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Biden Vows Swift And Severe Costs If Russia Invades Ukraine; Interview With Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA); Los Angeles County Sheriff Won't Enforce Vaccine Mandate; Canadian Police Work To End Protests At U.S. Border Bridge; Kamila Valieva's Doping Hearing Scheduled For Tomorrow; Final Preps Underway For Super Bowl LVI. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 12, 2022 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST (voice over): Tonight, Biden warning Putin of swift and severe costs amid escalating fears of an imminent attack against Ukraine.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There is a very distinct possibility that Russia will choose to act militarily.

BROWN (voice over): The call between the two leaders comes as the U.S. pull some of its forces out of Ukraine, and orders the evacuation of most of its embassy staff.

Meantime, the Russians accusing Western powers of spreading a large scale disinformation campaign.

Inside Ukraine, the President calling for calm as thousands rally for peace in the capital.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The best friend for enemies that is panic in our country.

BROWN (voice over): Also tonight, police moving in on protesters to clear the blockade on North America's busiest international crossing.

DOUG FORD, PREMIER, ONTARIO, CANADA: There will be consequences for these actions, and they will be severe.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Wow, we're just a day away now from Super Bowl LVI here in Los Angeles, and it's certainly a game that no one predicted.

JOE BURROW, CINCINNATI BENGALS QUARTERBACK: Kind of got tired of the whole underdog thing. We're in the Super Bowl and we're really a good team that deserves to be here.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday. Professional and substantive. That is how one senior Biden

administration official is describing today's hour-long phone call between President Biden and Russian President Putin.

Biden told the Russian leader that the U.S. and its allies are committed to diplomacy, but if the Kremlin attacks Ukraine, the West will respond, quote "... decisively and impose swift and severe costs."

Satellite images show a continued buildup of Russian troops this week, with thousands more added to the estimated 100,000 already there. Troops, military vehicles, and helicopters have flooded into this airbase and Belarus and it is believed to be the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War.

Ukraine is now facing a potential invasion from three sides. You look at the map there. Today, the U.S. pulled 160 National Guard troops who had been training in Ukraine and the State Department ordered non- emergency U.S. employees at the Embassy in Kiev to evacuate.

It cited, quote: "... potential for significant military action."

Also today, thousands of Ukrainians marched through the streets of their capital. The patriotic display in the face of the Russian threat was called a march of unity for Ukraine.

Well, from the nation's capital to Russia, CNN correspondents, we are all tracking all of the latest developments here and I want to begin at the White House with CNN's Arlette Saenz. Hi, Arlette, what more are you learning about today's call?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, this call between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin lasted just over an hour, and a senior administration official says that there were fundamentally no changes in the dynamics that have been unfolding over the course of the past few weeks as that Russian invasion -- possible Russian invasion of Ukraine -- still looms.

Now the President held this call while at Camp David over a secure means, you can see him in a photo as he is conducting this call and the White House said that he warned Putin that there would be swift and severe costs if he moves forward with an invasion.

I want to read you a little bit more of that White House statement. They said: "President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia standing. President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy in full coordination with our allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios."

The U.S. and allies have been preparing possible sanctions against Russia if they move forward with an invasion and the U.S. has also reiterated possibly increasing support to Ukraine to defend itself.

Now, the White House says that they do not believe President Biden has -- or President Putin has made that final decision on whether to invade Ukraine, but what they are seeing on the ground does not tend to show efforts towards de-escalation.

Now President Biden intends to stay in contact with Russia in the days forward, but the White House is saying there is a very distinct possibility that Russia may act militarily anyways.

BROWN: And what is the latest, Arlette, on getting Americans out of Ukraine?

SAENZ: Well, the U.S. has ordered a drawdown of most non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Additionally, they are issuing warnings to Americans to depart the country immediately saying that it is past time for Americans to get out.

The U.S. and the White House has said that they will not be sending American troops into Ukraine to evacuate American citizens should an invasion occur and really that the security situation can deteriorate there very quickly.

[18:05:16]

SAENZ: Now, a couple thousand Americans have told the State Department in recent days that they remain in the country and a significant number of that group says that they do not plan to leave despite these security threats. So this is something that the White House is very closely watching as they want to ensure that Americans remain safe throughout this process.

BROWN: All right, Arlette, thank you so much live for us from the White House.

