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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Putin Declares Two Separatist Regions in Ukraine as Independent; Biden Orders Sanctions on Separatists Regions of Ukraine; Britney Spears Signs $15 Million Deal for Tell-All Memoir; Matthew Perry's Book Set for November Release; Nightbirde Loses Cancer Battle. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 22, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:31:07]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning, the United States and its allies are preparing new sanctions against Russia after Vladimir Putin formally recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. The Russian president ordering in Russian troops, a move that could create a pretext for an invasion of Kyiv.

Let's go now right to Lviv, Ukraine and bring in CNN chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto.

Jim, is Putin trying to rewrite history in this fiery speech yesterday and redraw national borders, sidestepping international law?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It was a maximalist speech targeting Ukraine, claiming Ukraine is not even an independent country which of course gives you -- or not even a real country he went on to say, claiming it's always been part of Russia, which is not historically true. And that presumably he believes gives him justification for further military moves in the east, slicing off another piece of that and perhaps going forward, attempting to bring it all under Russian control.

We haven't seen that yet but at least the way he presented his argument it was concerning. And the truth is it goes beyond that because he was waxing nostalgic for the days of the Soviet Union and saying that really all the former Soviet republic should not have been able to leave what he called the Russian empire so easily. So you have many states in that category that are independent, democratic states today.

Think of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and others, it makes you concerned, understandably, that after Ukraine that Putin's ambitions may lie further afield. But of course the focus right now on Ukraine, those pictures we're seeing right there are Russian forces on the Russian side of the border but very close to Donbas in the east. The concern now is this is where Putin stops for now. He still has an enormous force arrayed around Ukraine. And as of last night I was told by senior U.S. officials that preparations were continuing for something broader. ROMANS: Yes. And he in that speech, basically he's the one holding the

pointed gun at Ukraine but he's talking about how Ukraine has made an enemy out of the -- you know, like, he's turned it around that he's the victim here.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Jim, I want to ask you, President Zelensky just spoke a short time ago.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

JARRETT: What response is he now pushing for from the West? Is sanctions enough? Or does he want more at this point?

SCIUTTO: He wants very strong sanctions, right? So this is going to be a real test this morning when we see the administration has promised something, not the entire slate of sanctions that would have followed a full Russian invasion, but they have promised something strong. We haven't seen it yet. Zelenskyy says we need, Ukraine, something strong. And he specifically mentioned Nord Stream 2, this pipeline from Russia to Europe. Halting that right away. That's a test.

I don't know if we see that today from the U.S. and NATO. We may. But that is the one he has actually been pushing for for some time. And frankly, in advance of Russian action rather than waiting for Russian action. And that's been Ukraine's prime disappointment so far is that the sanctions followed rather than preempted Russian military action here or now this claim of eastern Ukrainian territory somehow being independent.

So let's shall watching this morning and see what we hear from Washington.

ROMANS: There's the pipeline, there's the banking system, there are other kinds of very strong sanctions that could happen but you'd have to get Europe really unified behind that.

JARRETT: A far cry from what we saw yesterday.

ROMANS: Yes, Jim Sciutto, thank you. We'll talk to you again soon.

JARRETT: Thanks, Jim.

Let's go now to CNN's Jasmine Wright. She is live for us in Washington with the White House angle on this.

Jasmine, good morning. How is the Biden administration responding to criticism? Something that Jim just sort of hinted at there, that the latest sanctions are simply not enough to deter Putin from further invasion here?

[05:35:02]

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, the White House definitely wakes up on high alert this morning waiting to see what Russia's President Putin will do in terms of the situation. And I think in terms of the White House's stance, the administration's stance overall, U.S. ambassadors to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, she really summed it up perfectly, where she said that Putin was playing into a playbook that after he declared those two separatist- backed regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, she said that it really -- basically worries these peacekeepers there sets up a pretexts for war.

But in terms of a way forward, we do know that the White House is going through with those sanctions that they announced yesterday, that the president signed. You can see him on the screen right here, that executive order that are limited but do target those two separatist- backed regions, really prohibiting any type of trade from Americans or American investment in that area.

