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Biden Imposes Sanctions for "Beginning of a Russian Invasion"; Biden Meets With At Least 3 Potential Supreme Court Nominees; Ahmaud Arbery's Killers Guilty of All Charges in Federal Trial. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:25]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Wednesday, February 23rd, 5:00 a.m. exactly here in New York. Thanks for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. A lot to get to this morning.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: We begin with this, an urgent plea from Ukraine to its citizens, get out of Russia now. President Biden cutting off the Kremlin with tough new sanctions to punish what he calls the beginning of a Russian invasion. U.S. allies, Australia, Japan, Canada all now joining in the effort.

A meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Russia's foreign minister now off. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline which goes around Ukraine to deliver gas directly from Russia to Western Europe now on pause. The German chancellor said nobody should bet on the future of Nord Stream 2.

ROMANS: Meantime, new satellite images show additional troops, tents and field hospitals near Russia's border with Ukraine.

A crisis in Eastern Europe with implications for you. Oil and natural gas prices jumping. And the FBI is telling businesses watch out for new ransomware attacks by hackers in Russia.

Our team coverage of the crisis in Ukraine starts with chief national security Jim Sciutto in Lviv, Ukraine.

Jim, nice to see you.

The foreign minister called for the West to hit Russia's economy hard and hit it now. The White House has unveiled its first tranche and leaving room for more, the White House says, if Russia escalates. This is really important here -- leaving more fire power to try to contain the Russian president.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And President Biden even telegraphed what the next step would be, that would be more sanctions targeting oligarchs, very wealthy politically powerful Russians close to the president, Vladimir Putin. One way to look at it is, one, there are layers that clearly the U.S. and its partners have laid out to apply incrementally.

Each day perhaps as Russia moves forward, but also that the intention here, we saw some evidence of that yesterday, is to do it in very tight lock step with partners and allies. We woke up to what was a significant headline, the suspension of Nord Stream 2. That is a pipeline that would increase Russia's leverage over Europe. That is now suspended.

Then we heard from the U.K. It's going to sanction some banks, some individuals and then the E.U. followed. That's 27 European nations. They're going to sanction every member of the Russian parliament that voted to recognize them and then you had the American move.

I believe the intention here is to keep that up, to raise the pressure over time and to do so in conjunction with allies.

JARRETT: So, Jim, Russia's response to these sanctions is that it's actually going to hurt us. It's going to hurt global financial markets and that, quote, ordinary Americans are going to feel the consequences.

Listen to President Biden's response to that type of argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Defending freedom will have costs for us as well and here at home. I'm going to take robust actions to make sure it's targeted at the Russian economy, not ours. We're closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We're executing a plan in coordination with major oil producing consumers and producers towards a collective investment to secure global energy supplies. This will be -- this will blunt gas prices. I want to limit the pain of the American people are feeling at the gas pump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Jim, does the president have enough tools at his disposal to offset that type of pain? This seems to be where the rubber is going to hit the road for people who may not have been paying attention until this moment?

ROMANS: Right.

SCIUTTO: The short answer, and Christine knows this better than me, is no. This is a global energy market, right? It's going to respond both to sentiment, right? They're going to be made nervous by the prospect of war in Europe but also supply because Russia is a major producer of oil and they use that leverage.

They're like the mob, right? They use that leverage. You had a reference to that from the former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday, the cancellation of Nord Stream 2, saying, hey, Europe, you are about to pay more for natural gas even though the pipeline is not in place yet, but threatening it seemed in effect that Russia can, you know, adjust the valve on gas prices to Europe.

[05:05:00]

Putin knows that. Putin knows that. Putin knows that Americans are sensitive when gas prices go up. His hope is that that splits the U.S. the U.S. is already split on this. You have the former president praising Putin. You have the former secretary of state praising Putin. You have the right wing media defending his advance on Ukraine.

Putin know that. He's going to exploit.

ROMANS: You know, Jim, there's some levers that the president can pull, right? They could do a strategic petroleum reserve release and try to coordinate that around the world, and that could take a little bit of heat off prices. They could do a gas tax holiday.

