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NYT: Navalny Called Trump 2nd Term Agenda 'Really Scary'; Biden Campaign Raised More Than $42M in January; Heavy Rain Ahead for California after Widespread Floods; Motive Unknown for Double Murder on Colorado Campus. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 20, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:29]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman with Audie Cornish. We are back for more here in New York. Phil and Poppy are both off.

The recrimination surrounding the death of Alexei Navalny, they are growing louder this morning. His widow is accusing Russia of a cover- up, insisting that her husband was poisoned, as pressure grows for the U.S. to punish Vladimir Putin.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump refusing to condemn Navalny's death, instead, shared a video of a Putin ally declaring that Trump should be president again.

And the United States offering a U.N. resolution, calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza: a clear warning to Israel to rethink its next move.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

BERMAN: It has now been four days since Alexei Navalny died in a Siberian prison, and the Russian government is still refusing to turn over his body. Navalny's team says authorities are allegedly keeping it to conduct some sort of chemical examination.

And new this morning, the Kremlin denies accusations by Navalny's widow that he may have been poisoned again, with nerve agent.

President Biden is blasting House Republicans for not doing more to stand up to Putin and for withholding desperately needed aid from Ukraine as Russian troops go on the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, would you go so far as to say that Alexei Navalny's blood is on the hands of House Republicans right now?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wouldn't use that term. They're making a big mistake not responding. Look, the way they're walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they're walking away from NATO, the way they're walking away from beating our opposition is -- just shocking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Donald Trump has yet to condemn Putin. Instead, he's using Navalny's story to compare himself to the late opposition leader and to slam the American justice system, calling the United States, quote, "a failing nation."

Now, we're getting a look at Navalny's private letters in his final months. They reveal concerns he had about Trump becoming president again. In a letter obtained by "The New York Times," Navalny told a friend that the prospects of a second Trump presidency, and his agenda, were really scary.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live in Paris.

And Melissa, what more are we learning, first about the Navalny family's efforts to actually get answers about his death?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the time being, Audie, they've been told that they won't be getting access to his body for 14 days.

Now, what we heard yesterday was Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, in that nine-minute-long video message, saying that the reason authorities are keeping the body away from the family and his close associates is to allow any traces of Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent that's been used so effectively over the course of the last few years on opponents, not just in Russia, by the way, but outside, as well; allowing the Novichok to leave his system.

Now, those comments were directly addressed today by Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, who described them as boorish and unfounded, saying that neither he nor Vladimir Putin had seen Yulia Navalnaya's video message.

But clearly, a 14-day period before any kind of access is given is an extremely long time.

We saw those fairly harrowing images yesterday of Alexei Navalny's mother trying to get access either to any information about her son or access to his corpse. She traveled all the way up to the Arctic Circle to the town nearest the penal colony where we now know he took his final breaths.

Now, what we've also been seeing inside Russia, despite the repression, despite the hundreds of arrests over the course of the weekend, is people still coming out very bravely to try and play? There are tributes, pay their respects, put floral tributes where they can, even though they tend to be picked up very quickly by masked men, anxious to get rid of any sign that there might be signs of grieving out in the country.

Outside, we've seen, notwithstanding Donald Trump's lateness in mentioning this at all, here in Europe, very firm condemnation, with growing calls here in Europe that there should be some kind of fresh sanctions targeting specifically internal repression, John and Audie.

[06:05:08]

BERMAN: All right, Melissa Bell. Thank you very much for that.

We want to bring in CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He's a White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times."

And David, you were in Munich for this security conference France with all these world leaders there as they got news of Alexei Navalny's death. What was the change from before and after there in the atmosphere?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, it was really truly remarkable, John, in part because Mr. Navalny's widow, Yulia, was in Munich. She had been planning to speak about his imprisonment and ended up addressing the group just hours after she learned that he had died.

It was an emotional moment, but it was also one of great determination. And now, she has declared that she will sort of take up his old cause and become the centerpiece of the dissident movement that Navalny was, of course, at the center of until his death.

But I think what really struck people in Munich was not just the Navalny moment, but this in sequence with two other events. One was that Russia was beginning to make significant progress against the Ukrainians at a moment that the U.S. this has faltered in providing more arms.

And the second was that the revelation of a Russian plan -- We don't know if it'll happen yet -- to put a nuclear weapon in space came just within hours of this.

And I think the three things together made them realize that they had underreacted to Russia, even after the Ukraine invasion.

