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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

NYT: NY Gov. Hochul to Lift Indoor Mask Mandate for Businesses; McConnell & McCarthy Split Over RNC Censure Resolution; White House Grappling with Potential Fallout of Russian Invasion. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 09, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

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LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's Wednesday, February 9th. It's 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Thanks so much for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We begin with a turning point in the two-year struggle with COVID.

New York's Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to end the state's indoor mask mandate for businesses today. That's according to "The New York Times."

JARRETT: New York would join a number of other blue states, New Jersey, Oregon, Connecticut, Delaware and California in now lifting mask rules, but it's unclear here if Governor Hochul will follow suit when it comes to schools in New York. That's the big question because there's a separate mask mandate for students and staff that's set to expire in two weeks here. While states are dropping masks, the CDC director says they're jumping the gun.

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DR. ROCHELE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: When we have the higher number of hospitalizations than we've had during prior peaks of surges, when we have more deaths today than we had in the prior peak of delta, you know, I guess at 300,000 cases a day I would just say we're not quite there yet.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JARRETT: But take a look at the numbers here. New daily cases are declining sharply, but deaths remain alarmingly high. Remember, that's the lagging indicator as thousands of mostly unvaccinated Americans still fight for their lives in packed hospitals.

ROMANS: All right. A violent insurrection versus legitimate political discourse. Two views of the same day, one grounded in fact that we all saw with our own eyes, one grounded in lies for political ends. Two views from GOP leaders leading to a fracture in the Republican Party.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized that RNC solution that formally censure Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the January 6 committee.

JARRETT: The RNC claiming Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in the persecution of people who were engaged in, quote, legitimate political discourse. That phrase now triggering a notable split between McCarthy and McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Let me give you my view of what happened. We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection with a purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. That's what it was.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The RNC resolution last week referred to the events of January 6th as a legitimate political discourse. I wonder what you think --

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Not to correct you, but the RNC was talking -- they were talking about it. Everybody knows, anybody who broke in and caused damaged, that was not called for in those people we said from the very beginning should be in jail. What they were talking about is the six RNC members who January 6 has subpoenaed who weren't even here who were in Florida that day.

RAJU: So, you're supportive of that resolution?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We should put up that language again. It didn't say six members of Congress. It said ordinary citizens who were there on that day were being persecuted. There you go.

Democratic-led persecution of ordinary citizens.

Let's bring in CNN political analyst and co-author of "The Politico Playbook", Rachael Bade.

JARRETT: Rachael, so nice to have you there.

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

JARRETT: You heard it from McConnell himself. My question to you is, why now? My question to you, why now? This is the man who blocked the formation of an independent bipartisan commission to investigate January 6. This is a person who voted to acquit the former president for what happened on January 6th.

So what does it signal to you that he's now decided to take a stand on all of this?

BADE: Well, McConnell's always been really careful on his language. You're absolutely right. He didn't vote to convict. He doesn't want to talk about the killed January 6th commission and specifically told his members at the time behind closed doors that the commission was a threat politically to them, that the results of the commission could come out right before the midterm election, that could blow back on their chances of flipping the chamber.

So, you know, he certainly did that. But ever since the 6th, you can very much see a big difference between McConnell and McCarthy when it came to the 6th. McConnell has always been out there even on the days saying he voted to acquit Trump saying that you can't convict a former president, that was the argument he made. He said that Trump bore responsibility for inciting a violent insurrection, and has never minced words about what happened that day or tried to downplay it. In fact, has sort of seen it as his job.

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Every once in a while when the scuffles come up, to correct the record from other Republicans like McCarthy who are unwilling to say what happened. You know, it's really an interesting dynamic because usually Republican leaders are very much in lockstep on their messaging. But on this specifically, McConnell has drawn a red line and he's not going to change it. He hasn't changed it. It's been a year. Whereas, McCarthy clearly doesn't want to talk about it and wants to downplay the issue overall.

ROMANS: So, which one ultimately do you think the party needs to gravitate towards with midterms around -- around the corner?

BADE: Well, look, right now, they're having an internal debate between truth and what they think is the best politically, right? And so, you have these two strategies.

