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Questions Swirl After Multiple Reports of Tom Brady Retiring from NFL; 9 Million Under Blizzard Warning from New York to New England; U.K. Considering Major Military Deployment to Counter Russia; Former Astronauts Fear Impact of Russian Tensions. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 29, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Don't expect service with a smile at this hotel. Introducing robot room service. To cut back on human contact and keep COVID in check. As Beijing gears up for the winter games, this little guy or girl apparently travels along the corridor. You tap in a pin, voila, there is your food, and you don't even have to tip. We're not entirely sure how it knocks on the door to let you know it's arrived, though. Hmm.

Your next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. The top stories this hour, questions swirling tonight after multiple reports that Tom Brady is retiring after 22 seasons in the NFL. Meantime, millions hit by blizzard conditions. Power knocked out for thousands. And Florida on track for its coldest weather in a decade.

And reports that Russia is moving blood supplies to the Ukraine border. How an invasion there would reverberate in the U.S. and around the world.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Major confusion throughout the sports world tonight after conflicting reports that legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady is retiring. ESPN dropped this bombshell earlier today, reporting that Brady has decided to leave professional football after 22 seasons and a record seven Super Bowl championships.

But now Brady's agent sending out a slightly different message, though not denying. Don Yee writing, "I understand the advance speculation about Tom's future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what's being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody. So that should be soon."

And joining me now, CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes.

All right. So help us understand what's going on here, Andy. Could this just be a matter of Tom Brady wanting to be in control of a message that somehow leaked?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It certainly could be, Pam. You know, Brady a few years ago had that cryptic picture of him walking out of a tunnel that he posted on social media and everybody was like, oh man, is this him announcing his retirement? Turned out to be a Super Bowl commercial. You know, Tom Brady's become quite the showman over the last few years. You know, he has his own show. He always likes to, you know, post these really produced hype videos before big games.

So, you know, it could be that Tom Brady wanted to do this on his own terms, which you know, he fully has earned. You know, he should be able to announce his own retirement. So he could have had a message in store and this got out beforehand. You know, ESPN's Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington, two of the most plugged-in guys there are in the league, those are the two guys that reported that Brady is in fact going to retire.

But then you had reports coming out, Brady's father, Tom Brady Sr., talking to a few reporters saying that he hasn't made a decision. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians telling a few reporters that he hasn't been told that Tom Brady is retiring. But, you know, if this is it for Tom Brady, you know, he will certainly walk away as the greatest player to ever play the game of football. Arguably one of the greatest athletes ever.

And we kind of all took this season for granted. I know I certainly did. You know, Tom Brady said he wanted to play until he was 45 years old. He turns 45 in August. He even joked this year he could maybe play until 50. So I think many of us weren't watching this season thinking that this is the last time we were going to see Tom Brady. But it almost had that feeling a little bit when he walked off the field after the epic comeback against the Rams, falling just short this past Sunday.

It almost had the feeling that, oh my goodness, is this the last moment we're seeing Tom Brady walk off the field? And then the rumors started to swirl even more after what he said on his podcast earlier this week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: The biggest difference now that I'm older is I have kids now, too. You know, and I care about them a lot as well. And, you know, they've been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter. You know, it pains her to see me get hit out there. And you know, she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.

I would say I'm proud and satisfied of everything we accomplished this year. So I know when I give it my all that's something to be proud of. And I've literally given everything I had this year, last year, the year before that and the year before that. Like I don't leave anything half-assed.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: Yes. And that was the thing, Brady saying, you know, he was going to consult with his family to make this decision because as you said Tom Brady works harder than anyone at being a quarterback in the NFL. He had the Tom versus time series a few years ago. You got to see that, you know, after practice Brady would, you know, spend some time with the family but then he would lock himself in his office with a laptop and go over defenses for just hours and hours and hours. So did he want to continue on that grind?

But, Pam, you know, if this is it for Tom Brady, I mean, you know, we should all feel privileged to have lived in this time and watched him. You know, he was once the sixth-round pick, 199th pick.

[19:05:01]

He didn't even think he was going to make it. He had a resume ready to go out into the business world. He was an underdog. He became a Super Bowl champion. And then he just became the greatest winner we've ever seen, winning seven Super Bowls, more passing yards than any other quarterback in history. More touchdowns than any quarterback in history.

