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Russia Says Some Forces Surrounding Ukraine Returning to Bases; Ukraine Remains Skeptical of Russian Claims of Reduction of Forces on Border; Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) Interviewed on Continuing Tension between Russia and Ukraine and Accounting Firm for Trump Organization Saying Financial Information from Organization Unreliable. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: At the time, we were very focused on the problem of terrorism, and so was the country. So it was a contrast that worked in our favor at that moment. Right now, Russia is back in the main frame.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: David, it is wonderful to speak with you this morning. Thank you so much, and for talking about your op-ed with us. We appreciate it.

AXELROD: Good to see you, guys. Thanks.

KEILAR: And NEW DAY continues right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, February 15th. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And breaking news overnight in the Russia Ukraine crisis that is engulfing Europe and the world, certainly a Russia crisis, will it invade Ukraine further. Russia says some of its forces surrounding Ukraine are now returning to their bases. That is a claim from them, and maybe a possible sign they're moving to de-escalate the situation.

Ukraine, though, rightly skeptical of these claims. The country's foreign minister says they will believe it when they see it. Russia's Vladimir Putin and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they have been meeting this morning in Moscow. That meeting still going on. We are expecting to hear from them at a joint news conference shortly. A Kremlin spokesperson insists Putin does want to continue to negotiate. KEILAR: At the same time, major military exercises do continue, and

there is new evidence of Russia's equipment buildup at the Ukraine border. Look at this here, some new satellite images that are showing at least 60 helicopters that have landed in the past few days at a previously unused air base in Crimea. These helicopters are said to be a mix of transport and attack aircraft. More than 130,000 Russian troops are already in position around Ukraine as well. And the American embassy in Kyiv closed as an invasion precaution. U.S. officials say the situation remains extremely dangerous, and a Russian attack could be ordered at a moment's notice.

BERMAN: CNN's Jim Sciutto live for us in Kyiv this morning. Jim, why don't you bring us up to speed on the very latest developments, these Russian claims, the Ukrainian reaction, where you to think we are this morning?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Really three signals in the last 24 hours. The most recent being this claim from the Russian defense ministry that they are cycling some forces back from the border, back to their home bases. Yesterday you had Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting say that the window for diplomacy was still open, and then you had the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov call my colleague Fred Pleitgen last night and say, yes, Putin is still willing to talk. So those three signals against what U.S. intelligence has been assessing for recent days as getting worse, not better, right, and that is more forces moving closer to the border, into combat positions as well as hardware, like the helicopters that Brianna was just talking about there.

So the question is, which is true, right? The U.S. view continues to be that Russia has the capability to invade. It is just up to Putin to order it. You do have Putin saying publicly now that he's willing to talk, so at least signaling publicly that perhaps he's not ready to give that order or would not give that order.

The Ukrainians, as you note, are skeptical. The foreign minister said a couple of things. One, he said the Ukrainian equivalent of we'll believe it when we see it. But he also said we've heard these pronouncements from Russia before and they haven't turned out not to be true. I think we should be conscious throughout, John and Brianna, that this is a hard war landscape. You have got the troops, the armor, the airplanes, the helicopters. But it is also an information space, information warfare. So you have messaging like this, which can be true, can be partially true, or can be faked.

And by the way, the U.S. is playing this game as well. By releasing so much of its intelligence on Russian military moves, it is making public to Russia, we see what you're doing here, again, playing its own game of information warfare. So that space requires a few ounces, a few grains of salt as we see all this play out.

BERMAN: And Jim, there is also domestic political implications just in the U.S., but also in Russia, where you have the Duma voting to recognize these Ukrainian regions where there is fighting, has been fighting for some years now. The significance of that, how much pressure does that put on Putin? [08:05:03]

SCIUTTO: Well, basically it would be shaving off another piece of Ukraine. Russia already did that in 2014 by invading, occupying, and then annexing Crimea. And then it has been fighting this kind of insurgency campaign in the east, and basically occupying and controlling those territories there. So this would formalize this as Russia formalized its annexation of Crimea.

And I think it's a reminder that Putin has a whole room service menu, right, of options here, short of a full scale invasion. He has the capability, according to the U.S. and NATO, to really take over the whole country, including the capital here in Kyiv. But he could take steps short of that, like the Duma recognizing, making it official that these pieces of sovereign Ukrainian territory are now in effect Russian, perhaps take a smaller piece of land connecting those territories to Crimea further in the south. There's more than one option for President Putin. By the way, that call doesn't have to be made today. It could be next week, could be next month.

BERMAN: Jim Sciutto in Kyiv, we're going to see you at the top of the hour. Thanks so much for your reporting.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

KEILAR: And joining us now is the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Congressman Gregory Meeks. He recently led a congressional delegation to Ukraine. He met with President Zelensky as well. Sir, thank you so much for being with us this morning at this critical juncture here. You also -- you and other House leaders had a briefing from Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser. Did you like what you hear? Do you feel like you're getting all the information that you need?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (D-NY) CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Yes, I think that the administration is doing a tremendous job at threading the needle. On the one, they're being accessible to members and letting us know what's going on. And number two, they are serious about plan A and plan B. They're putting their foot forward and trying to let the diplomacy work, because diplomacy is important. And it would prevent thousands of lives from being killed.