I've covered both of these men for a really long time. I can tell you Kevin McCarthy has always sort of seen the inner party disputes as a loss-loss situation. Wherever there was a conflict whether it was Trump saying something controversial, even going back to the "Access Hollywood" video that broke where candidate Trump at the time in 2016 was caught saying on the camera, grab a woman by her private parts, that he could do that. McCarthy's tact has been toward the Republicans, do not acknowledge it publicly, stay together and, you know, weather the storm and focus on issues and that will help us at election.

And so, you've seen that play out over the years. That's exactly what's going on right now. It's not that the Republicans don't have problems with what happened, it's that they're refusing to acknowledge them because they see that as a political danger.

But then you have people like McConnell who again see the threat of not saying something, if you don't say something, chances are history could repeat itself. And there are a lot of Republicans who think what happened that day was just an ordinary protest, which we all know is totally false.

And so, these are two men who sort of see their leadership roles in very different directions. Obviously, right now, when it comes to where the party is going, a lot of Republicans are going toward the McCarthy track. But, you know, McConnell's members in the Senate this week, a lot of them pushed back. It wasn't just McConnell. It wasn't just Mitt Romney. There were a lot of them pushed back on this.

JARRETT: So, Rachel, to that end. You have an inside view on this. On the outside it sometimes feels like it's not evenly balanced. It feels like McConnell and Mitt Romney are publicly saying or disavowing this stuff, but you might be hearing a different narrative behind the scenes and sometimes you hear that behind the scenes Republicans are more than happy to admit that it wasn't an ordinary tourist visit, it wasn't an ordinary day.

Do you feel like more are going to start speaking out now or is it not in their political interests to do that?

BADE: I wouldn't expect more to speak out. I think Republicans, again, do not see this as something they want to talk about and that's why even McConnell did speak out this week. He rarely does on this sort of issue. It does back again to this belief he has that the more you're talking about this, the more you're not talking about issues like inflation.

So, I don't -- I wouldn't expect Republicans, you know, to keep say something like this. I think this week, if you ask McConnell, again, he'll say, I spoke my piece on this, it's time to focus back on the election.

And, you know, that just gets back to that political calculation that they're making, that McCarthy has told his members privately, this issue is not resonating beyond the beltway. Don't even acknowledge it. Focus on inflation. Focus on the border.

And that's sort of, you know, what they believe. And so, it really comes to -- are Republican leaders -- specific Republican willing to take a moral stand on something that a lot of them if not all of them know what's wrong or they're just looking at that end result in the midterms right now.

ROMANS: All right. Rachael Bade, CNN political analyst, thanks for getting up so early with us. Nice to see you.

BADE: Absolutely.

JARRETT: Thanks, Rachel.

All right. Now to this, at the White House, concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine are mounting this morning. Despite diplomatic efforts, both Russia and Ukraine are getting to ready to hold military drills and exercises.

CNN's Melissa Bell is standing by in Ukraine for us and Nic Robertson is in Moscow.

Let's go first though to Melissa in Kyiv.

Melissa, good morning. What are Ukrainian citizens doing to prepare for a possible invasion now?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: You know, there have been those that are becoming reservists, civilians that have been training, instructions being given to the ordinary population to prepare grab bags, children preparing with drills in schools to prepare for air raids.

So, the country is preparing for the worst even as it hopes for the best. You mentioned those military exercises, they continue, of course, all around Ukraine. Russian military exercises, I'm sorry, have continued.

What we're going to see here in Ukraine over the course of the next few days and weeks are Ukrainian military exercises as well, in order that they prepare for that potential invasion. Now, of course, there is what's happened around the country and there is also what's happened on the front line. We've been hearing from the American ambassador to the OSCE.

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The OSCE, which remember, monitors any ceasefire, breaches, according to the Minsk agreement.

And he's been saying that Russia has essentially locked and loaded its guns and pointed them at Ukraine, urging the country to more, with regards to the Minsk agreement, its implementation, and avoiding any further cease-fire violations, Laura.

JARRETT: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you for that reporting as always.

