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U.S. Officials Says Signs Russia Moved Blood Supplies to Ukraine Border; Freeze Watch in Effect for Parts of Florida; Interview with Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 30, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Create an unarmed civilian force that goes around and stops people for very minor traffic violations. The police unions and some police officers are saying: Whoa, wait a minute that could really put a lot of people in danger, so we explore that as well -- Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Look forward to that and so much more. Sara Sidner thank you so much.

And you can watch her new CNN special report "Traffic Stop: Dangerous Encounters," tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern time.

[15:00:26]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right U.S. officials are watching a new development along the Ukraine border with Russia. Two senior defense officials tell CNN there are indications Russia is now positioned blood supplies in the area. The U.S., meantime, placed more than 8,000 troops on heightened alert last week to prepare to deploy to NATO allies in Eastern Europe.

Republican Senator Rob Portman said today the U.S. is firm in its commitment to support Ukraine and other lawmakers say a bipartisan deal on Russia sanctions is also about to get through Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): President Zelensky obviously is trying to maintain his economic growth in his country, which by the way, is pretty strong right now and keep the country from panicking while having to be prepared.

But we're together, that's what's important.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ): There are some sanctions that really could take place up front because of what Russia has already done: Cyberattacks on Ukraine, false flag operations, the efforts to undermine the Ukrainian government internally.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY (RET.) PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Imminent mean it could happen really honestly, at any time. Now, when I say it, it depends on what Vladimir Putin might want to do. Again, as Secretary Austin said on Friday, he has a lot of options, a lot of capability available to him. He could do something on a small scale, he could do something on a fairly large scale, and he continues to add troops to that border with Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. has also called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council tomorrow to work on a diplomatic solution. The U.S. Ambassador stressing they want real diplomacy to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: We're going to go in the room prepared to listen to them, but we're not going to be distracted by their propaganda and we are going to be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Sam Kiley is in Ukraine and reports both sides are jockeying for position ahead of the U.N. meeting.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, both the Russian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers are restating their now well- established positions ahead of meetings at the United Nations. The Russians are saying that with the continued deployment of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, the possible increase in troop numbers being offered by the United Kingdom and the United States are all a provocation, indeed a threat to Russia.

Simultaneously with that, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry saying that if the Russians are serious about any kind of diplomacy, then they need to move back from their positions, which looked threatening on Ukraine's Eastern borders, but also in Belarus to the north, just two or three hours north of here, Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, Fred.

So in that context, meetings at the U.N. are unlikely to produce anything more than potentially an agreement to keep disagreeing, but keep it verbal. The reason for this is that, from the Ukrainian perspective, that would be a positive step; from the American perspective, though, they continue to warn that by the end of February when the ground is expected to be frozen, that would be the prime time for a potential Russian invasion -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sam Kiley, thanks so much in Ukraine.

All right, let's bring in Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria GPS." Good to see you. So let's start with this meeting and the promise of the meeting at the United Nations tomorrow. Can some real concrete diplomatic progress come from it?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": It could theoretically in the sense that the two sides have positions that are not unbridgeable. There are a few things the Russians are asking for that the United States and NATO will not offer, you know, a blanket guarantee that Ukraine will never be a member of NATO. That's not going to happen.

But there is a lot of other stuff with regard to troop deployments, nuclear weapons, things like that where you could imagine compromises. The problem is there is very little trust on either side. There is a great deal of distrust in fact, and one way of keeping the alliance together is the United States has staked out you know, a very strong position, trying to make sure that there is no division within the Alliance.

So in negotiating terms, it will take -- it will take real skill, but there are elements of a negotiated path out here.

[15:05:02]

WHITFIELD: The whole issue of NATO you know where Russia is coming from, I mean, is that really a red herring? Doesn't Putin know, you know, that he is not going to be able to receive a commitment, whether it be from NATO allies or the U.S. on whether Ukraine would become a member or not?

