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CNN Reports, Investigation I.D.'s Russian Agents Who Tailed Navalny Before Poisoning; Vaccine Rollout in Full Swing as U.S. Tops 300,000 Deaths. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Now, an exclusive investigation can reveal a top secret mission tracking Navalny, involving experts in chemical weapons who work for the FSB, the Russian successor to the Soviet KGB.

This non-discreet building on the outskirts of Moscow was the headquarters of the operation.

We're staying in the car because we don't want to attract any attention. But this compound is part of the Institution of Criminalistics of the FSB, Russia's security service. And beyond that fence, an elite team of operatives has been tracking Navalny's every move for more than three years.

CNN has examined hundreds of pages of phone records and flight manifests that reveal the backgrounds, communications and travel of the group. The documents were obtained by online investigative outlet Bellingcat, which, two years ago, identified the Russian military intelligence agents allegedly sent to England to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

The FSB toxins team was activated in 2017, just days after Navalny announced he would run for president in the election the next year. The team's leader, Stanislav Makshakov, an expert in chemical weapons, several of the team are doctors, but they weren't recruited to save lives.

I just wanted to show you some photographs here and ask you if if you recognize -- if you've ever seen any of the men in those photographs?

ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: No.

WARD: You don't recognize them?

NAVALNY: I don't recognize any of them.

WARD: Would it surprise you to learn that some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years?

NAVALNY: This is absolutely terrifying. I don't know if terrifying is a good word.

WARD: I think it's a pretty good word.

NAVALNY: Yes, but the -- well, I understand how system work in Russia. I understand that Putin hates me. And I understand that these people who are sitting in the Kremlin, they are ready to kill.

WARD: Is it your contention that Vladimir Putin must have been aware of this?

NAVALNY: Of course, 100 percent. It could have not been happened without direct order of Putin. Because it's -- well, it's big scale.

WARD: In the weeks before he was poisoned, Navalny and his wife, Yulia, took a short vacation to a resort in Kaliningrad. Our investigation has uncovered that the FSB team followed. According to the Bellingcat, the security cameras inside the hotel were mysteriously turned off while they were there. Navalny says Yulia felt uncomfortable. She took videos and photos of men she believed were following them.

This man, I also don't recognize, she says. Hours after the FSB's toxins team left Kaliningrad, Yulia suddenly felt sick.

NAVALNY: She said, well, I feel really, really bad. Do you need ambulance? No. Do you have something -- is it heart? No. Is it stomach? No. Is it head? No. Could you describe it? No. And then we approach a restaurant and she said, well, I feel like worse in my life.

I never felt it before, but, unfortunately, and, of course, I couldn't connect these dots. Now I am -- now I realize how bad she was.

WARD: Yulia recovered but the FSB unit was apparently not done with the Navalnys.

In the days after Kaliningrad, cell phone data shows that several senior FSB officials were in regular contact with a lab in this compound. It's called the Signal Institute. And CNN and Bellingcat have established that it has been involved with researching and developing Novichok.

In mid-August, Navalny and his team traveled to Siberia. At least five members of the FSB unit make the same journey on different flights. In Tomsk, Navalny and his colleagues stay at the Xander Hotel. We traveled to the Siberian city to retrace his steps on the night he was poisoned.

So this is the room that Alexey Navalny was staying in and it looks like my room here is right next door.

According to Navalny, he went to bed at around midnight after drinking a cocktail with his team. The FSB's toxins unit was not far away.

Using a ping from a cell phone, we've been able to place one of the FSB operatives in this area, just blocks from the Xander Hotel on the night of August 19th, the night that the nerve agent, Novichok, made its way into room 239.

[11:35:10]

Navalny left the hotel early the next morning. He boarded the Moscow flight feeling fine. Three hours later, he was close to death.

Back in Tomsk, Navalny's team frantically collects any evidence they can from his hotel room, including water and shampoo bottles, a toothbrush and a towel. As they did, there was a surge in communications among the FSB unit and their bosses. If it was expected that Navalny would die on the flight, they were now scrambling to deal with a very different situation.

After much back and forth, Russian authorities allow Navalny to be transported to Berlin. What they don't know is that the items recovered from his Tomsk hotel room were also on board, some later tested positive for Novichok.

Back in Moscow, we went in search of the FSB's toxins team.

So, we're here at the home of the one of the FSB team and we're going to see if he has anything to say to us.

We enter a rundown apartment building on the outskirts of Moscow, where the operative lives Olek Tayakin lives.

WARD: My name is Clarissa Ward. I work for CNN. Can I ask you a couple of questions? Was it your team that poisoned Navalny, please? Do you have any comment? He doesn't seem to want to talk to us.

Toxicologists tell CNN that Navalny is incredibly lucky to be alive and that the intention was undoubtedly to kill him.

So you said that you want to go back to Russia.

NAVALNY: And I will do.

WARD: You're aware of the risks of going back?