ROMANS: All right. With more than 100,000 troops already on that Ukraine border, Russia is sending warships now to the Black Sea for what it says are naval exercises.

Meantime, French President Macron believes his shuttle diplomacy in Moscow and Kyiv could bear fruit.

Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson. He is live for us this morning in Moscow.

And, Nic, let's start with this movement of Russian warships. What do we make of this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, frigates, battleships, amphibious landing crafts, those amphibious landing craft left the Baltic Sea some weeks ago and have been tracked and we're always expected to transit the Mediterranean and get into the Black Sea.

This is part of Russia's massive global naval exercises, that have been timed in military exercises in Belarus to the north of Ukraine. And this essentially will be on the southern border of Ukraine on its coastal area around the peninsula of Crimea, of course, which has been annexed by Russia and is an important naval base for Russia. There is, you know, in the theories of what Russia could do if it

invaded, an assessment that it could take a sort of land bridge along the south of Ukraine to give it a land corridor from Russia linking it by land all the way to the peninsula of Crimea. And there's been an assessment that naval ships, Russian naval ships on exercise in the Black Sea could become part of that force that would do that. Of course, Russia says they're not, but that's what adds to this picture of further pressure put on Ukraine and further pressure put on these diplomatic negotiations that President Macron is trying to get good.

The readout from the Kremlin is some positive and some less positive. They think that the Minsk agreements are the way forward. But again, the Kremlin here saying that the leadership in Kyiv, President Zelensky not doing enough on the Minsk agreement .But no doubt that these naval exercises are all part of that Russian forces on the border of Ukraine in a posture that gives great concern to the United States and its allies.

ROMANS: That concern is not just abate here. Nic Robertson, so glad you're there in Moscow for us following it all, thank you, sir.

All right. CNN Business on inflation watch this morning. January's consumer price index out tomorrow expected to hit a fresh pandemic high and sticker shock at the supermarket maybe sticking around for a while. Economists at Goldman Sachs say substantial prices for food likely to continue throughout this year. Bad weather, poor crop yields, tight inventories and strong demands from consumers raising food commodity prices nearly 40 percent over the past couple of years.

In December alone, meat prices spiked 15 percent. Chicken jumped 10 percent. Eggs up 11. Brand-new numbers on the consumer debt, as well. 2021 was also a big year for car and home buying, plus in household debt to sky rocket by a trillion dollars. That's the biggest annual increase since 2007, a function of a strong economy and consumer demand, but also interest rates are rising.

You've got a lot of debt, don't forget, you've got to finance that debt. Remember, interest rates will be rising.

JARRETT: Another thing that's not going to help those supply chains.

Up next for you, protesters cutting off a key route from Canada to the U.S. Are these truckers in it for the long haul?

ROMANS: Plus, the couple now accused in a cryptocurrency scheme worth billions.

JARRETT: And see the stars making Super Bowl cameos and commercials. You don't have to wait until game day. We've got it.

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JARRETT: Welcome back, it is the busiest international border crossing in North America now under siege and causing a huge mess for supply chains to the United States. The so-called freedom convoy originally started with truckers protesting vaccine mandates. It's been blocked and the Ambassador Bridge connecting Ontario and Detroit for two days.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for an end to the protests. They don't seem to be listening.

Let's bring in Alex Ballingall, a federal politics reporter for "The Toronto Star".

Alex, thanks so much for coming on EARLY START this morning.

ROMANS: Good morning.

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: Any signs of what the off-ramp is here? When is this going to end?

ALEX BALLINGALL, FEDERAL POLITICS REPORTER, TORONTO STAR: That's sort of been the big question throughout this whole thing. Here in Ottawa, the convoys turned into an occupation of the downtown streets. And today, I believe is the 13th day since they arrived here.

The Ambassador Bridge that you mentioned, it's been blockaded for a shorter time. As you say, it's not clear that the protesters themselves say they want to stay, depends who you talk to, either until all health restrictions in Canada for the pandemic are lifted, which seems unlikely to happen immediately, although it's happening kind of slowly region by region, or to have even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or the entire liberal government in Ottawa resign and be replaced in some cases by a committee that kind of joins with the Senate, that it would be some sort of unprecedented almost provisional government, saying that's been described by some people as constitutionally ridiculous.