ZAKARIA: Well, it's a great question, Fred, because the issue is, is he making the ask because he wants a lot of other concessions. He knows he is not going to get that one. But he might -- you know, he has certainly gotten everyone's attention. And so he will get some movement on other things, or is that just so core to him, and so core to his demands, that if there is no movement on that, this is all really just a setup for Russian military intervention.

WHITFIELD: Besides, you know, threatening Ukraine by being on the border, you know, Russia with 100,000-plus troops, of course, you know, cyberattacks are already taking place in country in Ukraine.

So, you know, Putin is not only just flexing muscle, but also intimidating, undermining the country. He is constantly looking to get the upper hand, does he have it?

ZAKARIA: I think he has. The odds, tactically, you know, he has a lot of things going for him. He has found a time when you have a new -- a weaker leadership in Germany, you know, the weak link in the Atlantic Alliance on this issue. He recognizes that it is going to be very hard for the West to militarily defeat him.

Ukraine is going through some tough times. And so yes, I mean, you know, he has real weaknesses. The main one being, Ukraine now is very anti-Russian, because of all the things he is doing.

I would suspect, Fred, that what we should look for here is not a full scale invasion, the most likely scenario is something like this. In that part of Eastern Ukraine where there are Russian speakers, the Russian government has issued something like 600,000 to 800,000 Russian passports. So those people are now considered by Moscow by Putin to be Russian citizens.

Under the guise of protecting them, you can imagine some limited Russian military action that further weakens Ukraine, further forces the Ukrainian military to act, that seems a much more realistic military scenario, and even that he might not do, but I think that's the nature of the military scenario and that is why you're right to talk about the other non-military ways, but the goal is the same, to make Ukraine weak and to make it eventually beg for peace from Moscow.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's change subjects a little bit here. You've got a special on China and President Xi on CNN tonight, and China has been flying warplanes into Taiwan's security zone, and it continues to talk about reuniting with Taiwan. Is this President Xi testing President Biden, while he is -- while he, you know, the U.S. is distracted by Russia?

ZAKARIA: I think he is always testing Biden on this issue. For the Chinese, this is absolutely core to their sense of national security. They have made comparisons to Ukraine and Russia, but this is even more so for them because they have -- you know, remember nobody, very few countries in the world even recognize Taiwan as a country, the United States doesn't.

So for Beijing, this is a renegade province that has to be brought back into the fold. I don't think they want war just yet. I don't think that that is the plan. But I think that they, as you say they are constantly testing to make sure that Chinese war planes can fly as close as they want to. What they're trying to do is say this is our total sphere of influence. And you, the United States can't do anything about it.

The problem they have is their stake is actually the same one that Putin has with Ukraine, which the locals don't agree. The Taiwanese are becoming more and more fiercely independent, somewhat anti- Chinese, just as the Ukrainians have become fiercely independent and anti-Russian.

And so they are -- you know, the problem for both of these two autocracies is not actually the United States. It's the populations of those neighboring places that don't happen to like living under the shadow of this Big Brother very much.

WHITFIELD: And then there is North Korea I want to ask you about. It fired another missile this weekend. Its longest range test since 2017. Kim Jong-un is also appearing to be close to scrapping his self- imposed long range missile moratorium. So, is he also testing the United States?

ZAKARIA: You know, it is almost impossible to really read the mind of Kim Jong-un. It's possible and remember, there are a lot of what they do with their nuclear weapons is or their missiles or their military hardware is try to get attention, try to get attention so that they get some kind of deal, some kind of, you know, bribes in return for stopping doing this kind of thing.

[15:10:21]

ZAKARIA: I've even seen speculation among the Intelligence Community that look, they run a very profitable black market in military hardware, sometimes every now and then you've got to advertise your stuff. You've got to let people know what you have, and the fact that it works.

So it may be as simple as that. It may be, you know, marketing and advertising. But there is no question that North Korea is always wanting you to remember that they have weapons.

WHITFIELD: That they are around.

ZAKARIA: They now have a large arsenal they want attention, too.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much. And of course, we'll be giving you a lot of attention tonight. We'll be watching your special.

Join Fareed for an in depth look at China's leader Xi Jinping, "China's Iron Fist: Xi Jinping and the Stakes for America" begins at 10:00 Eastern Time.

