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Tennis Star Who Disappeared Says She's Retiring Suddenly; Police Say, Man Breaks Into Bloomberg's Ranch, Kidnaps Employee; More Trump Loyalists Standing Up to His Un-American Views. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 07, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home and force me to have sex with you? And I couldn't describe how disgusted I was and how many times I asked myself am I still a human? I feel like a walking corpse. Every day I was acting, which person is the real me?

And she wrote this about a very senior former Communist Party official. Josh Rogin, now, she says she deleted it because she felt like it is being misunderstood. What are the political implications of what just happened with this interview, Josh?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, first of all, I think we should be very clear that this is really not a political story. This is a personal tragedy for tennis star Peng Shuai, first, because she was apparently assaulted, and second, because now she is living in fear because she's had a series of stage appearances, heavily controlled with minders next to her to bring her back out, to say -- to recant her previously allegations, which is a well-worn pattern of the Chinese Communist Party. They have been doing this for years, if not, decades.

So, we just have to understand in that context that she really has no choice, that if she didn't do what the party said, she could be jailed or disappear or (INAUDIBLE) her family. So, that's a personal tragedy, not a political tragedy.

What it means for the Olympics is that it puts all of these Olympic organizations, these sports organizations in a position of either being complicit in that sort of abuse, the insult and the injury, or they can try to stand against it. And we saw the Women's Tennis Association take a brave stand in defense of both the women and Peng Shuai specifically. And we saw the International Olympic Committee do the opposite. We saw them help them push the propaganda and put the pressure on Peng Shuai.

So, I think that is a stark decision for all of us dealing with Chinese organizations and the Chinese Communist Party. Do we want to help perpetrate this sort of culture of fear and abuse or do we stand up to it? I recommend and I hope that more and more organizations will follow the lead of the Women's Tennis Association and do the latter. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, Rennae, one of the hardest things to watch of all of this, and there are many things, is how the IOC has responded. It's refusing to say whether or not she has been speaking under duress, right? The communications director of the IOC said this, I don't think it's a judgment for the IOC to make. We're a sporting organization and our job is to remain in contact with her and to carry out quiet diplomacy, to keep in touch with her, as we've done, to meet her in person, as we've done, and now invite her to Lausanne to see us. What do you make of this?

RENNAE STUBBS, ESPN TENNIS ANALYST: Well, I think they're in between a rock and a hard place right now with the Olympics being in Beijing again. It will be interesting to see if they ever get the Olympics back, because it's at the summer and the winter games. And by all of this at what's been going on, not only with Peng Shuai but so many other issues in China, that maybe it will be the last time we see them there because of just the ramifications of this story and so many others in China overall.

But when I read Ai Weiwei, the amazing Chinese artist, he's written and spoken about this situation with Peng Shuai as well, and I even tweeted about it today, that he's basically said she is under the control of the Communist Party now she's no way of getting out of it. So, that to me is a real concern.

I have actually spoken to somebody that has spoken to her. And she really can't say anything. I mean, this is the issue that we face when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party. There's nothing you can do about it, other than what the WTA has done, and Josh has said, is hold them to the fire. Once this Olympics is over, it will be really interesting to see what the IOC really does because they really do have some questions that need to be answered.

BERMAN: Yes, it's once over. I mean, I have to say, I mean, every day that passes here, it does feel like there are so many organizations, nations around the world complicit in this performance art that's taking place by the day. China has a torch bearer that is a Uyghur, Josh, as genocide is going on in part of the country. Now Peng Shuai trotted out for this interview chaperoned with minders there. It's just day by day this performance.

ROGIN: Well, that's right. And there's two reasons that the Chinese government does this. One is to sort of mess with our information. Remember, in their country, they only have one story, there's only one internet, right? Peng Shuai may have taken down her post. We don't know. But she definitely didn't erase it from Chinese internet. She doesn't have that power, right? So, that's what the government. If you look on the Chinese internet, there's no mention of the scandal to this day. So, what they're doing will all of this propaganda is they're aiming it at us. They're trying to confuse us.

