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COVAX Initiative On Track To Meet Goal; U.S. COVID-19 Hospitalizations Fall Below 100K; Protesters Disrupt Major L.A. Vaccination Site; Much Of Peru Enters Lockdown; Putin Tries To Discredit Navalny; Biden Administration Inherits Numerous Middle East Crises; U.S. Military Veterans Were Capitol Rioters. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 31, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi. Welcome to all of our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining me.

So ahead on CNN, little more than a week before the start of former U.S. president Donald Trump's impeachment trial, five of his defense attorneys leave the team.

Plus a tiny bit of good news in the fight against the coronavirus in the U.S., as cases reach a new milestone.

Also, protests across Russia are underway again in support of activist Alexei Navalny. But now supporters are reaching out to the U.S. for help.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.

CURNOW: And we begin this hour with breaking news. With just a little more than a week before former president Trump's second impeachment trial begins, we're learning his five defense team lawyers have quit.

South Carolina attorneys Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier were expected to be two of the lead attorneys. They're no longer with the team. Also gone, Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser and Joshua Howard.

According to people familiar with the matter, the problem was legal strategy. Mr. Trump wanted the attorneys to argue his false claims that the election was stolen instead of focusing on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office.

And Mr. Trump has got legal briefs due early next week. Here's what former U.S. attorney Harry Litman had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's a disaster for the defense. And five is all that there are. It's not simply that they open a week from Tuesday; he has briefs due with his basic legal position on Tuesday.

It's inconceivable to me that he could get any kind of halfway professional lawyer and get together his basic claim to submit by Tuesday, especially since he seems to be insisting on staying the course with the sort of Big Lie fraud claim that actually was the source of the problem in the first place.

It was his sort of insistence and, at all costs, clinging to that claim that's what led to the insurrection here. So if he were to go in it would be the ultimate leading with his chin.

But now that all his lawyers have deserted him, I don't know what any litigant, much less the former president of the United States in an impeachment trial, is going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: So we're told that the attorneys had not yet been paid in advance and letters of intent were never signed. We'll keep you posted on that story.

Now across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic is spreading with dangerous speed and shattering new records every day. But a glimmer of hope, there is one.

For the first time in nearly two months, current COVID hospitalizations in the United States have fallen below 100,000 people. The U.S. reported just over 97,000 hospitalizations on Saturday.

But the numbers are certainly still grim overall, as you can see here. The U.S. continues to lead the world in the number of confirmed COVID cases and deaths. The U.S. has now surpassed 26 million confirmed infections since the pandemic started and over 430,000 deaths have been reported.

Well, here's Natasha Chen on the latest efforts to curb the virus -- Natasha.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The C.D.C. says starting Monday night, everyone over two years old using any form of public transit must wear a mask, even if one has already had the COVID vaccine.

It's a mandate that comes a year after the first reported U.S. case of COVID-19, a virus that has killed more than 437,000 people in the U.S.

ZORA BRENGETTSY, BEREAVED FAMILY MEMBER: We didn't expect to lose any of them. To be honest, we all thought they were going to bounce back.

CHEN (voice-over): This family lost three loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To wake up and know that he's not there, I can't call him.

CHEN: January was the deadliest month of this year-long pandemic, more than 90,000 people in the U.S. have died this month alone.

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CHEN: And to give you some perspective, that's about 20,000 more people that could fit in this entire NFL stadium.

CHEN (voice-over): The Mercedes Benz Stadium that hosted the Super Bowl just two years ago is now a vaccination site.

DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH: We can actually get more vaccines out given the resources that we have or that are shortly coming to us. But if you don't have the vaccine, then we can't do it.

CHEN (voice-over): Johnson & Johnson is expected to apply for Emergency Use Authorization for its vaccine next week. Its global Phase III trial results showed the vaccine is 66 percent effective, but 85 percent effective specifically against severe disease.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: This is a single shot vaccine in which you start to see efficacy anywhere from seven to 10 days following the first and only shot. It is very, very good with regard to cold chain requirements, namely requiring only a refrigerator.

CHEN (voice-over): Meanwhile, a new study suggests children are safer from the virus in schools than out of them. The author of the first detailed study of two K-12 schools said in order to reopen schools safely, they need Federal centralized guidelines and better access to testing.

