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Soon: Biden Holds Joint News Conference With German Chancellor; White House: Biden Looking at Ways to Extend Restrictions on No-Knock Warrants for Federal Agents; White House Considers Life After Pandemic, But No Plan Yet; Police Responding to Active Shooter at Richland, Washington Grocery Store. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 07, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:19]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: It's top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. It's good to be with you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

In just a few minutes, President Biden will hold a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The two leaders will address the looming threat that Russia may invade Ukraine, quote, any day or in weeks. This is according to Biden's national security adviser. New satellite images show new Russian military deployments in Belarus, which borders Ukraine.

The president and the chancellor spoke briefly from the Oval Office just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To state the obvious. Germany is one of America's closest allies. We're working in lock step to further deter Russian aggression in Europe.

CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMANY: We are closet allies and working intensely together and this is necessary for doing the steps that we have to do, for instance, fighting the chance of Russian aggression against Ukraine. So, it's an important meeting at a very important time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: There's another high stakes meeting on Ukraine, this one in Moscow. French President Emmanuel Macron said that he hope to start a process of de-escalation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

CNN has correspondents across the world covering rising tensions. CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Ukraine's capital. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Berlin.

And we're going to begin with CNN's MJ Lee at the White House. MJ, you got a look ahead at this joint news conference. What will we see?

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORREPONDENT: Well, Victor, we heard there the president before going into this bilat meeting with the German chancellor, using the words lockstep. He said we are in lockstep to further deter Russian aggression in Europe, but, of course, as you all know the reality is actually a lot more complicated. U.S. administration officials have made clear that they believe that Germany has been a little bit more reluctant than some of the other western and NATO alliance countries when it comes to talking about how it would behave. How it would act to try to deter a Russian aggression against Ukraine.

So, whether it is on the question of sending arms to Ukraine, whether it is about boosting troop presence along the eastern plank and also on the key topic of sanctions. We know that is going to be a very key topic that the two leaders talk about in this meeting. There's also, of course, the very important question of Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This is something the U.S. administration officials have said they oppose this and they are hoping that German leaders would sort of say the same in their posturing and their language but that is not language that they have heard yet from German leaders.

It was also interesting that President Biden said in his brief remarks that he hopes to get to know the German chancellor better. This is not something he has a long working relationship with compared to the working relationship with the former German chancellor, Angela Merkel. So, a lot of complicated factors in play here and in just a few minutes, we should be seeing the two leaders participate in a joint press conference.

So, that should give us more of a window and sight into whether or not there are areas where the two leaders really agree and then whether there are series question -- serious questions about an -- serious questions about an area where they do not see eye to eye on this very important issue.

CAMEROTA: OK. Fred Pleitgen, give us context on Germany's critical role here.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so interesting to hear what MJ was just saying, because she actually is absolutely right. Those are certainly the most difficult topics for the German leader, for Olaf Scholz.

If you look at for instance the weapons that the U.S. has been supplied to the Ukrainians over the past couple of weeks, the Germans have not done that. So far, all they have okayed is 5,000 helmets to be delivered to Ukraine and Olaf Scholz, before departing to Washington, D.C. today once again reiterated that Germany would not be providing any sort of lethal aid -- difficult decision for Olaf Scholz, gets him in a lot of trouble also with a lot of Eastern European NATO allies, also with the U.S. as well. Seventy percent of Germans, however, are against weapons deliveries to Ukraine. So, difficult political issue for Olaf Scholz. But I think the one that's really going to be tough is also one that

MJ talked about, that's going to be the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, where indeed administration officials in the U.S. have said, if Russian further invades Ukraine, that pipeline is not going happen one way or the other. Olaf Scholz, before departing to D.C., said, all options are on the table, which is, of course, a lot weaker than what the U.S. is saying.

It's going to be interesting to see whether or not that lockstep that the president was talking about before going into that meeting with Olaf Scholz, whether that is something that can really achieved because, of course, Germany does have strong economic ties, with Russia, especially the energy dependency.

[15:05:07]

So, Germany is really a key country when it comes to trying to achieve that de-escalation, trying to put pressure on Russia as well, but certainly also one that does have a lot to lose if things escalate -- guys.

BLACKWELL: All right. Now to Alex Marquardt in Kyiv, how are the Ukrainians taking all of this in?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, the attitude we've heard from Ukrainians, from Ukrainian leadership, as well as people on the street is very different, of course, than what we're hearing from U.S. leadership. We know that Ukraine has really taken issue with what they believe is alarmism from the Biden administration. The Biden administration saying they will not use the word "imminent" anymore about a potential invasion because that implies that Putin has made up his mind, which we don't believe he has.

