Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Russian Teen Star Allowed to Skate Despite Doping Scandal; Putin to Meet with Russian Defense Chiefs as U.S. Warns of Invasion; Bridge Between U.S. and Canada Reopens After Protest Cleared. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired February 14, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:04]

BIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: In the first year, amazing.

And then there was hip-hop royalty that ruled during the Super Bowl halftime show. Snoop Dogg, Eminem Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and surprise guest 50 Cent, who started upside-down, by the way, they all performed. Eminem taking a knee at the end of his performance in the name of racial injustice.

And overnight, Super Bowl celebrations really got out of hand in the streets of Los Angeles, as you can see there, rowdy fans vandalizing a bus there, spray painting it, trying to set it on fire, as police were moving in to clear the streets. We're going to have more on this story ahead.

BERMAN: Also breaking overnight, an international court has ruled that 15-year-old Russian Figure Skater Kamila Valieva will be allowed to continue competing at the Beijing Olympics despite testing positive for banned heart medication back in December, which is listed as a performance-enhancing drug. It can increase your endurance. This isn't just about your heart.

Joining me now CNN Contributor Patrick McEnroe. And, Pat, in addition, the major developments is the court ruled so you can compete. The IOC said if she wins, and she's the heavy favorite, she won't get the medal at the Olympics. They're not going to have a medal ceremony, because at least as far as they're concerned, it doesn't count just yet.

PATRICK MCENROE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is just getting more bizarre by the day, John. And after watching a great Super Bowl and an epic halftime performance, which was epic, in my opinion, a great game, I'm tossing and turning all night thinking about this issue. I wake up an hour or so ago and I see this news.

And so this is what I'm thinking about. So, indulge me, if you will, for a second. I'm looking at my phone because I'm looking at names of other figure skaters, Anastasia Gubanova from the country of Georgia, Nicole Schott from Germany, Natasha McKay from Great Britain, Sakamoto from Japan, Lindsay van Zundert from Netherlands, and, of course, we go on.

Why am I thinking of this? Because as a former athlete, I'm thinking of these figure skaters tonight, it's nighttime in Beijing, preparing to go into their programs tomorrow, eating exactly right, taking their vitamins, taking their supplements, doing everything they're supposed to do by the book, everything to give themselves an advantage within the rules.

And I have to put myself in their shoes right now as they're getting ready to go to bed and get ready for the figure skating event. They've got to go up against this tremendous skater obviously in Valieva, who's an unbelievable skater, arguably one of the best we have ever seen. So they have to go up against her. And now they have to go up in their minds going to bed tonight thinking the fact that she has got this advantage and that the IOC and that the powers that be are allowing this to go on. They're allowing her to continue to compete. That makes they, as a former athlete, sick to my stomach.

BERMAN: It sends the message, some argue, that you can dope and compete in the Olympic Games.

MCENROE: You can get away with it if you know how to manipulate the rules, if you know how to go through this process. And, of course, nobody, including myself, is blaming this 15-year-old girl. Clearly, she's been used as a pawn in this whole process. And as I'm learning myself about figure skaters, about what they do in Russia, they just go through them. They don't care what happens to her in three, four years, never mind the next Olympic Games. They do everything they can, the adults around her, to give her the best possible chance, even if it means breaking the rules. And somehow, some way, they continue to get away with it.

BERMAN: She's a victim here. I think we all agree on that. I mean, I don't think people blame her necessarily, which is different than saying she should be allowed to compete. What must it be like for these athletes to go into this competition knowing that if she medals, as she's predicted to do, there won't be a medal ceremony? They may not find out where they place until the summer.

MCENROE: I mean, you hear from all the Olympic athletes that the biggest moment for them is when they get up on the podium, when they can hear their anthem, or even if they don't hear their anthem, if they get second or third place, they get a silver or bronze medal, that's what these years of training.

That's why my heart goes out to these athletes that are there now, preparing, getting ready to get their last night of sleep before what -- all these people I've mentioned, plus many more, they have been spending their entire lives preparing for this day coming up, and now it's tainted.

BERMAN: Preparing in a clean way.

MCENROE: Yes.

BERMAN: And, Patrick, look, you're a man of the world and you watch what's going on international relations. I mean, what a moment. Russia basically accused of cheating at the Olympics in the premier event here at a moment where Russian troops are poised to invade Ukraine.

