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Rams Defeat Bengals in Thriller; Russian Teen Star Allowed to Skate Despite Doping Scandal; Bridge Between U.S. & Canada Reopens after Protest Cleared; U.S. National Security Advisor: Russia May Invade Ukraine 'Any Day Now'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Monday, February 14, Valentine's Day.

[06:00:12]

And this morning L.A. is once again title town. The Rams rallied to beat the Bengals, 23-20, in Super Bowl LVI. Matthew Stafford winning a Super Bowl in his first year as the Rams quarterback, after 12 years of suffering in Detroit with the Lions.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The best part of the game was, in fact, the game. But the halftime show was really good also. And for the first time ever, hip-hop was center stage. It was nostalgic. It was really, really good.

There were surprises, as well. There's Snoop Dogg. All right. Eminem ended his performance by taking a knee. Not seen there. We saw Mary J. Blige, and we saw 50 Cent. Neither of them kneeled.

But the game was fantastic. Andy Scholes up all night in Los Angeles where the Rams have played for, like, a year and a half. Congratulations to those L.A. Rams fans, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

Yes, yes. They were certainly happy last night, John. No matter how long they've been fans of the Rams.

But Super Bowl LVI is going to go down as one of the best ever. I mean, I tell you what, it had it all. Emotional lead changes, a heartbreaking injury, that amazing halftime show you just talked about. And it certainly had a fantastic finish.

Show you the drama at the end. Fourth quarter, Rams are now 20 to 16. Matthew Stafford putting together a 15-play, 79-yard drive. It ended with him hitting Cooper Kupp for his second touchdown reception of the game.

Now, Joe Burrow had the chance to go down and win this game. But Aaron Donald is going to get to him on fourth down and force an incompletion. Donald and that Rams defense sacking Burrow, a Super Bowl record-tying seven times.

Rams get the win in Super Bowl LVI, 23-20 the final. Kupp named the game's MVP.

And Donald was emotional on the field afterwards, after delivering the Rams a Super Bowl championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON DONALD, LOS ANGELES RAMS DEFENSIVE TACKLE: I'm just so happy. I wanted it so bad. I dreamed this, man. I dreamed this. And it's like -- it's surreal. Look at this. Look at this, man. This is -- I feel amazing. I feel amazing. I feel great.

COOPER KUPP, SUPER BOWL LVI MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: I don't feel deserving of this. God is just so good. I'm just so thankful for the guys that I get to be around, for the coaches, for my family. Just -- I don't know what to say.

MATTHEW STAFFORD, LOS ANGELES RAMS QUARTERBACK: I'm just so proud of this group. I mean, the game today is the story of our season, you know? It's up and down. It's tough. And we're a freaking tough team. Showed up late and got it done. I'm just -- I'm excited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. And this win a long time coming for Matthew Stafford. He spent 12 seasons in Detroit, suffered through a lot of losing.

This Super Bowl, you know, would not have been possible, actually, without a Cabo vacation. That's where Stafford and Rams Coach Sean McVay ran into each other last off-season. That's when McVay decided to trade for Stafford, hoping he would get the Rams a Super Bowl title. Well, mission accomplished.

And what a season for Cooper Kupp. He's been the best receiver all year, winning the triple crown in receiving, most reception. That's the most interceptions, most yards, and most touchdowns.

He was the offensive player of the year. Now Super Bowl MVP. The great Jerry Rice is the only other receiver to do all of that in his career. Kupp did it all this season. Just incredible.

And Kupp's fellow receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., overcome with emotion after winning his first Super Bowl. OBJ caught a touchdown but forced to leave the game in the second quarter with a knee injury.

OBJ, of course. started the season with the Cleveland Browns, ended it as a Super Bowl champion.

And he tweeted after the game, this was exactly God's plan. Now, the Rams celebration also including an on-field proposal. Taylor

Rapp getting down on one knee, asking his girlfriend, Dani, to marry him. She, of course, said yes.

There was actually a Super Bowl prop bet you could have made that a player would propose after winning the Super Bowl. Paid four to one. I don't know if anyone made that bet.

