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Anita Anand is Interviewed about Objects over North America; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) is Interviewed about the Mystery Objects; Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 13, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:18]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So, U.S. military jets have shot down four objects flying through North American air space in the past ten days. The latest was over northern Michigan. That was on Sunday. It was shot down near Lake Huron.

And you're looking at now -- this is new video shot just into CNN. And it may be hard to see, but it shows fighter jets flying over Michigan.

And on Sunday, U.S. jets took down an object that was being tracked over northern Canada. The Biden administration has been cautious, describing the unidentified object over Canada. But at least two high- ranking officials have made reference to balloons, as well as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): You can be sure that if any - any American interests or people are at risk, they'll take appropriate action.

Until they get that comprehensive analysis, however, we have to look at each balloon individually and see what this (INAUDIBLE).

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Were these balloons Friday and Saturday night?

SCHUMER: They believe they were, yes. But much smaller than the - than the one -- the first one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was Chuck Schumer there. But joining us now, Canada's minister of national defense, Anita Anand. She meant with our counter - her counterpart, I should say, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at the Pentagon on Friday. Only a day before the object over Canada was shot down.

We're so glad that you could join us this morning. Thank you so much.

ANITA ANAND, CANADA MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENSE: Thanks for having me.

LEMON: Since your meeting, have you spoken to our secretary of defense?

ANAND: Yes, I have. We are in regular contact. I spoke with him not only on Friday in Washington, D.C., but also on Saturday, as we discussed, the cylindrical object that was over Yukon territory, which NORAD shot down, and we are now moving to obtain the debris and examine it.

LEMON: OK, so then - and you -- can you share with us anything from your conversations about what this is. You said it's cylindrical. It was similar to the Chinese spy balloon shot down off of South Carolina, but smaller. Correct me if any of my information is wrong. What did you learn and what did you discuss that you can share with us in your conversations since then?

ANAND: Well, perhaps the most important thing is that we continued to reiterated the importance of our shared cooperation and collaboration relating to the defense of our two countries. We both continued to stress the importance of NORAD. And indeed, it was NORAD command that ensured that the object over the Yukon territory was shot down.

And so our work as partners and allies continues. But it is wonderful to have that strong working relationship with Secretary Austin, not only on this issue, but, of course, on NORAD modernization, as well as Ukraine.

LEMON: Let me just ask you another question here. You - you said smaller than the Chinese balloon, but what size was this one?

ANAND: Well, of course, we moved very closely and carefully to make sure that that item was out of the air for the protection of the Canadian population. And, at this point, we are not able to speculate on the precise parameters of the objects. From the visual that we received, it does appear that the object was cylindrical in nature and smaller than the object that was shot down over the United States eastern coast. But it would be imprudent for me to speculate further at this time until we gather the debris and until we do the analysis. The FBI is involved in that analysis, as is the RCMP here in Canada.

LEMON: Will you -- do you plan on sharing any of the video or the images from the object?

ANAND: We do plan to make sure that we are being fully transparent with the Canadian population. And, more broadly, we're working with NORAD to make sure that we do a fulsome analysis. We have a CP-140 Aurora trying to make sure that we are locating the debris. It's in a very remote part of Canada in the Yukon territory. The terrain is very rugged. So, the insurance that we need to locate that debris is still ongoing.

LEMON: So, when -- when this happens, everyone thinks, China. We don't know that for sure yet, unless you do. You can correct me if - if I'm wrong, if you know. But - so, do you know where this object shot down over Canada, shot down in Canada, where it's from? [08:35:04]

Any indications that it is China?

ANAND: We are still working to make sure that we have information before we state factually any of those types of points. My modus operandi is to make sure that we have the debris analyzed before we are making further statements of fact. And it would be imprudent for me to speculate therefore at this time.

But I will say that we will leave no stone unturned in the analysis. We will continue to work with our American counterparts through NORAD, and we will make sure we have full information before we come forward and release it.

LEMON: Before I let you go, when do you plan on releasing that information and when -- the information about who you think it is and also any images of what you shot down?

