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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Pence: "Trump Is Wrong, I Had No Right To Overturn The Election"; U.S. Economy Defies Omicron Surge, Adds 467,000 Jobs In January; U.S. Averaging 2,400 Deaths A Day, Starting To Plateau; Pentagon: Deadly Kabul Airport Attack Carried Out By Single Bomber; Xi & Putin Meet Before Olympics As Tensions Escalate With The West. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 04, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:10]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Blizzard of Oz.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: No More Mr. Ice Guy.

BLACKWELL: That's a nice one.

CAMEROTA: And Edward Blizzardhands.

BLACKWELL: I'm still with Betty Whiteout.

CAMEROTA: Betty Whiteout. It's the best.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: Okay. THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Pence says Trump was wrong and, quote, un- American about the election.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Former Vice President Mike Pence calling out his former boss just moments ago, saying former President Donald Trump is wrong and he had, quote, no right to overturn the election on January 6th, 2021. That nothing could be more un-American.

What kind of back lash might pence face from his own party now?

And speaking of which, the Republican National Committee censures the two Republican members of Congress, January 6th Committee members Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, censured in part for participating in, quote, persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse. Is that how the Republican Party views the deadly violent assault on the Capitol on democracy? The Republican civil war over that dark day, that's ahead.

And as the games begin, the Chinese government cynically pushes an athlete from its ethnic Muslim minority to light the torch, hoping that you forget the genocide the Chinese government is committing against that very same ethnic group.

Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Just in: Former Vice President Mike Pence moments ago directly took on his former boss, Donald Trump, and Donald Trump's outlandish, untethered claims about the election. Take listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny as well as CNN's Phil Mattingly.

Phil, this is shocking. The language he's using, wrong, un-American, big deal.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. And this was a choice. There is perhaps nobody more cognizant or clear-eyed about what the former president's response would be to these remarks than his former number two, his former deputy and former vice president, Mike Pence.

Mike Pence decided to lay out very clearly and in as strong of language as we've seen, not only his disagreements with the president on his role as vice president on that specific day. But in broader, bigger, and more dramatic terms about the meaning of January 6th. He's always referred to that day as a dark day, always made clear he would never see eye to eye with the president on this issue.

But when you look at what was said today in the context of this moment, a moment where because investigations are ongoing, we've gotten a much better sense of what the vice president is dealing with, the pressure they were feeling on a day-to-day basis in the lead-up to January 6, what he dwelt on that day. He and his family evacuated as protesters closed in. Some of them chanting, "hang Mike Pence," as that happened.

The vice president making very clear what so few Republican leaders will at this time. Not just how wrong the president was on the details of counting electors but the broader meaning of that day and the president's continued push even in recent days to overturn the election saying explicitly, he thought Mike Pence should overturn the election.

The framing I think I was most struck by, Jake, was when the former vice president said this. There's more at stake than our party or our political fortunes. If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections. We'll lose our country. Obviously, dramatic framing but also true framing, and from somebody who very clearly is preparing for a potential 2024 run where former President Trump, he may run and be considered a king maker in the party, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah.

And, Jeff, this division in the Republican Party, those who acknowledge what happened, the reality of it, that Joe Biden won, Donald Trump lost, that the election was free and fair, that there was not enough fraud or irregularities to have affected the election, and that what happened on January 6th was a horrific, violent account inspired and incited by Donald Trump, and as many versus the other Republican who's will not acknowledge that. This continues to play out.

And today, the Republican National Committee censured, rebuked officially, two of their own.

[16:05:03]

And the resolution uses some stunning language, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, a very split screen moment from Florida there where former Vice President Mike Pence was speaking to the Federalist Society as Phil was saying. This is a group of leading constitutional lawyers in the Republican Party across the country, in Salt Lake City, just a short time before this, a couple hours before this. The Republican National Committee, members from all across the country, voted to as you said, censure, sanction, punish, use whatever word you would like, two members of Congress who are part of the investigation into what happened on January 6th.