All right, still ahead, the worst of that bomb cyclone nor'easter storm that slammed into the Northeast has passed leaving record snow falls in many areas, but dangerously cold temperatures remain.

We'll have the latest forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:33]

WHITFIELD: Thousands in the Northeast remain without power after this weekend's powerful bomb cyclone. The storm broke snowfall records in several cities and you can see the view from space of the storm's aftermath showing extensive snow cover from North Carolina to Maine.

While the worst of the snow is past the danger. Well, it's not over yet. Strong winds mixing with cold temperatures are creating wind chills of 10 to 20 degrees below zero in some areas, including very chilly in Florida where temperatures dropped so low. The National Weather Service in Miami warned about falling iguanas. Take a look at those pictures right there.

Once the temperature drops below 45, the reptiles go into this dormant state and they're not dead, just temporarily stunned until they are able to warm up. Unfortunately, that means they can fall from trees and that's exactly what happens all the time.

CNN's meteorologist Tom Sater is joining me now from the CNN Weather Center. I mean, that is so creepy, but that is what happens. Those iguanas was falling from the sky.

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and some of them are pretty good in size, too.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SATER: It's is going to happen again tonight. Another iguana alert. Look at the numbers across the Florida Peninsula. In Miami. I mean,

they had their coldest morning in 10 years. I mean, upper 30s. We're going to have to see what happens, how this affects the citrus industry as well, Fredricka. But we've got more watches and warnings in place there.

Now, let's go to our storm. The storm, no doubt about it, one for the record books. Incredible icing, incredible flooding especially, Nantucket, heavy amounts of coastal surge with astronomical high tide.

We knew about it for days, about five days, but we couldn't tell you who was going to get upwards to a foot of snow or who was going to get one to two or three until the low form. That did so on Friday morning.

Then we knew the track, would it hug the coast or stay out to sea? It took the sweet spot. Historically speaking, what gives the heaviest amounts of snow and is in the record books across New England. Look at all of the states that had nearly two feet all the way up to 30 inches there.

Massachusetts in fact, nine states had over a foot of snowfall. And with that, hurricane winds. This is why we have a lot of power outages, but hats off to the crews because they've already restored power to tens of thousands. But this is well over hurricane strength, you know 74 miles per hour.

Now again, for the record books, Boston tide, the greatest amount of snow in a 24-hour period. The models were really good with a snowfall predictions. Of course, this is when you don't want to break, tying the record from 2003. And again for the two-day total, Fredricka, it goes in place at number six on the top 10 list.

The temperatures remain cold and this is the problem with those without power right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Oh, big time. That's very -- it is very dangerous, potentially life threatening, in fact.

All right, Tom Sater, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, if tensions continue over Ukraine, world leaders are warning an invasion could be imminent. Is the Biden administration doing everything it can to prevent a conflict? We'll discuss with Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:06]

WHITFIELD: All right, tensions continue to grow today as U.S. officials believe Russia is sending supplies including blood to the Ukraine border. Numerous world leaders are now warning an invasion could be imminent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We think it is highly likely

that he is looking to invade Ukraine. That is why we are doing all we can through deterrence and diplomacy to urge him to desist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With me now, Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona. He led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine late last year, and we talked about that. Congressman, welcome back.

So yes, I wonder, in your view, do you believe that the Biden administration is doing everything it can to prevent a conflict? And then, you know, is it really up to the U.S. to help prevent this conflict?

REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Well, I do believe we're finally caught up to where we need to be to actually deter Russia, and there are two ways of doing that. Number one, arming Ukraine itself, so they could actually resist Russia, and it is going to be hard to actually stop Russia. But what we need Ukraine to do is create such cost to them that it actually makes Russia calculate where they want to actually take this chance.

Number two, we've unified the Western -- our Western allies into understanding that there needs to be some harsh economic costs should Russia invade. So in those two areas, I think we're finally aligned, and now, it's up to really Putin to decide if it is really worth the risk of a really long drawn out war that's going to really impact the economy of Russia.

