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Biden On Spy Balloon: "We're Going To Take Care Of It"; Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted Flying Over North Carolina; Extremist Groups Plot To Attack America's Power Grid; Soon: FBI To Search Pence's Home, Office For Classified Materials; Palestinian Man Shot By Israeli Military In The West Bank Friday. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired February 04, 2023 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:59:44]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

New details today about that suspected Chinese spy balloon, making its way across the U.S. And just moments ago, President Biden reacting to a question about what the U.S. is going to do about it.

[12:00:00]

We'll take you to the White House for that.

But first, cameras from one CNN affiliate, showing the balloon traveling over North Carolina this morning.

It was first spotted over Montana. That was Wednesday. China claims it's a civilian research vessel that blew off course. But the Pentagon says it is being used for surveillance.

CNN has reporters around the globe, following the developments. Selina Wang is in Beijing, Diana -- Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon. Let's first go to Arlette Saenz at the White House.

Arlette, what is the president saying?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Fred, President Biden offered his first comments on the situation regarding that Chinese spy balloon just moments ago, saying that they are prepared to take care of it.

Of course, President Biden has been receiving briefings since Tuesday, including potential options relating to how they could exactly address this plane.

And here is how he answered reporters' questions as he landed in Syracuse moments ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to take care of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So, very briefly there, you heard President Biden say that we are going to take care of it.

Now, officials here at the White House say that the president is consistently being briefed on the various options that they have been presented.

One of those options was the possibility of shooting down this plane. That is something that they have not ruled out. But previously, as he was presented that option, he was warned about the potential impact it could have on the ground, shooting the balloon up in the sky and the potential debris and the fallout it could have, and the impact it could have here on the ground and affecting people.

So, we will see what else the White House and potentially Pentagon has to say later today, regarding this balloon. As you mentioned, it has been seen over North Carolina, potentially heading more towards the East Coast.

But this certainly represents just another inflection point and tension point with China, as the U.S. is confronting how exactly to address this balloon.

WHITFIELD: Thank you, Arlette. And Oren. So, as the Pentagon revealing in any fashion, how just quoting the president, how they're going to take care of it.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PPENNTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Pentagon, so far, today quiet about what its plans may be. We know they've certainly been involved in the options, or at least the evaluation of the options to this point when President Joe Biden asked what his military options were when this balloon first entered over U.S. airspace.

It was the Pentagon, and going all the way up to General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who recommended against shooting it down, because of the potential risk to people and property below.

But having been here all morning, we know there are senior Pentagon officials in the building today. I don't need to tell everyone watching. It is a Saturday. So, that is unusual. And we're waiting to see what options there are moving forward.

Obviously, if the reason you didn't shoot it down overland was because of the risk of people and property. That risk no longer there when this floats out over the water later on today.

And we've been tracking it based on sightings from where it was over western Tennessee, towards central and moving towards eastern Tennessee today. So, we'll keep watching it and wait for an update on what the possibility is going forward here. And what the decision and when that decision is finally made about what to do with this balloon.

Pending on watching this very closely, they said yesterday they were tracking it continuously. I will point out they said, it does not give the Chinese any surveillance or intelligence gathering capabilities above and beyond the spy satellites they already have.

So, that the decision was made to leave this in the air for now. But Fredricka, we'll let you know if the, for now, changes on that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Oren, thank you so much.

Dianne, to you. You're in North Carolina, where people have seen that balloon hovering and moving. What are you seeing?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Both me and the balloon in North Carolina today, Fred. Look, there have been sightings starting in Asheville, North Carolina to the west of where we are in Charlotte this morning.

Around 8:45, you've almost been able to chart the balloons track through the skies of the Tar Heel State. With all of the photos that are flooding, social media, some of them in really high resolution, showing this surveillance balloon through the skies coming into the Charlotte area in the late 9:00 a.m. through the 10:00 a.m. hour.

Look, people have been posting it. The people who see it very well also talking about planes that they've seen following this around there as well.

Look, some of the police departments a bit tongue-in-cheek, but also warning people, look, we knew that this was the path that was going to take, judging from what we were seeing it do. And so, please do not call 911 and report that you've seen this.