Health experts are also eyeing new variants of the virus including the first domestic cases of the variant first identified in South Africa and more than 400 cases of the variant first identified in the U.K. Experts believe these variants will be more dominant by the end of March.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I believe that we should be treating every case as if it's a variant during this pandemic right now.

CHEN (voice-over): A pandemic that's far from over. The virus killed nine nuns in a retirement home in Michigan, all within a few weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is numbing. And we have -- I do -- a much deeper appreciation for all the other families who have gone through this, the hundreds of thousands of families and until it personally touches you, I don't care how much we can have a sympathetic heart, it is different when you've already been there.

CHEN (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN. Atlanta.

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CURNOW: California's regional stay-at-home order has come to an end, even though the state has been reporting a staggering amount of COVID deaths each day. So Los Angeles County restaurants can now reopen their outdoor dining areas but at no more than 50 percent capacity. And there are other rules they need to follow.

Here's Paul Vercammen, showing us what the situation is like right now -- Paul?

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So 638 deaths in California. That pushes the death toll in the state to more than 40,000. But officials are saying that other numbers are going down and they are projecting that way more intensive care unit beds will open up in the future.

And that's why they are relaxing a lot of the stay-at-home orders. That includes restaurants here in L.A. County. They open today with new restrictions, tough rules. Among them, tables have to be eight feet apart. No more than six people at a table.

And a rule that is really bothering some of the restaurateurs, they say they want to be allowed to have televisions, especially for the Super Bowl. But right now they can't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you put people out of safe spaces for Super Bowl, you are putting them literally in danger. You are putting them into homes and house parties, which will take place.

So please, have some common sense. Let us use the TVs. Give us the chance to keep people safe and give them a little bit of community because that's what people need right now. And I don't know what else to do, other than get on my knees and just pray or beg, you know?

Like let's use some common sense here.

VERCAMMEN: There are 1,830,000 food services worker jobs in California, according to restaurant.org. So a lot of celebration.

Down the street, one restaurateur actually started the Macarena.

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VERCAMMEN: That's from Casa Vega, a tradition-rich restaurant in Los Angeles. But the owner, Christie (ph), says she's not going to open until February 22nd, National Margarita Day. She says she's just not ready to implement all of the new rules and restrictions that have just been handed out by L.A. County -- reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen -- now back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Thanks so much for that, Paul.

So now to another battle in California surrounding the pandemic. Take a look.

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CURNOW (voice-over): These are anti-vaccination protesters in Los Angeles on Saturday. It's a reminder that some oppose COVID vaccination efforts, even as these case numbers rise across the country and the world. There were some reports these protesters temporarily halted operations at this vaccination site.

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CURNOW (voice-over): But the Los Angeles police department says that's simply not true.

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CURNOW: Now supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are holding mass protests today. The crowds are coming out across the country in spite of police crackdowns.

The demonstrations first kicked off two weeks ago after Navalny was detained for parole violations, he says, are politically motivated. Well, Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow with more on what is expected to unfold throughout the day.

Hi, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. That's right. These protests taking place across the country, thousands of people turning out at this point in the far east of Russia. There have already been sort of quite large protests in various cities across the Russian far east, with at least 145 people arrested so far.

We're using that measure because, last week, when there were those first round of protests across the country, more than 4,000 people were arrested nationwide. And so it's a sort of useful comparison to see how much confrontation, how much anger there is on the streets.

These protesters, of course, calling for the release of Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner, opposition leader, who was suffering that horrific poisoning earlier this year and was evacuated to Germany, where he recovered in a Berlin clinic.

He was then arrested earlier this month, when he returned from Germany, having recovered, and court cases to try and get him released from detention have failed. And that's been fueling these nationwide protests.

We're expecting to see tens of thousands of people come out across the country to voice their concern at his continued detention -- Robyn.

CURNOW: And what do we expect Mr. Putin to do?

What is his response?

I mean, in many ways he's juggling a fine political line here, isn't he?

CHANCE: Look, in the past Vladimir Putin and those around him have always dismissed Alexei Navalny as sort of an "irrelevant blogger," they sometimes refer to him as. But the truth is he's come back from his poisoning in certainly a very enhanced state.

