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Opening Ceremony for Winter Games Just Hours Away; Putin Meeting Xi Ahead of Games, Amid Ukraine Tension; Winter Storm Expected to Pummel U.S. Through Friday; Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi Died in U.S. Raid in Syria. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 04, 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.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I stepped off of the airplane here, I felt more like I was entering a dystopian movie set rather than entering an Olympic host city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a zero COVID policy approach. It is quite harsh to be blunt with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be here at an Olympics is something that you dream. You know, you can't dream of the circumstances and you can't change them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: We're hours away from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. But will global issues from the pandemic, to fears of invasion by Russia overshadow the games? We're live in Beijing for you with the very latest.

Plus, snow, sleet and freezing rain. An enormous winter storm is barreling across much the United States. We'll have all of the details from CNN's Weather Center.

We take you inside the late-night military raid that ended with the death of the leader of ISIS but that was not the plan.

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

SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is Friday, February 4th. And we are just a mere three hours away from the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony marking the official start of course to the winter games. The 100-minute event won't be as long or as grand as those in the past but there will be plenty of fireworks and some 3,000 performers despite Beijing's best efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic still lingering over the games, as many athletes are worried and unsure if they'll even be able to compete. The Olympic Committee reported 21 new infections among games. That's as of Thursday.

Since the closed loop system began on January 23rd, more than 300 cases have been identified. And if that wasn't enough to keep you on your toes, well, the Russia/China partnership will be on full display as President Xi Jinping hosts Vladimir Putin in Beijing. Could of course, the heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over a possible Ukraine invasion overshadow these Olympic Games. We are covering all this hour here on CNN.

Right now, we want to go live to Beijing where Coy Wire is standing by. And Coy, let's put the politics aside for just a moment. I know you have covered so many Olympics. How does this one compare? Is there still a sense of excitement despite those stringent restrictions?

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Isa, that's a great question. It has been a frustrating juxtaposition. You want to get excited but it's difficult to do so. You know, sport can be the greatest unifier of people on our planet. People coming together, cheering each other no matter ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status. That's especially the case for the Olympics.

And the opening ceremony just hours away is all about celebrating cultures from nations around the world via their athletes. But you know, we're learning that we won't even be seeing one of the game's biggest names walking in the ceremony. Team USA's star figure skater Nathan Chen told me earlier today that he's not participating in part because he would be in such close proximity to so many other people just days before his individual competition begins. And it makes you wonder, Isa, how many other athletes might follow suit.

But for those who decide to walk, this spectacle celebrates years of dedication and sacrifice over overcoming obstacles to become some of the greatest athletes in the world. Here's one of the Olympians we spoke to ahead of the games about the opening ceremony.

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AJA EVANS, U.S. OLYMPIC BOBSLEDDER: Opening ceremony is my favorite experience of the Olympic games. I think that it's a really important experience for the athletes because we're so used to being in a zone, and being competitive, and opening ceremony is the one moment during the entire process where you get to just kind of let go and enjoy your accomplishments and getting this far.

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WIRE: Now, Isa, to go back to your original question. I can't imagine the stress these athletes are under. We're confined to games, hotels, the media center and event venues and that's it. There are fences around our hotel. There were two layers of chain link fences around the figure skating venue that I went to earlier today. Geopolitical rhetoric swirling all around them. Chinese New Year happening but it feels nothing like a celebration here in this closed loop, Isa.

[04:05:00] But hopefully as the games officially kick off, all of the focus can be switched to the competitions and being inspired and uplifted by these athletes and their journeys.

SOARES: Let's hope so. It's been such a long journey for these athletes, as you said, who have worked so hard to get here. We wish them, of course, all the very best. Coy Wire for us there in Beijing. Thanks very much Coy, good to see you.

Well, as we mentioned at the top of the show, Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Olympics. Tensions with Ukraine are expected to be high on their agenda along with trade, as well as energy issues. Right now, China is the only major world power backing Russia in its standoff with the West.

The visit comes as the U.S. accuses Russia of planning a false flag operation as a pretext to invade Ukraine. Officials say Moscow is preparing a graphic propaganda video of a fake attack by Ukraine on Russian territory on Russian speaking people in Ukraine. Russia's ambassador to the European Union denies the claim. The Pentagon released some details but no evidence to support the allegations. Have a listen.