Also, tongue-in-cheek from Gastonia Police Department, a little west of us here, asking people to please not shoot at the balloon.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

GALLAGHER: To please not try and bring the balloon down yourself.

We expect it to continue. Again, we're not really sure where it's going to go. But if it continues on the trajectory that it's on right now, potentially through the -- heading east here in North Carolina.

[12:05:00]

And you can see the skies are very clear. It's cold, but the skies are very clear. So, people are getting a good look out through maybe the Wilmington, North Carolina area, maybe a little bit north of that throughout the day.

Again, Fred, I can tell you, social media, absolutely abuzz with people posting very clear pictures, actually, of this balloon here. WHITFIELD: Yes.

I mean, it's extraordinary, you can --

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: But again, don't call 911 and don't shoot at it.

WHITFIELD: Right. I love that instruction too. Yes, you got to -- you got to lay it out there for people. Don't try to take matters into your own hands here.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But, you know, you can see this with the naked eye. People using their, you know, cell phones to take pictures.

I mean, it's extraordinary. Dianne, keep us posted. Appreciate that.

GALLAGHER: Some pictures better than others. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Right, exactly. But, you know, extraordinary nonetheless.

GALLAGHER: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's go to Beijing now.

Selina, what is the government saying? I know you reported earlier that it is exhibiting or conveying that it is embarrassed, but what is it going to try to do?

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, look, China is just doubling down on the claim from them that this is just a weather balloon that's gone off course.

The Pentagon, of course, completely rejecting that claim. But what is extraordinary is that the Chinese government is expressing regret. That's extremely rare. It's a big shift from the normal playbook of hitting back or denying what the U.S. has said.

So, China's Foreign Ministry said, "It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes. Affected by the Westerlies, and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace."

Now, the decision making in the Chinese government is a black box. It's extremely opaque, but clearly they're trying to de-escalate the situation, they're trying to lower the temperature.

There was another statement today from the foreign ministry that accused some politicians and media in the US. .for hyping up the incident to "attack and smear" China.

There is also an editorial in state media asking the question of why China would be clumsy enough to rush spy balloons into U.S. airspace, when it has more advanced reconnaissance satellites?

So, really, we're left reading the tea leaves, left with this mystery why Beijing let this happen. Was it deliberate? Was it an accident?

But as you said, either way, this is embarrassing for Beijing. It derails that highly anticipated meeting of Secretary of State Antony Blinken coming to Beijing. That Beijing had been gearing up for months for.

Even though there were low expectations for any concrete outcomes from Blinken's trip to China, the whole point of this trip was to put the guardrails on the relationship.

This event only highlights how much distrust there is between both sides and why a lot of experts say communication and a face to face meeting is more important than ever.

And it's important to note that it's not actually in Beijing's best interest for this meeting to be postponed. This was supposed to be a part of China's reopening to the world after ending zero-COVID.

China has been on this charm offensive. They want to improve ties with the U.S. reengaged with officials, and really move their attention and focus on boosting its damaged economy here at home, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Selina Wang. Thanks to all of you. Oren Liebermann, Arlette Saenz, and Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

All right. For more now on this, let's bring in CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, good to see you. So, President Biden says, you know, we're going to take care of it. What are the options?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: OK. So, the options now are pretty soon, where we are going to assume that it's heading towards our shoreline. And once it passes, remember, we've got lots of things near the shoreline: recreational areas, ship passages. So, we're not going to do it the second it hits the shoreline.

The options are much greater than they were three days ago. So, all of this shoot it down over U.S. -- the U.S. homeland was just so absurd from any perspective of a risk calculation.

So, there is -- the one is a shoot it down, two is do we -- would we have the capacity to bring it down? It's going to have a lot of intelligence in terms of what we could learn about China's capacity. What happened with the balloon?

Remember, this balloon is like a misnomer. This thing is huge. It's cargo. It's just about three school buses, let alone the balloon.

