Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pence Breaks with Trump; European Leaders Spearhead New Round of Diplomacy; Beijing Olympics In Full Swing; U.S. COVID-19 Cases Trending Down; Kremlin Has Shifted Messaging since 2014; Boris Johnson Faces Staff Exodus Amid Political Blowback; U.S. Deals With Aftermath of Winter Storm; Fishermen Survive Freezing Water After Boat Sinks. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired February 05, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Mike Pence publicly breaks with Donald Trump, defending his actions on January 6th. We'll hear from those who heard the former vice president speak and how Trump is responding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): European leaders spearhead a new round of diplomacy aimed at easing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. We're live in Moscow and Kyiv with the latest.

Plus, the first medals are awarded at the Beijing Winter Olympics. We'll have a live report.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is focusing his anger once again at the man who stood by his side for four years in the White House. He's firing back at Mike Pence in the latest salvo over his false claims that the then vice president could have overturned the 2020 election in his favor.

Friday afternoon Pence, said out loud in front of a conservative audience, he couldn't do that. Friday night Trump released a rambling statement. "I was right and everyone knows it. Just saw Mike Pence's statement on

the fact he had no right to do anything with respect to the electoral vote count other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the old crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected president as quickly as possible.

"Well, the vice president's position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exist."

To be clear, none of that is true. Our Randi Kaye got reaction from the conservative audience before and after Pence's remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Would you like to hear Mike Pence, push back on Donald Trump, about his false claims that Pence had the right to overturn the election results?

RANDY FITZGERALD, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Oh, no. I'm looking forward to hearing the former Vice President, speak about what real American leadership looks like.

KAYE (on camera): But does the former Vice President have a duty, to push back against these false claims, by the former President?

FITZGERALD: No, he's not. He's a private citizen. I don't think he has a duty to do that. No.

KAYE (voice-over): Shortly before former Vice President Mike Pence, took the stage, at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters Conference, in Orlando, members weighed in, on whether Pence should address the recent attacks, from his former boss.

JESSICA MARRA, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I don't know that this is the time or the place, for that kind of conversation.

KAYE (voice-over): This week, the former President Donald Trump, lied, once again, saying Pence had the authority, to reject the 2020 election results.

So will Pence respond?

BOBBY PAYNE, (R) FLORIDA STATE HOUSE: I think he's too much of a man, with great demeanor and civility, to address that openly in the public, until it's the proper time.

KAYE (voice-over): Before Pence spoke, some here, didn't see a need, for Pence, to address his decision, to certify the vote, because they agree, Trump lost. Period. FITZGERALD: Joe Biden won the election. So I don't, you know, I don't know what more I can say. I mean, Joe Biden won the election. The role of the Vice President, in that, is very ceremonial. They counted the electoral ballots. The members of Congress voted to certify. Joe Biden won the election.

MIKE BELTRAN, (R) FLORIDA STATE HOUSE: I don't think he needs to address it. It's, I mean, what happened, right, wrong or indifferent, we lost in 2020.

KAYE (on camera): Do you not want to hear Pence correct the record that Trump is falsely claiming that he could have overturned the election?

BELTRAN: I think Pence probably feels. I'm not - don't want to speak for Pence. But I think Pence probably feels that the record does not need to be corrected. Otherwise, he would correct it.

KAYE (voice-over): Then came the former Vice President's speech.

PENCE: And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

KAYE (voice-over): We went back out to the group, after the speech, to see how it was received.

CHRISTINE PRATT, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised, with how we handled it. I though he did a great job. I think it's time to move on, from the 2020 election and look forward to 2024.

TOM FEENEY, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I think he's made it clear, the Vice President has. And he has a difference of opinion, with the President, the President's team, over what the duties, of the Vice President, required on January 6.

KAYE (on camera): Were you happy to hear him address it?

FEENEY: Well, I think he needed to address it. This is a great audience. These are constitutional scholars here. So you're speaking to a very educated group.

[05:05:00]

KEISHA RUSSELL, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I think Mike Pence was - did the right thing.

I think Mike Pence should have done what he felt was right. And it sounds like he did, what he felt was right.

KAYE (on camera): How do you think those - how do you think that comment will sit with former President Donald Trump, being called wrong?

RUSSELL: Probably not well. But I guess we'll have to wait and see what he says.

KAYE: In the end, everyone we spoke with told me that they do think Mike Pence should run for president, even if Donald Trump enters the race again.

