Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Chinese Spy Balloon Could Exit East Coast Of U.S. Today; U.S. Tracking Chinese Spy Balloon As It Drifts Across Country; Secretary Of State Blinken Postponed Planned Trip To China. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired February 04, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN REPORTER: Sports fans are crazy.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Listen, I got a deal. I'll give it to you for 100 bucks. I have so much Tom Brady sand. You have no -- I'm going to put it online. Carolyn, thank you so much.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: That's a huge discount.

MANNO: A 100 bucks? That's rip off.

SANCHEZ: Easy. Yes, easy, easy.

WALKER: He got it in his pocket. Thanks so much Carolyn Manno. And quick programming note, make sure to join Chris Wallace as he sits down with two legends of their respective field. Sports broadcaster, Terry Bradshaw, discusses the Super Bowl. And Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about the intersection of science and pop culture on a new "WHO'S TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE." That's tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. on CNN. The next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

SANCHEZ: Good morning. Buenos dias. And welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Boris Sanchez.

WALKER: And I'm Amara Walker. All eyes are on the sky this morning. As a Chinese surveillance balloon continues drifting over the U.S. Where it's expected to go, and why the White House hasn't ruled out shooting it down.

SANCHEZ: Plus, a brutal blast of dangerously cold air sweeping across the Northeast. In some places, it's going to feel like 50 to 60 degrees below zero. We'll tell you exactly where that is and when things might finally start to warm up.

WALKER: And a developing story out of Ohio, hundreds of firefighters are on the scene of a train derailment there. You can see the huge fireball lighting up the night sky. The mayor of that town is joining us with an update.

SANCHEZ: And a new development in a strange case out of Dallas. It has been a weird few weeks for the Dallas Zoo, and now, a man has been arrested after police say he stole two monkeys from that zoo. All of this ahead on CNN THIS MORNING.

WALKER: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is February 4th. Yes, it is a Saturday. Time to wake up or -- well, it's a little early so you can just mill around in bed and let us give you the news. Hi, Boris. Good to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Great to be with you, Amara. I hope you're enjoying that cereal, maybe some eggs and bacon. It is the weekend and we're talking about this balloon just drifting, causing concern and tension on the ground here in the United States.

WALKER: Yes, the U.S. is tracking that Chinese surveillance balloon making its way across the country. Defense officials say, the balloon could reach the East Coast of the United States and pass out to sea as early as today and we'll get our first look at where exactly this balloon is located when the sun comes up. It was first spotted by civilians over Montana on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That thing is not the moon. The moon is right there. This thing is so weird. It's definitely moving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That thing is definitely not the moon and it is causing a lot of international tension because it comes just ahead of a planned trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China. He called this an irresponsible act by the Chinese. There is a debate over intent here, but Blinken ultimately postponed his highly anticipated trip to Beijing.

WALKER: -- have advised, defense officials have advised President Biden against shooting the balloon down but of course that decision could change. China claims that balloon is a civilian airship used mainly to collect weather data, and that it was blown off course. Now, the Pentagon is tracking this Chinese balloon as it drifts across the U.S. It could reach the East Coast, as we've been saying, as early as today.

SANCHEZ: Yes, again China says this as a wayward weather balloon. The U.S. officials not buying that explanation. Let's go to the Pentagon now because CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann has been tracking this thing for us live. Oren, bring us up to speed, it was kind of over the Midwest, sort of over Missouri most recently, right?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's where it was recently spotted. It's obviously been moving overnight. And as you point out, it's not just the U.S. government tracking this. We're not the only ones tracking this. Everyone is now looking for this, whatever term you want to put on, balloongate, balloonapalooza.

With the sun coming up, I suspect we'll see a lot more videos, pictures on social media especially as it heads towards the East Coast with a lot of people here who will be looking for this just to try to catch a glimpse of this and we'll get an update on where it is. Two defense officials say it is expected to head out over the Atlantic

sometime today in the Carolinas areas in North or South Carolina, depending on the winds. The U.S., the Pentagon, not buying at all the Chinese explanation that this is simply a wayward weather balloon insisting it is surveillance balloon, one that has the ability to maneuver and to loiter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea what the thing is

LIEBERMANN (voiceover): A Chinese spy balloon drifting across the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the heck is that?