There is a third possibility that, in my discussions with military folks is, you know, look, China still has operational control over this thing. It's maneuvering it hopefully to the shoreline. With whether it has a self-detonation capacity, the Chinese do not want us to take possession of this.

We don't know. And so, I think Biden's lack of clarity is probably smart at this stage.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So, that latter, you're talking about some possible cooperation with China. Because if they can indeed control it, then, you know, they're going to have to continue to take control.

KAYYEM: Right.

WHITFIELD: But then, that second option that you talked about, when you said, you know, aside from shooting it down, taking it down, how do you do that?

I mean, you can't help but envision is there some kind of, you know, way to have a net, you know, that is able to, you know, grab hold the by use of, you know, some fighter jets.

KAYYEM: No.

WHITFIELD: But, I mean, that's just my ridiculous thinking.

[12:10:01]

But how -- what are the options?

How do you bring it down?

(CROSSTALK)

KAYYEM: No, no, no. It tells -- it's -- no. It's -- look.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: It's not ridiculous?

KAYYEM: I mean, this is weird, and so, I don't know, I mean, I have some background in this.

WHITFIELD: OK.

KAYYEM: Look, we could jam -- we could likely jam China's capacity to control the balloon. Right? So, you know, there are -- so, then, they lose operational control of it. And we, then, could potentially bring it down.

I don't know how safe that would be. You know, I know people are talking about, you know, getting a plane to put it on a hanger, that's really hard to do. You just want to bring this thing down safely or detonate it high enough, so that when it comes down, it's going to hit, you know, ocean, which is much better than all the people clamoring for this you know, shootout over the U.S. homeland.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KAYYEM: I mean, it was just like, OK. And then, what are you going to tell the citizens who've lost life and home? I mean, it's --

So, in some ways, it's just -- it was a patient strategy. We all know how this is going to end. China is not going to get this balloon back. We don't know if it ends with our detonation, or bringing it down, or China making an assessment that they are going to self-detonate this thing, and make sure that we can't learn anything from it.

So, this will be an interesting day. But one, in which, I think cool heads in terms of waiting, the military's recommendation to Biden was absolutely correct.

We are now near the shoreline. That's what we needed.

WHITFIELD: So, help us better understand all the components that are being considered in terms of what is most valuable, you know, bringing it down in a capacity where you can really evaluate.

Meaning, you know, U.S. intelligence, scientists can really evaluate the components. What -- you know, what is this consist of? What are the sensors all about, you know, as James Clapper was talking about earlier, you know.

Or is there greater value in just simply destroying it?

I mean, they are weighing those things. I mean, you just kind of, you know, hinted at that. How is that conversation? How is that evaluation taking place? And who would be involved in that.

KAYYEM: Well, they've -- yes.

So, the valuation is going to be based on our capacity. Do we actually have the capacity to bring this thing down safely? Or is it such a menace, you -- you're basically just making a risk calculation at the stage, maybe there's something you can learn by a more risky endeavor, but you're just going to offset it by we just want to get rid of this thing.

I have to assume and Director Clapper mentioned as well, you know, that they've gotten some and -- the Chinese have gotten some intelligence that there's some sort of live feed going on. We don't know, its capacity.

But look, this is -- this is, this was not -- this was an aggressive posture by the Chinese. It is not at all clear. They are trying to I guess, put it this way, they are trying to de-escalate this. We should let them --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: After the fact.

KAYYEM: Yes, after the fact. We should let them de-escalated it. Because look, the Chinese-U.S. relationship is going to have a lot of hot moments.

It is incumbent on the United States to do everything it can to ensure that those hot moments, what the military calls kinetic action, do not happen on U.S. soil. And that to me is, is really the key part of what happened this week.

Whatever happens offshore is better for U.S. citizens, and of course for the U.S.

WHITFIELD: So, you really are underscoring the importance of patience. When you say, you know, letting China giving them the leeway to deescalate.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYYEM: Yes. Right.

WHITFIELD: I mean, that is striking, because we've heard the impulse of many who were saying no, you know, be aggressive, go after it, take it down.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYYEM: I know. I know. I know.