Now, let's get the view from Russia. CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is in Moscow.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Pam, there really doesn't seem to be any diplomatic advancement whatsoever. Certainly, the Kremlin's view of the conversation with President Biden today with President Putin, the Kremlin saying that the conversation was coming from a position of hysteria over the issue of the supposed invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The Kremlin really pushing back on that one.

The other point that they made very strongly and very clearly is, they are not getting what they want. The answers that they have so far from the United States do not go to their key concerns that Ukraine cannot join NATO, and that NATO should go back to 1997 borders and positions.

So on that was something we also heard coming out of the phone calls with President Macron and President Putin, but also with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, talking to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister here.

All of those conversations of Russian point of view, they are not getting what they want in the talk so far. Another commonality in all the calls was finding out really if Russia wants to de-escalate and get into a proper diplomatic narrative to de-escalate the situation, and there was pressure on that both President Macron and Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying to their counterparts, that, you know, if you want to have a conversation of diplomatic conversation, you have to de-escalate the situation.

The French, however, saying that their conclusion from the phone call, they didn't see anything from President Putin that seemed to indicate that Russia was about to invade Ukraine.

And you get the same sort of feeling on the streets here in Moscow, there really isn't a sense that war is about to happen. People are going about their daily business, their normal lives, the same as they would do on any day.

Moscow feels very removed from any sense of war at the moment, and the Kremlin, really sort of from their narrative, from their readout of these phone calls, really sort of enforces that message. They are staying with their status quo position -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

Well, you heard that President Biden warned Vladimir Putin today of swift and severe costs if Russia moves to invade Ukraine, but what kind of costs are we talking about? Senate negotiators reportedly are at an impasse over sanctions and some worry Congress won't get anything done before Russia makes a move, which U.S. officials warned could happen at any time even before the end of the Beijing Olympics.

Joining me now is California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs. She is on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees.

Hi, thank you so much for coming on, Congresswoman. Are you satisfied that any real progress was made during the President's call with Vladimir Putin? As we heard from officials, nothing has changed on the ground and they said that it didn't change the dynamic at all.

REP. SARA JACOBS (D-CA): I think that President Biden is taking exactly the right approach and doubling down on what we need to do, which is making sure that Vladimir Putin understands the severe consequences if he decides to invade while also offering a diplomatic off ramp and trying to de-escalate the situation so that it doesn't come to that.

BROWN: Do you think that your colleagues will reach a compromise in time to deter potential invasion because we keep hearing about these severe costs, but right now, the Senate is at an impasse?

JACOBS: Well, first of all, I think it's important to note that almost all of the sanctions being discussed, most legal scholars believe the administration has the authorities they need sans action from Congress.

This would really be about a show of unity and show from Congress that this is the approach that the entire United States is united behind. I am confident we'll be able to get to an agreement. One of the sticking points is whether or not we should have pre-

emptive sanctions, which I think is exactly the wrong approach, and I think, might be a little bit moot by the time we come back and vote on this.

BROWN: Why do you think that's a wrong approach?

JACOBS: Well in a time like this, what we want is for Vladimir Putin to calculate that it is not in his interest to do the invasion.

[18:10:09]

JACOBS: If we do pre-emptive sanctions, he will likely conclude that he has nothing left to lose. Sanctions take a long time to impose and they also take a long time to unwind, and so he might feel like he is already bearing the costs, and both therefore, for his own calculations, and for his domestic politics, he has to also get the win of going and invading Ukraine versus what we can do right now, which is make sure he understands that that will be a cost if he invades, a real cost, but also offering a diplomatic off ramp and trying to make sure we can get to a solution that doesn't involve that invasion.

BROWN: Yesterday, U.S. National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine could happen at any time. Today, the Ukrainian President said this about the constant warnings of an imminent Russian invasion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKY: The best friend for enemies that is panic in our country. And all this information that helps only for panic doesn't help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So what do you think? Do you feel that that the U.S. is making things worse with publicly putting out its dire view of the situation?

JACOBS: I was in Ukraine a couple weeks ago, I met with President Zelensky. I can tell you that our Intelligence is all the same, that they are very aware of the real threat that Russia poses and the buildup that's occurring.

President Zelensky is very concerned that Vladimir Putin won't even need to invade because he'll be able to get so much fear that their economy -- the Ukrainian economy will collapse. And so that's what President Zelensky is responding to.

