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Tensions High As Ukraine Gets Weapons From U.S.; Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) Is Interviewed On The Developments About The January 6th Committee Hearings; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Pushes Bill To Shield People From Feeling Guilty When Being Taught About Discrimination; Statue Of Theodore Roosevelt Removed; Consumer Prices Up, Grocery Shelves Empty; Federal Reserve Fighting Inflation With Rate Hikes. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired January 23, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington and we begin with Russia on notice in an amplified warning today from U.S. officials if Moscow invades Ukraine. Secretary of State Blinken promising a severe response by the U.S. and allies should, his words, a single additional Russian force enter Ukraine in an aggressive way.

This as we're learning today that a second weapons supply shipment from the United States has reportedly arrived in Ukraine and also British officials exposing a Kremlin plot to install a puppet government on Ukrainian soil. Right now fears are mounting that an invasion could come at any moment while an estimated 100,000 troops sit along Ukraine's border.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House keeping a close eye on the U.S. response, but let's begin with CNN's Clarissa Ward in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Clarissa, what is the latest on the ground there? Do you get the sense at this point that this could be escalating to a breaking point?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think at this point people are definitely waiting to see how the diplomatic process plays out. It's significant that those talks didn't reach a dead end. But at the same time no one here in Ukraine is counting on anything substantial coming out of those talks.

And so we have continued to see Ukrainian leaders really lobbying for as much support as they can get. And that did arrive tonight in the form of 198,000 pounds of American weaponry, which arrived, this is the second shipment, there was one just a couple of nights ago, and they will continue. They are part of that $200 million in lethal aid that has been promised to the Ukrainians.

Much of that will be heading to the front lines because as the diplomatic process plays out, the Ukrainians want to ensure that they are ready for all eventualities and that includes the possibility of a military invasion or even a smaller incursion, Jim. ACOSTA: All right, Clarissa. And Arlette, let me go to you over at the

White House. Secretary of State Blinken's warning today comes after President Biden met with national security advisers over the weekend. What came out of that meeting? What's the latest?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, Secretary of State Antony Blinken really was doubling down on the United States' warning to Russia that an invasion into Ukraine would result in the swift and severe consequences from the U.S. and allies. This comes as President Biden kind of muddled the message a bit earlier in the week when he had suggested a minor incursion would draw potentially lesser of a response from NATO.

But today and over the course of the last few days, top White House and administration officials have tried to make clear that Russia will face severe consequences. Take a listen to what Blinken had to tell our colleague, Dana Bash, earlier today.

(BEGINN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If a single additional Russian force goes into Ukraine in an aggressive way, as I said, that would trigger a swift, severe, and united response from us and from Europe. And again, there are other things that Russia could do that fall short of actually sending additional forces into Ukraine. And again, across the board, we're prepared with Europe for a swift and calibrated and great united response. We're looking at every single scenario, preparing for every single one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And those scenarios were on the agenda for President Biden as he met with his national security team from Camp David yesterday. He was joined in person by his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a top counselor, Steve Rashetti, and other joined via secure video conference including Blinken.

Now, the White House says that they updated the president on diplomatic efforts to reach de-escalation with Russia, but also on the deterrence measure that the U.S. is trying to put in place with their allies. Right now, the White House trying to show that the president is highly engaged on this matter even while he is away from the White House at Camp David as they are trying and hoping that that diplomatic solution could be reached regarding these tensions. But they've also said that any invasion by Russia would simply mean that diplomacy is over.

ACOSTA: No question about that. All right, Arlette Saenz, Clarissa Ward, both waiting for developments in this very important story. Thank you so much to both of you. We really appreciate it.

Now to a major development in the January 6th investigation. The House Select Committee has met with Trump's former attorney general William Barr. Here is committee chairman Bennie Thompson earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [17:05:00]

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): To be honest with you, we've had conversations with the former attorney general already. We have talked to Department of Defense individuals. We have concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false. So if you're using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it's a discussion, the public needs to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That last part based on a December 2020 draft executive order first reported by "Politico" that would have had the Pentagon seize voting machines. A frightening detail that appears to be one piece of a highly orchestrated, multi-tiered coup plot involving key Trump allies. And now that House investigators have their hands on hundreds of White House documents that Trump tried to keep secret, the question is what more will come to light.

