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New Day

Skater Blames Mix-up for Failed Test; Trudeau Invokes Emergency Powers; Woman Killed in NYC Apartment; Manuel Oliver is Interviewed About Gun Violence; New Storm to Sweep U.S. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 15, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:05]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A huge morning of controversy at the Olympics. Just hours from now, 15-year-old Russian figure skating start Kamila Valieva returns to the ice despite failing a drug test in December. And this morning we understand the Russian, who have a long, documented history of cheating and lying are blaming her doping violation on a mix-up with her grandfather's medication.

CNN's Selina Wang joins us live from Beijing.

A lot of anger there this morning, Selina.

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, and we are just moments away, hours before Valieva takes that ice -- takes the ice. This is going to be the most anticipated moment of the winter games.

And earlier today an IOC official saying that Valieva, during her hearing, blaming that positive test on a mix-up with her grandfather's medication. No further details given for that excuse, John. But what we do know is that other Olympians have been disqualified before, for the taking the drug that Valieva tested positive for. It is used to treat a heart condition. Doctors say it boosts endurance, boosts blood flow.

And anger, outrage is only growing. Other figure skaters are calling this a mockery of clean competition. That is tainting the moment that other athletes have spent their entire careers preparing for. And also denying them the opportunity for a medal ceremony because medals will not be awarded until a broader investigation into the doping allegations is complete. And it will include an examination of the adults surrounding Valieva because she is only 15 years old. She's often seen clutching her favorite stuffed animal on the ice and she is, what many experts say, a victim of Russia's system of state- sponsored doping.

This is what the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency had to say in a tweet. It's called WADA. He said, quote, the doping of children is evil and unforgivable and that doctors, coaches and other support personnel who are found to have provided performance enhancing drugs to minors should be banned for life. And, personally, I also think that they should be in prison.

Now, John, earlier I actually spoke to the founding president of WADA, Dick Pound. He told me that thus far the punishment on Russia has been too lenient and that perhaps it is time for a time-out for Russia, that the country should be banned outright.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, what incentive do they have to stop if their athletes are continued to allow to compete.

Selina Wang, thank you so much for being there for us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: In a rare and aggressive move, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoking the emergencies act to crack down on anti-vaccine mandate protests. This move allows the federal government to expand measures to clear the blockades by hundreds of truckers that are disturbing residents and harming the economy.

CNN's Paula Newton is live for us in Ottawa with more.

These are pretty sweeping powers allowed by this act. Tell us what's happening here, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the issue is, will it make any difference, Brianna. And good morning to you.

Think about it. This city is in a state of emergency. The province it's in is in a state of emergency. Now Trudeau has called the -- this a national emergency and has enacted the emergencies act.

Brianna, the trucks are still here. And the issue here has always been one of enforcement. Now, Trudeau has been categorical saying, look, I don't take this lightly. This is going to be geographic in nature, in scope. It is going to be absolutely -- the guardrails will still be there, in other words, Brianna.

What else did they do that was really interesting? They ended up bringing in financial measures. What does that mean? It means they are going to try and go after the money that is funding these groups. That includes those crowdsourcing platforms like Go Fund Me, which I should say had already suspended funds for this convoy, but also the truckers themselves. They're saying they're going to pull licenses, insurance, even freeze bank accounts, Brianna. Some of these people may go to the ATM and try and get out money and can't.

I think what many people are skeptical of is whether or not this was even needed. The reason, it is all about enforcement. People here in this city, Brianna, have been absolutely livid about the fact that police officers are here, I see them each and every day, and there's absolutely no enforcement.

I also have to say, Brianna, this is an issue that Ottawa police, at least here say, is a complicated one. Why? They say that there are dozens of children in this protest with their families in the cabs behind me. Although I hope not this evening because a lot of them -- it's very cold and I hope a lot of them found places to stay. And police say this complicates things beyond belief.

You will not see the military step in here, Brianna. At least that's what Trudeau says right now. What they want is the laws in place. We have seen more aggressive measures, especially at the borders, at those really key supply routes between the United States and Canada. It could be a different picture here, though, and it seems police still want to take it slow.

Brianna.

[06:35:00]

KEILAR: Yes, the law would allow the military to step in or for that capability to be called up, but he's saying that's not going to happen right now.

Paula, thank you so much for the report.

A brutal murder of a young woman in New York City's Chinatown neighborhood. The disturbing, new details ahead.

BERMAN: And new images just in from Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they are meeting at this moment over the situation in Ukraine. And we will hear from them live just moments from now.

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BERMAN: A murder in New York's Chinatown has the community on edge this morning. Police say 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee was stabbed more than 40 times after a man followed her home Sunday morning. Investigators are not yet saying if she was targeted because of her race.

CNN's Athena Jones with the latest.

