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R&B Star R. Kelly In Jail; Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Accused of Soliciting Prostitution; Senator Feinstein Speaks Sternly to Students; Venezuelan Unrest Continues; Uncommon Winter Weather Patterns Continue. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 23, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Significant developments after decades of women who have come forward and accused R. Kelly of sexual misconduct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think all the women are lying. Double jeopardy should bar that case. And he won that case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patriots owner Robert Kraft accused of soliciting prostitution.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's proclaimed his innocence totally, but I'm very surprised to see it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The government is supposed to be for the people and by the people and all for the people.

SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: You know what's interesting about this group is I've been doing this for 30 years. I know what I'm doing. You come in here, and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don't respond to that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could be tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border trying to get this aid across, but concerns, obviously, at the time that this could yet be a more volatile situation.

(END VIDEO)

ANNOUNCER: this is "New Day Weekend" with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good Saturday to you. Our top stories this morning, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is being charged with solicitation of prostitution. Police say Kraft was caught in a part of a large-scale sex trafficking crackdown leading to hundreds of arrest warrants.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Also R&B singer, R. Kelly due in court today. He turned himself into police last night after being indicted on ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. We want to start with the latest breaking developments in the arrest of R&B superstar R. Kelly there. Overnight, Chicago police released this new mug shot of the singer.

BLACKWELL: Kelly is 51, is accused of committing sexual acts on three children older than 13 but younger than 17. Joining us this morning, the executive producer of "Surviving R. Kelly," Tamara Simmons and Lisa Van Allen, one of the signer's alleged victims. We'll speak to them in a moment. We also have criminal defense attorney and CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson standing by. But first, we're going to CNN's Sara Sidner. Sara, Kelly is in jail. Bring us up to speed. Tell us what's next.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll let you know what happened around 8:00 in Chicago. We were there outside of central booking. R. Kelly began the evening at his studio, where we saw him coming out of the studio, and then he drove a couple of miles and ended up going straight to central booking where he walked in. There were no incidents and he walked straight in. His attorney was there with him. There were a couple other people there from his camp with him.

You see the video there of him coming out of that van and going towards the central booking department police department there and you'll see him going completely in and that is where he is tonight. He is being held in police custody. Now, this all comes the same day that we heard from the state's attorney who has charged him with ten counts of sexual abuse-of aggravated sexual abuse involving four women. Those four women, three of whom were under age at the time -- under the age of 17 that is the age of the content here in Illinois.

We notice the span of time is quite large. The first date that they use is 1998, and it goes all the way to 2009. You see there, there are three alleged victims. The charges go for quite some time. This is 2010. You know, for decades, R. Kelly has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior with minors. He has always maintained his innocence. His always denied exactly what people have been saying. We know that there have been settlements though out of court from women who have said he had sex with them were had they were minors, but we've never see the details of what those settlements were.

Now, we are seeing charges here in 2019. But you have to remember, in 2008, he was put on trial, and 14 counts of child pornography. That was partly due to a videotape that existed there at the time, that the jury saw that prosecutors said had a girl on it that was 13 or 14 years old. And they said it was R. Kelly on the tape, R. Kelly making the tape, and this girl on the tape as well.

And what ended up happening is that a jury pretty much said, look, we couldn't positively identify either R. Kelly nor the girl and so, not beyond a reasonable doubt anyways, and so he was acquitted in that trial. Now, you fast forward 11 years, and there are different charges that the state's attorney has used. But we now know at least one of the girls, that this all comes out from, at least one of the girls, was the same girl that was involved and was the victim in the very first trial.

[06:05:00] The alleged victim then, we're now seeing new charges that have to do with another videotape that was turned over to the state's attorney's office by attorney Michael Avenatti who said he's representing six clients now involved in the case. And he had talked about the fact that his client, one of them, whom he calls a whistle-blower, said there was some obstruction of justice when it comes to that 2008 trial having to do with this particular video tape that has now been turned over to the state attorney's office.

It's pretty significant there. Now, we have not heard from R. Kelly, but we have finally heard from his attorney. Here's what his attorney had to say, when I asked him if he was trying to say that all of these women over all of these years including these new charges, women coming forward in these new charges were lying.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SIDNER: Do you think these women are lying?

STEVEN GREENBERG, R. KELLY'S ATTORNEY: Yes.

SIDNER: All of them?

GREENBERG: I think all of the women are lying, yes.

Unfortunately, the state's attorney now succumbed to public pressure -- to pressure from grandstanders like Michael Avenatti and Gloria Allred and brought these charges. Mr. Kelly is strong, he's got a lot of support and he's going to be vindicated on all of these charges, one by one, it has to be.

