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WH: Americans Should Leave Ukraine "Immediately"; WH: Biden Will Speak With Putin Amid Heightened Warnings Of Invasion; Ontario Declares State Of Emergency Due To Protests. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 11, 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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DR. MEGAN RANNEY, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERISTY: This is not out of the ordinary. Again, it just shows that they are taking the science seriously and making sure that when parents do have the option to go and show up and get shots in arms, that parents can do so with confidence.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I really appreciate that because I think that it also bears repeating that often vaccines are three shot. It's not just the one and done. And so, that's what we're anticipating here as well, Dr. Ranney.

RANNEY: That's exactly right. The vast majority of vaccine regimens are more than one. Kids' first flu shots are two shots. Not the single shot that most of us get every year. Tetanus, measles, chickenpox, name the vaccine and it's more than one, often more than two, over multiple periods of time -- month, years, depending on the type of vaccine.

Our goal is to do what works for our kids and what keeps them safe. Both keep them safe from the diseases and make sure the vaccine is safe for them. And again, this shows that the FDA is taking that seriously as is Pfizer.

CAMEROTA: Jacqueline Howard, Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you for helping to explain this breaking news.

RANNEY: Thank you.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Victor is off today. Thanks so much for joining me.

Moments ago, the White House just gave its most urgent message yet for Americans to get out of Ukraine. Sources tell CNN new intelligence suggest that Russia is prepared to launch an attack before even the Olympics end. That means in next nine days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: It's now high enough and the threat is immediate enough that it's the time to leave now. While commercial options and commercial rail and air service exists, while the roads are open. The president will not be putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk by sending them into a war zone to rescue people who could have left now but chose not to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: President Biden spoke with world leaders for more than an hour about this situation. The president's national security adviser said Russia keeps adding military troops along the border with Ukraine and head of NATO said that not only are Russian troops increasing but they're also increasing their military readiness, telling CNN, quote, the warning time is going down.

We have team of reporters covering this. We have CNN's Natasha Bertrand. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Moscow for us. CNN's M.J. Lee is at the White House.

M.J., let's start there. Jake Sullivan told Americans in Ukraine to get out now because the military will not be able to rescue them in a warzone. And the tone seemed just drastically different than we've heard in previous days.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Alisyn, the warning really does not get more stern than this. We just heard from the national security adviser and I just want to be clear, one thing that he emphasized. He said, at this point in time, the U.S. does not know and does not believe that Vladimir Putin has actually made a decision to invade but the posturing that we are seeing from the White House today is that they are very much preparing for that possibility.

And you're absolutely right. The one thing that Sullivan kept emphasizing over and over again was this message to Americans that are currently in Ukraine and that message is get out now. He said that there is no guarantee that if anything were to happen, that they could get out at later time. He also emphasized something that the White House has made clear for a while. The U.S. troops would not be going into Ukraine to try to rescue them again if military action started taking place.

One thing that he also made clear, too, Alisyn, was diplomacy. He continues to talk about fact that the U.S. is continuing to be interested in using diplomacy and engaging Vladmir Putin with diplomacy. Sullivan even saying that there could be phone call between Vladimir Putin and President Biden soon, but he had no announcements in terms of timing.

And if I could just quickly, take a step back and paint a picture of how we got here in the last 24 to 36 hours, we have definitely seen the tone changing, a shift in the urgency. We know that President Biden had a phone call, a meeting with other European leaders. We know there was a Situation Room meeting last night and sources told us that those Situation Room meeting in recent days had grown more urgent and time lines, invasion potentially coming before the Olympics had even ended.

That, of course, is a shift from previous guidance that it was unlikely that Russia would invade before those Olympic Games had ended -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, Natasha, do we know what this new intelligence was? I mean, is it more troops are amassing on the border or is there something else that suggest that Vladimir Putin could invade before even the Olympics are over on February 20th?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, what U.S. officials are saying is that the overall threat assessment, overall threat picture is just going in the completely wrong direction from where they would want to see it go.

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That Russia is amassing more forces on the border, that they are taking no steps to deescalate the situation and that they have enough forces there now to launch an attack, a large attack on very short notice. And that is kind of the picture that they have been looking for, when has Russia amassed enough forces in that region to actually launch an attack that could allow them to achieve their goals there. One of them potentially being to take the capital city Kyiv.

Now, that would be major, major operation. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, did say during that press conference that Kyiv is one of the potential targets that Russia could go for. But this is a change from the U.S. assessment of what Russia could be planning from as recently as a couple of weeks ago, when they believe that Russia would not risk making China one of its allies angry, but upstaging them during their Olympics in launching this invasion of Ukraine.

Now it seems Russia has potentially, potentially made the decision, not firmly yet, but potentially decided to go ahead with that invasion now that they have all forces in position even before the Olympics end in next week or so. We should note also that we have reported that the U.S. is going to be pulling all of its monitors in the OSCE mission out of Ukraine and they are weighing further reductions to that embassy staff in Kyiv.