ANAND: We are still in the process of locating the debris and we will move to locate it and analyze it. We know that it was shot down over central Yukon. We have teams on the ground and in the air, making sure that we are able to locate and analyze that debris.

As I said, the RCMP, the FBI, NORAD, we are all on the same page about the need to do this as expeditiously as possible.

LEMON: Canadian minister of national defense, Anita Anand, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

ANAND: Thank you so much. Take care.

LEMON: Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And for more on this, on the American side of this, we have Democratic Congressman Jason Crow joining us this morning. He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and previously served as a U.S. Army Ranger in Afghanistan.

Good morning, Congressman.

My first question for you is, what have you heard from the administration about what's happened here?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Hi. Well, good morning.

Well, Kaitlan, first of all, this is not a new issue. This is an issue that the House Intelligence Committee and the Department of Defense and administrations have actually been tracking for many years. And there's kind of three different categories of what we call UAPs, unidentified areal phenomenon. First are radar anomalies. These are things that pop up on the radar and are later determined not to be actual objects. The second are objects that are later identified as errant weather balloons or maybe flocks of birds or something. Then the third "r" (ph), kind of what we're dealing with right now, and that is objects that have been identified, visually on radar as well, but are on - are of an unknown origin and we're not really sure what they are.

So, what's happening now is, we're actually looking for these with extra vigilance. We're looking for them in different ways. We're starting to see them in different ways. And President Biden has now made the decision that we are going to not allow those over our U.S. territory. We're going to defend the sovereignty of our air space, so to speak, and we're now shooting them down.

So, that's kind of the change. But the Intel Committee actually declassified a report last year, and we held an open hearing, where we talked about this issue.

COLLINS: What is new, though, is that we are shooting them down. The United States is moving quickly, as they did over the weekend.

Is it clear to you what the threshold is for shooting these objects down?

CROW: Well, the threshold appears to be in, as is described to me is, within U.S. air space or Canadian air space we have a joint agreement with the Canadians, as Minister Anand just described, that we're going to protect the Northern Aerospace Defense Zone, NORAD. And if something comes into our sovereign territory or U.S. sovereign territory, it's unidentifiable and it poses a threat to commercial air travel, that we're going to shoot it down. That's the current criteria and that's obviously happened in four different instances over the last week, including the most recent one over Lake Huron.

And as Minister Anand, as the Department of Defense has explained to me, we actually don't know what this object is. It's smaller, it's cylindrical in shape, and crews are recovering the wreckage from this object and going to make this assessment.

COLLINS: What did the Pentagon tell you about where they thought these - these objects might be coming from?

CROW: That's just unknown. If they know about it, they're certainly not telling me at this point. You know, I haven't been back in Washington for the last few days, so I haven't been able to receive a classified briefing on this issue. I don't believe that they know what the origin is yet. They obviously have to recover the wreckage itself and look at how it's manufactured, what kind of materials are used in it to make that determination. But, right now, nothing's being said.

COLLINS: That is a question, though, when - when nothing is being said, it kind of fueling panic and speculation about what it is from people who are seeing the U.S. military, fighter jets being scrambled to shoot these down.

Do you think the Biden administration is being forthcoming enough about what they do or do not know about these objects?

CROW: I do think that they are. First of all, these are not posing a threat to the United States or to Americans. You know, these are benign objects from what we can tell.

[08:40:00]

And, again, this is not a new phenomenon either. We've had UAPs coming within the United States for years now. But it's -- this is a different dynamic now and we're deciding to take these objects down. So, really no indication of any threat to Americans here. But, you know, if they're - if they're going to, you know, guess or put out information, that's not helpful either. It's better to actually get full information, take time, make sure that it's accurate, that it's reliable, that they know what they're talking about, rather than do conjecture or guesswork. That actually isn't helpful for anybody.

COLLINS: OK. It's good to hear you say that the current assessment is that they are benign objects. That's newsworthy.

Congressman, before you go, I know you are going to Brussels in a few days. We just heard from the secretary general of NATO, he said they are concerned that the war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of ammunition and depleting allies' stockpiles. Is it depleting the U.S. stockpile of ammunition, based on what you know?

