Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pentagon Gives Briefing As Russia-Ukraine Tensions Escalate; Markets Down Sharply On Inflation Fears and Ukraine Uncertainty; Arizona Dem Party Censures Sen. Sinema for Filibuster Vote. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 24, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:15]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: The market taking a big hit today. The Dow right now is down a little more than 600 points. At one point this afternoon, the Dow was down 1,000 points.

The growing tension over Ukraine and persistent inflation is helping this.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, we want to go right to --

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon, everybody.

Just one thing here at the top. As you're all aware, the United States is deeply concerned about the current situation in Europe.

We remain keenly focused on Russia's unusual military activities near the Ukrainian border, including in Belarus, and consulting extensively with our transatlantic allies and partners.

The department continues to support diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

Now as the president has said, even as we continue to prioritize diplomacy and dialogue, we must also increase readiness.

And in support of its obligations to the security and defense of NATO and the security of its citizens abroad, at the direction of the president and following recommendations made by Secretary Austin, the United States has taken steps to heighten the readiness of its forces at home and abroad.

So they are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies, including support to the NATO response force, if it is activated.

As you have heard me describe many times, our commitment to the security of NATO allies and our Article 5 commitment are ironclad.

As the president has also made clear, the United States will act firmly and in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us, our allies, our partners.

As part of that commitment, the Department of Defense maintains significant combat capable forces forward in Europe to deter aggression and enhance the alliance's ability to defend allies and defeat aggression if necessary.

The United States also has a commitment to provide forces to the NATO Response Force, otherwise known as the NRF, in the event that NATO should activate that construct.

And as you may now, the NRF is a multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and Special Operations forces, all components, that the alliance can deploy on short notice wherever needed.

Altogether, the NRF comprises around 40,000 multinational troops.

Within the NRF is something called the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, or VJTF. This NRF element, which is about 20,000 strong across all domains, includes a multinational land brigade of around 5,000 troops and air, maritime and Special Operation forces components.

I want to provide some facts on these preparations that will reinforce our commitment to NATO and to the NATO response force and increase our readiness.

Secretary Austin has placed a range of units in the United States on a heightened preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if NATO should activate the NRF or if other situations develop.

All told, the number of forces that the secretary has placed on heighten alert comes up to about 8,500 personnel.

We'll continue to provide updates in coming days about these decisions.

But specifically, this will ensure that the United States and our commitment to the NRF has been consistent with their readiness for rapid deployment, again, if activated.

In the event of NATO's activation of the NRF or a deteriorating security environment, the United States will be in a position to rapidly deploy additional brigade combat teams, logistics, medical, aviation, intelligence, surveillance and recognizance, transportation and additional capabilities into Europe.

[14:35:13]

Again, I want to reinforce that, as of now, the decision has been made to put these units on higher alert and higher alert only. No decisions have been made to deploy any forces from the United States at this time.

And when I say heighten alert, in some cases, some of the forces were already on a heightened posture, readiness to deploy. And the secretary decided to make it even more -- shortened the tether even more.

So in some cases, units would go from, say, 10 days to prepare to deploy and now they're at five days. That is not the case for every unit that is being notified that they're on heightened alert. Some are simply more ready and postured that way than others.

The idea though is that all of these units that he is putting on prepared to deploy will be ready to go on a shortened time frame.

Again, no final decision has been made to deploy them.

The secretary will continue to consult with the president. And the United States will maintain close coordination with allies and partners as we continuously review our force posture and make decisions regarding movement of forces into and within Europe.

As always, we remain in close coordination with allies and partners as well as NATO and other multi-lateral organizations as we continue to review our force posture as we make decisions regarding potential movement of forces into Europe and as we review the disposition of forces on the continent.

And with that, we'll start taking questions.

Bob, I think you're on the line, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes, thank you, John.

Of that 8,500 troops that you've mentioned, are those U.S.-based only? And would they -- are they intended only for deployment as part of an activation of the rapid response force or might they be sent for other reinforcement purposes in Eastern Europe?

And lastly, why did the secretary and the president decide to do this now? What has changed just in the last few days? Since on Friday, you mentioned, as you had many times before, that the U.S. was prepared to reinforce in Eastern Europe if there were a Russian incursion only.

KIRBY: OK, think I remembered all three so let me try.