CAMEROTA: So, Nic, Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, also said that President Biden will speak to Vladimir Putin again. What more can be said at this point? What could change now with this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's very hard to see what diplomacy is going to work. We heard from a senior Russian official last night saying that at the moment, Western diplomacy is not having an affect on the situation, that he was specifically referring there to President Emmanuel Macron's visit to President Putin earlier in the week. President Putin had said, had committed to the Minsk talks to deescalate the tensions in the east of Ukraine, that President Putin had said what happens next in terms of whether or not this diplomatic tract that President Macron was opening up, whether or not that would be successful would depend on what Macron got when he went to Kyiv on how things went forward from there. And last night, in Germany, there was a nine hour meeting about the

Minsk talks and the Russian representative came out and said we can't sign up to it. There is an agreement there. Ukraine won't do what we want it to do. And therefore, we think Western diplomacy is not working.

So, even on the most minimal of things, remembering that Putin has not answered the fundamental question of you have been told that you're not going to get what you want on your demand that Ukraine can't NATO and that NATO would roll back to 1997 levels, President Putin does not seem to have a diplomatic track that he wants to go down.

So, it's hard to know what President Biden would be able to say, other than there is some things we can talk about -- deescalating troops, confidence building, missile placements on both sides of the border, there's an avenue there. But at the moment there does not seem to be any realistic diplomacy actually in play, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Natasha Bertrand, Nic Robertson, M.J. Lee, thank you very much for helping us with this breaking news.

Joining me now is William Taylor, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. He is now vice president of Russia and Europe at the U.S. institute of Peace.

Mr. Ambassador, it was a really stark warning that we just heard from the national security adviser. He basically said there are signs of Russian escalation. New forces arriving at border and Russia could begin invading any time now, even during the Olympics.

I think for a while people thought that would be some sort of hold off period. There might have been some agreement with President Xi. But Jake Sullivan said that's over and it could happen in next nine days at any time days at any time.

So, what most got your attention about this warning?

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: So, Alisyn, I think Jake Sullivan was right to emphasize, that as far as he knows, as far as we know, President Putin has not yet made a decision. What we know, what Jake Sullivan was telling us, is that President Putin now has all the forces in place that he would need.

And my bet is President Putin has been telling his general, telling his defense minister, get everything in place because I President Putin want to try to intimidate President Zelensky or to intimidate President Biden with all of this force mounted on the Ukrainian border. President Putin is trying to bully President Zelensky and President Biden into giving him assurances, guarantees, trying to appease him, to accommodate him.

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And I believe President Putin has been disappointed and maybe frustrated and probably surprised at the strength and the resolve and the determination of President Biden and President Zelensky. They have not backed down.

CAMEROTA: Yeah. I mean, Mr. Ambassador, I would like to think this was just all optics or just sort of intimidation tactic. But the language that Jake Sullivan was using sounded different than it had in the past. I mean, he was talking about he thought Putin could go all way to Kyiv, that he could be interested in seizing Kyiv. I mean, he said that Americans need to get out right now in the next 24 hours or there could be no help able to come to them.

And I know that last Thursday, you had felt that maybe that Putin was pausing, maybe because of the building with NATO and et cetera, you had said that you felt that Putin might be pausing in response to the strong measures. But it seems as though the U.S. has some sort of new information that they are basing new actions on.

TAYLOR: You're right. It seems to be more urgent today. And the message to Americans to leave is a strong signal. It's a prudent step. That's exactly what we should be doing and the embassy is thinking about this as well.

But I think there's no need to panic. We shouldn't be panicking at this point. What we should be doing is maintaining the resolve to stare him down, to call -- it's not a bluff. It's not a bluff, because you're right, he could do this. And indeed, he has done it before. He's invaded Ukraine before, invaded in 2014, both in Crimea and in Donbas.

So, he could do this. It's not a bluff. It's something that he wouldn't do, he could do it, but the cost to him are still so high even now breaking with the Chinese, disregarding the Chinese and their eagerness to have a successful Olympics. The cost to President Putin are still so high, and he's still so interested in getting what he wants without an invasion, that I think it's still time for him to back down.

CAMEROTA: I thought it was so interesting to hear Jake Sullivan said that we do not believe China can compensate Russia for the costs that they'll incur with this invasion and with all of the sanctions.

Diplomacy, I mean, it feels like -- it feels like we're at the 11th hour here. But President Biden is having another call with President Putin. Is there anything that perhaps President Biden hasn't tried yet? What can this call possibly say or contain that hasn't already been said?

TAYLOR: First of all, I heard Jake Sullivan say that he didn't have an announcement to make yet on President Biden's call.