He has seven Super Bowl rings, Pam. That's more than any other NFL team in history. So you know, if this is it for Tom Brady, amazing, amazing career.

BROWN: He's such an inspiration. I mean, wow. We could all learn a little something from Tom Brady, right? Amazing.

Andy, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BROWN: Joining me now is former NFL linebacker Chad Brown. He was on the Patriots roster with Tom Brady in '05 and '07.

Hi, Chad. Thanks for coming on.

CHAD BROWN, FORMER TEAMMATE OF TOM BRADY: Hello.

BROWN: So Brady is still at the top of his game. It's not like his performance on the field was slacking, right? If this retirement is legit, and again, there are these conflicting reports, but if it is happening, will it surprise you?

C. BROWN: I wouldn't be surprised. At some point every older player -- I played for 15 seasons in the NFL. At some point every older player begins to look at the family aspect. Can I keep moving my kids around if we're living in two different places? How much of myself can I pour into the off-season? And we know Tom is the hardest worker on every team he's ever been on. In order to prepare for the season.

And what is the effect on my family when I do that? My kids are getting older. I'm beginning to miss events and miss time. So many of the dads around me are coaching sports teams. Meanwhile, I've got my head buried in the playbook. So for Tom to do it for 22 years as well as he had this past season was the most yards he's ever passed for in a single season. So if he's able to do that in year 22 and walk away from the game still being at the top, it's been an amazing ride, Tom will go down, in my opinion, not just as the greatest football player of all time but having the single greatest sports career of my lifetime.

BROWN: Wow. That says a lot. I don't think many people would disagree with you on that front. How did he go from the sixth-round draft pick to the greatest quarterback of all time or the greatest athlete? What was it that it drove him?

C. BROWN: Tom is just an incredibly competitive person. And that's the thing I've always admired about Tom is not just the accomplishments but the fact of how he did it. He was the 199th pick. He was a sixth pick. Nothing was given to him. Everything has been earned. And some people, once they earned their stripes, they find ways to turn it down a little bit, to back it down a little bit.

He kept that same mentality the entire way. So I've been blessed to play with some amazing teammates and a guy, Jerry Rice, who I used to consider the greatest of all time. Now having a chance to be around Tom and see that all he's accomplished and particularly how he has accomplished this, with hard work, with discipline, with keeping his nose to the grindstone, in year 20, in year 21, in year 22 and still be able to do it at a high level, again, is probably the most amazing accomplishment I've seen in sports in my lifetime.

BROWN: He got in the front and he increased his lead. You are a linebacker, meaning you had to go up against Tom in practice every single day. What kind of challenge was that? I mean, what was that like?

C. BROWN: I've been on teams where the head coach will try to make things easier for his quarterback so the quarterback can have a sense of confidence. Bill Belichick being the coach that he was recognized that Tom thrived with competition. So he would show us the plays that Tom was trying to execute to see if we could stop Tom. When we played against teams that would have a tall defensive lineman he would give the practice defensive lineman tennis rackets so they could simulate to Tom what it would be like going against these taller guys and try to knock Tom's passes down.

So even from a coaching perspective they put competitive challenges in front of Tom to try to slow him down and Tom found ways to plow through that year after year, season after season, to become the great player that he was.

BROWN: And when the cameras were off, the crowds away, what kind of guy was Tom Brady?

C. BROWN: I played, like I said, 15 years in the NFL. And I've been around some amazing teammates. And this is not just hyperbole here. This is not Tom Brady's retiring, so let me say something nice about Tom Brady. Tom Brady was literally the greatest teammate I've ever been around. I've been around some hall of fame players on the various teams I played with. None of them were like Tom Brady. The bottom five guys on an NFL roster are constantly turning over all

season long. When that new guy would come into the locker room, it could be week eight, it could be week 12, it could be at the end of the season, Tom would be the first guy to introduce himself. And as corny as it sounds, Tom would say, "Hey, I'm Tom Brady. Happy to have you on board. If you've got any questions about anything around here, come to me and ask me these questions."

So Tom would try to make everyone feel comfortable. Despite Tom being the number one guy on the roster, he's still treated everything like he was trying to earn his way onto the roster.

