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Authorities Looking for Leads in Attempted Bombing; Biden Signs Orders to Curb Climate Change; Blinken Pledges to Rebuild Morale in U.S. State Department; U.S.: Iran Must Resume Compliance Before U.S. Rejoins Pact; Examining Russia's History of Silencing Opposition; W.H.O. Team Begins Investigation Virus Origin in Wuhan; GameStop on Wild Run as Shares Soar 1,800 Percent this month. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 28, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: The two pipe bombs were discovered on the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol and where safely detonated on site. Officials fear the bomber or bombers could be building more explosives to try again. Some Democratic staffers at the House of Representatives hope a letter they're drafting will persuade the Senate to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial.
The staffers who work for Democratic lawmakers and say the January 6th attack on Congress traumatized them. They blame then President Trump for inciting the riot at their workplace.
For our sake and the sake of the country -- their letter says -- he should be convicted and barred from federal office.
The Hill Republican counterparts will also sign the letter but it's not clear if any have or when the letter will be sent to the Senate.
U.S. President Joe Biden is unwinding the Trump administration's environmental policies. He signed a flurry of new executive actions on Wednesday to combat climate change. He's pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and cutting subsidies for companies that produce fossil fuels. Biden is making it clear his administration is taking a new approach to climate change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a whole government approach. Put climate change at the center of our domestic, national security and foreign policy. It's advancing conservation, revitalizing communities and cities and on the farmlands and securing environmental justice. Our plans are ambitious, but we are America. We're bold. We're unwavering in the pursuit of jobs and innovations, science and discovery. We can do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: He's also promising to take steps to spur job growth. John Kerry, his climate envoy, haloed the prospect that workers in the coal and fossil fuel industries would be able to move to jobs that don't pose a health risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: Workers have been fed a false narrative, no surprise, right, for the last few years. They've been fed the notion that somehow dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it's not. What President Biden wants to do is make sure those folks have better choices, that they have alternatives, that they can be the people who go to work to make the solar panels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Anthony Blinken says one of his first priorities as America's new Secretary of State is to rebuild morale within America's diplomatic corps. Blinken officially welcomed to his post by several dozen State Department employees. He called it a homecoming and cited his previous experience in the agency. Blinken acknowledged that the department and the world has changed a lot during the past four years, but he promises a fresh start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I am honored to begin work as our nation's 71st Secretary of State. I'm excited about all that lies ahead. It's a new day for America. It's a new day for the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And on the Iran nuclear treaty, the new Biden administration says the U.S. will consider rejoining the international agreement once Iran is in compliance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: If Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States would do the same thing. And then we would use that as a platform to build with our allies and partners what we called a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with Iran, but we are a long way from that point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: A day before his remarks Iran threatened to block short notice inspections of its nuclear facilities. Tehran is demanding an end to U.S. economic sanctions before rejoining the nuclear deal.
The Biden's administration has paused a pending arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates while it reviews the agreement. Sources tell CNN reviews are typical for any new administration, but they could also signal changes in policy. At the end of last year the Trump White House pushed through a number of armed sales to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, including 50 stealth F-35 jets in a side deal to the normalization agreements with Israel.
President Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week calling for the release of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Navalny has been in custody since being returned from Germany where he was treated for a Novichok poisoning. His lawyer says a Moscow court will hear the Russian opposition leader's appeal of his 30-day detention order later today. CNN's Matthew Chance is following this story from Moscow. Matthew, is there basically only one likely outcome here? What's the latest?
[04:35:00]
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, look, the court case starts in about an hour and a half from now. As you say, it's the first opportunity Alexey Navalny's lawyers have had to appeal against that detention that he was put under when he returned from Germany earlier this month having recovered in a Berlin clinic from suspected nerve agent Novichok poisoning.
But you know I have to say, Kim, expectations are really low that the authorities are going to ease up pressure on Alexey Navalny at the moment. In fact, there's been more arrests, there have been raids on various offices and even the apartments of Alexey Navalny. And it seems like the Russian authorities are actually ratcheting up the pressure on the opposition figure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice over): It's always been the Kremlin's instincts to silence its critics. Why these Russian police are raiding the offices of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, say supporters. And the family apartment, banging on the door, even while the opposition leader is held in jail. This is real pressure being ratcheted up on the man the Kremlin appeared to see as a major threat.
He's already survived an agonizing attempt on his life, with a nerve agent. Now the anti-corruption campaigner faces multiple criminal proceedings and years, potentially, behind bars. He's only the latest to feel Vladimir Putin's wrath.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest oligarch, he famously fell out with Putin by funding opposition groups and highlighting official corruption before being arrested, and serving 10 years in a Russian jail, while his oil company Yukos was broken up.
