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Russian Figure Skater Kamila Valieva Can Compete; Rams Rally Past Bengals to Win Super Bowl LVI; Biden Assures Ukraine U.S. Will Take Swift Action if Russia Invades; Gas Prices Spike to Highest Level Since 2014. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Monday, February 14th. It's Valentine's Day. It's 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Thanks so much for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We begin this morning with brand-new developments at the Olympics. Kamila Valieva is in. The teenage Russian figure skating star now cleared to compete in the Beijing games following a test sample from December that showed traces of a banned performance enhancing drug. CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan live in Beijing. Christine, what was the basis for this ruling?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Basically, Christine and Laura, it was that she is a protected athlete as a minor, 15 years old, which is -- she gets a bit of a pass, so to speak, which, of course, people are furious about. And then also that she didn't have time, in the amount of time from the test on Christmas day, December 25th, till it was found that it was a positive in early February during the games, she didn't have time to mount a defense, is what they said.

Now, you can imagine how this is being treated around the world by athletes who have spent their lives fighting for fair play and for doping to be eradicated and the anti-doping efforts are extreme. Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Michelle Kwan, so many athletes have fought their entire careers, how this is exploding and in a negative way.

But that's the decision. She will skate, guaranteeing the story just moves on at a record pace for the women's short program Tuesday. The women's long program Thursday. She's expected to win the gold medal. That doesn't mean she'll keep it. There could very well be another hearing from the court of Arbitration for Sport on the issue, the merits of the case which could take months, and at some point, a gold medal could be taken away as well as the team medal. But as of right now, she's in, she's skating and it's just going to be fascinating.

ROMANS: I know. So, Christine, Valieva was a -- she's a member of the Russian Olympic Committee of figure skating team. Does this decision mean that the team gets to keep its gold medal?

BRENNAN: Right now, they do. And again, I know this can be very confusing for people. They're two separate competitions, of course. The Russians came in first in that team competition, the U.S. second, Japan third, Canada fourth. And it is very likely that that will also be part of that new decision, the CASS hearing that could, again, take months. So, you could have a scenario where they could give out the medals here and then, say in June or July, as ridiculous as this sounds, a FedEx box could appear at everyone's home in the United States with their gold medal.

If in fact, the Russians after this has really been examined -- not the rushed hearing we just had now, over a very small specific part of the case, the Russians allowing her to compete. But the entire case if it's looked at of her positive test, then you could have those medals switching hands. And that happens in the Olympics a lot. With urine tests that are examined later, that than athletes lose their medals, and something arrives someone and they open a box on the kitchen table, and yippee I'm the gold medalist. Which is very, very unfortunate.

And I'm also, by the way, reporting that the U.S. may well want to have that medal ceremony and accept the silver medal just so the athletes can have the experience, they can have the moment. Knowing, in fact, that while Russia would then be on the top rung with the gold medal, knowing, in fact, someday in the next few months the results might change, the result might change. So, that's the new development this morning as well.

ROMANS: And a reminder, Russia can't even compete under its own flag because the doping is so endemic in its system. As a parent of a 15- year-old, the idea of a 15-year-old athlete testing positive for -- the whole thing is just wild. All right, Christine, thank you so much. We'll talk soon.

JARRETT: All right. We have new Super Bowl champs this morning. The L.A. Rams rallying late to beat the Bengals for a true Hollywood ending. Coy Wire has the this morning's bleacher report. He is live for us in Beijing. Coy, I'm sure you could feel it even there where you are.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laura, I can attest for my first Super Bowl Monday morning experience, there was still a buzz more than 6,000 miles away here at the Beijing games. Really exciting game. Rams having to overcome all kinds of adversity, star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. driver down with an injury, they couldn't really run the ball. But the dug deep and said, hey, we have plenty of other big stars that could come through when it mattered most.

[04:05:00]

Rams down 20-16 in the fourth quarter. And Matthew Stafford and the Rams find a way to get the ball into the hands of that man Cooper Kupp five times on the final 15 play drive. They cap it off with Kupp's second touchdown catch of the night. Kupp was named MVP of the game.

But it was that monster Aaron Donald ceiling the deal. He would blast through that offensive line, forcing Bengal's quarterback Joe Burrow to throw it away on fourth and one. Burrow getting sacked a Super Bowl record seven times. Rams win 23-20.