First, yes, the up to 8,500. And I want to stress it is up to 8,500. No decisions to deploy has been made. So this is getting unites on an advanced heightened alert. That doesn't mean they're going anywhere. But up to 8,500 that I talked about, they are all U.S.-based.

And I'm sorry, your second question was --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are they intended only for the NATO rapid response force, or could they perform other reinforcement functions?

KIRBY: The bulk of them are intended for the NATO response force. The vast majority.

But as I also said in my opening statement, the secretary wants us postured to be ready for any other contingencies as well. But the bulk of them are aligned for the NATO response force. And the third question was on timing. I think we've been watching this

very, very closely. I also said that right at top.

It is very clear that the Russians have no intention right now of de- escalating. And because not every one of these units that we are notifying are in -- all of them are not in a heightened state of alert.

It made prudent sense for the secretary to give them as much time to prepared to be on a shortened tether as you can, just in case.

Again, I want to stress, particularly with the NATO response force, it has not been activated. It is a NATO call to make. But we have contributions to that response force as do other nations.

As I said, it is 40,000-some-odd strong. Our contributions don't come near the 40,000 number. The other nations will have to contribute as well.

But for our part, unilaterally, we want to make sure we were ready in case that call should come. And that means making sure that units that would contribute to it are as ready as they can be on a short of notice as possible.

Barb?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What -- three things. What specific military capabilities do the U.S. troops bring to Europe, these 8,500?

Second, could you say with some specificity what is the exact mission for these troops?

And what will your measure of success be? How will you know when the mission is accomplished?

KIRBY: Yes, so, on capabilities, Barb, I touched this in the opening statement. Again, when we are able to identify the units for you, we'll do that.

[14:40:06]

The reason why I don't have specific units today is because the units are being notified as well as family members. And I think you can understand we wouldn't want to get ahead of the notification process.

But broadly speaking, as I mentioned at the top, these would be additional brigade combat teams, logistics personnel, medical support, aviation support, intelligence surveillance and recognizance, as well as transportation and maybe even some additional capabilities after that.

Again, when we can identify for you the units, I think you'll see that they kind of cover the broad scope of those capabilities.

Missions haven't been assigned. The ready response force hasn't been -- hasn't been activated. And so there's not a mission, per se.

This is about the secretary wanting to get ahead of the potential activation and making sure that these units have the time to prepare if, and only if, they're deployed.

And then you have -- when will we know success. Again, there has been no activation. So there's no mission assigned. So it is very difficult to give you a up check or a down check on what equates success.

What it's about, though, is reassurance to our NATO allies. And we've been talking about that for quite some time.

That we're going to be ready, we're going to be prepared to help bolster our allies, with capabilities they might need. And we're going to do this in lockstep with them and with the alliance.

This is really about reassuring the eastern flank of NATO.

And also about -- and I kind of covered this, too, Barb, back to your question of success. It is proving how seriously the United States takes our commitment to NATO and to the Article 5 commitment inside of NATO.

STARR: How will you know when your military goals are achieved?

KIRBY: Again, Barb, there's no mission assigned right now. This is about getting troops ready.

And back to what we're trying to achieve is a couple of things. Obviously, we still would like to deter Vladimir Putin and the Russians from another incursion. Number one.

And number two, to make sure that we're bolstering and staying unified with the alliance. That the alliance stays strong.

And so the large bulk of the reason for this -- these prepare to deploy orders is to make sure that we're ready to bolster the NATO alliance and to prove the solidarity of the alliance. Those are the two sort of big outcomes here.

But again, no mission has been assigned to these troops, no deployment orders have been sent to them.

What the secretary has ordered them to do is to be ready to go, in some cases, on a much shorter tether than what they had before.

Jen?

CAMEROTA: OK, you've been listening there to John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, about the latest moves in terms of what the U.S. is prepared to do to stave off any Russian invasion of Ukraine and how they plan to support NATO allies.

Joining us now is Oren Liebermann. Kimberly Dozier we want to bring back and Colonel Cedric Leighton. Oren, you've been listening, along with us. So what -- one of the

questions that the correspondents asked, why today, what happened in the past two days?

So give us the content of why this important for him to announce today.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, was asked, what's changed over the course of the last couple of days, and he said nothing specific has changed to warrant this prepare to deploy order for up to 8,500 U.S. troops.

The decision though was made by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to give troops in the United States as much heads up as possible.

To be ready to deploy to Europe if there's that call either from the NATO response force, or Kirby gave two other hints as to what might warrant a deployment of U.S. troops.

