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Biden to Discuss Crisis in Ukraine in Call with World Leaders; Blinken Scheduled to Meet Lavrov Next Week in Europe; Fighting Flares in Easter Ukraine's Donbas Region; U.S. VP Harris in Munich for Security Conference; Trumps Could Be Deposed by New York Attorney General; Russian Figure Skater Finishes Off Podium Amid Doping Scandal. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 18, 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]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber live at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every indication we have is they're prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia says it's pulling back forces. We do not see that happen on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be Mr. Putin who will bear the responsibility for the suffering and the immense sacrifice that ensues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: America's top leader is giving direct warnings to Russia's President Putin. It comes as clashes between the Ukrainian armed forces and separatists escalate. We have reports from Washington, London, the Donbas and Moscow.

Plus, a major legal setback for Donald Trump and two of his children. A judge now orders them to testify in New York's investigation into their business practices.

And a shocking loss. The Russian figure skater at the center of a doping scandal stumbles through her routine. We're live at the Olympics ahead.

U.S. President Joe Biden is delivering perhaps his strongest warning yet. That Russia could invade Ukraine within the next several days. He's scheduled to host a call with world leaders in the days ahead to discuss the crisis.

Meanwhile, Russia's military drills just a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine continue to rattle nerves around the globe. Russia says some of the exercises have finished and that its troops are returning to the home bases but the U.S. and NATO leaders remain skeptical. Meanwhile, fighting is flaring between Ukrainian forces and the Russia back separatist in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv says rebels shelled a kindergarten in the Luhansk Region injuring three people and U.S. says it's just this kind of scenario that Moscow may use as a false flag operation to justify an invasion of Ukraine.

And Russia is releasing new videos claiming to show troops wrapping up their military exercises and returning to their home bases. NATO and Western leaders are skeptical and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is sounding the alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: The Russians have all of the forces on the ground that would suggest that they are prepared for an attack any day.

[04:05:00]

Now when that attack will occur, I think only President Putin himself can answer that question. But we see everything that shows that he is ready for such an attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN is covering this major story with correspondents positioned around the globe. We'll hear from Clarissa Ward who visited that kindergarten that was shelled in Luhansk. Our Nic Robertson is live this hour I Moscow. Scott McLean will have a preview of the Munich security conference. And we begin with Phil Mattingly at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Let me be clear. I am here today not to start a war but to prevent one.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dramatic appearance at the United Nations by America's top diplomat.

BLINKEN: This is a moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people.

MATTINGLY(voice-over): Giving a clear window into tensions that U.S. officials believe will imminently give way to a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every indication we have is they're prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): This direct and dire warning from the president of the United States.

BIDEN: My sense is this will happen within the next several days. MATTINGLY (voice-over): Coming as the U.S. waged a full-scale diplomatic and messaging blitz.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We see them add to the more than 150,000 troops that they already have arrayed along that border, even in the last couple of days.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Shelling in the Donbas Region sounding alarms across Western intelligence agencies.

AUSTIN: We've said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict, so we'll be watching this very closely.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But the U.S. on high alert and Biden leveling this allegation.

BIDEN: We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Blinken and White House officials making the decision to travel to the U.N. late Tuesday night. A surprise and high-stakes move on the biggest international stage.

BLINKEN: Russian missiles and bombs will drop across Ukraine.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Designed to explicitly telegraphed Russian intensions.

BLINKEN: Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And force their hand in what may be a last- ditch effort to salvage a diplomatic path.

BLINKEN: Today, we are laying it out in great detail, with a hope that by sharing what we know with the world, we can influence Russia to abandon the path of war and choose a different path while there's still time.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Just hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels to meet with NATO allies listed his own ominous warning.

