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The Lead with Jake Tapper

White House Announces New Sanctions On Russia Elites; U.S.: Russia Is Willing To Attack Civilian Infrastructure On Purpose; Biden Announces New Sanctions On Russian Oligarchs; January 6 Committee: Trump And Allies Were Part Of "Criminal Conspiracy" To Overturn Election; Russian Airline Yanked From Global Reservation System. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 03, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Listen, I know you're watching the clock, we are too. Harry Litman getting us in and out on time. I don't know if anyone is surprised by that story, but it still is striking to hear.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Absolutely, yes. We always appreciate when our guest is a clock watcher so we don't have to be.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Very nice.

BLACKWELL: THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we start today with breaking news in our world lead, the United States trying to ramp up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin this afternoon, slapping a new set of sanctions on a new group of Russian elites.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The goal was to maximize the impact on Putin and Russia, and to minimize the harm on us and our allies and friends around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Meanwhile, in Putin's war on Ukraine, apocalyptic scenes on the outskirts of the capital city of Kyiv where officials claim Russian bombed civilian targets in the town of Borodyanka for two days. This is what remains of a residential apartment building there, residential. Ukraine's emergency services say at least 33 dead bodies were pulled from the rubble across the country.

And in the northern Ukraine town of Chernihiv -- the city's mayor says two civilians were wrong the nine Ukrainians killed in these airstrikes when Russian forces hit blocks of residential homes. Again, residential homes.

The city, which is about two hours outside of Kyiv, has suffered through several days of shelling by the Russian military.

To be very clear, the Russians, Putin, they're targeting the civilian population of Ukraine. These are not errant bombs. These are not mistakes because of strikes on military targets nearby. These are Russian forces trying and succeeding in killing Ukrainian kids and moms and dads and grandparents.

Today, President Putin claimed the war on Ukraine is going according to plan and is on schedule. The U.S. intelligence indicates Russia did not predict the amount of resistance that its troops are now facing from Ukraine.

That resistance includes these efforts you see from the Ukrainian military, the country's ministry of defense shared this video with journalists. It's a video of Ukrainian missiles. It targeted and destroyed clusters of Russian forces.

Our reporters are live across Ukraine and the region as only CNN can do. We start with CNN's Sam Kiley who is in the central Ukrainian city of Uman.

And, Sam, Russian negotiators say that they may allow a temporary cease-fire in order to allow civilians to leave Ukraine.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's less of a cease-fire, I think, Jake, and more of the establishment of routes, safe routes. The only breakthrough that the Ukrainians have acknowledged is that the safe route out of Kyiv, out of Kharkiv and perhaps out of Mariupol are being allowed or at least verbally agreed to. How that translates into safety for civilians who need to flee particularly in the east.

You've seen those devastating images out of northern Kyiv but Kharkiv has endured wave after wave after wave of aerial bombardment, of multiple rocket launcher systems, attacking civilian areas. Mariupol in the far south has been encircled. The mayor there has told CNN there's no food, no water, no electricity for his substantial population.

You got the city of Kherson where the mayor has said that the Russians have taken over but young men are being randomly being arrested. People can't walk in groups of more than two people. Very heavy pressure being put on these cities, a deep need to get people to safety and some hope they might be able to do so down the so-called humanitarian corridors.

But there's no real indication as to how that is going to work and be organized. Whether or not it would be set up by the Red Cross. All of the so-called modalities, Jake, to be worked out, but coming at a very, very dangerous time when the Russians are clearly increasing the pressure on the civilian population possibly because they have been held up in terms of the speed of their military advance, Jake.

TAPPER: Sam, Vladimir Putin has ludicrously claimed to justify his barbarism that he's try to, quote, de-Nazify Ukraine. You met with some of Ukraine's Jews in what I'm told is one of the most holy sites in Hasidic Judaism. What have they told you?

