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Massive Winter Storm Gripping Much of U.S.; U.S. Deploying 3,000 Troops to Eastern Europe Amid Crisis; Trump Sticks By His Pledge to Pardon January 6 Rioters; Ex-Trump Justice Department Official Meets with Committee; First Olympic Events Kick Off Ahead of Opening Ceremony; Putin Pens Letter to Chinese Public Ahead of Meeting with Xi. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 03, 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)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a very substantial winter storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the ground all state assets stand ready to assist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Airlines really cannot catch a break with the winter weather.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This storm is massive heading as far north as Maine and as far south as Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: A dangerous winter storm stretching from Texas to New England is bringing a triple whammy of snow, ice and sleet. We are tracking the latest for you.
Sending in reinforcement. President Biden deploys thousands of troops to Eastern Europe. The Kremlin says it is worried. We are live in Moscow this hour.
Plus, bubbles, countless swabs and hazmat suits. We'll take you on a journey from Atlanta Winter Beijing Olympics.
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.
SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is Thursday, February 3rd. And a massive winter storm is unleashing ice, snow as well as freezing temperatures across the U.S. putting more than 100 million people under winter weather alerts. The storm stretches all the way from the Mexican border to New England as well as beyond as you can see on your map. It's already forced airlines to cancel more than 3,700 flights and counting today.
And the icy conditions have made travel by road treacherous. As you can see this driver in Illinois learned the hard way. He crashed into a creek where he was stuck in his vehicle before firefighters went into the freezing water to pull him out.
In Texas the weather is bringing back memories of power outages seen during another storm last February. But officials say this time around the power grid is ready. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We're utilizing every applicable state agency to make sure that Texas will robustly respond to this extreme cold winter storm that is going to be sweeping across Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Police in Kansas are urging drivers to take their feet off the gas and slow down. This video taken by an officer, shows how treacherous roads are. And in Missouri authorities responded to more than 200 wrecks across the state. Leaving at least 12 people injured. CNN's Darryl Forges has more for you on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARRYL FORGES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A wintry mess turning roads into a dangerous place to be. Slick roads, snarling traffic and sending vehicles sliding into ditches.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): If everything holds to where it is right now, this is the real deal. It is dangerous.
FORGES (voice-over): A monstrous storm spanning hundreds of miles across the country is unleashing dangerous ice and snow accumulations and dropping some places into a deep freeze threatening to paralyze parts of the Midwest and the South.
BESHEAR: The amount of potential ice accumulation could potentially result in the loss of power for a large number of Kentuckians.
FORGES: In Texas where nearly 250 people died after an ice storm crippled the state's power grid last year, they've been preparing for days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last year I think us all Texans are kind of scared.
ABBOTT: No one can guarantee that there won't be a, quote, load shed event. But what we will work and strive to achieve and what we're prepared to achieve is that the power is going to stay on across the entire state.
FORGES: Traveling will be impossible in some places leading to the cancellation of thousands of flights and FedEx says the storm could impact shipping and delivery services. Saying in a statement, quote, contingency plans are in place and we will be prepared to provide the best possible service in areas affected by the winter storm and as local conditions allow.
In Detroit, I'm Darryl Forges.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And natural gas futures soared 16 percent on Wednesday as energy markets prepared for that winter storm. The latest spike will keep home heating costs high for millions of Americans as a demand for natural gas rises.
Meanwhile, the powerful storm is proving to be a nightmare as you heard in our piece, really for travelers across the country.
[04:05:00]
According to data from FlightAware, airlines canceled more than 3,700 flights so far for Thursday. That's on top of more than the 2,000 flight cancellations that we saw on Wednesday.
Let's break it all down for you. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us from CNN's Weather Center. Good morning, Pedram. This is a powerful as well as a dangerous storm there.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Isa. You know, when you look at a storm this expansive, this is essentially as bad -- a worst-case scenario as it gets here with ariel coverage of destruction potentially in place. When you look at the amount of disruptions across Dallas, northward into areas of Memphis, on into even as far north as Cincinnati.
These airports, 60 to 90 percent of their flights leading into Thursday have already been canceled. Again, into the early morning hours. Just speaks to the wide-reaching ranging impacts. You noted over 3,700 flights have been canceled, again, just in the first few hours of Thursday morning. And all of it as a result of this massive frontal boundary stretching from the South all the way northward into New England.