Many of them said they were glad to see Pence standing up to Trump, although they do think that the two men will work out their differences at some point because they know how important it is that the party put on a united front -- Randi Kaye, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we have exclusive new reporting of one Republican Congress man's conversations with Donald Trump on January 6. Investigators now have records showing Trump and Jim Jordan spoke on the phone for 10 minutes before Jordan took to the House floor and objected to the certification of Joe Biden's presidential win.

On Friday, Jordasn said he had multiple calls with the former president but couldn't remember whether they spoke that morning. The committee is devating whether to move forward with a subpoena for Jordan after he refused to voluntarily appear for an interview.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has formally censured GOP lawmakers Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. The only two Republicans members of the January 6th committee were, quote, "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

Here are scenes from the Capitol riot, the one described by the RNC as "legitimate political discourse." The group later tried to draw a distinction between the rioters and those who didn't commit any violence. But it didsn't change the resolution.

And for viewers here in the United States, there's much more on all of this one hour from now on "NEW DAY."

France's president will spearhead the latest diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions over Ukraine when he heads to Moscow on Monday. Emmanuel Macron is expected to try to get Moscow to offer some sign of de-escalation along Ukraine's borders and will seek to revive negotiations between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is currently in Beijing for the start of the Winter Olympics. He and Xi Jinping met and pledged mutual support on numerous fronts, including their opposition to NATO expansion. Here's how Putin described the state of their relations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): As for our bilateral relations, they are developing linearly with a spirit of friendship and strategic partnership and have reached an unprecedented level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Melissa Bell is standing by in Kyiv. And Nic Robertson joins us from Moscow.

Nic, are we expecting anything to come from these latest talks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Certainly, this has been in Beijing a good moment for President Putin, to have very strong and potentially very influential support. He's certainly got the backing of President Xi on the narrative that NATO is expanding eastward and the United States is the one destabilizing Eastern Europe.

When it comes to his conversation with Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee is quoting the Kremlin, saying Macron will be a good interlocutor and they don't expect, because of the nature of the formidable hurdles ahead, they don't expect to solve all this in one meeting.

I think it's significant, over the past week, President Macron had three calls with President Putin. One of them lasted for a couple hours. So there are clearly areas where they can have extended conversations.

But the trick is, of course, in the three legs of Macron's approach to get the government in Kyiv to talk to the separatists in Donbas and the east, to get Putin to de-escalate the perception of a threat in Ukraine, I think is the way that the Elysee Palace is framimng it.

And to redraw the security dispensation in Europe, giving the European Union a perhaps slightly clearer and differentiated role within the auspices of NATO. The language around that isn't entirely clear.

But you know, these are very big challenges and they're going to meet hurdles all along the way. But the important hurdle is the one of a de-escalation. On that, Russia continues its position, that the troops around Ukraine are only there for military exercises.

[05:10:00]

ROBERTSON: And at the core of it for President Putin, he still hasn't achieved what he wants, which is these guarantees from NATO and for NATO to roll back its position to the mid 1990s level. So it's going to be a very, very tough day of talks for President Macron when he gets here Monday.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be watching that.

So Melissa, as we saw a little bit earlier in the meeting between Putin and Xi, the two countries are united on a number of isshes, including opposition to NATO expansion. And they agree on strategic cooperdination. But their direct statement didn't directly mention Ukraine.

So what impact do you think this has?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, the joint statement did, according to a Kremlin translation, mention the fact that they both believe that some states were seeking more unilateral military advancement at the expense of the security of other nations.

And that really speaks not only to the Ukrainian issue but to their broader understanding, Russia and China, that is, that they want to continue to cooperate in a mutual way and present a united front against other parts of the world that they believe tend to impeach much on what's happening within other countries and to go too far. And that specifically, of course, speaks to the NATO expansion that

Russia has been so concerned about, as Nic just explained. So it was an important united front, an important ally for Vladimir Putin right now.

But he does come back, of course, to have that conversation with President Macron, no doubt with a little more room for maneuver, room for dialogue, room for understanding than there would be with other NATO leaders.

And then, of course, after Moscow, the French president will come here to Kyiv. And again, his interests of promoting a European defense strategy, of speaking more openly with Vladimir Putin than perhaps other Western leaders would, is aligned actually also with Ukrainian interests.