He said, if other situations develop -- he wasn't specific there -- or if there's a deteriorating security environment.

That might lead the U.S. -- that is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joe Biden -- to deploy these 8,500 troops to the U.S.

The key here is these are part of the NATO and a part of the NATO response force, which makes up some 40,000 troops multi-national across NATO allies.

But also the -- I apologize, I want to get the wording right -- the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force. That has some 20,000 troops that could deploy.

The U.S. contributing to both that 20,000, this Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, as well as the broader 40,000 members of the NATO response force.

If -- and he stressed this over and over again -- if NATO chooses to activate that NATO response force.

Because not only for the U.S. but NATO watches Russian movements along the borders, as well as in Belarus, an joint Russia-Belarusian exercise planned for the next few weeks, which allies fear might be a cover for a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[14:45:04]

And that is the key here. It is Russian action, they're watching.

That being said, Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, also made it clear that diplomacy is the number-one option here. That is what the U.S. would like to see prevail. That's what Europe would like to see prevail.

But we've all watched over the course of the last weeks and months and watched as diplomacy hasn't led to a dissolution of this. And because of that, that is why the U.S. is getting ready for a possible deployment or a possible potential or calling up or activation of the NATO response force. And the U.S. wants to be ready in the event that that happens.

BLACKWELL: That sounds like what we heard from Kirby was that it is as much about what has changed as what has not changed over the last several weeks to months.

Colonel, let me come to you.

This is an announcement that they're getting ready to get ready. They're preparing now. What is the significance of this announcement?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think, Victor, what the big significance is that we're publicly showing our cards a bit here with our possibility military deployment and possible NATO Joint Task Force in this particular situation.

So normally, what happens in a case like this is units are issued a warning order, told they need to get ready to deploy.

It is pretty obvious from Admiral Kirby's press conference and his remarks that, that warning order has gone out but an actual deployment order, which sends troops forward, has not gone out.

And that would be the kicker. That would be the one catalyst that you would need to move units forward. That has not happened yet.

Right now, we have about 60,000 troops in Europe at the present time. This addition of a few thousand extra troops could very well make a difference in terms of being a trip wire for the Russians if they decided to do something in Ukraine.

Or decided to do something in another part of their border with the NATO countries.

So that is a very specific effort. And I think that is kind of what we're doing is we're telegraphing a message right here that this is going to happen if you hit a certain milestone.

Some of those mile milestones may not be known to the Russians at this particular point. They only know if they hit those.

And that is kind of the way this is going to go forward. So we're answering there what we perceive to be their intransigence with this possible movement.

CAMEROTA: Kim, should we see this as a different kind of telegraphic than the message of what Secretary of State Blinken was saying just a few days ago, that talks are continuing at pace, we think they've been productive and we're going to continue having talks?

This seems very different.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think that Blinken, the Biden administration overall, wants to send a message that this is not the Obama administration of 2014, that tried to rely just on diplomacy. And Ukraine lost the Crimea peninsula to invading Russian troops.

So this time around, they want to say we're serious. And other NATO nations today had announced either they're sending jet fighters to Ukraine or nations like France said they're willing to send their troops into Bulgaria. So this is part of that process.

Also remember, the State Department is still due to turn in some written answers to Moscow to a bunch of its queries, a bunch of its demands.

And we are already know that the State Department is going to say no to most if not all of those demands. That could make diplomacy -- it could put diplomacy on ice for a bit.

So this is a tough message to go along with that to come.

BLACKWELL: Kimberly Dozier, Colonel Cedric Leighton and Oren Liebermann, thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet.

[14:48:49]

CAMEROTA: OK, well, you could be seeing record-high heating bill this is winter on top of limited supplies at grocery stores. So up next, what you should expect in the weeks to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:39]

BLACKWELL: Rough day for the markets today. Let's take a look at the big board. Dow down more than 700 points. It had been down more than 1,000 points earlier today.

The tensions in Ukraine, the persistent inflation are fueling this.

CAMEROTA: This afternoon, President Biden will hold a White House meeting to discuss ways to bring down prices and deal with supply shortages that are still plaguing many American.

CNN's Matt Egan is following all of this for us.

Matt, how do you explain happening in the markets right now?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Alisyn and Victor, for months, it felt like Wall Street was shrugging as Main Street was dealing with really elevated inflation.