I think the other important thing to note here is that when I talk to Ukrainians, they'll tell me that that while the West is newly attuned to this, they feel like they've been at war with Russia since 2014, since the invasion of Crimea and Donetsk.

And so for them, part of the way they stand up to Vladimir Putin is being resilient and showing that they can still go on with their daily lives, that they can still live a life of freedom and democracy, even with that looming threat from Putin.

BROWN: Given the fact that you were there in Ukraine, talking to officials, do you think that publicly the Ukrainian officials are trying to act calm about everything and saying, everything is going to be okay, we're still open for business and so forth. But really, behind the scenes, they are more anxious about a possible Russian invasion than they are letting on publicly just because they're worried about what all this could do to its economy?

JACOBS: I think that's exactly right and I am confident that they are doing the planning that needs to be done so that they will be ready if an invasion happens.

BROWN: I want to ask you about the fact that you represent the San Diego area which has more than 100,000 active troops. Do you support President Biden's decision to deploy U.S. troops to Europe?

JACOBS: As the Representative of a proud military community, you can appreciate that this is a question that is really top of mind for me, and that I hear from my constituents constantly.

First of all, I think it's important to say that President Biden has been very clear, and I think has made the right call that we will not be sending American troops to Ukraine. That is not something that's on the table.

But I do think it is important to show our commitment to our NATO allies, especially our NATO allies in the East is ironclad and that is what is sending these additional deployments of troops is meant to do.

BROWN: All right, Congressman Sara Jacobs, thanks for being on the show.

JACOBS: Happy to be here.

BROWN: And don't miss CNN's "State of the Union" tomorrow morning and an interview with National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan. That is Sunday at 9:00 AM here on CNN.

Up next, on this Saturday, four people shot outside Justin Bieber's LA after party. What we're learning about the victims.

Meantime, police moving in on protesters to clear the blockade on North America's busiest international crossing.

Also tonight, everything you need to know about what's happening on and off the field as we count down to the Super Bowl.

But first, a vaccine mandate showdown in Los Angeles. Law enforcement personnel facing the axe if they don't get their COVID shots. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says he is not backing down and he joins me next. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:40] BROWN: We have new details tonight on the shooting outside a Justin

Bieber after party in West Hollywood Friday night. CNN entertainment reporter, Chloe Melas is working her sources. Chloe, what are you learning?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Pamela, four people were shot early this morning in West Hollywood after a fight broke out near Justin Bieber's after party. The altercation took place around 2:45 AM local time near the Nice Guy Restaurant Lounge following Justin's concert.

A source tells me that Justin was actually inside the venue when the shooting took place. That when he heard what happened, that's when he decided to leave and the party ended.

Police said that multiple rounds were fired after the fight and we know at least three of those victims were eventually transported to hospitals and that they are in stable condition. The police also added that this incident, Pamela, is not gang related.

We have not heard back from Justin Bieber or the venue.

BROWN: Thanks, Chloe.

Well tonight, a vaccine mandate showdown in Los Angeles. City officials there say police officers who won't get vaccinated will be fired. But the LA County Sheriff says the mandate could mean thousands of Deputies will lose their jobs, so he is refusing to enforce it.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: We're coming off two years of a historically high 94 percent increase in homicide rate, 64 percent increase in grand theft auto.

It almost amounts to a suicide pact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:20:08]

BROWN: The county officials are not backing down, on Tuesday they voted to strip the Sheriff of his authority to enforce the mandate and are expected to empower the County's Personnel Director in the coming weeks.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva joins me now. Hi, Sheriff, how are you?

VILLANUEVA: Not too bad, Pamela, and you?

BROWN: Good. Thank you. So I want to play this clip from Los Angeles County's Public Health Director who spoke to CNN about this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR, LA COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: ... county did

decide that because so many of us in county -- that are county employees are in service of our residents, and so many of our residents really rely on us to be able to protect them, that it makes sense for county employees to go ahead and get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, she is arguing that your Deputies swear to protect and serve the public. Why is it wrong for them to be required to get vaccinated during a pandemic in an effort to protect the public?

VILLANUEVA: Right now, we have roughly 60 percent of our workforce is vaccinated, 40 percent are not vaccinated, and it doesn't sound like they're going to get vaccinated. I'm vaccinated, we're encouraging people to get vaccinated, but this is a personal medical decision.