And let's ask somebody from the January 6th committee, Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California. Congresswoman, we really appreciate your time. Thanks so much as always. How many times did the committee speak with former Attorney General Barr? Did he come in voluntarily? And did he do more than I guess offer mono syllabic responses to your questions?

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Well, let me just say it was more than once and it was a voluntary discussion with our staff attorneys. And we appreciate his willingness to help us find the truth.

ACOSTA: And as you know, congresswoman, Barr resigned the same month that that draft order on seizing voting machines and appointing a special counsel to oversee election fraud was apparently written. Do you know, was Bill Barr aware of that draft letter?

LOFGREN: One of the things that is a committee rule is that we don't discuss interviews unless we have a vote of the committee to release information. So, I'm afraid I'm not able to go into any of the details. But let me just say, we're very concerned about that memo. It was not sent, issued, but it does show a very wide-ranging plot.

And of course, now we are getting with the Supreme Court's overwhelming decision, we're getting information from the archives that will help fill in some of the blanks, some of the material, the 700 pages we got late last week, some of it is routine, some of it is of greater interest. But there's a lot more that we expect to get in the coming days and weeks. So this is very much an active investigation.

ACOSTA: And congresswoman, last week we learned that you did not get those outtakes, as they've been described as --

LOFGREN: Right.

ACOSTA: -- from that January 6th video that Trump recorded telling the rioters to go home among other things. How confident are you that these clips continue to exist and might that be sent over by the National Archives in one of these upcoming tranches of information that you're hoping to get? I mean, I suppose you should be getting another delivery, what, this week? Is that your expectation?

LOFGREN: Yes. Yes, and let me just say this. We know that everyone in the White House was admonished by their legal staff that they had to turn everything over to the archives to comply with the law. So if they followed the law, those outtakes will be in the possession of the archives. We have asked for the outtakes.

And if they exist, if the Trump administration complied with the law, then we will get them. And we think it will provide some insight into what was going on the day of the riot, what the president's intentions were, what his state of mind was.

ACOSTA: And the committee is now asking Ivanka Trump to voluntarily cooperate. The former president was complaining about this move in a call with "The Washington Examiner," saying, and we can put this up on screen, "It's a very unfair situation for my children," is the word he used, "very, very unfair. They're using these things to try and get people's minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don't care. They go after children." Ivanka Trump is not a child, his children are adults now, but what's your response?

LOFGREN: Well, first, we're not going after anybody. We're just asking for information. Number two, as you pointed out, Ivanka Trump is 40 years old. She is not a child. And three, the reason why we want to talk to her is that she was given a position by the former president in the White House as a senior adviser.

[17:10:00]

She was there and talked to the president on the day of the riot. We understand from testimony of others she was asked to convince the president to call the riot off. We'd like to know about that. It's not because she's the daughter of the president. It's because she had an official role in the White House that the president appointed her to.

ACOSTA: Right. And this morning on Fox, I wanted to get your response to this, the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested that you and everyone else on the January 6th committee are criminals who should be put behind bars. He was saying that the Republicans when they come back into Congress should be threatening you and your colleagues on the committee with jail time. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: These are people who are literally just running over the law, pursuing innocent people, causing them to spend thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees for no justification. And it's basically a lynch mob. I think when you have a Republican congress, this is all going to come crashing down and the wolves are going to find out that they're now sheep and they're the ones who are in fact are going to -- I think face a real risk of jail for the kind of laws they're breaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What is your response to that, congresswoman?

LOFGREN: That's just bizarre. I think Newt has really lost it. You know, it leaves me speechless. I mean, unless he is assuming that the government does get overthrown and there's no system of justice, just random arrests. I mean, it's just a bizarre statement. And he looks terrible.

ACOSTA: And it sounds like something out of an autocratic government or something. I mean, you and your colleagues are attempting to conduct an investigation, something that was supported by many Republicans up on Capitol Hill in the days following January 6th. They wanted to get to the bottom of it, too. Unfortunately, their tune has changed over the last several months.

LOFGREN: Well, that's true. And Mr. McConnell said that the president bore responsibility, so did the Republican leader in the House, Mr. McCarthy and many others. We are uncovering a plot, it looks like, to overturn the peaceful transfer of power, to essentially overturn our system of government.

