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Ukraine Braces for Attacks on Anniversary of Invasion; NTSB: Crash 100% Preventable; Crew Didn't Do Anything Wrong; California Braces for Massive Winter Storm; DOJ Seeks Answers on Delay Finding Classified Docs at Mar-a-Lago. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 24, 2023 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC: "FLOWERS" BY MILEY CYRUS)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus. And No. 3.
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[06:00:16]
ROMANS: That's Sza's "Kill Bill."
All right. Thanks for joining me, Friday edition of this "EARLY START". I'm Christine Romans. Have a great weekend. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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GRAPHIC: A year of tears
A year of hope
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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Power.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today. Today marks one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the fighting rages on.
Good morning, everyone. We are so glad that you are with us.
This morning, grief and defiance in Ukraine. The country bracing for a potential attack as Vladimir Putin makes a push for more territory on this anniversary of the war. We are live on the ground in Dnipro.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Do you still ultimately think Ukraine can win this?
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: His answer next. That was an interview as I sat down with the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. What he thinks is going to change the dynamics on the battlefield in Ukraine.
LEMON: And we're now learning the Justice Department pushing for answers on how classified documents moved around Mar-a-Lago. What delayed the discovery?
HARLOW: One year ago today, it seemed like all was lost. Russian tanks and armored vehicles poured across the border into Ukraine. Russian airborne troops dropped from the sky, closing in on Kyiv, as they tried to decapitate the Ukrainian government.
But the outnumbered and out-gunned Ukrainians stunned everyone. They stunned the world. They drove the Russians back. Kyiv still stands today, as Putin's bloody invasion enters its second year with no end in sight.
And the cost has been great. The Ukrainian people have suffered unimaginable atrocities. Putin's onslaught has killed countless innocent civilians, including hundreds of children; and millions of Ukrainian refugees have fled. Thousands of suspected war crimes have been reported.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, delivering a speech to his troops this morning and promising victory in 2023.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): It is you who decide whether we are all going to exist, whether Ukraine is going to exist. Every day, every hour, it is you, Ukrainian soldiers, which will decide it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: So take a look at that. That is a live look at Kyiv on this grim anniversary. Ukraine is bracing for potential Russian strikes and attacks to mark the occasion.
We've seen a show of solidarity, though, around the world. This is the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, other famous landmarks around the globe, lit up in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
So we begin with Alex Marquardt, our colleague who is on the ground this morning in Dnipro. You've been covering the war since it began. And here we mark one year, Alex.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Poppy. We were actually here several weeks before the war began. My producer, Sayashi Shuko (ph), and myself, who's with me here today.
And what will always stay with me is how few people we met who actually thought that this war would happen. They just did not believe that Russia would invade.
President Zelenskyy himself saying, just 36 hours before the invasion, that there would be no war.
And then of course, everything changed in an instant. We were in the city of Mariupol on the first day of the war, right outside that famous theater that was then destroyed several weeks later.
We saw all kinds of people lining up for medicine and for -- to take money out. It was just an extraordinary scene. I think to myself all the time where are these people now, whether they're still alive, how they're doing.
That town now decimated and firmly in Russian control.
Countless lives have been upended. Countless lives have been lost. Millions of people have been displaced, moving either to the relative safety of the Western part of the country, or leaving the country altogether.
Many, we should say, have come back to Ukraine because of how well the military has done. There are cities in Ukraine like Kyiv, like Odessa, like here in Dnipro, where you can live a relatively normal life. You can go to work. You can go to school.
But there's the constant reminder of the war, with the air-raid sirens, constant fear that there could be a missile or a drone attack.
And then, guys, when you move farther East towards the frontline, it is impossible to overstate the level of destruction. Town after town, and village after village, that have been absolutely destroyed.
[06:05:07]
They are largely quiet except for the large booms of artillery and missiles that pierce that silence. They're largely empty, except for a lot of old people who have stayed behind because they can't or won't leave.
And of course, there is an immense level of pride in the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the strength of the military. But there's also a lot of anger and sadness about what has happened in the past year and fear, of course. F ear about what could happen today and in the future. Because people recognize that this war is not ending any time soon.
LEMON: You know what, Alex? You have been all over. You're in Dnipro now. You've been in Mariupol.
Yesterday, Christiane Amanpour was talking about how the folks have -- haven't gotten used to it, but they have internalized the war. And if you look at your live shot, it looks like, you know, any normal street in any normal city.
