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U.S. and Ukraine Appear Divided on Threat From Russia; U.S. and Germany: Nord Stream 2 at Stake If Russia Invades; Lavrov Hints Russia is Open to Further Diplomacy; U.S. Northeast Faces Heavy Snow and Cold This Weekend; Biden Vows to Nominate Black Woman to Supreme Court; Covid Cases Trending Down in Most of U.S. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET

Aired January 28, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London. And just ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: As for Russian buildups we continue to see, including in the last 24-hours, more accumulation of credible combat forces arrayed by the Russians. We've always said and said for quite some time that another incursion by Russia could be imminent. And Imminent means imminent. We'd like to see a de- escalation. We'd like to see those troops go back home.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: An invasion could come at any time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: On the brink of war, U.S. and Ukrainian leaders clash over the level of risk that Russia will attack under. We are live in Moscow and Kyiv with the latest.

Plus, Millions of Americans in the Northeast are bracing for a bomb cyclone in the coming hours. We have the very latest for you.

And the highly symbolic, quote, casual conversation, Vice President Harris had with Taiwan's vice president. We'll have a live report on how this could irritate U.S. and China relations.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. Excuse me. It's Friday, January 28th. And we begin with an apparent fracture between the U.S. and Ukraine and their views on the prospect of a Russian invasion. A senior Ukrainian official says a phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents did not go well although the White House is pushing back on that. We'll have a live report from Kyiv on that angle in just a moment. Also, the Pentagon reports the buildup of Russian forces near

Ukrainian's border has increased in the past 24 hours. Just last week, if you remember, Ukrainian intelligence estimated nearly 130,000 Russian troops in the region.

Meanwhile, Germany says the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline meant to bring natural gas from Russia is at stake if Russia invades Ukraine. That moves Berlin pretty much in line with U.S. warning on the project. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA NULAND, U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Let's get more on all this. CNN's Melissa Bell is standing by for us in Kyiv with the latest. But first let's bring in our Nic Robertson in Moscow. And Nic, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been meeting with reporters. Give us a sense of what he had to say in the last few minutes.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think it's really a place holder at the moment. That's the best way to describe it. He said, we're still working out our lines. The foreign ministry is going to take the proposal to the president. He'll make a decision. And he made the point as well. You know, we've waited over a month to get our response from the United States and NATO. That's their way of doing it in the West. So, he's sort of indicating there they've taken their time so it might take us a little bit of time.

But the tone of it, you know, you know, we heard from him yesterday saying that the responses have failed to deliver what Russia wanted. Today he's saying -- appearing to sort of try to create a bit of a division between the United States and NATO and the assessment has been -- I think the outside assessment has been that this is something the Kremlin would try to do.

And the foreign minister here saying, look, you know, the response from the United States may not be what we wanted but it was a sort of a gold standard in diplomatic politeness. Whereas the NATO response, he said, was somewhat full of itself, that he felt sorry for the person that had written the text.

He went on to say that, you know, Russia doesn't want war but, again, that caveat Russia doesn't want war but we won't let our interests be trampled on. So, you know, really kind of read which way is the country going there. You know, he's not making the decision. It's the president here that's making the decisions and this is really something of a place holder at the moment.

SOARES: Some strong words there and the last from Sergey Lavrov. And Melissa, we have been seeing the last 24 hours discord or let's call it a fracture between the U.S. and the Ukraine over the rhetoric being used by Washington here. Why is there a disconnect over the scale of the threat here?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is really about the scale of the threat, you're quite right. President Biden, according to a senior Ukrainian source to CNN, emphasizing the fact that an invasion was likely in February.

[04:05:00]

President Zelensky for his part saying that the threat was ambiguous and that an invasion might not take place at all. Now that's according to a senior Ukrainian source. That's been denied by both the White House and the Ukrainian side. But it does highlight that room for division that there is over the coming days the longer this goes on, the greater that room for division and fracture becomes.

And that's of course what Washington has been trying to do over the course of the last few days, it's really show that united that very strong front. And of course, what it does not want is those sort of fractures to begin appearing.

On one hand it has managed to galvanize European allies, are often divided over the question of how best to approach Moscow in particular on the question of sanctions these last few weeks.

Now what we've been hearing is a shift even of the German position that you mentioned and alluded to a moment ago, Isa, towards that Nord Stream pipeline saying that would be killed, could be killed as part of sanctions. That is an important shift. So far Berlin had been probably the most reticent over the course of the last few weeks looking at the toughness of sanctions because of the risks to its economy. Emmanuel Macron who'll be speaking with the Russian President, also one of those reticent European leaders when it came to slapping hard sanctions on Russia or adopting that tough tone.