And right now, people do not trust it, particularly if you're on the conservative end of the ideological spectrum and imposing this mandate would force us to firing 4,000 of our personnel which in the middle of a crime wave would like I said, a suicide pact. That's putting it mildly.

And people like Dr. Ferrer claiming, that well, you know, it's in the best interest of the public. No, the best interest of the public is to have a fully funded law enforcement agency that can actually respond to 9-1-1 calls and intervene, can make arrests and do all the things we do to save lives on a daily basis, and it is not going to happen with a vaccine mandate.

I'm surrounded by five counties with no vaccine mandate. In fact, one of them is now recruiting our deputies actively, Kern County.

BROWN: Yes, I saw that today. So you just said that 4,000 of your Deputies could be fired because of this mandate. You have not reported your department's vaccine compliance data, so there is no way to verify those numbers.

The Los Angeles Police Department, which has roughly the same number of officers, is reporting just eight noncompliant officers. How is it possible that you have about 4,000 and they only have eight?

VILLANUEVA: They're not at 99.99 percent compliant at all, Pam. There's a -- I'll just say this, what they're reporting on the numbers is to their political benefit, but the reality is, the conservative ideology that isn't law enforcement, it's also in the firefighters service as well.

You have Firefighters for Freedom, an entire group organized around opposing the City of LA's vaccine mandate. So, we've got to keep this in mind. And also, I have roughly 10,000 that are vaccinated and 6,000 that are not between sworn and professional staff, 3.4 percent COVID positive rate on the vaccinated and 3.8 percent on the unvaccinated that's a difference of 0.4 percent.

And so they're trying to sell the idea that somehow in that 0.4 percent, we are going to help the community, we're not at all. That's just a farce.

BROWN: I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly. Are you claiming that the LA Police Department did not properly report the numbers of those who are unvaccinated?

VILLANUEVA: I think you're taking a number out of context, because the process to discipline people is a lengthy one, and if they have eight people, right now, there's a lot more people waiting in the wings that are going to also be terminated and they're just not giving the full picture.

I'm giving the full picture for the impact on the Sheriff's Department. And they're very similar. The difference though, is I actually run the Sheriff's Department, the Chief of Police has to answer to the Police Commission, the Mayor, City Council, so it is a different legal framework and there's a big difference between the two.

BROWN: You had mentioned a couple of times so far, just mentioning the conservative ideology and how that is feeding skepticism in your ranks about the vaccine. Do you see it as a problem at all that your officers are bringing their politics into work so much that they're willing to disregard the laws that they're supposed to protect?

VILLANUEVA: Well, it's not that. The fact is, that's just the reality today. It has become politicized, the issue the vaccination, and we have to work with the reality that we're dealt with, not what we want the world to be.

And the problem is the Board of Supervisors is basically, you know, whistling past the cemetery as they live in their little bubble. Throughout the pandemic they were at home doing their meetings via Zoom and WebEx and never had to step outside and our Deputies were the ones with no vaccine because it wasn't available yet, they had to risk their lives every single day and exposed intentionally to people with COVID.

[18:25:13]

VILLANUEVA: And some of them brought it home, some of them died because of it. So this is -- actually, it is immoral and it is repulsive to think that the Board of Supervisors now wants to fire the very same people they relied on, when there was no vaccine.

I think we have a balance because we're either testing or they're vaccinated. And I think that the same plan that the President has, the Governor has, the Mayor of Inglewood, Mayor Butts for his Inglewood Police. In fact, he rescinded the vaccine mandate because he was going to lose 30 of his officers.

I have Cypress PD, they have a $5,000.00 bonus now to attract our personnel. I have another city that has now asked us to work overtime in their city because they lost half of their police force.

So the threats to public safety is real. The threat to public health is diminishing and is far different, and this is just striking a careful balance between the two.

BROWN: I want to ask you about the fact that look, Super Bowl is tomorrow in LA. The Department of Homeland Security is warning that the convoy of truckers protesting could create some issues. They are of course protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Are you concerned about that at all? That that that could cause a disruption at the Super Bowl?

VILLANUEVA: Well, traffic in LA is always a challenge. So, if they tried to do it, I don't think it'd be any different from an average day on the freeways in LA, but we're assessing all of them as we're scanning all the social media, all potential threats, including ones like a convoy, and we will be very rigorously interceding in that and preventing that type of disruption.

