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U.S. Puts Troops on Alert over Fears of Russian Invasion Into Ukraine; Biden Admin to Brief Congressional Staff on Ukraine Crisis; Report Shows 100-Plus Extreme Far-Right Candidates Running for Office in 2022. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A very good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Right now, thousands of U.S. troops are on high alert, ready to be sent to NATO's eastern plank as Russia continues its military build-up along the border with Ukraine. Now, we should note, the Pentagon says no final decision has been made, but if deployed, the troops would bolster NATO's quick response force in the former Soviet bloc countries on Russia's border. U.S. troops, we should note, would not be sent to Ukraine.

The Biden administration will hold two classified briefings for congressional staff later today. We'll have more on that in just a moment.

SCIUTTO: Yes, you're going to hear the latest intelligence.

Also ahead here at home, extremism on the ballot, a new report released just moments ago shows that dozens of far-right candidates are endorsing QAnon conspiracy theories ahead of this year's midterms. What we're learning about the connections those candidates have with white supremacists, anti-government extremists and the Proud Boys group, which, of course, played a part on January 6th.

GOLODRYGA: It's a really important conversation to be having now but we begin our top story. CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is in Moscow and CNN Senior International Correspondent Sam Kiley is live on the scene in Ukraine. Nic, we'll start with you. So, how is the Kremlin responding to the news that U.S. troops have been put on high alert and ready to go at a moment's notice?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. The Kremlin is framing this as part of the sort of informational hysteria that they've been talking about over recent days but they're also saying this move raises the tensions. And I think you put this in the context of what the Kremlin has been saying over the past few weeks, which is it sees this sort of gathering of NATO troops and military hardware closer to their borders, Russia's borders, as, in essence, a sort of provocation, a cover for a provocation. Their line has been that the sort of more this build-up continues, the more it raises tensions, and the Kremlin implies that NATO is using this as some kind of cover to start some kind of issue along the borders. That's Russia's position.

And I think we just had a very interesting line from the Russian Federation Council. This is something that's being reported by the state news agency, TASS, here. And this really gets to the heart of what the United States, European Union, NATO, all considering, all these capitals considering exactly unifying on a plan of sanctions should Russia invade Ukraine, and that is on the issue of SWIFT, the sort of money, the international financial system. And the Russian Federation Council, in an interview with TASS, said, look, if Russia was taken out of the SWIFT system, then this would mean we wouldn't be able to supply Europe with gas, with oil, with other products. It would be -- the financial system wouldn't work.

He doesn't seem to be saying this is a threat, and that's certainly not how it's being implied here but it's coming at this very sensitive time, as we know, where the international community is trying to get agreement. And we know there are differences on that agreement, particularly with Germany and some of the other European nations, about what the sanctions should be. So, again, look at this as part of the Kremlin's response, finding the divisions and exploiting them.

SCIUTTO: No question. Sam Kiley in Kyiv as well. So, U.S. Marines bolstering security at the American embassy in Kyiv. President Zelensky of Ukraine, he is telling citizens to stay calm. Understandably so, but I imagine U.S. experience here, they learn from what they saw in Kabul and Afghanistan. They're taking every precaution they can.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, they're not alone either. If you look at who else is downsizing their embassies here in Kyiv, that would be the Brits and the Australians and the Germans. Now, if you put aside the Germans, that's three of the five of the exclusive five intelligence club, only missing from those two is Canada and New Zealand. I'm not even sure if they've got an embassy here. They share intelligence. There is unanimity, it seems, in terms of intelligence analysis that is definitely worth getting into a position in which you protect your staff, get rid of the or move on non-essential staff from your embassies because there is a strong feeling that Vladimir Putin may well order a Russian invasion.

That sends a very poor signal indeed to the citizens of Ukraine for two reasons, as far as the government is concerned.

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First of all, they're already enduring a Russian invasion and have been for the last eight years, and, secondly, as you mentioned, Zelensky and others in the government, right across the government, issuing these calls for calm, reassuring their population, they don't want to see international diplomats sort of running for the borders, running through the airport at a time when they're actually trying to steady the ship and still try and find a diplomatic solution.