He's come to represent more of a challenge to the Kremlin than any opposition figure, really, that I can remember in the years that I've been reporting here. And as such, you know, I think the Kremlin are taking him very seriously indeed.

In terms of what they'll do, well, they have a brutal track record of dealing with opposition figures. At the moment, Alexei Navalny is in prison. He's on a 30-day detention.

But within the next few days he's going to face another hearing to decide whether to convert a 3.5-year suspended sentence that he's currently serving into actual jail time. And the expectation is that the court will decide to actually go ahead with that.

So Alexei Navalny could be facing many years in prison; also, a number of extra criminal cases that he's facing, that he could face trial for as well -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK. Thanks so much. Live in Moscow there, Matthew Chance. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the day. Thanks, Matthew.

I also want to bring you up to speed on vaccination efforts in the U.S. in just a moment on top of an exclusive interview with the director of a program that's helping to get vaccines to those who have been left behind.

So that's coming up as well as Peru's hospitals and health care workers are exhausted and also overwhelmed by this latest coronavirus wave. They're fighting to save patients as resources dwindle. We have that story, too.

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CURNOW: So France has now closed its borders with countries outside of the E.U. in an effort to stop new variants from spreading. Travel is banned, even for citizens, except for essential reasons. A quick vaccine rollout could also help fight these new variants. But the E.U. has been locked in a fight with AstraZeneca over their delivery contracts.

Melissa Bell joins us now live from Paris with an update on all of that.

Hi, Melissa.

What can you tell us?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, the E.U. still extremely keen, of course, to get to the bottom of these problems with regard to the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

We've heard over the course of the last two days that, of course, first of all, it has been approved now for use here in the E.U. and, in theory, that should mean that, in the course of the next few days, Robyn, countries begin to get their vaccines.

Now although that's already been approved by the European Medicines Agency it now goes to the national health agencies. We know for instance that the German agency has recommended -- has said, rather, that there isn't sufficient data for the vaccine to be used -- to be seen to be effective in over 65.

Now the EMA approved it without any regulations. So it would be possible for people over 65 to receive it. It's now a question of how individual governments decide that rollout should happen.

For instance, Emmanuel Macron on Friday explained that he also understood, just as the German agency had, that there were issues over the amount of data available for over 65s. It will now go to the French national agency this week to decide how that rollout happens.

We also heard from the German health minister yesterday, who said it may be possible -- necessary, rather -- for Germany to look at the vaccination order, now that the AstraZeneca vaccine's going to be coming online.

And, of course, fundamentally the question of those quantities remains. As you say, the solution to all this would be a fast rollout of vaccines in Europe. That has not happened.

And given the shortages of the AstraZeneca vaccine that we know are likely to happen over the next few weeks it's very unlikely they're going to get their vaccination programs up and running anytime soon -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Thanks so much. That update there from Paris. Melissa Bell. Thanks, Melissa.

So a new coronavirus lockdown has also gone into effect for much of Peru. It will be in place for 15 days and includes Lima, the country's capital. Peru is expecting to receive its first batch of vaccines on February the 9th. And that's not soon enough for hospitals that are certainly at breaking point, as Isa Soares now explains. [02:20:00]

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every morning Dr. Rosa Luz Lopez looks at this list of COVID-19 patients --

DR. ROSA LUZ LOPEZ, ICU HEAD: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): -- and wishes she didn't have to make this difficult decision.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): It's overwhelming.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara EsSalud in Lima, Peru, is one of the largest in the capital. Here, ICU beds have almost quadrupled. But that simply isn't enough.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): With no space inside the main hospital, these patients are now being seen in the temporary room in the patio.

Dr. Lopez, who is the head of the intensive care unit here, shows us around.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Back inside the ICU ward, medical staff work around the clock to meet the surge in cases, more than 100,000 in the last month alone.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Understandably, they're beyond exhausted.

DR. JESUS VALVERDE, HOSPITAL NACIONAL DOS DE MAYO: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Not far away from here, in Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo --

VALVERDE: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Dr. Jesus Valverde says they only have 50 ICU beds and they're all full. But even if they had ICU beds they wouldn't have the staff, he says.

VALVERDE: (Speaking Spanish).