What Washington has managed to do with it's very hard line, very public exposure of what it believed the threat to be is bring together a divided Europe on the question of sanctions and that tough tone towards Russia. What it risks doing though is further alienating or alienating Ukrainian authorities who have an eye on what's happening at home. And you have to understand that of course, all of that belligerent rhetoric, all of that tension going on around its borders does not have any good impact on its economy. And that's something that's at the forefront of the mind of leaders here.

So, a difficult waiting game that continues until we hear, as we were just hearing from Nic, exactly what's in the mind of Vladimir Putin with regard officially to the response that he'll give to those written responses given both by NATO and United States -- Isa.

SOARES: Yes, very much everyone waiting for those responses from Putin. We'll find out how that call between Putin and Macron, what comes out of that. Melissa for us in Kyiv and Nic Robertson in Moscow. Thank you to you both.

Well, we mentioned there the growing Russia military presence near the Ukraine's border. New satellite images really help tell the story. The first shows Russia building eight new army compounds in a town less than 200 miles from Ukrainian border. The compound highlighted in there on your screen and green, contain roughly 460 vehicles, trailers as well as structures.

And when you zoom in you begin really to see the quantifiable increase in Russia's buildup. Here a 45 percent jump in the number of vehicles, trailers, structures since November. In another image -- have a look at this -- on the left side of your screen approximately 450 tanks, rocket launchers and short-range ballistic missiles. Now, that is up 24 percent since November. On the right, 500 tanks and other vehicles. And that is a 25 percent increase.

Russia is also building up its presence in Belarus and the Black Sea. This map that you're looking at shows Russian ground forces, which are the boxes, as well as air and naval bases. These images come from MAXAR Technologies and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Seth Jones from CSIS spoke with CNN about the buildup. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SETH JONES, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The situation looks pretty dark and, you know, again, whether or not Putin actually goes in and if he goes in and when, the realities is that he is building a force on three sides of Ukraine's border. So, it he goes, he has the ability to move relatively quickly.

The concern on the Ukrainian/Russian border as you noted in Yelnya, we are seeing a 45 percent increase in one of the compounds there of large numbers of many battle tanks, of surface-to-air missiles, ballistic missile systems, howitzers. A lot of components that the Russian military would need for an invasion. We're seeing the SU-34s, attack aircraft preparing for and conducting flying missions.

On the Ukrainian/Belarus border we've also seen a major growth along the border of Russian forces. Same kinds of equipment, main battle tanks, howitzers, towed artillery. The concern on the Belarus border is that Kyiv is in extraordinary danger both coming from the north and then flanking maneuvers both from the West and the East. So, Kyiv, the capital, is in extraordinary danger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00]

SOARES: Russian officials say they may be willing to discuss a number of secondary issues with the U.S. and NATO including arms control and troops deployment. CNN asked global affairs analyst Susan Glasser if Moscow may be considering some kind of a deal. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: That's a possibility. It's also a possibility that the Russians are simply taking advantage of this time to continue to move their military forces into place. I notice significant movement of the Russian fleet into the Black Sea which is something they might want to do in advance of the invasion. There's also the diplomatic timing around the fact that it's about to be the Beijing Olympics and Vladimir Putin is expected to be honored guest of Xi Jinping at those ceremonies. He might not want to anger the Chinese by distracting from the Olympics with an attack beforehand. So, who knows? You know, it's not clear at the moment. But what we can say is that there's no visible signs of a pulling back from the brink of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: CNN's global affairs analyst and staff writer for "The New Yorker," Susan Glasser.

Millions of people in the U.S. are already under blizzard watches and the weather is really getting worse unfortunately. A so-called bomb cyclone -- as you can see -- is expected to slam some areas in the Northeast this weekend. The storm is expected to form on Friday in the Atlantic Ocean and then rapidly strengthen before moving north.

Let's get more on this. Derek Van Dam joins me now. Good morning to you Derek. Give us a sense of how strong and how dangerous this storm might be.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, we're just getting in some new information this morning, Isa. And I think it's important that we pass it along first and foremost. Because now we have blizzard warnings for places like Atlantic City, New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts. Two major metropolitans along the East Coast. New York City, you're included in a winter storm warning.

That means the National Weather Service started to come down to these final conclusions where the heavier bands of snow and stronger winds will set up in the next 36 hours or so as this powerful, powerful nor'easter impacts the major metropolitans of the East Coast. Some of the most populated areas of the U.S. You can see Boston included in that warning. There it is along the coast line of New Jersey and then into the Delmarva Peninsula also included within blizzard warnings.