CAMEROTA: Maybe you're right. I don't know why I thought that.

TAYLOR: So, it's certainly an option, it is certainly an option. And you're asking the right question, what could be said, what could be discussed on that call. If President Putin thinks that President Biden is going to give him something, is going to compromise on Ukrainian sovereignty. If President Putin thinks that President Biden in another phone call might, at the last minute cave then that could be President Putin's interest. It's not President Biden's.

President Biden knows that he has to stand firm. He has Afghanistan sadly in his rearview mirror. But he hasn't forgotten about it. He needs to stand up now and make it clear that President Putin and to President Xi that the United States is standing firm on principle. We support our allies and our partners. We support principles that have to do with sovereignty of nations, whether they are stronger than their neighbors or whether they're weaker than their neighbors. They are still sovereign and should not be invaded.

And President Biden could also suggest to President Putin that if he attacks Ukraine, unprovoked and kills tens of thousands of Ukrainians, that could be war crime. That could be a war crime that Mr. Putin has to consider. This could be a disaster for him if he does that. That's the last thing that could be part of that conversation.

CAMEROTA: And I can report that the president will be speaking with Vladimir Putin. CNN does have that reporting.

One of the things that Jake Sullivan said is the West is now more unified than it has been in years. Is that how you see it, Mr. Ambassador, also? Because I mean, obviously, Germany has its own self interest as does every different country? And so, are you seeing it now a unified front?

TAYLOR: Alisyn, I believe it is unified. But you're right. Different allies can do different things. The Germans have the ability to shut down that pipeline, Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and every indication is that the chancellor gave our president an assurance that he would do that if the Russians invade, if Mr. Putin decides bad decision to invade Ukraine, then that pipeline won't go into effect.

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So, the Germans, I think, yes, are standing firm. The NATO allies, NATO alliance is more focused now and is reinforcing now, is stronger now, has more troops now than it did six months ago, the opposite of what President Putin had been trying to do.

The NATO alliance is standing very strong, doing different things. Every ally has a different strength that it can bring to bear. Some are providing weapons to Ukraine. Some are moving troops to the East European allies. Some are moving aircraft. Some are moving ships.

But that -- I believe that is a strong indication of, again, probably surprising President Putin that the NATO allies and European allies in NATO are standing firm. So, I'm impressed with the coherence and the strength of the alliance.

CAMEROTA: Former Ambassador William Taylor, thanks so much for all the insight.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Just in to our NEWSROOM, the U.S. ordered 3,000 more soldiers to deploy to Poland amid rising concern about Russia's potential invasion of Ukraine.

So, let's go to CNN's Oren Lieberman at the Pentagon.

What do we know, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announcing 3,000 more troops from the elite 82nd Airborne will deploy to Poland, leaving sometime in the next few days. They will join 1,700 members of the 82nd that are already in Poland, as well as 300 members of the 18th Airborne Corps who just arrived in Germany.

So, this is part of the unilateral deployment of U.S. forces to allies in Europe. And Jake Sullivan gave us an indication of how he views and how the U.S. views this deployment. He said it is defensive in nature, it's meant to reassure, reinforce U.S. allies as well as to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin for making that decision to invade.

In terms of more detail on the ground on what they might be doing, CNN reported on Wednesday that the 1,700 members of the 82nd that are already in Poland have been approved by the White House, to begin setting up temporarily shelters and assist U.S. citizens who are leaving Ukraine, heading West and heading into Poland.

So, that gives you an idea of what they might be doing and these additional troops might be doing once they arrive on the ground there -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much.

So, that blockade that is shutting down one of the world's busiest border crossing already costing workers in the U.S. tens of millions of dollars. What steps can be taken to clear this bridge? Next.

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CAMEROTA: The anti-vaccine protests first started by Canadian truckers now a full-blown blockade affecting scores of Americans jobs. Moments ago, Ontario officials declared state of emergency and are now threatening severe consequences for the demonstrators. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau now says everything is on table as he calls for an end to this blockade.

Three major crossings between the U.S. and Canada remain at standstill at this hour, including the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international crossing in North America.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Windsor, Ontario.

Miguel, what's the situation at this hour?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, standoff continues. This is -- we're moving into day five. We want to give you a sense of what these protesters are doing. A much smaller crowd we have seen in previous days, the weather is much poorer today.

The city of Windsor right now is in court on an injunction. They want to make this all illegal. They want to have the legal frame work to move in. They said that they have now resources from Ontario, the province and the federal government here that would give them the ability to remove protesters forcibly if they will not leave.

Protesters and police for much of the day today have been going back and forth in small groups here, meeting with each other. They did open a lane. Some protesters said this was a sign of good faith. Others protesters then argued as to whether or not they should be doing this. They finally relented and allowed it to open.