Remember, Kim, the Ukrainian threat posed by Russia is not as stark as presented by either the United States or the United Kingdom. We spoke yesterday to the country's defense minister. Put to him that differences remain and he said, look, we agree on of the facts, with the United States and Ukraine but what we have is a different understanding of threat.

That is because Ukrainian officials are not convinced it's a land grab that Russia is after. Rather, it's aimed with this troop buildup that they say has not substantially changed since spring of last year, is more to stabilize, to divide and challenge NATO than actually to come in and conquer Ukrainian territory.

So that difference of assessment leads to a different message, even if Ukrainian officials are at pains to explain that will continue to work with their American allies and they appreciate all the support they've been getting -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Melissa Bell in Kyiv and Nic Robertson in Moscow. We thank you both.

A bit later, we'll hear from a journalist in Moscow about the Kremlin's messaging regarding Ukraine.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNHUBER: Well, the Winter Olympic Games are well underway and competitions are already heating up, not even 24 hours after the opening ceremony. Here's a look at Beijing.

Live pictures now, the first city to host both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Close to 3,000 athletes are competing across 100 games. In the past two hours, we've seen medals in women's cross-country skiing and women's speed skating.

(WORLD SPORT)

[05:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: Well, just ahead, as the U.S. passes more than 900,000 COVID deaths, we look at whether it's time to start lifting COVID restrictions.

And Greece wants Europeans to come back for a visit. How they're making it easier for them to go on holiday in the Mediterranean. We'll have that coming up. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. reached another milestone on Friday. Data from Johns Hopkins University confirmed that the U.S. had surpassed more than 900,000 total deaths from COVID-19. In the past two weeks, there have been more than 2,000 deaths reported daily.

On Friday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky officially gave her endorsement to the two dose Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for adults. It received full approval from the FDA earlier this week in the same age group.

The CDC is also considering expanding the interval between the first and second doses of Pfizer and Moderna to eight weeks. It's currently three weeks for Pfizer and four for Moderna.

The CDC also unveiled its COVID-19 wastewater tracking system on Friday. It's designed to give communities across the U.S. early warning of COVID infections in their area. That could give local health agencies a chance to shift resources and warn the public. Now earlier I spoke with Dr. Steven Parodi. He's the executive

director of the Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Permanente. We talked about changing the way we deal with COVID. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: So obviously, if you want to start that switch from dealing with COVID as a public health emergency and instead start dealing with it as we would the flu, that means lifting restrictions . Let's use a concrete example.

California, where you are, its statewide mask mandate is set to expire in 10 days.

So do you think that should be allowed to expire?

DR. STEPHEN PARODI, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP: So I anticipate, given the amount of COVID that we're still seeing and the percentage of people that are still testing positive when we run a test, that it's probably too soon to lift the restrictions around the mask.

And the reason is that people can be asymptomatic and still spread the disease. So the only way to protect against that is to have people wearing masks, particularly indoors, which is where you're more likely to spread it.

But when you have less disease prevalence, for example, when you see influenza percent positive tests actually drop below a certain threshold we could say that we're out of an epidemic period. I think we can do that with COVID as well.

So if we can determine what that threshold is, we can actually tell people we don't need to wear those masks, at least at a given time. And if we start seeing the prevalence go up, we can tell people to start wearing the masks again.

I think it's a little too soon; we're still in the Omicron surge. Can't wait for a month or two until we're finally out of that.

BRUNHUBER: And what about schools?

I saw some San Francisco physicians, where you are there, were circulating a petition, calling for state leaders to start going down the path of removing COVID restrictions in schools.

Is that too soon, do you think?

PARODI: So I think actually, the time is right to have that discussion and, again, to come to a consensus about what thresholds we think we can use, in terms of community transmission, to allow us to be able to start dropping those restrictions.

And that's where, you know, clinicians like myself, that practice in hospitals, practice in clinics, teachers, schools, school districts, policymakers need to come together and come to a general consensus and then be able to provide that level of clarity to the general public because, right now, it's quite confusing, you know, around the various recommendations for testing, isolation, quarantine and for therapeutics.

And we need to be able to provide again the thresholds by which you need to have the masks on and when can we take them off.

[05:25:00]

PARODI: And I think this is actually exactly the right time with the Omicron variant waning to be able to say, this is what the next steps look like.