[06:40:01]

Athena, this is horrible.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is, John. This is the kind of seemingly random crime that is just terrifying for anyone who lives in a big city like New York.

As you noted, police say 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee was found dead in her apartment early Sunday morning. She had been fatally stabbed by someone who police say had followed her into her apartment. They were responding to a 911 call of a dispute just before 4:30 a.m. And when they arrived, they couldn't get in. The man had barricaded himself inside of the apartment. They were eventually able to gain entry and take into custody 25-year-old Assamad Nash.

Now, this happened in Chinatown and the victim was Asian. It's not at all clear whether her race was a factor here, but any crimes like this raise concerns because there's been an increase in violation against Asians, not just in New York but around the country. You may remember last month the woman who was killed when she was

pushed before a subway train in Times Square was also Asian. And neither of these incidents has been labeled a hate crime.

But this is also happening at a time when violent crime is on the rise in New York City. And new Mayor Eric Adams has made improving public safety a centerpiece of his administration. He put out a statement Sunday saying, I and New Yorkers across the city mourn for the innocent woman murdered in her home last night in Chinatown and stand with our Asian brothers and sisters today. The mission of this administration is clear, we won't let this violence go unchecked.

Now, this suspect, 25-year-old Nash, according to court documents, had at least three prior arrests, including vandalizing subway card machines and trying to evade arrests and also several counts of assault and harassment for allegedly punching someone in the face. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office says he was scheduled to appear in court on these previous charges on March 9th. And the Legal Aid Society, which has been representing him in those previous arrests, has not commented.

But, again, this is the kind of really, really horrifying crime that no one wants to hear about, seemingly random, a woman stabbed to death after a man followed her into her apartment.

John.

BERMAN: Athena Jones, thank you.

So, the Parkland father who was just arrested for climbing a crane to get President Biden's attention joins us live on whether or what he heard from the White House.

KEILAR: Plus, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Congress an s-show and says the U.S. may not be a democracy in ten years. Hear why.

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[06:46:09]

KEILAR: On Monday's fourth anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, the father of shooting victim Joaquin "Guac" Oliver was scheduled to join me along with two other gun control advocates to announce the launch of their new gun violence tracking website called Shock Market that they hoped would put pressure on the president to get tough on gun violence. Instead, Manuel Oliver sent his wife Patricia in instead. And in a pre-planned protest, he was here. He had climbed on top of a construction crane next to the White House where he unfurled a large banner with an image of his son, Joaquin, that read, 45,000 people died from gun violence on your watch.

Now, police arrested Mr. Oliver, along with two other protesters. He was released later in the day. And he is now with us. He is the founder of the changetheref.org. Manuel, thank you so much for being with us.

Tell us how you decided that you were going to do this.

MANUEL OLIVER, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM JOAQUIN "GUAC" OLIVER: Thank you again and I'm sorry that I didn't show yesterday.

KEILAR: That's OK. And I -- first off, I do just want to say, it was lovely to see your wife.

OLIVER: Right.

KEILAR: And yesterday, every day really, but especially yesterday on the anniversary of your son's death, I just want you to know, you're very much on my heart and in my thoughts. I can't imagine what it has been like for you to go through this each year.

OLIVER: It's been hard. Well, basically while I was there in December, I saw many things happening. And not doing enough to get the attention of the White House to call this an emergency and a priority. So, between those things, I saw this crane.

KEILAR: Just to be clear, you spent 15 days outside the White House trying to get a meeting with President Biden.

OLIVER: Correct.

KEILAR: You did not get one. You got one with, obviously, a top official.

OLIVER: Exactly. Exactly.

KEILAR: But you saw the crane while you were there.

OLIVER: I saw the crane. And I said, OK, that could be an option. And then we plan it, in a very professional way with a lot of advisers in terms of safety. I know that I needed to stay safe. Joaquin needs me here, so I've got to take care of myself. If I'm not here, Joaquin's dad can't do what he does.

So, we did it yesterday because it was February 14th. It will be more impactful. And it is more impactful when I see the news today and I read that Joaquin Oliver's dad sent a message on the anniversary of the Parkland shooting asking for changes and demanding for things to work in a better way. I'm proud that I can do that. I really like it.

KEILAR: A year and a half ago, I think it was, right, you shared a stage, you introduced President Biden.

OLIVER: Correct.

KEILAR: Now you are waiting outside of the White House demanding a meeting. You are climbing a crane and facing property damage charges. What has changed that made you say, look, this isn't -- this isn't the way to do it. I'm not getting what I want? OLIVER: Well, I think that we learned that anyone can be held

accountable. When I did that rally with President Biden, President Trump was in the White House and I was already asking for change and demanding for saving lives.

So, the answer is that I'm not anti, in a personal way, the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. This is not against Biden. This is against gun violence. Biden is in charge and he can make some changes.