[16:05:01]

KILEY: Well, I'm here in Uman, a sight, a city that's been enjoying a huge number of Hasidic pilgrims every year, particularly for Jewish new year, because this is the burial site of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov 200-something years ago. He was interred here at the age of 38. He is magnet for the Hasidic Jews who have been welcomed here in the local synagogue, though.

And this is what is really striking, Jake, they almost laugh at the idea that Vladimir Putin is sending his troops to kill and die in Ukraine in the name of de-Nazifying a country that is now extremely benign, possibly the most benign regime there's been in many hundreds of years towards Jews. They're welcome here. The synagogue here, they say, is the biggest in Europe. And its basement, which is usually used for the ritual bathing, the mikveh, is now being used as a bunker for Jew and gentile alike.

And indeed the hotel that I'm staying in, normally, houses pilgrims. It's now a location where people are fleeing from Kharkiv or further east traveling through and the Jewish community, such as it is that is left is doing what they can to feed people as they move through, particularly trying to look out for those who have been left behind, people who have lost contact with friends and relatives, trying to get them put back together and sent on their way.

And inside the synagogue the worshippers who remained insist that they are very much in support of Ukraine and very highly con contemptuous of this idea that the country is being invaded in the name of de- Nazification, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah, indeed. Mikveh turned into a bomb shelter, de- Nazification.

Sam Kiley in Uman, Ukraine, thank you so much. Stay safe, please.

We've seen the heart-breaking images of mothers and their young children desperately trying to escape Ukraine. For some families, that's simply not an option.

CNN's Clarissa Ward visited Ukraine's largest children's hospital where doctors have moved their sickest patients underground and promised not to leave their side no matter how bad the Russian punishment of that innocent country gets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outside the Ohmatdyt Hospital, the sound of heavy fighting pierces the night air. The shelling has started, this nurse says. We're in the surgical department for newborn babies. It's so loud.

Exhausted staff hovered nervously in the hallway. This is Ukraine's largest children's hospital. Shutting down is not an option.

Neurosurgeon Dmytro Ishchenko shows us the impact of just one week of war.

So, the children who are too sick to be moved have to stay here in the basement in case the bombardment starts again.

There are ten patients currently being treated in this underground hallway, and they are very sick indeed.

Is this your daughter?

On the floor in one corner, we meet Sonia (ph) and her 3-month-old daughter, Melena (ph). Melena (ph) has a brain tumor.

It's a terrifying situation. We must stay underground and we don't know how long for, she says.

I'm alone here at the hospital and my husband is at home with my other kid.

For seven nights, she has been sleeping on this floor, as the bombing gets closer.

She's saying that the stress of the situation has meant that her milk has dried up and so she's now using formula for her daughter.

With resources being diverted to deal with trauma injuries, parents are stepping in to help where they can. At one point, Valentin (ph) is feeding an unconscious child. He's saying that little baby there is his little boy, but he's helping with this child because their mother can't be here.

I tell him he's strong, there's no other way, he says. God gives us strength.

In this environment, Dr. Ishchenko offers his patients and their families whatever he can, but there are limits.

DR. DMYTRO ISHCHENKO, NEUROSURGEON: It's really very challenging and very tough because we don't have good conditions for our patients.

WARD: Is this dangerous for them, this situation?

ISHCHENKO: Yes, and not only because we have a war. These conditions is not suitable with brain surgeries.

WARD: For now, non-essential procedures are on hold. Eleven-year-old Yarislav's (ph) sutures should have been removed but the risk of infection is too high.

[16:10:06]

His mother Lavmila (ph) tries to comfort him. I will massage you and everything will be okay, she says.

But no one knows how long this war will last. And these children cannot wait forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (on camera): Jake, tonight, we're continuing to hear the crackle of gunfire, the sound of explosions here in the capital as the fighting gets ever closer. Now, the Ukrainians did meet with a Russian delegation today in Belarus. We don't know much about the details of that conversation, but one thing they did seem to agree upon or at least start to drop the parameters of some kind of an agreement for was the establishment of humanitarian corridors in some of these cities that are getting hit so hard.