WHITFIELD: But you're saying, patience is more valuable than anything right now. Why do you feel so strongly about that?

KAYYEM: It's a strategy. I mean, yes, it's a strategy.

I mean, look, our options for the last 2-1/2 days were shooting this thing over U.S. citizens. Like, this, to me strikes me as not a good solution. It gives China, actually, it would have given them a lot of P.R. Look at these silly Americans, shooting something because of Twitter hysteria.

Look, I wrote about this in the Atlantic. This is -- this is a -- time is a strategy. Right?

Because you want to give Chinese -- the Chinese the opportunity to deescalate. The U.S., we don't want to escalate because it's over our homeland.

And now, we'll see what happens offshore. We call it in disaster management, like just extend the runway, take a deep breath, because there's going to be more options available over time. And as we're seeing probably by this afternoon, those options will be more available to the White House in the military. And then they'll make a calculation of what the best move is.

But may -- I have to just say that the idea that simply because some of these areas are not overly populated, and therefore, we should -- we should -- I'm kind of laughing because, first of all, there's things called wind currents that bring, you know, large things to places we don't know.

[12:15:00]

It's a calculation and the -- and the administration made the right calculation. So, don't risk U.S. citizens when it's unnecessary.

WHITFIELD: OK, Juliette Kayyem, you just lowered my blood pressure.

KAYYEM: Oh, that's what I'm here for.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

KAYYEM: Come Saturday's for you.

WHITFIELD: I'm feeling better.

KAYYEM: But, you know, I mean, no -- I mean, look, look, this wasn't good. I'm not -- I'm not saying that this was good. This was an aggressive action.

But as the responsible party in this, we just need to just buy more time. And I do think, you know, we'll be back on later this afternoon or tomorrow with a very different story and more options to the U.S.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, we are all on the edge of our seats. I mean, what is next? This is -- this is an incredible mystery underway.

KAYYEM: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Or taking flight, I should say.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much.

WHITFIELD (voice over): All right. Still ahead, life threatening temperatures setting in across the Northeast today as an arctic blast barrels through bringing dangerous conditions to millions of people. The latest track next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD (on camera): The Northeast dealing with brutally cold temperatures today. More than 15 million people, in fact, in the region are in the grips of a life threatening cold spell as temperatures plunge below zero. Wind chills, the coldest in decades.

Last night, Mount Washington, New Hampshire recorded a wind chill of minus 108 degrees, likely setting a new national record. And parts of Maine are under blizzard warnings with major cities further south getting hit by fierce winds.

Can you hear them now? Wow.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is braving the cold in New York with a whole lot of other people who were just you know, acting like it's no big deal after all. But it is. It is potentially, dangerous.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Nothing stops -- nothing stops these New Yorkers, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Nothing.

PAZMINO: Nothing stops them.

WHITFIELD: That's right.

PAZMINO: Five degrees at LaGuardia Airport this morning. That is a record. And double digit negatives in Boston this morning, as well, minus 10 degrees.

Now, we've been outside of Central Park all morning, where you know, usually it's full of people and I just want to show you. This is my friend here Gamal (PH). He was setting up for work this morning.

And I just want to show you some of these beverages. Look, they are frozen solid.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.

PAZMINO: He was trying to get everything warmed up this morning, trying to set up his cart, so, he could get to work. And we were watching him try to start up his generator.

He finally got it going, but he told me that the oil and the gas that was in there was basically frozen, and he was having a hard time getting it started.

So, a lot of folks like Gamal are out here today, working. Trying to make an honest living along with a lot of these tourists, and runners.

Fred, nothing can stop those people. I talked to a few of them. Let me just play some of that sound for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just ran around the park.

PAZMINO: Just ran around the park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PAZMINO: It's 12 degrees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not bad when the wind is not blowing.

PAZMINO: OK. How --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels good.

PAZMINO: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels really refreshing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people see her and they're like, oh my God, she's like, fashionable. And I'm like, yes, but it's also function like the hat to make sure her ears are warm, like her face is warm her head. And the shoes because it's like New York, and there's glass, and like all these other stuff. So, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So, if you're going to be out here, whether you're working, you're walking the dogs or you're going out for a jog, it is very important that you dress appropriately.