But they know that they're dealing with only one aggressor here, and that's Russia and President Putin. They're the ones that put the 100,000 people on the borders to threaten the Ukraine. And the way that we know that he is serious about pulling back troops is when we see them pull back troops. But the administration is talking to everyone. Before I went to Kyiv, I went to Brussels where I met with a number of our European and NATO allies, and that the dialogue and conversation that they're having with the United States of America, I want to say thank God America is back and America is talking to our allies and working in a multilateral way. They're sharing intelligence with one another and coming up with the same assessments.

So the Biden administration, I think, has done a tremendous job at threading the needle and letting us know how serious this situation is, and what -- and that we are prepared for an invasion if one takes place. And hopeful that Putin will come to his senses and withdraw the troops from the Ukraine border.

KEILAR: OK, so let me ask you about that. Do you have a sense, does the administration have a sense of how likely an invasion is?

MEEKS: Well, there is various intelligence. And as the president and the administration has said, we know that it could be sooner rather than later. But sometimes I really think that you can't get into Putin's head. And I don't know if Putin knows what he's going to do, to be quite honest with you. And so that's why I think it is significant and important that Chancellor Scholz is meeting with him today. We know that President Biden had telephone conversation with him a couple of days ago. President Macron of France went to visit with Putin last week. So those -- that conversation and dialogue is tremendously important, and the information that we receive from those conversations.

Thus far, it seemed after those dialogues there has not been any progress. And so we have to stay ready with our European and NATO allies to have these crippling sanctions that will be devastating to the Russian people and the Russian government should they invade the -- invade Ukrainian territory.

KEILAR: We learned overnight that the accounting firm that has done work, done accounting for the Trump Organization for years and years is parting ways and is also saying, essentially, that the information upon which their work was based is not reliable. We're talking about information from the last 10 years. What is your reaction to that?

MEEKS: That's not any surprise to me. And I think that at some point all of the facts will come out.

[08:10:00]

There's a reason why we didn't -- we were serious in the United States congress. There's reasons why, and evidence there that showed that the Trump administration was -- why they were impeached, because of their behavior and actions and what they're doing. And we know, quite frankly, that the Trump administration has lied several times and gotten caught in those lies.

And so the investigation that is taking place at all levels will continue. Look, when before President Trump became president, and when he was running for office, Senator Cruz, Senator Romney, even Senator Lindsey, called him what he is. They said that he was a crook, that he was an individual that couldn't be trusted. All you've got to do is go back to the tapes. They told you then, while he was candidate Trump, what kind of character this man had. And that was based upon the same thing that's being revealed now, of lying to his accountants, apparently, from this account, and hurting ordinary workers, not paying them. That's not from my words, that's their words. So they knew who he was, they know who he is. At the time before he was elected, they called him out for just these same kinds of things.

KEILAR: Congressman, we did want to speak with you too, because it is in your home state, so we'll obviously be following this going forward and what this means for the Trump Organization. Congressman Meeks, thank you.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: So just in, Russia is now blaming Kamila Valieva's failed doping tests on a mix-up with her grandfather's medication. This as she is set to return to the competition just moments from now.

Plus, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking drastic measures to try to clear the trucker inspired blockade.

BERMAN: And just revealed, this year's three hosts of the Academy Awards.

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[08:15:44]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, an Olympics official says the legal team for 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is blaming her failed drug test on a mix-up with her grandfather's medication. Very shortly, she will take the ice after the sport's highest court cleared her, after sport's highest court cleared her to compete.

But we're hearing from more and more voices, prominent Olympians, sounding off against this decision, including Canadian gold medalist Meagan Duhamel who tweeted, quote: How is anyone going to take the women's event seriously now? We were just told illegal drugs and abuse are okay. If that's what the sport is about now, I want nothing to do with it. February 14th, 2022, the day the Olympic spirit died.

And gold medalist Meagan Duhamel joins me now.

Thank you so much for being with us. The day the Olympic spirit died. What do you mean?

MEAGAN DUHAMEL, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I think we have seen and we heard about these doping scandals in sport before. But to my knowledge, it is very rare that we hear about a positive doping case, come out during the Olympics and we still allow this athlete to compete.

I think that this is unfair to every one of the women competing against Kamila today in the women's event, and as well she competed earlier in the Olympics in the team competition, and it was an unfair playing field with everybody else that was there.

BERMAN: What about this new apparent excuse from her legal team, that somehow there was a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication?

DUHAMEL: Yeah, I read a court announcement from the CAS, which is the sports court, the higher sports court that made this decision. They also said there was a second heart medication found in her positive drug test. So, not just one, but two. And, of course, we saw that they have used the reasoning that she drank from a water glass of her grandfather's.

I view that as a sad excuse. I do think she's a young skater. She's only 15 years old. This is a terrible situation she's been put into.