LIEBERMANN: Pentagon calls it an unacceptable violation of U.S. airspace and international law.

BRIG. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We know this is a Chinese balloon, and that it has the ability to maneuver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely moving.

[07:05:12]

LIEBERMANN: The balloon is headed east at 60,000 feet and will be over the U.S. for several more days depending on says, the officials not confirming its location.

RYDER: The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky, and, and see where the balloon is.

LIEBERMANN: The balloon has made its way from where it was first spotted in Montana on Wednesday, down through the middle of the country and the sightings in Missouri, a slow almost scenic route across the heart of America. With current Jetstream conditions the balloon could continue eastward along roughly this trajectory in the coming days. In a rare Friday night statement, China apologized saying it was an off-course weather balloon.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry: "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." It's an explanation that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper finds compelling.

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I don't think the Chinese would expend the political capital here for an intelligence purpose in the face of and in contrast to their very capable overhead reconnaissance satellite program which gives them all the intelligence that they need.

LIEBERMANN: But we've heard the science excuse before from Beijing when China tested a hypersonic missile that went around the world in 2021. They claimed it was a routine spacecraft experiment. JAMES ANDREW LEWIS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: They have a massive espionage campaign. This is like TikTok, does anybody trust China? Of course not. And for good reason, no one trusts China.

LIEBERMANN: China has spy satellites, but one thing they can't do is loiter over one area like a balloon, key difference here. Pentagon says, it'll continuously track the balloon as it makes its way across America. The U.S.'s response so far on the diplomatic front, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, delaying his high stakes visit to Beijing.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We concluded that conditions were not conducive for a constructive visit at this time. PRC's decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN (on camera): The Pentagon decided it would not shoot it down over the United States because of the risk of blowing something up at 60,000 feet and then creating a debris field over an incredibly large area. It's also that there wasn't a high risk because of Chinese spy satellites that are more capable than a simple surveillance balloon. But the question is, the Pentagon hasn't ruled out shooting it down. So, if it if and when it goes over the ocean is that decision taken then? Boris and Amara, as this balloon heads for the East Coast, that's something we're all waiting to find out.

WALKER: Yes, it's fascinating, but also disturbing. Oren Liebermann, appreciate your reporting there from the Pentagon, thank you.

Let's talk more, talk more about this with Christopher Johnson, he is President and CEO of China Strategies Group and a former CIA Analyst. You were a senior China analyst for the CIA. What do you make of this balloon? It has been called a spy balloon. China says, that it's a weather balloon. But we know as defense officials are saying this one is acting differently. How so? And what do you make of it?

CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON, CEO, CHINA STRATEGIES GROUP: Yes, well, I think it's pretty clear that it is an intelligence collection platform, for a number of reasons. One, in terms of its size, it's very large. There aren't too many weather balloons that are of that size. But as we just heard, the main indicator, of course, is its ability to steer itself and to loiter. Generally, a weather balloon will ride the Jetstream only. So, it will go sort of according to that course, it doesn't have the ability to loiter.

And then, of course, as well, given the sensitivities, as we just heard around the potential visit by Secretary Blinken to Beijing, which was highly anticipated, it's very unlikely in my mind that U.S. defense officials would have come out and said with high confidence that it's a Chinese intelligence collection platform, unless, they were sure. And presumably, how they became sure of that is the balloon perhaps transmitted signals back to China, which would then confirm its nefarious intent.

WALKER: What kind of Intel Do you think it's collecting?

JOHNSON: Well, as we heard a moment ago, obviously, China has a very capable low Earth orbit satellite constellation, which they can use to collect over the United States every day and do every day. So, it's not like they haven't been doing this for a considerable period of time. But it may be the case that there are particular signals that they're hoping to collect where you would have to be closer to the target in the atmosphere to be able to do that.

