Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden Talks With European Leaders As Russia Tension Escalates; Fauci: Omicron Wave "Going In The Right Direction;" Former AG William Barr Having "Conversations" With January 6 Committee; Pentagon: Missiles Aimed At UAE Base Intercepted By U.S. Forces; Police, Children Among Victims In Violent Weekend Of Shootings. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 24, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Listen, they at least got to see her. That is a dream for those fans who wanted to have that moment with her. Still not a concert, but it's something.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Well, I think they would also appreciate their airfare being paid since they had to pay for it and it was canceled.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. That will happen.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

BLACKWELL: THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Vladimir Putin's backyard may soon include American forces.

THE LEAD starts right now.

President Biden speaking with key U.S. allies, discussing Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine as the Pentagon announces thousands of U.S. service members are on heightened alert.

Plus, new signs the worst of this latest COVID wave may be over while the fight over how schools should respond is heating up.

And a rookie cop killed while responding to a 911 domestic violence call, prompting a new focus on rising violent crime in America's largest cities.

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we start with breaking news in the world lead. President Joe Biden talking with European leaders about the very real chance of Russia invading Ukraine again. This call added late in the day to Biden's schedule underscoring how the threat has escalated in reason days. The Pentagon also announcing this afternoon, as many as 8,500 U.S. service members are now on heightened alert and have been told to know ready to deploy at any moment. The Pentagon says, if needed, those troops will join NATO forces in

Eastern Europe and the alliance's effort to deploy the troops near Ukraine.

We're covering this escalating tension, even a crisis on multiple fronts.

CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Ukraine. Nic Robertson is in Moscow, Russia. Let's start with Kaitlan Collins at the White House, however. Kaitlan, do we know how close the president may be to a decision on whether or not to send additional U.S. forces to Eastern Europe?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, it's a decision that could come as soon as this week, but what we do know is that as of today, President Biden hasn't made a final decision about that. Behind the scenes, they are getting the specifics ready in case he does make that call to bolster U.S. forces in Eastern Europe, to increase those troop presence as they're planning behind the scenes for what that would look like. Because, of course, The concern in the administration is an invasion could be imminent, and right now, the Pentagon says that Russia is not only not de-escalating the situation, Jake, they are adding force capability to Ukraine's border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): Moments ago, President Biden phoning European leaders from the Situation Room as the crisis in Ukraine escalates.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETAR: While we can't get into the mind of President Putin, we are seeing the preparations that they are making at the border.

COLLINS: Biden consulting the leaders of Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, NATO and the European Commission as he debates sending thousands more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: What we're telling these units to do is to be ready to go on a shorter time line than what they were before. We are not deploying them now. We are not saying diplomacy is dead.

COLLINS: Up to 8,500 U.S. troops now on high alert. If Biden increases troop presence that close to Russia's doorstep, it would amount to a major shift in his approach. After last week, he said a troop buildup hinged on an invasion.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And, you know, we're going to fortify our NATO allies. I told him on eastern flank if, in fact, he does invade.

COLLINS: Overnight, the State Department ordering family members in the embassy to leave Ukraine and encouraging Americans not to travel there, warning Russian military action would severely impact the embassy's ability to provide consular services, including assistance to U.S. citizens departing Ukraine.

Biden considering the new moves after the British government accused Russia of plotting to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is very much part of the Russian tool kit. It runs the gamut from a large conventional incursion or invasion of Ukraine to these kind of stabilizing activities in an attempt to topple the government.

COLLINS: Republicans, including the top GOP lawmaker on the foreign affairs committee warning that President Putin isn't taking the U.S. seriously.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): This has been a passive deterrence, right? I don't see Putin changing his course of action. It's getting very aggressive. The noose is tightening around Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (on camera): And, Jake, the White House says that American citizens who are in Ukraine right now should leave, because there are no plans at this time for any large scale military evacuation like what we saw in Afghanistan. And, of course, this comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now requesting that they get an all-members briefing on the growing crisis that's happening in Ukraine.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House for us.

Let's bring in CNN's Clarissa Ward in Ukraine and Nic Robertson in Moscow, so -- Russia.

Clarissa, first to you, today, Ukrainian officials called it, quote, premature and excessively cautious for the State Department to pull nonessential staff from the U.S. embassy there in Kiev where you are.

