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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

U.N. Security Council to Hold Emergency Session to Find a Diplomatic Solution to Russia-Ukraine Crisis; Russia Backs Down After Irish Fishermen Threaten to Disrupt War Games; Bengals Erase an 18- Point Deficit to Upset Chiefs in Overtime. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, it is Monday, January 31st, it's 5:00 a.m. here in New York, thanks so much for getting an early start with me, I'm Laura Jarrett, Christine Romans has the day off. It is actually Christine's birthday, so happy birthday, Christine. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world.

In just a matter of hours, the U.S., Russia and Ukraine will come face-to-face in the same room when the U.N. Security Council holds an emergency session to find a diplomatic solution for the crisis at the Russia-Ukraine border. America's ambassador to the U.N. says she is ready to listen to the Russians, but won't be played by them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: We're going to go in the room prepared to listen to them, but we're not going to be distracted by their propaganda, and we're going to be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Meanwhile, house members have been officially notified that there will be an all-member briefing on Ukraine Thursday afternoon led by U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken. CNN's Melissa Bell is on the ground in Kyiv with our top story this morning. Melissa, any chance the Russians will try to block this emergency U.N. session or do you actually expect that they will participate?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a session that's been called by the United States. We've heard via Twitter from Russia's deputy ambassador to the U.N. angrily reacting to the calling of that meeting, suggesting, calling on other U.N. Security Council members to vote against. Now, that's a suggestion. There is a suggestion that, therefore, at the start of that meeting, Russia could choose to put in place a procedural vote.

It would take 9 out of 15 members of Security Council to vote with it for the meeting not to go ahead. Beyond China, the expectation is that many members will vote on the side of the United States, and that the meeting will, therefore, be held. Now, what it does really, Laura, is give the United States an opportunity to force Russia, in the words of the American ambassador, to answer for itself, to provide answers even ahead of that official response we're expecting from Vladimir Putin on those proposals that have been made by NATO and the United States.

So, that should go ahead. We'll hear from the 15 members of Security Council plus from Ukraine since the council's rules allow for that to happen in this particular situation. This is really all about piling on the pressure, keeping up the pressure on Russia over its troop build-up across the border from here in Ukraine. With, in the United Kingdom, legislation being introduced today in the House of Commons aimed at sanctions, tough sanctions we hear from British authorities, that could even target oligarchs' properties in London.

This even as the Senate prepares to vote on a bipartisan deal, and an American sanctions we've been hearing from the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who said not only did he expect a bipartisan deal to be reached fairly quickly, but that the United States could go so far as to preemptively introduce sanctions. Now, that's something that Ukraine has long been calling for since by definition, Laura. Any sanctions that were introduced after an invasion of Ukraine would be far too little and far too late as far as Ukraine goes, Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Melissa, I know you'll be watching this carefully today. Thank you for that. Now, publicly, Russia has a very different perspective on all this and on the crisis on the border with Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Minister claims the NATO alliance is not defensive, but more of an aggression that keeps moving east. Our coverage here continues with CNN's Nic Robertson in Moscow. Nic, good morning. Does the Kremlin seriously believe that arguing that NATO is this threat to security is a persuasive argument? And if so, who is the intended audience for that message?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, what the Kremlin understands is that when they create a threat outside of Russia, it distracts the population from, you know, from internal issues, like the difficulty the economy is going through since the sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea back in 2014. Paradoxically at that point, you know, President Putin's popularity went sky high, and at the moment it's not at that level, but it's still at a pretty high level.

So it is a popular and successful narrative for the Russian leadership, and in many other countries we see it, to say the problems are being created on us by the outside. And that's the narrative that they're sticking to. We heard Sergey Lavrov yesterday, the foreign minister, say that Russia was urgently demanding answers from the United States and NATO, urgently, demanding again, answers from the United States and NATO about the -- about how they see security and this threat and this encroachment from the east.

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So Russia is not backing down. It's a narrative that's successful for them here. And we just heard from the president's spokesman here saying that President Putin is going to -- is going to respond when he is ready. They're just stretching the time-out here. And from Putin's perspective, he has the space to do that.