[19:10:06]

And by being that great teammate, we see the effect that he had on all of his teams. He sat in the front row of the meetings. He accepted being yelled at coaches -- being yelled at by coaches when he was with the Patriots. So he did everything the right way, making everything else easier for his teammates because he set a high standard. If I just try to do things like Tom, I know I'll be successful.

BROWN: Wow. Yes, I mean, you just hit my next question. I would say what kind of expectation did he set for the rest of the team, and it sounds like he set a really high bar but that you were also really motivated just by being around him in his presence to win, to reach that high bar.

C. BROWN: You know, everyone in the NFL works hard.

BROWN: Yes.

C. BROWN: And so they always say this guy's the hardest worker. I've seen hard work. Now, Tom Brady when he was in the weight room he wasn't moving a whole lot of weight. But there was a lot of effort. There was a lot of sweat flying. When we did conditioning drills Tom was competitive. He'd try to compete with all the quarterbacks and make sure he was first in that group.

So no matter what the circumstance was, he set the standard for the hard work and the competitive spirit that was needed. And that refuse- to-lose attitude. Tom was a full-time starter for 20 NFL seasons. Ten of those seasons ended up in the Super Bowl. It's just a track record of outstanding competitive play, a competitive mindset, and a never- say-die attitude that yes, I'm a sixth-round draft pick, I'm going to be the greatest.

I'm sitting behind Drew Bledsoe on the bench. When I get my opportunity, I'm going to be the greatest. I've got one Super Bowl ring. I'm going to find a way to pass Joe Montana and become the greatest. He did all that in spades.

BROWN: He really did. Chad Brown, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your stories about playing with Tom Brady on the same team. Thank you.

C. BROWN: Happy to do it. Thanks for having me on. BROWN: And now let's turn to the so-called bomb cyclone that is

pummeling the East Coast. Nine million people are under a blizzard warning right now from New York to New England. The powerful nor'easter is unleashing wind gusts of more than 70 miles an hour in some areas.

Those are ocean waves crashing against a hotel in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Strong winds have pushed high seas into coastal neighborhoods and the Boston area and parts of Maine could see up to two feet of snow. Across the state more than 120,000 homes and businesses are without power.

So let's go now to CNN Weather Center and meteorologist Gene Norman.

OK, we keep hearing about bomb cyclone. Is this thing officially a bomb cyclone now? And what exactly is that?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It absolutely is.

BROWN: OK.

NORMAN: It absolutely is. That's when the pressure in a storm drops more than 24 millibars is how we measure pressure, in a 24-hour period. It did that. It surpassed that. And now, wow, it is winding up and headed for Maine. It's just southeast of Portland. And you can see behind it, really cold air. That's a big part of this storm system. The snow piling up not just in inches but in feet. And so what's to come as we head into the rest of the evening hours?

Well, mainly Maine, you're under the gun for the heaviest amounts of snow in the next couple of hours. It's pretty much come to an end in New York and in most of Connecticut. It's still snowing, though, in sections of Massachusetts. Now, the blizzard conditions in Maine will probably still go on until Sunday morning and then that deep freeze. And how about these snowfall totals? Yes.

As advertised, two feet. That's what happened in Norton, Massachusetts, Pembroke. These are areas that are just south of the metro Boston area. And how about those hurricane-force wind gusts? Yes, that was a big feature of this storm as well. Many locations picking up 74 or higher miles per hour. That's hurricane-force winds. Mainly along the eastern coast of Massachusetts. So the storm will continue to wind its way up, move up into Maine and then move into the Canadian Maritimes before it's out of the picture.

But behind it, wow, there is some really cold air coming in here. We're talking about temperatures in the single digits tomorrow morning to add insult to injury. And the cold will reach all the way down to Florida, Pamela. Take a look at this. We've got at least 14 places in Florida that could have record low temperatures.

You're saying, well, what's wrong with that? Well, you might see this in the morning. Iguanas on the sidewalk. Why? They're cold-blooded. When temperatures drop below 45 degrees, they go into a hibernation state. And if the cold lasts for longer than eight hours it could be fatal. So yes, bad weather for everybody, people as well as animals. But in the northeast they'll be digging out for a while after this snowstorm.

BROWN: Thanks for that heads-up about the iguanas. My god, did not realize that. OK. Gene Norman. Thank you.

