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President Biden Holds Call With Ukraine's President Amid Russian Invasion Fears; Zelensky Asks Biden To Visit Ukraine, Wants Greater Military Support; Police Clear Protesters Disrupting Key U.S.- Canada Border Crossing; National Archives Threatened To Ask Congress And DOJ To Get Trump Docs; Trump's Non-Stop Fundraising Blitz Post- Presidency; States Ending Mandates Despite CDC Guidance Unchanged; Less Than Two Hours Away From Kickoff At Super Bowl LVI. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 13, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A few months after that. Some of those keys opened a lot of doors and helped me throughout my life are the ones that Congressman Cummings gave me and I think a lot of have received those keys.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So sweet. Thank you so much, Victor, for sharing your heart and for helping to profile the late Congressman Elijah Cummings.

And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta right now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington and we begin with more high-stakes diplomacy with President Biden holding an urgent phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky this morning as the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine, in the White House's words, any day now.

Their nearly one-hour conversation follows the phone call Mr. Biden had yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning of severe costs if he chooses to attack. But top U.S. officials believe this may not stop Russia from making a dangerous move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We have good sources of intelligence and they're telling us that, you know, that things are sort of building now to some sort of crescendo opportunity for Mr. Putin.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In the meantime, the U.S. continues to bolster Ukraine's defenses. The country's top military official announcing that 180 tons of U.S. ammunition arrived today but as Russian forces now surround Ukraine on three sides, multiple countries are urging its citizens to get out while they still can. U.S. officials warning Americans, a rescue will be impossible if the country is under siege.

And CNN has team coverage of this crisis. Alex Marquardt is on the ground in Ukraine and Arlette Saenz is at the White House.

Arlette, let me start with you. What do we know about Mr. Biden's call with Zelensky today? Is the president on the same page As Zelensky when it comes to how this crisis is escalating?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, President Biden tried to make clear in that phone call that the U.S. has solidarity with Ukraine as this threat of a Russian invasion still looms. The president spoke with Zelensky for just under an hour from the presidential retreat at Camp David and the White House released a readout of that discussion saying that President Biden made clear that the United States would respond swiftly and decisively together with its allies and partners to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's borders. Now this conversation with Zelensky follows President Biden's secure call yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. officials has said that was no major breakthrough during that conversation but they added that the president made clear to Putin that there would be swift and severe costs if he moves forward with an invasion.

We know that the United States has been working with allies to craft a sanctions package to implement in the event of an invasion and officials have also pledged increased defense support to Ukraine as well. But this all comes as we have seen a flurry of activities and warning from the White House and top U.S. officials over the course of the past three days.

Today National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told our Jake Tapper that an attack could take place any day, moving up that timeline as U.S. officials has originally believed Putin might way until after the Winter Olympics, but they have now said that that could have much sooner.

The U.S. really engaging in a full-court press at this moment as they are hoping to avoid and deter Russia from invading Ukraine but that diplomatic window is quickly narrowing.

ACOSTA: It sure seems that way, Arlette. And Alex, tell us how things are looking on your end. What are Ukrainian officials saying about this call between Mr. Biden and Zelensky?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, as we reach this crescendo for an opportunity for Russia, to borrow that phrase from the Pentagon, we're hearing a rather remarkable proposal from President Zelensky. He's now inviting President Biden to visit Ukraine. He thinks that this would contribute to a de- escalation, really show that the U.S. is standing side-by-side with Ukraine. He wants Biden to visit as Kyiv ASAP.

I want to read you part of the statement from the president -- Ukraine's office following this phone call between the two leaders. He says, "I am convinced that your arrival in Kyiv in the coming days which are crucial for stabilizing the situation will be a powerful signal and contribute to de-escalation."

Now, Jim, that almost certainly won't happen. We are being told by U.S. officials that that is extremely unlikely.

