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Russian Missile Test Fails as Biden in Ukraine, Poland; Norfolk Southern CEO Defends Response to Train Derailment; Norfolk Southern's $4B Stock Buyback Under Scrutiny; Blizzards, Storms Impacting from Coast to Coast. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 22, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Four days it is. A majority of companies in the world's largest four-day work week trial have decided to stick with it. The nearly 3,000 employees who took part in this reported better sleep, better stress levels, better mental health. Oh, yes, and profit actually was good.

Fifteen percent of workers actually said no amount of money could make them go back to working five days a week.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. CNN THIS MORNING starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv. Well, I've just come from a visit to Kyiv, and I can report Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall. And most important, it stands free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Very powerful speech from the president yesterday.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Very powerful and juxtaposed to what we heard from Putin in the morning.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes. What a day. President Biden issuing a rallying cry in Poland, saying Kyiv stands strong after Russia's invasion.

Good morning, everyone. Don and I are here in New York. We're glad you're with us. Kaitlan is live in Warsaw, Poland, again this morning -- Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. In a couple of hours from now, Poppy and Don, the president is going to wrap up his final day here in Europe on this trip, his final day here in Warsaw.

He's going to meet with the Eastern flank of NATO allies. They're known as the Bucharest 9. The anxieties for those countries have been riding high for over a year now, as they have been wondering what Putin will do next and what will happen if Russia is successful in Ukraine.

LEMON: -- tested a ballistic missile while President Biden was in Ukraine. Straight ahead, what our brand-new CNN reporting uncovered. We are live at the Pentagon.

Plus, this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You've said that unions are contrary to Starbucks' vision.

HOWARD SHULTZ, STARBUCKS CEO: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That is Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz talking openly about baristas on the picket line and the push to unionize at hundreds of its stores. Our one-on-one sit-down with him is ahead.

But we do begin with President Biden rebuking Russia on the world stage and rallying the NATO alliance as Vladimir Putin's bloody and brutal invasion of Ukraine enters its second year.

Today is the final day of President Biden's momentous trip to Eastern Europe. In a few hours, he is set to meet with, as Kaitlan said, the Bucharest 9 in Warsaw. Those are the leaders of NATO's Eastern flank, countries right on Russia's doorstep.

Some of them share a border with Russia, and they have feared that they could become Putin's next target.

This meeting comes after a stirring speech from President Biden. He made a vow that Putin will never win in Ukraine, and he condemned Russia's horrific atrocities against Ukrainian civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: They've targeted civilians with death and destruction; used rape as a weapon of war; stolen Ukrainian children; bombed train stations, maternity hospitals, schools and orphanages. No one -- no one can turn away their eyes from the atrocities Russia is committing against the Ukrainian people. It's abhorrent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We have team coverage from all angles, from the Pentagon to Moscow. But first, Kaitlan Collins is anchoring live in Warsaw again this morning.

Kaitlan, quite a speech.

COLLINS: Yes. It's been quite a trip. I mean, from the president leaving the White House before dawn to make that secret visit to Kyiv, to now having his final day here.

You know, this trip has all had one theme. And that is the president warning what he said last night, which is that he believes democracy is being tested, that it is at stake here, and that that is why this has such broader implications.

And if you're not familiar with the Bucharest 9, this is a reason that their anxieties are so much higher than everyone else's. Because they are right there on the doorstep of Ukraine, of Poland, of Belarus. And so therefore, that much closer to Russia. So they have real concerns about what the outcome of what happens in Ukraine.

We've been talking to people here in Poland about that, saying you know, this is the country that has the lowest gun ownership per capita rate in Europe. Yet, they have been so concerned about this that some of them are joining the Polish version of the National Guard. They've got these real concerns, given this is just so much closer to home for them.

And so the president's going to be meeting with those leaders today.

He met with the president of Moldova, that very tiny country. Recently, the Moldovan president said that they had unfoiled -- They had foiled a plot that their intelligence services had discovered, that basically, Moscow was planning to overthrow their government.