Now, is it our job to organize this? We have a moral authority in the world, especially in our place in Europe, that we should be there. We should be backing democracies versus autocracies, and just for pure history, we do know that massive land wars in Europe never end well for the United States in one way or the other. It destabilizes the region and will cause massive economic problems to us as well as potentially other problems, so we need to show that we are strong and then be strong to stand with democracies, especially against autocracies.

WHITFIELD: So now, when there are reports that Russia is bringing blood supplies, you know, to the periphery of where troops are, I mean, that doesn't say backing down, or does that say that this is Putin's psychological warfare, just trying to offer inferences, that an invasion is imminent, and there would be bloodshed.

GALLEGO: I think the assumption we have to make when we are dealing with Russia is the worst case scenario, and Russia likes to -- you know, like to make avenues for diplomacy, more favorable to them by threatening violence, knowing that the West does have an aversion to avoiding conflict.

But at this point, the best thing we could do is make Ukraine itself so damaging, and so difficult to predict what the outcome is that someone like Putin does not want to engage. Putin can't stand a long war in Ukraine, it can't stand thousands of,

you know, men and women coming back, you know, Russian soldiers coming back to Ukraine in coffins. It may be an autocratic nation, but at the end of the day, you still have to answer to your people.

So again, the more we arm the Ukrainian people, the military, and the more that we actually get together in and align the West with sanctions, the less likely I think he is to do this.

WHITFIELD: So you were part of that delegation in December, I spoke with another member of Congress earlier today who just got back as part of another U.S. delegation over the past week. How do you gauge progress besides, you know, allies, working stronger together? That was one of the examples that you just gave as to how you think, you know, efforts are working.

But how do you gauge whether there is any influence that the U.S. is making on this build up along the Ukraine border?

GALLEGO: Well, look, I think the build-up is going to happen no matter what we do. But we need to continue making sure again, that Ukraine is in a position to defend itself. And there's a night and day since my visit in late December, Ukraine has, you know, dispersed a lot of the lethal aid that we've given them in terms of javelins.

We've had some stinger missiles that have -- some but hundreds of stinger missiles that arrived from our Latvian partners. We have now have a concurrence and agreement on a sanctions protection package that's going to be introduced on the Senate side, and hopefully also passed by the House side bipartisan.

So you can tell that there has been a lot of movement in that short time to really, you know, give Ukraine an opportunity to resist this Russian incursion. We can't predict what Russia is going to do. We could only again, make them calculate and hopefully calculating them correctly that it is a big risk to invade Ukraine.

WHITFIELD: All right, Congressman Ruben Gallego, good to see you again. Thank you so much.

GALLEGO: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, former President Donald Trump says he would consider pardoning those charged in connection with the deadly Capitol siege if he were to run again and win the White House. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:33:05]

WHITFIELD: All right, former President Trump returned to the campaign trail, so to speak in Texas last night, it seemed like it, and during this rally, Trump said if he decides to run and is re-elected to a new term as President, he would consider pardoning those prosecuted for attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly, and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Trump also urged his supporters to hold massive protests in cities like New York, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. if prosecutors investigating him in those cities bring charges against him.

Charlie Dent is a former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania and a CNN political commentator. Good to see you. And David Swerdlick is also a CNN political commentator and senior staff editor for "The New York Times" opinion. Good to see you as well.

Okay, so gentlemen, I mean, perhaps equally dangerous, you know to Trump's words, of pardoning rioters. Is either any silence or tepid response coming from Republicans? These Republicans did speak on the matter today. Here are Senator Susan Collins, Governor Chris Sununu, and Senator Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the President should have made -- President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons, we should let the judicial process proceed.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Look, the folks that were part of the riots and frankly, the assault on the U.S. Capitol have to be held accountable. There is a rule of law.

I don't care whether you were part of burning cities and Antifa in 2020, you were storming the Capitol in 2021, everybody needs to be held fairly accountable in the process, part of the leadership --

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They shouldn't be pardoned?