Not anymore. We saw the Dow fall by 1,100 points at one point today. Seven days in a row down for the Dow. Longest losing streak since February 2020. The losses have been heavier for the NASDAQ. That is down about 17

percent from the record high last fall. You can see it going down the last few days. This could be the NASDAQ's worst month since 2008.

Why is this happening? Three big factors.

One, inflation is high and the Federal Reserve is getting serious about fighting inflation by raising interest rates. Low rates are great for the stock market. Higher rates, that could be a negative for the market.

Also, there's corporate profits that haven't really lived up to the hype.

And the other big factor is the Russia- Ukraine tensions that add to a lot of certainty.

[14:55:01]

Victor and Alisyn, you put that together, you have a pretty negative stretch for the stock market.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this meeting at White House on lowering costs, what's impacting people, and trying to lower their household budgets. What do we know about it?

EGAN: We know the president is joining this meeting. This is the second time the council is coming together.

The fact the president is joining showing the administration is serious about trying the crack down on anti-competitive behavior, trying to lower cost for everyday families.

But it's not going be easy because while anti-competitive behavior could be a factor behind inflation, it's probably not the driving force.

This was an issue before COVID. Inflation wasn't really high. Now inflation is high. And that's largely because of COVID.

We're seeing that with Omicron. We're seeing worker absenteeism triple between December and January as people have been out sick and they've been forced to quarantine.

And that's starting to put a lot of strain on the supply chain, which has already been stressed out. Food supply in particular. Processing plants, distribution, grocery stores, all of that is under pressure.

At the same time, home heating costs are really on the rise. Natural gas costs up 32 percent. Heating oil, 35 percent.

Alisyn and Victor, calling out anti-competitive behavior makes a lot of sense but it's hard the see how inflation really gets under control until COVID does.

BLACKWELL: All right, Matt Egan, thank you. EGAN: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Now to politics. Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been censured by the Arizona's Democratic Party.

This weekend, the party's executive board voted to formally rebuke Sinema for refusing to change the Senate's filibuster rules, a move which blocked Democratic efforts to pass sweeping voting rights legislation.

BLACKWELL: It's a symbolic gesture from Arizona Democrats. But it adds to the mounting pressure Sinema is facing from those in a state that helped her flip a Senate seat in 2018.

CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, is with us now.

Dana, good to see you.

Let' start with, we heard from Bernie Sanders. Sanders told you, what they did in that state was exactly right in response to her position on the filibuster.

How much trouble is she in?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: She's not up for re- election until 2024 so she's got some time.

The answer to your question is, with her own party in Arizona, she is in a lot of trouble and she knows that. She's well aware of that.

She made that clear when she gave the speech she gave on the Senate floor announcing she would not support changes in the filibuster rule.

This is the kind of hardball tactic that the Arizona Democrats engaged in censuring her that we saw over the past year from Republican parties across the states do against their Republicans because they did things like vote for a Trump impeachment. This is happening more and more.

When it comes to Sinema, this is a state, Arizona, that is purple. She argues that she is representing John McCain's old seat and she's representing a place that is not New York and is not one of the more blue states.

Having said that, she is also - she has a co-Senator, another Senator, Mark Kelly, who voted the other way.

It's very interesting.

Let me say, this is the kind of thing she could be in trouble for down the road because she has people like Bernie Sanders.

I asked him if he might run, campaign with a primary opponent if both she and Manchin have them.

Listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, that's a long way coming. They're not up until 2024.

But if they were strong candidates in those states, who were prepared to stand up for working family, who understand the Democratic Party has got to be the party of working people, taking on big money interest, if those candidates were there in Arizona and West Virginia, yes, I would be happy to support them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Victor and Alisyn, Senator Sinema argues, on the merit of voting rights, she supports it. She supports the bill. She supports other largely progressive issues. But she doesn't support - some of them she supports. The big thing she doesn't support obviously is change in the Senate rules.

CAMEROTA: You can't get to the voting rights issue without the change in the filibuster rule.

But in the meantime, Dana, former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, said something so chilling this weekend about -- I can't tell this is what he wants to have happen or if this is a real plan for what revenge would look like if and when Republicans take back control of Congress.

So here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: On January 4th, next year, you're going to have a Republican majority in the House and a Republican majority in the Senate.

[14:59:57]

And all of these people who have been so tough and so mean and so nasty are going to be delivered subpoenas for every document, every conversation, every tweet, every e-mail.

When you have a Republican Congress, this will come crashing down.