But you also have visited Vuhledar, which is one of the towns that's really been the focus of Russia's destructive campaign. Tell us what you saw there.
MARQUARDT: Well, Vuhledar is absolutely pivotal. Because it lies right at the intersection of the Southern and Eastern fronts in this war.
Russia has been making a push at that town for the last several weeks, because they recognize that it is a jumping off point to push further into Donbas.
They have been pummeling the town with all kinds of artillery. We were in there, and we saw incredible levels of destruction.
And at the same time the Russians have been failing disastrously. They've been attacking that town across open fields and getting hit by -- by Ukrainian artillery, by Ukrainian drones.
So we were with an international legion unit. They do expect the Russians to try to do something around this anniversary, because it is such a strategic town for Russia's stated goal of taking over Donbas -- guys.
LEMON: Alex Marquardt, reporting from Dnipro, Ukraine this morning on this one-year anniversary. Thank you very much for that.
Straight ahead, the secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, sat down with Kaitlan Collins for a one-on-one interview. What he believes will end this war. You'll hear from him and her.
COLLINS: Also this morning, here in the United States, we're learning more about that toxic train derailment that happened in East Palestine, Ohio.
Federal investigators now say that the disaster was 100 percent preventable.
The NTSB, the chair that monitors these kinds of things and makes sure that trains are running safely, also says that there's no evidence that the train's crew has done anything wrong here.
The preliminary report found that an alarm went off and warned the crew that a wheel bearing was overheating shortly before it derails and caused that disaster. The engineer tried to stop the train but, apparently, it was too late.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has been following this investigation closely from the start in East Palestine.
Miguel, I think one of the biggest questions that we've seen is, you know, if they had an idea that something was wrong, why didn't they catch that sooner? Is that not something that they were paying attention to?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's going to be the focus of the investigation. What caused that wheel bearing to fail? How long had it been on the tracks? And is there something different, is there some other way the technology could change or the detectors themselves could be different so they could have seen this coming earlier?
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JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: This was 100 percent preventable.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Nearly three weeks after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
HOMENDY: We call things accidents. There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the incident.
HOMENDY: We know what derailed the train. We have a lot of questions.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Questions that have investigators focusing on the overheating of one of the car's wheel set and bearing.
HOMENDY: The recorded temperature of the bearing increased from 30 degrees Fahrenheit above the ambient temperature, which at the time was 10 degrees Fahrenheit, to 103 degrees above ambient just 10 miles later.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): According to the report, the temperature of the bearing increased as it passed two defect sensors along the tracks but not high enough to trigger an audible alarm.
And it wasn't until the train passed a third sensor with a temperature of over 253 degrees Fahrenheit above the ambient temperature that triggered an audible alarm, alerting the crew to stop the train.
HOMENDY: The engineer at the time was following another train and was already in dynamic braking to slow behind the tram. So he increased the brake application to further slow and stop the train.
We have no evidence that the crew did anything wrong.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): In all, 38 cars derailed, including 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires. The NTSB says it will investigate Norfolk Southern's use of the sensors.
[06:10:12]
HOMENDY: Had there been a detector earlier, that derailment may not have occurred.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's essentially where the cars were piled up, from here to there.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine Thursday for the first time since the disaster, saying he could have come sooner but didn't want to disrupt the investigation.
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We're going to be here day in, day out; year in, year out, making our railroads safer and making sure Norfolk Southern meets its responsibilities. That is a promise and one I take very, very seriously.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): His visit to East Palestine comes a day after former President Trump, who criticized the current administration's handling of the derailment while speaking to residents. The NTSB chair asking that politics be kept out of this tragedy.
HOMENDY: Enough with the politics. I don't understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics. This is about addressing their needs, their concerns. That's what this should be about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: And the NTSB says it's going to hold a rare field hearing here in East Palestine in the months ahead. And the mayor of East Palestine, who has been critical of the Biden administration, met with Pete Buttigieg one-on-one yesterday. And after that meeting says that he feels that not only will this town recover from this, but it will be better than ever -- Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. He has been very critical of the Biden White House. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that report.
And next hour, we're going to actually talk more about this investigation with the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy. She'll join us here on the show.
LEMON: And now to California. Sunny Los Angeles, bracing for snow. Seriously. In L.A.