So, layer up. Make sure you have multiple layers. Make sure that you have your gloves on. Your hat on. That you're covering every part of your body, because it does feel like little needles up against your face out here.

So, the good thing is, it's going to warm up tomorrow significantly, so, it won't be this cold for much longer. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, thank goodness. It's a quick cold snap. But I love the hat that the dog was wearing. I want one like that.

All right. Gloria Pazmino, stay warm. Appreciate it.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

So, see? I mean, Gloria and everybody else, they're looking forward to the warm up tomorrow. But, you know, that's still going to be quite, quite brisk.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): I was going to say, I still don't think I would call 40s necessarily warm, but I guess when you're comparing it to what the temperatures are today, we'll feel downright balmy.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's relative.

CHINCHAR: Exactly, yes. Well, here's a live look at Mount Washington. This is really been the spot we've talked about the last few days. Just because of the extreme temperatures and wind chills they've been dealing with.

You can see the cameras shaking from time to time, just indicating how intense those winds are. The current temperature on Mount Washington is minus 26, sustained winds of 81 miles per hour, that is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane, making that feels like temperature outside for any exposed part of your body, minus 74.

And the sad thing is, that is a huge improvement to what it was just a few hours ago, which was minus 108.

Again, it's hard to even fathom temperatures that cold. But it wasn't the only spot. Cadillac Mountain in Maine, topping out at minus 62. The Frenchville Airport at Maine topping out at minus 61, and areas of Vermont, topping out at more than minus 50 when you talk about those wind chills. We are starting to see improvements. Take a look at some of these current temperatures back into the positive now for places like Portland, and Boston.

Even Albany looking at a positive one, at least right now. So, we are starting to see those temperatures begin to rebound. And they will continue to do so as we go through the next 24 hours. Because while it was intense, it's a very short lived cold blast that we've been experiencing in the northeast, and really much of New England.

And interestingly enough, it's going to rebound quite significantly. Boston going from a high temperature of 17 today to 48 tomorrow.

Fred, that's actually 10 degrees above their normal high temperature, similar scenario for places like Portland and New York as well.

WHITFIELD: Whew, all right. Well, hang in there, folks. And it's brutal, but, you know, hopefully that sunshine and that temperature rise will help a little bit, at least. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

[12:25:04]

All right. As speaking of rising, that Chinese spy balloon, it's still up there and it's making its way across the country. And it has set off a diplomatic firestorm along the way.

It's now hovering over North Carolina. Hear what the president of the United States just said about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right back now to the Chinese spy balloon that is traveling across this country. New video into our newsroom showing that it is now over in North Carolina, hovering over the cities of Asheville and Charlotte earlier today.

A U.S. defense official says it's possible the balloon could move out to sea today. And a short time ago, President Biden was asked what the administration's plan was, and his response, I'm quoting now, "We're going to take care of it."

[12:30:00]

CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is with me right now. John, good to see you. So Biden says he's going to take care of it. What do you think that means?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I don't see what the big deal is. The Secretary of State was going to visit China and the Chinese sent balloons. It's a polite thing to do. I think what they're talking about is, A, we need to calm down, B, it's not a weapons platform. We know pretty much what it's doing and how it acts. And C, we have history here.

In April of 2001, we had a Navy EP-3 spy plane flying 70 miles off Hainan Island and a Chinese fighter jet clipped it. The fighter jet went into the ocean. The pilot died. The Navy plane, the U.S. plane, had to make an emergency landing. There was a very complex negotiation about the Chinese took that plane apart piece by piece, examined all its equipment, got all they needed to know out of it, and literally gave it back to us in boxes. But it was very uncomfortable.

We had to exchange very diplomatically worded letters and so on. So acting slowly, deliberately, carefully here, if it goes out over the ocean and we can take it down in a way that we can get intelligence value out of it without destroying it totally is one option which is actually viable. I think that we've got a lot of politicians yelling and we've got some intelligence professionals and defense experts working for the best solution. And I think we should let them do it.