So you see, this is a real concern for all of the leaders in this area. That's why it's so important for them to be meeting with President Biden after he issued that warning about what's at stake here.

And I think, Poppy and Don, the one thing you also can't ignore is the context of what's happening right now in Russia, which is that China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, is now meeting with President Putin, was expected to happy shortly. He already met with the Russian foreign minister.

[06:05:11]

All of that is in the context of what the president was warning about last night, about who is potentially helping Russia here; what the world is seeing here; what this messages. And that's why this trip has been such a momentous one for President Biden.

HARLOW: It really has been.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Kaitlan.

We have some brand-new reporting to get to this morning. Vladimir Putin apparently tried to test launch a nuclear-capable missile around the time President Biden was in Ukraine, but it failed. That's what U.S. officials are telling CNN.

They say it was a Satan II intercontinental ballistic missile like the one you see right there on your screen. Putin was previously -- has previously bragged that it's unstoppable

and can strike anywhere in the world. That is, if it can get off the ground.

Meantime, Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann broke this story for us on CNN.

Oren, good morning to you. It appears Putin tried to send a strong message, but it was a giant flop. What can you tell us?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very much so. And good morning, Don.

Two U.S. officials tell CNN that Russia carried out a test of its Sarmat ICBM missile, a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying a warhead up to 100 tons and with the range to strike virtually anywhere in the world.

But one of the officials tells CNN the test likely failed, and here's why. The test was scheduled to take place just before Russian President Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address on Tuesday. And had it been a success, Putin almost certainly would have mentioned it there.

And yet, in the hour, 45-minute speech, there was absolutely no mention of that Sarmat missile. Its Western nickname, as you point out, the Satan 2 missile.

U.S. officials do tell CNN that there was proper notification given by Russia to the United States ahead of the missile launch. But the timing here can't be ignored.

Right before that speech, where Putin was looking for a victory. He didn't get it on the battlefield. Perhaps he was looking for it from a successful missile test. And he has bragged about it before.

And then Don, as you pointed out right at the beginning, this missile test coming right around President Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine.

LEMON: Oren, a question for you. Would a successful test have changed the Russia's -- the Russians' decision to suspend participation in the New START program?

LIEBERMANN: Don, that's an excellent question, one that's difficult to answer without getting into the mind of Putin.

But the answer is, probably not. Putin needed some kind of victory, some kind of success to claim in this speech, which was effectively on the one-year mark of the war. And he wasn't getting it on the battlefield.

So to show that he was taking a step against NATO, against the West and against the United States. Perhaps it is that suspension of participation in the New START treaty. That's what he was looking for. And that was likely going to happen whether or not this test succeeded -- Don. LEMON: Don [SIC] Liebermann at the Pentagon, thank you.

HARLOW: Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen. He joins us in Moscow.

Fred, good morning to you. First of all, I guess, we'll get to New START in a moment, but let's just talk about what Moscow is saying, if anything about this alleged test failure and, obviously, the timing there.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, Poppy, Oren's reporting is actually causing a bit of a stir here in Moscow. In fact, you have Russian officials who are not denying the report but sort of trying to dismiss it a little bit.

The deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, he came out and he said, Well, basically, it's not even worth commenting on. But then he did launch into a tirade, saying that there was a lot of of misinformation out there, and that you shouldn't believe everything you hear in mass media, especially if it's coming from CNN. He's obviously not our biggest fan, it seems.

What we did today, this morning, also, Poppy, is we did ask the spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, about all this, as well. He also said that he couldn't comment on it. He said the only entity here in Russia that could comment on it would be the defense ministry. However, so far, they have not put out anything yet, Poppy.

HARLOW: You're also reporting that this morning, Russian Parliament is already moving along Putin's request to suspend at least their participation in the inspections of the New START treaty, which is all about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation.

But then Putin walked that back a few hours later yesterday. So where does it stand?