AUSTIN: We even see them stocking up their blood supplies.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris set to land in Munich for her own high-stakes diplomatic engagements, all as Russia after weeks of silence delivered its response to U.S. security proposals meant to spark diplomatic talks, but by all appearances, instead marking an ultimatum.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Our priority is not seeing isolated issues plucked from the package of measures and then claimed we've resolved all issues. MATTINGLY: And U.S. officials say they are still reviewing 11-page

Russian proposal but there are few if any areas of overlap between the Russian proposal and the U.S. proposal that preceded it. Still, the Biden administration officials say over and over again they need to keep talking. That is critical here given the stakes. In fact, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov asking to meet, to continue those talks next week in Europe.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Scott McLean is live this hour in London with more on the diplomatic efforts underway in Europe. But first are international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Moscow. Nic, so we have Lavrov and Blinken planning to meet again. While Belarus's leader will meet Vladimir Putin. What are we expecting to come from this if anything?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Alexander Lukashenko arrived here in Moscow just a very short time ago. Expected to meet with President Putin. Of course, both their forces joined up in this massive exercise that's been going since the 10th of February. And initially the Belarus authorities have said that they would expect this joint military exercise to last until the 20th of February, so this weekend.

However, in an interview with CNN's Fred Pleitgen yesterday Lukashenko indicated that these joint military exercises would continue as long as they were needed to continue before the troops would go back to base. And then he said they would go back to base.

But it's unclear precisely what we'll hear from president Putin and President Lukashenko. Today they're expected to talk, of course, about the military exercises, of course about their joint security concerns about NATO's disposition in Europe. Economic ties between the two countries as well.

[04:10:00]

It does seem to be one of those meeting to watch to see if there's any language between them that would indicate those joint military exercises totaling, you know, as many as 30,000 troops will be coming to an end soon. And will that be indicative the other Russian military exercises that are going on a Crimea, that are going on in Russia to the south into the east of Ukraine.

So, an important moment to watch. And we've just learned from the state news agency here quoting the Russian foreign ministry that President Putin will attend military exercises -- we don't know where precisely -- military exercises on Saturday, tomorrow. And during those military exercises they will involve the launching or testing and training of ballistic and cruise missiles that will involve forces from the aerospace forces, strategic missile forces and the North and Black Sea fleet. So, you could look at these military exercises that President Putin

will oversee tomorrow as a sort of final big flourish of all of these joint military exercises that have been going on or just part of a continuum. They certainly are the sort of biggest headline event of these massive military exercises so far inasmuch as they're using, you know, the most advanced and biggest strategic weapons in the Russian military arsenal. That is certainly how it's being teed up by Russian state media at the moment.

BRUNHUBER: All right, as we watch that play out. Still on diplomacy, Scott, the U.S. Vice President will be in Munich. I take it the expectations there at that conference are pretty low.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that's fair to say, Kim. Even the Vice President herself, Kamala Harris, seeming to keep expectations low with her tweet that she sent out late last night when she arrived in Germany. Saying she is there to demonstrate the unity of U.S. allies in the face of Russian aggression. The bottom line is I don't think anybody expects Kamala Harris to show up in Germany and suddenly have all of the answers as to how to solve this crisis on the Ukrainian border.

What she will have is some three dozen or so world leaders all anxious to meet with her. We know for sure that she has meetings with the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as the leaders of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well. That is their first ever face-to-face meeting.

She's also going to be giving a moderated talk to the broader conference tomorrow. And her team says that she really has three priorities here in Munich. First to keep an eye on the situation on the ground. And we know as we heard from Nic there, that tensions are rising. Cease-fire violations are becoming more common. Number two, they want to make sure that all of the allies are on the same page as to what their response to Russia will actually be.

And by and large they are with some small outstanding issues as to how exactly to respond. Chief among them perhaps is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. The U.S., the U.K. wants Germany to commit to abandoning that if Russia were to invade. Russia seems to indicate that they're willing to do that but has yet to say that in very plain language.

And the third thing, Kim, is something that we have heard over and over again for the past few weeks and that is the U.S. would prefer a diplomatic solution. But of course, they're ready to respond in the event of Russian aggression. The big problem, the overarching problem in Munich though is that the Russians won't actually be there -- Kim.

All right, thanks so much to Nic Robertson in Moscow and Scott McLean in London. Appreciate it.

Now my colleague Michael Holmes spoke with Robert English, the director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California. And he asked if the threat of Western sanctions would keep Vladimir Putin from moving into eastern Ukraine. Here it is. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, USC: I don't think it's likely he'll risk anything of a magnitude that would trigger those sanctions, right. Meaning it would involve significant loss of life, major violence. But there's a political instead of military move in Putin's deck right now and that is for Russia to recognize as independent the breakaway Donbas and Luhansk regions in Ukraine's East.