And or another option would be that they are looking to take perhaps certain satellite photographs from angles that would not be conducive for a satellite to be able to take. So, those would be the two most likely uses for it. And yet, as we heard, it is unusual for them to take this sort of political risk but having been in the business, as you highlighted myself, sometimes when things like this happen, and they're successful for a period of time they take on a certain life of its own. And as we heard from defense officials, the Chinese have done this before, and they've been getting away with it up until now.

WALKER: Yes, I mean, it is quite rare to hear this admission and to hear China express regret about, you know, which they keep claiming as a weather balloon, which clearly it is not. And you believe that it wasn't a good idea for Secretary Antony Blinken to, to postpone his trip, why?

[07:10:22]

JOHNSON: Well, I think, for several reasons, the main being that, in part, the purpose of this trip was to begin a process of dialogue, which has been sorely lacking with China since the Trump administration on exactly these kinds of issues: intelligence, security matters, obviously, the dangers around Taiwan and the potential for an accident that could spark a larger conflict. This is exactly the time that we should be discussing those issues.

Number two, you can argue that, given China's statement of regret, which as you said, is very rare, the U.S. had some leverage with taking advantage of that embarrassment with China having been caught red handed that could have given Secretary Blinken, some leverage to use in these very sensitive discussions.

And thirdly, while the Secretary has stressed that this is only a postponement, and he looks forward to rescheduling the visit, as soon as conditions will allow, the fact is those conditions aren't probably going to allow for a bit of time here, the Chinese will be having their national legislative session for the first half of March. They have other meetings in the second half of March.

And then, we have a very likely Speaker McCarthy visit to Taiwan, which is sure to put relations back in the deep freeze in that timeframe around Easter. So, when exactly this trip might be getting put back on, and it's a very important one, we have no idea. And so therefore, it's a waste of time and an opportunity, lost opportunity. WALKER: Don't you think, though, that had Antony Blinken continued on this trip that the talks that have, you know, been dominated by this, this discussion over this balloon rather than focusing on Taiwan and other strategic issues?

JOHNSON: Not necessarily. I mean, remember, these talks are private. So, you know, officials can choose what issues they want to stress. Obviously, he was going to have to raise it. I think, you know, we should see it and also in a broader context, which is that it was already going to be a difficult visit, there were concerns just in the last couple of weeks about Chinese support by Chinese state-owned enterprises to the Russian war effort in the Wagner Group.

There were discussions about a possible visit by President Xi Jinping to see Vladimir Putin in Moscow in the spring. So, Secretary Blinken was already going to have quite a few things that you and your colleagues would be asking him about to make statements on. So, it's going to be a tough visit one way or the other. And yet, we missed an opportunity to get some dialogue going on these important issues.

WALKER: Are you surprised -- and I guess I shouldn't use the word surprise -- but, you know, are you taken by China's audacity in this in its actions? And I asked because, you know, if you just look over the past few years, and you know, U.S. intelligence suggesting that China's beefing its military, you know, with a goal to seize Taiwan by 2027. Of course, you see the U.S. military's actions and in Guam, in Japan, and in the Philippines.

Then, of course, we also heard this week from this Four-Star Air Force General, who was predicting that we will be with, we will be at war with China in two years, although, of course, defense officials saying, look, this is not preordained. What are your thoughts on the U.S. marching closer to war with China?

JOHNSON: Well, several things first, I think at some level, China is now, you know, the second most powerful country in the world, and nobody questions that and powerful countries build large militaries, that's what they do. And something China also has sort of that's different for them in recent years is that they now have interests abroad to protect. So, they're building a military that sort of consistent with that.

But yes, there does seem to be a sort of sense, especially in the U.S. Defense enterprise, that war is becoming more and more likely. And the concern, I think, is there doesn't seem to be any particular evidence to suggest that the Chinese have made the political decision that President Xi Jinping has decided, I'm going to invade Taiwan on x- timeline.

It would be foolish for him to do so and broadcast a timeline so that we would know then when the invasion would be. So, my sense is there's a certain amount of Taiwan invasion hysteria, taking control of Washington and driving us in a direction that actually could end up creating the very crisis we're trying to prevent.