[16:05:04]

They seem to be suggesting that the U.S. is overreacting. Are they downplaying it?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Jake, it's not just -- it's not just those -- that one comment that came earlier from the foreign minister. Now we're seeing multiple Ukrainian officials weighing in on this and they are clearly very, very unhappy. The prime minister saying, you know, please don't panic. He was concerned that this call to reduce embassy staff, allow for families and nonessential personnel to leave, that would have a knock on the economy in foreign investment here in Ukraine.

We also saw President Zelensky take to his Facebook page again -- issuing another plea to the Ukrainian people not to panic, saying that he has everything under control. The foreign ministry went on to put a statement on their website where they said, there are 129 embassies and consulates here in Ukraine and so far, only four countries have elected to reduce or scale down some of their personnel.

The statement reads: We are grateful to our international partners for soberly assessing the situation and not resorting to the premature evacuation measures. This is a real manifestation of solidarity -- giving you a very strong sense that they are not pleased about this at all, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Nic, Russia is also trying to downplay accusations of an imminent invasion as stupid, rhetorical provocations. So, if there isn't an invasion imminent, how does Russia explain its massive troop build-up and coordination with rebel forces, up and down the border with Ukraine?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, one piece of that, the Russians are trying to explain, and we heard this from the Kremlin spokesperson earlier today, saying there is a massing of Ukrainian forces close to that eastern separatist enclave in Ukraine, the Donbass area, where it's pro-Russian separatists propped by Moscow are held up. They're saying, the Kremlin is saying that it's the Ukrainians that is massing for an attack and some of the Donbass leaders have been on Russian television today putting their position forward.

But I think it was a very, very, very telling statement put out by the foreign ministry spokeswoman today on their telegram account, really coming in the last few minutes. And she is taking aim at that growing rift between the United States and Ukrainian officials and she says on the one hand, you have Ukrainian defense officials, defense security officials saying, they see no reason to alert the fact that there is an imminent full-scale Russian invasion, but also quoting the Pentagon spokesman saying that there is no de-escalation by the Russians.

And she makes the contrast. And this is really cutting and gets to the heart to how the Kremlin likes to work. And she says that the U.S. is trying to morally, or rather, undermine the morale of Ukrainians. And goes on to say about U.S. politicians, do they really care about the mothers in Ukraine if they don't care about their own mothers back home? So the Kremlin here and the foreign ministry really seeming to try to open that tiny division that's happened.

So, with all this is tension, this is what they appear to be exploiting at the moment -- Jake.

TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, just last week at Biden's news conference, his tone was threatening sanctions, severe economic sanctions. He said, sanctions like Putin has never seen before.

But now, we're talking about troops being deployed to Eastern Europe. What changed?

COLLINS: Yeah. The White House says it's not a shift. They say that they have ruled out the idea of bolstering forces in Eastern Europe if there had not been an invasion yet. But that wasn't what the president was speaking about it at the press conference, saying if Putin did invade, they would bolster U.S. troop presence in Romania, in Poland. They talked about the idea -- if they move, you would see the U.S. fortify NATO allies.

Of course, that's what is under consideration today. That's what the Pentagon confirmed. President Biden was briefed only at Camp David this weekend, these options that he has. And so, the idea that it's not a shift, it is a change because if they

do end up going forward with this decision and you see the U.S. troop presence in those Baltic states, in Estonia, in Latvia, in Lithuania, that's, of course, right on Putin's door step and that's what Putin has been trying to avoid and complaining about. So, it would be a much more forceful approach by this White House, by this Biden administration, compared to the more restrained stance that they had where they were kind of trying not to provoke Russia before. And now, it seems like the calculus has shifted.

TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins at the White House, Clarissa Ward in Ukraine, Nic Robertson in Russia, thanks to all of you.

I want to bring in retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack, who was a senior defense official and attache to the Russia Federation when Russia invaded and seized Crimea in 2014.

[16:10:04]

General, thanks for joining us.

The Pentagon says some 8,500 U.S. service members are on heightened alert for possible deployment to Eastern Europe to join NATO forces. Not in Ukraine but in those NATO member states. But what do you make of this decision? Could this be seen as provocative to Putin?