Along this frontal boundary we have essentially every single weather element you can think of. And of course, when it comes to the winter element of it and you notice 2,200 miles of coverage here when it comes to how many states have been impacted. About 20 plus states in place here.
The winter weather alerts can lead to not only power outages that can be expansive. We know highway closures certainly possible with the amount of ice that is forecast along this boundary. And notice some of these areas including areas around Memphis northward into Louisville, some of these areas could see as much as a half an inch to over 3/4 of ice accretion over the next 24 or so hours. That is an incredible amount of ice that will bring, of course, down trees and power lines and lead to extensive power outages as a result.
And when it comes to the impacts you'll notice right along that lines, eastern areas of Arkansas into western Tennessee, works its way northward into Kentucky and portions of the Midwest. These are the regions we're watching very carefully into the Ohio Valley where disruptions can be the most significant.
And of course, it's not just ice and it's not just the wind and rain. Significant amounts of snow north of this region are expected and in some cases the snow amounts have been historic. As much as a foot have fallen. And some models indicate another round of maybe 6 maybe 12 inches still in place there across the areas of say into Ohio and Illinois and Indiana, eventually into New England.
Now, the best way to kind of depict the intensity of this storm is look at the temperature trend for your Thursday afternoon highs. Ranging from about 3 degrees in Minneapolis all the way down into Atlanta, Georgia, where it's almost 70 degrees warmer. And the contrast between these temperatures is about 40 degrees almost from for places such as Memphis, just eastward into areas around Atlanta.
So, as this front migrates farther towards the east, the weather elements are going to shift further to the east. And again, you get all of it here when it comes to snow, sleet, freezing rain. And if you're far enough along south along the Gulf Coast states there, could see just all heavy rainfall. But it is going to be an expansive and a very disruptive weather pattern here continues into at least Friday afternoon -- Isa.
SOARES: Yes, and potentially very treacherous. Pedram Javaheri, thank you very much. Everyone do stay safe.
Moscow, the U.S. military says it's carried out a successful counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria. Now, the Pentagon statement did not identify the target of the operation or other details but did say there were no U.S. casualties. The U.S. has conducted numerous operations targeting Al Qaeda and affiliates in Syria.
Moscow is reacting after the U.S. announced a troop deployment to Eastern Europe as tensions over the Ukraine crisis intensified. In an exclusive statement to CNN the Kremlin said it was worried by the move and once again accused the U.S. of escalating tensions in Europe.
Those comments after President Joe Biden formally approved the deployment of 3,000 American troops to bolster three NATO allies. That's Germany, Romania and Poland. The Pentagon has stressed U.S. service members will not be entering Ukraine.
In the coming hours And along with the deterrence comes diplomacy. In the coming hours French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a call with Mr. Putin. Mr. Macron spoke Wednesday with Mr. Biden, with the two agreeing on the need for more dialogue, as well as de-escalation.
But there's new evidence of Russia continuing its military buildup really along the Ukrainian border troops -- as you can see there. Satellite images now show further expansion in multiple locations in Belarus, Crimea as well as western Russia. CNN's Oren Liebermann has more from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military is on the move. President Joe Biden deploying troops to Eastern Europe to meet a growing threat of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Russia stays on an escalatory path which they clearly have. And we'll make forced posture adjustments to deter and defend against any aggression.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The Pentagon deploying 2,000 U.S. troops to Poland and Germany. Another 1,000 troops already in Germany heading to Romania.
[04:10:00]
The Pentagon made it clear that U.S. troops would not deploy to Ukraine, but this deployment would further show Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO stands united.
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We want to make sure that he knows any move on NATO is going -- is going to be resisted and it's going to be -- it's going to trigger Article Five and we're going to be committed to the defense of our allies.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The Pentagon has another 8,500 troops on heightened alert if NATO activates its rapid response force. But this is the U.S. moving military forces on its own as the Russian build-up near Ukraine steadily continues.
One day after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent hours at the White House, the Biden administration briefing the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, followed by briefings to all of Congress Thursday.
WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Part of being ready is to deter him, is to show that the United States is willing to take active measures, is willing to move troops in the direction of the eastern part of the NATO alliance to deter him.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show the latest Russian military deployments to Belarus on Ukraine's northern border, and Russia has added housing for troops in occupied Crimea. A comparison of images from September and now shows new tents for troops, which suggests an increase in readiness.