BRUNHUBER: And the next step toward, you know, the way we measure COVID, that might be changing as well. Some jurisdictions are going down the road toward switching to a system, more like the one we used for the flu, for example, that would estimate cases based on a statistical sample, rather than counting each infection.

Is it time we start switching to that?

PARODI: I think actually we are moving in that direction. And the reason I say that is, with influenza, we typically do a large, basically public health level testing, population-based testing, initially to determine, is the disease present. And is it increasing?

Once we know that, we don't need to continue mass testing. What we then do is we pivot and do testing on people we're actually going to do an intervention on. For example, I'm going to admit you to the hospital. I'm going to potentially give you a therapy. Those are the ones we do testing on.

But the rest of the people who develop symptoms of influenza, we tell them to isolate and we give them the time to isolate. If they don't get sicker, they don't need a test.

I think that's actually the move we need to make, the pivot we need to make with COVID-19 as well. It'll allow us to direct the test where it is needed, use the tests for public health purposes when they're needed but then directing it to the individual patient so that we actually have overall enough tests and enough clarity for people so they're not confused about, should I run a test or not and do I need to do it every day, literally, in some cases.

BRUNHUBER: Well, listen, all of this is giving us a ray of hope, as we perhaps see the end to this, at least in terms of dealing with a pandemic, Dr. Steven Parodi, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.

PARODI: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's take a look at some of your COVID headlines from around the world.

Police in Toronto say they'll use strict enforcement to limit disruption from the protest planned by truckers this weekend. The so- called freedom convoy has been protesting in the Canadian capital of Ottawa for a week now. Truckers initially opposed a vaccine requirement for drivers to cross into Canada but now want all mandates to drop.

Greece is making it easier for Europeans to take a holiday there. Starting Monday, tourists with a European vaccination certificate won't have to show a negative test to come into the country. Greek officials hope it will boost tourism.

Health officials say South Korea set a COVID record for a fifth day in a row, over 36,000 cases were reported Friday. The country recently increased social distancing measures to help curb rising Omicron cases.

Still ahead, politics are at play at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. We'll take a look at why a Chinese torchbearer caused a controversy.

And plus, U.S. fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come at any time. But people in Russia don't see it that way. We'll hear about the Kremlin's messaging to its people. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we're turning now to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Competitions are well underway with the first medals of the games being awarded today but there are some shadows lingering over these games, including the COVID-19 pandemic and allegations of human rights abuses against China.

Friday night's opening ceremony ended with two young Chinese Olympians lighting the symbolic snowflake in the stadium. One is a member of the Chinese Uyghur population. Her inclusion was especially noteworthy and controversial since China's alleged genocide of the Muslim minority group sparked a diplomatic boycott of the games by several Western nations, including the United States, Canada and Britain.

Joining us, CNN's Will Ripley in Taipei.

Will, the symbolism of the inclusion of that Uyghur athlete and a political move.

What do you make of it?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting because some people may have thought, ahead of time -- they keep those who carry the Olympic flame into the Bird's Nest, that's secret up to the last moment.

But to have a Uyghur Muslim, who is also cross-country skier from Xinjiang, where China's been accused of genocide by the United States, where they set up these facilities that the West calls internment centers, China says they're for vocational training, to give people an opportunity to integrate back into the society.

But to have a Uyghur Muslim as one of the two most prominent features of the show, knowing it would bring up this topic is really a message from an increasingly assertive China, analysts say, to say back off, to not lecture China about human rights.

They continue to insist what they're doing is offering ethnic minorities an opportunity to be a part of the greater society, as opposed to those critics, including the United States, who say they're trying to erase their cultures.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Will Ripley in Taipei.

Well, France's president is expected to speak in the coming hours to the British prime minister ahead of NATO before traveling to Moscow Monday. Emmanuel Macron is hoping another round of diplomacy will defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz will follow up with his own visit to Moscow. And meanwhile additional U.S. troops have begun arriving in Poland, part of the 3,000 American troops mobilized to reinforce NATO's eastern flanks.

Recent polling by the independent Levada Center gives us a sense how Russians view what's going on. So when asked who's to blame for tensions centered on Eastern Ukraine, half of those surveyed responded with "the United States and other NATO countries;" 16 percent point the finger at Ukraine and only 4 percent accuse Russia.

The rest pointed mostly to the self-styled breakaway regions or had no opinion. Now despite that, Russians are showing a degree of optimism about the outcome. Only 3 percent expect there to be a war with the country of Ukraine.