PETER ZWACK, U.S. SR. DEFENSE OFFICIAL & ATTACHE TO RUSSIAN FEERATION, 2012-2014: Thank you for bringing me on. When we talk about provocative, we need to take a look at the Russian set, the reported 100,000 plus. It's probably many thousands more than that with all the logistics, still troops pouring in from central and eastern military district. And we all heard the reports of them bringing in troops through Lukashenko's Belarus, threatening Ukrainian northern flank.

Jake, Ukraine borders four NATO countries and our allies are really worried. There's a lot to be worried about -- an invasion. If they actually go, it will be bloody no matter how successful or not it will be, and could spill over.

And the 8,000 forces, plus other allies, this isn't just the United States. That is very, very important to emphasize, to Moscow. It allows, if you will, first of all, to assure our allies, like the Busk (ph) -- we have NATO up in small amounts. But we don't have a big presence in there and certainly not a big ground offensive threat to Moscow.

TAPPER: So, you know, General, Fiona Hill, a U.S. intelligence officer with expertise in Russia and Eurasia. She served in the National Security Council under President Trump. She wrote an op-ed in the "New York Times" today and said, quote, right now, all signs indicate that Mr. Putin will lock the U.S. into an endless tactical game, take more chunks out of Ukraine and exploit all the frictions and fractures in NATO and the European Union.

Now, you've been dealing with Russia and Putin's influence for decades. Do you agree with Fiona Hill's assessment? ZWACK: I have the greatest regard for Dr. Hill as an associate and

friend. I think here, there are two things that I take, I understand, the salami-slicing if you will that she -- that the Russians could possibly take chunks and bites.

But I think right now, Jake, the whole world is watching. This is unambiguous like it was when I was in Moscow in 2014. We didn't know what was going on in the beginning. The whole world, and no matter what the justification, this would be naked aggression that would put Russia into a pariah status that they should not want, including their moneyed interests and their people.

So yes. There is that. But I believe the first major bite they take, if they do it, whether it's rest in the Donbass or driving down to Crimea or something else, puts them now, the world is now aware as to their make-up, and the fact that we are prepared, if you will, to put troops into NATO allies I think is right.

The other point, Jake, very quickly. She makes a point that this needs to go to the United Nations. And yes, we'll take it to the Security Council, where Russia and China have a veto. But you take it to the General Assembly and you basically lay it all out and Russia risks getting censured if you will, and that environment, I don't think they want that, certainly not their moneyed interests.

This is a time for them to back off. They've made their point.

TAPPER: Retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate your time.

Check your mail. COVID tests from the federal government are starting to arrive in the mail boxes everywhere, just in time for some good news about the pandemic. Then the big name in Donald Trump's orbit who is now talking to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:32]

TAPPER: Some encouraging COVID news tops our health lead today. Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. is now, quote, going in the right direction when it comes to containing the omicron surge. Fauci says he expects cases will rapidly decline in the coming weeks but that does not mean, of course, that we are in the clear just yet.

As CNN's Alexandra Field reports, deaths which we all know are a lagging indicator are still on the rise in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Free COVID test kits and free high quality masks starting to make their way to Americans as omicron cases fall off sharply in the northeast, a sign that the worst of this wave could be behind us soon.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There are still some states in the southern states and we shall states that continue to go up. But if the pattern follows the trend that we're seeing in other places, such as the Northeast, I believe that you will start to see a turn-around throughout the entire country.

FIELD: The strategy for what comes next is coping.

FAUCI: Control means you're not eliminating it. You're not eradicating it. But it gets to such a low level, into the general respiratory infection that's we have learned to live with.

FIELD: But the death toll climbs again, averaging more than 2,000 daily. With vaccinated people experiencing mild symptoms if any at all, there are more calls to change the thinking when it comes to restrictions.

DR. LUCY MCBRIDGE, PRACTICING INTERNIST: It's time at this crucial, pivotal moment, to better calibrate harms, to weigh the harms of the virus itself against the harms of the restrictions.

[16:20:09]

FIELD: Virginia's governor saying parents can opt into or out of school mask requirements, as seven major districts file suit to stop the order. Schools shouldn't get rid of masks yet, according to the former FDA commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: So, to withdraw it right at the peak of the epidemic I think is imprudent. We should wait. I think within two weeks, we'll be able to make that decision.