WALKER: Yes. Christopher Johnson, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you very much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We want to update you on the situation in the Northeast now. The weekend off to a start with mind numbing temperatures, more than 20 million people under wind chill warnings and advisories, freezing cold air combined with strong winds making a one-two punch for people to cross the region, creating conditions that could prove deadly. At those temperatures frostbite could occur in under 10 minutes and it shouldn't surprise you that this weather is breaking records.

Overnight, observers on Mount Washington in New Hampshire recorded a wind chill of minus 108 degrees, that is the coldest on record, likely the coldest on record for any weather station in the United States. The extreme weather also creating rare sites across the area. Look at this, the freezing winds blowing across the warmer waters of Lake Champlain leading to steam devils swirling above the lake. Also, check out this woman eating pasta outside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:23]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the winter, there's nothing like hot buttered pasta. It's five below Fahrenheit and 20 below Celsius. I mean, it doesn't really get a lot colder than that, not in Vermont --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Athena Jones is live for us in Boston. Quite a bit cold there. Athena, you were telling us earlier that you're looking forward to the temperature getting to zero when it warms up later.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. That's exactly right. You know, it seems to be improving by a matter of about one degree an hour, perhaps. Last hour, I told you that temperature was negative nine, negative -- yes, negative nine, with a wind chill of negative 31. Now, it says it's negative eight, with a wind chill of 29. But at the airport, they're calling the windshield negative 35. So, bottom line, very, very cold still, and these windshield warnings here in Boston, remain in effect until 1:00 p.m.

That's when we expect things to really begin to get better. But we hope to see at least single digit temperatures in the next couple of hours on the positive side of the ledger. And as you mentioned, the 20 million people are under these wind chill warnings or advisories, which means that all of the warnings we were talking about yesterday about how dangerous this cold is and how just in a matter of minutes, you can get frostbite.

And of course, the threat of hypothermia is raised, hypothermia can be deadly. Just to you know, three or four minutes, you can feel your face beginning to freeze out here. We have not seen many people out this morning. And so, it seems that they are heeding the warnings and staying in. As you mentioned, records are being broken. The National Weather Service Boston tweeted that yesterday, Friday, new record was set of negative eight degrees, and that has been since 1881 was the previous record.

So, Providence, Rhode Island negative four, the previous record negative three in 1955. So, clearly, a very historic cold snap here in the Northeast, and we're all looking forward to it being over. Boris.

SANCHEZ: And I know you're looking forward to getting back inside, so we'll let you go. Athena Jones live for us in Boston. Thanks, Athena.

WALKER: Athena's amazing. I mean, being out in that cold, your face just freezes, and my mouth doesn't even -- my lips don't --

SANCHEZ: It hurts.

WALKER: Yes, it hurts and your lips to stop moving after 30 seconds. Allison Chinchar, tell us more about how long these crazy temps minus 104? That's what it feels like in Mount Washington.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And this, this is where I have good news. And the good news is that while it is very extremely cold, this is going to be very short-lived, and that's a good thing. Because yes, take a look, this is the live camera that is up on Mount Washington. You can see the camera shaking just from the wind. The actual temperature there right now is minus 44. That's the temperature but the winds are 96 miles per hour, that's the sustain folks, that's not the gusts.

The gusts are up around 104, which makes the feels like temperature if you were outside and you had any of your skin exposed in any way, shape or form, it would feel like minus 104 on that exposed skin, and that is dangerous levels. At that point, frostbite can set in, in less than five minutes, which is why you have wind chill warnings and wind chill advisories for a lot of these areas because of just how extreme these temperatures and these wind chills are getting. Here's the wind chill in other areas.

Yes, we talked about Mount Washington, but Portland, Maine, minus 34 -- or minus 39. Burlington is minus 34. Syracuse and Albany, both looking at minus 30. Right now, conditions will improve and that's a good thing because we've seen some pretty high numbers here. We talked about Mount Washington, the Cadillac Mountain in Maine, minus 62. The Frenchville airport in Maine, minus 61. And Waterford, Vermont getting up to minus 52.