But Jake, it went beyond that. Look at the language here in this resolution adopted by the RNC today in Salt Lake City. Let me read part of it to you. It says this.

It says: Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democratic-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse. They are talking about January 6th.

Shortly after that, when those three words were highlighted, the Republican National Committee chairwoman Rona Romney McDaniel tried to clean some of this up, issuing this statement, add go some words onto that. Let's look at this as well.

She says this: Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed the line. They chose Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol. So, trying to parse words here at the very least.

But the bottom line here is in that RNC sanction of two members of Congress, they were calling this legitimate political discourse. Of course, we know now, at the time we knew, it was anything but that. But these show the stark divides in the party. The RNC there sanctioning them and former Vice President Pence saying the obvious, that in fact what happened on January 6th we know to be true.

TAPPER: Well, just to be clear, because I think it is entirely possible that the Republican National Committee censure resolution was written -- I mean, these people are not dumb. They know what they're doing. They know what they're writing. They know there is a sizable chunk of their party that the attack on the Capitol, there was nothing wrong with it, that the people in jail for their crimes are political prisoners.

Donald Trump is among them. Don't we think it is more likely that they knew what they were doing with that awkward language and now they're trying to clean it up?

ZELENY: I think absolutely. What they were trying to do, clearly, the reality is this resolution has no authority. And it had been watered down from earlier versions. They were simply trying to push this through to try and appease the people who believe what happened on the 6th was an attack, of course, was against the law, against the Constitution.

So yes, they were trying to sort of get this through by appeasing the President Trump supporters without question. Look at what Liz Cheney a short time after that vote, she had a short and simple but weighty response as well. She put out a video of the officers being attacked that day and she said this. This was January 6th. This is not legitimate political discourse. So, she, of course, is keeping on her committee work on January 6th.

But again, Jake, the stark divides here, inside this Republican Party have not been made more cheer in a span of a couple hours than they were today.

TAPPER: Right. And just to underline the point. Obviously, Congresswoman Cheney is correct and the Republican National Committee under Chairwoman McDaniel constantly, they still have the tweets up now, push for these deranged lies about the election. I'll tweet one in a second, during a commercial break about, Sidney Powell, the untethered lawyer making wild claims about the election and how Trump actually won on the Republican National Committee Twitter page right now.

Phil, we should know something that is very important to the American people, a great day on the economic news front. I'm sure they're breathing a sigh of relief at the White House.

MATTINGLY: A sigh of relief. Maybe some high fives as well. I think everything we're talking about underscores the stakes of this administration. It is administration that over the course of the last two weeks, Jake, whether it's through blowout growth numbers on the economic front, whether it's the elimination of the leader of ISIS, the opportunity for the president to leave his mark on the Supreme Court, and now, a jobs market surpassed every expectation -- for the moment, President Biden having a very good couple of weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America's job machine is going stronger than ever.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): The U.S. economy has weathered the omicron surge.

BIDEN: Our country is taking everything that COVID has thrown at us and would come back stronger.

MATTINGLY: A clear message coming from a January jobs report that exceeded all expectations.

BIDEN: Here's the good news. We have the tools to save lives and to keep businesses open, to keep schools open, keep workers on the job and sustain this historic economic comeback.

[16:10:08]

MATTINGLY: The U.S. adding 467,000 jobs in January, far surpassing the estimates of 125,000, and warnings from President Biden's own economic team that the omicron surge was likely to skew data due to sick workers.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The month's jobs report may show data in large part because workers were out sick from omicron.

MATTINGLY: Instead, an exclamation point. One that included upward revisions of nearly 700,000 jobs added in November and December with wages that grew 5.7 percent from the year prior and labor force participation rate that hit pre-pandemic levels. All despite 3.6 million Americans missing work due to illness in January.

For a White House battling price increases that remain at a nearly four-decade high.

BIDEN: We still need to ease the burden on working families by making every day things more affordable and accessible.

MATTINGLY: And persistent supply chains snarls that continue to exacerbate that trend, all playing into pessimistic public views of the economy and the country, administration officials view as, in the words of one, just flat out over it.