Now as Jim said, they also promised more sanctions activity but would not get into the details of what that actually looks like. And for the president, I think that we can expect him today to do more, to be more engaged as we know that he met with his National Security team yesterday as well as talked to officials in Germany, France, and of course the president of Ukraine as they are starting to kind of get that criticism that what they have done so far is not enough.

Now one thing that we have not heard from this administration, Laura, is whether or not what Putin did yesterday actually in their minds is a moment of invasion, something that would trigger those larger sanctions that officials have been warning of for months and months that would be economically devastating to Russia. What the president signed yesterday they say are separate than those potential larger package of sanctions.

So that's one thing that we will be waiting to hear is exactly what happens going forward. But for the president's part and for the administration's part, they say that the president will engage in diplomacy until the very end until tanks roll is what administration official said yesterday.

JARRETT: All right. Jasmine Wright, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, let's bring in CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.

John, these first sanctions here on the separatist regions, I mean, is that a strong enough response? Or is that just a first move here?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's a first move, but the question is what's the second move? And this is a real moment of truth for the Biden administration and for its NATO allies, Christine. They have been saying for some time that after there was an initial question over whether the president was saying, well, a minor incursion would trigger one kind of response and a major invasion would trigger another, they clarified to the president saying I'm talking about tanks or troops being -- that constitutes an invasion. That would generate the full response. Well, what we appear to be seeing is, in fact, tanks and troops coming over.

JARRETT: Right.

HARWOOD: The Biden administration's U.N. ambassador last night by calling the Kremlin story nonsense, say they call these peacekeepers, we know what they are. Well, if what they are is Russian troops coming into Ukrainian territory, that would cross the line that the Biden administration and NATO have said.

If they don't pull the trigger on some of these harsh sanctions including Nord Stream 2, as you were discussing with Jim Sciutto, that's going to raise the question of how solid is this Western alliance really? Are they really willing to stay united in the face of this Russian provocation? Because what Vladimir Putin is doing is doing this in slow motion and taking one bite at a time and seeing if, in fact, the West is going to hold together. That's the question before us today.

ROMANS: Yes. I mean, we have a lot going on here. There's European reliance on Russian natural gas, right? There's the swift bank -- global banking system. You've had people talk about sort of kicking Russia out of the global banking system which could basically destabilize everyone. You know, sometimes the punishment could hurt the whole world.

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: Global markets, you know, obviously --

HARWOOD: Well, that's right.

ROMANS: Go ahead.

HARWOOD: Well, I was going to say, President Biden last week kind of girded the American people and said, you know what, defending liberty in this way is not painless. It's going to have blowback. The greatest blowback in Europe which is so dependent on Russian energy but also blowback in the United States because we're subject to the fluctuation of global energy markets. We've seen high gas prices upset the American people in recent months, and so there's more upset on the horizon and so then the question is are -- is this Western alliance willing to pay that price?

And that's a question here. If they start parsing what's an invasion and what isn't, what's a troop crossing the border and what isn't, that tells you that there's a little bit of hesitation there and that's what Putin is trying to probe and explore right now.

[05:40:02]

JARRETT: John, you know the economics of this and the politics of this are inextricably intertwined it seems. Right now you wonder how many American people are actively engaged in the politics of this and really understand some of the history here that Putin is trying to rewrite, but I wonder what is on the line for Biden's presidency as this conflict unfolds. He cannot want to have a war in Europe right in this time, especially with the midterms in November. HARWOOD: I think, Laura, very few Americans are following this

closely. It's difficult for people as they go about their daily lives to follow the twists and turns of a very faraway crisis and they've got other things foremost on their mind. It is potentially a big political problem if you've got adverse economic consequences.

JARRETT: Right.

HARWOOD: On the other hand, if you have a president who is showing leadership in a crisis, who is standing up with its Western allies to Vladimir Putin, that's also an opportunity for the president to show that he's leading on the world stage. So it cuts both ways. And obviously we've seen when we have military conflict overseas, presidents sometimes get a boost from that because they're seen as vindicating the interests of the United States.