Looking back, I was one of the lucky ones, he told me, from exiled in London. I lost the decade of my life in prison, but others who challenge Putin have paid a far higher price, he tells me. That list is long.
Russia's most prominent investigative journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, shed light on Russian operations in a brutal war in Chechnya before being gunned down in her apartment building in 2006 on Putin's birthday.
Then there was Boris Nemtsov, the fierce Putin critic and opposition leader shot dead in 2015 outside the Kremlin's walls, as he walks home from a restaurant. The Kremlin denies any connection with the killings, opposition figures say beatings and threats are commonplace. Political opponents are also shamed and discredited, sometimes with
secretly recorded sex tapes, like this one of a former Russian Prime Minister turned Kremlin critic. Mikhail Khodorkovsky says the new U.S. administration must now take the global lead to protect Alexey Navalny.
Personal sanctions must be imposed by President Biden and others in the West on those closest to Putin, he tells me. This would be extremely painful for Putin's entourage, and will affect the stability of his power, he says.
It would also show Alexei Navalny himself and the tens of thousands across Russia protesting for his release. But they have powerful allies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (on camera): The Kremlin is bracing for more nationwide protests that have been scheduled for the weekend. As calls for the release of Alexey Navalny grow. Internationally there's been a, you know, person-to-person phone call between President Biden to President Putin here in Russia. But despite all of that, it seems that Russian authorities at this stage are showing no signs again of easing up that pressure.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks for your coverage on this important story, which we'll keep following. Senior International correspondent Matthew Chance in Moscow.
We'll be right back. Please do stay with us.
[04:40:00]
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BRUNHUBER: W.H.O. scientists are finally out of quarantine in China and may be one step closer to learning the origins of COVID-19. Just a couple hours ago the team left the Wuhan hotel where they were guaranteed for two weeks. The World Health Organization has faced many hurdles to get to this point. And even now experts warn that finding answers won't be easy more than a year after the virus started spreading.
Steven Jiang is following the team's progress and he joins us from Beijing. Steven, I saw members of the team sort of holding up their letters proudly saying that they've been finally released from quarantine. Where will their investigation take them, and do you expect they'll actually get the access they need?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, Kim, these are the questions, not only big questions not only for these 13 experts at the W.H.O. team but also for millions of people around the world. As you said, it's been a year since the city was placed under a strict lockdown and it's been disinfected several times and probably scrubbed clean of any traces of this virus. So at this point what kind of first-hand evidence or samples these experts can collect really is very much in doubt.
That's why before this mission even began the U.S. delegation to the W.H.O. demanded China give access to these experts, to former patients, caregivers and lab workers as well as to share all of its scientific studies into animal, human and environmental samples collected from that now close seafood market in Wuhan. Which was suspected to be the origin of the outbreak.
But the Chinese have pushed back on the demands and instead the Beijing authorities have been really heavily promoting the so-called multiple origin theory, claiming this virus may have emerged from various locations from around the world. And some senior officials even have been promoting this invalid claim that this virus may have originated from a U.S. military run lab.
So this is really an increasingly politically charged issue. And that's why these experts from the W.H.O. insist they're scientists and they're determined to focus purely on science not politics. But there also trying to manage expectations here. Saying that studies into the origins of other outbreaks have taken years to complete. So they may not have answers or conclusions any time soon -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, not surprising. All right, thank you so much Steven Jiang in Beijing.
As the U.S. and other wealthy countries rush to buy more COVID vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization warns poor nations could be left behind and that equal access is key to ending the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:45:00]
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Even as the fullest vaccines begin to be deployed, the promise of equitable access is at serious risk. We now face the real danger that even as vaccines bring hope to those in wealthy countries, much of the world could be left behind.
The emergence of rapidly spreading variants makes the speedy and equitable rollout of vaccines all the more important. For me first, are going to leave the world's poorest and most vulnerable people at risk. It's also self-defeating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Economic ruin is fueling anger and violence on the streets of Lebanon. Protesters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails were met with tear gas and water cannons for a third straight night in Tripoli. The Red Cross says it transported two people to the hospital. The country's economy was in free fall even before the pandemic. The national lockdown designed to suppress surging COVID-19 cases has pushed many in Lebanon into destitution.
The head of the International Olympic Committee is reiterating that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will go ahead despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo 2020 was canceled last year but is now set to kick off on July 23rd. Organizers are working to figure out how Tokyo can hold the event safely with thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries expected to take part. The IOC President says they're fully committed to delivering a safe experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS BACH, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: We are not losing our time and energy on speculations, but we are fully concentrating on the opening ceremony of the 23rd of July this year. So we are not speculating of whether the games are taking place, we are working on how the games will take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: In Japan there's growing opposition. A poll by national broadcaster NHK found that 77 percent think the games should be canceled or postponed.