BROWN: Do you see evidence that something like that is being planned?

VILLANUEVA: No, it seems more like it is aspirational from people that saw what's going on in Canada and say: Hey, let's do it here. But you know, between the wish and the deed itself is a big bridge.

BROWN: All right, Sheriff Alex Villanueva, thank you for joining the show and for that conversation.

VILLANUEVA: You've got it.

BROWN: Good luck tomorrow.

VILLANUEVA: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, nearly one week later, law enforcement in Canada are struggling to clear the so-called Freedom Convoy blocking North America's busiest international crossing.

Up next, we're going to talk to a journalist in Canada about what he has seen at these rallies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:51]

BROWN: A third week in a protest in Canada as truckers and their supporters continue a blockade of routes into the U.S. over vaccine mandates. Ontario has declared a state of emergency and earlier today, Canadian Police began moving in to remove protesters and their supporters.

Here is an important fact that Canadian government says nearly 90 percent of Canada's truckers are already fully vaccinated, also COVID cases have significantly dropped in Canada. But new vaccine mandates went into effect in Canada and the U.S. last month, they required non- citizens entering the United States through border crossings or ferry terminals along the northern and southern borders, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That's when the small but very vocal minority took to the streets. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DYLAN FRIESEN, PROTESTING VACCINE MANDATES IN CANADA: I want all these mandates gone and I'm not leaving until all the mandates are gone.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: What is the stuff that you can't do right now as a non-vaccinated person?

SAMUEL GAUTHER, SUPPORTING TRUCKERS PROTESTING IN CANADA: I live in Quebec so it's a bit more intense than other places in Canada. But look, I can't go skiing, I can't go to Wal-Mart, I can't go to Canadian Tire, I can't go to Home Depot, I can't go to restaurants, I can't go to bars, I can't go to the gym.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, basically, if you want to compare Canada to anything, it's like Hitler's Germany and we're like the Jews, eh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That reference sounds familiar. You won't be surprised to learn that this protest is getting its talking points and lots of support from right-wing media in the U.S., which is fully on board with this blockade.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEW HOST: The question is how long before protests like this come here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining me now with more, investigative journalist Justin Ling. Hi, Justin.

So you tweeted earlier that you were at ...

JUSTIN LING, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Hey. Good evening.

BROWN: ... an anti-vaccine mandate rally where the speaker said the police should form a tactical team and arrest the Lieutenant Governor for murder. Why is this rhetoric getting so inflammatory?

LING: It actually got worse right afterwards. They said that they'd also go to Ottawa and arrest every single member of parliament. This language is reflective of just how paranoid and conspiratorial this movement is. I have seen it from the very beginning of this convoy before they even arrived in Ottawa.

The language being used by these groups was that Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister, needs to be arrested and tried for treason. Their language was that we can no longer trust our elected representatives that this group needed to be given special status, this organizing group, Canada Unity they call themselves, need to be given special status to basically dictate law and abolish all these vaccine mandates. These people are so convinced that the government is corrupted by an

international cabal of shadowy figures that they have to be removed and prosecuted. I heard language yesterday from a number of so-called scientific experts who are talking about the need to have a sort of tribunal to prosecute and charge some of these people. The phrase 'crimes against humanity' is used frequently often, it's normalized.

[18:35:01]

The rhetoric has been high for a long time, we honestly just haven't been paying attention.

BROWN: Right. I mean, and just hearing the one protester trying to say that he was like the Jews during the Holocaust. Again, it's like stop using the Holocaust here to try to move your political point. It's absolutely absurd. It's uncalled for. And we've heard it time and time again. We've heard it from elected officials here in the United States. They have been fanning the flames with that kind of rhetoric. We have conservative lawmakers hitching their wagons to this mandate protest. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country, from slavery to civil rights to you name it. Peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandate.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): And let me say the Canadian truckers are heroes. They are patriots and they are marching for your freedom and for my freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Is what they're saying having an impact?

LING: Oh, absolutely. I can't tell you ...

BROWN: I only laugh because I saw your eye roll and I'm - yes, I'm with you.

LING: I mean, I can't tell you how important it is for these occupiers and these protesters to hear Tucker Carlson, to hear Rand Paul, to hear Ted Cruz endorse - Donald Trump, especially - to hear them endorse this movement and call it a fight for freedom. That is an incredibly important motivating factor in all of this.