And it's the same thing when they have a Uyghur to light the torch while they're committing genocide against Uyghurs. On the one hand, they are saying like middle finger time. We don't care what you say about what we do. But they are also sending a message to the Uyghurs, you can carry the torch or you can go to the camps. [07:05:01]

It's a pretty clear message, okay? And it's cruel. It's criminal. And it's not going away any time soon.

And the Chinese government thought that they could, you know, sort of have their genocide and have their Olympics and no one would say anything because they're so big and powerful and rich that all of the corporations and governments would fall into line. Well, it didn't turn out that way, did it? As it turns out, people all over the world, including people in China, took this opportunity to point out the reality of what CCP is about these days, and it's a pretty ugly picture.

KEILAR: I also think, Rennae, we should be very clear about this interview that Peng Shuai did, just how controlled it was. There were so many conditions that had to be met. The questions had to be submitted. It was printed as a -- basically as a transcript of a Q&A. It did not allow for there to be analysis and for there to be isolated quotes. These were the conditions that this paper had to agree to.

STUBBS: Exactly. And I think if the IOC would do the right thing and the great thing, they would hire a private plane and fly her and her entire family out of China and then we'll decide and see if that exactly what she really meant. So, anyone that has anything to do with her, and particularly her and her family, get them out of the country. Let's us ask them questions after that. It's controlled environment by the Chinese is just -- we all know this it's just contrived and, as far as I'm concerned, she's going to be under duress and under control of them, and as Ai Weiwei said, for probably forever.

BERMAN: And, again, people around the world, especially those close to her and know her, they remain concerned about her.

I also do want to note that the man she's accusing of sexual assault, the former Chinese communist official, has not responded in any way to this and has largely been out of sight, which tells you something also.

Josh Rogin, Rennae Stubbs, thank you both for being with us.

This morning, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, travels to Moscow for a high-stakes meeting with Russia President Vladimir Putin. Macron hopes diplomacy -- says he hopes diplomacy can deescalate tensions over Ukraine as the United States is warning that Russia could invade any day.

CNN's Nic Robertson live in Moscow with more. A preview of this very important meeting, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. The Russians are saying, don't expect to break through. They're saying their security demands have not been met. They're not hearing anything along those lines. They continue to deny that this military buildup that has experts and officials in the United States so concerned, the Russians continue to deny that that is with any intent at all of invading Ukraine. That is the starting condition that President Macron is going to walk into here.

He is expecting here to be in those meetings with President Putin within about a couple of hours. The Kremlin has told him a quality interlocutor. That's the way they'd described President Macron, or at least that's how President Macron's office says they have the characterization.

Macron has had three phone calls over the past week or so with President Putin. One of them lasted a couple hours. There's some reason to believe that the two of them have a conversation going but no reason to believe at all that there's going to be any way to bridge the massive difference here. Russia's security demands and what in essence Macron is coming here to do, which is convince Putin to reverse order his troops around the border of Ukraine, take them further away, deescalate the situation.

So, by the time we get to the press conference later today, we might get a clue how both of them are going to frame it. But I don't think we're going to get a sense that this is anywhere closer to being solved, John.

BERMAN: No, you're right though. The framing, the language that Vladimir Putin uses when he faces questions may be the very thing to watch closely today, and we will be watching.

Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

KEILAR: In Canada, thousands of protesters have joined with anti- vaccine trucker demonstrations that began more than a week ago in the capital. From Western Alberta to Quebec noisy demonstrations are adding to the chaos on the streets. Ottawa has declared a state of emergency and the police chief is calling it a nationwide insurrection driven by madness.

CNN Paula Newton is live for us in Ottawa. Paula, tell us what the motive is here. What do these demonstrators want?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Brianna, this started out as a trucking protest, right? They had to get vaccinated, a vaccine mandate not just for Canada but for the United States so that they could cross the border. But it touched a nerve, Brianna, with a significant, it seems, in loud minority here in this country, that are just fed up with all of the restrictions.

And when we start hearing that language, look, they're saying what's happening now, two weekends, it's been going on over ten days, spreading across the country in fits and starts. But it is here in Ottawa, Brianna, where you have certainly the epicenter.