That was not the only family news also the Rams had last night. Wide receiver Van Jefferson's wife had to leave the Super Bowl because she went into labor. So he had to cut celebrating short to get to the hospital.

And he posted this awesome picture of him holding his newborn son. So that's certainly an amazing night for Van Jefferson and amazing night for Rams fans. They were celebrating in the streets of L.A. after the win. This is the city's first Super Bowl title since the Raiders won it in 1984.

There was lots of fireworks, lots of honking, lots of loud music. Even if you, say, had two hours to try to sleep, good luck, it was not happening.

But all around, John, what an incredible night, start to finish. As you mentioned, I've been to a few of these games. Never seen, I think, a crowd more engaged during a halftime show than they were during this one. Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar. I mean, they were fantastic.

[06:05:07]

BERMAN: The Bengals place kicker stayed out to watch the whole thing. Right? He didn't even go to the locker room. So he was saying --

SCHOLES: Evan McPherson.

BERMAN: McPherson sat there watching the whole thing. I'm like, I'm not sure you're supposed to be there watching. But it was that good. It was that good that they didn't need to get the halftime tips.

Andy, it was wonderful. It really was. I mean, look, as a guy who really needed to be asleep, I couldn't go to sleep. I had to stay awake till the very end.

KEILAR: And as someone who needed to go to sleep, I went through the halftime show and then went to sleep. So what does that say? Had to see it.

SCHOLES: You missed a great ending, though, Brianna.

KEILAR: I know. But I got two more hours sleep, maybe, than John Berman. So there you go.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: Andy, awesome. Thank you so much for being with us this morning bright and early there in Los Angeles.

Breaking this morning, a scandal intensifying at the Beijing Olympics after a Russian teen sensation will be allowed to compete in the figure skating competition despite failing a drug test before the games.

Kamila Valieva, just 15 years old, tested positive for a banned heart medication in December, a medication that can help with endurance. But an international court just ruled that she can compete, in part because she's a minor.

But just in, if she wins, there will be no medal ceremony, which is a dramatic step.

Let's talk about this now with CNN sports analyst and one of the first to report on this scandal, Christine Brennan. There's so much to talk about here, Christine. What do you make of this decision?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Brianna, the Olympic Games have been plunged into absolute chaos by this very controversial Court of Arbitration for Sport decision.

You know, as you well know, and as everyone following the story knows, that Valieva, of course, 15 years old, tested positive for a banned substance. That's doping. That's cheating. Russia has been basically banned or at least gotten a slap on the wrist the last eight years for that exact thing.

And instead of saying she can't compete, the Court of Arbitration for Sport today said she can compete, obviously, looking at the fact she's 15. And there's definitely a loophole, a technicality to allow her to do that. Also, because she never had a chance to defend herself.

But then we find out that the Russians slow-walked the test and never told the World Anti-Doping people to look out for the test. Makes you wonder if the Russians didn't plan this whole thing. We'll obviously continue to report on that. Absolute chaos.

And then the IOC answers, and they answered in a big way, basically saying, We do not trust her performances, both the team competition ceremony, they won the gold. She was one of the stars of that team. That's off. No team -- no medal ceremony. The U.S. will not get the silver. The Japanese will not get the bronze. That's very sad for those athletes.

But what it says is the International Olympic Committee doesn't want any ceremonies. They can't trust her performances. It's almost as if she doesn't exist. And yet she'll still be skating. So what a crazy story.

BERMAN: Yes. It's almost as if saying she can skate, but if she wins, it won't count. At least not here.

And maybe in honor of the Super Bowl, the Court for Arbitration in Sport punted on this and said, we're not going to rule on whether or not she failed a drug test or whether or not we think she cheated. We're just going to say she can skate for now, because we can't think of anything better to do. That's what it feels like, Christine.

BRENNAN: Well, John, absolutely. And again, because she's a minor, there was this technicality that protected the athlete and would be treated differently.