FIELD: Gottlieb later tweeting, as conditions improve in the U.S., we must be willing to relax provisions as aggressively as we implemented them.

The fury over pandemic protocols erupting again over the weekend in an anti-vaccine mandate march in Washington, D.C., marked by outrageous and bigoted remarks.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., ANTI-VACCINE ADVOCATE: Even in Hitler Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.

FIELD: While public figures continue to traffic in misinformation. Basketball Hall of Famer John Stockton falsely suggesting vaccines have killed more than 100 athletes, a statement with no basis in fact. Gonzaga University now pulling his season tickets for refusing to mask at the games.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (on camera): And, Jake, there is new data underscoring the tremendous and ongoing toll that the pandemic has had on restaurants. The National Restaurant Association saying 88 percent of restaurants are reporting a decline in demand in just the last few weeks. Something they attribute to the omicron surge -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Alexandra Field in New York, New York, for us. Thank you so much.

Here to discuss, Dr. Megan Ranney. He's the associate dean of public health at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney, good to see you.

Cases in the U.S. are down 15 percent from last week. And on CNN this afternoon, Dr. Fauci said he expects cases in the U.S. could mirror the decline that we saw in South Africa, which really was a very rapid decline in daily cases once the variant turned the corner from -- once the country turned the corner from the omicron variant.

Do you expect to see the same thing happen here? If so, how soon?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, BROWN UNIVERSITY: So, I expect us to see the same thing starting in the northeast already. I -- because the Northeast is so much of our population, we'll see on a countrywide basis that cases drop. But at the same time, cases are still rising in much of the country. So, we are not yet out of the woods.

The other part, of course, as you mentioned earlier, that cases are only part of what we're worried about. Equally concerning are hospitalizations, intensive care unit stays and deaths, and even in the Northeast, our hospitals are still quite overwhelmed from that combination of sick, unvaccinated COVID patients and, of course, all of the other medical and surgical problems for which care has been put off for the last two years.

So even if the omicron case wave has peaked, the burden on the health care system has not.

TAPPER: As cases and hospitalizations start to fall, we're still seeing deaths increase. Now, we know deaths are a lagging indicator. First come the cases, then the hospitalizations, then come the deaths.

How much longer do you expect to see in daily deaths from COVID with hospitalizations and cases going down?

RANNEY: So, it's tough to know because omicron is, of course, a different variant from delta or from earlier variants of COVID. But I would expect that we'll still continue to see hospitalizations, excuse me, deaths rise for another couple weeks and then hopefully we'll start to decrease. There have been some preliminary reports that deaths are happening a little bit earlier with omicron than they had with prior variants. Of course, we also now have better treatments so we may be able to stave off death for more folks.

TAPPER: Dr. Fauci also said on CNN this afternoon that the worst-case scenario is that after omicron, we get another dangerous variant that can evade vaccines. What is the likelihood of that happening, do you think?

RANNEY: I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell you definitively. But I think we would be naive to not expect another variant.

And I remember the day before Thanksgiving, telling people that delta was showing just tremendous evolutionary strength and was overcoming all of the other new variants that were coming along. And then Thanksgiving Day happened and omicron was announced by our colleagues in South Africa.

This moment, with the omicron surge peaking in much of the country and thus heading into the downward curve of cases is exactly the moment we need to be proactive about preparing for future surges so we don't get caught with this again. The fact testing kits and masks are arriving now in houses across the United States, it's a travesty. We've known almost two years now that these things were needed and this is the moment to be ready, if and when another variant does pop up. We know what to do and we have the resources to do it.

TAPPER: A source tells CNN that the FDA is considering limiting the authorization of certain monoclonal antibody treatments that are not as effective against omicron.

[16:25:09]

What is the thinking about that?

RANNEY: I mean, it makes sense. We should not be giving people treatments that don't work. And of course, there is no treatment that is completely without risk of harm. There can be side effects from those monoclonal antibodies.

They are also expensive and they're difficult to administer. We should not be giving them if they don't work against omicron. So, I would thoroughly support the FDA limiting that. I will put a pin though in the fact that it's important for us to make those treatments that do work, make them widely available and ditto for things like Paxlovid, that new Pfizer pill that people can take within the first few days of being diagnosed with COVID to help stave off hospitalization and severe disease.