Remember, in order to reach the criteria, you have to have visibility reduced below 3/4 of a mile for over 3 hours and winds gusting over 35 miles per hour. We will certainly meet that criteria here going forward. In fact, the National Weather Service, just reading some of the latest statements from them. They're talking about snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour at the height of the storm midday Saturday. You add on hurricane force gusts and you've a recipe for disaster that could be potentially debilitating for many of the East Coast cities here.

You can see the bombogenesis. We talk about this bomb cyclone. We talk about a certain criteria for this to actually unfold and take shape. And it's just a meteorological parameter to give an indication of a strong, very powerful low-pressure system. Take it like a winter hurricane, for example, even though it's not a direct apples to apples comparison. But it's certainly a different type of an outlook with it being of course wintertime. So, we have the snowfall that is going to be the major impacts here

but the wind right along the coast line, coastal erosion, that's a problem. We have wind gusts in excess of 60, 70 miles per hour especially right along the coast line.

Showing you the two different computer models for comparison of snowfall totals. We would likely see a solid foot of snow in New York City. But over 2 feet of snow is certainly not out of the realm of possibilities for the Boston metropolitan area. We can't forget about the blizzard warnings that will just make matters that much worse. Isa, so much going on in the Weather Center. It is going to be a very busy next couple of days.

SOARES: Stay safe, everyone. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer has formally announced his intention to retire, President Biden has a rare opportunity to fill the vacancy. The president said whoever he nominates will be an historic choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity, and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: At least eight women -- as you can see there -- are believed to be on the president's short list of potential candidates. He's expected to begin reaching out to them as soon as next week. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more for you from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is official that President Biden now has a vacancy to fill on the Supreme Court after Justice Breyer hand delivered a letter to President Biden at the White House on Thursday. Saying that he does intend to retire at the end of this term. And of course, after this brief ceremony at the White House with Biden and Breyer, all questions have now turned to who is President Biden going to pick to replace him on the court.

President Biden has committed to stand by that pledge he made on the campaign trail to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, history, that he says is long overdue.

[04:15:03]

But President Biden says he has not made a decision yet. And over the next several weeks there is going to be a rigorous search process among the president and his staff to find out who that nominee is going to be. And President Biden says he hopes to pick someone by the end of February. Of course, all eyes will then turn to Capitol Hill where there is expected to be that confirmation process.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a top Democrat of course, has said he would like to mirror the process of Justice Amy Coney Barrett who was confirmed just days before the 2020 election. She was confirmed within 30 days of former President Trump nominating her and when her confirmation vote actually happened. But we are told by sources the White House doesn't view that as the timeline that they need to endorse or stick by. They're fine if it plays out longer, given they have until the end of this Supreme Court term.

But of course, one thing that we do know is that search is already underway. And we are told by sources the president's team could start reaching out to and potentially meeting with some of those nominees as early as next week.

Kaitlyn Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: CNN legal -- senior legal analyst Laura Coates spoke earlier about the extra ordinary significance of this moment. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's to be well regarded. The president of the United States has this embarrassment of riches of qualified, extraordinary qualified black women who have long been a part of the bar. Who have extraordinary resumes that nobody could comment on as somehow unqualified for that they don't have integrity. They are women who are revered for their intellect, their ability to synthesize information and their impartiality.

And I think that it's really just continuing to be stunning in this nation that nobody would believe that it would be odd to say we need to have a woman on the bench, but somehow the idea of a black woman on the bench should be something that is decades if not centuries delayed. And that simply can't be the case.

Every one of the people who's been presented at least so far are people who really could run circles, frankly, around most of the lawyers in this nation and for good reason. They had extraordinary experience and expertise. And any suggestion that by virtue of saying that he wants to put and nominate a black woman on the bench, if that's somehow met with some sort of coded language which could suggest that, well, it might be a foregone conclusion if it's a black woman they'll rule a certain way.

All you need is to hear in Justice Breyer who talked about the benefit of having a variety of experiences. And why would we not want a bench as high as the Supreme Court of the United States to be able to at least offer the perspective of black women in this country and that they're over qualified frankly for the position? Well, that's just the cherry on top.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Very good analysis there from our senior legal analyst Laura Coates.

Promising signs for the U.S. in the fight against the coronavirus. While many health experts say the worse of the Omicron search could be over.