FRANCISCO SAGASTI, PERUVIAN PRESIDENT: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): Amid mounting criticism, president Francisco Sagasti is promising there will be more ICU beds. No word, though, on the medical staff needed to run them.

SAGASTI: (Speaking Spanish).

SOARES (voice-over): And while the promise of more beds will be a relief to many, hope may be distant and fading. No vaccine has yet arrived in Peru -- Isa Soares, CNN.

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CURNOW: The World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus has now arrived at the seafood market linked to many of these first cases in Wuhan in China.

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CURNOW (voice-over): Now earlier on Saturday, the team visited a wholesale market cold storage area, as you can see from these images. The investigation comes a year after Wuhan went into lockdown. Many are skeptical about just how much these experts will actually be able to uncover this late into the pandemic.

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CURNOW: And so far nearly 30 million vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. That amounts to about half of the nearly 50 million doses distributed so far. And as wealthy nations try to protect themselves, the COVAX program, backed by the WHO, the World Health Organization, will soon deliver vaccines to some of the poorest countries.

Ivan Watson was able to get an exclusive interview with the managing director of the COVAX facility and she struck an optimistic tone about their mission. Take a listen.

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AURELIA NGUYEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, COVAX: So the COVAX facility is on track on its primary goal, which is making sure that we have access to supply. We need about 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. But it's not going to be a straightforward pathway throughout the whole year, that's for sure.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The European Union was just slamming Pfizer and AstraZeneca for delays in production and in supply of vaccines.

Are you seeing the agreements that are being made, are you seeing slowdowns because of not only demand but about unforeseen problems in production?

NGUYEN: Manufacturers are scaling up at a speed that's unprecedented. So I think we can expect that it's not going to be all smooth sailing as the vaccine manufacturing is scaled up and distribution happens.

I think it's important for everyone to be able to be accountable to the commitments that they've made. [02:25:00]

WATSON: The head of the WHO has been quite critical about wealthier countries doing advance orders and setting back supply of vaccines to poorer countries; to COVAX, for example.

How much of a problem is that for you?

NGUYEN: In 2021 we are in a situation where demand is going to outstrip supply. This is exactly the reason why COVAX was created, to avoid a bidding war for vaccines. Without concerted effort, lower- income countries will be left behind because of the restrictions on their financial capabilities to be able to buy vaccines.

WATSON: What is the budget like to provide and distribute hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine essentially for free to the world's poorest countries?

NGUYEN: We've had very, very strong endorsements by donors. We've been able so far to secure pledges of $6 billion from over 2020. But we do need at least another $2 billion in 2021 to carry on being able to procure and also to be delivering doses.

WATSON: The new Biden administration announced that it wanted to join the COVAX facility.

What kind of an impact will that have?

NGUYEN: I think it's a very strong endorsement of the COVAX facility, of the aim to have a global and multilateral approach to fair and equitable access for COVID-19 vaccines.

So the very welcome news from the Biden-Harris administration to join COVAX is also coupled with a very significant pledge of $4 billion, which covers the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and delivery.

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CURNOW: So short break coming up. Next, Russian police are urging people not to attend opposition protests today. But that's not stopping them. We have that story as well.

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CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, wherever you are. It's 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for joining me.

So we're watching this, mass protests underway right now in Russia. They're calling for the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He's been detained for two weeks on charges of a probation violation that he claims are politically motivated.

Now crowds of his supporters are braving the cold, as you can see here, and police crackdowns all across the country.

Samuel Greene is the co-author of "Putin versus the People." He's also the director of the Russian Institute at King's College in London. He joins me now to further discuss all of this.

Good to see you, sir. This has all been inspired and led by Mr. Navalny, even though he's behind bars.

What is his end game here?

SAMUEL GREENE, DIRECTOR OF RUSSIAN INSTITUTE, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: Well, I think the reality is he doesn't have an end game. This is unpredictable. Right? And uncertain. And really that is the point, that Putin's goal, throughout his time in power, really since 1999, has been to promote himself as inevitable and to get people to believe that his rule will last for as long as he wants it to and it's not really much up to others.