I think that's pretty serious and I think most Americans would agree. We're going to do our job despite, you know, bizarre threats such as Newt Gingrich's weird comments and we're going to get all the information. And we're going to make it known to the American people. And we're going to look at what could be changed legislatively.

We're a legislative committee. We're not going after anybody. We're going after the truth. And it will give us some insight into laws that should be changed, perhaps, for example the Electoral Count Act that Liz Cheney and I are working on. I personally think that we should revisit the elements of the Insurrection Act that a former president threatened to use repeatedly for no reason that was legitimate.

There is a lot of things that I think we need to tighten up to protect our law and order society and to avoid the kind of chaos that we saw in the prior administration.

ACOSTA: And might other Trump cabinet members testify as part of this investigation? Might we hear about other cabinet members who are cooperating with this investigation?

LOFGREN: It is possible. But let me just say that, you know, at the investigative stage, you don't necessarily telegraph everything that you're doing. For example, there are some witnesses who, based on their prior conduct, we might wonder about their veracity. If they don't know what we already know, I think it might encourage them to be more honest with the committee because it is a felony to lie to Congress.

So, we are in the investigation stage. And when we have put the entire picture together, we will begin reporting that out to the American people.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

LOFGREN: Thank you. Take care.

ACOSTA: All right. Have a good night. Thank you so much.

Coming up, Rudy Giuliani selling autographed 9/11 shirts for $911?

Plus, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushes a bill to shield people from feeling guilty when being taught about discrimination. What about that? We'll discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

ACOSTA: The hysteria over critical race theory is alive and well in Florida. A bill making its way through Florida state legislature and being pushed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis would bar public schools and businesses from making people feel discomfort or guilt when being taught about the history of racial discrimination in America. Here's the governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS (R), GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: You think about what MLK stood for. He said he didn't want people judged on the color of their skin but on the content of their character. You listen to some of these people nowadays, they don't talk about that.

We also have to protect people and protect our kids from some very pernicious ideologies that are trying to be forced upon them all across the country.

No taxpayer dollars should be used to teach our kids to hate our country or to hate each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon and CNN political commentator and host of PBS "Firing Line" Margaret Hoover. Margaret, what's going on here?

[17:20:00]

Is this sort of a fad talking point that is just going to fade away? I suspect not. It's gaining traction on the right.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, Governor DeSantis is making an argument that's very popular with many on the right. Of course, it plays to the fears of critical race theory. But his -- the message, I mean, the words you heard in that clip are very unifying and not really wedge words. They're not intended to divide, but of course it is a bit of a dog whistle to the Republican base.

The issue, right, is that the kind of conservatism with which many of us were acquainted prior to the Trump years is that when you have cultural issues like this, you don't legislate how you're going to speak about people and how you're going to speak about one another as a country.

You know, you work culturally through our mediating institutions and our society, to build bridges, to bring people together. That's what, you know, that's what the Civil Rights Act, or not the Civil Rights Act, those are the civil rights movement was about. It's what every great movement in this country has been about.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HOOVER: Ultimately, it culminates in legislation, but the approach is a red meat political approach.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is nothing more than a bureaucratic right wing trigger warning. And what happened to the whole idea that the right used to run around with which is facts don't care about your feelings? You can't legislate feelings when it's only convenient for your side. That's exactly what he's trying to do.

ACOSTA: Yes. And John, I know you used to work for Rudy Giuliani. I have to show you this and get your take on it because we've been -- our staff has been talking about this and I wonder what you think of this. Rudy Giuliani is selling autographed 9/11 t-shirts for $911 through his radio station. Has this been going on for a while and we're just seeing this now? I mean, what is your reaction to that?

AVLON: No.

ACOSTA: It's so bizarre.

AVLON: No. It is loathsome. It's a total disrespect for the dead. It has not been going for a while. This is a departure and a further descent by Rudy from principles that he once would have held in pretty crystal clear context. And while he says a portion is going to charity, that portion is obviously highly fungible. This is just absolutely loathsome for him to do and contradicts the values he used to have, a pattern we're seeing. And frankly, it may also reflect a need for money.