[05:35:00]

BRUNHUBER: A little more than one-third consider the scenario to be quite likely but the majority say that war is either unlikely or rule it out all together.

The disconnect is no accident. Last hour, I spoke with a journalist in Moscow about the shift from the Kremlin's messaging from 2014 to now. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXEY KOVALEV, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST: This is the general line in Russian state media today, which is kind of shifting its delivery in the past eight years, which used to be focused quite centrally on Ukraine as the biggest -- as Russia's biggest adversary.

And for hours every day all the major national networks would spend hours explaining how aggressive Ukraine is, how it's overtaken by Nazis. And Ukraine is at the same time Russia's biggest existential threat and at the same time kind of a wayward brother.

But now I think there's a general shift in -- in that general line, in that Ukraine is no longer -- even has any agency in the Russian state media's eyes. It's just a puppet.

I think last time, eight years ago -- about eight years ago today, in spring and summer 2014, when Russia was already invading Ukraine -- we're not talking about an invasion of Ukraine. It's been ongoing for eight years.

And it was already riding a massive wave of patriotic euphoria on the back of, you know, annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. And it was already using -- the invasion of Ukraine was rising on that wave. And they were -- it wasn't just all top down imposed by the states in the region.

People were quite energized by that feeling. There were people in the streets. There were volunteers, signing up to go fight in these, you know, breakaway regions for the pro-Russian forces.

There's nothing like that now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: That was Russian journalist Alexei Kovalev, speaking to us from Moscow.

The Pentagon is revealing what it learned from the investigation into the deadly ISIS-K attack on the Kabul airport last August. Officials say it was carried out by a single suicide bomber, not a complex operation; also involving gunmen, as was originally believed.

At least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members were killed. It happened as the U.S. and other countries conducted a chaotic evacuation effort, after the Taliban took over. The Pentagon says it is highly likely the attacker used an alternate route to the airport, to avoid a Taliban checkpoint.

China is accusing the United States of not trying hard enough to resolve tensions with North Korea. Pyongyang carried out a flurry of missile tests last month in violation of U.N. resolutions, including an intermediate range ballistic missile last Sunday.

That prompted a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday. Ahead of that closed-door session, China's ambassador to the U.N. called on the U.S. to show more sincerity and flexibility toward Pyongyang.

Zhang Jun told reporters that Washington should, quote, "come up with more attractive and more practical, more flexible approaches, policies and actions in accommodating the concerns of North Korea."

Well, the Partygate scandal takes a new toll on Downing Street. Still ahead, key aides race for the door as prime minister Boris Johnson faces a political blowback.

Plus a surprisingly strong jobs report despite the COVID surge. The White House hopes it signals another step toward recovery from the pandemic. We'll have the details ahead. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:40:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNHUBER: Downing Street is in full damage control mode as a close aide of Boris Johnson after another heads for the door. His spokesperson says Johnson is still in control of 10 Downing in spite of losing five aides in two days.

They left as the prime minister faced a political blowback from the so-called Partygate scandal. The aides who quit include his head of policy, communications director, provide secretary, chief of staff and a policy adviser. Our Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London.

Salma, the calls for his resignation are growing louder.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kim, and he does look increasingly isolated after weeks of being mired in this Partygate scandal. We're now seeing it within the administration, among his own, five aides resigning in 48 hours as you mentioned, various reasons there.

But one of the key ones was the head of policy. And she resigned because of how prime minister Boris Johnson has handled this scandal, has handled this controversy.

But if you look at the larger picture here, Kim, this is a prime minister that, again, has been mired in a scandal for weeks now. Headline after headline, allegations of parties; he's under investigation by two bodies, including the police, that Sue Gray report that came out a few days ago found failure of leadership, failure of judgment.

And the administration says there was excessive drinking at the workplace -- we're talking about government here -- that there was little thought given to the British public. I mean, if you look at all of this, this picture being painted of this government, you would think there's absolutely no way forward other than the prime minister to resign.

But he still hangs on, Kim, because he still largely has the support of his party. The only people who can push out prime minister Boris Johnson are his own lawmakers, are the Conservative Party. But they have yet to reach that threshold of 54 lawmakers turning against him and submitting letters of no confidence, submitting letters to trigger a leadership contest.