CORNISH: David, I want to add to your point here, because in a piece you wrote about some of the anxieties amongst European nations. You talked about how they did fundamentally underestimate Putin, as well, right, going back several years and how now that contributes to the sense of being kind of unprepared for what's ahead.

SANGER: That's right, Audie. I mean, if you think about it, Putin himself came to Munich in 2007 and basically said there are lands that have been separated from Russia that need to be restored. That should have been the first message.

Then he invaded Crimea in 2014. Europe was very slow to impose sanctions. Signed the deal in 2015, the next year, to get Nord Stream 2, additional gas from Russia.

So it was really only after the invasion, two years ago this week, that the Europeans got serious about cracking down. And they're way behind in their military buildup. And so the statements that former President Trump has been making, the

slowness of the House Republicans to provide aid and arms, the doubts about NATO has suddenly sent them into something of a panic, because they moved way too slowly in reacting to the new reality.

BERMAN: I mean, putting it simply, David, do they think Putin is winning? And they do they think the United States will be there in the next 12 months, if they do think Putin is winning?

SANGER: They -- Putin may be winning tactically. It's not clear that he's built up any significant allies, other than China, Iran, and of course, North Korea, all of which are helping in their own way with the war, but they also think, I believe, that our own democracies are faltering.

And it was interesting that when President Zelenskyy addressed the group on Saturday, he referred to self-defeating democracies, and he was clearly making a reference to the United States.

And at one moment, in a jab at Congress for being off and out of session while this is going on, made the point that dictators don't take vacations.

So I think there is a sense that the U.S. and the allies are losing ground, may not be able to recover it, and clearly, don't have a strategic plan to go deal with -- from this point forward.

BERMAN: Clear warning signs. David Sanger, great to have you this morning. Thanks so much.

So Donald Trump, as we said, is not condemning Navalny's death, but he is sharing a new endorsement for president from a Putin ally.

CORNISH: And Jon Stewart responds to Democrats who are angry about his criticism of President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": I do 20 minutes and one (EXPLETIVE DELETED) joke! Where do I go to study the particulars of unquestioning propaganda? I would need mentorship.

TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: We're in Moscow tonight. We're here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

[06:10:04]

STEWART: Thanks be praised.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: But I don't mind, because quite frankly, the response to the first show last Monday was universally galling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mary Trump tweeting not only is Stewart's "both sides are the same rhetoric, not funny, it's a potential disaster for democracy."

STEWART: It was one (EXPLETIVE DELETED) joke! It was one (EXPLETIVE DELETED) joke. It was 20 minutes. I did 20 minutes and one (EXPLETIVE) joke!

I have sinned against you. I'm sorry.

It was never my intention to say out loud what I saw with my eyes and then brain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Jon Stewart firing back on "The Daily Show" last night to the backlash of his segment last week, where he called out both President Biden and Donald Trump's advanced ages.

BERMAN: So the Biden campaign is coming out this morning with some pretty impressive January fundraising numbers: more than $42 million raised. The campaign says it ended January with more than $130 million on hand, which is the largest cash-on-hand figure for any Democratic president -- presidential candidate ever at this point in the campaign cycle.

[06:15:04]

With us, CNN political commentator and Spectrum News anchor, Errol Louis; political reporter Joyce Koh; and Capitol Hill reporter for Axios, Juliegrace Brufke.

So Errol, you talk to Democratic donors and Democratic activists, and as Jon Stewart noted, people see in hear President Biden and see and hear his age. And while they might have concerns, it's not drying up the fundraising, not drying up the money yet?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's exactly right. I mean, the big money or the smart money, whatever you want to call it, they understand that there isn't going to be some other candidate that emerges out of the weeds and suddenly becomes the nominee.

There's no clear path to overturning where the Democratic Party is going at the convention. So that Biden is going to be the nominee of -- everything else follows from that.

A sitting president who's done pretty good job, is polling -- and polling is in OK, shape, not perfect, but in OK shape. And is on his way to becoming the nominee. Why are you not going to write a check if you support the policies? I mean, it's really pretty open and shut.

CORNISH: Because you might turn on your TV and see something like what Jon Stewart is doing and start to think the broader culture is maybe telling you something. Can you talk about this context for Democrats? Like they thought the

leader of the resistance might be coming back, and not working out the way they would like.

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, AXIOS: I mean, I feel like when it comes to fundraising numbers, this is definitely kind of a concern for Republicans right now.