[16:05:03]

Of course, we are seeing the U.S. get as many Americans out of this country as possible. People who are visiting Ukraine, people who live in Ukraine as well as diplomats are being pulled out. Diplomats who are more core to the mission are being moved outside of the capital of Kyiv. So the idea of sending the president here is essentially from what we understand a non-starter.

Jim, we do understand according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke with our colleague Matthew Chance President Zelensky made other requests in this phone call. Notably, more financial aid and more military aid in the form of sophisticated weaponry. The U.S. and other countries have been pouring all kinds of weapons into Ukraine over the course of the past year. But at the same time Ukrainian military officials say that they need more sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry.

And this request, these requests from Zelensky, Jim, really point to this conundrum that Zelensky has. On the one hand he has to agree with the U.S. assessment that this is a very dire threat from Russia, at the same time we've repeatedly seen him downplaying this threat. As recently as yesterday when talking about this new intelligence from the U.S. side that there could be a Russian invasion in the coming days. He said, well, we need to analyze this information and that he has other information.

So, Jim, we're really seeing these two divergent views between Ukraine and the U.S. still very much on full display, as President Zelensky makes these big asks of the United States -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Alex and Arlette, thank you very much.

I want to bring in former Defense secretary and former CIA director during the Obama administration Leon Panetta.

Mr. Secretary, you know, the president's rhetoric has been pretty consistent throughout all of this whether he's speaking to the American people, Zelensky or Vladimir Putin. Everybody seems to know where Joe Biden stands. On the other side, you know, Putin has sort of kept everyone guessing. I wonder if you could speak to that and I guess, can you speak to what Alex Marquardt was just saying a few moments ago about Zelensky's invitation that Joe Biden come to Ukraine?

I can't imagine that remotely happening. There's no chance of that. LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I agree with you, Jim. Not

based on the kind of intelligence that we're getting. Look, you know, this is -- this is at an interesting point here. We're dealing with Putin, KGB operator, who's used power to get his way almost all of his life. But he's used power usually in the dark and on his terms. Creating lies, creating disinformation. And now we've got an information battle going on.

The Biden administration, I think, has done a wise step in allowing our intelligence officials to be able to present sensitive intelligence on what the Russians are doing so that the whole world knows exactly what's going on. And I think that has the impact of disrupting Russian planning. Particularly when you're presenting all of this information as to what they're doing and what they're planning. They don't like to operate that way. So this is an interesting moment. And it will determine really ultimately how Putin decides to go.

ACOSTA: And isn't there a chance that Putin simply does not care, you know, what the world thinks about what he's going to do and that he is just -- Putin is going to Putin here?

PANETTA: Well, again. Try to get into Putin's head. He's not somebody who's cared a great deal about the rest of the world. He's cared a great deal about power and about Russia. But at the same time I think when it comes to Russia, this has been prolonged. This mobilization that's gone on. He's put a lot of troops out there. And the fact that there's been some hesitancy here create some mixed signals.

Why? Because he knows that indeed it is going to be a heavy price. That Russia's going to pay a heavy price in terms of its economy. In terms of killing Russians in a war. In terms of undermining their ability to be able to distribute oil to the rest of the world in a global economy.

It's going to hurt Russia, and it's going to hurt him. And I really think that he can't just ignore that. He's got an opportunity here to be able to use some leverage to bargain an agreement that deals with some of his security concerns and declare it a victory.

[16:10:03]

I mean, that would be the wiser way for Putin to operate, but as you said, Putin doesn't always think that way, and the greater likelihood is that he's going to move with military action.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I wonder if Vladimir Putin was testing the West with this military buildup? I mean, we saw all the damage that Trump did to NATO, or tried to do to NATO during his presidency, and perhaps Vladimir Putin has been mounting this aggressive buildup surrounding Ukraine on three sides, as we've been showing, you know, on these maps over the last several days just to see what the West would do, to see what NATO would do, and now he is seeing it.

And so, yes, I do want to ask you about what the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier today, said a Russian invasion could occur before the end of the Winter Olympics. He ;aid out what an assault might look like. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If there is a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it's likely to begin with a significant barrage of missiles and bomb attacks. Those are never as precise as the Army -- any army would like them to be and we don't even know how precise the Russian army would like them to be. So innocent civilians could be killed regardless of their nationality.