The Pennsylvania kid, Aaron Donald, played all eight years of his career with the Rams. And if you want to know how difficult it is to climb to the top of the mountain in the NFL, through the pain, sacrifice, disappointment, and you want to see how much it means to these players, watch Aaron Donald's reaction afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON DONALD, LOS ANGELES RAMS DEFENSIVE TACKLE: I'm just so happy. I wanted this so bad. I dreamed this, man. I dreamed this. And it's like, it's surreal. Look at this. Look at this, man. I feel amazing. It's amazing. I feel great.

SEAN MCVAY, LOS ANGELES RAMS HEAD COACH: Those guys just did a great job. They took over that game. The offensive line did a great job protecting. You knew we were pretty much throwing it. That second down and 2 run where Cam Akers got us the first down to the 8-yard line was big. But so many contributions. It's about the team, I'm so happy for these players. World champs, baby!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Rams fans celebrating in the streets of L.A. It's the team's first title in the 55 years that they've been playing in the city of angels. And the fans, they're on cloud nine, baby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was awesome, man. I love the Rams. I'm so happy that they won.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's awesome, oh, my god. We needed this. You know, the pandemic brought us down so bad. People weren't even coming together. Now we're together, we're happy and we can go on and still fight. Thank you, Rams. You know what, you guys worked really hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: What a season. Capped off like that and, Laura and Christine, guess what, found some pizza and wings here in China, to do Super Bowl Monday proper. It was great. And Laura, I want to say to both of you, happy Valentine's Day from China.

JARRETT: Thank you very much. I'm glad you were able to get a taste of home there. Appreciate it. ROMANS: Pizza and wings. Super Bowl Monday in China. All right, Coy.

All right, President Biden now weighing in the lack of black head coaches in the NFL. In an interview with NBC that aired during the Super Bowl. Biden was asked whether the NFL should not held to a higher standard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, 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 to hiring more minorities to run teams. And whether or not, you know, Goodell says they're going to take a look at whether they can meet the standard. And the standard was set by, you know, someone who said this is something we should do, think about it.

I think 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 manage these NFL teams. It just seems to me that it's a standard that they'd want to live up to. It's not a requirement of law, but a requirement I think of just generic decency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Earlier this month the former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores accused the NFL of racial discrimination in its hiring practices. There are currently only two black head coaches in the league.

JARRETT: Well, it was a legendary night at the Super Bowl in L.A. in more ways than one. Some big names in hip-hop headlining the halftime show. Perhaps the most talked about moment, though, during Eminem's performance.

There he is, you can see the rapper taking a knee in apparent show of solidarity, of course, with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other players who kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality and other forms of social injustice. An NFL spokesman said reports that Eminem kneeled in defiance of the league are false. He said they were aware he was going to do it. There had been reports that they pushed back hard on him. But he went ahead and did it anyway.

ROMANS: Overall, a night of nostalgia. Especially for '90s.

JARRETT: '90s house party.

ROMANS: Go Gen X. It was also showcase of the Gen X as well there.

Just ahead, President Biden promising swift and decisive action if Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine.

JARRETT: Plus, the surging price of gas. Why it could get worse before it gets better. ROMANS: And a border blockade broke in but the drama far from over at

the northern U.S. border.

[04:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: President Biden assuring the president of Ukraine that the United States will take swift and decisive action against Russia if it moves ahead with an invasion. The two leaders spoke for about an hour on Sunday.

We have two reports for you this morning starting with CNN's Sam Kiley live for us in Ukraine. Sam, good morning, we understand President Zelensky had some specific requests for President Biden during their call. What more do you know?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the swift and decisive action that the United States and, indeed, the United States allies and NATO across Europe have been talking about is sanctions.

[04:15:00]

Now, in the past President Zelensky has asked for preemptive sanctions to prevent an invasion, saying that sanctions against Russia that followed an invasion would be too little too late.

Now President Zelensky is also asking for more lethal aid, 180 tons of ammunition did arrive from the United States in the last 48 hours. The United Kingdom and United States have been supplying infantry-level armor killing missiles such as Javelin and NLAW. But they don't have any serious air defenses. They're very short, other than some stingers that have come in from Lithuania on the ability to protect themselves against air assault.

