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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Russia and the West Raise the Stakes in Face Off Over Ukraine; Special Grand Jury Granted for Trump Election Probe in Georgia; British Police Investigating Downing Street Parties. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:34]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Laura. Here we go. It's Tuesday, January 25th, 5:00 a.m. in New York. Thanks for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning, Christine. I'm Laura Jarrett. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world.

New moves this morning in the escalating face-off between Russia and the West over Ukraine, each side now raising the stakes. The Pentagon says up to 8,500 U.S. troops have been placed on heightened alert for possible deployment to Eastern Europe.

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby says despite calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back from Ukraine, he's actually sending new troops to the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: They continue to add tactical groups to their western border, to the border with Ukraine, and in Belarus as well. They've shown no signs of de-escalating but they are adding more force capability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: President Biden held a conference call on the crisis with European leaders and touted total unanimity on how to proceed.

CNN has reporters around the world, on top of the story. Jasmine Wright is in Washington for us, Adam Stewart in London.

But, let's get begin with international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live in Moscow with the latest. Hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. Hi, Christine.

We've just heard from Dmitry Peskov, President Putin's spokesman talking about that potential deployment of 8,500 U.S. troops towards Eastern Europe. The Kremlin's position on this is they are concerned they say, because this is building up tensions around Ukraine, and this is what they've heard in the last month or so, that it is the Western allies, NATO, the United States who are essentially trying to build up a pretext for some sort of action.

So, the Kremlin is saying that they are concerned about this 8,500 troop number that they say this is going to be building tensions. They also say that the Ukrainian government is building up forces closer to the separatist region in the east of Ukraine, the Donbass region.

The president's spokesperson was asked about that. He said there is a meeting today, sort of follow-through on the Minsk peace agreement which ended the fighting around the Donbass region seven years ago. He said that that is supposed to address this issue. But the Kremlin's position is clearly that it is the Ukrainians sort of building the military tension inside Ukraine by threatening that separatist area.

ROMANS: All right, Nic, thank you so much for that. So nice to see you this morning. And a lot of moving parts. So, keep us posted.

Laura?

JARRETT: All right. As Christine mentioned, President Biden says the United States and its European allies are in locked steps when it comes to pose severe sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine. The president spoke for 80 minutes on Monday with European leaders and afterward projected a message of cooperation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had a very, very, very good meeting, total unanimity with all the European leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Jasmine Wright joins us live from Washington now.

Jasmine, good morning. What else do we know about this video call?

All right. It looks like we don't have Jasmine there. We'll try to get her back in a little bit.

Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: OK. An invasion of Ukraine could trigger a new wave of economic sanctions against Moscow. But the U.S. and especially Europe have a problem. Their leverage over Putin is limited given their financial ties and energy reliance on Russia. CNN's Anna Stewart joins us from London.

Anna, I don't think it can be overstated how important this Russia story is to global energy prices and potential disruptions to, you know, the stuff that the world still works on.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Of course, and President Biden held that video call with European leaders that you were just speaking to Jasmine about earlier. He said they are preparing for what would have massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia.

And some of the options on the table would potentially be extremely damaging for Russia, whether it's cutting Russia off from SWIFT, a global payment system, and there's precedence for that. That happened to Iran a decade ago, or Germany has the power not to certify that new pipeline, Nord Stream 2.

[05:05:01]

But there are consequences, as you say, Christine, both in terms of the ripple effects, in terms of financial markets, all of the Western allies are invested in Russia. There's businesses have a presence in the country, but also there is a huge potential here for Russian retaliation, and that's particularly important when you look at energy security and Europe.

The E.U. relies on 40 percent oil for over 40 percent of gas imports. It's 25 percent of oil. Gas prices, of course, are already extremely and IEA has accused Russia of withholding gas exports to Europe. So, energy security is at stake.

Now, that video call between President Biden and European leaders certainly gave the impression of unity when it comes to these sanctions. But behind closed doors, it's likely there is some division especially when it comes to the more damaging, more extreme options on the table, due to the fallout. And, unfortunately, that is probably something that President Putin is betting on -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Anna. Thank you so much for that.

Laura?

JARRETT: All right. We have Jasmine Wright now joining us again from Washington.

Jasmine, you just heard Anna reporting from the EU perspective on this. Give us the White House perspective. What else do we know about this call?

JASMINE WRIGHGT, CNN REPORTER: Oh, yeah. Anna hit it right on the nail. It's really a show of unity from the president, really trying to show that European allies are united on the way forward and that really goes against his comments last week where he suggested that there was some disunity among NATO allies on what sanctions Russia could face if they fell short of anything of a full-on invasion. But there, the president really tries to show there was no glimmer of

disunity. So, in a readout that the White House released later, they said that the president, along with their allies, they talked about their concern over that troop built up in the Ukrainian border, as well as diplomatic efforts to deter Russia from invading but also severe consequences should Russia invade, trying to all get on the same page.