JARRETT: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you for your analysis as always. One group having more success negotiating with the Russians than anyone right now, Irish fishermen. The Russian military recently announced plans to conduct Naval drills off the coast of Ireland. But when a group of fishermen objected to this, the Kremlin actually backed down. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan had a chance to visit with some of those fishermen and he joins me live from Ireland. Donie, good morning. This is fascinating. What did you find?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura. Yes, the Russian military were due to run actions just about 150 miles off the coast here on the very western edge of Europe. But fishermen in this community of Castletownbere County Cork, weren't too happy about it. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK MURPHY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, IRISH SOUTH & WEST FISH PRODUCER'S ORGANIZATION: You can imagine the two of us are here and next thing, a rocket goes flying over your head and you're going, Jesus, what was that?

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Irish fishermen worried about rockets that would be fired as part of a Russian military exercise off the Irish coast this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want anyone in our waters. It's our backyard. It's where we make our living and are able to --

O'SULLIVAN: Concern here in Castletownbere, a fishing village on Ireland's south coast. The Russian Naval drills could pose a threat, not only to the safety of fishermen, but potentially to the environment and fish stocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're worried about what damage this (INAUDIBLE) might do to the fish stocks and the Marine life, and this way as dolphins out there as well. It can -- it's born to interfere with them as well and frighten them. It could frighten me if a bomb would definitely -- say -- and so born to frighten them.

O'SULLIVAN: Fishermen like Allen Carlton(ph) had planned this week to go fishing off the Irish coast like he always does despite warnings from the Russian embassy in Dublin that doing so could be dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where we keep look out for our ships and things like that.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Keep a look out for the Russian Navy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, hopefully we don't see them.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): At old Donohue's(ph) pub on the Castletownbere harbor, locals worried about the Russian military.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fishermen in general are very anxious about the whole thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are worried, yes. That is -- it is affecting our fishing. It is affecting our safety of people.

O'SULLIVAN: Fishermen-turned diplomats. Fishing representatives met with the Russian ambassador to Ireland last week to express their concerns about Russia firing rockets where they normally fish.

(on camera): When you went in to speak to the Russian ambassador, what did you say to him?

MURPHY: Well, first of all, we gave him some fronds.

O'SULLIVAN: If you had a message for Vladimir Putin, what would it be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe, there's goodwill, to deeper water where they wouldn't affect the fish stocks as much.

O'SULLIVAN: And Saturday night, that's just what happened. The Russians saying after appeals from the Irish government and the fishermen themselves, Russia would move its ships further out to sea away from the Irish fishing boats. The news reaching this community by tweet.

MURPHY: Wow.

O'SULLIVAN: How do you feel?

MURPHY: Shocked really like -- I didn't think that little old us in the Irish south and west would have an impact on international diplomacy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheers --

O'SULLIVAN: The news, a relief for the whole community here. You must have felt a great sense of relief, happiness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, everybody did. Everybody did -- now, we're thinking of our stocks, our livelihoods.

O'SULLIVAN: Are you hoping to have a good catch this week?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, hopefully, everyone's a good catch and it goes --

O'SULLIVAN: And not catching any Russian ships?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, definitely not or any ships.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'SULLIVAN: And as you can see there, a win for the little guy in this David versus Goliath situation. Important to point out that the Irish government, of course, were also involved in these negotiations, but very much the fishermen in this community are claiming it as a very big win. Laura?

JARRETT: Donie, great reporting, great access. Thank you for bringing us that story. Well, the match up of Super bowl LVI is set, the Bengals will face the Rams after a pair -- a thrilling conference championship games. Andy Scholes has this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT" --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

JARRETT: All right, Andy, we finally know who is in it.

SCHOLES: We know it, Rams-Bengals, should be an awesome game. And you know, Laura, two seasons ago, the Bengals, they won just two games, they had the worst record in the league. But that got them Joe Burrow. And no quarterback has ever won a Heisman Trophy, national title and Super Bowl. Burrow could do it all in a three-year period. We should have all known the Bengals were going to win the game when Burrow showed up to the stadium like this.

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But they did need a huge comeback in order to get it done. They were down 21-3 at one point, third quarter here, Burrow to rookie sensation Ja'Marr Chase for the touchdown. Two-point conversion tied the game at 21, and the Chiefs had the ball, a chance to win the game in the final minute of the fourth, but Patrick Mahomes gets sacked on back-to-back plays. They're forced to kick a field goal and we would go to overtime, and this time around, those overtime rules did not cause an uproar.