NAVALNY: Yes, but I'm a Russian politician. And even when I was not just in hospital, I was in intense therapy, and I said publicly I will go back and I will go back because I'm a Russian politician and I belong to this country and definitely, which I -- especially now when these actual crime is cracked open, revealed. I understand the whole operation. I would never give Putin such a gift.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And Clarissa Ward is joining me now. I mean, Clarissa, this is an incredible investigation and further proof you have nerves of steel. Have you heard anything from the Kremlin since this report?

WARD: Well, thank you so much, Kate. And I want to emphasize that this really was a team effort. And the people with nerves of steel, Darya Tarasova, who was with me that doorstep, who is a Russian citizen, who has to stay here after I get to leave with my U.S. passport. So I'm tremendously grateful to ever on this team for their support.

No, Kate, we have not heard anything yet from the Kremlin, which is just stunning, more than 24 hours after this story drops. We haven't heard anything from the FSB either. The regular press briefing that is done by Dmitry Peskov, who is the spokesperson for President Putin, it happens every day with journalists, it's been canceled today. They announced that it will also be canceled tomorrow. They said officially that this is because of President Putin's big press conference on Thursday. But, frankly, it's a little hard to believe that it is a coincidence.

And, of course, we also reached out to members of that FSB toxins team, none of them provided any comment and even the Russian media has been largely silent on this. It is just a deafening silence, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it speaks volumes. I mean, you also say in your piece, Clarissa, that the intention was to kill Navalny? What are you hearing from toxicologists about what they learned from his poisoning?

WARD: Yes. So this is interesting, because it is obviously an important question. How do you know if the intention was to kill, couldn't it have been to incapacitate or get him out of the country? But we spoke to so many experts, Kate.

And, essentially, the answer we were given by every chemist and toxicologist was the same, it's not possible to dose Novichok outside of a laboratory. So you could not possibly attempt simply to incapacitate someone using a nerve agent like Novichok. The only reason you would use Novichok is if you're trying to kill someone because the risk is simply too high that you would do that anyway.

And don't forget, our viewers have to remember, if it hadn't been for that pilot landing that plane, diverting to Omsk, landing three hours earlier than scheduled, if it hadn't been for the medics on the runway who gave them a life saving dose of atropine, Alexey Navalny would not be alive.

[11:40:04]

BOLDUAN: Yes. Also worth noting, Clarissa, bravo, I haven't heard a response or reaction from the U.S. government to this either. Clarissa, it's good to see you, thank you.

Coming up for us, another step in the fight against COVID-19, an FDA document confirms the Moderna vaccine is safe and effective. So what's next? And how quickly could it get approval? The chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, he joins us next.

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[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: The bulk of the first shipment of Pfizer's vaccine is arriving in states across the country today after a huge sigh of relief yesterday as the very first shots were administered. Next up, the Moderna vaccine, the FDA is expected to grant emergency authorization to that vaccine in days now. It just took a big step forward as an FDA advisory committee just released its review, scientific review, finding that it is both safe and effective. So what does this mean for the fight against the virus?

Joining me right now is chief adviser of Operation Warp speed, Dr. Moncef Slaoui. Doctor, thank you for coming in today.

What are you seeing in the Moderna data that was just released this morning?

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISOR, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Well, seeing a very effective vaccine, again, 94.5 percent efficacy against disease, 100 percent efficacy severe disease, which is really exciting.

And there were 30 cases of severe disease in the control group, no cases in the vaccine group, excellent efficacy in the higher age group, over 65, similar efficacy in the more diverse population, which is a combined group of African-American and Hispanics and Native Americans. So, really, across the line very good efficacy.

And for those who will be looking more in detail into the data, actually also excellent onset of efficacy after the first dose, more or less ten days after the first dose, again, 90 percent protection going forward.

So, really, a performance that's similar to that of the Pfizer vaccine and safety that's also similar to that of the Pfizer vaccine, no serious adverse events of any concern. All of them are associated with the injection site or systemic, like a little bit a fever, a little bit of chills and muscle ache for about 24 to 36 hours after immunization in maybe 15, 20 percent of those immunized. So I'm very optimistic.

BOLDUAN: Are you more optimistic or more excited about one of the vaccines over the other, the Pfizer versus the Moderna?

SLAOUI: No. Frankly, they have very similar data. I find that scientifically, extremely convincing that two products, using similar technology but totally independently developed, independently tested, provide us with data that are so similar.

The one difference between the two products really is to the cold chain requirements. As you know, the Pfizer vaccine requires a minus 80 degrees Celsius cold chain. The Moderna vaccine, a minus 20, which is more like your home freezer, so that's more manageable and much more commonly available. But Pfizer did an outstanding job around the requirements for transportation and maintenance of the cold chain. So all in all, I think both vaccines will have a great impact on this pandemic going forward.

BOLDUAN: Do you think that the FDA will authorize the Moderna vaccine this week? SLAOUI: I hope so. I think -- I think the data are similar to those of the Pfizer vaccine. And I think the comments that have just been issued are going in the same direction. So my expectation is it should be, hopefully, approved also on Friday, a day after the advisory committee. But, of course, we'll see.