[19:15:03]

When we come back, mixed messages. Despite fears of an imminent invasion by some, Ukraine telling tourists to keep calm and keep visiting. Meantime, singer James Blunt just the latest artist taking a stand against misinformation by jokingly issuing a threat to release new music if Spotify doesn't drop Joe Rogan. Also ahead tonight meet the hero toddler who saved his family from a house fire.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He saved our entire family. I mean, he is -- he is our little mini hero.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're following breaking news. North Korea has fired a projectile into waters off the Korean Peninsula's east coast. This is according to South Korea's joint chiefs of staff. We don't know how many projectiles were fired but seven have been launched this month already. We'll continue to follow this and bring you any new developments.

[19:20:03]

Well, an alarming new update in the standoff over Ukraine. Senior Defense officials say Russia appears to be moving blood supplies to the Ukraine border, which of course suggests that bloodshed could be imminent. But Ukraine has bluntly called the report untrue. And Russia has long denied there's any attack in the works.

The U.S. and Britain, far from convinced here. Prime Minister Boris Johnson just announced his government is considering a major military deployment to bolster NATO defenses in Eastern Europe as early as next week. This is the strongest European response yet to the threat posed by Russia.

Ukraine on the other hand has been dialing back the warnings about a possible invasion, even encouraging tourism, launching a "Keep Calm and Visit Ukraine" campaign, insisting Ukraine is safe.

General -- well, we are working on getting our guest, General Wesley Clark, so hopefully he'll be with us soon. But meantime, there are multiple reports tonight that the NFL great Tom Brady will retire. But some people including Brady's father say he won't. We're going to have an update on that, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:25:41]

BROWN: This week across the globe we pause to remember the most extensively documented crime in the history of the world. International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the six 6 million Jewish victims and millions of others persecuted and murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

"For the Record," it is profoundly disrespectful to the memories of survivors and the suffering of those who were killed to equate the holocaust to anything. But that does not stop mostly Republican lawmakers and public figures from trying to compare what is going on right now to this horrible time in human history.

Last weekend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested Anne Frank, the famous teenager who hid from the Nazis in an attic in the Netherlands before being caught and sent to die in a concentration camp, was better off under Hitler than Americans who are currently subject to vaccine mandates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR, ANTI-VACCINE ADVOCATE: Even in Hitler's Hermany you could -- 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 trying but it was possible. Today the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run and none of us can hide.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Kennedy later apologized. His own wife condemned his comments. And just two weeks ago a Republican congressman from Ohio, Warren Davidson, tweeted an image of a Nazi document and wrote the following. "This has been done before. #Donotcomply. Let's recall that the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people before segregating them, segregated them before imprisoning them, imprisoned them before enslaving them, and enslaved them before massacring them."

So what kind of egregious act drove Davidson to react this way? It was the mayor of Washington, D.C. requiring adults to have proof of a COVID vaccination, a photo I.D., and wear a mask while indoors in public. Davidson later apologized.

And then there's Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. Back in July she referred to door-to-door vaccine awareness advocates supported by the CDC as "Needle Nazis." And of course don't forget Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she went to the National Holocaust Museum in Washington and apologized for using holocaust comparisons to criticize face mask mandates on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN (R-GA): The holocaust is -- there's nothing comparable to it. It's -- it's -- it happened and, you know, over six million Jewish people were murdered. And there are words that I have said and remarks that I have made that I know are offensive. And for that I want to apologize.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Nothing to compare to it. I agree. But then weeks later Greene was back at it, as you'll recall, attacking efforts by the White House to encourage Americans to get vaccinated by calling those leading the efforts, quote, "Brown Shirts." That is a reference to the paramilitary organization that helped Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power. They were also known as brown shirts.

These are just a few examples. In fact, we did a cursory look and found at least 32 examples from lawmakers using holocaust comparisons just in the last two years since the beginning of the pandemic.

The holocaust should not be used to make political points. The systematic targeting and genocide of Jewish people is not in the same universe whatsoever as public health measures intended to keep people safe during a pandemic. The deaths of six million jews should not be a punchline or a way to rally supporters.