Now, I want to give you a key line that Anna hinted at and they said that included preparations to impose massive consequences and severe economic cost on Russia for such actions as well as to reinforce security on NATO's eastern plank. So, of course, this discussion with the president and European allies, you can see on the screen here that White House released it of that call, it comes as we learn the president is refining military options for all scenarios when it comes to the situation and that includes a potentially increasing that true build-up as we heard Nic talked about just a few minutes ago, even ahead of any possible invasion from Russia.

But it also comes as the State Department is really taking the initial steps to start drawing down some of the staff over in Ukraine, really starting with that non-essential personnel and their family. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki yesterday, she really delivered the message from the White House to Americans over in Ukraine. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: About Americans who are now in Ukraine. I know you said that there is no precedent, you know, outside Afghanistan for evacuations and if there was, like some type of military incursion by Russian. So, I just want to be clear if Americans are still in Ukraine and things start happening with Russia, are they pretty much on their own?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, we are conveying clearly now that now is the time to leave, and that there are means to do that, of course. There is commercial airlines. You can depart --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: So there you have it. A clear message if the White House as we head into this critical week -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right. Jasmine, thank you. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right. Inflation watch now, President Biden says better competition could lower prices. The president joined the new White House Competition Council for its second meetings. High level administration officials discussing steps the White House can take to drive prices down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Competitions result in lower prices for families. Competition results in fair wages for workers. And as you all know, competition encourages companies to innovate. Capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it's exploitation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The meeting highlights the administration's efforts to focus on easing prices. Biden calls that a top priority as he enters year two in office.

A recent CNN poll found nearly three out of four Americans believe the government is doing too little to curve inflation, 54 percent said they have changed grocery list to stay on budget and 43 percent say they have cut back on driving because of rising gas prices.

JARRETT: That is notable.

Another notable, hot mic moment after the president's remarks on inflation there, as reporters were being ushered out in the East Room on Monday, this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS REPORTER: Will you take questions on inflation then? Do you think inflation is political liability around the midterms?

BIDEN: That's a great asset -- more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The person asking the question, Fox correspondent Peter Doocy said on Fox late Monday that the president called him a short time later to apologize.

[05:10:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: He said, it is nothing personal, pal. And I made sure to tell him that I'm always going to try to ask something different than what everybody else is asking. And he said, "You got to". And that's a quote from the president, so I'll keep doing it. He cleared the air, and I appreciate it. We had a nice call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Doocy says it was to noisy in the room, he didn't even hear about the president's remark until later.

Good for the president apologizing.

ROMANS: Yeah.

JARRETT: Should it have happened? No. Is it anything like his predecessor's behavior towards the press? No.

ROMANS: Right. That's interesting. He loses his temper apparently in front of the mic and it becomes a headline, President Trump lost his temper to reporters as a matter of routine.

All right, just ahead a big development Georgia for the D.A. investigating Donald Trump for trying to meddle with the 2020 election results.

JARRETT: Plus, the first ever comments from the Capitol Police officer who famously and bravely fooled an angry mob, saving lives.

ROMANS: And Boris Johnson with the birthday cake. The party scandal takes a new turn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:38]

ROMANS: A state court judge in New York has struck down Governor Kathy Hochul's mask mandate saying it did not have the approval of the state legislature. The mandate requires masks in all indoor public spaces that don't check for vaccination. Hochul says she'll appeal the ruling immediately. The New York department of education says in the meantime, there's a different state ruling upholding the mask mandate and that schools must continue to follow masking rules until the case is resolved.

JARRETT: This morning, a significant move in the investigation into Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has now been granted a special grand jury to hear the case.

Of all the lawsuits Trump faces, this is the only known criminal case that explicitly deals with his 2020 election interference.

So let's bring in former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Katie Cherkasky.

Katie, thanks so much for waking up bright and early for me there in California.

The D.A. said that she needed this special grand jury especially to talk to key witnesses, ones like the Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. So, what happens next now?

KATIE CHERKASKY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, such an interesting development. Obviously, it is very unprecedented.

So, the special grand jury will have basically subpoena power to allow the district attorney to get these witnesses to speak and turn over documents which is a big part of what is needed, she says, to determine if there's any criminal charges that are warranted.

JARRETT: She said she expects to have a decision on charges in the first half of 2022. Now that's just a rough spitballing prediction for her but the special grand jury we're told by the court won't begin until May 2nd. So, she's going to have to move quickly. What do you think those charges could look like? CHERKASKY: Well, there are certain charges that they're supposed to

be looking into in terms of specific Georgia statutes involving election fraud, solicitation of election fraud, even racketeering charges. But the big question is really not what the criminal charges could be, but more so, do they really have federal jurisdiction over a former president? And I think that's really the more interesting piece of this.

But, certainly, there are potential allegations that she's hoping to find more information about in these documents. And I think regardless of the charging decisions, it's still a really important step in finding out what happened here for the sake of the country at large.

JARRETT: Do you think she has jurisdiction over the former president?

CHERKASKY: It's a really interesting question and it's never before been tested. I think, you know, there's a big difference between a prosecutor bringing charges which they need probable cause and proving them beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal court and beyond that being able to withstand any sort of appellate scrutiny. So I think there is going to be a long road if that is the path she takes but of course there would be no other way to know this besides getting the court to weigh in on that.