It is critically important for us to make adequate supplies of those available to get people testing quickly, and to work hard to overcome racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in who gets access to these potentially life-saving treatments.

TAPPER: Dr. Megan Ranney, thanks so much. Appreciate your time.

He is the only member of Trump's cabinet who has spoken to the January 6th Committee that we know of. What we know about former Attorney General Bill Barr's meeting.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:04]

TAPPER: The January 6th Special House Committee has been talking to former President Trump's attorney general, William Barr, as part of a, quote, preliminary discussion, according to a source.

CNN's Ryan Nobles joins us now live from the capital.

Ryan, Attorney General Barr left his post on December 23, 2020, about a week after the draft executive order that would have seized voting machines was dated. Is the committee discussing that with Attorney General Barr?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't seem that they are at this point, Jake. The committee just received this memo recently as part of that set of documents that came from the National Archives after winning the Supreme Court case. Their conversation with William Barr, I'm told, was several weeks ago. It was an informal interview. There wasn't a lot of specifics that were tied to it at this point.

But that doesn't mean it's not a conversation they can have with Barr in the very near future. The committee is, of course, very interested in Barr's role in everything that was taking place after the 2020 election as the former president and his allies were peddling these false accusations about the election lie.

And you'll remember, Jake, that shortly before he stepped down as attorney general, William Barr made it clear that he saw no direct evidence of voter fraud that would have been enough to change the results of the election. That was something that made the former president very upset. We now know as these investigations have played out, that Trump was putting heavy pressure on the Justice Department to attempt to intervene and try to find this fraud that was really nowhere to be found -- Jake.

TAPPER: The former Republican speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, made some rather shocking comments about the house she can committee investigating the January 6th insurrection, saying they will potentially face jail time if Republicans take the House this fall.

How are members of the committee responding?

NOBLES: Well, Liz Cheney, who's the vice chair of the committee, and is a Republican, someone who the Cheney family at one time was close with Newt Gingrich, especially when he was speaker of the House, she is the person that has responded from the committee and she tweeted a response to Gingrich and said, in part, quote: This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels. And a suggestion that basically, Gingrich is throwing out claims that aren't based in any kind of fact. That somehow a duly impaneled congressional investigation does not have the ability to conduct oversight, which is exactly what this committee is doing.

And we should point out, Jake, that there has been a lot of litigation about the conduct of this committee already. The former President Donald Trump, his allies to have gone great lengths to attempt to sue, to prevent the committee from doing their work. So far, the committee has won every one of those lawsuits. So, it's a bit head-scratching that the former speaker of the House would suggest that somehow they are breaking the law -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah. I'm not sure what the opposite of virtue signaling is but it seems like that is what this was.

Ryan Nobles, thank you so much.

Joining us to discuss, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers.

Jennifer, let's turn back to former Attorney General Barr. He's a big piece of this puzzle. Are you surprised that he's had some discussions with the committee?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I'm not, Jake. You know, he is someone who had a line, I think. He did a lot of unraveling of the rule of law himself when he was attorney general but there was a line he wouldn't cross and apparently, it was this election fraud nonsense that the former president was trying to foist on him after the election. So, I'm not surprised he is willing to talk to them.

He also in a very John Bolton like move, has a book coming out. So, presumably, he may be about to disclose some of this in his book and maybe wants to tease some interest in that. I'm not surprised. The question will be, how much will he talk? You know, there's no executive privilege we know now. No attorney-client privilege, so he really needs to, under the law, if they subpoena him, share everything he knows. It remains to be seen whether he will do that or not.

[16:35:02]

TAPPER: Fellow CNN legal analyst Elie Honig tweeted, quote: It's now been 40 days since the House of Representatives held former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress. He referred the case to the Department of Justice. The Supreme Court last week firmly rejected Trump's executive privilege claims over the documents, time for the Department of Justice to make a call, Honig says.

Now, it did the Justice Department about a month before they proceeded to indict Steve Bannon after the House referred that to them.