But, you know, the White House did say as recently as Sunday that this invasion could happen at any moment. It could happen tomorrow in the words of the national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The response we heard was not to believe what he called apocalyptic predictions. Foreign Minister Kuleba said that there are different opinions and different scenarios being voiced by different capital. That's is a clear reference to difference to the attitudes between Kyiv and Washington, D.C.

Now, Ukrainian officials have to walk a very careful line. They want to keep their population calm but at the same time they want to make clear that Russia is enough of a threat to continue to get defensive support, weaponry, military aid from the United States. So, on one hand, they are criticizing the U.S. alarmism which is U.S. says is not alarmism but a statement of fact.

The Ukrainians are saying in response, please don't chaos. We don't want to see the economic collapse, and when you talk about imminent attacks, this is something that we have been living with for years. Russians have literally been on the border with Ukraine for years. Remember, they, of course, invaded Crimea in 2014. So, Ukrainians are just as eager for this situation to be deescalated

through diplomacy as the U.S. and Europe. So, the diplomatic talks continue. They're watching very closely what's happening in Moscow today between Macron and Putin, and then President Macron comes here to Kyiv tomorrow for his own talks with Ukrainian president -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, MJ, Homeland Security just released a bulletin on disinformation tied to this whole situation. So, what does that say?

LEE: That's right. This is a new bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security. It talks about the proliferation of false or misleading narratives remaining a serious threat in the United States. This bulletin pointing to example of issues like COVID-19 or the claims of widespread election fraud. And it also went on the say there are malign foreign powers that continue to amplify these kinds of narratives to try to hurt America.

Obviously, we have talked about for a long time now the role that Moscow has played particularly when it comes to cast a U.S. election and the ongoing threat that Moscow poses when it comes to trying to sow distrust in the U.S. election system. And so, this is just one more reminder, guys, that these meetings are happening at a very critical GOP political moment but the tensions that exist between the U.S. and Moscow, there are many, many layers there. And this is something that is going to continue being an issue as far as U.S. administration officials are concerned.

CAMEROTA: All right. Alex Marquardt, Fred Pleitgen and MJ Lee, thank you all very much.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now, CNN military analyst, retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks, and Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO.

Welcome to you both.

Mr. Ambassador, let me start with you. This build up of forces by some has been characterized as a test of this new president. President Biden having his first year. However, Chancellor Scholz has been on the job for two months. Just set for us the significance of shaping his time in leadership by what he says today and his reaction to what we're seeing on the Russian/Ukraine border.

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: well, it's a really critical visit for Chancellor Scholz, who as just said, who's just been in power for a couple of months. He spent a good eight or so months negotiating his coalition partners to try to figure out how to form a government. And all of that negotiation was focused on the domestic economic and political scene in Germany and the European Union.

It really wasn't about foreign policy and yet here he is, the chancellor of Germany, the most important European power and the most important European friend of the United States confronting this really massive foreign policy crisis -- a crisis that, frankly, even Angela Merkel in her 16 years never saw, 130,000 Russian troops at the borders of Ukraine ready to intervene and invade even more than it's done in the past.

So, he's got a very tough task ahead of himself. Luckily, he's now, I think in the oval office discussing what President Biden with what to do. So far, he's tried to get his sea legs. I hope he walks out of the Oval Office fully confident and aligned, in lock step as the president said with all NATO allies to see this moment through.

CAMEROTA: It's hard to see how that's going to happen, Spider, because thus far, Germany has sent helmets to Ukraine, not weapons. And so, does that give us a clue for what's going to happen today and in a couple of weeks ahead?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MLITARY ANALYST: Well, I don't know if that by itself is significant a clue as some other activities ongoing. Clearly, as Chairman Scholz has indicated, Ukrainians asked for helmets, so he's simply responding to their request.

He's also hampered Putin, if you will, by some legislation that exists. He's not allowed to issue lethal arms and he would have to work his way through that. Clearly, the German military does not match its martial heft. Some would say that's an okay thing right now.

But the (INAUDIBLE) that we see clearly is NATO I think is in disarray, and Putin is clearly in a position to win, almost irrespective of his decision to invade or not to invade. There are multiple scenarios in terms of how we could invade. One thing in particular that we have to keep in mind has been pleasure we talk about this is the forces in Belarus. The Russian forces that are in Belarus, if they are on their way to Kyiv, they have to pass through the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

I mean, if I was a young soldier on the ground and my boss said, hey, man, we're going to have to go through these nuke zones, don't worry about it, you'll be fine, we'll get you through this thing, that would cause some great hesitation on my part. So, I think what you see in Belarus, I've described it before is kind of a head fake, and I do think if an invasion is going to occur, it will occur into the existing presence where Russian forces already are in the Donbas.