CROW: Well, we certainly are using stuff from our own stockpile. We've been actually providing stuff to Ukraine, using what's called presidential drawdown authority. That means we're taking stuff that already exists, and we're shipping it directly to Ukraine. And the reason why we're doing that is because they need it now. The Ukrainians need it now. We can't spend years or months producing this stuff. We have to get it immediately to the battlefield, which is actually the right answer.

So, really what this becomes is our ability to replenish and restockpile that, working with the manufacturers, which we're working to do. But we have 54 countries now, part of the Ukrainian defense contact group, who are coming to the aid of Ukraine. It's just not the United States. Fifty-four countries that are providing aid, material and equipment of various sorts. This is an international coalition that the United States is leading to help Ukraine fight and win.

COLLINS: All right, Congressman Jason Crow, I know you've got a busy travel schedule this week. Thank you for joining us to answer those very important questions.

CROW: Thank you.

LEMON: And straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Harry Enten is here to break down the winners and the losers of last night's Super Bowl ad blitz. Super Bowl ad blitz. We'll explain why this morning's number is nine.

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[08:46:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: Big mistakes. Huge mistakes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait, I can erase my ex-es?

I don't even remember this guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: This Google Pixel ad was the best Super Bowl commercial. That's according to Northwestern University's Kellogg Marketing Club. The so- called Kellogg Bowl grades Super Bowl ads based on how effective they were.

CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten is here with this morning's number.

So, why was this one so good? Every -- all the things that they took out, I liked them.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I liked them, too, but, you know, we're not professionals. We're not people like, you know, who study ads for a living. I guess we're just common day folk, right?

So, let's take a look. This morning's number is, it is nine. So that is essentially the number of the 50 adds that were graded by the Kellogg Marketing Club. Nine of them received an "A" grade. All right, nine of 50. So, there was not massive grade inflation, perhaps like there is at my alma mater.

Let's sort of get into what some of those top-graded examples were. You mentioned the Google Pixel. How about that T-Mobile Bradley Cooper ad -

LEMON: That was funny.

ENTEN: Doritos with Jack Harlow, the Kia, the dad searches for blinky. So, these were some of the top examples, at least according to those who study ads for a living.

COLLINS: So, this is what the professionals thought were the best ads, but what did people -- regular people, were they Googling? What do people think was the best ones?

ENTEN: Right. So, interestingly enough, the "USA Today" ad meter, the top ads, so "USA Today" has been doing this for a while. And what they had, number one was The Farmer's Dog's Forever ad. Also, number two, NFL Flag Football Run With It, which was also one of the top ads searched on Google, so I think that was a very popular ad, the Amazon Saving Sawyer, and the Dunkin Ben Affleck ad, which I -

COLLINS: I loved that one, where he was working the drive-thru at the Dunkin.

LEMON: You know which one I liked. You liked it too. The Farmer's Dog.

ENTEN: Of course.

LEMON: Yes.

ENTEN: You know I'm a dog guys.

LEMON: Yes.

ENTEN: Anything with dog. They could - they could sell murder and I -- with dogs and I would love that.

COLLINS: That's (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Everybody in the room, when they saw that ad, went, ahhh.

ENTEN: Ahhh.

LEMON: Ahhh. Yes.

ENTEN: Let's take a look, though, obviously, some of the good ads. How about some of those bad ads.

So, let's go back to that Kellogg's school, right, what were some of the poorly graded ads, the ones that were given a "D" grade.

The M&Ms's ad with Maya Rudolph, the Remy Martin ad, the e.l.f. Cosmetics, the Downey. This one in particular I did not like.

COLLINS: OK, but I disagree with this one because we as - I know Don agrees with me, Jennifer Coolidge can do no wrong. And I thought that the Jennifer Coolidge ad was kind of funny.

LEMON: That was an M&M's one.