That, of course, absolutely essential not just for children like the one you just saw in our story, but for children and civilians all over this country who are being bombarded day in and day out and it's only getting worse, Jake.

TAPPER: Clarissa, what can you tell us about the fighting happening in the north of where you are, Ukrainian authorities say a number of civilians have been killed in the last day.

WARD: It's horrifying, Jake, honestly. Every day we're combing through the social media video and CNN working hard to try to geo- locate it.

And today, there was just a deluge of terrifying images coming in, particularly from a town of Chernihiv which you mentioned earlier on the show. They're now saying, Ukrainian authorities, that 33 people were killed there today. If you look at the video that is coming out, I mean, they're truly apocalyptic type of scenes.

An apartment building completely destroyed. Hard to imagine how anyone could have survived that. There is also -- that is 100 kilometers or 70 miles or so north of here in Kyiv, but we're seeing terrible fighting much closer to the capital. The town of Borodyanka to the northeast here or northwest, excuse me, 30 miles northwest of here has also seen horrendous air strikes, artillery, and also in the center of the country.

If you recall, we talked yesterday about this nuclear power plant and those incredibly brave people who were standing out in front of it and refusing to allow the Russians access to it. They had brought in garbage trucks to try to prevent tanks from moving onto the plant. We don't know any longer who is in the control of the plant but the situation there today got very out of control, continuous shelling, thick, black smoke.

Honestly, Jake, just no ending in sight. It keeps getting worse every day.

TAPPER: Clarissa Ward live in Kyiv, Ukraine, thank you. Please stay safe.

Joining us now to discuss, Ukrainian journalist Anatolii Shara. He's sheltering in Kyiv right now. He's in the dark for his safety.

Anatolii, I want to ask you about your efforts to cover this war as a journalist, but first, how are you doing? How is your family doing?

ANATOLII SHARA, UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST: It's really hard because you can hear constant air strikes in Kyiv. Russians are using airplanes and ballistic rockets to reach Kyiv center. Because they are losing in the battlefields, that's why they are trying to intimidate Ukrainians who live in Kyiv this time. So it's quite complicated times.

TAPPER: U.S. intelligence suggests that the Russian military intends to surround and attempt to capture Kyiv. Why is it so important for you to stay in Kyiv?

SHARA: For me personally, I had a chance to leave, but I want to stay because it's my city and I want the world to know how Russians have committed war crimes because they are using ballistic rockets against residential areas, areas where people are living. They are not waging the war against the Ukrainian military, they are waging the war against Ukrainian civilians and the world must know about it. That's why I'm staying, to tell you the truth of what is going on on the ground.

TAPPER: I want to show our viewers one of the videos you sent us. You went over to the Kyiv TV tower after it was targeted by Russian strikes.

Tell us about what you've seen happening in these last few days.

SHARA: Sir -- it's like a never-ending story because all of this is happening at the same time.

[16:15:02]

You heard the sound of the siren. It means that you're under grave danger of air strike because the Russian airplanes had taken Kyiv or they are shelling Kyiv with ballistic rockets.

You can hear just the sound and you have only five, ten seconds to hide. And this is a repeated moment. So we are living just from curfew time to curfew time and under constant shelling in Kyiv.

TAPPER: This is not a new topic for you to be covering, obviously, the Russians invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014. You visited the front lines in Donbas in 2016, where the Ukrainian military has been fighting Russian-backed separatists. What is it like to watch cities across your country fall to the Russian military?

SHARA: You are quite right, sir. I have experience in Donbas fighting, but I have never experienced airplane bombing and have never experienced such big numbers of casualties because, of course, I have seen some battlefields, some battles, but I have never seen such a great number of burned down tanks, APCs, corpses all around Ukrainian cities and villages like this on the outskirts of Kyiv.