SUNUNU: Of course not. Oh my goodness, no.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it is inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce defiling of the Capitol was okay. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.

[15:35:10]

GRAHAM: I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter people who did what they did on January 6th, and those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: So, Charlie, will that condemnation resonate? Will it kind

of, you know, upstage what Trump has said?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I certainly hope it does. I mean, I can't imagine a more reckless statement by the former President wanting to pardon people who assaulted police officers, who desecrated and destroyed Federal property, who attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and prevent Congress from engaging in its official duties. I mean, it is really beyond the keel.

WHITFIELD: Do you want to hear more outrage like that from more Republicans?

DENT: Oh, yes, absolutely. Now, the problem is, because if you're a Republican running for office, this could become a MAGA litmus test issue, and you really don't want to be talking about this.

Again, you're talking about the past, this horrible day. You'd rather be talking about the future and the Democrats and what they've been doing or not doing, and that is really where you want to be.

So Donald Trump is really making life much harder for Republicans in the midterm and certainly, if he decides to run for President, so I can't think of anything, you know, just a crazier thing that Donald Trump could have said yesterday, more destructive to the interests of Republican candidates.

WHITFIELD: So David, you've got more than 761 people who have been charged you know, in the January 6th insurrection, a bipartisan House Committee now has its hands on documents and eye witness accounts of what happened before, during and after the riot.

Do Trump's words, his pledge, have any potential influence on where these cases go? Or perhaps even the congressional probe goes?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello, Fred, and hello, Congressman. No, they shouldn't have any bearing on that, and let's remember that even if former President Trump becomes President again, that would be three years from now. That is plenty of time for prosecutors in these many hundreds of cases, to investigate, charge, and prosecute.

That's plenty of time for Congress, not necessarily as much time for the Democrats in the House to do their work on the January 6th Committee, but people should proceed as they are already proceeding with these cases, and not be influenced in any way by what the former President said.

I'll just note here that although many people on the political right, sort of reject this idea that this was a seditionist uprising, or they say that Democrats have made too much of this, there are far more people on the right, that will concede that this was a riot, even Tucker Carlson says it was a riot.

So even though people are innocent until proven guilty, even though people get their day in court, anyone who has been charged with riotous activities like breaking into the Capitol, like trespassing should go through the process, and if they are punished, then they are punished.

WHITFIELD: I mean, Charlie, I mean, no one tells Trump what to do. Right? And we've all learned that. But I mean, to stop this kind of madness, you also have to get to the bottom of who is financing these rallies, planning them logistically? Is this donor money? Or are these campaign dollars at work?

DENT: I suspect, Fred -- I do suspect these are campaign dollars at work and that is why Donald Trump will threaten to run in 2024, so he can continue to raise money, to hold rallies, and to try to influence Republican politics in any way he can.

So whether or not he runs it, I don't know. But I know one thing for sure, he is going to threaten the run, right up to the filing deadlines. And whether he decides to run or not, again, is a mystery, but I'm sure this money -- he is raising piles of money, and I'm sure it's being used for all this type of activity.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And David, you know, I mean, if Trump doesn't run, he has had his hand in picking a number of potential candidates for House and Senate seats. So, the influence is there, whether he decides to run or not.

I mean, he said it, and obviously, that will directly influence who will be in support of his kind of rhetoric that he continues to spout or not publicly.

SWERDLICK: Right, like, Congressman Dent, I don't have a prediction on whether former President Trump will officially run for President again. What I do think, though, is that part of the reason he is doing these rallies, like the one last night, like the couple that he has done more recently, is that he wants to freeze the rest of that Republican field.

And as long as there is that threat out there that he will run, and then it looks like he is on the cusp of running, it will keep rivals like for instance, a lot of people talk about Governor DeSantis in a limbo status where they can't go out and fundraise where they can't go out and set a different course for the Republican Party overall than the one President Trump is setting and President Trump is setting this course where it's all about him, right?

[15:40:06]

SWERDLICK: Anything that prosecutors do to these January 6 rioters, anything that prosecutors do to me is the same thing. It's not a crime against me, says former President Trump or wants his supporters to think it's a crime against you, and that was his appeal in 2016 and in 2020, and if he runs in 2024, I think that'll be his appeal again.