Again, we talked about it though, and here's the good news: that arctic blast is finally going to recede once we get to as early as tomorrow. You're going to see a significant improvement in the temperatures. Take for example, Boston, the high today of 18, by tomorrow, we're actually at 47. New York, Portland, Burlington, 10 degrees above normal guys, in terms of temperatures tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: That is just brutal. Allison Chinchar, looking forward to tomorrow for those folks when it finally warms up.

Still to come in our next hour, we're actually going to take you to Mount Washington. You saw Allison mentioned it. This looks like something out of science fiction, right? It looks like a scene out of "Game of Thrones." Some of the hardest conditions in the country, they're getting right there. We're going to go there live; we're going to be joined by someone who is at this weather station. So, stay tuned for that.

WALKER: Oh, all right. Well, President Biden takes a victory lap after the January jobs' report smashes expectations, where we are seeing those gains and what this better, much better-than-expected report means for the Feds effort to tamp down inflation.

[07:20:05]

SANCHEZ: Plus, a train derailing in Ohio setting off this huge fireball. We're told hundreds of firefighters are on the scene. We're going to be joined live by the town's mayor for the latest details, still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: This morning President Biden is touting the U.S. economy after a strong January jobs report, an astonishing 517,000 jobs were added last month. More than double what economists were estimating.

SANCHEZ: That surge in jobs also sent the unemployment rate down to 3.4 percent, the lowest it's been since 1969. The year that man first landed on the moon. Let's take you now to Wilmington, Delaware this morning where CNN's Jasmine Wright is traveling with President Biden. Jasmine, what did President Biden say about these numbers?

[07:25:03]

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris and Amara. Well, it's hard to think of better news that President Biden could give to national Democrats yesterday when he was in Philadelphia, than this jobs report, because not only is it going to be a major component of his State of the Union speech happening on Tuesday, but also is seen as really, that speech is a launchpad to his likely re-election bid, which he will need Democrats in that building that he was in in Philadelphia to be behind them. So, the President, yesterday, he touted that the economy added 517,000 jobs and that historic low of 3.4 percent of unemployment.

Now, when you talk to officials in the White House, they're clearly very confident here, and they believe that the work that President Biden and his economic team did in the months prior is really showing the results, and that is clear that they have evidence to point to when President Biden or when he's expected to launch in every election bid, evidence to show that a Biden presidency works. I want you to take a listen to his remarks here in Philadelphia, really taking a victory lap here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, as of this month, we've created 12 million new jobs. We've created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term. That's because of you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: So, real excitement there from national Democrats as President Biden spoke. We're likely to hear him use that message again next week in State of the Union. We know this weekend; he'll be working on it as he travels to Camp David in just a few hours here to spend Saturday and Sunday night.

Now, of course, as I said, the White House is very confident about these numbers, especially as this is a president that has really faced consequences because of high inflation that is starting to go down. And I think you see the President really, they are excited about this news with numbers that he called strikingly good. Boris and Amara.

SANCHEZ: Jasmine Wright, reporting live from Wilmington, Delaware. Thanks so much. Let's get some expert POV on the new jobs' numbers from CNN Global Economic Analyst, Rana Faroohar, she's also a Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor for The Financial Times. Rana, good morning, always great to see you on a Saturday morning. These, these job numbers are, are really impressive, even as the Fed has been trying to cool the job market. I can hear Jerome Powell is nervous laughter from here, right? How do you, how do you think he might respond to this new data? We should expect more interest rate hikes, right?

RANA FAROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, yes, I think we are going to get more rate hikes, that was already baked in I think even before these numbers. You know, the Fed doesn't want to pull back too quickly, even before we got these great numbers, which certainly now it's not going to be pulling back on rate hikes. But they don't want to pull back too quickly, because the picture is still really strange. You know, I mean, we've come out of this pandemic.

And to be honest, I think it's just wreaked havoc with traditional economic cycles. There are a lot of vectors in play, there are a lot of strange ways in which the data is, is playing out differently than in the past. And so, I think the Fed is going to err on the side of caution. That said, I don't think that even these really amazing jobs numbers. And you know, you got to love it if you're President Biden. I don't think that they're going to mean huge new rate hikes, I think that they're going to mean slow and steady.