It's more complicated in this situation because the president has said up front we're not sending troops there so this is not an American -- there's no prospect of an American war with Russia in this situation but everyone in the world can see the stakes for freedom and the whole architecture of the post-World War II Europe here. And so the president -- there's upside. If they are actually successful against Vladimir Putin, but there's also a downside if the alliance fractures and it's seen as Vladimir Putin getting exactly what he wants.

ROMANS: All right, John Harwood, so nice to see you this morning. We'll talk again soon. Thank you, sir.

HARWOOD: You bet.

JARRETT: Thanks, John.

ROMANS: All right, next, tributes pouring in for "America's Got Talent" fan favorite after -- wow, after dying after a battle with cancer. That's too bad.

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[05:46:34]

JARRETT: Welcome back. It is day two for deliberations as jurors decide the fate of Ahmaud Arbery's killers in their federal hate crimes trial. The jury got the case Monday and met for a couple of hours before being excused. In their closing arguments, prosecutors said that the three defendants you see there, Travis McMichael, his father Gregory, and William "Roddie" Bryan, targeted Arbery because he was black and they saw him as subhuman.

Defense lawyers acknowledged their clients' past use of racist language but denied that race motivated the killing. Still, Ahmaud Arbery's family remains confident the case will go their way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANDA COOPER-JONES, AHMAUD ARBERY'S MOTHER: I think that the DOJ, they presented their case very well. I think that like I shared on Friday, that they did a very good job with presenting the evidence and we have a very good chance of getting a guilty verdict on all counts.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Wanda Cooper-Jones hopes to have a guilty verdict by Wednesday, tomorrow, which marks two years since her son was killed.

ROMANS: All right. Today closing arguments set to begin in the federal civil rights trial of three former officers involved in George Floyd's death. Thomas Lane, Tu Tao and Jay Alexander King have all testified in their own defense about what happened on May 25th, 2020, while Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

Lane testified that Chauvin ignored him when he asked if Floyd should be rolled over. King says he trusted Chauvin because he was his former training officer. And Tao says he was watching the bystanders and thought the other officers were caring for Floyd. The three are each accused depriving Floyd of his constitutional right to medical care and they have pleaded not guilty.

JARRETT: Now to this. Britney Spears set to reveal her side of the story in a new tell-all memoir. The singer landing a huge book deal now after her conservatorship saga has finally ended.

CNN's Chloe Melas joins us with all the details.

Chloe, good morning. So this is apparently one of the biggest book deals of all time?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So reportedly it's $15 million. So CNN has confirmed that that is around the area of the ballpark of what Simon and Shuster paid. It was said to be a bidding war. I spoke to a source close to Britney who said that there were multiple publishing companies after Britney to get her to tell her side of the story with them.

This is going to be Britney's first ever memoir. Her sister recently came out with one which Britney was very vocal about the fact that she didn't like that her sister was telling parts of her life story, which she felt was in order to sell copies of her book. Britney's mother at one point wrote her own memoir. But now this is Britney's turn.

Now we've been told that this has been in the works for several months. But this is going to be a tell-all book. And you better believe it's going to be a bestseller because even though Britney gave two emotional testimonies over the summer in which she detailed this conservatorship abuse, there are still so many questions. Still so many things left unanswered and hopefully we're going to get those answers, and more insight into what led to this conservatorship and really how terrible the last 13 years of her life really have been.

But hopefully also some positive moments like her engagement to Sam Ashkari, her sons and probably some happy moments in their life post- conservatorship.

ROMANS: Another book, a tell-all from Matthew Perry, a memoir. We're told he's going to talk about the good and the bad making "Friends." What else do you know?

MELAS: Look, he's going to talk about the pressure of being famous and being on this hit show. It was a hit in nearly every country, all over the world.