And also, critically, I think today, Clarissa Ward has had an interview with the foreign minister here, in which they very firmly repeated this line coming time and again from the Ukrainians, nobody must think of doing a deal behind our backs, and that is because they're aware that Vladimir Putin is seeking these schisms through different European partners.

SCIUTTO: Bianna, as Sam was talking there, we were showing footage from Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, it looks like a war zone because it's been a war zone for some eight years. Pro-Russian forces have been fighting a war there. It's claimed the lives of more than 13,000 Ukrainians. It's a reminder. This has happened before in Ukraine.

GOLODRYGA: Right, which is why President Zelensky and others there are saying, we've been in this war for eight years. Obviously, there's a lot of build-up to perhaps it's getting even hotter in the coming days and weeks.

Nic Robertson, Sam Kiley, thank you.

Well, today, the Biden administration will hold two classified bipartisan briefings with congressional staff on the crisis with Russia and Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill with more. Lauren, clearly, members of Congress of both parties, they want to know more about just what the U.S. knows and what they believe next steps are. What are you hearing?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a series of briefings that will begin today. If you remember, lawmakers are on their recess. So, the briefings today will be held for staff members in both the House and the Senate on leadership and relevant committees dealing with Ukraine. But this is really a sign of the escalating tensions there and yet another sign of the fact that, as lawmakers have been dealing with the domestic agenda in Congress, they are going to have to turn their focus to foreign affairs in the next several weeks.

Now, when lawmakers return next week, we expect that there could be all member briefings. Both majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have asked for those briefings. We still don't have a timing update on when they would be held, but we expect that they will be held when lawmakers return from their recess. Jim and Bianna? SCIUTTO: Lauren Fox on the Hill, thanks so much.

So, let's speak more about his with retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, he's CNN Military Analyst, we should note, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army. General Hertling, always good to have you on.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Jim, great to be with you and Bianna.

SCIUTTO: So, you see these moves that the U.S. putting on alert, really stand by for deployment, two forward-facing U.S.-NATO allies, some 8,500 troops. I wonder, do you see these moves as a deterrent to Russia? Because part of the intention here seems to be to say to Russia, you think by threatening Ukraine, you're going to push NATO forces back, in fact, the opposite is going to happen.

HERTLING: I absolutely see it as a response to Russia and a further deterrent with military forces. Jim, what I think we have to talk about, the fact that these forces are not going to be acting alone, these U.S. forces. They are going to join something called the NATO Response Force, something Bianna mentioned earlier. That was established -- that NRF was established in 2014 as a result of the original Ukrainian invasion by Russia. And it's only been used a few times for smaller missions. This will be the first time it will be used, if NATO votes on it, as an operational level force.

GOLODRYGA: I don't want to spend too much time speculating on if or when Vladimir Putin will decide to invade, but I am curious to get your response to the timing of it all, given past history, right? Russia went into Georgia in 2008 after the Olympics. Russia went into Crimea in 2014 after the Olympics. I was struck by an interview that the foreign ministry spokesperson in Russia yesterday gave to a Russian journalist and when she was repeatedly was refuting a report from, I believe it was Bloomberg, that suggested that Chinese officials, specifically President Xi, had asked Vladimir Putin not to do anything before the Olympics, they were refuting that. Now, the Chinese news sources refuting that as well. What is your take on anything about past or perhaps being prologue here?

HERTLING: Well, Bianna, the first thing you've got to say is anytime the Russians vehemently refute anything, it usually means it's true. But, secondly, yes, that's an important point, that it seems to be a trend line after Olympic Games are held, especially by Russian and Chinese countries when they're holding the Olympics. But the other thing that's important to note is a conventional attack that the world stage would see is just one of many tools that the Russians could use.

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I heard your conversation with General Clark earlier and it's so true because we're talking about a range, a spectrum of covert and overt maligned actions that Russia could use.

I'm guessing, truthfully, based on past experience, that some of them are happening right now, not being reported, as you said earlier, but certainly there.

SCIUTTO: I suppose on the Olympics thing with Georgia in 2008, they were willing to act then. I mean, they certainly keep their options open.