Everything always have a drawback, right? That would just add to the deficit. Also there's the saying in energy markets high oil prices cure high oil prices. Why? It incentive advises people to get more. More supply pulls the prices down.

There are things around the edges we can watch here. Global energy market, those sanctions on Russia will be felt around the world.

SCIUTTO: That's why I said, Christine knows better than me.

JARRETT: But you are there -- you are there for us in Ukraine. Thank you, Jim. We appreciate your reporting as always.

ROMANS: All right. Christine knows more than me and then the light goes out.

JARRETT: Now to this, a major shift in tone by the White House, to Russia's increasingly aggressive posture towards Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JON FINER, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We see this as the beginning much a further invasion of Ukraine.

BIDEN: This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

JARRETT: CNN's Jasmine Wright is live for us in Washington with more on this.

Jasmine, good morning.

Until now the White House has somewhat resisted using the term invasion. Why the switch now? JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Laura, the White

House views President Putin's recent actions as setting up a rationale for him to further invade Ukraine. Now we saw White House press secretary Jen Psaki a part of that clip. She pointed out a couple of different things.

First, she pointed out president Putin's speech on Monday night. He was angry. He tried to rewrite Russia's history, Ukraine's history when it comes to their sovereignty.

And also, President Putin's recent actions in the two pro-Kremlin territories that he recently declared independent, saying basically that it is, you know, setting up for him to take more territory by force here. This comes after CNN learned that U.S. intelligence allowed U.S. officials to come to the consensus that President Putin may be mounting an even more full invasion when it comes to territory and Ukraine.

So you're right, it was a reversal after an administration official declined to go that far and Monday night called reporters. But I do want to note that by using this term invasion, it does set up this administration and Biden himself to fulfill what has been long promised, which is implementing these economic, very dire consequences for Russia should it invade Ukraine, and that's exactly what they are saying is happening now.

We just heard Jim break down exactly what President Biden laid out but also saying there are more actions in reserve trying to deter Russia from moving forward. But still on the bottom line though is that President Biden says he wants to find a diplomatic outcome for this situation in Ukraine though that looks more dim as the days go by.

ROMANS: Yeah, on those sanctions, the White House saying, if Russia escalates, so will we. There's more to go there.

All of this is happening at the same time the White House is prepping for the new Supreme Court nominee, Jasmine. Multiple sources tell us that President Biden has met with three potential Supreme Court picks.

Who are they? What does this tell us about the direction he's leaning?

WRIGHT: Well, I think it tells us that certainly President Biden is kind of closing of this process, though we know him to be kind of a deliberator in chief taking a long time. But it comes ahead of his self-imposed end of February deadline.

So, on the screen there, you can see what sources told us that the three women that President Biden met with, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Judge Leondra Kruger, and also Judge Michelle Childs.

And now, Ketanji Brown Jackson has been long reported to be the frontrunner, the top person as those close to Biden have told CNN in his mind. But the other two have great supporters including Jim Clyburn for Michelle Childs.

So, a question going forward is, you know, who is the president going to pick?

Now, sources tell us that the president has not yet decided on who it will be, sources and White House officials. They say President Biden could still interview more people but it does seem like this process is moving along as we get closer to the end of February. That is just now only five days away.

JARRETT: Yeah, we know he's trying to get this done before the State of the Union and certainly that's a big choice.

Jasmine, thank you.

ROMANS: The State Department is telling all-Americans to leave Ukraine, but one New Jersey man and his wife are staying put.

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We'll ask him why.

Plus, three white men found guilty in the federal hate crime death of Ahmaud Arbery. We'll break down what happens next in that case.

JARRETT: And trial starts now for the only officer charged in that botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor. He's not facing charges for her death. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: Welcome back.

The three white men that chased down and killed Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 found guilty of all charges in the federal hate crimes trial. The jury concluding Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William Roddie Bryan were guilty of interference with race.

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That's a federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping.