[05:50:04]

Courtney Cox, his co-star who played his love interest and then eventual wife on the show, she spoke out to the "U.K. Times" saying that Matthew put a lot of pressure on himself. At one point he said that he even doesn't remember filming several seasons of "Friends" due to his battle with drugs and alcohol. So he is going to tell his side of the story. Another book that I'm sure is going to be a bestseller and really get deep about his time on this show and how he overcame addiction.

JARRETT: Chloe, finally, some sad news overnight. The passing of fan favorite from "America's Got Talent," Nightbirde. What happened?

MELAS: Yes, oh, man, she was just amazing. She unfortunately died recently of cancer. Her family released a statement. I remember watching the episode where she got the golden buzzer. You know, she had said at the time that she had cancer, then she said on social media that she only had a few months to live. This was in 2019. She beat the odds making it several years past what doctors expected for her.

But you have so many of the judges and Howie Mandel taking to social media saying that her voice was like a nightingale. She was just this incredibly soulful voice. Sounded like she had been alive for hundreds of years. And it's just a very sad moment because she never got to finish out the competition. But her family, her friends, she has a wonderful support group that has come out to post very emotional tributes to her.

But it's very sad. And I suggest you this morning, if you just have a minute, go Google her audition round. It is just amazing. It will bring you to tears but it is a beautiful voice that everybody should hear.

JARRETT: Yes, I can hear a little bit of it there. Very, very sad.

Chloe, thank you. Appreciate you getting up with us.

MELAS: Of course. Thanks, guys.

JARRETT: All right. A massive pileup involving nearly 100 vehicles on a snow-covered freeway in eastern Oregon. Wow. Look at that. The crash is happening on a mile-long stretch of Interstate-84 Monday afternoon in North Dakota. Emergency crews battled blizzard conditions to free people injured in a highway crash. A series of winter storms will bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain to other parts of the country this week.

Let's get to meteorologist Karen Maginnis. Karen, how bad is this going to get and when is it going to let up? KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Just when we thought we could slide

through the rest of what is left of winter.

JARRETT: Right.

MAGINNIS: No, we have to deal with this weather chaos across the country with nary a person spared from either blizzard conditions or high winds, flooding rainfall, tornadoes, plunging temperatures. It's everywhere. And we're not yet in the home stretch. This is going to last until the end of the work week.

Take a look at this. The dividing line between that very cold arctic air and very mild weather conditions out ahead of it. To the south along the Gulf Coast region and into the areas across the southern Appalachians. Well, it was so mild that in Dallas it soared to 85 degrees. That's not normal. But then what happens next? For a late February, it's not normal to see icing conditions after you've reached 85 degrees. So really sharp contrast.

This is the future radar. There you can see all the way from the Tennessee Valley. Strong storms and indeed we did see some large hails and some damaging winds in northeastern Texas.

Back to you, guys.

JARRETT: Spring cannot come soon enough. Karen, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, that's your weather. Let's look at business here on this Tuesday morning.

Markets falling overnight as tensions escalate between Ukraine and Russia looking at markets around the world. You can Asian shares closed sharply lower. But Europe has now turned around bouncing up a little bit on Wall Street. Stock index futures are narrowly mixed.

Look, the crisis between Russia and Ukraine could have broad economic consequences especially in oil. U.S. crude oil prices surging more than 5 percent overnight. Russia is the world's second largest producer of oil. Any cutoff or suspension of supply would send crude oil prices even higher. U.S. markets were closed Monday for Presidents Day. So this will be the first chance to react to a weekend of worsening Russia headlines.

Stocks fell last week. The Dow shedding almost 2 percent again on those Russia aggression headlines. Today earnings from Toll Brothers, Macy's and Home Depot -- Home Depot, the Dow's best stock last year thanks to a red-hot housing market.

So a lot going on today. But again, the headline is uncertainty in markets because of the certainty of Vladimir Putin and his aggressive stance on Ukraine.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. CNN is following all the news out of Russia and Ukraine as the world waits for Vladimir Putin's next move. "NEW DAY" is next.

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