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JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: As part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations as well as military equipment at the hands of Ukraine or the West

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SOARES: The U.S. and European officials are also worried about Russia's deployment of about 30,000 combat troops to Belarus along Ukraine's northern border.

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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Over the last days we have seen a significant movement of Russian military forces into Belarus. This is the biggest deployment since the cold war.

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SOARES: Let's get more on this story. CNN's Ivan Watson is standing by live in Hong Kong for us. We'll begin this hour with Nathan Hodge in Moscow. And Nathan, let's start on the meeting between those two leaders. It comes of course, as we just set out, against this backdrop of the rising geopolitical tensions. How much, Nathan, there is an this appearance by Putin about optics, about projecting an image of power to the West here?

NATHAN HODGE, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Isa, really the picture tells the story here. I don't expect that we'll see any sort of major readout or perhaps even any full some statements from Putin following his meeting with Xi. The most important thing for him is that Putin has the world's attention. He is showing that he is shoulder to shoulder with one of his strongest allies, with Xi Jinping. He is the guest of honor here and he is at the center of the world stage.

So, in many ways it plays right into what he wants to be at sort of the center of the world's attention and to be at the sort of center of this geopolitical storm that's been swirling around him for weeks now.

Earlier this week Putin said that he believed that the U.S. and the West have essentially ignored Russia's security demands. They have -- they had sent responses to Russia's worries about the potential for a NATO expansion, further into the Eastern Europe, about the station of NATO assets in Eastern Europe. And so, we heard many of the sort of long-standing grievances from Putin earlier this week.

And going to China basically is a chance for him to sort of preside, to have some great photo opportunities with Xi. Russia and China have had military exercises together in recent years. And they've had deepening economic ties. So, this is really a show of strength for Putin at a time when he's still locked in this standoff with the West over Ukraine.

And it's not clear at this stage how Russia will formally respond, for instance, to the U.S. and NATO letters in response to Russia's security concerns. While we've heard some remarks from Putin, some criticism from the Russian government, Putin has not made clear what he actually plans to do with all the troops that are amassing on Ukraine's border as well as in Belarus. Although the Kremlin has said that the Biden administration's decision to deploy around 3,000 additional U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as opposed to the 30,000, for instance, that NATO has flagged in Belarus, are further evidence of Russia's worries, of its own security concerns.

So, we're sort of staying on the boil here in terms of the rhetoric but the ball is very much in Putin's court as to how he's actually going to respond. And in many respects, he can sort of enjoy his time in the spotlight here -- Isa.

SOARES: Yes, perhaps wanting to distract as well, Nathan.

Ivan, let me go to you. We know that Xi Jinping has met with Vladimir Putin on many occasions. I think we even have a photo to show how many times they've actually met, perhaps more than any other leader because of their strong trade and economic links.

[04:10:00]

But what kind of support has Xi Jinping offered Putin publicly, Ivan, on the question of Ukraine?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There have been statements of support. They have not been resounding. China has said that Russia has legitimate security concerns. In a joint statement from the two foreign ministers of China and Russia who met on Thursday, the Chinese side said, hey, Russia explained the dynamics of the Russia/U.S., Russia/NATO relationship. And China stresses that the principle of security is indivisible. China understands and supports that.

So, it's offering some support, but not all the way. China has never formally recognized Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. It has its own ties with Ukraine, for example. It has been expanding economic ties with Russia. Record numbers last year and it has, as Nathan pointed out, it has military cooperation with Russia as well. But it has not gone out and denounced NATO.

Instead, the terminology is more couched. You have China saying that they don't like camps and blocks, for example, and that's kind of a nod against the U.S. and perhaps the quad where the U.S. is engaged in military exercises with Japan, Australia, and India in the past.

China is clearly the senior in the partnership here with Russia. Demographically and economically dwarfs Russia. Its population and economy are both ten times larger than Russia. Russia right now needs China more than China needs Russia.