The Chiefs got the ball first, and Mahomes, he throws an interception, his second of the game. Burrow then leads the Bengals down the field and the best young kicker in the game, 22-year-old Evan McPherson, wins it. And after years of being the joke of the NFL, Cincinnati beats the Chiefs 27-24, and is going to their first Super Bowl in 33 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BURROW, QUARTERBACK, CINCINNATI BENGALS: I think if you would have told me before the season that we'd be going to the Super Bowl, I probably would have called you crazy, but then, you know, we played a whole season and you know, nothing surprises me now. I know the kind of guys we have and the team that we have. So you know, there's still one left, we're excited about this one, but you know, we'll celebrate tonight and then move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The NFC Championships, the Rams tried everything they could to keep 49ers fans out of SoFi Stadium. It did work though, a sea of red in the stands. And those fans cheered the Niners to a 17- 7 lead to start the fourth quarter. But Matthew Stafford bringing the Rams back, here he's going to find his favorite target, Cooper Kupp, that touchdown got them within 3, Stafford then led two more scoring drives to take the lead.

And then Aaron Donald and the defense sealing the deal a little over a minute to go, Jimmy Garoppolo under pressure, going to throw the interception, Rams finally beating the 49ers 27-17 was the final. And after 12 seasons with the Lions, Stafford heading to his first Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW STAFFORD, QUARTERBACK, LOS ANGELES RAMS: It's been a lot of years in this league, and I've loved every minute of it. You know, I feel blessed to be able to play in this league for as long as I have, but I sure I'm happy for this opportunity for not only myself, but really so many guys in that locker room that deserve this, too. So, and that's what it is. It's an opportunity, you know, to go out there and win another one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, so the Super Bowl set February 13th in L.A. And you know, Laura, we went 54 Super Bowls without a team getting to host one. Now, we've had it happen two years in a row. The Bucs winning it at home last year. We'll see what the Rams do in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks. The Rams as of right now, 4-point favorites over the Bengals for Super Bowl LVI.

JARRETT: All right, we'll see. I know you're ready. Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: Excited, yes.

JARRETT: All right, up next for you, North Korea firing off its boldest missile tests in years. What the new pictures show and how the U.S. State Department is responding. Plus, a defeated former president with a disturbing and delusional message dangling pardons for the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol. The move even has some Republicans pushing back.

And Joe Rogan on the ropes, but still online. Spotify backing him for now. His defense just ahead.

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JARRETT: This morning, the U.S. State Department is condemning North Korea's latest ballistic missile tests, a suspected intermediate range missile that was launched on Sunday, the most powerful missile tested by the North Korea -- by North Korea since 2017. Let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson on this story. Ivan, this is North Korea's seventh missile test in less than a month. What is Kim Jong-un's strategy here?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's always hard to kind of make sense of what North Korea is doing. We do notice patterns here. In 2017, remember back to the days of the Trump administration, there was heightened tension between Pyongyang and Washington. Insults being hurled back and forth, sometimes on Twitter, and you had North Korea firing missiles on almost a weekly basis.

And we're seeing the pattern of missile launches repeating itself now after several years of relative quiet. This month, the seventh launch this month alone, and in this case, an intermediate range ballistic missile, one that set off alarm bells in South Korea, in Japan and, of course, with the U.S. military with estimates that it traveled a distance of 500 miles, an altitude of about 1,200 miles, the South Korean president summoned an emergency meeting of his National Security Council.

And this president who is on his way out -- there are going to be elections in March in South Korea, he had invested so much time and energy in face-to-face diplomacy with North Korea's dictator Kim Jong- un, he is predicting that there is a chance that North Korea may end its moratorium on inter-continental ballistic missile launches and on nuclear tests. If that happens, that will ratchet up tensions dramatically on the Korean Peninsula. The Biden administration says it's been reaching out to the North Koreans, but has not received any response to have some kind of talks. Back to you.

JARRETT: All right, Ivan Watson, thank you for that reporting. The Beijing Olympics are just four days away now, but new COVID cases continue to rise. China reported at least 37 new cases among Olympics personnel on Sunday, bringing the total to 176 people who've tested positive for the virus so far. Steven Jiang joins us live from Beijing on this. Steven, it sounds like most of these cases were actually caught at the airport, which is a good thing. So, perhaps the screenings are working.