GINA RAIMONDO, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: I think it's more than just inflation. These past two years, due to COVID, have been brutal for people. People are tired. They're exhausted, they're depressed.

MATTINGLY: But the jobs report marking a rare unequivocal positive. One that brings total U.S. job creation to a record 6.6 million in Biden's first year in office. At the same moment, COVID cases are dropping dramatically nationwide.

BIDEN: The COVID crisis has been cut in half, down in half in just three weeks. MATTINGLY: For Democrats who have four months engaged in bitter

messaging and agenda fights, a clear boost for the political battles, and midterm elections that lie ahead.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: We also celebrate 467,000 jobs created last month. We salute President Biden for his great leadership.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): And, Jake, another positive for the administration that isn't getting as much attention. While the president was touting those jobs numbers, the House was passing his top agenda item at the moment, a sweeping economic and industry policy bills still needs to be reconciled by the Senate but moving forward on the key legislative priority as well, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Thank you so much.

Here to discuss, the director of the White House National Economic Council, Brian Deese.

Brian, good to see you.

So no one expected the jobs report to look like this, at least publicly. It's a great sign that wages were up 5.7 percent last year. We also need to note, inflation was also up 7 percent from 2001 to 2022, the steepest climb in prices since 1982.

So what do you say to those Americans who say, I'm glad wages are going up but they're not going up fast enough for me to afford basic goods and the rising prices there -- cars, gas, food?

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, we still got a lot of work to do but I think what we say is we are making historic progress. This was a striking jobs report, striking in terms of the breadth of job growth, not only in January but the consistency of growth over the last several months with those revisions that were just mentioned.

What we're seeing is incredible resilience in this American economy, the American worker, American capitalism that is able to generate robust job growth and general operate wage growth. So what we need to do is focus on keeping those strong wage gains, particularly for those in the bottom half of the income spectrum and get prices to come down and normalize.

And one of the big agenda items is how can we build more thing in the United States, starting with semiconductors. And the legislation that passed the House today would take a big step forward. You know, car prices represent about a third of inflation over the last year. If we can build more cars here in the United States with more resilient supply chains for semiconductors, that would be a big step forward.

So, more work to do but this is a very positive signal for the American economy and the American people. TAPPER: Sure. More jobs created in the first year of a presidency

than ever before. That's great news, although obviously part of that is the idea that we're coming out of the pandemic. The most recent Gallup polling however shows that only 33 percent of Americans are satisfied with the economy right now. It's largely driven by inflation.

So, how do you turn that around? Obviously, consumer confidence is important.

DEESE: Sure. But I do think it's important to start with the context, which is it's not jobs. We've seen the strongest economic growth in nearly 40 years. We saw the largest reduction in child poverty in some significant time. So, a lot of really important metrics and important progress.

So then the question is how do we go at these price increases and how do we normalize the economy where people are tired, they're frustrated. It's been a long -- it's been a long time dealing with this pandemic.

And so, our focus is pretty clear. We need to work to get COVID under control. We're making real progress on that front.

We have the tools to do this so we don't have to go down to lockdowns. We can keep schools open. And then we need go at the elements of our economy, to try to move goods, move services faster and cheaper through the economy.

That's about supply chains, it's about semiconductors and it's also about meeting typical families where they are around their kitchen table and say how can we lower some of the costs you face? How can we lower your prescription your drug costs? How can we lower healthcare costs? How can we lower childcare costs?

That's the next big agenda item that we need to work with Congress to try to make some progress on as well.

TAPPER: Leisure, hospitality, retail, all of those sectors added new jobs. But a recent report from the National Restaurant Association suggests the restaurant business is likely never going to return to the pre-pandemic level. Seven in ten restaurants simply do not have enough workers, 50 percent of restaurants say staffing are going to be -- is going to be their top challenge this year.

What do you tell companies that are hungry for workers and just can't find them?

DEESE: Well, this jobs report today is really good news on that front. The strength of the job gains in leisure and hospitality and restaurants and the revisions over the last couple months suggest it has been a strong couple of months in that sector. And those wage increases are bringing more people into -- into jobs as well.