All of this adding up to what they essentially indicated since 2014 since the Russian-backed invasion there of Crimea and of the Donbas region in the east, pusillanimous reaction from the West. Very strong reluctance in the West until very recently to supply any kind of lethal aid to Ukraine.

But they do understand in the Ukraine they're going to have to fight their own war if it comes to it here because the only kind of NATO deployment on the ground here has not only been ruled out, but Britain, Canada and the United States have all -- are withdrawing or have withdrawn the military training teams, relatively small numbers they had here to start with.

But we're only 50 miles from more a Russian division of heavy armor, surface to surface missiles, tanks, many tens of thousands of infantry gathering at Belgrade about an hour and a half's drive from here where I am in Kyiv. And you wouldn't know it, though, here in Ukraine that there is a fear of invasion. And that's because the president here, Mr. Zelensky, has been insisting that panic serves to reinforce the campaign strategy of the enemy and does nothing to reassure his own people. JARRETT: All right. Sam Kiley in Ukraine for us this morning. Thank

you.

ROMANS: So here in the U.S. a stark warning from National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We cannot perfectly predict the day, but we have now been saying for some time that we are in the window and an invasion could begin, a major military action could begin by Russia in Ukraine any day now. That includes this coming week before the end of the Olympics. The way they have maneuvered things in place makes it a distinct possibility that there will be major military action very soon. And we are prepared to continue to work on diplomacy, but we are also prepared to respond in a united and decisive way with our allies and partners should Russia proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Let's go to Moscow. Frederik Pleitgen is there for us. Fred, is there any sign that the Kremlin is interested in a diplomatic solution at this point?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kremlin certainly said it's interested in a diplomatic solution. The Kremlin says that they are working with the United States to try and achieve a diplomatic solution. However, they also say that so far, they believe that the U.S. is not taking into consideration the Kremlin's demands that it has made so far.

Of course, the big thing that happened over the weekend, Christine, was that talk between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But on Saturday the phone conversation that they had, with both sides, by the way, described as being businesslike. President Biden obviously saying that the U.S. will move swiftly and decisively if there is a further invasion of Ukraine.

The Russians for their part, and this came from a senior aide to Vladimir Putin after the call. His name is Yuri Ushakov. He described was currently coming out of U.S. is an air of hysteria, as he put it. That's what the Russians keep saying. But he also said that the Russians obviously have put forward those demands to the United States, security demands as they call them, which include pulling out NATO forces from Eastern European countries.

But especially -- and this is really the core of things -- not allowing Ukraine to join NATO and having written guarantees that that's not going to happen. Of course, the U.S. has rejected that outright. But the Russians are saying they said they want some sort of answer to those demands in written form, and they say that they really haven't gotten that in a satisfactory form yet.

And so right now it certainly seems diplomacy is very difficult. At the same time, while the Russians are saying they have no interest or no desire to invade Ukraine, at the same time we just heard it there from the National Security Adviser that the U.S. says the posture that the Russians currently have on the borders with Ukraine is one that indicates that they could invade any time.

And then also if you look at some of the things that are currently happening, certainly are things to take note of. There's gigantic military maneuvers going on right now with Russian and Belarusian forces in Belarus on the border with Ukraine, and massive naval drills also in the Black Sea very close to Ukraine as well.

So, the Russians certainly doing some saber rattling there and apparently moving more forces toward the border with Ukraine while at the same time they claim that they are still very much interested in diplomacy, and certainly, wants diplomacy to succeed. And saying that any sort of notion that they want to invade Ukraine is, as they put it, hysteria despite the fact that you do have a very, very large military force now right on the borders with Ukraine -- Christine.

[04:20:00]

ROMANS: Yes, you know, Fred, it's so interesting because the Russian head game is that the U.S., NATO and its allies are somehow the aggressor here. But you look at the map and you can see where Russian forces are amassed. And these demands from the Russians, it's interesting because, you know, the Russians sort of portray the U.S. as the aggressor here. But NATO, you know, Ukraine is not even close to being admitted into NATO yet. That's something that's years away, isn't it, if we continue at this current pace.