MCENROE: It makes you think about the way the world is going. You know, when you see that Russia can continue to get away with this in the sporting world, which we all know is minuscule compared to what's going on on the borders of Ukraine, what China has done with their human rights violations and they continue to be awarded the Olympic Games.

[07:05:05]

And it becomes about this -- and these countries, in whatever way, get away with certain things.

And you know what, I was proud last night to watch that halftime ceremony as just an American, to watch the messages that they delivered in that. There were all sorts of messages. There were messages of power, there were messages of angst, there were messages of hope, there was frustration. I felt all that as a middle-aged white dude watching that -- those performances from those artists. And, you know, then Eminem, okay, all the debate about, well, Kaepernick taking a knee. Well, you know what? He took a knee. And so what? Good for him. He made a statement. And we're still at least allowed -- and we have a lot of issues we know in our own, he's allowed to do that. That made me proud last night.

BERMAN: You're a young man to me.

MCENROE: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: I really appreciate you joining us, really interesting discussion this morning.

MCENROE: Thank you.

BERMAN: Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to the escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine. President Biden's national security adviser is not giving up on diplomacy but warns a Russian invasion could happen at any time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We cannot perfectly predict the day but we have been saying for some time 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 weeks before the Olympics. The way they have maneuvered things in place makes it a distinct possibility that there will be major 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 same threat was issued by President Biden directly to Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the two had on Saturday.

CNN has the crisis covered with our reporters here in the U.S. and also in Russia.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: As U.S. national security officials ramp up their warnings over the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden this weekend conducting telephone diplomacy. The president speaking from his presidential retreat at Camp David with both Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. President Biden in both of those calls reiterating the U.S.'s commitment to responding swiftly and decisively should Russia choose to move forward with an invasion, that warning particularly stark one that the president issued as he spoke on Saturday with the Russian president.

But even as the diplomacy was ongoing, U.S. officials still warning that there is a, quote, distinct possibility of a Russian invasion as soon as this week.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kylie Atwood at the State Department. Most U.S. diplomats ordered to leave Ukraine by the State Department over the weekend with only a core number of diplomats remaining at the U.S. embassy and some moving to a location on the western side of the of Ukraine, with a senior State Department official explaining that they are doing this because they have to prepare for the worst possible case scenario, which would be Russian attacks on Ukrainian capital of Kyiv where the U.S. embassy is located.

And a senior State Department official also again reiterating to Americans that it is pastime for them to leave Ukraine, with senior administration officials warning that Russia could carry out in discriminate aerial bombings to begin its invasion, its potential invasion into Ukraine, which could kill civilians, including Americans, if they don't leave the country now.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, as the Russians continuing to say that they have no plans to invade Ukraine, despite the U.S. saying that Russia continues to amass forces near the borders with Ukraine. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold meetings with both his foreign minister and his defense minister as well.

The Kremlin describing business-like a phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, that happened on Saturday. However, the Russians are saying that they believe that there are still unanswered questions to which they would like to have further conversations with the White House. All this comes as the U.S. says that the Russians are continuing to amass forces near the borders with Ukraine, several thousand more Russian troops apparently arriving there this past week alone.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sam Kiley in Kharkiv, a city of a million-and-a-half people, 75 percent of whom at least speak Russian as a mother tongue, and it is only 50 miles to the north across the Russian border around the city of Belgorod, where there is vast accumulation of Russian firepower, including Iskander surface-to-surface missiles, hundreds of tanks, thousands of infantry and all of the panoply of modern weaponry that is threatening this city amidst warnings coming from the United States that an invasion could be imminent. But here in Kharkiv, the atmosphere is one of almost total relaxation.

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now, retired Army Major General James Spider Marks. Spider, thanks so much for being with us.

Ukraine surrounded on three sides by Russian forces. Explain the significance there.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Well, what we see clearly is deployments of Russian forces in Crimea. Remember, they took that back in 2014, forces along here, which are not normally deployed in this location. These are not installations that would routinely house these forces. Most of these forces have come from other locations within Russia.

And then also what's significant is this deployment is of forces into Belarus. Let's be frank, Belarus is essentially vassal state of Russia right now and will do what Putin wants. But when you take a step back, from Putin's perspective, what is instigating all of this what's taking place over the course of the last 15, 20 years, which is the expansion of NATO, which is what he does not want. Russia and its politics are based on its geography.