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STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Laura, that's certainly how Chinese officials have been characterizing the situation, saying the number of positive cases in the so-called Olympic bubble accounts for a tiny percentage of all the games' participants. With state media also adding, there is no community spread of the virus so far in the bubble. So, the authorities obviously want to keep things that way, but this is an increasingly daunting task with events kicking off, and especially given how contagious Omicron is.

Now, most of CNN's -- our colleagues covering these games from within the bubble have now arrived and among the first things they have noticed, walls and fences around their hotel and all the venues, and obviously all part of this very strictly-enforced bubble system that's shutting them off from the rest of Beijing and, indeed, the rest of China. But in a way, that's also a metaphor of the sense of disconnect between most ordinary Chinese citizens and these games because not only are they physically kept at bay, there is not a single ticket available for sale to the general public.

There are also -- many of them have seen their travel plans for the lunar new year which coincide with the games being disrupted because of the increasingly tightened regulations in and out of Beijing. And I think, Laura, that's probably why we are sensing quite a bit of frustration or even annoyance this time around by talking to people and reading social media posts. Laura?

JARRETT: Steven, thank you, appreciate it. Coming up for you, President Trump saying the quiet part out loud about his effort to overturn the 2020 election. Why his GOP colleagues are not distancing themselves from his assault on democracy. And two of Ahmaud Arbery's killers have reached a plea deal. How the Arbery family is reacting ahead.

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JARRETT: Former President Trump back on stage this weekend, offering a chilling glimpse into what a second term might actually look like. Firing off attacks at those who seek to hold him accountable legally, and providing comfort to the mob who stormed the U.S. Capitol in his name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly.

(CHEERS)

And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: It was a line even some Republicans found unhinged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the president should have made -- President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Look, the folks that were part of the riots, in fact, the assault on the U.S. Capitol have to be held accountable. There is a rule of law. I don't care whether you were part of the burning cities in Antifa in 2020, you were storming the Capitol in 2021, everybody needs to be held fairly accountable.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it's inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce defiling the Capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter people who did what they did --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes --

GRAHAM: On January 6. And those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: All right, let's bring in CNN political analyst and

"Washington Post" reporter Toluse Olorunnipa. Toluse, nice to have you this morning. Do Trump's comments over the weekend give Republicans, at least, some Republicans the opportunity perhaps they were looking for to distance themselves from him, or are they all going to just move on by tomorrow?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It does give them an opportunity, but they've had hundreds of opportunities over the last five years to distance themselves from the president -- from the former president. And if you remember, shortly after the January 6 attacks, he essentially tweeted out, we love you, go home in peace, to the rioters and to people who were storming the Capitol. He also said, remember this day forever.

So, his sentiment about these rioters, about these law breakers has not changed. He believes that because they support him, that they can do no wrong, and he's even willing to give them pardons if he gets back in power. Now, there are some Republicans that are going to condemn that, because this was an attack on their own offices, an attack on their own staffs. So, that may be a little too far for them.

But I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, the next time Trump holds a rally in their state, they're right there on stage with him because they realize he does hold the power within the party, and if they don't want to be primaried, if they don't want to be attacked by him, that they have to basically, swallow their pride, and essentially decide that they're going to side with him. So, even the people that condemn what he said or said they disagree with him, I wouldn't be surprised if in the very near future they continue to stick with him.

And if he does run again -- if they endorse him, because that is in the trend over the past several years. That he does something inflammatory and you know, there is some condemnation lightly and then after a few days, everyone is back on board. So, he continues to be the leader of the party despite the fact that he says some things that are very inflammatory and causes some people to try to distance themselves from him at least temporarily.

JARRETT: What -- and so inflammatory, I should mention that the D.A. in Georgia has actually called on the FBI for security, worried about the threats that have been prompted by some of the unhinged things that he said at that rally. And he continued with his anti-democracy theme over the weekend, issuing this just delusional statement in response to Congress actually considering making changes to the Electoral Count Act to make sure that the kind of scheme that he wanted to see carried out couldn't actually happen.

And he says this, "Mike Pence could have overturned" -- that's his word -- "overturned the election." He knows he's under investigation in multiple places. So what's going on here?

OLORUNNIPA: This is the president who is not known for his subtlety. The former president essentially saying the quiet part out loud. He wanted his vice president to overturn the results of an election in which more than 150 million Americans voted and had their voices heard.

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