I know you're going to ask me why. But there's no good alternative to him. And that puts his party in a difficult position. He is seen as a winner at the ballot box. He is a success story for the Conservative Party. They are not under pressure right now because there is no general election in this country for years.

And a local election is still months away so you might continue to see Johnson limp on here.

[05:45:00]

ABDELAZIZ: But he's going to keep taking hits, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: OK, if he does continue to limp on, what are the consequences if he stays?

ABDELAZIZ: I think this is what's really important. I know it can sometimes sound trivial that we're talking about boozy parties and wine and beer. But this is very serious because what this threatens is the rule of law in this country, Kim. And I'll tell you why.

This is a prime minister that widely is perceived as lying to the public, lying badly. That was the first thing. The second thing is he's now accused of misleading Parliament. And that's a serious matter because, if you mislead Parliament in this country, the rule is, forgive me for the gender term, the gentleman's agreement, you must resign.

The prime minister has refused to do that. Put aside, of course, the fact this administration is accused of breaking COVID rules, of breaking the law, essentially committing criminal offenses, of disregarding, quite frankly, the rule of law in this country.

So if you have a government that doesn't abide by the rules, what does that mean for the political process, Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Yes, exactly. Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks so much.

So while Boris Johnson navigates a tough week across the pond, U.S. President Joe Biden is riding relatively high right now with a surprisingly strong January jobs. The United States added 467,000 jobs last month. That's more than three times what economists had expected in the midst of Omicron variant.

President Biden says its further proof the economy is rebounding from the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm pleased to report this morning, as many of you already know, that America's job machine is going stronger than ever. A strong recovery and opportunity for hard working men and women all across this great country.

America is back to work. Today, we learned that, in January, our economy created 467,000 jobs. That's not all. We learned that the job growth in November and December over the last year was revised up by more than 700,000 jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. employers added a record 6.6 million jobs during Biden's first 12 months in office. By far, the most of any president's first year in office. That was nearly a 5 percent increase from where overall employment stood last year.

But despite the job growth, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4 percent; that's the first increase since June of last year. The unemployment rate is still below what it was before the Great Recession in 2007.

Well, millions in the U.S. are dealing with the aftermath of a massive winter storm. We'll go to CNN's Weather Center for the latest, ahead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:00] (MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNHUBER: Millions of Americans are dealing with the aftermath of a massive winter storm. The heavy snow and ice created dangerous driving conditions from New Mexico to New England.

In Oklahoma, local governments say they've been working tirelessly to clean up the slick roads. The same goes for Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is still dealing with power outages and dangerous conditions caused by flooding, freezing rain and snow.

If there's any consolation, there are fewer flight cancellations today, only around 980 so far, compared to 4,000 on Friday.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BRUNHUBER: Jeff Bezos has flown into space but is having a hard time getting to sea. Dutch media says the world's third richest man owns this 417-foot super yacht. Its building has asked Rotterdam to temporarily dismantle the central section of a historic bridge to get the mega vessel to the ocean.

No word if the city will do so far. Officials say the shipbuilder would have to pay for the dismantling but it would create jobs. Some are questioning why they should dismantle a landmark for Bezos' personal gain.

[05:55:00]

BRUNHUBER: Staying on the water, three fishermen survived after their boat capsized and sank off the Massachusetts coast. One of them, Joe Roderick, telling CNN affiliate WBZ they held onto floating hoses from their boat for 45 minutes in the freezing water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE RODERICK, MASSACHUSETTS FISHERMAN: The whole boat flipped over. We got thrown in the water. And I remember swimming away from the boat, because I didn't want to get pulled down in the suction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Shaken, bruised but alive, Roderick and his crewmates were treated in a hospital for hypothermia. A woman onshore is being praised for calling the police when she saw the boat roll over. The crew members were not wearing life jackets or survival suits.

All right. Before we go, Minnesota's Transportation Department has announced the name of the state's new top snowplow. They will call her "Betty Whiteout." The name honors the beloved actress, Betty White, who died in December, shortly before her 100th birthday; 40,000 votes went to "Betty Whiteout" in the state's Name a Snowplow contest.

And other snowplow names assigned this month include "Ctrl Salt Delete," "The Big Leplowski," "Plowasaurus Rex," "Scoop Dogg," "Blizzard of Oz," "No More Mr. Ice Guy" and "Edward Blizzardhands." I'm Kim Brunhuber. That's all for this hour. "NEW DAY" is next. For the rest of the world it's "BLUEPRINT."