A Tuesday phone call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart didn't yield any breakthroughs. But the option of diplomacy isn't dead yet.
NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We are engaging in dialogue and diplomacy just as we pursue the path of defense and deterrence.
LIEBERMANN: Even as we begin to see these troops heading over to Eastern Europe, one thing we will not see or rather hear from the administration is the word imminent. That's because the White House explained that it seems to imply that Vladimir Putin has made the decision to imminently invade Ukraine. And that they say is a decision they don't believe he has come to yet.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, let's get on this story. Let's head to Moscow where CNN's Nathan Hodge is standing by. And Nathan, besides being worried, what else did the Kremlin have to say about the deployment of those U.S. troops?
NATHAN HODGE, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Isa, overnight the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN that this deployment, this move by the Biden administration was essentially de facto pumping up tensions in Europe and gave proof of why Russia had security concerns over NATO's moves in eastern Europe. And that echoes what Russian President Vladimir Putin said just a couple of days ago following a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.
Essentially, Putin repeated a lot of the grievances that we've heard over the years. And basically, said the U.S. and NATO have ignored three of Russia's sort of key sticking points in this, quote, confrontation over Ukraine. Now that's the stationing of NATO strike weaponry in Eastern Europe. That's the open-door policy to new members as well as his concerns of basically about this ongoing confrontation over Ukraine and a long-standing grievance that he's had basically about NATO's posture in Eastern Europe. He would like to see that rolled back or at least NATO's infrastructure rolled back to 1970 levels.
Something, you know, the U.S. and NATO have made clear is just a non- starter for them. So, both Washington and Moscow are still very, very far apart. But these continued tensions are happening at a very important diplomatic moment and a very important geopolitical moment for President Putin. He's preparing to leave later today for a very high-profile trip to China where he's going to be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Now, China and Russia have had an ever sort of deepening cooperation and alliance both economically and militarily. There have been lots over the last several years joint military drills between the two countries. And it's going to be very important for us to keep close eyes on what happens in Beijing with Xi and Putin appearing together -- Isa.
SOARES: Yes, and we'll take you live, of course, to Beijing in probably about 20 minutes or so for the very latest. Nathan Hodge for us in Moscow though, thank you very much, Nathan.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is sticking by his pledge to pardon people charged in the January 6th Capitol riot if he's re-elected. And he's being quite clear that he, indeed, tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Have a listen.
(END VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The rally was a protest against a rigged election. Had Mike Pence sent it back to the legislatures, you wouldn't have had the same kind of anger. There wouldn't be an anger because the legislatures would have done whatever they were going to do. I mean, there was a lot of corruption. There was a lot of phony voting, phony ballots and they should have been sent back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:15:00]
SOARES: His comments come as the January 6th committee's making several significant moves in its investigation. They have been speaking with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes remotely from prison. His attorney says Rhodes is answering some questions but invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and of others.
Meanwhile, the National Archive has decided it will turn over former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the committee next month. Donald Trump had fought to keep them secret. And the panel spoke yesterday with Jeffrey Clark who is facing possible contempt charges. The former Justice Department official pushed unfound claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election. CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig has that for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, If Jeffrey Clark took the Fifth Amendment today, as we believe he did, A, that was the smart move for him legally. B, it's a sad statement that he had a good reason to. Because let's remember what Jeffrey Clark did at the Justice Department that Andrew and I both once worked for. He committed a fraud inside the very department that is charged with prosecuting fraud.
He drafted this letter saying to the state of Georgia saying we have detected significant election fraud that may impact the results of your election and in other states. That's a lie. That is not true. We know that's not true and he tried to get the Justice Department to put their letterhead on that and send that letter out. Imagine if they did, what Jeffrey Clark wanted them to do. Imagine if Jeffrey Rosen who was acting AG at the time would have done that. You would have had DOJ's official seal which carries so much weight behind this election fraud live. So, Jeffrey Clark is one of the worst actors in this whole thing. And if he took the fifth, he smart to do so.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: A star witness in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, is now suing members of the former U.S. presidents inner circle. Retired Army Colonel Alex Vindman says Trump's family, lawyers and right-wing media tried to intimidate and retaliate against him because he testified against Trump. Now this was in 2019. Vindman was on the phone when Trump pressured the Ukraine president to investigate Democrats including Trump's rival, Joe Biden. The former president is not named as a defendant in Vince's lawsuit. He fired Vindman from the National Security Council two years ago.