It would then be followed by an onslaught of a ground force moving across the Ukrainian frontier, again, where innocent civilians could get caught in the crossfire or get trapped in places that they could not move from.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, a couple of things, Secretary Panetta. What do you make of how the Biden administration has been so specific about these scenarios that they see happening with respect to what Putin might do with Ukraine and after that hypothetical first assault that Jake Sullivan talked about would we see, do you think, the type of protracted, massive European war that we haven't seen in generations? Could it unfold like that and be something that is just grinding on for month after month in a way we just haven't seen in a long time?

PANETTA: Well, I'm sure that a lot of what the White House is saying is based on the intelligence that they're getting about Russian preparations. And if DOD is looking at that intelligence based on their planning system, I think they're probably looking at what weaponry is being put into place, what forces are being put into place, where -- and kind of assuming that if it were a full-scale invasion, what the Russians would do.

On the other hand, I think that there's perhaps a stronger possibility that what the Russians will do is some kind of incursion rather than that full-scale invasion that we're talking about. Why? Because if you start using missiles, if you start using ground forces, if you start going into a full-scale war, not only are you killing a lot of Russians, you're killing a lot of Ukrainians. Ukrainians who, by the way, Putin says a part of Russia.

So it makes more sense here based on his prior approach to these issues to do something like a military incursion, even though based on what the Biden administration has said, they would pay a price even for an incursion. So there are a lot of questions here but a fundamental bottom line is that Putin is going to make the decision what the hell happens.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And we won't know what the hell happens after that because who knows? We're sort of on the dark side of the moon, depending on what Vladimir Putin does.

All right. Leon Panetta, the former Defense secretary, former CIA director, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it. Good talking to you, sir. PANETTA: Good to talk to you, Jim.

ACOSTA: And coming up, a Department of Homeland Security warning about the trucker protest in Canada, a copycat movement is in the works. Could it disrupt the Super Bowl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:12]

ACOSTA: Canadian police have been busy today arresting protesters who've been blocking North America's busiest international crossing. Police also seized multiple vehicles that have been parked on the Ambassador Bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is with me now from the Ambassador Bridge.

Miguel, my goodness. The snow is really coming down where you are. What's next in terms of getting this bridge back open?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Just another spring day in Windsor. Well, even if they can get it open the snow might slow things down a little as well. They've got to do some plowing around it. Look, right now anybody that was out there protesting has either been arrested or moved off to the side so they're no longer impeding traffic. Police say they've so far had about 15 arrests. They've towed a few vehicles.

Nobody charged with major crimes. The charges so far have been criminal mischief for those that did not move when police told them to move. The issue now is trying to harden that area and secure that area from the Ambassador Bridge where it lets off once you cross the U.S. into Canada. About three miles then to the 401 Highway here, which is the major transport corridor. That's all sort of a surface road.

There's lots of little roads in there. Police have been putting cement barriers along that. There's a lot of police along that area as well. There are still some protesters who are trying to work their way into the areas of that main thoroughfare but police trying to hold them back right now. The snow, the weather is going to help police certainly at this point as well. We expect to hear from the police chief here in Windsor in a short time.

We think she's going to be able to give us a sense of sort of where they've been. It was a very tough couple of days for police officers. They were taunted for hours by, you know, aggressive protesters who came in and this started off as anti-vaccine, then it was anti-mandate and then it just sort of morphed into a general anti-government protest by many of the people who came here.

[16:20:10]

And we will see. The days and weeks ahead not just here in Windsor but in Ottawa and many, many border crossings in other areas throughout the country now, all facing similar protests in anger. So I think police really wanted to put sort of a clamp down here on Windsor and then move on to other places around the country. Back to you.

ACOSTA: And I know it's cold there. So we won't keep you long, but I want to ask you about this, Miguel. The DHS has warned of similar protests popping up in the United States including at this evening's Super Bowl in Los Angeles. Do we still fear that that could happen? What do we know?