So, you know, the more that we can normalize economic activity, which is about also getting the virus in check. The more we can get people out there and spending more of their money out shopping, going to movies, as opposed to doing things at home. We're seeing some promising signs in that respectful. We're seeing some of that shift from spending on goods to spending on services. That's where we need to see more momentum like what we saw in today's jobs report.

TAPPER: There's also this phenomenon that I want to ask you about, because help me understand these numbers. The U.S. is not yet back to the pre-pandemic job numbers. I think we're at 87 percent or something like that. Yet there are millions of Americans, a near record, quitting their jobs, what's known as the great resignation.

And I know you're going to tell me a lot of people quit during the pandemic and weren't able to come back because of childcare issues, but that's not everyone. Where are these millions of workers disappearing to and how do we get them back to work, back to pre- pandemic levels?

DEESE: You know, it's a great question. Let me explain.

When you look at the number of people who quit, that is -- that is in the context of the overall number of people who got jobs. So, in any given month when you see more people quitting, we're seeing more people taking new jobs. It's actually a sign of positive dynamism in the economy. What it means is people are leaving jobs to find new jobs opportunities, potentially with better wages, potentially with better benefits and that's -- there's a lot more opportunity to do that in this economy.

The other thing that we're seeing is 30 percent increase in applications to start new small businesses. We're seeing extraordinary small business creation. Some of those people are quitting their jobs to take a chance on a new idea, a new innovation, that might help our economy and create jobs down the road.

So the number of quits really needs to be seen in the overall number of people getting employed. And as this monthly job report underscores, the overall number of people employed in this economy is not only growing but coming back at a much faster pace than prior recoveries. We still have work to do. We still have a ways to go. But the momentum is definitely moving in the right direction.

TAPPER: Ryan Deese, thanks so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

The U.S. is nearing a new tragic milestone in the pandemic, but there are new encouraging signs today. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:56]

TAPPER: In our health lead, you thought you had a crappy job. Scientists at the CDC have published new data on wastewater, to get a more accurate read of COVID infection rates in communities. It might be dirty work, but analyzing feces, scientist say, can detect a surge in positive cases four to six days earlier than typical testing can. And as CNN's Nick Watt reports, this is important work being done by

folks who really know their stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Case counts are down. Hospitalizations are down. Is the death toll starting to plateau?

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: As we get to a better place in this pandemic, specifically as our hospitalizations and our deaths come down in particular, it will be easier for us to pull back on restrictions.

WATT: Still, no clear federal guidance but Denver ends its indoor mask mandate today and Connecticut could allow districts to decide whether kids still need to mask up in school.

GOV. NED LAMONT (D), CONNECTICUT: We're taking a good hard look at the numbers and we're going to make up our minds, say, in less than a week.

WATT: The CDC for the first time just published data on levels of coronavirus in our wastewater. And more than two-thirds of test sites, levels are down from 15 days ago.

MURTHY: What we need is effectively, tools to help us understand what's going to happen before it happens. Right now, wastewater may be one of those.

WATT: This afternoon, CDC vaccine advisers voted to approve Moderna's vaccines for adults. It has been used under emergency use authorization.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe we have 13 yeses, zero nos.

WATT: It looks like the U.S. will miss the W.H.O goal of 70 percent fully vaccinated by mid year. The European Union is already there. The W.H.O. now talking about a plausible end game in Europe, vaccination immunity from prior infection and the coming spring?

DR. HANS HENRI KLUGE, W.H.O. REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE: It leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility, a cease fire that could bring us enduring peace on the condition that we, one, consolidate and preserve immunity by keeping vaccinating and boosting.

WATT: Today, Austria made vaccinating mandatory for all adults. Not everyone was happy. There was a protest, with Euro pop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): And another sign of creeping normalcy here in the U.S., southwest airlines will soon begin again serving booze on board its flights.

But the Union that represents their flight attendants is not happy. They say it will just make enforcing that federal mask mandate on planes even harder. They call this move by Southwest unsafe and irresponsible -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt, thanks so much.