To me, that's ridiculous. She is in the women's competition. She is competing against all kinds of women at different ages, from 25-year- old Mariah Bell from the United States. She's 15, as we know. There are 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds, what have you.

It's absurd. And I think this is a real threat for these games, a stain on these Olympics, which are already controversial being here and all the other issues involved with Beijing.

I truly think this is a black mark that is going to last for a long time on these Olympics. You know, if you can't trust what you're watching, why watch? Right? And either you're going to allow doping or you're not going to allow doping.

And today the Court of Arbitration for Sport gave an epically wrong answer to are you for doping or are you against doping? And I think this will linger for years to come.

KEILAR: She is 15, right? So, I mean, when she's obviously in this category competing against other people of different ages, they're all competing for the same thing.

But at the same time, Christine, she is 15. And while that has afforded her some protections that, arguably, she may or may not deserve, it's also made her vulnerable.

And I think we need to focus on Russia here. This could arguably be state-sponsored child abuse of this with her doping, whether she knew about it, was coerced into it, didn't know about it.

BRENNAN: Well, that's true. And, in fact, already both the World Anti- Doping Agency and Russian anti-doping agency, which is an oxymoron if there ever were one, say they are going to investigate her team, the adults around her.

[06:10:07]

And, you know, I think you bring up a really important point, that you can feel incredible sympathy for this 15-year-old. I do. I'm covering this story. We're all covering it here for CNN. You -- you can feel sad that she's in this situation. That she's been abused. She's been, you know, mistreated. She's told what to take Here, take your vitamins. You know, take this medicine. You can feel that.

And you could also say she shouldn't be skating here. That this is an egregious doping violation and that she shouldn't be here. I guess you could throw out the entire Russian coaching staff, but that wouldn't have the same impact, because this woman, of course, will be on the ice Tuesday evening, Beijing time. She should win the Olympic gold medal favorite. That's the other part here. She is a very strong Olympic gold medal favorite. But absolutely there's real concern about her as a minor and how she

has been treated.

BERMAN: Christine, we've got to let you run. But is there any dispute about whether or not this test exists or maybe the test was flawed or there are any questions about whether it was a bad reading?

BRENNAN: Well, John, there certainly are questions about every step of this process and why it took so long. And they have an A sample and a B sample. So they want to double-check and make sure that the samples are the same.

You're getting to a huge point, which is that there will be another Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing. That will look at the entire merits of the case. It will take months.

And that's when we'll find out if the Russians lose that gold medal in the team competition. And if Valieva is not allowed to win her medal, we presume she will win in the women's competition.

Probably sometime this summer, stay tuned. And as we said before, medals will be sent to these people, you know, in a FedEx box, which is a very unfortunate way to have this happen.

KEILAR: Yes, look, it just really feels like Russia has sacrificed a young woman who could have been the best in her own right, potentially without any of these substances. It's -- -- or substance, I should say. Christine, thank you so much for being with us.

BRENNAN: Thank you. Thanks to you both.

BERMAN: Also breaking overnight, the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest land crossing border in North America is fully reopened. This comes after Canadian police cleared out protesters who blocked the major economic artery connecting Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. It was blocked for nearly a week.

The Canadian capital of Ottawa remains gridlocked. That's where CNN's Paula Newton joins us now.

But the fact that this bridge is open, and it happened relatively easily, Paula, that's a big development.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a big development. And it's good for the supply chains, right? The fact that they have been clogged through this pandemic, and no one needed this. So about a quarter of all the trade to U.S. and Canada goes through that one bridge.

And as you just alluded to, john, in the end it was being blocked by, really, a few dozen protesters. Police really taking a soft approach in terms of trying to make sure there was no violence.

And look, city officials in Windsor made it clear that was their No. 1 priority. There were some arrests. Some people did not go peacefully. But in the end, this is the issue, John. These protests continue

almost from one side of the country to the other. So, you know, keep an eye on this space.

Where I am here in Ottawa, that gridlock continues. There was a real party atmosphere out on the weekend, despite risking frostbite. The mayor saying he maybe has some kind of a deal to move some of the trucks that are in residential areas to just in front of Parliament Hill.