Do you think it is taking longer with Meadows because, A, as a former chief of staff, he has more claim executive privilege than Bannon did? And, B, he did cooperate at least somewhat with the committee before he decided to not cooperate?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do think it's taking long longer for those two reasons but I think that after the Supreme Court has issued its ruling, it is possible that they're giving him a little bit more time. You know, maybe Meadows now comes back to the table. The Select Committee certainly would rather have him cooperating and giving information than have him criminally charged and give them no information. So, it may be also that the recent decision is slowing things down to

see if maybe they can reach agreement after all, which doesn't really impact whether he's chargeable or not. But I think DOJ would consider that very strongly in their charging decision.

TAPPER: Let's listen to this blatant admission from recently subpoenaed 2020 Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS EPSHTEYN, ADVISER FOR TRUMP 2020'S CAMPAIGN: Yes, I was part of the process to make sure there were alternate electors for when as we hope the challenges for the seated electors would be heard and would be successful, part of the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Those, of course, were not alternate electors. They were fraudulent electors. They had not been elected by anybody.

Does Epshteyn going on MSNBC and admitting it put him in even more legal jeopardy?

RODGERS: Yeah. It does. You know, to the extent he has a lawyer, and I sure hope he does, that lawyer probably was pulling out his or her hair listening to that. I mean, he not only admitted to being part of process, but I would say the scheme or the plot or the conspiracy.

But he gave his defense as to why, you know, because it was adjusting the case scenario. We were getting our ducks in a role of that's complete and utter nonsense, because as you said, Jake, this was not a document that edged at all. Two of the states sort of did, the other five just said, here are our duly chosen electors. It was a fraud. It was a forgery.

So, he really does put himself in jeopardy there and it certainly was a mistake.

TAPPER: Jennifer Rodgers, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

While the Pentagon is focused on the threat of a Russian invasion, the U.S. military is firing missiles to stop a different threat. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:13]

TAPPER: In our world lead today, as fears of war escalate along the Ukraine-Russia border, the U.S. is fending off actual missiles elsewhere. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched two ballistic missiles toward Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates early this morning. The missiles appeared to target an air base that the U.S. military uses. The Pentagon now confirms the U.S. military intercepted those missiles and video shows fighter jets destroying the missile launcher. CNN's Sam Kiley is in Abu Dhabi for us.

Sam, it seems like this is a rather close call.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very close call, indeed, I think, Jake, the second in seven days. It was a week ago on Monday, today, that three people were killed in a missile or drone strike launched by the Houthis, also very close to Abu Dhabi. They promised more strikes and that is exactly what they have attempted.

Now, according to the Pentagon, both Patriot missiles from the U.S. base there in Dhafra, and other anti-missile missile United States of the Emiratis engaged these two incoming missiles and it's some remarkable video footage of the missiles being shot down by what the Pentagon said was a multiple launch of these protected, defensive missile systems.

The Emiratis have patriot, they've got pad. They've got a wide range of U.S. manufactured anti-missile missiles, precisely for this sort of eventuality. The weird thing from the Emiratis perspective, they've been sucked into a war that they thought they had extracted themselves from back in 2020, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah. Let's talk about that, because obviously, our viewers know the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are fighting the Saudi backed coalition that the U.S. has been part of. How did the UAE end up as the target? Or were they targeting the Americans in the UAE?

KILEY: They were targeting both. I think it's very clear that the Dhafra air base has not only got U.S. forces, got British forces and has got Emirati forces, and it is a very important, strategic location in the middle used for operations by those three different nations around the Middle East.

Now, the Emiratis have been accused by the Houthis, Jake, of stepping back into the Yemeni quagmire that they were out of. They supported a militia on the ground that was successful on the battlefield against the Houthis. So, that is the principle allegation and there is independent confirmation for that. You rightly point out that the Iranians have been backing the Houthis.

[16:45:03]

It's Iranian technology that would have been youth in these missiles, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah, Sam Kiley, thanks so much. Appreciate your time.

A new push to end gun violence after a horrific weekend that saw a rookie cop and an 8-year-old girl gunned down.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our national lead, a jarring weekend of gun violence across the United States.

[16:50:04]

In some cases, police officers, even an 8-year-old girl, caught in the cross fire, one of those awful crime scenes in New York City -- as CNN's Brynn Gingras reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A weekend of senseless gun violence, children and police officers again among the victims.