These people see themselves as the majority. We know they are not, 90 percent of eligible Canadians are vaccinated, 80 percent support vaccine mandates, 70 percent support vaccine passports for restaurants and bars and the like. These people convinced themselves all of that's untrue, and that they in fact are the majority and they are speaking for the entirety of the country.

The reason this group is called Canada Unity is because they're making the case that we all have to put our differences aside, vaccinated, unvaccinated and come together to overthrow the government to be totally honest. So to hear these popular figures, these major figures, these senators, former presidents endorsed their movement just reinforces that worldview that they, in fact, are the majority or at the very least representing the rights of everybody. And I can't tell you how much it's putting, I mean, to use a clumsy metaphor, fuel in their tank to keep this thing going.

BROWN: At the same time, we do point out that truckers there, 90 percent of them are vaccinated, COVID has gone down significantly. So many are also raising the question, why is there a vaccine mandate here. I mean, why does there need to be one given the numbers?

LING: Well, I mean, listen, there's a real debate going on in this country right now about COVID-19 measures. Canada is still one of the most restrictive countries in terms of measures around COVID-19. There's still massive mandates pretty much across the country. There was a curfew in one Canadian province in January. Some restaurants and bars have only just started reopening.

There is increasing pressure to start getting rid of those restrictions, the ones that really are impacting the vast majority of the country functionally everybody. But even as that pressure increases to drop those restrictions, support for the mandates remains high. People see getting vaccinated as your kind of obligation as a citizen. People support it because they see it as a way to decrease deaths, to decrease pressure on hospitals and to get back to normal. And these people represent the exact opposite of that.

These people want the rest of the country to sort of bend over to accommodate their delusions. And I have to stress that they are delusional. I sat and listened for two hours yesterday to three of these so-called medical experts. One of whom was drummed out of the Trump administration for being too radical in a quest to try and get herd immunity as the official policy of the U.S. government.

Another one teach at a veterinary hospital. Another one is an expert - immunologist, but for salmon. And between them they kept telling the crowd that vaccines have killed thousands of people. At one point they said that they entertained the idea that the death rate for vaccinated children is 52 times higher than unvaccinated children, absolutely baseless nonsense. And yet this is the established rhetoric of this protest.

BROWN: Yes. Misinformation for sure.

LING: Absolutely.

BROWN: Justin Ling, thank you very much.

LING: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Another day of Olympic action getting underway, but all eyes are on a hearing to decide the fate of a 15-year-old Russian skating phenom. Will she be allowed to stay at the games despite testing positive for a banned drug?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:44:19]

BROWN: Day nine of the Winter Olympic Games is about to begin. Germany sits atop the leaderboard followed by Norway and the United States. The Netherlands and Sweden round out the top five on the medal table. And a lot of attention is on Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. There will be hearing tomorrow on her doping case to determine if the team may continue to compete.

CNN WORLD SPORT host Don Riddell joins me now. Hi, Don. So Valieva is supposed to compete again on Tuesday. What is the timeline like for this case?

DON RIDDELL, CNN HOST, WORLD SPORT: Well, it's really tight now, Pamela. Sunday evening, Beijing time 8:30, which is going to be 7:30 in the morning Eastern Time for us on Sunday is when this hearing is going to begin.

[18:45:02]

So they probably won't come to a conclusion until Monday and then as you say she goes again in the short program on Tuesday. Of course, she tested positive for this banned drug back in December, but we didn't hear about this until recently. The Russian Anti Doping Agency overturned her provisional suspension.

But now three separate organizations are trying to reverse that. So that is the International Skating Union, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the international testing agency on behalf of the International Olympic Committee, they all want her out of the games. Remember, she's just a 15-year-old girl in the middle of an absolute nightmare at the Olympics.

The Sports Minister in Russia are standing by her, also the Russian Figure Skating Federation standing by her, but she fell three times in practice on Friday and was then left to kind of walk all alone through the gauntlet of the mixed media zone to face all the interviews. So she's in a pretty tough spot right now. And they're all running out of time to figure out what to do next.

BROWN: Yes. Again, only 15-years-old. I want to shift gears a little bit here, Don, we saw something pretty incredible in the world of golf today. Tell us what happened at the Phoenix Open that's got everyone talking.

