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Blizzard To Bring "Life-Threatening" Conditions To Western U.S.; Gusty Winds Expected To Fuel Largest Wildfire In Texas History; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) Discusses Tight Security And Fears Of Unrest Around Navalny Funeral. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 01, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON WILLIAMS, E'MINIE HUGHES' MOTHER: She's a baby. She don't understand what's actually going on. So it's been really devastating. I pray and hope that she's not in no type of harm's way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So I should clarify it was February 22, not February 2, when she was last seen. But that Amber Alert has been issued and the search for this young girl continues this morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ed, some of the details there are really concerning. Thank you so much for being there and keeping us up to speed on that -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, people are risking their lives and their freedom to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny. People heard chanting "We won't forget" and "Russia without Putin" from the crowd. His coffin has arrived at the cemetery as thousands of people are turning out despite Kremlin efforts to shut this funeral and memorial down.

And the last thing the Texas Panhandle needs right now, dry air and more wind gusts. The new fear today, that the remaining wildfires there in Texas are about to get new fuel as firefighters are struggling to control what's become the largest wildfire in Texas state history.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:35:45]

BOLDUAN: Really, the video speaks for itself. We will show you. It is -- we've seen a sea of people in Moscow defiant and risking their own safety to show up and say goodbye to Alexei Navalny. We have reports of chanting "We won't forget" and "Putin Without -- or "Russia Without Putin." Alexei Navalny's funeral service has just finished. His body is now at

the burial site. And we've just received an image from inside the service we want to show you, showing Alexei Navalny's open casket covered in flowers as mourners surround it. His mother there as well.

And one of Navalny's senior aides said this morning that she hopes his death, quote, "will become the starting point for the collapse of the Putin regime."

Joining us now is CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia Operations, Steve Hall. Steve, just speak to the images that we've seen come out. The crowds that are showing up. The chants that we're hearing from the crowds.

What do you think of these scenes?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER CIA CHIEF OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS (via Webex by Cisco): You know, Kate, I think what we're seeing is really two very important things from the Russian government.

The first is their incredible fear and concern that they have that Navalny's death and the symbolism that goes with that -- the burial, the service -- the church services, and that sort of thing will be a rallying cry and a point where opposition forces that exist inside of Russia will use as an opportunity to try to put pressure on the Putin regime.

The other thing that we're seeing, though, sort of on a human level, is the -- is just the lack of humanity. Just the approach that the Russian government has taken. We've seen reporting recently of how difficult it was for the family to even get a hearse to carry Navalny's remains because, of course, If you're in that business and you involve yourself even in a normal just business fashion inside of Russia, you can face retribution from the Russian Security Services.

So it's a very nervous time for the Putin regime and it will be very interesting to see what the next couple of days bring.

BERMAN: We were able to hear from Matthew Chance, our reporter on the ground, briefly a short time ago. But for a long stretch, Steve, his signal was blocked or jammed.

What does that tell you?

HALL: Well, I mean, the Russians have a long history of controlling the media and being very uncomfortable with foreign journalists inside of Russia because journalists that are not Russians have a tendency to tell the truth. And that's extremely difficult for the -- for the Kremlin to manage. They don't want the truth about Navalny and other things going on inside of the Russian government right now to reach Russian citizens.

So, yeah, it's a very difficult, very dangerous time not just for foreign journalists, though, for Russian journalists, Russian oppositionists -- really, anybody who dares to stick their head up a little bit inside of the Russian regime to say hey, this is an important event. This was an important person. We need to look at our government. Very, very dangerous times to try to do that right now in Russia.

BOLDUAN: You mentioned that with the next couple of days are going -- what's going to happen in the next couple of days. What it's going to look like will be interesting and important. There are a lot of questions today of what now? Where can and does this movement go?

What does your experience tell you about what will happen, what needs to happen, what role if any the United States should play in that?

HALL: Yeah, I like the way you put that, Kate. What needs to happen and what will happen, unfortunately, inside of Russia are usually two different things.

You know, what needs to happen, obviously, for anybody who cares about democracy, for anybody who cares about Russia, or if you're living in Russia and you want to have any semblance of a normal life where you can participate in society in the way that you want to, that's -- you know, that just doesn't happen in Russia now. It's a closed society.

And I think a lot of people in the West don't realize that because it looks like a normal place. You look at the streets. You look at supermarkets. You look at things like that. And it's not at all like that.