And so Navalny's aim here really is to demonstrate that that's not the case, to try to create at least the idea in people's heads that this could go in another direction, to demonstrate to them, let them demonstrate to themselves, that they have some power and to let the Kremlin demonstrate exactly how it plans to rule the country.

Through attempting to poison him, through putting opposition members in jail, through fairly draconian restrictions on protests.

CURNOW: So then is this the most serious challenge to President Putin that you can remember?

Our correspondent, Matthew Chance, there on the ground in Moscow, says he can't really remember when he's seen this kind of pushback.

Is there Navalny here succeeding where others have not?

GREENE: So we have seen protests before, maybe even a little bit larger going back to 2012. But I don't think that we've seen this degree of emotion before.

I think we are seeing people who -- we are beginning to believe that it's now or never. Right? That if they do not create some kind of political change in Russia that things can become so tightly controlled that there might not be another opportunity.

It's that level of emotion and that level of desperation, if you will, that I think does make these protests unprecedented.

CURNOW: So is this because this is an inflection point, perhaps in Mr. Putin's rule?

Is it a generational thing?

We're seeing that a lot of these protesters and the supporters are quite deep and wide, also geographically and cutting across various demographics.

What do you make of who's actually on the streets right now?

And these are live images from northeast Russia. This isn't Moscow. This is across the country.

GREENE: It is across the country. It's one of the things Navalny's been able to do. If you think back to the first anti-Putin protests, they were really concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Over the last few years, Navalny's been able to gather more people, to get more people upset the way the country's being governed and maybe get people to believe it could be governed differently. We're seeing that across the country.

Usually these things happen around the times of elections. We don't have elections at the moment. We'll have parliamentary elections later this year. But I think really this has been caused by the Kremlin.

This has been caused by the fact that the Kremlin evidently tried to kill Navalny and then was unable to prevent him from coming home and then arrested him as soon as he did. So this is an ample opportunity for the Kremlin to get people upset.

CURNOW: What does the incoming Biden administration do about this?

How do they play into this scenario?

How much pressure can they and, more importantly, would they use?

GREENE: I think that they understand their mission, first and foremost, and I think correctly, is to do no harm. The reality is the future of Russian politics is going to be determined by the Russian people. It's the way it should be. And the U.S. government or any other government should not be in the game of picking winners in Russian politics.

I do think that they have, much more than the Trump administration already, spoken out to show solidarity with people on the streets, with people who want to see a democratic future with Russia and to express their concern about the ways in which opposition is being treated.

[02:35:00]

GREENE: There are calls obviously on the administration to impose some sanctions. I think that may be something politically they feel they need to do. But I wouldn't have too many illusions about the ability of those sanctions to actually cause change.

Change is going to happen in the relationship between Russian citizens and the Kremlin, not in people's bank accounts and foreign assets.

CURNOW: Samuel Greene, great to speak to you, live from London. Thanks so much for bringing us your expertise. Thank you. So coming up on CNN, historic tensions between the U.S. and the Middle

East have only increased over the last four years. The daunting challenges ahead for the Biden administration. We're going to talk about that next as well.

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CURNOW: The U.S. President Joe Biden faces serious challenges across the Middle East, including the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Yemen and tensions in Iran, Iraq and Syria. Let's go to CNN International senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. He joins me from Beirut with a closer look at all the challenges facing the incoming president -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Robyn. Well, I can't remember any U.S. administration coming to power at a time when the situation in the Middle East is good and the Biden administration is no exception.

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CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Congratulations, Mr. President.

(APPLAUSE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): The new resident of the White House faces a Middle East deep in a confusion of crises.

Yemen remains the world's worst humanitarian emergency, followed closely by Syria, where millions are struggling through a brutal winter as their country's agony goes on.

Blood still flows in Iraq, even though the scourge of ISIS appears for now to have been diminished.

[02:40:00]

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Four chaotic years of Donald Trump saw the U.S. cozy up to the region's autocrats, careening close to the brink of war with Iran. Already the new administration is showing it will do some things differently.

TONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We will end our support for the military campaign led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Tensions could recede as the Biden administration tries to revive the Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA, says the Carnegie Institute's Mohanad Hage Ali in Beirut.