So she says she's taking it one step at a time. I think that's all you can do because as a prosecutor, you want to be able to be certain in your case, if they're going to take it before a criminal jury here. So, never before been tested in terms of trying a former president for acts that he committed while in office, and it's something that the court's going to have to weigh in on and ultimately probably Supreme Court in any case.

JARRETT: Yeah, certainly a ground breaking case no matter how you look at it.

Katie, thanks so much forgetting up with us. Appreciate it.

CHERKASKY: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. New this morning, a police officer who protected the U.S. Capitol on January 6th is breaking his silence.

We all remember this riveting video. Capitol Officer Eugene Goodman seen here directing Senator Mitt Romney away from the rioters. He lured a mob into chasing him and away from other lawmakers who are hiding behind closed doors.

Widely praised as a hero, Goodman has shied away from most media interviews since the attack. But he went on "The Three Brothers No Sense' podcast on Monday and he described what happened.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OFFICER EUGENE GOODMAN, CAPITOL POLICE: So, when I got down there, down the stairs and got confronted by all of them, I was backpedaling back to where I last seen help. They looked to be coming my way and I wasn't sure. By the time I got upstairs, they were there.

I was like, oh, they were actually in the building. I didn't, I honestly didn't know that they were that far in the building. So, and then they lock eyes on me right away and just like that, I was in it.

[05:20:03]

In any situation like that, you want to de-escalate but at the same time you want to survive first, you know what I mean?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: Goodman also says the riots could easily have been a bloodbath.

He uses that word survive. You want to survive first. You and I both spoke to officers who were on the scene that day and they talk about that survival, that the looks in the eyes of the rioters, the words they were saying. The way they were carrying themselves was truly, truly frightening.

JARRETT: Not to mention the racial epithets they were being slung with that day and the trauma that so many of them are still dealing with. The PTS -- there's a lot there for them. We're glad certainly that he's okay. Wish him the best.

New revelations in the Boris Johnson party scandal. The new photo that's just the icing on the cake. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roads, where we're going, we don't need roads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Flying cars, a step closer to reality. The company taking a page from Doc Brown's playbook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:26:01]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

A new party scandal for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A Downing Street spokesman said Johnson celebrated his birthday with a gathering at his residence in June of 2020 at the same time tight COVID restrictions were in place.

CNN's Scott McLean is in London.

And, Scott, now, there's a brand new development. Tells us more.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's absolutely right, Laura. So, previously the local police, Metropolitan Police said it was their policy in general not to go back and investigate retrospectively incidents that happened over potential COVID breaches that happened a long time ago.

New just this morning, though, the chief of the London Metropolitan Police says that based on new information and a determination this is public interest, police will now investigate several incidents, several accusations of breaches in relation to COVID rules that took place at Downing Street.

Now you mentioned the latest accusations here. These ones were first reported by ITV News. They say there were two gatherings that took place on Boris Johnson's birthday in June of 2020. The first was in the cabinet office with some of his colleagues where they sang happy birthday, there was a cake.

The second was a gathering with a family inside his apartment. This was at a time wherein door gatherings were banned and outdoor gatherings were limited to just six people. Downing Street acknowledged that both of these events took place but they say the cabinet office was simply colleagues who gathered after a meeting to quickly wish him a happy birthday and he was there for less than 10 minutes.

On the other gathering, they say that he was actually outdoors. Now, this sort of blurring of the lines between work and social events has been a common defense for Boris Johnson. The last time he was accused of having a garden party in May, well, he said that he wasn't aware it was a party even though the invitation for that said that people should bring their own booze.

This morning, it was the British transportation secretary who was tasked with trying to defend the government on this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT SHAPPS, BRITISH TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: He didn't organize a party. Someone presents cake to him.

TV HOST: And singing, happy birthday, Mr. Prime Minister. Happy birthday to you.

SHAPPS: It was his birthday and these are people he worked with all the time. As I say, I don't seek to defend it. This is for Sue Gray to decide whether this was appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So Sue Gray is the senior civil servant who's been tasked with investigating all of these allegations of party. Her report is expected to be released this week, and that will likely influence a lot of MPs on whether or not they call for a confidence vote on Boris Johnson's leadership.

One other comment on the police investigation, Laura, and that is that even if there were breaches found to be upheld by a police investigation, there would only be a fine that we would be looking at in this case.

JARRETT: All right. An important development. Scott, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. To West Africa now, developing overnight, a coup. The army deposing the president of Burkina Faso, dissolving the government and parliament. The army announcing here it had taken control and President Roch Kabore has not been seen in public since fighting broke out Sunday around the presidential palace.

CNN's Stephanie Busari live from Lagos, Nigeria, with the very latest.

What's happening here?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA: So, as you say, it's a new military era in Burkina Faso, and it's quite an unusual response from people. We're seeing a lot of cheering. We're seeing people honking their cars in the streets in support of this military regime. We're also hearing there's a planned rally in the Capitol, Ouagadougou in support of this military regime.

And, you know, the army sources have been telling CNN that it was simply time for President Rock Kabore to go simply because he failed to protect the citizens from jihadist insurgency that has plagued the small African nation --