You know, this has been the problem, John. The protest organizers kind of wrote a letter saying they had a deal. Then said on social media there is no deal. It is the kind of frustration that residents in Ottawa are putting up with right now. I want you to see those protesters, though.

This is how desperate people are. They have taken to the streets themselves. Just residents and their counterprotests trying to stop those trucks from going into downtown and doing things like refueling or bringing in food or whatever.

The favorite slogan of the counterprotest has become "truck you." And without, really, any kind of humor in it, I can tell you, John.

We will wait to see if this will break that impasse this week. But just a reminder that we still have three border crossings between the United States and Canada still blocked. Perhaps does not have the economic, you know, punch that other -- that this blockade at the Ambassador Bridge did.

But still a problem. I mean, look out there in B.C. They were dealing with that all weekend. RCMP moved in at some point. But it seems that whenever they move to try and clear one of these bridges, in the words of the cabinet minister, it is like whack-a-mole.

And so they are stretched, with the enforcement officers right across the country to continue to try and do something. Just a reminder, John, this started out as a trucker's protest, a minority of truckers not vaccinated, protesting the vaccine mandate not just in Canada but in the United States, as well.

[06:15:03]

It has turned into so much more. This protest, really, against all COVID-19 restrictions and won't stop until those restrictions are dropped.

BERMAN: All right. Paula Newton, a lot going on. Please keep us posted.

A somber warning from President Biden's national security adviser. Why Ukraine is now changing its tone on a potential Russian invasion.

And an American Airlines flight forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger tries to break into the cockpit.

KEILAR: And the reviews are in. Which was your favorite Super Bowl ad?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any time. That is the assessment of President Biden's national security adviser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We cannot perfectly predict the day, but we have been saying for some time that we are in the window. And an invasion could begin, a major military action could begin by Russia in Ukraine any day now. That includes this coming week, before the end of the Olympics.

[06:20:07]

The way they have maneuvered things in place makes it a distinct possibility that there will be military action very soon. And we are prepared to continue to work on diplomacy, but we are also prepared to respond in a united and decisive way with our allies and partners, should Russia proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That very same threat was issued by President Biden directly to Russia's Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the two leaders had on Sunday.

Let's bring in CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, who is there in Ukraine for us.

The question, Jim, will be does the threat work? Does it matter?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: We don't know, frankly. And frankly, U.S. officials acknowledge they don't know. But what they do know is they're seeing all the steps taken, all the preparations made to enable a broadscale Russian invasion, as Jake Sullivan was saying there, any day now.

Russia denies that an invasion is planned, but U.S. intelligence indicates they have everything they need to do it and very soon. That's the reality.

Now, I will say being here in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, it's as if -- it's a different world. People are out walking. They're riding bikes. They were out on Sunday evening with their children. The restaurants are full, et cetera.

So something of an eerie calm here. And when you speak to Ukrainians, they say they're aware of what's going on at the border. There's a little bit of resignation to it saying, Well, we don't know what's going to happen and what can we do about it, in effect, as average citizens of this country.

So that contrast is key. From the U.S. perspective, Russia has all it needs to invade this country decisively in the coming days. And, Jim, some confusing comments this morning from a Ukrainian

diplomat about Ukraine's involvement in NATO. What can you tell us there?

SCIUTTO: This is -- this is notable. The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K., in a public statement, interview, said, well, seemed to indicate that Ukraine would be willing to foreswear joining NATO if that would make a difference here and avoid the prospect of war.

That stands in contrast not only to Ukraine's public position, the U.S. and NATO and to Ukraine's constitution, which enshrines the right, at least, to join NATO.

Now very quickly, the foreign ministry spokesman said -- clarified -- really more than clarified the comment, saying, that's not what we're saying here. This is in the Ukrainian constitution.

But once those words were out there, the Kremlin spokesman responded and said, well, listen, if this were to come in writing, that might be something we're willing to look at. If there was a written commitment to do this.