What needs to happen is opposition to Putin. The problem is that so many of Putin's and the Kremlin's resources from their security and police services are dedicated to identifying and penetrating those opposition organizations to try to nullify them. To try to make them -- to try to make it impossible for them to operate.

I don't hold out a lot of hope that a strong opposition force in Russia will come up in the wake of Navalny. It could happen. You can't rule everything out. It's just extremely dangerous given the amount of resources that the Kremlin puts into this.

[07:40:03]

BOLDUAN: Yeah, it is. Even with that reality in mind, it is still extraordinary. The two people who stopped to speak to Matthew Chance giving -- you know, saying why they're turning out and also being very clear that they -- what they can't say. Saying I can't -- I can't say beyond that.

HALL: Right.

BOLDUAN: And just kind of the stark reality of what everyone is up against, though they are showing up to walk in that procession.

It's good to see you, Steve. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Today, President Biden is expected to sign a stopgap spending bill that will fend off a partial government shutdown at least one more week. Congress will have to do this all over again ahead of another shutdown deadline next Friday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to cut a deal on this short-term version may put him in some kind of a danger from within his own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): It's not where we need to be to actually fundamentally change the town. We have a trillion dollars of interest in 2026, guys. I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Something's got to stop. Something's got to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, CNN's Lauren Fox is in Washington with the no- shutdown Friday but maybe shutdown next week.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, crisis averted for one single week. About seven days that lawmakers now have to finish up this next tranche of bills, and it is something that Speaker Johnson has been confident that they are going to be able to pull off.

But I think what you are hearing from conservatives is two things. One, they're very frustrated. Two, they also realize that this trajectory was one that was set back in June. When the debt ceiling bill passed there were budget numbers put in place that really set this course. And so, many conservatives, while they are saying that Johnson bears some responsibility -- they are also arguing this was a path that Kevin McCarthy started them on, and once they were on it, it was extremely difficult to get off of it.

We should also note that some of the frustration coming from conservatives that they are not passing individual bills and that this will likely end up in a situation where they have what are known as minibuses on Capitol Hill -- just larger tranches of spending packages -- that is in part because conservatives blocked a series of individual spending bills on the floor last summer, into the fall. That made it extremely difficult for leadership to move anything with just Republican votes in a narrow majority.

So while you're hearing conservatives complain, they are, to some extent, to blame for the fact that those individual bills couldn't pass -- John.

BERMAN: If there's one thing that bothers people while they're eating breakfast it's talk of a minibus bill right there. Man, do people get riled up about that.

Lauren Fox explaining why things are so convoluted on Capitol Hill. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Don't you start talking minibus.

BERMAN: I --

BOLDUAN: Don't you dare. BERMAN: Oh, no -- can't have a minibus or omnibus. Martha, they're doing the minibus again.

BOLDUAN: What's in between a mini and an omni?

BERMAN: Omni is everything. Mini is just some of -- some of the bills -- more than one.

BOLDUAN: And what's in between it?

BERMAN: Um, maxibus? No one says that for good reason.

BOLDUAN: No, exactly.

BERMAN: All right.

BOLDUAN: OK. We'll get -- we'll get back to it.

Forecasters warning of, potentially, feet of snow in parts of the western United States as a huge storm is heading in -- settling in right now. The National Weather Service even warning people in the Sierras that at this point, it's too late to evacuate.

CNN's meteorologist Derek Van Dam -- he's tracking this for us. We knew -- you were warning that it was coming and it's now setting in. What are you looking at, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Kate, this is about as extreme of a winter storm that we could possibly get here within the United States. Disorienting whiteout conditions, impossible travel conditions anticipated. Not only is it heavy snow, blinding blizzard-type weather conditions, and also damaging winds that have already gusted over 100 miles per hour.

So the big question on everyone's mind, how much snow is realistically possible? And we were debating whether or not we showed this graphic with these numbers, but it is important to note it is not out of the realm of possibilities that the highest peaks in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in California could receive up to 12 feet.

Now, let's bring it back down to Lake Tahoe level where people actually live and reside. The potential for a crippling, punishing blizzard is still in the cards. Four to six feet near the Lake Tahoe level. That's 5,000 to 6,000 feet. You got down to 3,000 feet, we're talking one to three feet of snow.