RIDDELL: Yes. This is brilliant. So it's a hole in one and we're going to show that to you, we've seen loads of holes in one in golf tunnels before and everybody gets pretty excited. But this is different. This is known as the 16th hole, Sam Ryder is the player by the way. This hole is known as the biggest party in golf. It's like a stadium around this one par three hole.

And watch what happened when the ball went in. Look at all that beer. Our producer's son is actually there, enjoying it himself and as our producer said to me, those are $20 beers. Everybody getting absolutely soaked and look at the aftermath Clean up on aisle 16. They had to stop the golf for a while so they could get in there and clean up. That is an incredible memory for all of those fans who were there. That is if any of them can remember it by tomorrow.

BROWN: That is the question those fans had one less beer than they otherwise would have, because they were celebrating with it and then thrown it on there. All right. Don Riddell, always great to see you.

Well, we are counting down to the big game just hours away. The Rams are ready, the Bengals are ready and our Natasha Chen is ready to show us the final props underway.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Natasha Chen in the skies above SoFi Stadium. I'll give you a firsthand look at the unique security in place to keep the Super Bowl safe.

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[18:52:01]

BROWN: Super Bowl LVI gets underway in less than 24 hours and the final preparations are in full swing at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. And with thousands of visitors expected for the big game, police presence will be strong, both on the ground and in the air. CNN's Natasha Chen explains.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You can see final preparations for the Super Bowl. But what you may not see is the long game. The security preparation going on for more than a year now with thousands of law enforcement personnel on the ground and in the air.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) five minutes.

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CHEN (voice over): Up in a Black Hawk we toured with Customs and Border Protection.

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CHEN (on camera): You said you've done seven Super Bowls, right?

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CHEN (voice over): The difference with this Super Bowl is the enormity of SoFi Stadium and its campus. The Host Committee estimates Super Bowl LVI will draw more than a hundred thousand visitors and temporary workers into the L.A. region. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN (on camera): Customs and Border Protection has been flying Blackhawks like this for about a week now over the L.A. area and on game day, they can fly them low to the ground by the stadium. If they spot a problem, they can actually do what they call fast roping.

They'll just drop in?

BRANDON TUCKER, CBP DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF AIR & MARINE OPS, SAN DIEGO: On a big rope, yes, we have that capability.

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CHEN (voice over): Brandon Tucker with CBP says one thing they'll look for is any unusual traffic pattern, especially with trucker protests on the Canadian border, fueling threats of a potential convoy outside SoFi Stadium against COVID-19 restrictions.

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CHEN (on camera): Hi. This question is for Secretary Mayorkas.

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CHEN (voice over): I asked the Secretary of Homeland Security about that this week.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We have planned and we are prepared to address it, whatever materializes. But those protests have been civil in nature.

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CHEN (voice over): But a Homeland Security bulletin warns local law enforcement of the potential for severe disruption through gridlock and counter protests. While law enforcement says there's no sign of any specific threat, a joint threat assessment says the Super Bowl is a potentially attractive target with possible threats from ISIS to drones to cybersecurity, large X-ray scanners typically used at the ports have been inspecting every vehicle bringing supplies into the stadium. There could also be potential threats from within, including the type of fatal crowd surge seen at Astroworld.

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JACK EWELL, LOS ANGELES CO. SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We don't let situations get to the point where a large number of people could rush a stage or rush the field or things of that nature. We have too many security checkpoints.

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CHEN (voice over): But nothing prevented a man in a 49ers jersey from being assaulted two weeks ago in a parking lot outside SoFi Stadium at the NFC Championship game, leaving him in a medically induced coma is.

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CHIEF MARK FRONTEROTTA, INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA POLICE: It's very unfortunate what happened and we also asked citizens to be responsible in how much they drink. And when you've had enough, you've had enough.

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[18:55:00]

CHEN (voice over): Law enforcement is repeating the mantra, if you see something, say something. And when you see the Black Hawks above ...

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TUCKER: Just wave at us and enjoy the game.

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CHEN (voice over): Natasha Chen, CNN, flying above Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, up next, the reunion of a crossing guard and the student she saved from nearly being run over by a car.

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[18:59:48]

BROWN: Remember that heroic Maryland crossing guard who threw herself in front of a car last week to save a student crossing the street? Well that girl now thanking the crossing guard, Police Corporal Annette Goodyear, for saving her life.

[19:00:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEMALE: Thank you.

POL. CPL. ANNETTE GOODYEAR: Oh, thank you.