If they want to bring up the holocaust, maybe it should be the fight to keep books about it in school curriculums. Like the book "Maus," a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the experiences of holocaust survivors and their children. Just this week the Mickman County, Tennessee, Board of Education voted unanimously to ban the book from an eighth-grade curriculum, allegedly over concerns of language and the small drawing of a nude woman.

[19:30:00]

Maybe our time is better spent reading books about the history of the Holocaust instead of making insensitive outrageous and ahistorical comparisons to it.

Well, startling new developments along the Russian border with Ukraine, senior defense officials say Russia appears to be moving blood supplies there, a move that could be a precursor to fighting.

Retired General Wesley Clark joins me next to discuss the situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:08]

BROWN: Prime Minister Boris Johnson just announced his government is considering a major military deployment to bolster NATO defenses in Eastern Europe as early as next week. This is the strongest European response yet to the threat posed by Russia.

Retired General Wesley Clark is NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander. He is with us from Little Rock, Arkansas.

General, thanks for making time for us tonight. What does this offer say about Europe's readiness? How significant is this?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think it is significant, and I think what we're seeing is that each of our European allies is really coming on board.

Now, every one of our allies is a democracy, you have to be a democracy to be in NATO, and every one of our allies has its own domestic political issues just like we do.

So the art of American leadership is to be able to pull these allies together to concerted action, so we hold the alliance with resolve there. We demonstrate that resolve by deployments, by statements, by the unanimity, by visits, and the Biden administration has done this extremely well.

My friends in Europe told me that European governments are ecstatic about the depth, and the frequency of the consultation. They said it hasn't been this good in two decades. And so they're very pleased.

President Biden said in the spring when he made his trip to Europe, America is back, well he is showing it. This is really important. Now, we don't know what Mr. Putin is going to do, and the President has said, we're not going to intervene directly in Ukraine, and yet, we're training the Ukrainians and we are giving them some military assistance and supplies. I think the Russians will have a tough fight if they go in.

But the point is, NATO is going to be resolved to protect its NATO members, and we are standing up to Russia.

You know, the list of the Russian demands was really not even so much about Ukraine, it was about the United States and NATO. And this was, I think President Putin made a big mistake, I think he thought because of Brexit, a few years ago, and then because of the January 6th episode in the United States and Mr. Trump and President Biden being -- would be a weak leader, and maybe he could just sort of push the United States out of Europe, but that's not going to happen. I think the American leadership has handled this extremely well.

On the other hand, it's not over. And we always know Mr. Putin is a former Intelligence agent. He is a wily strategist. He sometimes takes risks that older former Soviet leaders wouldn't take.

He's in the Middle East. He wants to control Europe's energy supply. He's got many different angles on this. So this is not over. But thus far, America and NATO have done extremely well in managing this crisis, in my view,

BROWN: But no one can know exactly what his thinking is, but it is a pretty good guess, that he probably likes this fracture that has emerged between the U.S. and Ukraine, right? These two friendly governments, you have this sort of back and forth, where you have the U.S. saying look, an invasion could be imminent; Ukraine is saying, no, not so fast. That is what we are seeing in their Tourism Department now having a new campaign ad saying: Hey, come over to Ukraine, everything is good. Stay calm. What do you make of the sort of the mixed messaging coming from the

U.S. and Ukraine?

CLARK: Well, I think the United States is reading the Intelligence extremely well. I think President Zelensky is in the hot seat there. And Putin has always had the option and has attempted several times to frighten Ukraine to death.

If he could just drive the investment away, devalue the currency, cut off its energy, force 10 million Ukrainians to get in their cars or get on trains and start walking and leave the country, he would be very happy.

And so President Zelensky is trying to hold this together without panicking the population. When I talk to people in Ukraine, many of them say yes, yes, it's serious. And yes, we see the buildup, but we still don't think Putin will be dumb enough to do this.

See, he could roll in over much of Ukraine, just empty farmland, and he could launch big airstrikes, but ultimately, he's got to deal with Kharkiv and Kyiv, and Dnepropetrovsk and when he tries to deal with these urban areas, well, in 2014, there was -- he made an effort to seize Kharkiv and he was fought off in Kharkiv, the separatists were.

Kyiv is a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalism. Three million people, including a bunch of people who fled Donbas. He is not going in there. So he'd have a tough fight. The Ukrainians know it and they believe that because of the United States and the threat of sanctions against Putin and the buildup that we put in our NATO allies that they think we've got a pretty good deterrence in place.