This is a big showcase moment for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. There are going to be more than 20 other heads of state that will be visiting including the strong men who rule Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Notably absent here, Isa, will be a delegation from India. It's not a big winter Olympic power but New Delhi just announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics furious that one of the torch bearers for China in the Olympic relay was an officer from the People's Liberation Army who participated in a deadly battle in 2020 on the border where more than -- at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed. A sign of the complexities of the geopolitics swirling around these games.

SOARES: Important context from our Ivan Watson in Hong Kong and Nathan Hodge in Moscow. Thank you to you both.

Millions of Americans have to hang on at least one more day before they can bid good-bye to a massive winter storm. Forecasters expect it to linger until at least Friday night and dump a new round of heavy snow in the Northeast. That is expected to create risky road conditions just as it has in parts of the Midwest that took the brunt really of the storm earlier. The weather system stretches more than 2,000 miles from Texas to New England, as you can see there. More than 95 million people, almost 1/3 of the U.S. population is under winter weather alerts.

The storm has caused at least three deaths including a person killed during a suspected tornado in Alabama. More than 3,000 homes and businesses are in the dark after the storm knocked out its power.

Joining me now is meteorologist Karen Maginnis with the latest. Good morning to you Karen. And this storm is incredibly dangerous. But it's also, as you can see in your graphic there, it's incredibly vast, too.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It has really stretched for thousands of miles the last several days. And it's been such a slow mover. But now I think most -- for the most part the worst is over. But I don't want to give anyone a false sense of security because still a good portion of an area from the Texas region into the Ark-La- Tex and around the Tennessee River Valley into the Northeast is still going to have to bear with gusty winds. Still, some of the ice and snow.

And New York City, yes, you'll see a little bit of it. But it looks like for the most part that's going to be a brief event. Already about 2,700 flights canceled for the day. That just goes to show you the impact that have been felt across the Eastern third of the United States.

Want to show you some images we've seen over the last 24 hours. Let's start just to the west of the Dallas Fort Worth area. Now, this is drone video. This was shot by Michael Lance. Three to five inches of snowfall, it looks beautiful. It's very calm. It's kind of sedating looking. But you just don't see too many cars on the road. So, that's because it is so treacherous to be on those roads. They not only saw the snow. They saw ice underneath.

[04:15:00]

And that impacted a good portion of East Central Texas as well.

All right, a multivehicle pileup, this happened near St. Louis. And there were three tractor-trailers that were involved and several vehicles. One person was taken to the hospital and seriously injured. This happened on very dangerous road conditions. There you can see the snow. But it wasn't just the snow. It was the ice as well.

And speaking of ice, in Memphis, Tennessee, ice covered lots of trees there and with the heavy weight of the ice, it brought the trees down on homes, on roads and yes, this vehicle. No one reportedly injured from that. But it just goes to show you just how broad the system is and just the impacts that were felt on the roads. And the airways were impacted as well.

We heard about the tornado, the deadly tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And flooding also in middle portions of the middle portions of the mid-Atlantic region -- what I'm trying to say now, Isa. Back to you. We're almost finished with it. That's the good news.

SOARES: Hang in there, incredibly treacherous. Karen, great to see you. Thanks very much.

Well, like Karen just mentioning there, the air travel nightmares caused by this storm are nowhere near over. So far U.S. airlines have canceled more than 2,600 flights as of Friday. That's on top of 5,000 other flights that have been scrapped on Thursday. Air passengers have not seen that many cancellations caused by weather since hurricane Sandy back in 2012. The most affected airport in Dallas-Fort Worth Boston Logan, Newark Liberty and New York's LaGuardia there, as you can see there on your screen.

He was the leader of ISIS for less than three years until U.S. Special Forces raided his Syrian compound. We'll have a live report on how the operation went down.

Plus, the U.S. president makes a trip to New York as gun violence surges across the city. We'll hear from Joe Biden and New York's mayor coming up. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[04:20:00]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more. Our forces carried out the operation with their signature preparation and precision and I directed the Department of Defense to take every precaution possible to minimize civilian casualties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The U.S. president there praising the American Special Forces who eliminated the leader of ISIS. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was behind some of terror groups most savage acts. The goal was to capture him alive during the raid on his compound. But U.S. officials say he killed himself and his family. CNN's Oren Liebermann picks up the story for you.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A U.S. raid shattering the overnight hours in northwest Syria. Special Forces going after the leader of ISIS. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, aka, Hajji Abdullah.