Attorney General Merrick Garland visibly emotional reacting to the verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has a legal obligation to prosecute hate crimes. I cannot imagine the pain that a mother feels to have her son run down and then gunned down while taking a jog on a public street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Let's bring in CNN legal analyst and civil rights attorney Areva Martin.

Areva, so nice to have you this morning.

It strikes me --

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.

JARRETT: Good morning. It strikes me. This case almost didn't happen, you know, on so many different levels. Had it not been for the video leaking and had it not been for Ahmaud Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper- Jones, who push to make sure those men did not get a plea deal.

I wonder in your view, is this the end of the road for this case? Could we see more prosecutions? We heard Ben Crump flip to that yesterday.

MARTIN: Well, I hope so. I hope there are more prosecutions. You're right, but for Wanda Cooper-Jones, this case wouldn't have ever happened. The state's attorney refused to charge these men. It wasn't until the state stepped in that we saw the state prosecutions. And we know with respect even to the federal charges, we heard Wanda Cooper- Jones said let's not thank the Justice Department, because the Justice Department tried to enter to a plea deal with the two McMichael defendants. And it was Wanda Cooper-Jones who opposed that plea deal which allowed the federal civil rights trial to go forward.

You know ,we can't do anything but I think applaud Wanda Cooper-Jones for her tenacity and the way she persevered for this case. That shouldn't be the way federal civil rights cases have to come to trial. We rely upon our Justice Department to prosecute those cases, particularly cases like this where the racial animus is so evident. So, hopefully, there will be more prosecutions but hopefully it will send a message to the justice department to do its job.

JARRETT: And that racial animus would not have come out if the federal trial hadn't happened. None of that was in play.

ROMANS: She's amazing. She has been amazing during this whole process having to fight for justice for her own son.

Jury deliberations are going to begin today in the federal trial of the three former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's murder in 2020. How strong a case did the state make?

MARTIN: Well, they took a different turn with respect to this case than what we saw in the case of Derek Chauvin. These officers are pointing the finger at Derek Chauvin saying he was the senior officer at the scene. He took control of that scene and we were the three officers claiming that they were essentially rookies and they were deferring to Derek Chauvin.

They are also putting the Minneapolis police department on trial. They spent a considerable amount of the trial time pointing to the flaws in the police department's training, saying that that training was inadequate, it was inconsistent and that it was the training that caused these officers not to take action with respect to Derek Chauvin.

We witnessed him kneeling on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. They're saying their training didn't provide them with what they needed to do to intervene and provide medical care. I think the argument is going to fail them because these defendants took the stand and they made some pretty critical admissions, but I think the jurists are going to look to when they deliberate.

So, I'm not hopeful -- I'm hopeful that there will be convictions and I don't think their defense is going to stand up.

JARRETT: Another case coming to a head in Louisville. Former police officer facing trial, the only one facing trial in connection with that botched raid, the one that killed Breonna Taylor. That case we remember so well.

But Brett Hankison, this former officer, he's not actually facing charges for her death. He's not facing murder or manslaughter charges. How is the jury going to deal with that?

MARTIN: Yeah, this is going to be an interesting case, because as you said, this ex-officer is faced with charges of wanton endangerments. This is a low level felony, and it relates to ten shots he fired into Breonna Taylor's neighbor's home. So, the charges that he endangered the neighbor and infant child. He's facing up to five years if he is convicted of the charges.

What we know is the public outcry around no charges for any of the officers being charged with respect to Breonna Taylor's death. So, the jury is going to have to wrestle with the fact that this officer is not being charged because Breonna Taylor is dead, but because the neighbor's life was endanger because of these shots.

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ROMANS: In police forces across the country, there's no-knock warrants, you know? I mean, come on. I mean, it's just really unfortunate, all of it.

All right. Areva Martin, thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning.

JARRETT: Thanks, Areva.