The family of 22-year-old Jason Rivera is heartbroken. "Fly high, my beautiful angel," his widow writing on Instagram. The NYPD rookie shot dead while responding to a 911 domestic call Friday. His partner, Wilbert Mora, is critically injured.

The suspect was shot by a third officer and NYPD confirms, died today.

JAMES ESSIG, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES, NYPD: Recovered at that scene is a Glock 45 high capacity magazine which holds up to 40 additional rounds.

GINGRAS: The man among five officers shot in New York City this month, the first month in office for Mayor Eric Adams.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: Officers are doing heroic work, getting guns off the streets. But traffickers keep the guns coming. That must end.

GINGRAS: Today, Adams is demanding action, laying out what he calls a blue print to end gun violence. It includes reinstating a plain clothes police unit to go after guns on the streets and focus on the flow of firearms into the city. The gun that killed Rivera was reported stolen from Baltimore in 2017.

ADAMS: We will not surrender our city to the violent few. We are going to go back and we won't go back to the bad old days. We're going to get trigger pullers off the streets, and guns out of their hands.

GINGRAS: In Houston, authorities believe an assault-type weapon was used to kill a deputy who was conducting a traffic stop this weekend. Authorities are still looking for the suspect who suddenly fired at the 47 year old Charles Galloway, the 12-year veteran being remembered as a mentor.

CONSTABLE TED HEAP, HARRIS COUNTY PRECINCT 5: There's a lot of very broken up officers who he meant a lot in their lives, because he was the one that was sitting in the front seat with them. He was teaching them what to do and how to get home safely to their families.

GINGRAS: Another officer shot in Washington, D.C. this weekend, treated and released from the hospital. But in Chicago, gun violence took the life of an 8-year-old girl. Melissa Ortega was walking with her guardian when she was hit by a stray bullet. ANDREW HOLMES, CRISIS RESPONDER: I don't care who your target was.

You targeted that little girl. If you didn't, he should would be here living today. What are you targeting for? When you miss, you hit our babies.

GINGRAS: Now, New York City will honor a man who showed so much promise.

JASON RIVERA, NYPD OFFICER: I want you all to hear me. Hear my voice and know that I'm going to get through it.

GINGRAS: Rivera joined the NYPD to bring together police and the community, a community now mourning his death.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): And the funeral for Rivera is set for later this week. As far as Adam's plan, the plain clothes officers going after these guns is set to be on the streets in the next three weeks, according to Adams, targeting neighborhoods where about 80 percent of the crime is happening. But again, he said this has to involve more people, all city agencies, district attorneys, judges to keep these violent criminals behind bars.

Adams, Jake, also making a plea to the federal government to pass common sense gun laws, basically to stop the flow of illegal firearms going through all these different states. Not just here in New York -- Jake.

TAPPER: Brynn Gingras in New York, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

More than 8,000 American service members are on standby just in case they need to be deployed to Eastern Europe. Is that enough? Is that the right thing to do? We'll ask a key lawmaker, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:33]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, the check is not in the mail. The IRS admits it is in crisis mode with millions of returns waiting to be processed and tax season has barely started.

Plus, hall of shame. NBC legend and former Dream Teamer John Stockton top's anti-mask stance lands him on the sidelines where he is now spouting deranged anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, as frustration over COVID restrictions mount from every side of the political divide.

And leading this hour, ready to deploy. The Pentagon announcing this afternoon roughly 8,500 U.S. service members are on heightened alert ready to be sent to Eastern Europe at a moment's notice, in case Russia invades Ukraine.

On the diplomatic side, President Biden just wrapped a call with European leaders in hopes of convincing Vladimir Putin to not send his forces into Ukraine.

As CNN's Oren Liebermann reports for us now, President Biden is also sending in another round of lethal aid to Ukraine, all part of an attempt to ramp up pressure on Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The United States is taking steps to heighten the readiness of its forces at home and abroad.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon preparing for a potential deployment of military forces to Europe, putting as many as 8,500 U.S. troops on heightened alert.

KIRBY: The United States would be in a position to rapidly deploy additional brigade combat teams, logistics, medical, aviation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, transportation, and additional capabilities into Europe.

LIEBERMANN: Most of the troops would be part of NATO response force. But the Pentagon making clear it is preparing for other contingencies as well.