There's a sense of uneasy. There's a sense this is coming to a head. It's been the entire week. Next week, if it goes on, day after day, week after week, what is an inconvenience and bad for many industries on both sides of the border is going to become a real crisis for them.

So, there's a sense that they want this wrapped up fairly soon. The city, the province and the federal government now moving resources not only into places like Windsor but other areas of Canada where protests are occurring. If they go after one set of protesters, they see that they're going to move against all of them simultaneously to shut these things down once and for all and then move on -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Miguel Marquez, thank you for letting us know what's happening on the ground there.

Let's bring in Drew Dilkens. He's the mayor for Windsor, Ontario.

Mayor, thank you very much for taking time to do this. I know how busy you are. How does this end? How does this blockade end the bridge get reopened?

MAYOR DREW DILKENS, WINDSOR, ONTARIO: Well, hopefully, it ends peacefully. We don't want anyone to get hurt. We want the protesters to recognize they have made their protest. They have been heard and we're going to have the judges hearing submissions from both sides of the argument to decide whether or not to grant injunctive relief.

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If we get and are successful in our request for an injunction, police will then have the legal framework to take that document and ask a protester to leave once again by court order. If they refuse, then we're prepared to go in and do what's needed.

CAMEROTA: I mean, I've heard it described as an illegal protest, an illegal blockade because you -- I assume they didn't get a permit to block this bridge, this major international crossing for all of these days. And so, if police go in, I mean, are you worried it will escalate?

DILKENS: Listen, I can't say that I'm not. From the very beginning here, we had people who said this protest is so important to them that they are willing to die for the cause. I think that type of rhetoric, that type of language has certainly amped up and have the attention of the police in term of their response on the ground. So, they've very measured, trying to negotiate with a plethora of people here.

This is a leaderless movement here in the city. There's no one leader. There's lots of ideas and no leader. Some folks are here protesting vaccine mandates and mask mandates, others are here because they object to climate change initiatives. I would describe what's happening on the ground to be more like the types of protests that you see about anti-government when a G7 or G20 meeting is held, than surrounding, you know, one particular topic related to COVID rules.

CAMEROTA: Right. So, I can imagine how hard it is to negotiate with a disparate group like this. But when you say, you know, if you get the court order, you'll do as needed. What does that look like?

DILKENS: Well, it means going to the protesters and asking them to leave, and showing them the court order and give them a copy of the court order if required. But if they refuse to leave, then police will have operational plans identified. We have resources that have come here from across the province of Ontario and from across Canada, with support from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and one by one, we'll start towing the cars if required.

But listen, I think it's fair to say that all of us respect the hallmark of our respective democracies is that we have the right to express ourselves, to protest and to demonstrate. That's okay. What's not okay is deciding to choke off the busiest commercial border crossing between our two nations that carries a full $400 million of goods back and forth between the United States and Canada each and every day.

CAMEROTA: There are some U.S. politicians like Senator Ted Cruz and former President Trump who seem to really like what's happening on that bridge. Let me just play for you what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): The Canadian truckers are heroes. They are patriots and they are marching for your freedom and my freedom.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The question is how long before --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What would you like to say to them?

DILKENS: Well, I think Ted Cruz can throw those types of comments out from Texas but if the barricade were to happen at the Texas and Mexico border and started blocking trade with his state and another country, I think he would have a much different perspective on what's going on at that location.

And so, at the end of the day, I'm not too worried about what a guy who lives 3,000 miles away thinks. I'm worried about what's happening here on the ground. We're all resolute and committed to finding a peaceful end to this. If it can't be done with the folks driving away, we're prepared to do and undertake what steps are required to move these folks out of the way.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of what's happening in Windsor, I'm sure you're hearing from your constituents, how do the people in Windsor feel about all this?

DILKENS: Well, Windsor is the automotive capital of Canada, much like Detroit is the auto capital of the U.S. So the supply chains on both sides of the border have been tightly integrated and built up over decades and decades here. And so, it's fair to say we are home to the Stellantis minivan plant.

We make the Chrysler Pacifica and the minivan here in Windsor. And the parts that go in those vehicles before they cross and roll off the finish line and out of the plant door, the parts that go in and have crossed the border on average six to seven times before they go into final assembly, which means they're going back and forth for improvements across the border. All of this industry also operates on a just in time delivery basis.

So, when the border is shut down, that pain is felt immediately. The plan is material and there are families in both countries, I would submit hundreds of thousand of families in both countries who are all being sent home, who do not have money and are not going to put bread on the table because of this action of 200 people in my community.

CAMEROTA: Mayor Drew Dilkens, thank you very much. Obviously, we'll be watching closely what happens next.

DILKENS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Well, oil prices are spiking and the stock market is dropping and there's heightened concern about the Russian invasion into Ukraine if that's actually going to happen.

And President Biden says inflation should taper off this year. So, we have all of the latest on this, next.

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