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But that's the situation. It really has settled into an impasse, and it's not clear when or how it's going to end.

ROMANS: We know there have been 23 arrests, 1,300 tickets in this demonstration, and it just grinds on. This is the busiest international crossing in North America.

Is this something that could be hurting the supply chain here?

BALLINGALL: Definitely. I think that's the huge concern about the ambassador bridge blockade essentially. My understanding is there is a lane of traffic U.S. bound that is open over the Ambassador Bridge. The traffic coming into Canada is fully blocked. It's definitely a huge problem on the politician's radar. There's a ton of pressure to figure out how to deal with this.

Like I said, it's not clear when it's going to -- when it's going to end. JARRETT: You know, interesting, the White House is not going as far

as Justin Trudeau in calling this a blockade to democracy. What's the feeling in Canada of the U.S. not sort of supporting Trudeau all the way on this?

BALLINGALL: That's an interesting question. There has been some opposition parties in Ottawa who have wanted Trudeau to appeal to the United States. It's more police here have flagged how there's a significant amount of funding going to the protestors. They've been crowd funding like crazy on millions of dollars. GoFundMe shut them down controversially and now they have another fund-raiser set up. We don't know absolutely but a significant amount of money is coming from the states.

And that has been something that's quite controversial and described by politicians and it's described as a foreign funded siege of our G7 country, and that this is a threat to our democracy. When we talk about the United States in relation to this, it's the support angle. Sources from within that country are supporting whatever is going on.

ROMANS: Interesting.

All right. We'll come back again and keep us posted. And maybe they'll -- they can get an off ramp, literally an off ramp to this.

Alex Ballingall, a federal politics reporter for "The Toronto Star" -- thank you so much.

JARRETT: Thanks, Alex.

BALLINGALL: Thanks.

JARRETT: Up next for you, a new headache for Britain's Boris Johnson. The party scandal isn't the only problem at this time.

ROMANS: And a harrowing car crash caught on camera. The big question, who or what had control of the steering wheel?

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[05:27:03]

ROMANS: About 90 minutes from now, we expect to see Britain's Boris Johnson speaking to parliament. He faces the party-gate scandal, of course, oh, and then there's something new. A false conspiracy theory he peddled against the opposition party leader.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz live in London for us.

Salma, what is that all about?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Christine, this is a really important and worrying chapter in this party-gate saga because Prime Minister Boris Johnson's critics are now accusing him of acting Trump-like. Essentially last week in parliament, he peddled a far right conspiracy theory, accusing the opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer who was once the head of the public prosecution service in this country, he accused him of failing to prosecute Britain's most notorious pedophile.

Again, this is a debunked conspiracy hearing. The result, we have video to show you. Here's Starmer on the streets being mobbed by far right protesters, people again peddling that theory that Prime Minister Boris Johnson uttered in parliament.

Police having to escort the leader of this country's opposition party away from that mob into safety. It's a very, very concerning moment and one that the prime minister has refused to apologize for.

That's the first thing we're going to watch for in parliament today. Does Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologize? I would not hold my breath for that. What you're looking at is a prime minister increasingly cornered, increasingly clinging to power, willing again to peddle conspiracy theories just to defend himself against party- gate allegations.

So, yet again, we're looking at a prime minister willing to take that shift, his party, his credibility down just to keep holding on, Christine.

ROMANS: Wow. You know, sometimes in political reporting, the words embattled are used too often. This is the appropriate use of the word embattled prime minister.

All right. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: New this morning, a New York couple arrested on charges of conspiring to launder $4.5 billion, yes, billion dollars in stolen cryptocurrency. Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested Tuesday after a six-year investigation into the hack of a virtual currency exchange called Bitfinex. They each face up to 25 years behind bars, $3.6 billion of those funds have been recovered.

ROMANS: That's almost unbelievable when you think of how much money that is. You know?

All right. Ahead on EARLY START, the White House slamming Florida's "don't say gay" bill.

JARRETT: And picture this. Eugene Levy action star? The super bowl commercials you don't have to wait for. We have them.

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