ACOSTA: And Margaret, I need to ask you about this newest obsession over at Fox. First it was Dr. Seuss. Now I guess the trigger is M&M's. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Bet you didn't think M&M's were pushing intolerance but they were. They've been changed. You're seeing the changes right now on your screen. The green M&M you will notice is no longer wearing sexy boots.

Now she's wearing sensible sneakers. Why the change? Well, according to M&M's, "We all win when we see more women in leading roles because leading women do not wear sexy boots. Leading women wear frumpy shoes, the frumpier the better. That's the rule."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Okay. This is so strange. I thought Tucker was going to have a problem because they were coming out with a version in white chocolate, you know, which maybe that was the issue. But maybe Tucker should know about the Skittles ad in their ad campaign, "Taste the Rainbow" but anyway, putting that all to the side, what is going on here, Margaret?

HOOVER: Well, I know, Jim Acosta, you have thrown me back to like a previous life where I used to have to tell Bill O'Reilly things about culture.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HOOVER: And so this is like a typical culture warrior segment from Fox News. I mean, they've been doing the same play for 20 years. Find a cultural issue that is sort of the nexus of politics and culture that one can be outraged by and then just play it on a loop.

And, you know, it appeals to their viewership, which is older and mostly men, and is quite older, and mostly men, and it's a generation apart, right? So, it's completely -- he's just detached from I think where the country is.

AVLON: Who was looking at the old M&Ms and being like, that's an attractive M&M?

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: This is so bonkers. I mean, first of all, it's a private company, I don't know why they rebranded it. This is a typical kind of cultural irritant that drives folks a bit batty. But really? Is this any kind of, you know, was he that wedded to the thigh-high boots on the M&M cartoon character before and if so, why? And maybe he should talk to someone.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, I should point out that they do hand out M&M's on Air Force One. Here is the Trump one that I got from Air Force One after, you know, Trump's last ride on Air Force One. Honestly, you know, we can send some to Tucker if it will make him feel better.

AVLON: And do you think they taste any different now, Jim?

ACOSTA: I don't think so. Not all M&M's are bad, that's the moral of the story here.

AVLON: Unless you (inaudible).

ACOSTA: Yes. Exactly.

[17:24:58]

And we have to talk, you know, we have to talk about this very bizarre anti-vaccine rally in Washington today. Just strange stuff happening here in Washington, strange things afoot. Here is RFK, Jr., the son of the former attorney general. He is an anti-vaxxer, making some incredibly offensive comments earlier today. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., ANTI-VACCINE ADVOCATE: What we're seeing today, what we're seeing today is what I call turnkey totalitarianism. They are putting in place all of these technological mechanisms for control we've never seen before. It's been the ambition of every totalitarian state from the beginning of mankind to control every aspect of behavior, of conduct, of thought, and to obliterate dissent.

None of them have been able to do it. They didn't have the technological capacity. Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You can hide in an attic like Anne Frank did. I visited in 1962 East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped. So it was possible. Many died doing it, but it was possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOOVER: Okay.

ACOSTA: I mean, this is just insanity. I mean, you know, first of all, we should point out Auschwitz put out a tweet, you know, explaining that exploiting the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured, and murdered by this totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany including children like Anne Frank and a debate about vaccines and limitations during the global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay. That from the Auschwitz Museum. I mean, John and Margaret, it just boggles the mind. I think there's something wrong with him.

HOOVER: Yes.

ACOSTA: There's no comparison.

AVLON: No. And yet we hear the comparison made over and over again by anti-vaxxers and folks on the right. And of course there's just no comparison in any sane reality-based world and yet they keep being attracted to it. You want to talk about technological surveillance state, talk about China. Don't talk about efforts to vaccinate people during a global pandemic. This is not about control.

And the fact that he's singing these same talking the same points as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and all these other folks is a sad dissent. As his father once said in a very different time, what we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not lawlessness but is love and focusing on facts and unity. And RFK, Jr. on this particular point has lost the plot for a long time. This is just a sickening sign of it.

ACOSTA: And Margaret, I mean, it's just disturbing to see. I mean, this has come up time and again. We've seen Marjorie Taylor Greene make these comparisons and so on. It's just so disturbing.