And this is not just a Sierra Nevada Mountain range snowstorm. This will spill over to the lee side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges as well. So, Reno, I'm looking at you. We have some new information to pass along. We have blizzard warnings for the eastern sections of Nevada. The satellite and radar lighting up like a Christmas tree already. Look at that band of snow. Interstate 80 will be virtually impossible.

This amount of snow, Kate, by the way, could bury homes, roadways become unrecognizable, and 10-foot drifts up to one-story buildings are certainly in the cards here -- Kate.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: All right, Derek. Thank you so much. We're going to obviously keep watching this one -- John.

BERMAN: All right, drifts over one-story buildings.

All right. Stunning new video shows the moment two boats collide, sending more than a dozen people to the hospital. And the first assistant director of the "Rust" film production testifies about the gun Alec Baldwin used in the fatal shooting of the film's cinematographer.

(COMMERCIAL)

BOLDUAN: Also on our radar this hour. Today, a public memorial service will be held in Texas for 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham ahead of her funeral tomorrow. Now, Audrii's body was found in a river last week. She had been reported missing for days. Police have charged a 42-year-old man who was living in a trailer on her family's property with her murder.

[07:50:10]

Now, on the sixth day of the trial of "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez- Reed, the film's first assistant director, David Halls -- he testified about the gun that Alec Baldwin used in the fatal shooting of the movie's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HALLS, FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, "RUST": I was negligent in checking the gun properly. I don't recall what rotation and my recollection is seeing three to four rounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if she had done a full rotation you would have seen every cylinder in that, right?

HALLS: In retrospect, I would like to think I would have. I did an improper check of that firearm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Halls also said that he had no ability to compute that a live round of ammunition would have been in the gun.

And there's also new video in showing the moment that two boats collided in Miami -- in a Miami waterway last month. Thirteen people were hospitalized after this. Some of the victims -- they are now suing the boat charter company and attorneys for them released the video as part of the lawsuit, saying that it shows the boat's crew members were negligent. Some of the victims, they say, were left with permanent injuries -- John.

BERMAN: That's horrible to see. All right. This morning, a new warning in Texas as the wildfires rage on. Gusty winds and warm temperatures -- they could make things even worse in the coming days. The forecast calls for wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour tomorrow and even stronger on Sunday. Forty-mile-per- hour winds could fan the flames then.

The Smokehouse Fire is officially the state's largest wildfire on record. More than a million acres burned and just three percent contained right now. Officials say the rough terrain is making it harder for crews to get access.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in Amarillo with the latest. Gloria, what are you seeing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I was here in this very same spot yesterday. And we got a little bit of rain and a little bit of snow so it brought some relief to this area, putting some moisture into the ground. But all of that snow and that moisture is gone for the most part.

And today, the temperatures are going to increase and, as you were just saying, the winds are going to pick up. We have very dry conditions here and the combination of those two elements essentially act as fuel to that fire which, as you said, hasn't been fully contained.

I just want to show you being me here you can see some of the devastation that this area has seen. You can see this is what used to be a small business, Rose's Trailer Sales. And that car there is completely burnt out. The entire building -- the inside of it is burned. This roof has collapsed. And there are a lot of structures here in the area that look exactly like this.

One thing that's sort of interesting and both bizarre to look at is that as you drive along you see some properties that have been completely destroyed and then you see some others that are still standing. And that's just how this fire has moved. It has moved at incredible speed.

And that's what the concern here is going into the weekend -- that the fire risk is going to increase. The winds are picking up. And since it's not fully contained yet, people here are watching to see if they have to take precautions. Those firefighters still battling the flames -- John.

BERMAN: Gloria Pazmino in Amarillo. Some difficult days ahead. Thank you for being there -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So the United States says that it conducted two self-defense strikes against anti-ship cruise missiles in the Red Sea. They also shot down, they say, an unmanned aerial vehicle over the region on Thursday.

Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand. She has much more. She is always gathering these details for us from the Pentagon. Natasha, what more are you learning about these strikes? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate. So these strikes took place yesterday between the hours of around 11:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Eastern Time. And U.S. Central Command forces -- they did target about six anti-ship cruise missiles that were preparing to launch, they say, from Yemen -- from those Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. And they also took down a drone that was flying over the area.

Now, it is important to note here that this is not coming in a vacuum. These strikes are really happening on a daily basis. Because, according to Central Command, these ballistic missiles that the Houthis are preparing to launch against commercial ships in the Red Sea are not only targeting those commercial vessels but they are also putting U.S. Naval ships and U.S. forces in jeopardy.