And residents here and city officials are calling this an occupation, not a protest anymore.

[07:10:02]

Those truckers are digging in and they have a lot of support behind them. There have been fiery, as you can imagine, meetings virtually, especially from the police services board, its chair saying that this was essentially an insurrection, a nationwide insurrection driven by madness.

I want you to hear now from the police chief and how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF PETER SLOLY, OTTAWA POLICE: The oath of office that I and my office swore were never intended to deal with a city under siege, a threat to our democracy, a nationwide insurrection driven by madness. There is no concrete plan for such a scenario as you have described.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You know, the police chief has gotten reinforcements, and he's been categorical. He thinks perhaps it might take the military, Brianna, if you could imagine, to help solve this problem here in Ottawa. I've spoken to the defense minister's staff here. They say there is no intention to do that.

Here's the problem, though. How do you remove those big rigs? I mean, Brianna, I'm going to tell you, they are right in front of the prime minister's office and legislators have to pass that protest every day when they go in.

I wanted to show you a map here in terms of how the protests spread throughout Canada this weekend. Certainly most of them have now been cleared. And for Ottawa, the residents are saying, look, we are living in fear. Why can't the Ottawa protests now be cleared? On that map, you will see Alberta, that is also a continuing protest, Brianna, that is going on, same for the truckers, between the Alberta and Montana border. It is basically a blockade of the I-15 corridor going in there. At this point, insurrection, they say, are not too strong of words. Brianna?

KEILAR: Wow. All right, Paula, we'll be watching how this develops. Paula Newton live for us from Ottawa.

BERMAN: The White House tells CNN that federal health officials are thinking about life after the pandemic, but there is no clear plan yet. This comes as a bipartisan group of governors is pushing President Biden for guidelines on transitioning out of the pandemic and into an endemic phase.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard joins us now. Jacqueline, you have got some new reporting on this.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, John. Really, the latest development here, the White House says it is thinking about this, but it hasn't released any clear guidance quite yet. So, we are seeing this divide. On one hand, the White House says, yes, it's thinking about this, but it's keeping its focus right now on the emergency at hand, on the omicron wave, getting cases down even more, hospitalizations down even more. The United States is still averaging more than 2,000 deaths each day. So, that is where we have room for improvement. Now, on the other hand, state governors and some public health experts are arguing that, as you see on the chart here, cases are trending downward. Hospitalizations are trending downward. You see these recent drops here in the data. They aren't where we want them to be. But governors and public health experts argue that let's use this time now to really think about what the end of the pandemic looks like, what metric will we use to measure transitioning from the pandemic to an endemic phase.

And just yesterday, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on Face the Nation that this is somewhere where we can look at what is the light at the end of the tunnel, let's give people something to look forward to. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I think what governors are sensing is that we need to agree upon a set of metrics, when we're going to start to roll back these mitigation steps and give people a light at the end of the tunnel. What is that point where this stuff gets turned off?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: So you hear there, John, that is the question, what is that point? We're, of course, going to keep eyes on the White House. Everyone is waiting to see if or when they will release this guidance. John?

BERMAN: Jacqueline Howard, terrific reporting, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Now, this morning a man is facing charges for breaking into a Colorado ranch belonging to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and abducting a woman at gunpoint. Court documents show that he went there looking for the billionaire's daughters.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov is live for us in Denver with more. An incredibly scary story here, Lucy.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a bizarre story. The suspect said that he was trying to make a, quote, international scene, kidnapping one Bloomberg's housekeepers at gunpoint, foiled by an iPad tracking device.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV (voice over): This dramatic video shows a SWAT team rescuing one of Michael Bloomberg's employees after authorities say she was kidnapped at gunpoint from the media mogul's western Colorado ranch. Footage shows law enforcement arriving at the motel and advancing towards the building.

Authorities say, on Wednesday morning, the suspect, Joseph Beecher, rammed his vehicle through the gate of Bloomberg's Westlands Ranch, pictured here in a real estate photo, and confronted the housekeeper.

[07:15:00]

Court documents show he asked for the former New York mayor's daughters and kidnapped the housekeeper, forcing her to drive him away in her own truck.