HOOVER: Well, I almost couldn't put it better than John and to quote RFK was sort of beautiful. But what you also see here is, you know, the place where the fringe on the left and the fringe on the right have come back around and they are the same because, you know, Bobby's son, RFK, Jr., has long been associated with the far left anti-vaxx fringe.

And you're right, he's saying the exact same things as Marjorie Taylor Greene and the folks on the right. This is not a totalitarian state. We, thank god, live in, you know, the greatest representative democracy in human history and we're all fighting to keep it exactly that way. Nobody is forcing you to get a vaccine, all right?

This is -- but we do need to implore on people individual choice and we need to do a better job of persuading people to be comfortable so that they can shed that hesitancy and get vaccinated for their friends, their family, their communities, so we can move on.

AVLON: And vaccine mandates were -- I mean, this is the -- you know, your right to swing your fist ends at someone else's nose. And there are good reasons during a global pandemic to encourage people to get vaccinations. And this kind of dial to 11 insanity, insulting comparisons to Anne Frank and the Auschwitz and the Nazi regime which we hear over and over and over again, it indicates just how these folks have lost the plot.

HOOVER: Intellectually lazy.

AVLON: It's worse than intellectually lazy. It's fearmongering from the fright wing of the worst sort.

ACOSTA: Yes. And it's getting people killed. It's sickening and it's just getting people killed and it's just making this pandemic last longer and longer. John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, thanks to both of you so much. We appreciate it as always.

AVLON: Thank, Jim. Be well.

ACOSTA: You too.

Coming up, a statue of Theodore Roosevelt comes down after criticism of how it depicted black and indigenous people. What Roosevelt's own family is saying about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

ACOSTA: After nearly 80 years, a statue of President Theodore Roosevelt no longer sits in front of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It was removed this week amid criticism that it was a symbol of racism and colonialism. CNN's Athena Jones has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt spent more than eight decades welcoming visitors to New York City's American Museum of Natural History. The statue, commissioned in 1925 and designed by American sculptor James Earle Fraser, debuted in 1940.

The nation's 26th president depicted on horseback, towering over two sparsely clothed men. One Native American, the other Black, allegorical figures meant to represent the continents of North America and Africa. But critics like former Mayor Bill de Blasio said it explicitly depict Black and indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior.

[17:35:03]

Now after years of debate, the controversial work is being moved.

PHILIP DELORIA, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I think it's fair to say that, you know, that we should see these as complicated kinds of issues. Roosevelt was a complicated person, both in his motivations and his consequences. James Earle Fraser was a complicated sculptor. The museum is a complicated place.

JONES (voice-over): The museum writing in 2020 in its initial removal request, "The statue conveys a racial hierarchy that the museum and members of the public have long found disturbing." A city parks official calling the move, "incredibly rare but the right course of action."

DELORIA: Over time, the meanings of the statue really did start to change as we thought more about what our social landscape looked like.

JONES (voice-over): Workers began dismantling it this week. Roosevelt, who also served as New York's 33rd governor, was hailed as a driving force for anti-trust and progressive policies and as a conservationist. But scholars say he was also an imperialist and he said of immigrants in his 1905 message to Congress, "The laws now existing for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be strengthened."

ANDREW ROSS, PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS, NYU: It's pretty clear that his personal opinions were, quite frankly, racist, especially in regard to indigenous Americans, African- Americans, and many immigrant groups.

JONES (voice-over): Roosevelt helped create the national parks system but he did it on once native land.

DELORIA: What Roosevelt did was participate in taking native land, putting it in the public domain and locking it up in the public domain for the good of all. But that doesn't change the fact that it was native land.

JONES (voice-over): Opposition to the statue began to build in the 1970s. The movement reaching a crescendo in recent years as the nation's racial reckoning led to re-examination of many national heroes. New York City's Public Design Commission unanimously voted last June to loan the statue on a long term basis to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, slated to open its doors in 2026. It's a move even members of the Roosevelt's family support.

