming out in the State of the Union Address and saying, take the mask off, let's get back to normal that might have an effect on the public mood if inflation moderates during the course of the year, which is what most economists expect to happen, that may have an effect on the public mood.

But he's been well under 50 percent for quite a long time, opinion changes slowly. So I would think that Republicans, the odds are that the Republicans are going to be quite right in their current level of optimism.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you guys. Thanks for being here.

BORGER: Sure.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, President Biden is speaking right now with European and NATO leaders as fears grow of what Putin's next move will be on Ukraine. The latest developments that's next.

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[11:16:29]

BOLDUAN: President Biden on a call right now with leaders from Europe and NATO to discuss the ongoing Russian military buildup near Ukraine. NATO Secretary General warning this is a quote dangerous moment. And Secretary of State Tony Blinken adding to the urgency saying a Russian invasion could begin at any time. Let's get over to Moscow right now. CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by. Nic, what's the latest there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the NATO Secretary General he's in Romania where troops, U.S. troop presence has been ramped up was saying that because Russia continues to put troops around Ukraine at the moment this inevitably is meaning that it's going to be harder for NATO to respond because the buildup means that NATO's response time gets shorter and President Biden speaking essentially to this point having a warning for U.S. citizens in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: American citizens should leave, should leave now. We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It's a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So a track of diplomacy underway in Moscow, today, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace meeting with his Russian counterparts, Sergey Shoygu. The atmospherics, when they sat across each other from in the chamber of the meeting looked quite frosty, Shoygu saying that there are tensions in Europe that it's not Russia's fault, and that it is NATO's fault for giving so many weapons to the Ukrainians.

Ben Wallace, at a press conference that was going on just a few minutes ago was asked this question, Sergey Shoygu told you that Russia has no intention of invading, do you believe him? And the British defense secretary said, look, I take his word, but look at what's happening on the ground, 130,000 troops, he said, this is not a normal posture for military training. His concern that really the window is shutting down for diplomacy and the frostiness in that room between the two Defense Secretaries today, kind of gave you all you needed to know about that.

BOLDUAN: Nic, thank you so much for that. Let's get to more of this. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith. He's the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Chairman, thank you for being here. You know, one thing we're also seeing Russian troops continue to build up on the border.

We're also seeing as the NATO Secretary General has discussed, more troops heading over to U.S. troops and others heading over to Eastern Europe to support NATO allies. And the Secretary General has kind of previewed this when I spoke with him just a few weeks ago. Let me play what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: If Russia wants less NATO in the eastern part of our alliance, there actually, the aggressive actions are leading to the exact opposite more NATO in eastern part of the alliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And I'm expecting that we're going to hear more of that to come. And what do you think of that message?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I think that's one of our strongest message as possible, because that is Putin's, you know, number one goal. He wants greater control in Eastern Europe. He wants greater control over what was sort of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. And number one at the top of that is to push us out to push the West out and NATO out. So to the extent we show him that his actions have the opposite effect, it can be determined.

And then also, you know, the countries, the other countries in Eastern Europe, this isn't just about Ukraine for them in Romania and Poland and the Baltics, they're afraid that Russia is going to, you know, take one step at a time and try to do to them next what they're doing to Ukraine right now. And they desperately want our support. There, you know, democracies that are allied with us. We should help them because they want that help to maintain their freedom and sovereignty and to discourage Putin. I think it's one of our strongest arguments right now.

[11:20:20]

BOLDUAN: The President is holding calls right now with NATO allies as we speak, is there something specific you'd like to hear be the message coming out at this point?

SMITH: Well, the more unity, the better. We are stronger in our numbers. There are 30 NATO countries. And the more of those countries that are on the same page on, you know, the argument that we just made, the Secretary General was making about a greater presence in Eastern Europe, you know, the agreement to send more arms to Ukraine, the agreement on sanctions, the more unified we look, the better because as I said, that's why right at the top of Putin's list is he wants to divide us.

And, you know, that's difficult. I mean, 30 countries have different interests, certainly, Germany and France do. But to the extent we can pull together and talk about the things we agree on, it, again, shows that Putin's actions are unifying and not dividing us.

BOLDUAN: What is your current and latest assessment of how close Putin is to invading?

SMITH: Well, I think the thing about that is, he's as close as he was a month ago, and a number of people have said this, clearly, you don't know. He is in a position to do this very quickly. Did -- that doesn't make it any more likely now that he's going to do it than it was a month ago. But it means that, you know, there's no margin for error. It's not like, we're going to have a week or two to see, oh, he's building up, we better react. He's there ready to go when he decides to go. And that's what makes this situation so dangerous.

BOLDUAN: And as we just reported, the President was asking this interview with NBC about Americans and Ukraine. And he told them very clearly to leave that, I mean, he said that quote, things could go crazy quickly. Do you share that urgency and concern?

SMITH: Absolutely. And it's interesting that the Ukrainian people and their leaders are now starting to sound the alarm more than they were even a week or two ago. And I think early on, you know, President Zelensky, it makes sense. You don't want to alarm people and, you know, crash the stock market

and the economy and create all these problems. But as the threat continues, it's become more and more obvious how well, so I was going to say imminent, as I understand it, there's not a proper translation for the word imminent.

BOLDUAN: There's -- that's now a hot button word.

SMITH: Exactly. But how it could happen, it could happen at a moment's notice. And, you know, we certainly don't want a situation where you have a lot of American civilians in Ukraine desperate to get out because it's difficult at that time for us to be able to go in there and get them out.

BOLDUAN: Well, see, that's a question. The President was asked about that if U.S. troops would -- he sees a scenario of U.S. troops being needed to go in to rescue Americans in Ukraine? And he said, there's no scenario because he said, that's a world war. Do you agree?

SMITH: He's right. Yes, no, I mean, we can say all we want that we're just sending the troops in to pull out Americans. But if we, you know, you don't send U.S. troops if they're attacked, when they're in there, they're going to fight back. And that is the other thing that we need to keep reminding people. We are not going to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. The cost is too high. What we want to do is we want to work diplomatically and in unity with our allies to stop that from happening in the first place.

BOLDUAN: Chairman, thank you for coming on.

SMITH: Thanks, Kate. I appreciate the chance.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

[11:23:43]

Coming up for us, the sheriff investigating the death of comedian Bob Saget now saying the case is closed. What the autopsy report reveals about his tragic death.

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BOLDUAN: Developing this morning, the Florida sheriff investigating comedian Bob Saget's death says their investigation is closed after an autopsy concluded that Saget's death was an accident. The Orange County medical examiner says Saget died from an accidental blow to the back of his head likely from a fall. Saget was found unresponsive in a Florida hotel room back on January 9th. The report also reveals that Saget had COVID at the time of his death.

Joining me now is CNN medical analyst, ER physician, Dr. Leana Wen. And also with us is HLN contributor and criminologist Casey Jordan. Dr. Wen, you're an ER physician. I'm sure head trauma is something that you also often see come through the door based on this autopsy report. How serious of a blow to the head would have been needed to get what your -- they are showing and reporting in this? DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Kate, this is so tragic. But it's also unfortunately very common. There are tens of thousands of Americans every year who die as a result of traumatic brain injury and much of that is because of falls. In this case, it does look like there had to be substantial impact.

[11:29:56]

Now, a lot of times we think about substantial impact as falling downstairs or in a car accident. But you can also have substantial impact just from falling from standing especially if you hit your head on something hard.