MARQUEZ: There is a lot of concern that that could be the case, but so far those things have fizzled. There hasn't been a large presence at the Super Bowl or around Los Angeles that we know of. There was a truck convoy that was meant to come up from Tennessee to the Peace Bridge near Buffalo, and that border crossing with Canada. That hasn't produced much, but there's a call for a much larger protest that would go toward the nation's capital, towards D.C., around March 1st for the State of the Union. So we will see. I think everyone's on guard at this point -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Miguel, we'll let you get warm. Snow is really coming down there in Windsor, Ontario.

MARQUEZ: We love it.

ACOSTA: Miguel Marquez for us. Thanks so much. I know you do. Appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Coming up, what exactly was in those 15 boxes recovered by the National Archives down at Mar-a-Lago? New details about what Trump was squirreling away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:09]

ACOSTA: We're learning more about the 15 boxes of White House records that the National Archive had to recover from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. It was back in May of last year that the Archives noticed several items were missing from their catalog of Trump White House records.

Things like Trump's infamous Sharpie-altered map of Hurricane Dorian. Who could forget that? Those so-called love letters he exchanged with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the letter that former President Barack Obama left for him on day of his inauguration.

Trump said the boxes taken to Mar-a-Lago all contained items that will be featured in his presidential library someday. That is his claim. He also claimed that papers were given easily and without conflict on a friendly basis. But CNN has learned the standoff got so tense National Archives actually threatened to go to Congress and the Justice Department if they didn't get everything back.

Joining me now CNN contributor and Trump biographic Michael D'Antonio. He's the author of the book "The Truth About Trump."

Michael, I'm sure none of this surprises you especially when Trump says, oh, you know, our conversations with the Archives, they were just peachy. They were just fine. It's like those perfect phone calls with Ukraine and Brad Raffensperger and so on.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and meanwhile we're learning that the former president's aides would scramble to tape together the documents that he ripped up, and they actually came to understand his pattern of tears. Apparently he really liked to tear things into quarters, and so we know that this is a man who's been aggressively trying to cover his own tracks. He doesn't like to leave anything, any document trail behind.

So, of course, he would not have welcomed the National Archives staffers to come to Mar-a-Lago. If he had that attitude, he wouldn't have taken these documents in the first place.

ACOSTA: Very true. And we asked the Trump press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, who's become quite a critic of her former boss about some of this yesterday. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I actually watched him ripping up documents like he would and he would throw some on the floor, and I did watch him one time rip some up and place them in his inside jacket pocket and I remember at the time thinking, I wonder why those went in the pocket and not on the floor? So I mean, perhaps those are the ones that went upstairs to the toilet. I have no idea.

I think the answer, though, is that he was paranoid. He was a very paranoid man. He didn't trust many people. I don't think he trusted much of his staff.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you think about that, Michael? Interesting.

D'ANTONIO: Well, he's very much a paranoid fellow. He wrote in one of his books that it's an advantage to have a little bit of paranoia. And I think he hasn't had a little bit of paranoia. I think he's really been afflicted in a dangerous way by this constant fear of being found out, of his schemes being discovered. And we have to wonder who would be paranoid about their schemes if they didn't have schemes in the first place?

ACOSTA: Right.

D'ANTONIO: I think Miss Grisham also talked about how there really weren't any rules in the Trump White House. That normal regulations and structures for containing people's behavior just weren't in place, and that started at the top with Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: Of course. And CNN's Kate Bennett reported this week that Trump is quietly making millions off of this coffee table book, which I can't believe people are buying, but they're buying. And the book actually features, and you have to see this to believe it, insult- laced captions that described Trump's version of the interactions that he had in Washington. [16:30:003]

On one photo of the late John McCain, he writes, "Asking for a job for his wife. I am smiling but I didn't like him even a little bit." It's sort of low-budget looking. It almost looks like something that, you know, maybe there's a Trump printing press at Mar-a-Lago or something. And then the Nancy Pelosi caption. "She was screaming and shaking like a leaf," Trump writes in this caption. "She's effing crazy." That's a quote there. Hence the name "Crazy Nancy."