But I think we're going to kind of continue to see Republicans try and highlight Biden's age. And I think they're definitely kind of loving what Jon Stewart was saying last week, which is kind of a rare thing for Republicans.

So it's -- it's kind of interesting where -- how things are going to pan out there.

BERMAN: You know, nervous money and happy money are both green. I think that's sort of --

CORNISH: I just call it money, and it votes, so --

JOYCE KOH, POLITICAL REPORTER: I was going to say, I mean, if you look at Nikki Haley's campaign, they have touted that she's had her best month yet in January. She raised $16 million in fundraising money. So for someone Republicans --

CORNISH: We should note she's giving a speech later today about the state of the race.

KOH: Right. I think all indication is that she will at least ride the race to Super Tuesday, where 15 states will be voting in the election, and it gives a much better indication of where the country is in this primary process. But we are going to be looking forward to that speech later today.

BERMAN: So President Biden's got money, whereas Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, he's got some serious fines, possible court convictions; and a new European strong man in his corner, Viktor Orban, who was the leader of Hungary, basically like endorsed him. We have some video there to show people what happened.

Take my word for it. Viktor Orban -- There we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIKTOR ORBAN, LEADER OF HUNGARY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: We can't interfere in the elections of other countries, but we really want President Donald Trump to return to the White House and make peace here in Eastern Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joyce, Viktor Orban, the kind of endorsement you want?

KOH: Listen, this is multipronged. In this endorsement video, which basically looks at campaign ad, there's a couple things to mention in terms of relationships here.

So Trump and Orban go pretty far back. Orban was at the White House in 2019 as Trump was trying to build relations with Hungary when he was president.

And then, you know, following that, Orban has spoken at CPAC. He has tried to make inroads with this MAGA coalition of Republican voters.

CORNISH: And has, right?

KOH: Yes.

CORNISH: He's not seen as some vilified figure.

KOH: No, absolutely not. Yet, one thing to note is that Orban is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, probably his closest ally in the E.U.

So when you put those two connections together and, on top of that, you look at former President Donald Trump's delayed response to the death of Alexei Navalny this weekend, it does raise a lot of questions. I don't think Trump is making it very unclear where he stands on this issue.

LOUIS: Yes, it's not a question so much as answers. I mean, Donald Trump wants to sort of follow in the path of Viktor Orban. And lest we forget, this is somebody who, Orban has, over the last decade, systematically compromised or diluted all of the democratic institutions, short of actual voting. Yes, they do have elections in Hungary.

But independent judiciary, it has been under attack. Free press has been under attack. He's undermined European support for Ukraine at its critical moment during this war.

In all anti-immigration -- anti-immigration policies, outlaw transgender -- you know, existence, not just surgery.

CORNISH: Yes. And for some, that was the on-ramp, I think, to interest in him, was the immigration issue. Right? That somehow like, look, this is what it looks like if you close the border.

LOUIS: Right. Has tried to close borders and otherwise moved away from the democratic project of Europe that's been going on for, you know, 80 years now.

And so when Trump hugs up on him and says, This is the direction I want to go, that is a real warning for all of us; not just that Orban is endorsing Trump, but that Trump indeed is endorsing an Orban-like government, which is what we can expect if he gets reelected.

[06:20:04]

BERMAN: You know, we've shown great restraint to not play more Jon Stewart sound, I think, until this point. But Viktor Orban is a good place to bring it up.

CORNISH: Yes.

BERMAN: Because Tucker Carlson went to Russia, met with Vladimir Putin, did his grand grocery store tour. Tucker Carlson, also a big fan of Viktor Orban. But this is what Jon Stewart had to say about his front (ph) Tucker overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Perhaps, if your handlers had allowed, you would have seen there is a hidden fee to your cheap groceries and orderly streets. Ask Alexei Navalny or any of his supporters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: No joke there. I mean, that's --

CORNISH: Yes.

BERMAN: -- just a statement of fact.

BRUFKE: I mean, I've spoken to a lot of GOP lawmakers that are very concerned about Trump's comments on this. I mean, well, there's been pushback on Ukraine funding, and we've kind of seen Mike Johnson get a lot of pushback abroad for that, on that.

I think that kind of Trump's rhetoric on this, especially for defense hawks, it's kind of a huge problem. And a concern with him being the nominee, where you don't see a lot of them publicly saying it, but would kind of like to see Nikki Haley kind of prevail on the primary front because of it.

CORNISH: And we've seen Biden trying to take advantage of this situation with Johnson kind of being slow to move, right?