Roosevelt's great-grandson, Ted Roosevelt, V, saying in a statement to "John Lemon Tonight" "I don't think the statue's racial hierarchy is a good representation of Teddy Roosevelt's legacy." Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And coming up, it's becoming a common occurrence again at grocery stores nationwide. Empty shelves and shortages of food and supplies. So what's behind it this time? That story, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

ACOSTA: If it seems like you're paying more for everyday goods, it's because you are. A key inflation measure hit a 39-year high in December. The consumer price index rose 7 percent over the past year. Things like used cars, gas, clothes, and food now definitely cost you more than they used to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GOODE, WASHINGTON, D.C. SHOPPER: Like eggs, milk, mainly the basic things that you normally get. Even paper products, they have gone up.

MAKENNA SIEVERTSON, WASHINGTON, D.C. SHOPPER: They have the preset vegetables and I used to make those for dinner. Just throw them in the over. I notice they did go over about maybe a dollar or two and it's just single, double serving, so it is noticeable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In fact, the typical American family is spending about $250 more a month to buy the same amount of things they were buying a year ago and as if rising prices weren't bad enough, winter weather, labor shortages, and supply chain issues means some stores can't keep their shelves stocked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE VECS, WASHINGTON, D.C. SHOPPER: I turned around, there's like nothing for me to buy.

MATT AMDROGI, WASHINGTON, D.C. SHOPPER: I already took time out of my day, you know, to go to the store and stuff, so definitely a little frustrating.

BART YABLONSKY, DAWSON'S MARKET OWNER: It's not that the product is not in the warehouse. It's because they don't have enough people to pick the product. So, they will basically be shorting us for the next couple of weeks depending on when people get back to work on our deliveries. So, that also creates a situation where we have to pivot again and try to find alternative suppliers for some of the key items. I'm definitely concerned that there's going to be shortages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And I'm joined now by Stew Leonard, Jr., CEO of Stew Leonard's grocery stores. Stew, great to see you. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

STEW LEONARD, CEO, STEW LEONARD'S: Yes.

ACOSTA: Give us some examples of how --

LEONARD: Hey Jim, by the --

ACOSTA: Yes, sir.

LEONARD: Hey, by the way, I'm glad people are watching us rather than Tom Brady right now.

ACOSTA: Oh, I bet. I bet. Well, let's not fumble the segment here. Tell us -- give us an example of how much things are costing right now versus what they were costing just a year ago.

LEONARD: Well, look, prices have gone up and I think most people can see that just going to the gas station. You know, my nephew just told me, for the first time he spent over $100 filling his car up with gas. So, I think everybody feels that. Look, we have a family business here in Connecticut. We feel the same thing, you know.

You know, our ranchers, our farmers, these are just small businesses. They're not Exxons or Mobil. So, their costs are going up. They got to fill their tractors up with fuel every day just like we fill our cars up. And they've called us, obviously, the phone is ringing and they said it's costing us more, we got to raise our prices.

You mentioned the customer $1, $2, we're seeing like a nickel, a dime, a quarter, and a lot of them, most of, but sometimes the meat may go up a little bit more. But you're feeling the pinch right now and we're trying to hold our prices as long as we can.

ACOSTA: And we've talked a lot about the supply chain crisis. Is there anything that's really hard to keep in stock these days? Other stores have had problems with cream cheese, pasta, pet food. What's the experience been like for you?

[17:45:05]

LEONARD: Yes. Every morning when we wake up, it's something new, you know. And a lot of it has to do, like you mentioned, with workers being out. They just don't have enough people. Even truck drivers, sometimes. What happens when your claiming you had a truck of berries from California and they don't have the drivers because COVID may have hit that one area? So, you know, there's a lot of reasons that we're getting it.

I hear New York is like two weeks wait at the port. Out in L.A., I was talking to my nephew that gets a lot of stuff out of Long Beach, in the port he says its four weeks. So, we're seeing things like -- I went to get some vegetable oil today tin our Stew Leonard jug of olive oil and we were out of them.

So, the vegetable oil, so we had to get Wesson in smaller container. So what we have to do is bob and weave a little bit every day to try to figure out how to get the product. AND luckily we've been able to keep our shelves full because they think we're a smaller company.

ACOSTA: And grocery store workers have been through a lot during this pandemic. How has your staff fared with omicron being as transmissible as it is right now? Have you had labor shortages?