The FBI has identified some people it wants to find in the wave of bomb threats targeting historically black colleges and universities -- one of our top stories yesterday. A law enforcement official says the agency briefed the colleges on its investigation so far. The FBI said it hasn't found any explosive devices but the agency is treating the threat as violent extremism, as well as hate crimes. The threats coincided with the first day of Black History Month.
Four men have been arrested and charged in connection with the overdose death of the "Wire" actor Michael K. Williams. They are allegedly part of a drug trafficking organization and sold the fentanyl laced heroin that led to Williams' death. The actor was found in his New York City apartment with drug paraphernalia near his body last September.
Some competitions at the Beijing Winter Olympics are underway. But as the athletes hit the slopes, will political tensions distract from the games? We're live from Beijing with the very latest. That is next.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Competitions at the Beijing Winter Olympics have begun. Curling, Alpine skiing and women's ice hockey were the first to kick off ahead of Friday's opening ceremony. This comes as more than 50 Olympic personnel tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday bringing the total number of Olympic-related cases to nearly 300.
Since the Olympics closed loop system which restricts movement in Beijing began in January nearly 600,000 COVID tests have been conducted.
Let's get more on this. Steven Jiang joins me now from Beijing with the latest. And Steven, as the games start to kick off, behind the scenes what we are learning is that President Xi is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin. What can we expect to come out of this meeting here?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: You know, Putin is likely to be here for less than 24 hours, flying in Friday morning, then having lunch with Xi, having a bilateral meeting, then the two men go to attend the opening ceremony, then Putin flies out.
But even though it's a whirlwind trip, it is happening at a crucial time because the U.S. obviously is trying to exert maximum pressure and also ostracize Russia on the Ukraine issue. And so, Putin is going to seek and likely receive reassurances from Xi on China's support for his position on the Ukraine issue.
Now China of course, has already publicly voiced its support for Russian's demand for security guarantee from the U.S. and also helping Russia at the United Nations. But I think what's most important here is probably Russia is going to further bolster its economic ties with China during this trip with Putin likely and Xi, as well, overseeing the signing of more massive deals, not only in energy but in better sectors as well.
Putin actually wrote an article for Chinese state media before this visit that really highlighting the fast growth of bilateral trade last year exceeding 140 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of more than 30 percent. Now this of course is going to potentially reduce or even minimize the so-called crippling sanctions the U.S. has promised to impose on Russia in the event of Ukraine invasion.
Now the two men, of course, also increasingly seeing eye to eye on dealing with a common adversary, the U.S. Both of them resentful and even hostile towards the U.S. strategy of forming alliances in their respective regions to encircle them. With China, of course, this Ukraine crisis of pushing Russia further closer to Beijing, this is actually their 38th meeting between the two leaders.
[04:25:00]
And of course, the added potential benefit of distracting the U.S. from focusing on dealing with a rising Asia in this -- rising China in Asia -- Isa.
SOARES: And that's the image we were showing our viewers there of the many times, the 38th time they've met both the leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Steven Jiang there for us in Beijing. Thanks very much, Steven.
USA Swimming has issued a new policy for all transgender athletes wishing to compete in elite events going forward. A panel of experts will decide whether transgender women have any unfair advantage over those who have been women since birth by checking their testosterone levels over the last three years.
The organization says the following: The therefore development of the elite policy acknowledges a competitive difference in the male and female categories and the disadvantages this presents in elite head- to-head competition.
USA Swimming says it's committed to gender equity and the inclusivity of transgender and cisgender women.
The U.S. added more than 800,000 jobs in December, but actually lost hundreds of thousands the positions last month. What is behind the drop that's caught really economists off guard.
Plus, more British lawmakers are telling Boris Johnson to step down in the calls are coming from members of his own political party. That's next.
[04:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Isa Soares. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour. A massive winter storm is bringing a triple whammy of ice, sleet as
well as snow across the United States. More than 100 million people from Texas to new England are under winter weather alerts. Thousands of flights have already been canceled.
And breaking news to bring you this hour.
[04:30:00]