The woman whose name was not released told investigators that Beecher was heavily armed and threatened to shoot her face off, telling her he wanted to make an international scene, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Investigators later learned the victim's credit card was used in the Denver metro area for gas and at a bank to $500, where she reportedly mouthed the words, help me, to an ATM camera. The victim was found unharmed at the Stage Coach Motel thanks to a location-tracking app on her iPad.

According to court documents, the incident happened shortly after Beecher was ordered to vacate his apartment complex, where he had been doing maintenance work in lieu of rent. His landlord's apartment was burglarized soon afterwards with two of the landlord's rifles and ammunition missing, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation says.

In a statement to CNN, Bloomberg Spokesperson Ty Tripett said, we are grateful to the Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Wyoming law enforcement, the FBI and other individuals for their swift and heroic action in this case in ensuring that no lives were lost and that the victim has been rescued and safely returned to her family.

Beecher was transported to Laramie County Jail and faces second-degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery and felony menacing in Colorado. He also faces a federal kidnapping charge for allegedly transporting the victim across state lines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV (on camera): Now, Beecher was arrested on the scene without incident. He is not known to have any ties to the Bloomberg family. Upon entering that hotel room, the SWAT Team apparently found an AR-15 rifle in the room. The victim was rescued and reunited with her family. Guys?

KEILAR: Thank goodness. Lucy, thank you for that report.

Coming up, turning on Trump, Chris Christie ripping Trump's January 6th claims. Pence says Trump is wrong on overturning the election. Is the foundation of the Republican Party starting to crack?

Plus, he was training, he was trying to qualify during Hell Week for the Navy SEALs and died. The events that led up to this Navy SEAL candidate's death and left one other hospitalized.

BERMAN: And Singer Billie Eilish stopping her show to help a fan in need. Morning pop, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:20:00]

BERMAN: In a forceful and maybe more importantly uncharacteristic rebuke, former Vice President Mike Pence called out his former boss by name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I heard this week President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And, frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Since then, other Republicans who were also once staunch Trump loyalists, like Chris Christie, have backed the former vice president's words and echoed his sentiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ): I think that the actions the vice president took on January 6th spoke loudly. And I'm glad he's finally put words to it. I don't know why it took him so long, but I'm glad that he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN Anchor and Chief National Affairs Analyst Kasie Hunt and CNN Political Analyst David Gregory.

Kasie, there's an element of this, which is Mike Pence admitting the sky is blue. I get that. And he should have admitted the sky was blue a long time ago. However, there are many issues for which Mike Pence would not say the sky is blue when it comes to Donald Trump. And he's doing it now and a lot of Republicans are backing him up. And my question is, what does that tell us in terms of Trump's grip on the party?

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, for the most part, Mike Pence was always silent standing next to his former boss when they were working together. And I think everybody remarked upon that at the time that it was going on. But January 6th did change the calculus. And they tried hard to convince Mike Pence that he had this power, and you're right, that it is a shift that he is out there in public saying of his volition -- note, he wasn't asked by a reporter here. These were planned remarks he had full control over. So I think that is a significant piece of this. It does say that the party at least is drawing a line here or more people are willing to.

And I think you're seeing that from more Republicans, especially, and I think the context here is important, they are talking in Congress right now about passing a bill that would make it abundantly clear that vice presidents do not have this power. Because, of course, these lawyers -- the Trump lawyers were trying to convince us all that, oh, no, actually, he does have the full power and it was Pence himself who had to stand up and say, no, I don't have the power. Congress wants to make it more clear that, no, in fact, the vice president does not have this power and Republicans are justifying it by saying, hey, we don't want Kamala Harris to do that to us in 2024 if a Republican wins. That's the argument.

So, it's also part of why the former president, Trump, is talking about this issue right now, because this potentially takes another tool out of the toolkit if he's going to try to do something, as many Democrats are concerned, that he'll try and do something worse if, in fact, he is elected president again in 2024.

KEILAR: David, what do you think?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that there's a distinction here. I think you have in the two examples you showed, potential rivals for the nomination in 2024 who are willing to take on President Trump on still a narrow issue, which is the question of whether the vice president could do what he could clearly not do, which is somehow certify the election on his own accord.