MOHANAD HAGE ALI, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Iranians can't continue to bomb and help their allies or support their allies, bomb the U.S. embassy in Iraq or the -- Riyadh's airport or any of these important facilities while they negotiate the JCPOA and as the JCPOA is (INAUDIBLE).

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Have knock-on effects in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, where Iran is a major player.

The Trump administration did manage to orchestrate the establishment of ties between Israel and several Arab states, a move praised by its successor.

Washington also recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, opened an embassy there and generally sided with Israel as never before, all but killing the two-state solution, which means Washington now needs to come up with new ways to address the conflict, as do the Palestinians themselves.

ALI: Perhaps the one-state solution has a more viable option, calling, asking for their rights as full citizens in the state rather than calling for a second state, which has no now basis on the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And gone are Trump's grandiose regional schemes, like the "deal of the century" to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the policy of maximum pressure on Iran, to bring it to its knees. In their place are more traditional U.S. policies in the Middle East, which, frankly, weren't very successful, either -- Robyn.

CURNOW: So with all of that in mind, does anything change?

In particular Iran, do you see movement there?

And how much buy-in will there be from Tehran?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly the Biden administration has expressed a willingness to somehow re-engage with Iran and perhaps rejoin the JCPOA after Iran it says has gone back to full compliance. But of course, it was the United States, not Iran, that dumped out of the deal in the first place. So it's really a question of who's going to blink first.

But certainly, the United States is clearly going to change what was a very confrontational policy with Iran, this policy of maximum pressure, that really just pushed the Iranians into a corner. So they had no choice but to fight back against what was essentially a declaration of war, economic war by the United States against Iran.

And the appointment of Robert Malley as the envoy, the American envoy for Iran, certainly does indicate a seriousness when it comes to re- engaging with Iran. The question is, Robyn, who's going to take the first step.

CURNOW: OK. Ben Wedeman, always good to speak to you. Wonderful to see you again. Thanks so much.

So on his way out of the White House door, former president Donald Trump actually helped create challenges for his successor. Before leaving, Trump called for the U.S. to withdraw all of its troops from Afghanistan by May.

But a Pentagon spokesperson says the U.S. will not commit to that because the Taliban is not committing to its end of the deal. Newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has not said how many troops might stay in Afghanistan for now.

More immediate goals appear to include repairing relations with NATO and investigating the U.S. domestic terror threat.

So joining me now is CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's the former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and the 7th Army.

General, lovely to see you again. Happy New Year. There's certainly a lot facing this presidency.

As the Pentagon and President Biden's national security team settle in, what, for you, do you think is the key defense issue they need to confront?

[02:45:00]

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: There are all sorts of things. And Happy New Year to you, Robyn.

What I'll say is they're going to have their hands full with all corners of the world.

I mean, if you're just talking about international relations with both friends and foes, President Biden was quick off the start, with reaffirming commitment to NATO, which was a very good thing for our NATO allies and our European partners.

But there are some problematic issues as well in that organization, given the recent stance by Turkey and some of the other things that are going on there.

You then jump to the threat from Russia, the continuing threat from Russia.

You have issues with China in three different regions -- Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Uyghur Muslim issue -- humanitarian rights across the board and how that relationship has been addressed by the former administration.

North Korea is still threatening.

You have the issue with revamping or restarting hopefully, as Secretary Blinken said the other day, the JCPOA with Iran.

So you can pick the kinds of things that the Pentagon and the State Department and the administration are going to have to address that they believe have been overlooked over the last four years. A lot of those, like many other issues, they believe they're starting

from ground zero and rebuilding trust with nations while, at the same time, standing up to foes. So they're going to have their hands full with international relations, to be sure.

CURNOW: To be sure. And so much, as you say, has been talked about, the need to rebuild alliances, to recommit to NATO, to re-establish America's unilateral dominance in the world.

But the question is, has that horse bolted now?

The French president warned that NATO is becoming brain-dead. That was back in 2019. This week he told the president in their phone call that Europe wants strategic autonomy.

Put simply, doesn't that mean allies still don't trust America as a reliable partner anymore?

And what does that mean for the American defense system, for American power?

HERTLING: Yes, in the organizations that I've been associated with, The Atlantic Council, hearing some of their presentations; the European Union is still very interested in pulling together with the United States as part of NATO.