WHITFIELD: All right, separately now, you are also tracking an ongoing and worsening threat to America's power grid. What can you tell us?

J. MILLER: Well, this is a growing threat, and one I think that we've largely underestimated. We took a close look at that this week and this is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER MATTHEWS, NEIGHBOR: All of a sudden, about 8:45, about 20 shots fired off right across the street.

J. MILLER (voice-over): December 3rd, someone shot at two power substations in Moore County, North Carolina. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were left in the dark.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got no way to heat because we don't have a fireplace.

J. MILLER (voice-over): It took days, to get the lights back on. And so far, no arrests.

GRANGER MORGAN, ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: The power system is inherently very vulnerable. And it may not take all that high tech an approach to cause physical disruption that could have very large consequences.

J. MILLER (voice-over): 163 reports of suspicious activity, vandalism, sabotage, and physical attacks, on power facilities, reported, across the country, last year.

BRIAN HARRELL, FMR. U.S., DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY ASST. SEC. FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION: This is not the boogeyman. A number of individuals, and extremist groups, online, right now, have already signaled that this is a part of their playbook.

J. MILLER (voice-over): This is one of those playbooks, with a swastika on the cover. The main thing that keeps the anti-White system going is the powergrid, the document reads. This is something that is easier than you think. Peppered all over the country are power distribution substations, sitting ducks, worthy prey. It's part of a white power philosophy called Accelerationism, which wants to destroy society, and replace it as they see fit.

With the power off, when the lights don't come back on, all hell will break lose, making conditions desirable for our race to once again take back what is ours, they write.

DVEs, which, stands for Domestic Violent Extremists, dream of striking the right spots, which government reports say, could cause a domino effect, and blackout huge parts of the country.

HARRELL: If you were to target, you know, eight or nine very key nodes, throughout the United States, you potentially could have a collapsing effect.

J. MILLER (voice-over): Cross-country power lines and substations are usually in out-of-the-way places that are hard to protect. And experts say, to keep the lights on, the grid needs to be more resilient, to attacks. Key equipment needs to be better-protected, and utilities need to be better-prepared to fix damaged equipment. But that's not easy.

MORGAN: It's inherently very difficult to harden or protect at all. No one, at the moment, has authority to deal, with the entire system. And we need to get that situation fixed.

J. MILLER (voice-over): The responsibility is spread, between federal authorities, who regulate interstate lines, states and power companies.

AMANDA CLARK (ph), LEFT WITHOUT POWER AFTER SUBSTATIONS WERE ATTACKED: We woke up at 5:30, and the power was out.

J. MILLER (voice-over): Amanda Clark (ph) found out how real the threat was Christmas morning.

CLARK (ph): We had prime rib, and ham and baked potatoes. You know, we had 12 people come in for dinner.

J. MILLER (voice-over): Police say these two men broke into four substations, near her home, outside Seattle, cutting fences, and leaving this fire burning, to cause a blackout that would not just kill the lights, but also a burglar alarm, so they could empty the cash register, at a local business. But so many other attacks on power stations remain unsolved. And power infrastructure remains in the crosshairs of domestic extremists.

[12:35:07]

HARRELL: There's no doubt in my mind that 2023, this year that we're in, right now, is probably going to be the most catastrophic, when it comes to the uptick of DVE attacks, on electricity infrastructure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It's fascinating, John. So how do these groups think a blackout will help them? J. MILLER: Well, what they're really working at is multiple blackouts, sustained blackouts toppling the national grid. So a blackout doesn't go on for hours or two days, but goes on for weeks because what they're hoping for is riots and looting, the race war, the toppling of the government. That's why they call it accelerationism. They know that in their view, society is going to hell in a hand basket. They're trying to accelerate that because they're survivalists. They have their guns, their rations, their water, and they think that causing catastrophic damage to the infrastructure is a way to make that happen faster.

WHITFIELD: Igniting a fire. All right, John Miller, thanks so much. Good to see you.