I should note, again, the foreign ministry, which is right behind me here, has walked back these comments. But they were public, and you now you have the Kremlin responding to them, as well. So that is part of the confusion here, right. You have so many voices speaking.

And by the way, as you and I have discussed, Brianna, and John before, you have a Ukrainian view of the U.S. intelligence as, at least, in public not as worried as the Americans are, saying we have been through this for eight years. We're not certain that a Russian invasion is coming.

So not everyone is on the same page, frankly, as Russia makes these preparations.

KEILAR: Yes. It's well-known. That's what Russia wants, a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO. So it's hard to see how that would be an accident that the ambassador said that.

Jim, thank you so much. We know that you're going to continue reporting throughout the day from Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: Thanks.

BERMAN: Joining us now is the author of "The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age" and White House national security correspondent for "The New York Times," David Sanger. He's also a CNN political and national security analyst.

I just want to take a look at the military situation right now. These are all the Russian forces that are surrounding Ukraine on three sides that we've been talking about. But you say we should pay particular focus to these battalion combat groups. What are they and where are they? DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the

battalion combat groups, John, are the most trained professional standard military groups that the Russians have. They're up here in Belarus. They've now spread around from the Russian border.

They've been conducting more activities down here in Crimea, which of course, Russia annexed in 2014. And they seem to be positioning themselves closer and closer to the border, along with Iskander missiles, which are intermediate-range missiles which raises fears among the Americans who are looking at this and looking at these satellite photographs that the Russians could start this with a missile barrage and then come in.

BERMAN: These are some of the satellite images that people are looking at here to give you a sense of what's there. I'm going to put the map back up just so people can see.

All these forces aligned everywhere. The Iskander missiles up here can cause major damage, as you say.

[06:25:03]

I want to focus on diplomacy here, right? President Biden spoke to Vladimir Putin on Saturday. I just heard that somewhat confusing statement by a Ukrainian ambassador saying, Well, you know, Ukraine isn't about to join NATO.

Everyone knows. Everyone knows Ukraine is not about to join NATO. But it's the way people say that that's at issue right now.

SANGER: It is. And if what Vladimir Putin wants is simply a written guarantee that Ukraine isn't going into NATO for some time period or permanently or whatever, you could imagine how they could get there. And maybe he was testing something. Maybe he was freelancing. We don't know.

But there are a lot of American officials who don't think that's really what this is about. That while Putin is worried about Ukraine joining NATO, he's really more worried about NATO already in Ukraine.

Training. We've seen the arms the U.S. and its NATO allies are bringing in. The westward swing. Once Putin went into Crimea and annexed that, the polling numbers all showed that more Ukrainians said we want to align with the west.

And that's what Russia is really concerned about. They've now got a friend in Belarus. Obviously, they're doing this military training. They recently bailed out the leader of Kazakhstan, who needed some help to put down a local insurrection.

So you could see that maybe Putin's bigger concept here is reconstitute a few pieces of the old Soviet Union.

BERMAN: And you say one of the things that was unknown until this point is Putin just raising the pressure for a while just to get the world to focus on this or was it real? And you think some switch has been flipped, at least in terms of U.S. perception in the last few days where they think it's real.

SANGER: That's right. Because a few weeks ago -- probably about two weeks ago, the U.S. intelligence community began to say, you know, we don't think this is just going to come up from Crimea just here.

We think they're actually aiming at Kyiv, the -- the capital. Now, that doesn't mean they would go into the city. They might just try to surround it. But clearly, what Putin wants is a change of government to a friendly government.

BERMAN: Yes. It's a big difference if you're talking about over here where the Russians already are, frankly, or up here where Kyiv is, the capital.

David Sanger, I have a feeling we're going to be leaning on you a lot the next few days. Thanks so much for being here with us now.

SANGER: Thank you.

BERMAN: So a scary incident in the air. What a passenger did mid- flight that had a flight attendant using a coffee pot to stop him.

KEILAR: And when will kids under the age of 5 be able to get vaccinated effectively against COVID? An update on the new timeline ahead.

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