So, what we do is we work along. We don't work against. And I wanted -- Patricia and myself, we are the only way that Joaquin can make his statements. And we try those statements to be as impactful as they can. And I think what we did yesterday was a good thing because a lot of people will be engaged. A lot of families that lost their loved ones now understand that they don't have to stay quiet and take this as a normal.

[06:50:06]

KEILAR: There's really no appetite to pass legislation that would change gun laws in Congress. Defenders of President Biden will say, look, he's done what he can do with executive orders and he can only do so much.

But what I heard yesterday from David Hogg and what you want is more of a focus from the White House on this issue.

OLIVER: Right.

KEILAR: Tell us what you want.

OLIVER: Well, one of the main things that we asked for, and I asked this to Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond, we want a national office making sure that gun violence has a director and we can address everything through them. I asked for this in a meeting with Susan Rice. And she told me that she was already doing that. She's in charge. And I said, well, you are doing that and you are doing another 200 things.

So, a minute later, an intern from the White House came into that room asking Susan Rice to go to another meeting. So, I grabbed her hand. I said, wait a minute, no, you're not going anywhere. You just told me you are taking care of this. That is exactly -- she made my point. She looked at me like that. I love her, by the way. She's a very cool person. She looked at me deep in my eyes, she knew I was right.

Now, let's do it. You don't need votes from any members of Congress or Senate to just name a director and put this office in place. That's one petition that requires only good intentions from President Biden.

KEILAR: Have you heard anything from the White House in recent days?

OLIVER: Listen, yesterday I know there were -- and I knew that they were going to talk about Parkland and brag about everything that they have done. But that's not the point here. Don't -- don't -- you're not on that campaign. Let's tell the truth to everybody. I'm OK with that. I'm OK telling everyone what's going on with the gun violence in the country and that my son is one of the victims. We created the Shock Market just because of that. We want people to have access to the information. So, don't hide information. Don't pretend that you are solving the problem when you're not. Because that's even worse. You think that you are doing a lot and you're not doing a lot.

KEILAR: You haven't -- just to be clear, it sounds like no one has reached out to you here in the last couple days.

OLIVER: No.

KEILAR: And you want a meeting with the president.

OLIVER: I will be open to having a meeting with the president, of course. Absolutely. But as long as I don't have it, I keep on doing other things. I'm not -- I'm not holding myself to have a meeting with the president. I'm doing things and the kids have engaged. They love it. And they will learn how to do these things. We're working together.

KEILAR: Well, Mani (ph), thank you so much for coming on this show. And, again, my heart goes out to you and just thinking about your son and seeing him yesterday, too, on that banner.

OLIVER: That was beautiful.

KEILAR: Thank you so much.

OLIVER: Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

KEILAR: We do have breaking developments overnight.

Russia says it has started withdrawing some troops from around Ukraine, but major drills continue. So, what should the world take from this?

BERMAN: And Donald Trump's long-time accounting firm dumps him, cuts ties. Why it says a decade of financial statements may not be reliable.

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[06:58:08]

BERMAN: A powerful new storm sweeping across the country. It is set to blanket the north with snow and slam the south and central U.S. with floods, winds and potential tornadoes.

Let's get to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

What are we looking at here, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John, this storm is in the windup right now in the southwest. And we know when they're there, they are going to move to the east. Wind, rain, snow and, yes, maybe even some tornadoes in the coming days. This weather is brought to you by Servpro.

So, let's get to it. Step by step. We'll go through this chronologically. We have a big threat of flames today, fires, wildfires here in the red area. If a fire starts, it will quickly get out of control. Winds will be blowing 50 to 60 miles per hour. The brush is dry and the air is very dry itself.

More cold air coming in from the north. So this is going to interact. This storm is going to try to get to the east. It's going to be warm air, moist air here as we work our way into Wednesday. The potential for severe weather there. And then finally even off to the east as we move our way into Thursday and Friday.

But what's going to happen with this moisture? It's going to try to ride on top of this cold front. And that's where the snow event is going to be. And ice event. A lot like what we had just a couple of weeks ago really. And it does move to the Northeast. I think the big cities stay warm enough and the snow goes on up into Atlanta (ph) Canada. But there will be a big swath of snow across the middle part of the country, John.

BERMAN: All right, Chad, thank you very much for that.

And NEW DAY continues right now.

KEILAR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Tuesday, February 15th. And we do begin with breaking news.

A potentially major development right now with Russia and Ukraine seemingly on the brink of war. Russia claiming at least some of its forces surrounding Ukraine are returning to their bases, leading to speculation that maybe Russia is trying to deescalate the situation. Although there are indications that may not be the case.

[07:00:02]

Ukraine, for its part, says that it is skeptical of the Russian claims, but they do believe that diplomacy is working.