J. MILLER: You too, Fred, thanks.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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[12:40:22]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, CNN has learned that federal agents are preparing for another classified document search. Sources say the FBI is expected to soon search former Vice President Mike Pence's home and office. With his cooperation, the Feds are expected to focus on Pence's house in Indiana and his office in Washington, D.C. And it comes after a lawyer for Pence found about a dozen documents marked classified in his house last month.

On Wednesday, the FBI also searched President Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home. Biden's personal attorney says no classified documents were found during that search. With me now to discuss CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers. She is also a former federal prosecutor. Good to see you, Jennifer. So what do you make of these searches at Biden and Pence's properties now?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, well, it seems to me that because President Biden and former Vice President Pence are cooperating, the authorities just want to make sure they have everything. So they're going to search all of the properties, which makes sense. I mean, there are two issues here. One is there a potential crime that's been committed?

But equally important is there a spillage of classified information? So they really do want to make sure that the government is in possession of all of this government information and classified information. And hopefully, once they've finished all these consensual searches, they can close the book on that and be comfortable that neither Biden nor Pence has any more potentially problematic information.

WHITFIELD: Because central to any potential crimes would have to be intent.

RODGERS: That's right. If they're thinking about charging, then they need willfulness. So that means taking the documents willfully, keeping them improperly, mishandling them improperly, so far, we don't have any information suggesting that either Biden or Pence has done that. Of course, we don't know everything, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that yet, which is why I think criminal charges for either of them is exceedingly unlikely.

WHITFIELD: And then special counsel prosecutors are now investigating the documents found at, you know, Biden's properties as well as Trump's home. But I'm wondering, do you expect that a special counsel might be needed as it pertains to Pence as well?

RODGERS: So I don't think they're going to appoint someone. I think if they were to do that, they would have done that already. I think that if Pence had announced for President in 2024, they probably would have, because that's the reasoning they used to appoint one in the Trump and Biden cases, that they were candidates for office. So I think at this point, they're going to go ahead and continue with what they're doing now with DOJ, generally taking a look and doing any assessment that needs to be done on the criminal side without a special counsel.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK, that's fascinating. All right, so let me pivot now to President Biden's son, Hunter, and his aggressive new legal strategy. His attorneys are calling for a criminal probe of a computer repair shop owner, Rudy Giuliani, and a number of right wing political figures involved in disseminating contents of Hunter Biden's laptop. So he is alleging that they committed computer and other criminal violations in their effort to weaponize the laptop contents against his father. So does he have a case there?

RODGERS: They might have a case. You know, it's certainly against the law, both federally and in Delaware, to go into someone's laptop without permission to disseminate private information. So there are crimes there. You know, it's not like this was a secret, though, I do feel like since the laptop has been out there for a long time and the story of how that information came to light, authorities both in Delaware and federally have known about this for a while, so probably they would already be investigating if they were going to. I don't know that the referral from Hunter Biden, in other words, is going to be the thing that starts them doing that.

But there are crimes here. And so I do think that to the extent that crimes were committed, it's possible that they will be prosecuted. The issue is, you know, what does that do for Hunter Biden? Really this is a strategy about getting out into the public since all of his information looks like it's about to be disclosed by House Democrats anyway. Getting out who the bad guys are here, right, that he's not the bad actor here. It's the people who improperly and potentially illegally stole his information who are the bad actors doing a political hit job. That's the message he's trying to get out of the public realm.

WHITFIELD: Yes, information potentially disclosed by House Republicans, right?

RODGERS: That's right. So all of these embarrassing pictures and so on the laptop, he knows are coming out anyway so, you know, because otherwise frankly filing lawsuits where there's going to be extensive discovery on both sides would get that information in the public realm. So it seems to me he's willing to do that now and risk it's about to come out anyway.

[12:45:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, Jennifer Rodgers, great to see you this Saturday. Thank you.

RODGERS: Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: And don't forget CNN, you'll want to join us for live special coverage of president Joe Biden's state of the Union address starting Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Right here on CNN.

All right, yet another deadly encounter between Israelis and Palestinians and this caps off what's already been a deadly eight days for the region, that is next.