PLEITGEN: Yes, it's a really important point. You're absolutely right. First of all, as far as the legal process here in Russia is concerned, you're absolutely right. It's moving along very quickly.

Obviously, Vladimir Putin put that draft forward yesterday after his speech, and today in Parliament it has already passed the lower House of Parliament, the Duma, early this morning.

And Poppy, you're absolutely right. The Russians did say, and the foreign ministry actually said it again last night, as well. They are suspending it. They are not getting rid of that treaty, and it is something that can be reversed, guys.

HARLOW: OK. Fred Pleitgen with the perspective from Moscow. Thanks very very much for that reporting.

LEMON: And new this morning, the chief executive of Norfolk Southern defending his company's response to the train derailment that released toxic chemicals in Ohio. The railroad company is facing fierce criticism and multiple lawsuits

from residents who were forced from their homes and are now reporting health concerns, such as headaches and nausea since the disaster.

[06:10:07]

CNN's Miguel Marquez, live in East Palestine, Ohio, with more this morning.

Good morning to you, sir. What is the CEO saying about the company's response?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning. He is starting to respond.

Look, I want to show you a little bit of just how massive this cleanup is. We are in the middle of East Palestine here. This is a creek that runs through it. It is contaminated. This is just one location here where they are doing this as Norfolk Southern is under increasing pressure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): A toxic mess left by its derailed train. Now President Joe Biden adding his pressure on Norfolk Southern, following criticism for his response to the crash.

On Instagram, Biden wrote Norfolk Southern's imposed payments and cleanup operations are "common sense," because quote, "This is their mess, and they should clean it up."

The company is reiterating its commitment to East Palestine residents.

ALAN SHAW, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORFOLK SOUTHERN: From day one, I've made the commitment that Norfolk Southern is going to remediate the site.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): But still, it is facing accusations of mismanagement, like this from Pennsylvania's governor, Josh Shapiro.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): They chose not to participate in the unified command. They gave us inaccurate information and conflicting modeling data.

SHAW: I was at unified command, and I can tell you that the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Mayor Conaway, Fire Chief Drabick, the National Guard, and Norfolk Southern were aligned that the controlled burn, the controlled release, was the safest course of action for the citizens of East Palestine.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Governor Shapiro announced a criminal referral to the attorney general's office over the crash and its fallout. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also said his attorney general is reviewing possible legal action against Norfolk Southern.

But the train company says it is committed to helping East Palestine for the long haul.

SHAW: We're going to give it continuous long-term air and water monitoring. We're going to help the residents of this community recover. And we're going to invest in the long-term health of this community. And we're going to make Norfolk Southern a safer railroad.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): According to its CEO, Norfolk Southern has reimbursed $6.5 million to East Palestine residents so far. This as the company continues to monitor air and water quality there. It says hundreds of tests conducted have come back clean.

During a visit to East Palestine, head of the EPA, Michael Regan, said he's confident in the tests.

MICHAEL REGAN, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Our data is very solid, and if the homes have been cleared and tested for drinking water, then we trust that data. So we feel really good about that.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): To prove that, Regan and Governor DeWine drank from the same water sources that are being tested. However, Governor DeWine says more work needs to be done to remove contaminated soil from the area.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): The soil under the tracks has not been dealt with. So under the administrator's order, that soil will be removed. So the tracks will have to be taken up, and that soil will have to be removed.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Despite all these actions and guarantees, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway says his community is still concerned about overall safety.

MAYOR TRENT CONAWAY, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO: We need our town cleaned up. We need our residents to feel safe in their homes. That's the No. 1 thing. Your home is your sanctuary. If you don't feel safe in your home, you're never going to feel safe anywhere

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (on camera): Now, coming back out live here, I want to show y you. This is about 100 yards from where we are, where they have yet another sort of dam of this material to sort of soak up that toxic material next to the one that we are standing at.

EPA says that they expect Norfolk Southern, in the next two days, to have that comprehensive plan. It will need to be signed off on by the EPA and the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

And all entities now saying they will be here not for weeks, not for months, but for years to clean up this mess.