BIDEN: Last night's operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield. And it sent a strong message to terrorists around the world. We will come after you and find you.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): President Joe Biden watch from the White House as Special Forces closed in on their target. The helicopters approached the three-story compound in the middle of the night according to senior administration officials. Once on the ground, Special Forces warn civilians to clear out, evacuating 10 civilians including eight children.

Officials say al-Qurashi then blew himself up, killing his wife and children and tearing the top of the building apart. His lieutenant one floor below was killed in an exchange of fire with U.S. forces. The Pentagon said a child was also killed on this floor but wouldn't say how or by whom.

Towards the end of the two-hour operation officials say two members of an al-Qaeda affiliate were killed in an exchange of fire with U.S. forces. U.S. forces also having to destroy one of the helicopters on the ground after mechanical failures. Four civilians were killed in all according to Pentagon and five combatants that wasn't the plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I say capture the leader of ISIS, that was the intent of the mission.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): This raid was the biggest U.S. operation in Syria since the operation to kill Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, the original leader of ISIS.

Al-Qurashi's background is a bit of a mystery. His exact birthplace and birthdate unclear. He was in U.S. detention in 2008 before he was turned over to the Iraqis. And at some point, released. In March 2020, the State Department labeled him a specially designated global terrorist with a $10 million reward.

BIDEN: He was responsible for the recent brutal attack on a prison in northeast Syria holding ISIS fighters. He was a driving force behind the genocide of the Yazidi people in northwestern Iraq in 2014.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Al-Qurashi never left the third floor of the building in northwest Syria except to bathe on the roof, officials said. By early December, intelligence officials believe they had pinpointed his location and Biden authorized the operation. The White House called his death a blow to ISIS but the terror organization still suffering from the defeat of its self-declared caliphate in 2019 has plans to rebuild.

LIEBERMANN: General McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command said that even if Hajji Abdullah didn't have the same name recognition or fame as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the original leader of ISIS, he was just as dangerous and just as involved in planning ISIS attacks. Meanwhile, U.S. officials say the next leader of ISIS will suffer the same fate.

Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Let's get more on this story from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live for us in Abu Dhabi. And Jomana, let me pick up with how Oren Liebermann really finished that report. Give us a sense of how much of a blow this may be to ISIS as it is attempts, of course, to make a comeback.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Isa, as we have seen over the years taking out the heads of these terrorist organizations does not mean an end to these groups. But no doubt, this is a significant blow as you heard there in Oren's report.

And especially if you look at who this man was. He was one of the key figures in the group not just when he took over as leader but back to the roots of ISIS. Al Qaeda in Iraq, he's one of the founding members of ISIS.

[04:25:00]

So, they did lose that senior figure.

And also, you know, if you look in the short term this will likely have a disruptive impact on ISIS, as you mention, especially right now as we are seeing this attempt by the group to reemerge. I mean, this is not ISIS of 2015, '16, and '17, that controlled vast amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria. You know, with the loss of the caliphate back in 2019, experts were warning that we are going to see the reemergence of ISIS in the form of an insurgency that is going to be a very lethal group.

You know, thousands of members of this group just went underground waiting for that opportunity to rise up again. The conditions that led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and across the region haven't really changed. And we're really starting to see signs of that, Isa, right now.

You know, in Iraq there have been several attacks that have been claimed by ISIS. There have been a lot of concerns about the uptick in attacks. Northeastern Syria, that stunning, brazen attack by hundreds of members of ISIS on a prison. An attack that lasted days, a really complex attacks. Really got so many worried about that.

So, I mean, while this is a significant blow, a setback for now, the real concern is what comes next. While a lot of, you know, so many different governments in this region are welcoming the news of the killing of al-Qurayshi, there is a lot of concern about what ISIS may have in store.

SOARES: Jomana Karadsheh there for us. Thank you very much, Jomana, good to see you.

Two aides of former Vice President Mike Pence are reportedly silent on some questions from the January 6th House Committee. Next, which questions they're not answering and more importantly why.

Plus, the FAA says it's feeling much better about mixing airplanes and new 5G networks than it did was a few weeks ago. We'll explain why after the break.

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