BRUFKE: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that there's a ton of pressure now, and I think especially with seeing foreign leaders kind of abroad kind of push that, I think you're going to be seeing a lot more of that.

I mean, there's a lot of talk of Democrats kind of trying to force a vote, potentially via discharge petition, and I think that's a strong possibility that Johnson's job could be at risk if he brings it up voluntarily.

BERMAN: What's interesting is the reports out of Munich from the security conference said there were a lot of European leaders talking about discharge petition, something most Americans don't know about.

CORNISH: Didn't want it to get to this point.

BERMAN: But they, all of a sudden, they're life and death for them.

CORNISH: Yes.

BERMAN: Everyone stick around. We've got much more.

Historic flooding threatening California. The heaviest rain is set to hit Los Angeles today. We are tracking the storm ahead.

CORNISH: And a suspect in custody in that deadly shooting on a Colorado university campus. What police know about a possible motive. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think its William Byron.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty years to the day --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. You can see the camera speeding up to me. It felt like the Daytona 500. The first official race of the 2024 season then ended in a pile-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now Logano, the outside. They can't get around --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keselowski gets turned by William Byron. Blaney gets caught up. Gilliland, Truex, Hamlin and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Oh, man, what a mess. And that 18-car wreck happened in the last lap and knocked out several drivers, including past Daytona 500 champions, including Joey Logano.

NASCAR says all drivers have been evaluated and released from the infield care center.

William Byron was involved in that crash but made it out as champion. And this is his first Daytona 500 win.

CORNISH: Yes, that was brutal.

So this morning, gusty winds driving downpours across California for a second day, as nearly the entire state remains under flood threats. Torrential rains soaked the region Monday, turning many roadways into rivers, leaving major cleanups for multiple communities and travel chaos after thousands of flights were delayed.

Meteorologist Derek van Dam is tracking the system.

Derek, you told us it would be bad. Now it's here. Can you talk about when this ends?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, here's the deal. We've got another 48 hours of rain possible across the state of California. This is the concern in this state.

These creeks and tributaries turn into raging torrents of water in a matter of seconds. The water lifts so quickly because of the amount of rain they've had. And it sweeps all kinds of debris, including full vehicles and SUVs, along with it. And of course that could be so, so dangerous.

And just to put this all into context, we're talking about, we're approaching, were inching closer and closer to the wettest February ever recorded in Los Angeles, for instance. We're just about two inches shy of that record, which has set back in 1998.

We have had over 11 and-a-half inches so far this month alone. And there is more rain to come.

Slight risk of flash flooding, the Bay Area southward. But let's focus -- focus into Southern California. That is a level three of four from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. That is a moderate risk of flash flooding today.

You can see the on and off again, heavy rain showers that continue to move in across Southern California, and that will only exacerbate the flood threat through the course of the day today.

Of course, snowfall continues across the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

There's the millions of Americans impacted by the flood alerts, impressive rainfall totals from this latest atmospheric river event, over half a foot in many locations and several inches of snowfall. Another one to three inches of rain possible across Los Angeles County. So watch out for flooding today.

CORNISH: Snowfall, as well. Derek van Dam. Thanks so much.

BERMAN: A University of Colorado student will appear in court this afternoon, facing two counts of first-degree murder.

CORNISH: Prosecutors say he killed a man and a woman in a dorm room on the school's Colorado Springs campus just last week.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov has the latest on the investigation.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Audie, John, good morning.

No word yet on the why, the motive, but the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, has confirmed to CNN that the suspect was a fellow student.

Now, he was identified by police as 25-year-old Nicholas Jordan, originally from Detroit, Michigan. They believe that he was responsible for last Friday's fatal shooting of two people, a young man and a young woman, in that dorm room.

He was apprehended, arrested shortly after found -- being found inside a vehicle on Monday. He was taken into custody without any sort of incident, according to police. Authorities indicated that the suspect and these victims may have known one another. In fact, the police have previously said that this was, quote, "not a random attack against the school or other students at this university." Authorities, however, did not go into how they were able to to identify him so quickly.

But they did say that they obtained the arrest warrant on Friday evening, the same day that these shootings took place, which effectively means this individual was on the loose, pardon me, for two days. And so there were growing questions about why authorities didn't reveal more information about his identity before apprehending him.

The Colorado Springs chief of police was asked about this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ADRIAN VASQUEZ, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I have to really balance what -- what we provide to the community with public interest and --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:30:00]