Certainly there are some governments within NATO, who have lost a little bit of trust in the United States, based on the actions of the last four years.

But I also believe, in speaking with some of the governments and my military colleagues and other armies, they have been desirous of America to return, for the U.S. to come back and see the kinds of things in terms of partnerships that we've had in the past.

Make no mistake, it's going to be tough to overcome some of the things that have been experienced by our NATO allies over the last couple of years. But I've got to tell you, I think they always knew we would come back to the fold and be a part of that strategic alliance -- and as we should.

CURNOW: And I also want to get your take on what we saw during the Capitol insurrection. About 20 of the approximately 175 people charged so far during the riots are current or former military members.

I mean, General, I want you to hear this portion of a piece that Sara Sidner has reported on and get your take on the other side about the reasons for this radicalization within the American military.

HERTLING: Sure.

CURNOW: Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They had the tactical training, gear and guns to bring the war home.

CNN tracked down nine of the military veterans, who are charged in the Capitol siege.

Former FBI agent Michael German, who spent years undercover in domestic extremist groups, says he's not surprised so many of the rioters are former military. There are many possible reasons for their actions but one stands out.

MICHAEL GERMAN, FORMER FBI AGENT: What we've seen too often is that this kind of ideological militancy is allowed to exist in the military. And there isn't enough effort to root it out and to actually paint it as a -- what it is, an anti-democratic movement and -- that's a threat to our security within our security forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: How deep and how dangerous is this enemy within?

HERTLING: It is definitely dangerous. I disagree with Mr. German, the last individual that was commenting, that it has been allowed to exist.

It exists because extreme views aren't new in the military this year -- or even in the last four years. There have been extreme views because there are extreme views in the population and the military draws their recruits from the population it serves.

So just like this isn't new in society -- but we've seen an uptick in it over the last decade or so -- so is it upticking in the military.

[02:50:00]

HERTLING: You know, in a 2019 poll by "Military Times," it was reported that one-third of all active troops and about half of minority service members have seen signs of white nationalism or ideological racism in the military. That's very troubling to me.

I retired six years ago. When I was still in command, we knew it existed. But it's very difficult to root it out because, again, sometimes the military will focus on behaviors versus attitudes. You know, you can't often change the attitudes of some of the soldiers but you can certainly ensure their behavior is correct.

Unfortunately, this is an internal threat, unlike external terrorism, where you can't use some of the tools that the military uses on an external terrorist, like intelligence collection, targeting situations. So it's much more difficult.

But I do believe that the military, even though the vast majority of those who wear the uniform are serving their country well, there is an increase -- and I can't cite the numbers because I don't think anybody really knows -- of this kind of extremism, radicalism, whatever you want to call it.

And it's prone to violence in some cases, as we saw in the 6 January instance. But it has to be rooted out.

CURNOW: Always great to get your perspective. Thanks so much, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

HERTLING: Good to be with you, thank you.

CURNOW: You're watching CNN, we'll be right back.

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CURNOW (voice-over): I want to show you these pictures, wow. I mean, this dramatic scene is playing out on the coast of California. A huge piece of Highway 1, an iconic highway near Big Sur, collapsed into the Pacific Ocean. These are very dramatic images.

A strong winter storm, heavy rain and snow created massive mudslides that caused the road to wash away. This aerial gives a sense of the scale here. Thankfully, no injuries reported but at least 25 structures in northern California have been damaged because of these storms.

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CURNOW: At least 100 million Americans are under some form of winter weather alert. That includes those in the nation's capital, which will see several inches of snow for the first time in almost two years.

Parts of the Midwest are also already seeing heavy snow, with Chicago possibly getting 10 inches -- 10 inches -- before it's all said and done. That same system is forecast to dump a foot of snow on places like Maryland, Pennsylvania and into New England. Folks need to wrap up warm, wherever you are in the U.S.

Meanwhile, British police are searching for the culprits who vandalized an ancient monument in southern England. Officials say a face mask was added to the chalk carving of a giant on a hill known as the Long Man of Wilmington.

Historians say the archeological site dates back to the Anglo-Saxon or medieval periods. A photographer who has since visited the carving says it's now being restored to its original pre-pandemic state.

I'm Robyn Curnow here at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. So stick with us for that.