[07:25:17]

That's different than laying the blame for January 6th in part at the feet of President Trump for his actions on the day and in the days prior to January 6th. That's what Liz Cheney has done. And she finds herself more ostracized in the Republican Party right now. So, that is a distinction that I'm looking for.

I think there are Republicans, certainly even in the House and the Senate, who are willing to say January 6th was completely wrong. And what the president was arguing for in terms of overturning the election was wrong. I think that may be separate from whether there are real cracks in the foundation of his support.

BERMAN: I don't know. David, though, watching that bite again and again and again, and we have all seen it now dozens of times, Pence grabbed for the sound bite, President Trump is wrong, knowing that that will be out there for eternity, and that if they ever do face off, Mike Pence is saying his boss is wrong, and then later, frankly, un-American. And Mike Pence can read polls, just like the rest of us. So, to me, again, it seems like maybe he's seeing something here, maybe he's feeling something here?

GREGORY: Well, look, that may be right. And, again, my argument, at least this morning, is that they are willing to stake out this ground. It may be narrower ground. If it got bigger, are they willing to say, not only were you wrong but you were responsible for January 6th, which was un-American and an attack on our country. And you bear responsibility and are disqualified from ever being the president of the United States again. We will see if we go to that point.

I think that there are a lot of Republicans who maybe supported Trump and saw January 6th and said, no way. I mean, that was just -- that was wading into the pool of authoritarianism. No more. But I think those same Republicans who might be more independent-minded, who might be softer supporters of Trump, who say, I don't want to vote for Trump, but I have got to see what the alternative is. And if it's still the left that we are seeing today, I can't get there. And that's what I question in terms of how deep this opposition goes to him.

KEILAR: You know, changing subjects here, Kasie, Marco Rubio, who at times has been critical of President Trump, he once said that the Trump era would not end well, he is saying this about the January 6th investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): The January 6th commission is not the place to do that. That's what prosecutors are supposed to do. This commission is a partisan scam, that they're going after -- the purpose of that commission is to try to embarrass and smear and harass as many Republicans as they can get their hands on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Partisan scam, he calls it. What is he doing there?

HUNT: Yes. I was wondering this myself actually, as I was watching this interview, Brianna, because you're right, that Rubio has in the past has occasionally been willing, more than some other Republicans, to push back against Donald Trump. I think it tells you where he now sees himself in the party, a reminder that there are two Republicans, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, on the January 6th committee. So, those are at least two that are not out being harassed and smeared by the committee, as he seems to allege. But he is, I think, walking the party line here.

And I think, bigger picture, Marco Rubio obviously was somebody who ran for president way back in 2016. He was one of the people that Donald Trump vanquished. He is somebody who potentially has additional ambitions going forward. And I think you're seeing him try and set himself up as someone who not necessarily in that clip, but if you watch other things he said, as a potential heir to the kind of populism, the blue collar people who are now more willing to vote Republican more than perhaps they were in the past. And I think that's all part of this.

And to go back to what David was saying a second ago about where people see the party in general and whether the tide is turning, I do think there is, if you look at the numbers, space for an alternative to the president in the primary. I think the challenge that Republicans are going to face is the same one that they faced in 2016, which is you're going to have Trump and then you're going to have not Trump. And if there are ten people in the not Trump category, which is kind of what it is shaping up to look like right now, then divides their vote and leaves Donald Trump with a clear path to being re- nominated, especially since he still seems to control the party apparatus. Just look at the fact that they passed a resolution essentially calling January 6th legitimate political discourse, even if they watered down their proposed censure of Adam Kinzinger and Cheney a little bit this committee. So, it's -- I know a lot of Republicans that I talk to privately who really want a way out of this Trump situation, but, so far, collectively, they just haven't found a way to actually break up that strong support that's left. And if they don't figure that out, they're going to be right back in the same situation they have been in for the last four to eight years.

[07:30:04]

BERMAN: Kasie Hunt, David Gregory, have a great rest of the morning. Thanks for being with us.