A slow-moving system expected to bring rare white-out conditions, prompting the first blizzard warning in Southern California since 1989.
Forecasters say the mountains of Los Aneles and Venture counties could get up to 8 feet of snow. In the San Bernardino Mountains East of L.A., spin-outs causing pileups along the highways.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a blizzard down the Hill. And then when I came back up going northbound, I saw a hit and run right in front of me off of 138. There's -- and then there's a SUV, a white SUV that looked like it slid over two lanes. So I was, like, I'm not going to work in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Look now. A driver in Portland, Oregon, struggling for traction on an icy road. Obviously fails. Look at that. That is in Portland, Oregon. Yes. Not good.
More than 828,000 customers still without power this morning, most of them in Michigan.
Straight to our meteorologist, Chad Myers, with what's going on. Man, that scene in Portland, Oregon, and beyond. Two-day storm there wreaking havoc all across so many states. Will there be any relief soon? That's the question, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not for California, for the next 48 hours. No, Don. This is a very big storm. The coldest storm California has seen in decades, without question.
Not like the '40s and '50s, where it snowed on the beach. And no, it will not snow in downtown Los Angeles. But there were flurries near and right on top of the Hollywood sign yesterday. So down to about 1,000 feet above sea level. Not down to sea level itself.
There's the snow. It's raining in California along the coast. But you get above 500 to 1,000 feet, and it's all snow. The snow is actually a good thing. It will take a lot longer to run off. But not good if you're driving in it.
Now, talking about those blizzard warnings for the mountains of L.A. and Ventura County. Those are the areas now. About 127,000 people right now in this red zone for blizzard warnings. And there you see L.A. No, it is not going to snow downtown Los Angeles.
It will rain, though, and there will be some very, very heavy rainfall. Some spots could see flooding rain rather than the snow that will be on top of the mountains.
People are saying that pretty much no matter where are you in California, if you get a view, you will be able to see snow on top of some of these mountains -- Don.
LEMON: On the Hollywood sign, Chad? Come on!
MYERS: Yes. I saw it from my helicopter yesterday. It was flurries, but they were there.
LEMON: Wow.
MYERS: There it is.
LEMON: There it is. Proof. Proof. Pics or it didn't happen.
MYERS: You can't make a snowball but OK.
LEMON: Well, it's Hollywood. They can do anything, right? They'll CG it.
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: Thank you, Chad Myers. Appreciate that. Moving on now, the Justice Department trying to find out about why it took so long to find some classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. We've got some new reporting on that.
COLLINS: Also, the conservative former judge who testified before the January 6th Committee last year is criticizing former Vice President Mike Pence, saying that he's flirting with, quote, "an embarrassing spectacle" if he tries to defy a special counsel's subpoena.
LEMON: Why do these boxes -- why does it sound --
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[06:18:42]
LEMON: So new this morning, we have some reporting out of Washington, D.C. The Justice Department wants answers about a confusing chain of events that delayed the discovery of a box of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Sources say the contents were copied, emailed, moved to an off-site location before returning to the former president's office. Former President Trump I'm talking about. Exactly where the FBI had searched just weeks earlier.
Explanation for all of this now. CNN's Paula Reid live on Capitol Hill with more. Good morning to you. So what is this? What's going on here?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, the special counsel investigators, they want to know why classified documents keep showing up at Mar-a-Lago as recently as December. That's nearly two years after Trump left office.
And the big question for the special counsel is whether this is just the result of carelessness or if this is part of some sort of intentional effort to obstruct their investigation.
We've learned from our reporting that they are specifically interested in a box that was uncovered by Trump lawyers in December. This box contained what was described to us as a handful of classified documents.
But complicating matters is the fact that, back in 2021, a young staffer was instructed to scan the contents of this box. She scanned it with her phone and put those documents on a laptop.
Now, we've learned that, after she scanned them, this box was sent to an off-site storage space and only recently returned to Mar-a-Lago, where it was uncovered in December in a memento closet, where the former president keeps challenge coins and other mementos.
[06:20:13]
Now, federal investigators now have the laptop. They have the box of documents. They have a thumb drive. And we've learned that, in recent weeks, they also sat down with the staffer to ask what exactly happened here? How did she come into possession of these classified documents?
Because they want to know why this box was not given to the Justice Department, how it conveniently eluded federal searches of that property, and whether the former president had any knowledge or anything to do with this.