I suppose this book does a good job of memorializing his extremely damaged psyche.

D'ANTONIO: Isn't that a fascinating observation, that the artistic product that he creates is actually an accurate self-portrait? This is a very profane person. He lies reflexively. He has no interest in bringing the country together. All he wants to do is make fun of other people and divide us.

And he's going to do this with every action that he takes. I think it's fascinating, too, that he understands that there's no bottom in terms of marketing that he can sell almost anything and it can be to the point of something grotesque. And there will be people in his fan base who will buy it.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, the book looks like the scribblings of a man- child. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about, Michael. Something we've wanted to talk to you about for quite a while. These very aggressive fundraising e-mails he puts out. They would make a hornswoggler at the county fair blush. Here's just one of them.

It says, "For today only, all you have to do is donate any amount and you'll automatically receive a 10X-Impact on your gift. Please contribute any amount immediately to stand with President Trump and claim your Trump cash blitz 10X-Impact."

It's a joke. These e-mails are crafted in a way that sounds like Trump supporters are somehow going to win money, but, of course, that's not how this works.

D'ANTONIO: Well, first of all, I want to compliment you on managing to say hornswoggler.

(LAUGHTER)

D'ANTONIO: I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that word on TV. Congratulations.

ACOSTA: You know --

D'ANTONIO: But you're right.

ACOSTA: You have to reach for the glossary sometimes when dealing with somebody like Trump. I mean, it's just you know.

D'ANTONIO: Well, it is and it's pathetic. You know, he actually what he does is he borrows from the terrible pitches made by televangelists of the past who would say, you know, send me this money, and God will make it so. God will make it so that you get 10 times as much in return. Now all of this is a lie and it actually demonstrates that he has no respect for the people that he's making these pitches to, but they must be effective.

You know, I've heard from other sources that the people who produce these kinds of pitches are told to not be concerned about the factual basis for the claims they make, and only to turn out as many as possible and then they're graded on the return. So there must be some sort of process where they discover that a level of outrageousness will work and then you press that button over and over again.

ACOSTA: No question about it. And the only reason I bring it up is not to poke fun at the former president. It's because he is so clearly taking advantage of his supporters, and I mean, I'm not picking out one e-mail out of, like, 50 that are milder in comparison, Michael. It is on a daily basis that he puts out these ridiculous scam-like e- mails to his supporters to fund raise for what? You know, what is he going to doing? He should announce that he's going to run for president, announce he's going to run president.

But anyway, we'll get to this on the next time we have you on, Michael. But, Michael D'Antonio, appreciate you having the time for us on this Super Bowl Sunday.

D'ANTONIO: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it. We'll mention hornswoggler again next time.

Coming up, more and more states roll back mask rules even as the CDC says it's too soon. What's behind the disconnect? Dr. Jonathan Reiner is making a house call here. He'll be here with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:39:06]

ACOSTA: It will be not only the common Super Bowl souvenir today but also perhaps the most discarded after the game. A KN95 mask. More than 70,000 fans attending the game will be given a mask which they must wear when not eating or drinking. Unlike last year when Super Bowl attendance was limited to just 25,000 people, it's going to be a full crowd this year.

Meanwhile, around the country states are moving to lift mask mandates even though the CDC's guidance remains unchanged. Here's what President Biden said about this apparent disconnect in his pre-Super Bowl interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I committed that I would follow the science. The science says, put forward by the CDC and the federal people, and I think it's probably premature, but it's, you know, it's a tough call.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

[16:40:01]

Dr. Reiner, great to see you. You know, even though these blue states are dropping these mask mandates for schools, citing this decline in infections, you know, we see what's happening at the Super Bowl today. Are they being too risky over at the schools that are doing this? The states that are doing this? Or should the CDC have updated its guidance by now? What are your thoughts?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: No, I think they're being too premature. The United States, although getting better very rapidly, gladly getting better very rapidly, still has a ton of virus. We're averaging now about 178,000 cases per day. Now, our peak a month ago was about 800,000. So we're plummeting which is wonderful. But to give you just -- to put that in context. 178,000 cases per day.