I wonder, are you confident, General Hertling, that there is NATO unity on a firm response to anything on the menu of potential Russian actions? I mean, this gets to Biden's minor incursion comment, which the White House has repeatedly walked back since then, but did he expose disunity on what happens if Russia falls short of a full scale invasion?

HERTLING: No, I haven't even said in several NATO meetings, Jim, I'm never confident in unanimity of the NATO body. We're talking about 30 different countries that all see things very differently. But I believe that's the value of what the Biden administration, in various parts, have been doing over the last several weeks is trying to form that cohesion. It's a lot like someone pointed out the other day that this is a lot like Desert Storm when Bush won, tried to build a coalition to go in to counter the action by Saddam Hussein in Kuwait. It takes a whole lot of diplomacy, a whole lot of arm-twisting, a whole lot of cooperation between those 30 allies that see things very differently.

And, truthfully, having worked in NATO a while, there are a huge set of countries, like Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, several others that I could name, Poland especially, who are saying, yes, we've got to defend the right for this country's sovereignty. There are certainly others who were looking more at the economic impact and are saying, boy, we've got to be very careful for fear of turning off our natural gas in the middle of wintertime in Europe.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, which, again, as we talked about in the last hour, really raises the question as to why Europe is still, after all of Putin's incursions there, remains so dependent on Russia for its oil and natural gas. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you, as always.

HERTLING: Always a pleasure. Thanks, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Well, still to come this morning, Pfizer announcing the start of clinical trials for a new vaccine specifically to target the omicron variant. How soon could it be available?

SCIUTTO: Plus, President Trump, is it possible he might face criminal charges? An Atlanta area D.A. has just been given green light to seat a special grand jury to probe Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's election results, that D.A. promising a decision in the first half of 2022.

And a disturbing new report just into CNN showing the rising number of candidates in this country with explicit connections to far-right groups and white supremacists. We're going to have the alarming details next.

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GOLODRYGA: Developing this morning, an Atlanta area district attorney has been granted a special grand jury in her criminal investigation of former President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. This is a big development. This is the only known criminal case that focuses squarely on Trump's election interference.

SCIUTTO: We also have a timeline now, because the D.A., Fani Willis, says she expects to decide whether to bring charges against Trump in the first half of this year.

CNN Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider joins us now. And, Jessica, be clear on this, if we can. What can the grand jury do and not do? Can the grand jury, as it's set up in this case, indict?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No, they can't. This is a special grand jury, so limited powers, in a sense. They can compel witnesses, they can compel documents but, nonetheless, it is really a significant step forward in this criminal probe and the D.A. here, Fani Willis, as you mentioned, says she will decide whether or not to bring charges to Trump by midyear.

This is a probe that's focused on whether Trump or his allies committed crimes when they tried to convinced Georgia officials to hand Trump a victory in 2020 even though he didn't have the votes. You remember the call from Trump to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to find about 12,000 votes. That's really the centerpiece of this investigation. And by impaneling this special grand jury, prosecutors, they will be able to issue subpoenas through the grand jury to compel witnesses to testify, that includes Brad Raffensperger. And the special grand jury can also compel the production of documents.

So, the D.A. specifically disclosed when she asked for this special grand jury. She said, some witnesses are just refusing to talk and that's why this special grand jury will be impaneled. So, they'll start in May and that's really where this probe could ramp up, because they'll be exclusively focused on this particular investigation.

And, of course, guys, it's just one of several investigations into Trump or his business. We're seeing the New York attorney general's investigation ramp up. She called for testimony last week from Trump and Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump. And then there's a similar investigation from the Manhattan D.A. into Trump's businesses. So, Jim and Bianna, a lot swirling over the next few months, a lot that could materialize maybe between now and May. That includes possible criminal charges, out of Georgia, maybe even New York. So, a lot swirling for Trump and maybe even his allies to be concerned about here.

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Guys?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Jessica Schneider, thank you. Of course, we'll continue to follow this. Well, a crucial win for voting rights in Alabama. A federal court has blocked the state's newly drawn congressional map. It says the new mapping only includes one district where black voters have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. The state legislature now has just 14 days to draw a new map that includes, quote, two districts in which black voters either comprise a voting age majority or something quite close to it.