[19:40:14]

CLARK: We just can't afford to take any chances on it, but President Zelensky in a different position has got to maintain calm, keep people off the roads, keep people in their homes and he is doing the best he can with that. That's the way I read it, Pamela.

BROWN: What do you read in terms of this -- the reports that Russia is moving blood supplies to the border? How should we view that? Do you think that these reports as Ukraine suggest could be psychological warfare and fear mongering, or preparing for an invasion? Preparing for war?

CLARK: Well, it is both. I mean, when they do this, it is a preparation for war. It's also a psychological warfare, and I don't think Mr. Putin has decided exactly what he is going to do.

The consensus of opinion seems to be that he is not going to do anything before the Olympics. But if you look at what's happened the last two weeks, let's say, there was the provocation with a false flag, where they were going to kill some people in Donbass and blame it on Ukraine. That got exposed.

And then there was an effort to replace Mr. Zelensky with some people who were friendly and that got exposed. Then there was a cyberattack and that got exposed, and then there was a riot earlier this week where a bunch of people tried to storm the Ukrainian Parliament, the Rada, and that got put down.

Any of these could have been the real thing and could have been an effort. I see the way that Putin would begin typically the way these things have worked in Eastern Europe is you go for the head of government, or you take over the Parliament, and then you cause chaos, and the way the Russians play their exercises is they like to come in as peacekeepers.

So what they like to see is chaos in Ukraine, and then somebody would raise his hand and say, no, I'm the legitimate President, and I need Russian help. And then they would say they were invited in. Then, if you take them to the United Nations and say, you're a rogue state, you're war criminals who start wars? They say, no, no, no, no, we were peacekeepers. See, we always said we weren't going to start a war. So you know, there's a lot of strategy in this.

One thing the United States doesn't appreciate fully about Europe and Russia is the weight of international law. What I learned in going against Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s in Bosnia, is international law is really powerful for Europeans.

Our Congress didn't think much of it and we say, you know, what we say is law, it is a lot more important than what the international law says, but that is not the case in Europe, and I'm looking at the statements of these Russian leaders and they are always very careful not to say something that could make them an international war criminal.

Their actions, they are ambiguous, they keep saying: Oh, it's just a training exercise. They say: No, no. We have no intention to attack. If they ever said that, we would say, okay, you're going to The Hague. That's a war crime to threaten another country.

So you know, we've got to put the whole package together. Pamela, it's not over yet, but we're doing okay.

BROWN: Right. And that's a really important point about the law. First, hearing that you may think, why would Russia care about international law? But the concern would be to galvanize these countries against Russia and that would be the concern.

General Wesley Clark in Little Rock, I wish we had more time to talk. It's always so great to hear your perspective, especially on such an important topic. Thank you.

CLARK: Thank you very much, Pamela.

BROWN: Well, the U.S. and Russia have been cooperating in space for decades, but could the tensions here on Earth threaten that partnership? Some astronauts think so.

Former International Space Station Commander Leroy Chiao joins me live, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:19]

BROWN: Well, some former astronauts are worried the growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia could reach the International Space Station. The two countries have worked together for decades in space, but there are worries that the crisis in Ukraine could jeopardize the partnership.

CNN's Kristin Fisher explains.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, the International Space Station is usually very insulated from any political trouble taking place back on Earth between the U.S. and Russia. The last time that Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2014, I spoke with the two astronauts that were on board the International Space Station at that time, and they told me that at no point did anyone in Houston's Mission Control or Moscow's Mission Control ever even mentioned the tensions that were taking place 250 miles below. That's how insulated they were.

But there are concerns that this conflict could be different. I spoke with about a half dozen former NASA astronauts who all spent time on board the International Space Station, and one of them, Garrett Reisman, who spent about 95 days up there, he told me that he is scared that if this does indeed become a shooting war, a full on shooting conflict that this could be the beginning of the end of the U.S. partnership in space.