I don't think that that is going to do anything rash, in part, because we're still not seeing an uptick in wage inflation beyond what we had already seen. So, you know, the jobs numbers surprised, but wages are, you know, it's not like they're spiraling out of control. Yes, there's some wage inflation, but it's not. It's not on par, I would say, with the heat in the market in general.

SANCHEZ: Right. And Rana, I was curious to get your read on the big picture here, because as you describe it, it's a strange one. And I've heard some economists call this a rolling recession where different sectors seem to be taking turns contracting, there were layoffs in tech, but hospitality is booming. What kind of forecast do you have for what comes next? FAROOHAR: You know, absolutely. Tech -- not surprised to the see the

cuts in tech. I mean, that was a very, very frothy sector for some time. The pandemic threw a spammer in everything, not just in terms of sectors rising and falling differently, but geography is rising and falling differently. You know, you just had China coming out of another COVID lockdown just, you know, a few months ago. So, that's, that's one part of the world that is not in sync necessarily with the U.S. and Europe are doing.

I think it's very, very difficult to make predictions right now, but one thing what I will say about the job market, I think the pandemic has, maybe, changed the way American employers think about hiring and firing. So, Americans unlike, say, Europeans, are very quick to hire and fire. You know, once we get the sense that a recession is coming, companies tend to lay people off.

[07:30:04]

The downside for them is that then have to ramp back up when there's a recovery. And we saw that, during, you know, when things came roaring back after COVID, people didn't have enough labor. So, I think this time around, companies are erring on the side of keeping more people on the payrolls. They're starting to look at labor more as an asset rather than a cost on the balance sheet. And I think overall, that's a really good thing for the economy.

SANCHEZ: And there's a lot of leverage for workers too, especially those looking to continue working from home, right?

FOROOHAR: 100 percent. And I'm one of them, Boris. You're looking at me right here on my home office.

SANCHEZ: Rana Foroohar, thank you, as always. Appreciate the perspective.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning, hundreds of firefighters are on the scene of a massive fire, caused by a train derailment in Ohio. We're going to have the mayor of East Palestine. He's going to join us next with an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: The U.S. is sending a new $2.2 billion aid package to Ukraine.

[07:35:01]

SANCHEZ: And these are some of the weapons that Ukraine is getting: ground-launched small diameter bombs, 190 heavy machine guns, anti- aircraft guns, precision-guided rockets, and medical supplies.

A Ukrainian official says that Russia has returned dozens of Ukrainian soldiers in a prisoner exchange as well.

WALKER: CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, joining us now live from Dnipro.

Hi there, Fred. So, what more can you tell us about this prisoner exchange?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hi there, Amara.

Well, it's a prisoner exchange that took place yesterday, the Ukrainians are saying. And there were more than 100 Ukrainians that were released. But also, 63 Russian POWs that released as well.

You know, these prisoner swaps are something that happened every now and again, between the two sides. Quite interesting, because, of course, they are on this vicious war with one another. But that's one of the things that does still seem to be working. That you have these prisoners that are being swapped.

But also, bodies being swapped as well, so that they can be repatriated. And as far as I know, in this swap that took place, there were the bodies of two British volunteers that we're also returned into Ukrainian custody, as well.

So, certainly, this is significant, but also something that happens on a fairly regular basis. But at the same time, of course, we know between the two sides, the battlefield is really heating up and has been heating up this entire week, especially in the south of the country, with the Russians shelling the Kherson region.

But then, also in the east of the country in Bakhmut, where the Ukrainians had been losing quite a lot of ground over the past couple of days, the past couple of weeks. But it seems as though, they may have stabilized the situation.

There was new video that came out today of the Ukrainians bombarding some Russian positions and certainly from what we're gathering and what we've seen also over the past couple of days, the Ukrainians have moved some of their most battle hardened units into Bakhmut now that certainly seems to be making a difference on the ground with the Ukrainians are sort of trying to stop the Russians from encircling the city of Bakhmut, which, of course, still has a lot of civilians in it, but also a lot of Ukrainians who are fighting for that city as well, guys.

SANCHEZ: Fred Pleitgen, reporting from Dnipro, Ukraine. Thank you so much, Fred.