Plus, America's top infectious disease expert says he's cautiously optimistic as COVID case numbers start to fall. Coming up, Dr. Anthony Fauci's take on where we are in the pandemic. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[04:20:00]

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SOARES: The U.S. appears to be easing out of COVID crisis mode. Just take a look at all the green on the map -- if we you can bring the map up for you. New infections now trending down in 34 states. There you are -- as can see there. 34 states all trending down. And that's really, as you can expect, fueling a wave of optimism. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there's a lot of positive indicators here and I think there's a lot of people who share this optimism if you just look at the numbers. You know, things are -- cases at least coming down. Hospitalizations starting to coming down. Testing now is something that is being taken more seriously. Masks getting out there. Trends heading in the right direction and there's lots of things in place to potentially buffer what may be some resurgences over the next several months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta there.

But deaths are still spiking with an average of nearly 2,300 Americans lost every day. That is more than double the daily totals from just two months ago. And as CNN's Alexandra Field now reports, not just infections. So, are American's attitudes on how to move on from the pandemic?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: I am more optimistic about the pandemic today that I have been since it was declared a pandemic nearly two years ago.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Public health experts can't predict if or when the next COVID surge might come. But many are increasingly certain this one is nearly behind us.

FRIEDEN: In another few weeks, the Omicron flash flood, not a wave, but a flash flood will have largely passed.

FIELD (voice-over): But some states haven't reached their Omicron peak yet. In Montana there is an onslaught of new cases. They are up more than 50 percent in just the last week.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: When you have 2,000 deaths, 150,000 hospitalizations and you have people who are now getting infected to the tune of somewhere around 700,000 a day we're not there yet.

FIELD (voice-over): Pfizer and Moderna are both working on Omicron specific vaccines. It isn't clear that they will be needed but COVID has brought surprises before.

DR. PAUL BURTON, MODERNA CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I think hopefully we'll get into spring and into summer and have a period of stability. But we have to be prepared.

FIELD (voice-over): Vaccine manufacturers and public health experts are keeping close tabs on an Omicron's sub-variant. It isn't considered at this point a cause for alarm. Most Americans are eager to put Omicron behind them and still divided over how to. The politics of vaccines and masking taking center stage in Florida.

LAUREN BOOK (D) FLORIDA STATE SENATE: Scientifically , do the vaccines work against preventing COVID-19. Yes, or no?

DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL: Thank you again Senator. You know, yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science.

FIELD (voice-over): Democrats walked out on a confirmation hearing for the Republican Governors pick for surgeon general.

[04:25:00]

BOOK: It was sort of interesting to hear the surgeon general say that he's guided by science but at that at the same time says that mask- wearing is an extreme measure.

FIELD (voice-over): In New York, Sarah Palin rejecting the CDC's isolation guidelines two days after testing positive for COVID she is spotted eating outdoors at a restaurant. Palin reportedly also ate inside that same restaurant while unvaccinated. A violation of city rules two days before she tested positive.

FIELD: But parents across the nation deeply divided over whether children should continue to have to wear masks in schools. Now the head of one of the largest districts in the nation in Maryland, just outside of D.C., saying that she doesn't see an end to the mask requirement anytime soon. She says there is no magic number when it comes to the vaccination rate that would trigger the end of the mitigation efforts.

In New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: America's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says he's cautiously optimistic about the direction the pandemic is going with cases starting to fall in some but not all regions. Here's what he told my colleague Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAUCI: My message would be just hang in there because things look like at least for what's going on with Omicron, that things are turning around. If you look at the Northeast corridor, particularly, for example, New York City and the upper Midwest with Chicago, it's peeked in turn around. And the cases are coming down rather substantially. A little bit more of a lag in the southern states and in the western states. But in general, it looks very much like it's going in the right direction.

We've got to hang in there and really prevent it from going back to a surge. And the way we do that Anderson is to just continue to follow the kinds of guidelines that we've been talking about for so long. And I refer obviously to people who have not been vaccinated to get vaccinated.

But for those who've been vaccinated, if you are eligible to get boosted, please get boosted because the data are really strikingly clear that boosting brings back up your level of protection, even against Omicron to a very, very high level, particularly when you're talking about serious disease that might lead to hospitalization.

So, in general, I'm cautiously optimistic that things are going in the right direction. We've seen that happen in South Africa in the U.K. And we're seeing it now in several cities in the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: And of course, we'll have much more COVID-19 headlines from around the world in about ten minutes or so right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

A suspect leads police on a wild care chase before unleashing a barrage of bullets on them. Still ahead, the dramatic video of the gun fight between him and the officers.

Then a telling report card from Biden voters. How pandemic exhaustion and economic anxiety are affecting the way they see his presidency.

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