So far Russia has not done that. If Russia will were to do that it would be a purely political, diplomatic move. But it would obviously escalate things politically. And Russia would be saying, we've given up on any kind of negotiations. We are now going to create essentially a friendly buffer zone, a proto state that's dependent on us because we can rely on them at least to shield us from NATO advancing into Ukraine. That would be very difficult for the West. Would that trigger sanctions?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: And the European Union's foreign affairs chief says the block has a tough packet of sanctions ready to impose on Russia as soon as they're needed.

A New York judge says former President Donald Trump and his children Ivanka and Don Jr., must sit for depositions into an investigation of their business practices. The state Attorney General is looking into whether they inflated the value of their assets to get loans and claim those assets were worth less to avoid paying more in taxes. CNN's Paula Reid has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The judge in this case concluding that the state Attorney General has a clear right to question principals of a business that she had been investigating especially after she has found, quote, copious evidence of potential crimes.

Now Trump's lawyers have tried to argue that this investigation is politically motivated. They point to comments that the Attorney General made when she was campaigning for the job saying that she wanted to target Trump. But the judge rejected those arguments.

First pointing out that Trump is no stranger to the New York Attorney General's office noting that he engaged in substantial settlements after investigations into his university and his foundation. Also pointing to the fact that the judge said, look, the Attorney General has the same First Amendment right that Donald Trump has on the campaign trail.

The judge also notes that this investigation did not start with personal animus from the Attorney General. In fact, this investigation looking at whether the Trump organization misled about the value of assets that it has to get more favorable terms on loans, insurance, and even to pay lower taxes, this all started when Trump's longtime associate Michael Cohen publicly testified that he believed the Trumps were, quote, cooking the books.

Now the judge also rejected the argument from Trump's lawyers that if he was to sit for a civil deposition, that could potentially expose him in parallel criminal investigations. The judge noting that Trump's other son, Eric Trump, invoked his Fifth Amendment over 500 times during his deposition.

Now the Trumps are expected to appeal this decision. The judge has said that his decision dictates that they must comply with the subpoena over the next three weeks but it's expected the Trumps will ask a stay of that decision while their appeal is pending.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin explains more on the investigation and how the Trumps might respond.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: It's actually very straightforward. This is a legitimate investigation and the Attorney General of New York has subpoena power. She subpoenaed the former president and his two children and they have a choice. They can testify or they can take the fifth.

The problem with taking the fifth is, first of all, it's embarrassing but that's no bar to having to do it. But second, in a civil case as opposed to a criminal case, a jury can draw what's called an adverse inference. If you take the fifth in a civil case, the jury can assume, if it comes to that, that you did something wrong, that there is an incriminating answer there. So that's why the Trump family wants to avoid having to take the fifth, but the answer to that is, too bad. That's what the law is so it's not a surprise that the judge ruled this way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And the former president's long time accounting firm Mazars recently said the last ten years of financial statements it prepared for Trump are unreliable.

All right, still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the Russian skater at the center of the doping scandal ends her Olympic journey with a gut- wrenching finish -- Steven.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Kim, the International Olympic Committee president said he felt disturbed watching 15-year-old Kamila Valieva compete on Thursday. But what upset him even more was how she was treated by the adults on the Russian team afterwards.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: After days of uncertainty, the Olympic medal ceremony for the women's figure skating competition will go ahead after all just hours for now. It would have been canceled had the Russian skater at the center of a doping scandal ended up on the podium. But 15-year-old Kamila Valieva fell multiple times during her performance on Thursday and finished fourth.

Meanwhile, Eileen Gu has just become the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single Olympic games. The American born superstar who is competing for China earned gold in the woman's halfpipe adding to gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.

All right, we're covering the games from every angle here at CNN. Coy Wire joins us with the latest on today's competitions. But first let's bring in Steven Jiang live in Beijing. So, Steven, take us through what happened with Kamila Valieva and the reaction as well.