ROMANS: All right. Another legal loss for former President Donald Trump. The Supreme Court refusing to take up his challenge of the release of his White House documents to the January 6 Committee. Trump's bid to keep those records under wraps fails. The documents Trump was trying to block in court are already in the hands of the Select Committee.

Programming note for you, conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, could he be a threat to American democracy? A new CNN special report explores whether he can be stopped. "MEGAPHONE FOR CONSPIRACY: THE ALEX JONES STORY" begins Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

JARRETT: And still ahead for you, a historic settlement for the U.S. women's national soccer team. Does this finally at last mean equal pay for equal work? Details in the "Bleacher Report", next.

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ROMANS: All right. Phil Mickelson is apologizing for controversial comments he made about a Saudi-backed golf tour which caused him two huge sponsors.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Christine.

So, Phil Mickelson is one of the few stars that's expressed interest in taking part in the Saudi golf league, which is aiming to be a PGA tour rival.

And according to an unauthorized biographer by Alan Shipnuck, Mickelson defended his association with the Saudis saying: They're scary to get involved with. We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay.

Knowing all of this? Why would I consider it? Because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.

Now, Mickelson insists his comments that he told Shipnuck were off the record. But Shipnuck says Mickelson never told him that and he knew they would be used for his book.

Now, those comments drew a massive amount of backlash from fans, his fellow competitors. And yesterday, two huge sponsors, KPMG and Heineken parted ways with the six-time Major winner. Mickelson posting a long apology yesterday, saying in part, I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. It was reckless. I offended people and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words.

I'm beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this. Now, later, Phil will be taking a break from golf and work on being the man he wants to be.

All right. Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores meanwhile says team owner Steven Roth offered him millions of dollars to keep quiet after he was fired. Flores was suing the Dolphins, NFL and other teams. He tells Bryant Gumbel that he declined to sign a non-disparagement agreement so he could speak out about this experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN FLORES, FORMER MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: I think signing that separation agreement would have silenced me.

BRYANT GUMBEL, HOST: How much -- how much money did you end up leaving on the table by choosing not to sign that agreement? FLORES: A lot.

GUMBEL: A good amount.

FLORES: A lot of money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was millions of dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Dolphins issued a statement last night denying Flores's claims saying: This just did not happen and we simply do not understand why Brian continues this pattern of making unfounded statements that he knows are untrue. We are fully cooperating with the NFL investigation and looking forward to all of the facts coming out, which we are confident will prove that his claims are false and defamatory.

Flores lawyers then responded to the Dolphins on Twitter posting images of what they say is the non-disparagement agreement that's in question.

All right. The U.S. women's national team finally seeing their fight for equal pay end on Tuesday. The players and U.S. Soccer Federation came to a settlement ending the six-year battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN RAPINOE, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: It's hard to see how monumental I think this would be. I couldn't be prouder to be part of it. Hopefully this can be the dawn of a new day at U.S. soccer because they certainly need to be much better and I think this is the perfect starting point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. As a part of the settlement, the players got $22 million. They had been seeking more than $66 million. They're also getting $2 million that's going into an account to fund charitable efforts for the players in their post athletic careers.

The U.S. Soccer Federation also pledging to pay the women and men the same when it comes to friendlies, and tournaments, including the World Cup. They settlement contingent on the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement, guys, for the U.S. women's national team, which they hope to reach next month.

But this is such an awesome day, such a weight on their shoulders. Now they can go out there and perform as supposed to having to worry about the equal pay off the pitch.

JARRETT: Which is what they have been wanting to do this whole time.

Andy, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: And one hopes that it's more in fair of marketing budgets and the kinds of facilities that they practice in, right?

JARRETT: All of these athletes are already so popular and have gained so much attention.

ROMANS: And they win.

JARRETT: And they win. That's their point. We deserve equal pay.

ROMANS: All right. Way to go.

JARRETT: Coming up for you, Russian troops already in Ukraine. New sanctions from the West. What is Vladimir Putin's next move?

ROMANS: Plus, the State Department warning Americans to get out of Ukraine. But this man is staying put. He joins us live on EARLY START, next.

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