Joining us to discuss, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha.

Dr. Jha, if analyzing wastewater can give scientists a clearer and quicker picture of COVID infections in a community, should public health professionals go off that data rather than case counts from testing?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, Jake. So, first, thanks for having me back here. We've known for almost two years now that wastewater is a really good sort of early warning signal for how much infection here is. People just start passing it through their G.I. tract. It gets out there, and before they get symptoms and even before they get tested.

And when testing runs low and infection numbers are hard to track, wastewater is really good. So, it's a really good supplement to what we are already tracking.

TAPPER: "The New York Times" published this article about, quote, cryptic lineages in wastewater samples in New York, which are unique mutations of coronavirus, not previously seen in human patients.

Quote: The researchers themselves are torn about the lineages' origins. Some lean toward the explanation that virus is coming from people whose infections are not being captured by sequencing. But others suspect that the lineages may be coming from virus infected animals, possibly the city's enormous population of rats. Even then, the favored theory can change from day to day or hour to hour, unquote.

What's your reaction to that? I mean, it seems kind of concerning, especially given the widely accepted origin theory that coronavirus was bat to human transmission.

JHA: Yeah. So, what we know now is there's been so much of this virus that it has gotten into various animal species, and it is circulating among animal species. One of the reasons we'll have a hard time eradicating this virus.

You know, mutations happen. We're picking them up in wastewater, whether they represent random mutation that's don't mean much in humans or in animals, we're going to really have to try to sort that out.

TAPPER: You often use the analogy that COVID spikes are like weather. When cases are high, it's a downpour. When cases are low, it's like a drizzle and we can start thinking about putting away our rain coats, aka, our masks.

The level of community transmission in the U.S. is still very high nearly everywhere, including Colorado, a state which relaxed its mask mandate today.

Do you think that was a mistake?

JHA: I think they should have waited a couple more weeks. Look, infection number are plummeting across the country which is really good news. But you're absolutely right, Jake, that at this moment, infection numbers are still high compared to what we've seen in other ways of the pandemic. I think they'll be in much better shape in the next two, three weeks and I would have waited until then, before I would have pulled the mask mandates.

TAPPER: You heard in Nic's piece just now, a World Health Organization official signaling the end the pandemic in Europe due to the plateauing deaths. For a first time in a while, deaths are plateauing in the United States, although they're still above 2,000 a day.

How do you interpret that? Are we closer than ever to this spike? This pandemic ending?

JHA: Well, I think we're closer than ever with the big surge. The big question is, are we going to have future surges? Will there be future variants? We don't know.

I do think we're going to have a period of time with tranquility with very few infections and that's a time to relax a lot of these mandates. But, you know, it's hard to predict what will happen in the future. We've not always gotten that right. I think we should prepare for future spikes but hope they don't come.

TAPPER: Let's listen to Trump's former czar testing Admiral Brett Giroir on CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR (RET.), FORMER HHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH UNDER TRUMP: The Biden administration has failed to reach out to the Republicans. They've politicized vaccination, which we warned against from day one. We all have to join hands, get rid of your political affiliations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We should note that Biden did, late, I think you could argue, throw Trump a bone and acknowledge the role that Trump's Operation Warp Speed played and also, praising Trump for getting the booster shot.

But the Trump administration itself doesn't exactly have a clean record when it comes to politicizing the pandemic.

Do see a way the United States can come together on this? I mean, I still find it amazing that we were not able to even unite about beating this virus.

[16:30:01] JHA: Yeah. You know, if you look at why European countries are doing so much better on vaccinations, when many countries are, it's largely because the political parties that often fight quite bitterly on all sorts of issues don't fight about vaccines.

We've got to get back to that, and that requires us talking to each other across the political aisle and putting differences aside and focusing on getting all Americans vaccinated so we can actually put the pandemic behind us.

TAPPER: Dr. Jha, good to see you again. Thanks so much. Have a great weekend.