HARLOW: There's a really interesting development, and that is renowned conservative judge, Michael Luttig, is slamming Mike Pence for not only defying the special counsel, Jack Smith's subpoena but also calling it unconstitutional and unprecedented.
How significant is that, to hear that from Luttig?
REID: This is so interesting, Poppy. Because of course, this judge is a long-time Pence ally. This is someone who helped him work through the certification of the electoral results, called him a hero of democracy.
So now, the fact that he's coming out and he says, Look, Pence doesn't have a chance in the world of defeating this subpoena from the special counsel, this is significant.
Because Pence is arguing that he should be protected from this subpoena, under the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause. Now, that clause is supposed to protect legislators from any sort of law enforcement activity that covers their actual work in Congress. Pence argues that, as president of the Senate, he should qualify.
But this judge, in the op-ed, he's very clear about how he feels. He says, look, "Jack Smith's subpoena was neither politically motivated nor designed to strengthen President Biden's political hand in 2024. Thus, the jarring dissidence between the subpoena and Mr. Pence's characterization of it. It is Mr. Pence who has chosen to politicize the subpoena, not the DOJ."
But, I will also point out that "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board recently came out and had a completely different take. They argued that, because of what Pence did on January 6th, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.
So clearly, intelligent minds can disagree about the Pence subpoena, but the opinions that really matter will come from the courts; and this issue could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
LEMON: You need, like, a treasure map to -- like, some sort of something --
REID: Tell me about it, Don.
LEMON: I was like, Are you telling me?
COLLINS: Paula has one in her office. Paula Reid, great reporting and thank you for explaining all that and breaking it all down. Thank you so much.
HARLOW: "I promised." That is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's defense for sharing 40,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol insurrection with FOX News host Tucker Carlson. In the past, McCarthy said Donald Trump was responsible for the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.
He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: But now McCarthy tells "The New York Times," quote, "I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgement."
Democrats have been condemning McCarthy for the move, warning that it creates a significant security risk. Here's what Congressman -- Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): We have security concerns about turning over the location of security cameras in the U.S. Capitol that the police used. And we have concern about the escape and evacuation routes that were used on that day. We don't want to just, you know, throw our hands up and, say, well, let's just let everything go and let the insurrectionists have the materials that will allow them to plan the next January 6th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: In a letter to Senate colleagues Wednesday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said McCarthy's actions, quote, "laid bare that this shame is simply about pandering to MAGA election deniers, not the truth."
COLLINS: It is true that his most conservative members wanted him to release this. They've pushing him to do it. That's why he's doing it.
But I think the risk that you hear from other Republicans is they do not want to talk about January 6th. And this is just relitigating it. They don't think that works in their favor.
LEMON: Yes. And they're releasing it, I mean, quite honestly, to a person in the media who the courts have deemed not a legitimate news -- that it is basically editorial and so it's not a news program. Look, I don't know if people -- I can't say whether it should have
been released or not have been released. But I think if it is, you should release it to all the news organizations.
HARLOW: I was going to say, isn't sunshine something that shines on everyone?
LEMON: Everyone, right. Much as they do with a FOIA request. When people have a FOIA request.
HARLOW: Freedom of Information.
LEMON: CNN does a FOIA request, everybody gets the information. Right? If Kevin McCarthy wants to release it to the media, then you release it to everybody so that everybody can get a bite at the apple. And there can be as you -- as he says, sunshine.
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: All right. Also, coming up on CNN this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: When you look at this and you're making your assessments, do you think this ends with negotiations, or does it end on the battlefield?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That answer next from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, on the state of Russia's war now, one year later. We have more of our exclusive interview, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We're now one year into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and President Putin has shown no signs of backing down yet.
The U.S. and its allies so far have provided billions of dollars in ammunition, weapons systems, and training for Ukrainian forces, as NATO has also found a renewed purpose over these last 12 months.
And new this morning, the U.S. has just announced that they and NATO allies will put new sanctions on Russia. They'll send additional humanitarian support to Ukraine.
But the main question is whether or not Ukraine is getting enough military aid to actually win on the battlefield. I sat down with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin outside his office at the Pentagon yesterday for his view on where the war stands and how he thinks it could end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: What do the next few weeks look like, do you think? Do you think there is going to be a surge.