And Russians, they don't want to take their guys. There are a lot of injured just die on the roads and they are just bombed because our military are trying to do the best to defend their country. But nobody -- I ask Ukraine military, did someone just try to get out some corpses of Russian soldiers, the injured guys, or maybe they come back to take their prisoners, nobody. Russia just don't give a damn, I'm sorry about this word, about her boys.

It's just, you know, I don't know how to describe it. These guys are like, you know, like cannon meat. That is also what is a terrifying fact.

TAPPER: Anatolii Shara, thank you so much for what you're doing on the ground. It's so important. Thank you so much for are time today.

Stay in touch with our show and please -- please stay safe.

A humanitarian crisis unfolding before the world's eyes. Now, more than 1 million people are escaping from Ukraine. Many of them are children traveling all alone.

Plus, becoming more and more isolated, getting around or out of Russia just got more difficult. Now, there's no way to make flight reservations on Russia's state airline.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:13]

TAPPER: We're back with our world lead and a staggering tragic new milestone. At least 1 million refugees have left Ukraine, 1 million, just in the last week since the Russian invasion of Ukraine officially began. That's according to the United Nations.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports from the Polish/Ukrainian border now for us where police officials say heartbreakingly a big number of those escaping Ukraine are unaccompanied children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): a Ukrainian family's mad rush to safety, parents' desperate attempt to shield their two children from the terror only war can bring.

The family lives just outside of Kyiv. The explosions rattled their bones.

We fell to the ground. We were shielding our children with our bodies. We got so scared. This is beyond words. We ran. We just ran.

But the adults will shed no tears here. They have made a pact, smile and pretend everything is okay, even when they had to take the children to a shelter as bombs exploded.

How are you still smiling? Why am I still smiling? Because it helps us stay alive. My youngest

daughter was crying all night long. She asked me, why are you laughing, mom? Why are you joking? I told her, it keeps us alive and keeps us mentally strong.

We saw that strength on display by hundreds of mothers traveling alone with their children across the border into Poland, their husbands left behind to fight.

But not everyone at the Medyka border crossing is coming into Poland. We witnessed men going the other way, to join the fight in Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Ukrainian, going in to fight against Russians.

SIDNER: But for a million other Ukrainians, fleeing is the best option, to save themselves and their children. For this family, the husband, though, remains with them even though Ukraine's government has demanded men of his age must stay put. He's been allowed out. His duty is to his family, he says. He is the only bread winner because his wife's duty is to the children who struggle with disabilities.

At the train station, their youngest smiles and clutches her most prized possessions, her old fuzzy tiger and a new keepsake, a handful of gravel from her homeland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): A handful of gravel that she brought from her home because she wanted to reminding herself what it feels like to be in Ukraine. I want to show you where we are now because this is where the family first showed up. The border is about 20 minutes from here. This is the main train station, Przemysl.

There is a whole manner of things going on here, Jake. So many things. There is food when you first walk in. There is a free SIM card when you walk in to my right.

[16:25:04]

And then outside there is a huge sign that is way at the end there, but right as you come off the platform. And that sign, Jake, says "Here in Poland, you are safe."

And that is a message to all of those people who are fleeing war right now in Ukraine and coming through this train station in Przemysl -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Sara Sidner with an important report from the Poland/Ukraine border -- thank you so much. Appreciate it.

President Biden just announced some new sanctions on some new group -- on a new group of Russian elites. What else can Biden do to help Ukraine? Something that won't start World War III? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:30:30]

TAPPER: And we're back with our world lead this afternoon. President Biden announced more economic sanctions on a group of Russian elites during a meeting with his entire cabinet. Now, eight Russian oligarchs as well as their family members and associates will be subject to full sanctions. More than 50 other oligarchs will be subjected to a U.S. travel ban.

To be clear, this is a slim list, compared to the sanctions that the European Union put in place earlier this week, on their list of oligarchs.

As CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports, it is the latest attempt by Biden to squeeze Russia's President Vladimir Putin as he continues to rain terror and death on the innocent civilians of Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden convening his cabinet at the White House as Russia tightens its grip on Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to continue to support the Ukrainian people.

COLLINS: With Russian forces gaining ground, Biden announcing the U.S. is sanctioning more Russian oligarchs, their family members and even President Vladimir Putin's own spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.

BIDEN: Today, I'm announcing that we're adding dozens of names to the list including one of Russia's wealthiest billionaires, and I am banning travel to America by more than 50 Russian oligarchs, their families and their close associates.

COLLINS: The State Department placing visa restrictions on 19 oligarchs and 47 of their family members and close associates as the White House hopes to squeeze Putin by squeezing his inner circle.

BIDEN: The goal was to maximize the impact on Putin and Russia and to minimize the harm on us and our allies and friends around the world.

COLLINS: Earlier, Biden on the phone with the leaders of the so- called Quad Alliance, Australia, Japan and India, one day after India abstained from a United Nations resolution demanding Russia stop its war, as Biden is promising more assistance for Ukraine.

BIDEN: We're going to continue to support the people with direct assistance.

COLLINS: The Biden administration also asking Congress for $10 billion and more aid for Ukraine, for more defense equipment, electrical grid protection and help with the humanitarian crisis.

Pelosi is throwing her support behind bipartisan calls to ban Russian oil imports, increasing the pressure on Biden to take action. REPORTER: Where do you stand?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm all for that. Ban it.

REPORTER: Ban the oil?

PELOSI: Ban the oil coming from Russia.

COLLINS: While Biden has said the option is on the table, the White House is urging caution amid concerns of higher gas prices.

Is the administration moving closer to banning Russian oil imports?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't have any assessment of that for you. I just wanted to note the difference between them or there are several different components of options.

COLLINS: I guess what's the calculus in waiting if it's ultimately the step the United States is going to take?

PSAKI: Well, there's a policy process that is undergone for any decision that is made. Sometimes those move rapidly and often there are a range of factors that are discussed as those decisions are made.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (on camera): So, Jake, while president Biden has said that is something that is on the table, of course, Jen Psaki saying they are looking at ways to scale back purchases of Russian oil. They just have to balance that with maintaining a global steady supply of oil. I think, Jake, if you look to see if this is ultimately going to be a move that the United States chooses to make after that policy process that Psaki was talking about, look for them to do something in tandem with European allies because basically every major step they have taken has been in coordination with Europe.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Let's discuss with CNN global affairs analyst Susan Glasser and CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd.

Susan, let me start with you.

Biden has already sanctioned a number of top Russian oligarchs with close their adult children. Do you expect these new sanctions on this new group of Russian multi hundred millionaires and billionaires will make any difference in stopping Putin?

SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Well, you know, Jake, look, it obviously fits with the political temperature at the moment if you will. There's a certain satisfaction in seeing yachts seized of Russian gazillionaires who have been supporting Putin. But one of the concerns at the moment is Putin's extreme isolation. And, you know, had he polled the oligarchs before this terrible war, it strikes me -- yes? Hello?

TAPPER: Yeah, we can hear you, Susan. Keep going.

GLASSER: Oh, great. I was just saying that, Jake, it seems to me that the war would not have happened if it was up to the oligarchs in the first place. It's obviously been terrible for their business.

So the concern is that this is punitive, but it doesn't necessarily change anything about what's happening right now.

TAPPER: All right. Phil, I want you to take a listen to Senator Angus King, independent of Maine. He's a member of the Intelligence Committee and Armed Services Committee in the Senate.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Vladimir Putin today is the most dangerous man in the world. He has this blind ambition to reunite the greater Russia. At the same time, he's sitting on one of the world's great nuclear arsenals.

So this is something we have to carefully calculate, not shy away from confrontation but be sure that it's carefully calibrated and that we're doing what's necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So I guess the question is, what is the maximum that the U.S. government and the European allies can do while also avoiding World War III?

PHILLIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Boy, this is a really fine avenue to walk. Let me give you two pieces of it and then the wild card piece. One, the Americans don't get directly involved. We can help but we cannot participate. For example, the U.S. military in operations in Ukraine.

Piece two, the other side of the lanes in the road, the rules if you will, would be Putin doesn't touch a NATO ally. So, if you take those as the rules, you go down and the business I was in is being concerned about the law of unintended consequences.

Let's say this goes on for a while and surreptitiously, clandestinely via secret means, the Americans and Europeans start sending in weapons via Poland. OK. What do the Russians do then? They start sabotaging locations in Poland?

There are vague rules of the road to avoid World War III. They don't do -- NATO -- we don't do direct involvement but, boy, there's a lot between that I think could go wrong in the coming months.

TAPPER: Susan, Sweden -- hypothetically what happens if Sweden wants to join NATO? Georgia wants to join NATO? Finland wants to join NATO?

The rules as Phil just outlined, I don't know think Putin will respect that. He doesn't want NATO in Finland or Georgia.

GLASSER: Absolutely, Jake. And in fact that's the biggest concern that I hear from Russia experts right now is this concern that Putin thinks we're already possibly crossing his red line, right? As Phil said, the rules of the road are not clear. If Putin believes that NATO already is essentially propping up the Ukrainian military and waging this fight against him, he may already believe that he's at war with us, even if we don't believe that we are at war with him.

I think that's the thing that is keeping many, many people up at night who are looking closely at this, is that we may already be past the point of communicating to Putin that we are not in conflict with you.

TAPPER: Phil, there is this concern that Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska who's on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has raised, which is whether or not the U.S. is sufficiently enough sharing real time, actionable intelligence with Ukraine.

Jen Psaki at the White House says that the U.S. has been sharing intelligence in a timely manner. What could one of the hold-ups me? The White House insists their lawyers are not stopping anything. What do you think might be going on?

MUDD: Sources and methods. That is someone says we're intercepting Russian military communications. They're too sensitive to pass quickly to Ukraine. We have to have a delay process to ensure that there's a term we use in intelligence that we mask that intelligence we're collecting. I would be surprised to see that's happening. This is a presidential decision. The president looks at the intel players and says, as George Tenet, the CIA director told me, when there's intelligence for an ally, you pass it and you pass it immediately. There are ways to do this we can talk about, Jake. There are ways to mask that intelligence so the Ukrainians don't know how we gathered it. But I would be really shocked to learn there's a delay in passing information about one of the biggest military conflicts we've seen since World War II.

TAPPER: Phil Mudd, Susan Glasser, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

A big reveal by the January 6th committee which could spell theoretically big legal trouble for Donald Trump. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:44:03]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, the first signs of a possible, possible criminal case against former President Donald Trump. In a new court filing, the January 6 House Committee alleges that the former president was part of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

CNN's Ryan Nobles joins us live from Capitol Hill.

Ryan, this is not a formal criminal indictment. The House committee does not have that power.

So walk us through what this might mean.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Jake. It's not even a referral by the House Committee to the Department of Justice to investigate a crime. Instead what this is designed to do is prevent John Eastman, a conservative lawyer, from invoking attorney/client privilege when it comes to keeping a tranche of emails secret from the January 6 Select Committee.

But in order to get past that attorney/client privilege, what the committee is alleging is that they have discovered evidence that leads them to believe that Eastman was involved in a criminal conspiracy that involved the former President Donald Trump.

[16:45:02]

This is what part of their legal brief read last night. It says, quote, evidence and information available to the committee establishes a good faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts and that the plaintiff's legal assistance was use in the furtherance of those activities.