We're following a developing story out of Ohio this morning. A train derailed in the town of East Palestine, sending flames shooting into the air. The very latest from the town's mayor after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:41]

WALKER: Flames and plumes of smoke lit up the sky in East Ohio, after a train derailed overnight. Just look at these pictures. The train went off the tracks near the town of East Palestine, which is near the Pennsylvania border. It triggering evacuation orders for the close by -- for those who live close by, and to shelter in place order for the entire town.

Right now, no injuries or deaths have been reported and investigators are working to find out why it went off the tracks. We're joined now by the mayor of East Palestine Trent Conaway. Mayor, appreciate your time. First off, I understand that the very cold weather is complicating the firefighting efforts. Can you explain what's going on?

TRENT CONAWAY, MAYOR OF EAST PALESTINE, OHIO: So, we're a rural community. We do have a water system in town. But what we're having to do is use tanker trucks to haul the water into the sea and also to alleviate some of the burden on our water system.

So, it's -- there leaking water on the roads, and so, we're having to get put salt and other grindings down on the road for traction.

WALKER: Gosh, OK, and regarding the shelter in place orders, obviously there is a concern for the air that people are breathing in because of this, this mess of fire.

CONAWAY: Yes. But actually, the EPA, both Pennsylvania and Ohio, are on scene. They're monitoring the air. And as of right now, just close proximity is the main issue.

Around -- the surrounding area there, in the town itself, there is -- the air is still OK to breathe.

WALKER: OK. Got it.

CONAWAY: There is a -- there is a smell, but it's, it's OK.

WALKER: Got it. And, Mayor, if you don't mind, giving us an update on any injuries, or deaths for that matter. Was there

anyone on board this train?

CONAWAY: There, is a freight train. From what I've been told, the train crew was fine. It was 20 odd cars back. There is 50 cars involved. It didn't hit any structures. There's some structures that they were keeping hold of water, but as of right now, nobody's hurt. There is no fatalities, and we're just happy for that.

WALKER: What do you know about, you know, what could have caused this train to go off the tracks like that?

CONAWAY: We don't know. That's up to the transportation company, the train company, Norfolk Southern. They have a bunch of people now in town, and they're investigating that as we speak.

WALKER: Do you know what was being carried on these freight trains?

CONAWAY: There was -- it was a mixture of tanker, tanker cars, boxcars. We know what was in the cars but we don't know which cars are on fire. We had to wait until daylight as to we can get some drones on the area, and try to get see some of the numbers written on the cars.

WALKER: OK. Right. So, you don't know which cars on fire, but what was inside these cars then?

CONAWAY: They're actually not releasing that right now. They're still -- they're still investigating it. There -- that hasn't been made public yet. I know there could be some possible hazardous materials. But as of right now, air quality even one street back is OK. So, that is being --

(CROSSTALK)

[07:45:05]

WALKER: So -- got it.

CONAWAY: Right.

WALKER: So, would you advise -- if there were, potentially, hazardous materials in these cars, would you advise people, possibly with pre- existing conditions to go elsewhere for the time being?

CONAWAY: Oh, yes, we have a mandatory evacuation in place right now. We physically cannot remove people. Just like in a hurricane, people stay back. We can't make them leave.

WALKER: Right.

CONAWAY: We are just currently considering that they leave their homes. We have places for them to go.

WALKER: All right. Well, we appreciate your time this morning. Best of luck to you keep getting this fire out, and getting people back in their homes as soon as possible. Mayor Trent Conaway, thank you very much.

CONAWAY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: The man accused of stealing two monkeys from the Dallas Zoo is facing additional charges this morning, and what officials are calling unprecedented tampering of animal habitat. The detail is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:14]

WALKER: Another Memphis police officer has been fired, following the violent arrest and death of Tyre Nichols. Police say, Preston Hemphill, can be seen on body camera footage, tasing Nichols, and later heard saying -- he can be heard saying this, "I hope they stomp his ass."

His attorney says he disagrees with the termination, but will continue to cooperate with the investigation. Also, the Tennessee Emergency Medical Services Division is suspending two first responders for failing to render aid to Nichols. The Medical Services Division saying that Robert Long and JaMicheal Sandridge waited 19 minutes to provide even basic aid to Nichols.