Our (INAUDIBLE) was in June of 2021 when the United States was averaging about 7500 cases a day. So we -- although we're much lower than we were a month ago we're 23 times higher than we were in June of last year. So there are still a tremendous amount of virus. There are still just under 100,000 people hospitalized. So there's a lot of virus in this country. And although I think we're moving towards a much better place it's too soon to drop these mandates in just about every part of the United States.

You know, when you're coming -- when you can see the finish line you want to run through the tape. Not stop before you get there. And I'm concerned that we're going to see a resurgence. Look what happened in Denmark. Denmark 30 days ago dropped all COVID restrictions, and now hospitalizations, cases, and deaths, are rising vertically. And I'm concerned that can happen in this country. We need to be a little bit more patient. We will get there, but it's a little too soon.

ACOSTA: Yes. And parents of children under 5 also got a jolt this week when the FDA and Pfizer halted the fast track to authorization. This delay is going to be about two months. What do you say to parents?

REINER: Hold on. And, you know, I feel your pain. It was the right decision by Pfizer to withhold the submission. Pfizer learned in December that the dose that they picked for the group of kids between 2 years and 5 years was too low. It didn't produce the kind of antibody response that has been associated with sufficient immunity. It turns out that same dose for even the smaller kids between 6 months and 2 years is probably the right dose, but not for the kids between 2 to 5.

So they reconfigured this as a three-dose regimen and they don't have data yet to prove that its effective, and we need to be able to tell parents that the vaccine that we want them to give their children is safe and effective. And just isn't the data for it yet. We will have it probably in April. It was the right thing to do to pull it. It's unfortunate that this was even raised because it continues to sort of paint this picture of a bit of disarray at sort of the highest levels of our public health establishment.

ACOSTA: Right. To get everybody's hopes up in that fashion. Counterproductive to say the least.

REINER: Right.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about this. This is something that's been coming up a lot in conservative media, among Republican members up on Capitol Hill. Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson who served as President Trump's White House physician and worked during the Obama years at the White House, in the White House Physician's Office. He's been going on cable news declaring that Biden needs to undergo cognitive testing. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): I know this is a serious accusation at this particular point but like you I've been saying this since he was Candidate Joe Biden and he is the leader of the free world. He has to be able to -- this job cognitively and mentally, and physically, is very demanding and he's proving to us every single day that he's not up for the job, Sean.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: And that cognitive test, my understanding, and you've described it to me before, is not easy. It's extraordinarily hard. 30 questions if I remember correctly and Donald Trump got all of them right?

JACKSON: That's right. Absolutely. You've got to get 26 on it to be considered normal. I don't think Joe Biden could get anywhere close to that.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you say to that, Dr. Reiner? I mean, it's just very irresponsible but your thoughts?

REINER: So first of all Ronny Jackson is praising the prior president for passing a dementia test. That's not an IQ test. That's a dementia test. One of the questions on that test requires the testee to correctly identify a camel. So congratulations. The former president could correctly identify a camel and a lion and a hippopotamus. Ronny Jackson has never examined Joe Biden.

[16:45:03]

Ronny Jackson is a former doctor not licensed in any state and Ronny Jackson is the same person that called his former commander-in-chief the person who elevated him to flag rank, Barack Obama, he's the one who pulled President Obama a deep state traitor. That tells you I think everything you need to know about Ronny Jackson. ACOSTA: Yes. And Dr. Reiner, you know, the other thing that, and this

has been happening on the far right for some time, the way they delegitimize or attempted to delegitimize Barack Obama with the birther thing. This seems to be the trend on the far right with Joe Biden, delegitimize the current president based on, you know, this cognitive issue which, you know, give me break.

All right, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, appreciate the time.