BOLDUAN: Yes, of course. If it gets approved this week, let's say Friday, when do you expect the first shipments of the Moderna vaccine to roll out?

SLAOUI: Shipments start 24 hours later. And, again, we'll work out like last week to make sure that the vaccines arrive on the Monday morning. This time, the vaccines will be shipped to a little bit over 3,200 sites, compared to the 636 sites that are being targeted in these three days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and about a little bit over 6 million doses of vaccines. So we're ramping up to distribute more vaccines both from the Pfizer and the Moderna stable, I would say.

BOLDUAN: So, Dr. Anthony Fauci, he said this morning that as these vaccines roll out, he thinks that President Trump, Vice President Pence, as well as President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris should all be vaccinated as soon as possible. Let me play for you what he said.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can.

[11:50:05]

You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He's talking there, of course, about Joe Biden. Do you agree with Dr. Fauci?

SLAOUI: I completely agree. I think it is very important that our leaders, departing ones and arriving ones are protected. And I think both President Trump and President-elect Biden, they are both parts of the higher age group and therefore higher risk, so, yes, I think they should be vaccinated.

And, of course, there's also a message to the population, I'm sorry, that they trust the vaccine, and that's an example for the population to follow.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And that gets to kind of the public messaging aspect of this. We've heard that it is important to reach herd immunity, to have 75 to 80 percent of Americans get the vaccine. And public messaging is a huge part of that. Are you satisfied with the level of public messaging that's been done so far by the administration? There hasn't been a major push, especially from the president.

SLAOUI: Yes. So we have not been able to communicate a lot on the specifics of the vaccine before it's approved by the FDA because, otherwise, that would not be actually approved from a regulatory perspective before the data are out there, before they're validated by the independent regulators.

Now that they are, there is a whole plan to push out public messaging, and as you probably noticed over the last two weeks or so, I'm very, very present in the press, so are other leaders of the operation, to really help drive the message to the U.S. population that these vaccines are safe, they are highly effective and they will help us over time to control this pandemic.

In the meantime, of course, everybody needs to remain highly aware of the transmission of this virus. But we -- thanks to these vaccines, we will be able to get back to our normal life, if we get immunized.

BOLDUAN: How critical is President Trump's role in getting the message out, that people need to be immunized?

SLAOUI: I think it is very important, of course. There's a whole fringe of the population that listen to the president very carefully and, therefore, he has an important role. And I hope -- I know he has been very supportive of the vaccine development, so I hope he will be, of course, as supportive of its usage.

BOLDUAN: After health care workers and people in long-term care facilities, who do you think should be next up, if you will, in priority list of getting shots?

SLAOUI: So the ACIP and the CDC have established the health care workers, the very frail, very old people in long-term care facilities, and then we're talking about older people in the population independently living as well as first line workers that really allow the country to continue running. And the totality of that population across the board is about 120 million people.

Our ambition is to have enough vaccine doses to immunize the whole first phase, if you wish, of the population, 120 million, by the end of first quarter in the year 2021.

BOLDUAN: It's ambitious, but so was getting a vaccine approved when you did.

I wanted you to get you to weigh in on something. The Pfizer, Moderna vaccines, they require two doses, of course, weeks apart. This has been a topic of conversation I would like your opinion on. In what we're seeing in place now is after the first dose with the Pfizer vaccine, reserving the second shot, if you will, for that same person.

But what do you think about there's an alternative theory out there, if you will, that you could maximize distribution of the first dose to more people with the assumption more vaccines would be produced along the way in time to get a second dose if you kind spread it out rather than reserving a second shot for the same patient, if you will. What do you think of that?

SLAOUI: Well, we, of course, talked about it. In fact, it is an ethical question. And we modeled, we, frankly, worked very hard on it for a week and we modeled it in every possible dimension. And we came up to the conclusion that the benefit really of that doesn't outweigh the risk.

The benefit was about having a million-and-a-half people vaccinated maybe within four weeks earlier than they would have overall, and the negatives are the risk that we would be taking that because this is new and we are just ramping up manufacturing, but for some reason, we may not be able to provide the second dose at the right time that it should be provided, and that would undermine the public confidence that we are doing things by the book as they should be doing, according to data that support the efficacy of the vaccines.

[11:55:18]

And if we don't immunize people at the right time, we may run the risk that someone may not have the right protection persistent long enough between the first and the second dose and, therefore, we may lose the benefit of vaccinating a million people earlier.

What people need to understand is we don't have 40 million doses waiting. We actually roll the doses out as they become available to us. So there isn't a bolus that you can immunize a lot of people very quickly. We immunize people as vaccine doses come. And, therefore, it is very important to retain a second dose, otherwise we really run the risk not to give them the appropriate schedule.

BOLDUAN: You charge on. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, thank you for the time. I appreciate it.

SLAOUI: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: We'll be right back.

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