Now keep in mind, there are other factors at play here. The International Space Station is also nearing the end of its lifespan, but the Biden administration just announced plans to extend it six years to 2030, and that is part of the reason the NASA administrator remains optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Isn't that something that when our politics on terra firma are causing us to be at odds with each other that the fact that us, earthlings, can overcome that around a common civilian space program and cooperate so beautifully in a friendly manner, and this not just be recently, but ever since 1975. It is truly one of the remarkable, remarkable stories of our time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:50:27]

FISHER: Now, even though the Biden administration has agreed to extend the space station's lifespan to 2030, so far, Russia's space agency Roscosmos has not explicitly committed to that.

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin says they are talking about it, but they have not formally committed to it, and tensions like this, like what we're seeing playing out in Ukraine certainly don't help him. BROWN: No, they don't. Thank you so much, Kristin.

Let's talk about this with former NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander Leroy Chiao. Hi, Leroy. Great to have you on as always.

So as someone who worked on the International Space Station with Russians, can the tensions between the two countries on Earth have an effect on their crew and their relationship while in orbit?

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: As you mentioned in your piece just now, so far that hasn't happened. The professionals, the technical specialists, cosmonauts and astronauts, we've all been able to kind of have that insulated, because it's in all of our best interest to keep the Space Station going.

We respect each other very much, we can have sometimes heated discussions about the different viewpoints. I remember in the early 2000s, when I was training in Star City, and there was conflict in Kosovo, nightly there would be transport planes taking off from the Russian airbase next to Star City, bringing material and men to the war zone. Yet we could have these sometimes heated discussions and still be friends.

So, so far, it's been fine even though there have been any number of issues over the last few decades where the United States and Russia don't see eye to eye. This time, it is more serious. I mean, this is probably the most tense that that I've seen.

And you know, if so far the politicians on both sides have not directed their space agencies to take any specific actions against the other, but that is certainly a possibility at any point.

So this time, it's a little more tense and I'm a little more concerned.

BROWN: Yes, it certainly seems different this time, for sure. So what would be the biggest problems if the situation got worse, and either country decided to return its crew back to Earth?

CHIAO: So, we need both sides to keep operating the space station. Now, the Russian side, you know, the service module and that complex. That is really the essential piece for maintaining control of the station in the long term. And so you know, you could operate each side individually without the other for a short period of time, but we really do need the Russian side to kind of keep it going.

And so I doubt they would really get to that point even if there was a shooting war, it could get complicated. If the politicians don't understand what it takes to keep that space station in orbit, there could be some policy and decisions made that could jeopardize the station.

So hopefully that won't happen and cooler heads will prevail and that people who are advising these politicians will tell them: Hey, we kind of meet each other to keep this thing going. BROWN: For sure. Leroy Chiao, thank you so much.

CHIAO: My pleasure. Thanks.

BROWN: So ahead on this Saturday night, will he or won't he? Reports tonight that Tom Brady is retiring from the NFL.

Also ahead, meet the hero toddler who saved his family from a house fire. What a story. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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KAYLA DAHL, MOTHER OF BRANDON DAHL: He saved our entire family. I mean, he is -- he is our little mini hero.

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BROWN: This is an incredible story.

A Texas toddler is definitely a hero this weekend after alerting his family that their house was on fire. Take a look at this frightening image, a family home completely engulfed.

Two-year-old Brandon Dahl woke up and walked through the burning house to get to his parents' bedroom. His parents were recovering from COVID and they didn't smell the smoke and the smoke detectors they recently bought didn't go off.

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K. DAHL: He was just sitting there coughing and he said "Mama, hot. Mama, hot."

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BROWN: I had chills. Nathaniel Dahl is a volunteer firefighter and taught his children how to respond to a fire. The family of seven made it safely outside within seconds.

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NATHANIEL DAHL, FATHER OF BRANDON DAHL: To think that a two-year-old wakes up at 4:30 in the morning and comes in and wakes us up, I mean, is nothing short of a miracle in my opinion.

K. DAHL: Yes. He saved our entire family. I mean, he is -- he is our little mini hero.

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BROWN: Firefighters think the fire likely started from a gas heater in the living room. Your next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

BROWN (voice over): Questions swirl after multiple reports of Tom Brady retiring from the NFL.

TOM BRADY, NFL PLAYER: My wife is my biggest supporter. It pains her to see me get hit out there.

BROWN (voice over): Meantime, millions along the East Coast being pummeled by snow, ice, and winds approaching hurricane intensity.

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