REINER: My pleasure.

ACOSTA: And coming up, the excitement is building for Super Bowl fans. Our Andy Scholes is live at SoFi Stadium.

Andy, we're talking yesterday about the hot weather that you were expecting to have. How hot is it?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Jim, it actually cooled down a little bit. It doesn't look like we're going to set that record for the hottest Super Bowl in history. It's a beautiful day here in Los Angeles. A little less than two hours now away from kickoff. The fans filing in. The players are out there warming up on the field.

And coming up, we'll show you arguably the greatest arrival in Super Bowl history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:50]

ACOSTA: President Biden addressing the controversy around the lack of black coaches in the NFL. He talked about it in his pre-Super Bowl interview. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I think it should be held to a reasonable standard. And you know, the commissioner pointed out they haven't lived up to what they committed to, and haven't lived up to being open about hiring more minorities to run teams.

The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color as well as so diverse, that there's not enough African-American qualified coaches to, quote, "to manage" these NFL teams? It just seems to me that it's a standard that they'd want to live up to. Just not a requirement of law, but it's a requirement I think of some just generic decency.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president's comments come just two weeks after former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores sued the NFL alleging racial discrimination. The teams named in Flores' lawsuit have denied the allegations and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell vowed to review its diversity equity and inclusion policies. Now to Los Angeles where we are less than two hours away from kick off

of Super Bowl LVI, of this blockbuster showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, with a championship Super Bowl ring and lifetime of bragging rights all on the line.

CNN's Andy Scholes is outside SoFi Stadium. Andy, it's almost time.

SCHOLES: Almost time, Jim. That's right. Fans still filing in right now. The players are already out there on the field warming up, and if you are still trying to decide who you think is going to win this game, I want to show you something. Check out how Joe Burrow arrived at SoFi Stadium just a few hours ago. I mean, can you lose a Super Bowl if you arrive looking like that? I mean, he got the shiny suit, the Walter White from "Breaking Bad" looking hat.

I mean, that is an incredible, incredible outfit.

ACOSTA: Wow.

SCHOLES: Now this is the day Bengals fans have been waiting 33 years for. Cincinnati never won a Super Bowl. They haven't been in the big game since 1989. And you know, they have been through a lot of hard times there in Cincinnati. But we went there to see how they are feeling ahead of today's game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How happy are you, Dad?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Super Bowl LVI.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To see their reactions on social media, to see the emotion and passion around this team, this city is on fire right now for our Cincinnati Bengals. It's awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First thing I did was I called my dad. And I got him crying, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at the AFC Championship game. Cried my eyes out. I'm ready to do it again. Who Dey, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see more people out, more people in their orange and black. More shouting "Who Dey?" than ever before. It is everything. We believe we're ready and it's time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who Dey?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of swagger, a lot of energy, a lot of excitement here in the city. Everybody is wearing Bengal gear. We can't even keep black and orange on the shelves and hangers. It's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Joe Burrow has done that. He's made the Bengals cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The swagger of Joey Bags.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe Burr.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: JB Nine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joey B.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joey Franchise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoking Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't go wrong with Joe Shiesty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shiesty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Shiesty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This start with Joe Burrow. He brings his calm, cool, collected demeanor, and you know what, that transfers to the rest of the team, and weirdly transfers to the rest of the city as well. We're feeling it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This fan base I think is the most deserving fan base in the NFL. What we suffered through we deserve the Super Bowl.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, Jim. And if the Bengals win I bet Super Bowl Joe Burrow is going to be the most worn Halloween costume later this year.

ACOSTA: No question about it. All right. It's almost "Joe Time." All right, Andy Scholes, thank you very much there in L.A. for us. Appreciate the heads up before this kickoff. Can't wait to see the game. We'll talk to you soon.

It's the big question hanging over the Olympics right now.

[16:55:02]

Will Russia's top figure skater get to take the ice again? We're awaiting a verdict on the 15-year-old at the center of a very serious doping scandal.

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ACOSTA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.