Long and Sandridge were already fired from the Memphis fire department after an investigation.

SANCHEZ: New this morning. The men arrested for allegedly taking tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo may have tampered with other habitats at the Dallas Zoo. 24-year-old Davion Erwin -- Irvin is already charged with six counts of animal cruelty in the tamarin case.

WALKER: Those animals disappeared Monday and re-found a day later inside an abandoned building in Lancaster, Texas.

CNN's Ed Lavandera -- Ed Lavandera has more.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Boris and Amara, the Dallas Police Department says that the suspect accused of taking two tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo earlier this week is 24-year-old Davion Irvin.

He was spotted on Thursday at the Dallas aquarium around other animal exhibits, asking questions that raised the concern of officials there. And that got the ball rolling and got the aquarium folks talking to people here at the -- at the zoo. And that's how they started following this person at the aquarium. And that's when they started connecting the dots here, according to officials.

There was also information coming in from a house where the two tamarin monkeys had been found that led investigators to really focus in on this particular person.

So far, this 24-year-old suspect has been charged with six counts of animal cruelty, as well as two counts of burglary to a habitat there, inside the zoo.

So, he's connected to three different -- of the -- these three different incidents that have happened in at the zoo over the course of the last almost three weeks.

Remember, all of this started several weeks ago, when the enclosure of a clouded leopard was found to be intentionally cut open. That leopard escaped and was on the loose inside the zoo grounds for about a day before the cat was found safe.

And there was also another enclosure that was cut, but none of the animals from that enclosure escaped. And then, there's also another incident involving a rare vulture that was found dead under suspicious circumstances and had suffered a wound.

LAVANDERA (voice over): So far, investigators here are not connecting this suspect with the death of that vulture. But they say the investigation continues.

Despite this new break in this case, and this arrest, still hasn't really answered the questions that has really perplexed and worried so many people here at the Dallas Zoo. And what is the motivation behind all of this, why is this happening? And that is the biggest concern that officials here have happened.

They described this the last three weeks of some of the longest weeks of their professional lives, working here at this zoo.

LAVANDERA (on camera): So, it's really something that has been very traumatic for the employees of the zoo, watching all of this unfold in what has been an incredibly mysterious and perplexing situation.

Boris and Amara?

SANCHEZ (on camera): Our thanks to Ed Lavandera for that report. In New York, rescuers are trying to recapture an owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo. The owl is named Flaco. He got out of his enclosure after someone

vandalized the exhibit.

WALKER: Oh, gosh. Well one bird watcher says it's important to safely recapture Flaco because he doesn't know how to survive in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDMUND BERRY, BIRD WATCHER: Owls are very special and always special to see an owl. There are many, many beautiful birds in Central Park. But somehow owls are just a special thing.

I don't know if they can find food. So, any vagrant species, any species is used to being cared for by humans. Finding food can be a real challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Oh man, that's concerning. Well, Flaco was spotted by Rangers Friday in a tree. Officials are requesting park goers give the owl space so that he can be rescued.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on CNN THIS MORNING. We are continuing to track that Chinese spy balloon as it moves toward the east coast. What the Pentagon is saying about a second balloon, next.

And we have a quick programming note for you this weekend. The new CNN film, "AMERICAN PAIN" shows how in just a few short years, two brothers from Florida fueled the opioid epidemic legally. Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:55:04]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The George brothers did not start the opioid crisis. But they sure as hell poured gasoline on the fire.

They became the largest street level distribution group operating the entire United States. Nobody put more pills on the streets than they did. Nobody. They created a blueprint for how this has to be done. And they were operating in broad daylight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The scale of this enterprise and it was enormous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had addicts streaming in from all over the country. 1,000s of miles just to come to Florida to get drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you see what's going on inside that clinic, your job just falls to the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's (INAUDIBLE) to your parking lot, (INAUDIBLE).

I'd been on the job as a special agent for over 20 years, and I've seen a lot of crazy. But this was just bad -- crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ (voice over): You can catch the premiere of "AMERICAN PAIN" tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)