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[12:50:05]

WHITFIELD: At least 13 Palestinians were injured today in clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank, and that's according to hospital officials. Israeli troops carried out a raid on a refugee camp near the city of Jericho and detained a number of individuals they say were suspected of being involved in terrorist activity. And a Palestinian man was shot and killed by the Israeli military in the West Bank Friday afternoon. It was the first reported death since U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to the region earlier in the week.

Let's bring in Aaron David Miller. He spent more than two decades at the U.S. State Department, including as a Middle East negotiator. Always great to see you. So what do you think it will take to stop the escalation of violence there right now?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Not to put too fine a point on it, Fred, leaders on both sides who are masters of their political houses and their ideologies, not prisoners of those ideologies and those politics. And leaders who understand that Israelis and Palestinians are on a dead end course with a vision and the will to take the kinds of steps required in order to create an environment for a conflict ending agreement. You need a Mandela and a declare, and unfortunately, they are nowhere to be found.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. I mean shortly after that recent, you know, spike in violence beginning, Palestinian authorities said that they were ceasing security coordination with Israel. I mean, that kind of underscores what you're talking about. So how important is it to try and get that back on track, something like that on track?

A. MILLER: I think it's very important, although this is not the first time, nor probably will it be the last, that Mahmoud Abbas has suspended security cooperation. I suspect that their cooperation continues. If in fact, the Palestinians had information that there was an imminent attack, I think they convey it to the Israelis. And recently, in the last day or so, two Israelis wandered into Palestinian areas and were extricated with the support and help of the Palestinian security forces. So I think there is security cooperation, but clearly Palestinians needed to do more in areas like Jenin and Nablus where these armed groups are operating.

The Israelis also need to understand that a counterterrorism strategy is legitimate. But without a political framework to create incentives to try to deal with the realities with which Palestinians suffer under primarily in the West Bank, you're not going to get the kind of security cooperation that's required.

WHITFIELD: Prime Minister Netanyahu recently returned to power with a right wing governing coalition. So I'm wondering, you know, how is he dealing with what now is the biggest national security test?

A. MILLER: He's traditionally risk averse, but he's now hostage to a coalition which has two extremist ministers who are committed to radical change, both in terms of eviscerating the Israeli Supreme Court and laying the groundwork, I think, for annexing West Bank. And in Netanyahu's view, he has three priorities, other than being his ongoing trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. And those three priorities are Iran, Iran, and Iran.

And I think it may be counterintuitive, but the U.S. and Israel are probably closer together on how to approach the Iranian issue now than at any point since the Iranian nuclear agreement was signed in 2015.

WHITFIELD: Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited, you know, both Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. And so, did anything come out of that meeting?

A. MILLER: You know, the Secretary of State laid down some very important markers, both pushing back on putative Democratic backsliding again, on plans to eviscerate Israeli Supreme Court and on the sorts of steps that the Israelis should take in order to defuse the situation in the West Bank. And he put a security plan on the table for the Palestinians.

But, look, this is way too heavy a lift. Governance about choosing this administration has a variety of different priorities, foreign policy priorities. And frankly, Joe Biden is not looking for a fight with the Israeli government. And I think we'll go to considerable lengths to avoid them.

WHITFIELD: All right, Aaron, David Miller, always great to see you. Thank you so much.

A. MILLER: You, too, Fred. Thanks so much.

[12:54:43]

WHITFIELD: All right in just the last hour, President Biden was asked about the Chinese spy balloon that continues to hover over the U.S. His response I'm quoting now, we're going to take care of it, end quote, we'll discuss what that might mean straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. New details emerging as that suspected Chinese spy balloon makes its way over the U.S. This morning, President Biden reacting to a question about whether the U.S. would consider shooting down the balloon and this is what he said.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll take care of it.

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[12:59:52]

WHITFIELD: We'll take care of it. The balloon was last seen flying over South Carolina near the border with North Carolina, and earlier today it was spotted over Charlotte and Asheville. China claims it's a civilian research vessel that blew off course, but the Pentagon is not buying that.