Of course, a 15-year-old could not have found these performance enhancing illegal drugs without the team around her. It is an unfair playing field for all the women and she should not be allowed to compete today.

BERMAN: Yeah, seems to be a universal sentiment from the athletes and former athletes we speak to. She may very well be a victim here, but that doesn't mean that she should be allowed to compete because of, A, the fairness factor with the other athletes and the overall message it says about how the sport feels on cheating.

DUHAMEL: Yeah, I have to say I'm pretty surprised. I have no idea WADA had this ruling that if you're under 16, there is different consequences for drugs. I think it is worse that children are taking drugs. I mean, it's not okay for anybody to take any performance enhancing drugs, but to say it is okay for a child or more okay for a child to do so just seems so extreme and I can't believe that WADA has this type of case, to allow a 15-year-old to almost get away with it at this point.

We have seen and heard some stories of abuse coming from her coaches, and her support team around her. And it is important to note that every sporting federation, they travel with sports medicine doctors to their competition. The doctor that the Russian figure skating team travels with is an anesthesiologist, nothing to do with sports medicine. This doctor has been involved in doping scandals with the Russia rowing team before joining the Russian figure skating team.

So this is nothing new for this team surrounding this young skater, which has put her in a really terrible position. And it is really unfair when you think about a child that may not have known what was going into their body, but a field of play is a field of play. It has to be fair for everybody and today it will not be.

BERMAN: Yeah. As you point out, look, the Russians have been accused of what is a cheating industry surrounding doping and sport.

Meagan Duhamel, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate your perspective.

[08:20:02]

DUHAMEL: Thank you.

BERMAN: A historic new crackdown measures enacted in Canada in response to the ongoing trucker inspired protests.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think marriage is kind of over. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because Carol is a lesbian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Why "Friends" fans in China may be wondering what happened to some of their favorite episodes.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRME MINISTER: This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people's jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:01]

KEILAR: Joining us now is Tony Keller. He's the editorial page editor at "The Globe and Mail."

Tony, thanks for being with us and putting all of this into context.

How big of a deal is this decision by Trudeau?

TONY KELLER, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, "THE GLOBE AND MAIL": It's quite significant. This is an act that has never been used before, the Emergencies Act. So it has been on the books since the 1980s, never used before. This is an attempt by the government to bring things back under control.

You got protests at a number of different border crossings and you got a significant protest in the city of Ottawa right in front of the parliament buildings. And the problem is that they're protests, it is that they're blocking things. The protests at the border are actually blockades, attempts to blockade trade between the two countries. Protest on parliament hill has taken over a series of streets and really disturbed residents. And people have basically just come, parked their trucks and had them there for three weeks.

The police have been capable of dealing with some of the border protests, and have seemed to be entirely incapable of dealing with the protests in Ottawa. So the federal government is taking it to the next level and saying we're going to give ourselves and local authorities additional tools to deal with this.

KEILAR: Trudeau and government officials, they have a lot of authority under this act. One of the things they can do is actually freeze bank accounts of individuals or corporations. How do you think the truckers would react to that?

KELLER: The government's hope is that the way truckers are going to react is they're going to leave, because I think their hope is if you say to people, look, if you're declared to be in an illegal blockade, if it's declared that you are breaking the law and as a result of that law breaking you're at risk for forfeiting your truck, losing your insurance, and having the bank freeze your business bank account, you're going to leave.

So that is their hope. We're going to see exactly how that works out. We're also going to see whether the courts decide that that is acceptable, whether that's in any way a violation of people's rights. But for the moment, they have said they're going to use that, and we'll see how effective it is.

KEILAR: There are some objections as you're well aware to the sweeping powers that invoking the emergencies act allows Trudeau and government officials. You have the Canadian Civil Liberties Union saying that the government hasn't actually met the threshold when it comes to invoking this act.

Do you think that's the case?

KELLER: Yeah, it's an interesting question. To some degree the government gets to decide how much of an emergency it is, but normally this is only supposed to be invoked in the most serious of cases. It is either a national emergency that threatens the sovereignty of the country, or a situation where the law enforcement capacity of one province or one jurisdiction is incapable of enforcing the law.

The second of those categories may actually hold right now. In the sense that in particular in the city of Ottawa, you've got a kind of occupation, it is totally peaceful, there is no violence, this isn't like January 6th. Nevertheless, it is an occupation of a whole series of streets in front of parliament they have not been able to move for the last three weeks.

So -- and a couple border crossings, you had occupations that have come and gone. So they may have met the test in some areas of the country.

KEILAR: Yeah, and as we understand, there are children that are inside of some of the trucks that are part of the protests which adds another element of concern to all of this.

Tony, thank you so much. I'm sure we'll be talking to you again soon. Tony Kell,er, appreciate it.

KELLER: You're very welcome. Good to talk to you today.

KEILAR: Some bad news for Donald Trump, his business and adult children as his long time accounting firm says they can no longer stand by a decades worth of financial statements. What it all means for the investigation into his finances. BERMAN: And a highly anticipated inflationary report about to be

released any minute now. We'll bring you those numbers live.

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