Back to you guys.

LEMON: Miguel, you may have spoken to this, but is this one of a number of scenes like this playing out all over the area? MARQUEZ: This is everywhere. This is right in the middle of town.

There are these sort of cleanup operations, where they have hoses pulling the water out, pushing it back in to stir it up and to -- and capture all the toxins. This is happening throughout the area.

LEMON: All right. Miguel Marquez for us in East Palestine, Ohio. Thank you, Miguel.

And straight ahead, we're going to speak with the EPA administrator, Michael Regan. That's next hour.

HARLOW: And Norfolk Southern is facing real scrutiny after spending $4 billion on stock buybacks last year. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here to explain to us why.

Let's look at the numbers and help us put them in perspective.

ROMANS: Sure. OK, so the operating revenue of this company last year was 12.7 billion. This is a 50-some billion-dollar market cap. A big company.

[06:15:03]

And a company that was making so much money, it decided to, rather than invest into its business, it bought back shares, 4.23 billion shares last year.

And so when it said it would give the community fund 1.2 million, it raised some red flags among folks who said, Look, this is a powerful, profitable company giving money back to shareholders, and you have the suffering of this -- of this community. So just the optics there. Something that people who've been critical of share buybacks, Poppy, really leapt on.

HARLOW: Can you explain -- because it's interesting. Wall Street is divided on share buybacks. For example, the Starbucks CEO, Howard Schulz, we'll hear from him later in the show -- stopped their corporate share buybacks last year when he came back, stopped $1 billion of them, saying it's not the right thing for a company, right, to do or for the people in that moment.

Can you explain what the critics of it say?

ROMANS: Sure.

HARLOW: And the defense of it?

ROMANS: Let's say what they are, right? This is when companies use their profit, their excess profit, right, to buy back their own shares on the open market. That cuts the number of shares available, which raises the value of the company's stock. It rewards the shareholders.

And critics say these buybacks simply were for shareholders and discourage corporate investment in things like safety and things like worker pay. Unions say that for some time. Joe Biden has been very -- the president has been very critical of stock buybacks in, for example, the oil patch, where they make all this money.

We heard from Sherrod Brown on Sunday. He is a senator there in Ohio. This is what he said about corporate buybacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): This is really the same old story. Corporations do stock buybacks. They do big dividend checks. They lay off workers. Thousands of workers have been laid off from Norfolk Southern. Then, they -- they don't invest in safety rules and safety regulations, and this kind of thing happens. That's why people in East Palestine are so upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The defense is these are public companies that need investors, right, lots of different investors. And you need to reward investors when you can to make sure you have access to that capital. And that this is how we run our businesses.

So there is this capitalist defense of it, but then there are the optics, I think, that --

LEMON: This is -- this is bringing the highlight -- this is highlighting it. This is something that you have been discuss -- this has been discussed for years about these corporate buybacks, these stock buybacks.

ROMANS: This is how Wall Street runs. I mean, it runs on corporate buybacks, right? And as soon as you start to have, you know, stability and profits in a company, you know, you -- a CEO, board, actually, rewards investors and says, We're going to give some of that money back. So keep investing with us.

HARLOW: Another way they could do it, though, is through dividends.

ROMANS: This is true.

HARLOW: Which would then be taxed, right?

ROMANS: This is true.

HARLOW: Thank you for helping us.

ROMANS: That will be taxed, right.

HARLOW: It's different.

ROMANS: It is different.

HARLOW: Thank you, Romans.

A new bombshell from the Georgia grand jury investigating Donald Trump. The jury's foreperson tells CNN they recommended charges, but for who?

LEMON: Plus this. Man, this is huge. CNN monitoring a winter storm that stretches from coast to coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:35]

LEMON: So this morning, blizzard warnings from the Dakotas to Minnesota, with more than 65 million people under winter alerts coast- to-coast this morning.