WHITFIELD: All so fascinating. All right, thank you so much, David Swerdlick and Charlie Dent. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate it. All right, still to come, as the coronavirus pandemic continues, how

are healthcare workers coping with the stress, exhaustion, and the demands of dealing with this pandemic? We'll talk to a Professor of Emergency Medicine, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to go on, healthcare workers are increasingly feeling the tug of war between taking care of patients and taking care of themselves.

My next guest recently wrote a piece for the British Medical Journal saying, quote: "For healthcare workers, the single worst stressor is the feeling of being lost in the increasingly vast gap between the care that they want to deliver to their patients and what they can actually provide. What then are we doing, but asking for healthcare workers to do the impossible and abandoning them to the certainty of failure?"

I want to bring in now Dr. Esther Choo. She is a Professor of Emergency Medicine for the Oregon Health and Science University, and joining me now. Dr. Choo, so good to see you.

DR. ESTHER CHOO, PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Hi, Fredricka, good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, so reading this really made me very sad, actually, because it just really underscored the stresses that many of you on the frontlines are feeling. I mean, you want to do the best, you know, by your patients, but you're also challenged with resources that perhaps are not readily available.

You don't want your patients to die, and I know Medical School probably prepared you for, you know, death and patients not doing well, but this has been voluminous. And so many of you are trying to figure out, how do I cope? How have you been doing?

CHOO: Well, thank you for asking. I mean, it's hard to really express what it's like now entering the third year of this pandemic, but I don't think there are words that really describe, you know, how we're feeling that I think words like "burnout" or "moral injury" have just felt old and tired and inadequate for the moment.

I mean, what's happening right now is, we're in the middle of a huge surge. We have hospitalization rates that are similar to February of last year. We have death rates that, you know, surpassed previous surges. We are in the hospital where our acute care beds are full, where our ICU beds are full, and then we walk out of the hospital and we are told, it's so great that omicron is mild.

There has been a big push in the media to say that it is time to relax and loosen up any of our safety measures, and that disconnect is just so hard to understand and to feel empathy with because, you know, being in the hospital is so difficult and this is a problem. I'm in a large tertiary care center. This is a problem at smaller

hospitals. Basically, every region of the United States during the surge has experienced critical staffing shortages. At some, point anywhere between 15 and 30 percent, and I think it feels, of course, exhausting, but just something beyond exhausting.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. You also mentioned, you know, prioritizing mental health, which is yet another, you know, sector of healthcare that was understaffed before the pandemic. So, what kind of resources are needed right now to ensure you and your staff aren't pouring from an empty cup?

CHOO: Yes, I think it's been a big push to normalize mental healthcare seeking, which I think is so important. I mean, traditionally, if you're in healthcare, and you even mentioned that you sought mental health -- professional mental healthcare in the past, or you were on medications or anything like that, there was a potential professional penalty for even doing that.

And I think now we're really pushing to say it's not only okay, but it's normal, and even expected that in circumstances like these, where we are having to make very difficult decisions about who we can provide care to, what kind of care we can provide on a day to day basis when everything is limited, not just shortages of staff, but also medications, basic supplies.

Blood is in short supply and we have to make decisions about which patient, you know which patients get them and which patients don't. It is like every day is asking us to make these decisions that have huge moral injury.

And so in circumstances like this, mental healthcare is really recommended for people who have to do this over sustained periods, and I think the challenge really is, how do we maintain our mental health supply when there was a national shortage also of the mental healthcare workforce before we went into the pandemic.

And of course, they've been overwhelmed and just kudos to the way that mental health providers have tried to step up in this moment and take care of not only themselves, but all of us when we are in greatest need.

But that is also very lean.

WHITFIELD: And perhaps your friends and family have, you know, figured out how to read you and how to, you know, help you even when you're not expressing that you necessarily need help, but then what would be your recommendation to people who have you know, friends and loved ones who are in the medical care industry who need some help, but who may not articulate that and say that. What do we do to help each other?