PLEITGEN: Years away if at all. I mean, that's one of the things that the U.S. and other NATO members have been saying. Is that at this point in time, it's not only the fact that Ukraine obviously has a territorial conflict going on, on its territory. I mean, they have Russian-backed separatist. And one of the clauses of NATO is that no member will be admitted to NATO if it has a territorial dispute or any sort of thing of that nature going on at the present time that it wants NATO membership. So right now, it wouldn't even fulfill those criteria.

But at the same time also, the U.S. has said -- President Biden has said that Ukraine is nowhere close to achieving member NATO -- of even being in the realm of having that be a relevant discussion. So, you're absolutely right. I mean, it is certainly something that's not up for discussion right now.

But one of the things the Russians have said -- and I think this is interesting -- is they said that they believe that de facto Ukraine is already, as they put it, being put into the infrastructure of NATO, with more NATO forces conducting drills there, the U.S. and Ukraine conducting drills. So, there is a concern the Russians put forward whether or not that's valid is obviously completely a different matter -- Christine.

JARRETT: All right, Fred Pleitgen for us. Just a lot to unpack there. Thank you. Nice to see you.

PLEITGEN: Yes. ROMANS: All right, just ahead how a flight attendant used a coffeepot

to tame an unruly passenger.

JARRETT: And why some call this year's game the crypto bowl.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: More bad behavior in the unfriendly skies. An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., diverted to Kansas City on Sunday because of an unruly passenger. And eyewitnesses tell CNN the passenger attempted to get into the cockpit but he was subdued by several other passengers and the flight attendant using a coffeepot to hit him over the head. The plane landed safely and the FBI confirms it has that passenger in custody.

JARRETT: The average price of a gallon of gas just hit an eight-year high. And some analysts believe there's a good chance it will climb to an all-time high this year. CNN's Gabe Cohen has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Add gas prices to the list of surging costs weighing on Americans' wallets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The price has been a little bit more each time.

COHEN (voice-over): The national average now around 3.44 a gallon, up more than a dollar from a year ago, and the highest since 2014.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It changes the way I pump gas.

COHEN (voice-over): And it's only getting worse approaching the record national average of $4.11.

COHEN: Do you think we could hit that record in the months ahead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have a very good chance.

COHEN (voice-over): It's an issue of supply and demand dating back to the start of COVID. Just look at this roller coaster chart of U.S. gas prices over time. In March 2020 prices plummeted. Americans weren't on the road. Oil producers, including OPEC, cutback on investments and operations. They had nowhere to store extra oil.

HELIMA CROFT, GLOBAL HEAD OF COMMODITY STRATEGY, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS: They laid off employees. They didn't work their rigs.

COHEN (voice-over): When the vaccines rolled out, demand for fuel skyrocketed, more than experts expected. And the oil industry didn't have the supply. They are still playing catch up.

MIKE SOMMERS, PRESIDENT AND CEO AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: You can't just turn on a spigot. These are long-cycle projects. COHEN (voice-over): So, gas prices have been surging for 14 months.

Only briefly dipping during Omicron. Demand is back at pre-pandemic levels, even AAA can't explain that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to kind of figure it out right now.

COHEN (voice-over): And the conflict on the Ukrainian border is adding a new strain. Russia is the world's second largest oil producer. If the crisis escalates, JPMorgan says oil prices could soar from $91 a barrel to $120.

CROFT: If we were to see Russia potentially withhold energy exports, the question would be who could make up for that.

BIDEN: I'm going to work like the devil to bring gas prices down.

COHEN (voice-over): It's a huge political problem for the Biden administration, which says it's now engaging with oil producing countries to increase production, preparing to go after firms that manipulate prices, and considering dipping back into the strategic petroleum reserve. In November, they announced the release of 50 million barrels from that supply.

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: It resulted in very little -- more like negligible impact.

CROFT: At this price point you'll start to see more production come back. But there's still a gap that needs to be filled.

COHEN CULVER (voice-over): One source of hope, new talks with Iran over a nuclear deal. If that gets done, Western companies could start buying more Iranian oil. But as of now, oil prices are expected to keep rising for months, adding fuel to inflation on everything from groceries to store goods, and driving price hikes at the pump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just my car. It's every single aspect of my life is impacted by gas prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Gabe, thank you so much for that.

Up next, how the costly blockade at the U.S./Canadian border was broken.

JARRETT: And Vice President Kamala Harris gets ready for a new overseas mission. That's next.