JIANG: Kim, it was just heartbreaking to watch Valieva compete on Thursday night. Her performance was such a stark contrast from what we saw a little over a week ago, that near perfection she displayed at the team event. That dark cloud of doping allegations seemed to be hanging over not just her but her teammates as well. Even though two of them actually one medals, the tension, the drama, a lot of tears, not just tears of joy from all of these young athletes.

Now the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach actually held a press conference not long ago. He said he felt disturbed watching Valieva compete seeing how much immense mental distress she was under. But he said what upset him even more was how Valieva was treated by the adults on the Russian team afterwards. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS BACH, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: After we saw how she was received by her closest entourage with such what appeared to be a tremendous coldness.

[04:25:00]

It was chilling to see this. Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her. You could feel this chilling atmosphere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIANG: So, like many others, Thomas Bach now turning his fire on the adults surrounding Valieva who are indeed under investigation for their role in these doping allegations. Now Thomas Bach made a point of saying how many lies and excuses about doping he had heard from those adults over the years. Coincidentally, the court of arbitration for sport just released its summary of the hearing on this case last weekend saying how the claims made by those adults not backed by concrete evidence. So, Kim, this saga is obviously far from over. BRUNHUBER: Absolutely, we'll keep following it. Steven Jiang in

Beijing. Thank you so much.

Coy Wire joins us now from the mountains where the action is happening. So Coy, you sat down with Team USA's ice dance bronze medalists earlier. What did they tell you?

CORE WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Yes, Kim, Team USA's Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue, to time Olympians, they told me, Kim, that, yes, they are disheartened. The scandal has cast a dark cloud over their sport. But they also showed such compassion for the 15-year-old Kamila Valieva and her teammates who were in tears after that individual competition. Hubbell and Donohue they will take home a bronze medal from the ice dance competition. But they were also part of that team event in which Americans won silver. And they felt sad for the skater. She won't take a medal home while Valieva's doping investigation is ongoing. Here's a sneak peek of that talk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MADISON HUBBELL, OLYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2022 AMERICAN ICE DANCER: I don't think that it's fair to any of the athletes who medaled that we have to, you know, forego that Olympic moment standing on the medal stand and it is -- it's hard to go home empty handed. We have our empty medal box waiting in our room and we have no answer as to what the time line could be for that issue to be resolved.

WIRE: Are you being given anything from that team event to walk away with? Some sort of place holder prize or is it just an empty box?

ZACHARY DONOHUE, OLYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2022 AMERICAN ICE DANCER: The IOC was very generous in extending to us Olympic torches, which we definitely considered to be an honor. But we have a whole team of athletes that have finished competing and are, you know, staring looking at an empty box, and the unknown of the future and missing out on that Olympic moment. Even in the future if we're able to have an amazing experience. It's not at the Olympic games. It's not for the whole world to see. It's not, you know, the true culmination of their hard work and effort, blood, sweat and tears.

HUBBELL: We appreciate the fact that Thomas Bach, you know, took time out of his schedule upon our request to, you know, mainly the point was to hear our perspective as athletes, to hear that Team USA was still craving that medal ceremony. That we wanted a resolution that would result in us receiving our medals here in Beijing.

But you know, we didn't leave the meeting feeling I don't think any better about the situation. But at least, you know, we had our chance to kind of say what it feels like to be an athlete in our shoes. And hopefully, you know, we all agreed as a team that we want to push for change and we want to continue to voice our opinion and use our platform to push for, you know, as much as we can a clean sport, fair play and, you know, always looking to improve the sporting world and the Olympic spirit.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WIRE (on camera): Team USA's Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue, Kim, compassion, understanding and concern for the integrity of their sport and of the Olympic spirit, Kim. A profound perspective shared by so many of the athletes here at these Beijing games.

BRUNHUBER: Really impressing to hear their nuanced perspective on that. Really appreciate you bringing that interview to us. Coy Wire, thanks so much.

All right, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, states across the U.S. look ahead to the next phase of the pandemic amid falling cases. But some experts are say they should slow down and see what happens. And parts of Asia battling the rise of COVID cases is Omicron refuses to subside. We'll have the latest and a live report from Seoul just ahead. Stay with us.