Coming up next, it's one of the deadliest days in Afghanistan for the U.S. Thirteen U.S. service members killed in the final days of war. And now, a new Pentagon report shows the initial descriptions of what happened were not entirely on target.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:24]

TAPPER: Topping our world lead, the Pentagon wrapping up an investigation into the deadly suicide blast last August at the Kabul airport. The head of U.S. Central Command said the attack was carried out by one single suicide bomber. Eleven Marines, one Army soldier, one Navy sailor were killed in the attack, along with at least 170 innocent Afghans.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now live from the Pentagon.

And, Oren, the Pentagon originally had said this was a complex attack. It turns out, not so much.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The initial description was not it was just one bomber, but perhaps two suicide bombers and even ISIS-K gunmen that opened fire after those detonations.

Now, we have a far clearer picture of not only the attack itself but what led up to it and what happened right after it. Investigators say it was a single suicide bomber carrying what they say was a 20-pound explosive filled with 5 millimeter ball bearings. When it detonated just after 5:30 p.m. on August 26th, it tore through crowd around it.

Investigators say the attack itself was not preventable. That's because they say the bomber likely used alternate routes to avoid Taliban check points in getting to the Abbey gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Those routes were sent out to allow U.S. citizens, green card holders and Afghan evacuees to get to the Hamid Karzai International Airport during the evacuation. They said the suicide bomber likely used those as well.

In terms of his identification, investigators did not say who he was but CNN has previously reported that his name was Abdul Rahman, he had been released from a prison days earlier as the Taliban freed prisoners as they swept across the country.

After the bombing itself, investigators say there were a number of warning shots fired. About 25 to 30 from U.K. forces on one side of the bombing, four from a single marine nearby as well as an unknown number targeting what they say was a man holding an AK-47. They don't know how many shots were fired there.

That comes after the attack. This has been a months-long investigation to find out exactly what happened and whether it was preventable. Investigators say all those killed in the attack, it was impossible to save them because of the logistics of the situation and how difficult it was, and of course, the severity of the injuries. Well, where does this go from here? Investigators during the course of the work spoke with dozens of not only U.S. forces but also U.K. forces and others as well.

Crucially, they did not speak with any Afghan witnesses and there were many of them because of how crowded it was there. They said the situation simply made that impossible with no U.S. forces or diplomatic personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.

TAPPER: Oren, I just want to make sure that our viewers understand. You're not saying the situation was unavoidable, the report I should rather say. They were not saying that the situation was unavoidable in a mayor, in a larger metaphysical cal sense in terms of the decision to withdraw and how Biden withdrew. They're just saying, given the conditions on the ground in that moment, it was unavoidable, right? There is a larger political argument about how it was planned or not planned.

LIEBERMANN: Of course. You're exactly right, Jake. They're talking about only specifically this attack itself with what was there. The U.S. forces that were there, the command and control, and the options they had.

Given the situation on the morning of August 26th, this attack by this one suicide bomber, they say, it was impossible to prevent.

TAPPER: All right. Excellent. Thank you so much. Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon for us, appreciate it.

Coming up next, a black man dead at the hands of police and now attorneys say there had been a tragic mistake. You will see the newly released body cam video. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:29]

TAPPER: In our national lead, today, state officials are now trying to figure out if a Minneapolis police officer should or should not face criminal charges for shooting and killing a Black man while executing a no-knock search warmth earlier this week. The victim was not a target of the raid, according to his attorneys and according to the police department.

We want to warn you, the video we're about to show you is disturbing.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is covering this story.

Omar, walk us through how this tragedy happen.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake.

So what happened in the early morning hours Wednesday, the Minneapolis police department was basically executing a warrant stemming from a homicide investigation out of nearby St. Paul. And as you mentioned, the attorneys for Locke say he was not the target of the investigation and police say he was not named in any of the search warrants.

As police burst through, it basically seems to wake up lock who is wrapped in blankets at the time. As he tries to get up, he is seen with a gun. Officers shoot.

Now, police say the gun was pointed in the direction of the shooting officer. But based on the videos we've gotten and the picture, we can't independently confirm that. The parents are speaking out for the first time. They had to watch that video before it was actually released.