LEONARD: Well, we have. And, you know, we've had to raise our starting rate up a couple of bucks an hour, you know, to get people. We actually have like a buffer of people that we have now just because every day you may get a call that you have to quarantine some people because they don't feel well.

We did have at one point 209 people out on quarantine here and that's down to like about a little over 60 right now. So, just like the country, we're seeing a drop in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey right now, and that's helping the labor output. You've got to keep morale up. We try to let our people know that, you know, we're doing this for the community, we're helping people get food to feed their families and everything.

And we want to focus on the big picture here. And we've got to keep everybody motivated. We're working on giving them time off and letting them -- you know, they've got their own lives, too, besides work.

ACOSTA: That's right. That's great. And grocery store workers are so important. They're relatives, our neighbors, our friends, always a happy face when you go to the store. And Stew, thanks as -- thanks as always for being with us. We appreciate it. Always nice to come in one of your stores. Thanks for your time.

LEONARD: Hey, Jim, also, I heard you talk about vaccination too. And we're up to 90 percent, but we're trying to get that last 10 percent vaccinated. And --

ACOSTA: Good for you.

LEONARD: -- and it's like, you know, it's like asking your kids to wear a seatbelt in the car when they get in it, you know. We're protecting not only our customers and our people but also the people you work with at the store.

ACOSTA: That's right. Well, thanks for getting that message out. We appreciate it. Great to see you, Stew.

LEONARD: Hey.

ACOSTA: Thank you, sir.

LEONARD: I'm watching the game now. Take care.

ACOSTA: All right, take care. All right, have a good night. And here is Christine Romans with your "Before the Bell" report.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. On inflation watch, attention turns to the Federal Reserve and its plan to fight rising prices. The Fed has already started winding down its emergency stimulus and has hinted at three interest rate hikes this year. No hike is expected when the Central Bank meets this week.

Instead, Wall Street betting the first one comes in March. But how big will it be and how many will follow? Those are the questions investors hope Fed Chief Jerome Powell answers on Wednesday.

Bond yields have already started climbing in anticipation of Fed hikes and that's weighing on the stock market. Last week, the NASDAQ entered correction territory, meaning a 10 percent drop from a recent high. After two years of spectacular stock market gains, the market's focus now is on how aggressively the Fed will try to cool down the economy to fight inflation. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

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[17:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: In the summer of 1957, Marilyn's only concern is her family.

UNKNOWN: She embraced her marriage in a way that she had never done before.

UNKNOWN: My father, Sam, was shooting a lot during that period. When they were in Amagansett, those photographs of Marilyn on the beach --

UNKNOWN: Very playful. She adored him.

UNKNOWN: She discovers that she's pregnant and she's ecstatic about it.

MIRA SORVINO, ACTOR: She wanted to be a mom. I think she wanted to love a baby. I think she wanted to move forward with her life out of just being this poster girl and being a woman who chooses to be a mother, chooses a family.

UNKNOWN: She loved children. I mean, the way she create treated us, I think she would have been a great mother.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And be sure to tune in, "Reframed: Marilyn Monroe" airs tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN. And finally, there has been no shortage of material for "Saturday Night Live," the comedy show's cold open brought back former President Trump while poking fun at Fox host Laura Ingram.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE MCKINNON, ACTOR: I'd like to thank a moment to thank my few remaining loyal sponsors. COVID NEGS, he COVID test that's guaranteed to be negative even if you have it. COVID NEGS, I'm going to your wedding.

JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON, ACTOR: I'm back just like Tiger King 2. You had fun the first time and now you're like, how many people from this not in jail yet? They went their separate ways just like Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa.

[17:55:00]

And let me tell you, Momo is a very big boy. He's so big, he looks like a sexy devil. And the devil wears Prada and Prada is right next to Tiffany's. Tiffany is my daughter. Daughter is by John Mayer and I'm going to run through the halls of your high school in 2024 when you re-elect Trump. Wordle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And, of course, they had to get Wordle in there. I'm still working on it. I haven't hit -- I haven't it in one try just yet, but I'll keep going. That's the news reporting from Washington. I'm Jim Acosta. Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern and all this week at 9:00 eastern for "Democracy in Peril." It's a very important look at the threats to voting and our future elections.

For now, Pamela Brown takes over live in the CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break. Good night, everybody.

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