That massive storm bringing rain, snow and freezing temperatures across Utah. Some areas are expecting two to three feet of snow.

And a very close call for a state trooper on an icy Wyoming highway. Look at this. It's dash-cam video showing him narrowly escaping a runaway semi truck as he was helping another driver. Wow, wow, wow.

Straight to CNN's Adrienne Broaddus, live in Minnesota for us this morning, just South of St. Paul.

Good morning to you. This area is expecting the greatest three-day snowfall in 30 years. What are you seeing -- what are you seeing so far out there, Adrienne?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing snow, Don. It is falling lightly, but the snow here in Bloomington and in Minneapolis started yesterday. And this is what forecasters are calling day two of this three-day storm.

Let me tell you what's happening right now. Here across the state of Minnesota, the governor, Tim Walz, has declared a peacetime emergency. So what does that mean? If people go out on the roads, even though they have been advised to stay at home, if you don't have to get out here, members of the National Guard will be deployed. They're already in place, to help people if they need to be rescued.

Also, MnDOT -- that's the state's department of transportation -- has more than 800 snowplows and 1,600 drivers across the state.

And already this morning, I'm starting to lose count of the number of plows that I've seen along this highway behind us.

And check your flights if you're heading out, because there have been cancellations -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Adrienne, that is my biggest fear, those roadside live shots. I'm glad you're well off the highway. That trooper, you saw what could happen there. So be safe. Thank you, Adrienne.

HARLOW: Let's get to our meteorologist, Chad Myers, in the Weather Center.

Chad, good morning. Big power outages, California and Nevada this morning. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HARLOW: Is this a really dangerous storm system?

MYERS: It really is, for the ice event, as well. Not only the ice that Adrienne's going to see in Minneapolis and also up toward Milwaukee.

We have wind advisories in parts of California; 140,000 customers without power there. Snow in the Rockies, snow across the Northern Plains. And even winter storm warnings for Maine. From California to Maine. This is just getting going this morning.

Here's how it's going to shape up. There is rain to the South, temperatures above 32. There is temperature here and snow below 32. The rain is going to fall into this very cold air. There's going to be an ice storm. A significant ice storm. Even though you see the bull's- eye here in Michigan, there's going to be ice, Chicago back to London, Ontario; Hamilton all the way to the East.

The snow is one of the stories. But the ice event with power lines, trees down and treacherous driving here for the next few days across the upper Midwest. We'll keep watching.

HARLOW: Yes. Hearing a lot about it from home. That's for sure. Chad, thanks very, very much.

Kaitlan, back to you.

COLLINS: Yes, we're live here in Warsaw where, in just a few hours, Poppy and Don, President Biden is going to be meeting with the leaders of the Bucharest 9. We'll tell you what he plans to tell the group that is on the frontlines of defense as Russia is continuing its war in Ukraine. We're going to have live coverage here on the ground in Warsaw, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: One year ago, remember, Putin thought the war would only last a few days. But clearly, he made a miscalculation in the ratio of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) around to find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That was late night's assessment of President Biden's trip here in Warsaw.

A very serious matter is at hand, though. This morning, we are live here in Warsaw. President Biden is wrapping up his trip while also reaffirming U.S. solidarity with Ukraine in the days leading up to the one-year anniversary of Russia's war.

It's hard to believe that it's been a year but on Friday, it will mark 365 days since Putin sent his troops into Ukraine.

In a rousing speech on Tuesday, the president began by declaring Kyiv stands and Kyiv stands strong. He vowed that Russia would, quote, "never" win the war in Ukraine, and said that the U.S. support for Ukraine -- or for Kyiv and its allies will, quote, "never waver."

The president also accused Russian forces of crimes against humanity. He called on the world to stand up to Russian atrocities and the actions we've seen from President Putin and his forces.

And a few hours from now, President Biden is going to be meeting with the NATO -- the leaders of NATO's Eastern flank. They are known as the Bucharest 9. It's in order to show support for their security.

[06:30:00]