And just into CNN, the Polish government has now implemented a controversial ruling imposing a near total ban on abortions. The move was unexpected dealing a blow to prochoice advocates and prompting nationwide protests. Demonstrators took to the streets of Warsaw hours ago denouncing the move. The ruling handed down by Poland's constitutional tribunal court late last year, states that abortions may only be permitted in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger.
All right, please do stay with CNN. We have more NEWSROOM after a quick break.
[04:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: The eyes of investors will be on GameStop when Wall Street opens today. Shares of the small videogame retailer on a week's long tear. Yesterday the stock closed near $345. That's a 200 percent jump from the day before and then 1,800 percent jump from the start of the month when it was just $19 a share. The stock's wild ride has been fueled by small-time investors on social media. They've been squeezing the Wall Street titans who have been shorting or betting against the stock.
Now a growing number of financial experts say this isn't going to end well for the little guy and could be a sign of bigger issues in the U.S. markets.
CNN's John Defterios joins me from Abu Dhabi with more. John, so most of the headlines on this bizarre story or some variation of average Joes beating Wall Street at its own game. But this could be a little bit more serious than that. Take us through this bizarre story.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, what a story, indeed, Kim. Very sophisticated average Joes by the way. 2 million of them challenging Wall Street and buying a handful of stocks. But the one that you were suggesting, GameStop stands out of course because of this 1,800 percent gain. But also that it was soaring yesterday when the overall market was down 2.5 percent.
Some of the other plays they're making, AMC entertainment which is a cinema chain suffering of course because of the pandemic. Blackberry which has been out of favor for a long time. Macy's, a retailer that's been struggling. And what we do have here is because of the weight of the day traders, the betting against the hedge funds who have to borrow to survive. That's extraordinary.
And basically there's no illegal trades here, this is just information that they're posting on Wall Street bets which is on the Reddit website. Not too surprisingly, Kim, we see this showing up on the radar in Washington. There was a question asked at the White House briefing. Jen Psaki responded and raised the name of Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, perhaps stepping in to at least at this stage observing. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our team is of course -- our economic team including Secretary Yellen and others are monitoring the situation. It's a good reminder though that the stock market isn't the only measure of the health of our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS (on camera): And it's going to go from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue all the way up to Capitol Hill. We have the progressives weighing in. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both suggesting that the hedge funds have used Wall Street like a casino. Kim, we have to take a step back and say the day traders are starting to do the same. But when the music stops -- and this is a big question here -- some of those investors are going to get burned very badly. And now is raising questions even for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC which regulates Wall Street in the stock exchanges.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, well so what action can they take? Because obviously, I mean, it's not illegal to do this, right?
DEFTERIOS: No, it's not illegal, and that's what's so extraordinary about this. Right? Because they're using a message board which is on Reddit, right, known as WSB. They picked stocks that have been undervalued basically and then picking those that the hedge funds have put billions of dollars against.
[04:55:00]
This is what is extraordinary about it. And this has been the preview of basically hedge funds that didn't have any resistance. Now we have 2 million day traders fighting against those, the former titans of Wall Street.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much. CNN's John Defterios appreciate it.
And GameStop's surge comes in sharp contrast to most other stocks in the U.S. market, which on Wednesday took a sharp fall. And right now U.S. futures are down after a statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that economic recovery and the job market have moderated during the winter COVID surge. On Wednesday, the Dow took its biggest hit since October but the fed left interest rates unchanged saying it has no plans to move them in the near future.
Well 2021 is off to an incredible start for America's youth poet laureate. After wowing the country with an original poem it Joe Biden's inauguration, Amanda Gorman now gets to recite another poem, this time before the Super Bowl next month and another massive TV audience. The 22-year-old has signed with one of the world's biggest modeling agencies, IMG.
All right, now before we go, remember Bernie Sanders and his famous mittens? Well it turns out he isn't the only one feeling snug and toasty. Some charities in Vermont are also feeling the warmth. This all started when the independent Senator from the new England state and his mittens, a gift from a Vermont teacher, became an internet sensation at Joe Biden's inaugural.
So Bernie's team began selling sweatshirts and t-shirts with the somewhat grumpy looking meme. So far $1.8 million have been raised for Meals on Wheels, senior centers and other charities. Now the Senator says he's glad this is helping Vermonters in need. It's changing the world one meme at a time.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "EARLY START" is up next.
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