Take a listen to his mom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN WELLS, AMIR LOCKE'S MOTHER: Never would I have imagined that I would be standing up here talking about the execution of my son by the Minneapolis police department.

[16:45:03]

I should not have to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: But it has become an all too familiar story. And Locke's attorneys mentioned that he was a lawful gun owner. To quote one of his attorneys, he said, no lawful gun owner could have survived that situation.

TAPPER: So, Omar, here's what I'm confused about. Minneapolis was one of the cities that introduced new policies on no-knock warrants after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed during a botched police raid in her apartment in Kentucky.

So why was this no-knock warrant raid allowed to happen?

JIMENEZ: Yeah. So in short, the city told me today, that is is what is under investigation. To take you back to when they updated this policy in 2020, they didn't ban no-knock warrants outright. What they did was reserve it for high risk situations.

And even then, police are in most situations, required to announce themselves before crossing that threshold into someone's home. Unless a supervisor decides it would create an imminent threat to do so.

We asked about that imminent threat. What it particularly was in this situation. That is what the city says is under investigation right now. Of note as well, I want to mention that Locke's attorneys say based on the information they have, they say this search warrant was for a property seizure. Not necessarily a seizure or apprehension of a person.

But of course, we haven't seen the warrant ourselves, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Omar Jimenez, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Now, our behind China's wall series in which we go behind the fanfare and the glamour of the Olympic Games which are ongoing. The Chinese government hopes to use the games to distract world from its crackdown on freedom, its crimes against humanity, its genocide.

Today, a cynical, some might say sickening move by the Chinese government during its highly choreographed opening ceremony, Beijing gave the honor of being one of the athletes to light the torch to a member of the oppressed Uyghur minority group in China's far west region, and ethnic minority that the Chinese government is right now committing genocide against.

CNN's David Culver joins us now live from Beijing.

David, what message is the Chinese government trying to send here to the U.S. and other countries doing this? Putting a Uyghur? I mean, it's so cynical.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: See? Everything is just fine here. You guys are making fuzz about nothing. That's the message, Jake.

I mean, it's very clear to the U.S., to the rest of the West. And I've been to a lot of these major government coordinated events. They are near perfection when it comes to the production value and the performances. But they are to use your word again, highly choreographed. This opening ceremony, it was no exception.

Now, the Chinese choosing to profile this, this plays into the propaganda push that under the Chinese communist party's control, the ethnic, predominantly Muslim minority is not being widely abused and detained but rather as they like to portray it, flourishing.

We've reported extensively on the crackdown facing the Uyghurs. We've been to the heavily surveilled region, Xinjiang, hearing from families separated from loved ones and put in camps.

Immediately after our visit, Jake, China sent propaganda TV outlets into the same locations, speaking with those same individuals to directly refute our reporting. This staging of the opening ceremony very much a part of that propaganda push, Jake.

TAPPER: It's so hideously offensive, considering the genocide, the forced sterilization, the murder, the rape. Let me ask you, so Russian President Vladimir Putin did today's opening ceremony -- he doesn't get offended by much I suppose -- after he held attending a summit with head of China, Xi Jinping.

Do we have any idea what they discussed?

CULVER: Well, state media putting a lot out on this. They're very proud of this get-together between these two, quote-unquote, good friends. Putin and Xi, according to state media, vowing to deepen their strategic coordination, adding that their relationship will have a far-reaching impact and here's what's interesting, not an impact just on China and Russia but the world at large. That's the message this is sending, it's far broader than just the domestic audiences.

And this will include, maintaining as they put it, close high level exchanges in supporting each other and safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, this, as both countries, you and I talked about this, become increasingly assertive in what belongs to them and we're seeing that play out with both Ukraine and Taiwan right now.

The two also not so subtly referring to the U.S. and vowing to respond to external interference and regional security threats jointly.

[16:50:05]

The a message reinforced by the optics here, Jake. Beijing will back the Kremlin.

TAPPER: All right. David Culver reporting from Beijing, thank you so much.

Climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Olympics, according to new report. This year's games the first to rely almost entirely on artificial snow. Now, that's largely because Beijing does not traditionally get a lot of snow.

But as CNN's Rene Marsh reports for us now, climate scientists are warning that the lack of real snow at this year's Winter Games could become the norm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No natural snow, a Winter Olympics first. Over 100 snow generators and 300 snow-making guns are doing what Mother Nature did not -- blanketing Beijing's bare slopes with snow.

JAMIE ANDERSON, U.S. OLYMPIC SNOWBOARDER: It's not quite ideal, but I would say we're all making the most of it. You definitely don't want to fall. It feels like pretty bullet proof ice.

MARSH: Climate scientists warn this scene will become the norm as global warning threatens the future of snow sports. A new report finds that viable venues for the winter games are dwindling, iconic sites like Vancouver, Norway, Sochi, and the French Alps seeing temperatures warm and shorter and less reliable snow seasons.

Of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics, only one is expected to have the necessary conditions to host them again safely at the end of the 21st century if greenhouse gases are not drastically reduced.

ELENA HIGHT, U.S. OLYMPIC SNOWBOARDER: I worry the mountains around me won't have snow for the next generation, or maybe even in my lifetime with the path that we're on.

MARSH: Two-time Olympic snowboarder Elena Hight says climate change already affecting her sport in her hometown of Lake Tahoe, due to shorter winter seasons and a lot of snow, resorts have done away with this concave structure known as the halfpipe. One of snowboarding's most famed contests.

HIGHT: We don't have consistent enough snow for the resorts to be enticed to build them. So, I see that, and there are no younger generations coming into Lake Tahoe that will be able to be home and train in the halfpipe and potentially pursue those Olympic dreams.

MARSH: Hight says artificial snow as a substitute comes with higher injury risks, less training, coupled increased danger are a problem for these athletes, environmental advocacy group, Protect Our Winter, warns artificial snow has limitations.

MARIO MOLINA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PROTECT OUR WINTERS: In order to make artificial snow, there's a temperature threshold so you can't just make artificial snow in 40 degrees weather. You still need cold temperatures.

MARSH: Fake snow also comes with environmental risks, Beijing one of the most water-scarce cities in the world, estimates it will use some 49 million gallons of chemically treated water to make snow for alpine sporting events, something environmental advocates have criticized.

HIGHT: So it's actually causing the problem that we're being affected by. I hope that we never get to the point where snowboarding isn't a viable sport because of lack of snow. And really, I think that we have the ability to make those changes now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: While artificial snow can create a faster surface because it's almost 30 percent ice compared to real snow which is closer to 10 percent ice so much harder, more slippery surface, and that's what creates the risk of more severe injuries when an athlete takes a fall. But outside of the Olympics, Jake, you have these ski resort towns with the economy that rely on this sort of thing, they are really being threatened by the climate change issue as well.

TAPPER: Very upsetting story.

Rene, thank you so much for opening our eyes about that. Appreciate it. Coming up, a CNN exclusive, a previously unknown phone call from White House to a member of Congress on the morning of the insurrection, who was involved? Why it matters? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:54]

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

This hour, Mike Pence takes on his former boss and declares Donald Trump was wrong about the election. Pence says not only could he not have overturned the election results, but it would be un-American to even suggest he do so. This comes just hours after the Republican national committee rebuked two of its own for trying to get to the bottom of what really happened on January 6th.

Plus, a Supreme Court spouse and her vocal far right rhetoric, Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, how her ties to cases before the court are raising questions about potential conflicts of interest.

And leading this hour, Putin side by side with his authoritarian ally in China. How the U.S. is responding to their shocking show of solidarity in the back drop of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As CNN's Kylie Atwood reports for us now, Putin and Xi's cozy meeting is just the latest jab in the high stakes duel over Ukraine's sovereignty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A show of solidarity between autocrats as the future of European security hangs in the balance.

PRES. XI JINPING, CHINA (through translator): I'm glad to hold the first in-person meeting with President Putin in more than two years.