But what we have seen is Poland now a member of NATO, Romania now a member of NATO, Slovakia, Slovenia, et cetera. So, what Putin sees is this incursion into what has previously and historically been his buffer zone, and it makes him very vulnerable. Therefore, he is deploying these forces and making a strong message which is don't think for a second that Ukraine is going to be part of NATO. He is trying to set the table for that and we're going to see how this plays out.

BERMAN: And he is accelerating the troop movement. What exactly does that mean?

MARKS: Well, what we see is -- clearly, what he is doing is he's on his own timetable. He sees, I would think at the very strategic level, an administration, U.S. administration that didn't have a very good success rate, if you will, with the evacuation of Afghanistan. He sees NATO as potentially fracturing. Angela Merkel is now gone. You have a new chancellor in Germany. You've got a lot of internal politics. You've got a very cold winter. You've got Nord Stream 2 coming in. And so you've got a fractured NATO.

Then you look at the imagery on the ground where forces are actually deployed. When you look back at January, all of these forces are all lined up in a cantonment area, a deployment area, if you will. What we see as of about a week ago is these forces here are now deployed elsewhere. And this is in the area, here is Ukraine, and this is the area where this piece of imagery exists right now. So, what was in place is beginning to deploy into what we call attack positions or what -- as Putin says, these are legitimate training exercises. You can go straight from a training exercise into an attack position and then launch an incursion like that.

BERMAN: Spider, if Russia does invade, what do you think we could see and where?

MARKS: Well, I think -- let's go to the other map, if we can. If Russia invades, Kyiv is right here. I do not think Putin is going to use the forces and invade Kyiv. If he were to create rubble and try to control Kyiv, he doesn't want to do that, because he would have to rebuild it. He doesn't have an economy that can accommodate that.

And also these forces here would have to go through the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the world's worst nuclear disaster back in 1986. I don't know that he wants to push forces through you that nightmare, if you will. But what I think is going to happen is he could take forces located here, increase presence in the Donbas, and then Dnieper River down here. And then he creates, he now connects Crimea with the land bridge to the rest of Russia. And I think that is the objective that he is going after.

BERMAN: Retired Army General James Spider Marks, thanks so much for being with us.

MARKS: Thank you, John, sure.

KEILAR: And let's delve deeper into this for some analysis with a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia, Angela Stent, with us. She is also the author of Putin's World, Russia Against the West and with the Rest. Angela, thank you so much for being with us. As you're watching, and we have been through different iterations, I think, of where we are with a possible invasion here, what's your assessment of where the crisis is?

ANGELA STENT, FORMER NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER FOR RUSSIA AND EURASIA: Well, I think it is really at a boiling point at the moment. I mean, it's possible that they could invade this week. On the other hand, we don't really know what Putin has decided. And it is also possible that this could go on for a long time. They could withdraw some troops this week, next week, and we would still be guessing, there would still be pressure on Ukraine.

So, Putin has us in a sense where he wants us. We have been guessing since we got these ultimatums from him in December, what his real intentions were, and we still don't know.

KEILAR: What do you think about how the Biden administration is handling is this so far? Do they have a handle on things?

STENT: I think they have handled it as well as they could. I mean, they've offered diplomacy.

[07:15:01]

They've offered to sit down and talk with Russia about lots of different issues that affect Russia's security. Although we're not going to say that NATO is never going to enlarge , and they threatened massive sanctions if there is an invasion. We've been supporting Ukraine. There's not really too much else we can do. Clearly, American soldiers are not going to fight Russian soldiers. We're both nuclear super powers. We can't get into a war with Russia and we have never actually been at war with Russia.

KEILAR: Let's talk about Ukraine as it pertains to NATO, because Russia wants a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO. And a top Ukrainian diplomat sort of put that out there. He since walked that back. But that cat is out of the bag. That possibility is out there. What do you make of that?

STENT: Well, I mean, the truth is that Ukrainian membership is not on the table now. There is a promise made in 2008 that one day Ukraine will join NATO. But people are talking about the fact that, of course, the Ukrainians could say, well, we're not looking for NATO membership at the moment, but that would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine.

KEILAR: As we're looking to the Olympics and how this factors into what we're seeing in Ukraine, the doping scandal. I think it is important to note that in the past, whenever there is some sort of scandal about a doping scandal, Russia basically says, oh, this is manufactured by the U.S., and it plays into sort of a persecutory ideation they have. Do you think that that is factoring at all into Vladimir Putin's internal calculus right now?