The Alabama congressional map is the second drawn by Republicans to be struck down by courts this month, the other being Ohio. If Monday's decision stands, it will likely lead to Democrats gaining a seat in the House from Alabama this November.

SCIUTTO: This other news this morning, a new report just released moments ago by the Anti-Defamation League puts a spotlight on a disturbing trend in American politics. The report has found there are more than 100 candidates running who hold extremist views, associate with extremists and/or spread dangerous conspiracy theories. Dozens of those candidates have close ties to white supremacists and hate groups, such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, this as we see real world examples of anti-Semitism.

Police in San Francisco and South Florida are investigating anti- Semitic flyers, those you see there, tied to and attacking coronavirus measures that have shown up in both areas.

Joining me now to discuss is Jonathan Greenblatt, he's the CEO and Director of the Anti-Defamation League. He's also the author of, It Could Happen Here, Why America is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable. Good to have you on this morning, Jonathan.

And I want, so folks understand, just how bad this is, show an image again of this flyer, appearing on American streets in the year 2022, targeting Jews, claiming the COVID agenda is Jewish. We blurred out a lot of the more offensive stuff here. How significant is this, in your view, how worrisome?

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Well, Jim, it's very worrisome. Consider the fact that we're already living in a moment where we've seen a remarkable rise in anti-Semitic incidents. We have about doubled the number of acts of harassment, vandalism and violence today than we did just a few years ago. And this weekend, we had these anti-Semitic flyers drop in six different states, not just San Francisco and Miami Beach, as you mentioned, but across Texas and Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Colorado, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Annapolis, Maryland. There's a particular nasty white supremacist group that's being coordinating these leafleting through gab and through their own sort of platforms and telegram.

We watch them, we monitor them through our Center on Extremism. And the fact that they feel so empowered to do this, they feel so emboldened is really quite frightening.

SCIUTTO: No question. So, you talk a lot in this report about the number of candidates embracing QAnon and other theories. Now, folks often mistakenly, I think, will think of QAnon as just kind of whack- a-doodle but out there. The trouble is, as you report finds, one of the many troubles, is that many of these candidates who espouse QAnon have direct ties to white supremacist and extremist groups, groups that have been accused of, guilty of acts of violence in the past. Explain that connection.

GREENBLATT: Oh, yes. So, this report, I think, is really very important. The ADL Center on Extremism has been tracking extremists of all variety, across the spectrum for decades. We've never seen a moment like this, Jim. We've tracked now a list that's expanding on a daily basis, over 100 candidates running for office across 32 states who have explicit, extremist ties to groups, like the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, ex-KKK, ex-Neo Nazi. So, you've got a melange of really malevolent actors and they're running for Congress, for state office, they're running secretary of state, so that they can influence the ability of elections to be implemented effectively in the years ahead.

SCIUTTO: A sad fact is that you have -- you and we have seen these views bubble up to the national level, to sitting lawmakers, Republican lawmakers, predominantly. In your view, has the GOP been complicit in this, either through silence or through active support for these candidates or, at a minimum, insufficiently aware of this and doing something about it?

GREENBLATT: Well, there is no question that neither side of the spectrum is exempt from intolerance. You can hear crazy anti-vaxxer, Holocaust distortions and from Robert -- RFK Jr. this past weekend, or Naomi Wolf.

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But to your question, yes, I mean, when people like Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar sit in the well of the House under the banner of the GOP and espouse very kind of evil ideas about QAnon, making ugly comparisons to the holocaust and just, literally, we're just in a moment where that silence, a conspiracy of silence has allowed conspiracy-minded people to infect the public conversation, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Infected and, frankly, at times, seed violence. That's a concern. Jonathan Greeneblatt, thanks so much. Your book, again, just so folks are aware of it, and I believe we have an image of it, is It Could Happen Here, an Important Tale of Why America is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable and How We Can Stop It.. Good to have you on, Jonathan.

GREENBLATT: Thanks, Jim.

GOLODRYGA: A really important book and report.

Well, up next, pharmacies across the country are rolling out free N95 masks. We'll tell you how to get yours, up next.

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