Look, Putin is not going to leave this thing without a win. He's invested far too much without locking away with something in his pocket. That is territory, or some negotiated settlement where he has a win.

He's also sat down with Xi and he's got a 30-year gas deal, oil deal. That's pretty good. It's going to be paid in euros. So, Putin is in a position to almost walk away with a ledger (INAUDIBLE).

BLACKWELL: Mr. Ambassador, let's stay on energy, because that is pretty high up on the list of what Germany and all of Western Europe is considering and negotiating if there are some sanctions and what the ramifications could be. We heard from President Biden when he was in the Oval Office with the Qatari emir about securing energy sources for Western Europe. How important is navigating that source of energy? Russia being the

second largest source of energy to Western Europe into how important is that to what we hear from and what we don't hear from the chancellor today.

DAALDER: Well, it's critical for two reasons. One, of course, because of Nord Stream 2, which has been completed, a pipeline that can move gas from Russia directly to Germany. And the question of whether that pipeline was open and gas will start to flow. If there is a major military movement by the Russians into Ukraine, it is inconceivable that at the same time, the Germans would start and move forward with the pipeline.

But that also therefore means that alternative sources of energy are necessary. It's not just Nord Stream 2. It is gas supplies through a whole variety of pipelines into Europe. Europe consumes about 40 percent of its gas from Russian import. So, those would have to be replaced. Qatar, of course, is a major exporter of natural gas, so was Australia, and so by the way is the United States.

And so, there is an opportunity here to find alternative sources of gas and the administration has been working very hard over the last few weeks to provide some sense of how the United States and the European Union can provide gas at affordable prices to the citizens of Europe if and when sanctions need to be imposed and Russia perhaps retaliates by closing off those gas pipelines itself.

So, is this is a major way in which you solidify by looking at all the options, all the consequences of taking action in response to Russian actions in order the keep NATO together.

[15:15:02]

I think contrary to what some are thinking, I think over the last two, three months we have seen an alliance of the lines of 30 countries that indeed is walking along side each other, standing shoulder to shoulder. The Germans may be sending helmets to Ukraine, we're sending military forces to reinforce our allies in the East.

And that ultimately is what you want. You want a strong united NATO capable of making clear to Mr. Putin that whatever he does in Ukraine, it cannot and must not pass to any NATO territory itself.

CAMEROTA: Spider, another military question. We've heard that Russia now has 70 percent of the weaponry and manpower that it would need for a full scale invasion.

How do we interpret that number? Does that mean they're one day away from having 100 percent, weeks away? What would that ramp up look like?

MARKS: Well, from a military guy's perspective, if they have that type of manpower -- the enablers, military enablers that are available to them, they could find tonight. So, if you're looking for a time line, it literally, you know, set a clock. It could be tonight at dinner time. The key thing is you have to look at what those capabilities are.

They've got the artillery and rocket forces that are already pre- positioned. They have the logistics that have been prepositioned forward and during a period of this deployment, all those forces obviously have been training. You just don't go there set and wait. You maintain your battle readiness in advance of launching an operation.

So, Alisyn, clearly, it's speculation but based on capabilities. Now, look, the threat is both capabilities and intentions. We talk a lot about the intentions. His capability is very clear. He could do that tonight.

BLACKWELL: All right. The right side of your screen, well full screen now. We are waiting this joint news conference between President Biden and the new chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz. We'll, of course, bring that to you live.

Major General Spider Marks, and Ivo Daalder, Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much.

And, of course, we'll bring you that live as soon as it happens.

CAMEROTA: OK. Just in now, the Biden administration is looking at ways to extend restrictions on no-knock warrants. This comes after the deadly police shooting of Amir Locke. Offers killed him while executing a no knock warrant. How it could lead to policy changes in Minneapolis.

BLACKWELL: And some states are dropping mask mandates in schools. What governors are saying a a return to normalcy.

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[15:21:56]

BLACKWELL: All right. We're just getting this in from the White House. The administration is looking at ways to extend restrictions on no-knock warrants for federal agents. This is after the killing of Amir Locke. And the Minneapolis City Council -- they are meeting to talk about their city's no knock warrant policies after the fatal police shooting there.

CAMEROTA: That shooting captured on police body cam is very disturbing to watch. Minneapolis police enter an apartment on this no- knock warrant. A man in the apartment, 22-year-old Amir Locket appears to be fast asleep as they enter. Police then fire at him multiple times after they say they saw him with a gun. Locke was not named in the warrant and his family says he had the gun legally.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus joins us now.