STENT: Well, Putin has this long grievance narrative. Apparently, President Biden heard it again when he spoke to him this weekend, all the things that we have done wrong, the promises we've broken. And so the Russians will say, you are picking on us, everybody does this doping, you're singling us out. And it does feed into this narrative that they're the victims, that Russia is the victim and the west is aggressive.

KEILAR: It does seem like he finds a way to capitalize on whatever is handed his way, I will say.

STENT: He does.

KEILAR: Completely unrelated but something that you've dealt with personally here just in the last several hours, this flight that we saw, this American Airlines flight coming to Washington that diverted that Kansas city, where it was a flight attendant who actually had to sort of use a coffee pot, right, to take on a -- someone who was trying to open the cockpit door. Your son and daughter-in-law were on this flight. What can you tell us about this flight?

STENT: They were. It was very scary. They were on the flight and my daughter-in-law is six months pregnant. And suddenly they were sitting towards the front and they see this man rushing down the aisle there. And then this flight attendants, some people did, in the end, subdue him. But they had no idea what was going on and then there was this precipitous descent very quickly to the ground. So, it was a very scary experience for them.

KEILAR: And so how was the man detained? Did they tell you?

STENT: Well, they said that in the end, there were some men on the flight and then, of course, the flight attendant with her coffee pot. And they managed to get a hold of him and put duct tape over them. But that is not before he had tried to exit the plane and get into the cockpit.

KEILAR: Incredibly scary, (INAUDIBLE) related. Congratulations on your new grandchild that you were expecting, your family is expecting. That is very nice. And it certainly makes it all the more scary as your son and daughter-in-law dealt with this. Thank you so much, Angela, for being with us on three stories today.

STENT: Thank you.

KEILAR: We do have some more breaking news this morning, the blockade at the U.S./Canada border, it's finally been broken but the drama here is far from over.

BERMAN: Plus, new signs, a significant number of Democrats and Republicans want an alternative to Joe Biden and Donald Trump in 2024.

And it was I love the '90s night at the Super Bowl, the music, the commercials, and how the NFL is responding to one act of protest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, the Ambassador Bridge is fully reopened. It comes after Canadian Police cleared out protesters who blocked this major economic artery, which connects Windsor, Ontario and Detroit. They have been blocking it for nearly a week.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is live in Windsor. And this went relatively smoothly, Miguel, and the bridge is now opened?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is open. Both ways are open. There's light traffic right now, but it is open. After a week of drama of protesters blocking the roads here on the Canadian side, it sort of ended with a whimper. About 30 protesters were arrested in total, about a dozen cars were towed, most of them just pulled off and went off. Police took every effort to be patient and mindful of the protesters' right to protest, but at some point they just started moving them out. They difficulty now is going to be a cat and mouse game of trying to keep protesters off the long stretch here to the highway so that they don't have them return and try to shut down traffic. That is going to be the case across Canada right now.

There are three other border crossings, not as important as the Ambassador Bridge, they are blocked off as well. And in Ottawa, the capital here, three weeks now there have been truckers and other protesters who have taken over their Parliament Hill, the area immediately around Parliament and the neighborhoods. The mayor said that he had a deal to move some of the protests out of the neighborhoods. Other protesters say, no, we're not going. No way.

This has devolved from sort of vaccine mandate concerns, to general mandate concerns, to just anger at the government here and feeding on a lot of that sort of anger that we see in the U.S. and around the world, from the far right and concerns about sort of too many government restrictions. And they want their freedom back, whatever that means. John?

BERMAN: As another truck passes right behind you, Miguel, we saw four or five pass during the shot. Those are trucks that weren't moving. So, you can see what a difference this makes already with that bridge opened. Miguel Marquez at the border there, thanks so much for being there.

[07:25:00]

KEILAR: Breaking news, a father who lost his son in the Parkland massacre is right now on top of a crane here in Washington, D.C. overlooking the White House on this anniversary. What message he's trying to send to President Biden.

BERMAN: So, Super Bowl ads along the province (ph) of snacks, cars and beer, this year going to crypto.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

BERMAN: It was a nail-biter of the night for longtime L.A. Rams fans. They have had a team for five years.