Part of the problem here, of course, is that the U.S. does not have a great idea of just how much equipment and weaponry the Houthis still have. And so the question becomes how much longer is the U.S. going to have to carry out these kind of whack-a-mole strikes against these Houthi weapons -- these missiles and drones that they continue to fire into the Red Sea.

[07:55:03]

Another part of the problem, of course, is that Iran is continuing to supply the Houthis with this kind of equipment. So while we have seen Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria stop their attacks largely on U.S. forces, the Houthis still a wild card. And they're continuing to launch these attacks into the Red Sea on a daily basis, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. The question remains how much more do the Houthis have exactly, which means how much -- how much longer is the United States going to be at this? Stand by. Stand by.

It's good to see you, Natasha. Thanks for your reporting -- John.

BERMAN: "Putin is a killer." That is just one of the defiant chants from the mourners who came to pay their respects to Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. He is being laid to rest. His body just arrived at the cemetery moments ago.

With us now is Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democratic from Connecticut and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

We've seen remarkable images all morning long of mourners streaming past our reporter Matthew Chance who was standing outside the church where this funeral was taking place. Now, that is when we could see Matthew because, for a time, his signal was blocked or jammed.

What does it tell you that his signal was blocked or jammed during the funeral of Alexei Navalny?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Well, Vladimir Putin is a killer. He is also deeply fearful of his own people and so he is going to do everything possible to squash information getting out about the number of people who are on the streets today. And frankly, all of those individuals are now putting their lives at risk because of the way that Vladimir Putin crushes dissent inside of Russia.

Listen, the students of history know that Russian regimes tend to fall during periods of time where Russia overextends its military abroad. These ultimately -- the people -- get fed up that instead of money going to help them, to feed them, to support their kids, it's being used for military adventurism with no real point other than conquest overseas or outside of Russia's territory.

So, Putin is worried that as conditions inside Russia worsen and as he spends more money in Ukraine that the people are going to turn on him. And I think that these scenes today show you that Putin's hold on power is not complete and it's something we should all continue to watch.

BERMAN: We just pictures -- live pictures being fed back in of the coffin carrying Alexei Navalny -- the lid being put on its arrival at the cemetery.

What does it say to you that there are Russians brave enough to speak to our reporter or, for that matter, Ukrainians still brave enough to fight when the United States has not moved to send new aid yet?

MURPHY: So, Putin thought that he was going to march into Ukraine and be able to finish the job in a matter of weeks. He never thought that Ukraine was going to stand up to him, regain half of the territory that he took in the initial days, and be able to resist for over two years.

Every single day that Ukraine continues to hold out and continues to hold that line is another day that Vladimir Putin is -- his hold on power starts to weaken. Because he is spending extraordinary amounts of money fighting this war -- money that the Russian people know is not going to them and to their neighborhoods.

And so every day that we continue to help Ukraine fight -- first and foremost, that's in service of protecting Ukraine -- but there's no doubt it is also weakening Vladimir Putin's hold on power. And there's no doubt that ultimately, it makes it less likely that he's going to be able to try to cause unrest in other parts of the region -- in particular, NATO countries where the United States might ultimately have to fight Putin and Russia directly.

BERMAN: Senator, you led the bipartisan negotiations to reach some kind of a deal on enhancing border security and addressing some of the issues surrounding illegal immigration, particularly over the southern border.

Yesterday, both President Biden and Donald Trump went to the border on the same day. Donald Trump, when he was speaking, used the language of an invasion and talked about the United States being invaded.

What do you think of that language?

MURPHY: I just think it's disgusting. It's racist. It's xenophobic. Donald Trump doesn't know what an invasion looks like. Go to Ukraine

and see what happens when a neighboring country actually invades you and kills hundreds of thousands -- tens of thousands of your citizens.

The fact of the matter is Donald Trump wants the southern border to remain chaotic. We had a chance to pass that bipartisan, tough border security bill that would have allowed the president to close sections of the border when crossings get too high. You know who stopped that bill from becoming law? Donald Trump -- because he does not want the border under control. He wants it chaotic because he thinks it helps him politically.

And so it was a real contract yesterday. Joe Biden at the border asking for Congress to give him exceptional new powers and resources to control the border, and Donald Trump seeing the border not as a problem that needs to be fixed but as a problem that he can exploit. And I think the American public are on to this.