[15:50:15]

CHOO: Yes, I think there is so much in community right now. So, I think definitely opening the door to be a listening ear. Again, having all of our language and our actions be supportive of mental healthcare seeking, being really supportive and understanding when people need extra time for themselves, need to go on medications, things like that, and just trying to be, I think, trying to really approach this pandemic, in terms of thinking about others and being part of a community.

I mean, I can't express how much part of our mental health and wellbeing is having people take the pandemic seriously. You know, not just missing what we're seeing in the hospital as "Oh, it can't be that bad," or "I'm sure we'll get through it because we've gotten through it before."

I mean, hearing things like that is itself, really damaging to our mental health? So, trying to figure out how as a community can we support healthcare workers? And I think part of that is actually being a good community member and advancing things like vaccination, mask wearing indoors, you know, really trying to be a good citizen and support those most vulnerable in our community. Those things lift us up and make us feel like we're going to get through this.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Esther Choo, I just want to give you a big old hug. I mean, I hear your exhaustion, and at the same time, your resolve. And thank you so much for always joining us and giving us the real story on what we all as individuals can do and what you and others on the frontline are up against.

So big hugs, thank you so much.

CHOO: I appreciate the virtual hug. So good to talk to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, appreciate it. Appreciate you.

All right, turning now to sports where Rafael Nadal rallied from two sets down to win a record breaking 21st Grand Slam men singles title at the Australian Open Final. The number six seed Nadal defeated World Number two, Daniil Medvedev of Russia in an epic match lasting over five hours. This is Nadal's second Australian Open crown.

The Spaniard breaks the three-way tie with fellow tennis greats, Novak Djokovic, who had to exit Australia and Roger Federer for most grand slams won. It's also the third time in Nadal's career that he rallied from two sets down. Congrats to him.

And then we have some very sad news, veteran actor Howard Hesseman has died. He was 81. Hesseman was best known for playing the outrageous radio DJ, "Dr. Johnny Fever" on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOHNNY FEVER, FICTIONAL CHARACTER "WKRP IN CINCINNATI": Well, it's goodbye the elevator music.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He was so fun. What a great show. Hesseman earned two Emmy nominations for his role as Johnny Fever. He

also starred on "Head of the Class" and appeared on several other shows. Hesseman hosted "Saturday Night Live" several times over the years

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WHITFIELD: Gun violence is reaching record levels across the U.S. and law enforcement agencies in some of the nation's largest cities have recovered a decade high number of firearms, many of which are untracked and untraceable.

CNN national correspondent Isabel Rosales joining me now with more on this growing problem -- Isabel.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, experts say it is hard to address gun violence and the reason for that is twofold. The increased number of guns and just the difficulty in tracking both legal and illegal guns.

Gun violence has surged. A CNN analysis found that 10 of the most populous cities here in the United States actually set an all-time homicide record in 2021. Most of those involving guns and part of the problem here are ghost guns. That is the terminology for those homemade guns pieced together bit by bit. They don't require a background check to get those parts and they can be put together in under an hour.

Those guns, while they make up a smaller proportion of the guns seized by police officers, they are showing up with growing frequency at crime scenes and at shootings.

In New York City, the mayor there Eric Adams has been outspoken about the rise of gun violence in his city and he introduced last week new policing measures there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: We have to stop the flow of guns. We are removing thousands of guns off our streets and it appears as though for every gun we've removed from the street, five are coming in. That is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: So in New York City, back in 2021, police recovered there 6,000 guns, you can see right there, a 26 percent increase from 2019. In Philadelphia, about the same amount, the highest seen there in at least 10 years; and the Chicago doubled that, 12,000 guns, 62 percent higher than in 2020.

Now, we have also seen that gun violence directed at law enforcement officers. In New York City, we saw two police officers there shot and killed. The gun that the suspect used was stolen -- Fred. [16:05:09]

WHITFIELD: All right, Isabel Rosales. Thanks so much for bringing that to us. Appreciate that.

And thank you for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta right now.

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