ENTEN: Oh, there -- there's - there's Maya Rudolph. And here's the thing that's so interesting to me. You know, before we noticed a difference between what some of the professionals were giving versus what some of the common folk were thinking. But take a look here. Some of the worst ads, the YouTube Balloon Baby was really bad. But also, look here, the M&Ms ad was rated bad by folks. And the Remy Martin ad was rated bad by folks.

LEMON: The Remy Martin ad was a little jolting for people because they thought it was kind of a different for look Serena and (INAUDIBLE) that alcohol. They just thought it was off brand.

ENTEN: I think it was off brand. I was confused by the ad, Don, that was honestly what happened with me.

LEMON: Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: All right, thank you.

COLLINS: Harry, thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

This morning's number, nine.

One of the MVP's of last night's game, the Super Bowl super mom, Donna Kelce being there for both her sons. The touching moments, that's next. Awe. Awe.

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[08:53:27]

LEMON: It is the morning after the Kelce bowl.

COLLINS: I love that.

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: That's a good name for it.

LEMON: And we know Donna Kelce is extremely proud of both of her sons. She was spotted running up to hug Travis of the Kansas City Chiefs, who was all smiles the moment that they won the Super Bowl. And then she found her son Jason on the Philadelphia Eagles side and consoled him on the field after the tough loss. Poppy Harlow spoke with Donna Kelce last week after - about -- I should say about how she would handle the situation, knowing one of her sons was going to be disappointed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA KELCE, MOTHER OF TRAVIS AND JASON KELCE: And I will go to the postgame hotel after the ceremony and I'll give my son a huge hug and a kiss because there's nothing that I could say that will, you know, mean anything at that point. He's going to be a broken, you know, person. So, you know, he'll be happy for his brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So the Kelce brothers also shared a hug on the field. There it is right there. Jason telling Travis to go celebrate and each saying I love you to the other.

COLLINS: I love that mom.

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: She's so adorable. And I'm so glad they got to have that moment for their family.

LEMON: So, there's a win for, you know -

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: There's a win for everyone.

COLLINS: They both played in the Super Bowl, so it's still pretty cool.

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, also this morning, an attorney for former President Trump says the search for classified documents at his properties is now over, but he's blaming a White House procedure for documents still being in there. That's ahead.

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[08:59:16]

LEMON: All right, as you start your day, there are stories that are top of mind. So, why don't we head over to the CNN "NEWSROOM" and the old satellite here. And Jim Sciutto and Erica Hill both join us.

First of all, everybody's talking -- a couple things. Super Bowl, that's top of mind, right?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

LEMON: And the -- these objects that are over the sky. Which one do you want to talk about first, guys?

SCIUTTO: Yes, we are brought to you by satellite, not by balloon, just so you know.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Important clarification.

SCIUTTO: Important.

COLLINS: Don't want you guys getting shot down.

SCIUTTO: Listen, the administration has to answer some questions here, right, because it's happening with such alarming frequency now and there's not a lot of clarity as to who exactly is sending these, are they a threat, do you have to shoot down every one? I mean is that the new world we're in? I mean that's a pretty -- it's a pretty dicey - it's a dicey time between -- particularly between the U.S. and China.

[09:00:03]

LEMON: Yes.

HILL: It is. And especially while you're waiting -- they're still waiting to recover some of what was shot down.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: That only ups of anti in terms of questions, and people want answers, understandably.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LEMON: Did your team win? I know Rihanna won, Erica, and that's who you were rooting for.

Jim?

HILL: I was team Rihanna, yes. So, we won. Yes.

LEMON: Yes.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I like the halftime show. I'm just saying that my team was telling me the halftime show was - well, I was like Rihanna's floating above the field like 100 feet. That, to me, is cool.

HILL: Yes.

LEMON: But then scary.

COLLINS: Yes, speaking of flying objects. She looked great, though.

All right, guys, we know you've got a busy show ahead of you, so, we'll let you take it from here.

LEMON: Enjoy your day. See you tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Thanks, Don and Kaitlan.

HILL: Have a good day, guys.

SCIUTTO: We'll do - we'll do our very best.

[09:00:00]