So, Adrienne, what's happening at this city council meeting?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still ongoing. And members of city council are gaining insight from top law experts there in the city of Minneapolis. There's law professor from the University of Saint Thomas, as well as a law student who works under the professor and she's also on the committee to ban no knock warrants across the state of Minnesota.

It started off real simple so to speak. It's almost like class for beginners. They started by sharing what happened in Minneapolis as well as the different types of warrants. And they also shared some data which was insightful for members of city council. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MURTADA, UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS LAW STUDENT: I want to point out a few things between Minneapolis and St. Paul. First, I want to talk about homicide clearance rates. That's the percentage of homicide investigations solved. In 2020, the Minneapolis clearance rate was 37 percent. In St. Paul, it was 91 percent.

Neither city has had an officer killed by violence in 17 years. We're looking at these two cities and we're not seeing any difference in officer safety and we're not seeing that no knock warrants create a higher clearance rate or solve more crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: So, those law experts saying if the city of Minneapolis wants to institute a ban on these policies, they can. They are going through the steps right now to make that happen.

Now, we heard from Governor Walsh over the weekend. He did say this type of policy is dangerous. He said he doesn't have the authority to wipe away the no-knock warrants. However, he said that legislatures can take action and he said some legislatures are listening now. So, the question remains, what will happen as we move forward -- Victor and Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Adrienne Broaddus, watching this one for us, Adrienne, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Now, this, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says the state school mask mandate will end in March. Delaware's governor announcing similar roll backs to the state's school and universal indoor mask mandate.

[15:25:07]

BLACKWELL: And federal health officials are thinking about life after the pandemic but there's no clear plan yet. A bipartisan group of governors is pushing the president for guidelines on how to move to the endemic phase of the virus.

Jacqueline Howard joins us now.

So, Jacqueline, why is there no federal plan yet?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Victor, we've been told by the White House that they are focusing right now on getting cases, hospitalization and deaths down even more. They also point to community transmission and say that nearly every county in the U.S. right now is experiencing high levels of transmission.

We should have a map here, and still, it looks like You can have the mask here and looks like most of the United States is in the red, in high levels of transmission. But, Victor and Alisyn, state governors and some public health experts have said, look, cases are trending down. They might not be where we want them to be but they are trending down. Hospitalizations are also trending down. And because of this, that's why they're really pushing for the White House to put out guidance on what the end of the pandemic might look like, what metric will we turn to determine that the pandemic has ended and we are entering an endemic phase. And when that happens, what mitigation measures should we lift first.

All of those questions are questions that governors and public health experts are asking. And we just heard moments ago from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. She says that they are discussing this. We might hear more soon. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We certainly don't see this moment now as the new normal, right? And we -- but we want to get to a point where we are not -- where COVID is not disrupting our daily lives. I'm sure you will hear from the president about that. But that's -- we're constantly discussing that internally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: So, all eyes on the White House to see if or when nay might release some guidance -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Jacqueline Howard, thank you.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: We are just getting some breaking news into our newsroom.

Police in Richland, Washington state, are on the scene of an active shooter situation. This is at a Fred Meyer grocery store.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Natasha Chen is with us now.

So, Natasha, tell us what you know?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Right now, we are getting confirmation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, that they did receive a call for assistance about a possible active shooter situation at a Fred Meyer grocery store, as you said, in Richland, Washington. This is about a three hour drive east of Seattle, and we're hearing about police being on scene, heavy police presence. ATF Seattle field office says that they are sending special agents from their Yakima Office to assist Richland police there.

We're also hearing that several schools are affected in the Richland, Washington area. Several of them are in noncritical lockdown, as they say, due to, quote, police at the Fred Meyer. Richland Police also posted on Facebook that they're asking the public to stay away from that from area.

Police have put out a tweet saying they are looking for information about the identity and location of particularly person and they put out a photo of that person as well in relation to the shooting at that Richland Fred Meyer store. So, this is a grocery store that's in the Kruger family of grocery stores. And as we mentioned, there were reports of a possible active shooter. Police on scene right now with the assistance of federal agents who are going into the area from the Yakima field office and they're all just trying to make sure the public is safe at this time and also to find out more information about who is responsible -- Victor and Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: All right. Natasha Chen for us there, if you get more details, come back with us. Thank you so much for the reporting of the breaking news here of the possible active shooter situation at a grocery store.

A new medical device has a handful of people doing something they never thought they would do again, walking. We'll explain how this works. That's next.

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