The committee laid out a pretty compelling case in this lengthy brief. It was more than 200 pages. It included transcripts of depositions, information that we were seeing for the very first time. And while you're right to point out, Jake, this is not a criminal referral, it certainly gives us a glimpse into the direction the investigation that the committee is headed and that it could ultimately end up in that place.

But committee members were quick to tell us today they aren't there yet and it's ultimately the responsibility of the Department of Justice to investigate a crime if they believe one exists.

TAPPER: Ryan, you've also just learned about a new subpoena from the January 6 Committee?

NOBLES: Yeah, that's right. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former member of the Trump campaign. She's, of course, the fiancee of Donald Trump Jr. And someone that was actively involved in raising money for the groups that held rallies in and around Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to and on January 6th.

Guilfoyle met with the committee last week. She actually came forward voluntarily but she abruptly ended her meeting with the committee because she was upset there were members of the committee participating in the event and she accused the committee of leaking the news of this event to the news media. It's something the committee denies.

They also say that they never agreed to not have committee members as part of the deposition. It's something they do in almost every one of these cases. They promised last week that they were going to compel her testimony with a subpoena and they issued that subpoena to Guilfoyle, telling her she is being forced to come before the committee and provide information and an interview as part of their investigation -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Ryan Nobles, thanks so much.

No reservations and growing more isolated. Why Putin's war is making it impossible for Russia's airline to fly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:54]

TAPPER: In our world lead, an important and potentially crippling development, connecting Russians to the rest of the world, as big corporations continue to cut their ties with Russia over its brutal war against Ukraine.

Russia's main airline, Aeroflot, has now been cut off from the global system used for airline reservations.

CNN's aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, is here.

Pete, it's hard to run an airline when you have no spare parts coming in, no airspace to fly through and now, of course, a limited ability to allow people to reserve seats. This seems like a pretty big deal.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This is what crippling Russia's economy looks like. Think about this, Russia about twice the size of the continental U.S. in terms of area, so this move will have a big impact on just getting around. Aeroflot is Russia's largest airline and corners the market. It now cannot sell tickets.

Aeroflot has agreements ended by a company called Sabre, that is the reservation system you probably used but just don't realize it. Sabre runs the back end of bookings on sites like Google flights, Expedia, Travelocity. It also operates behind the scenes at airlines, travel agencies and even some major corporations.

Industry experts had been wondering when this would happen exactly. They know that if you want to bring an airline to its knees, go for the reservation system. In fact, we saw that here in the U.S. during a big Sabre outage last spring. Sabre's CEO has been monitoring the evolve situation in Ukraine with increasing concern and we are taking a stand against this military conflict, just one more way that Russia is becoming more isolated from the rest of the world.

First the U.K., Canada and the E.U. closed their airspace to Russian flights. Boeing and Airbus said they would stop doing business with Russians and just last night the U.S. officially closed its airspace to Russian flights. One industry analyst tells us that the measures the aviation world is taking on its own could be just as powerful as any sanction taken by any government, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Pete Muntean, that's fascinating, thank you so much.

The southern part of Ukraine under siege. Russia taking out one city's electricity and its water, that Ukrainians are refusing to give up. We're going to talk to one grandmother who's knitting camouflage netting.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:51]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

This hour a dark and twisted mindset demonstrated by Vladimir Putin today, who signaled he's nowhere near ending Russia's brutal and unprovoked war against the people of Ukraine, with an estimated thousands of Ukrainian civilians already killed in just a week. Putin on Russian state TV today praised their killers, Russian soldiers. Putin bragged that this murderous operation is going according to plan and Putin said, quote, I will never give up my belief that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

That came after Putin's 90-minute call with French President Emmanuel Macron. The French warned after that call, quote, the worst is yet to come.

Here in the U.S. the Biden administration is weighing its next move. Just hours ago, President Biden met with his cabinet saying severe economic sanctions are choking off Putin's access to technology and the global financial system. Biden added that world leaders are trying to come up with ways to maximize the impact on Russia and minimize the impact on the United States and economies of the allies.