(END VIDEO)

SIDNER: These alleged victims not happy to hear R. Kelly's attorney say that they are liars when for years they have said that everyone ignored them, including everyone from media to law enforcement, and they finally feel like there's a possibility of justice being done. Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right, Sara Sidner, thank you so much for wrapping that up and breaking it down for us. We want to bring in Joey Jackson in right now. So Joey, we heard the attorney there, Steve Greenberg. He also said one of the charges appears to involved some alleged victim from an early case and double jeopardy should bar that case in that one. Is there credence to that argument?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know there very well could be. Good morning to you, good morning to you Sara Sidner who has been doing exceptional work here, and of course to you, Victor.

Listen, what will happen is that as they move forward, attorneys will file motions and you had better believe that those motions will be predicated on all types of things. There are of course, issues, you know, as it relates to everything. Now I'm very concerned and I'll get into my concerns in terms of exactly what they are and how they relate to R. Kelly, and him being in serious jeopardy, as a result of these charges, but everything is on the table.

Remember, we should take a step back and understand this is a process that's just begun. There's an indictment. All an indictment means, Christi is that 16 members of this community have gotten together. They've heard evidence from the grand jury. A prosecutor has presented information. They've heard witness testimony. There's no judge in the grand jury, they're not subjected to cross examination. They're not vetted. They're not tested. And so of those 16, a majority, nine, conclude that there is reasonable cause to believe that is a crime was committed and indeed R. Kelly committed it.

Now, that is highly significant. No one wants to be indicted; it is a terrible day when that happens. But after the indictment comes, of course we know today there will be issues as it relates to his custodial status. Should he remain out? If he does, I would suspect Christi that the judge will impose conditions, take away his passport and give him a significant bail as it relates to being - having an incentive to return to court. And then, of course, in time, there will be discovery exchange from the prosecutor to the defense attorney and they'll be more able to more thoroughly understand the specifics of the charges, not only an indictment, but exactly what the witnesses are saying.

Only then can we really make an assessment to what's factually accurate and what's factually not. But I think when you look at issues of double jeopardy, certainly that will be questioned. If there are other theories of prosecution that were not determined at that earlier time, then, of course, the state has a right on other alternative theories to move forward, but certainly, I think, as they move forward, the attorneys will be challenging everything.

PAUL: OK.

BLACKWELL: Joey Jackson, stand by. I want to bring in Tamra Simmons, the executive producer of "Surviving R. Kelly" and Lisa Van Allen, one of R. Kelly's alleged victims. Ladies, welcome.

LISA VAN ALLEN, ALLEGED VICTIM OF R. KELLY: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And Lisa, let me start with you. Just the reaction that R. Kelly turns himself into police over sex abuse charges?

VAN ALLEN: My reaction, I'm really not surprised. I guess I am surprised at how quickly Cook County acted on - with the evidence they had, so, I commend them for that. But I'm surprised that they were able to find charges on him.

PAUL: What is your reaction to the attorney there, saying, oh, these girls are lying?

VAN ALLEN: I can't speak out for everyone else, but I know I'm not lying. So for him to say everyone is lying is a lie.

PAUL: OK. OK.

BLACKWELL: Tamra, why now because you were here last week after the discovery of the tape -- the latest tape. These allegations have been around for decades, literally.

[06:10:00]

Why do you think the documentary got such a huge audience that now there are these new charges, that the mute R. Kelly movement is viable, why now?

TAMRA SIMMONS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "SURVIVING R. KELLY": I just think that now with society and putting it out there in the public you can't ignore it, but before, they could turn a blind eye but now they can't because it's too much in your face. And I think that they're going back now and saying did we miss something then that occurred and we can see in the documentary, how there's so many facts laid out from the early '90s up until now.

It's like that happened 30 years ago; it's still happening now. Are we, as a society, going to continue to allow this to happen for 30 more years and have even more allegations come out later and then talk to the victims at that time, but we could have stopped it at this time in 2019?

PAUL: Lisa, you had said that you had - you had come out about this in 2008 and that nobody heard you.

VAN ALLEN: Yes.

PAUL: You said you'd always been today, you don't talk about that; you don't tell our business. Who was giving you that directive?

VAN ALLEN: I mean, no one specifically. The minority community, the black community, you know we just - you know you just always kind of knew it was kind of like an unspoken code you that don't really tell on each other. You stick together. You know what I mean. That's what I meant.

PAUL: Do you - you knew the 14-year-old, is that right, that's in this video that they're talking about now, is that right, or no?

VAN ALLEN: I didn't know her personally, but I do know her from the situations with her with him.

BLACKWELL: Let's now talk about your story. You met R. Kelly, you say, when you were 17 years old.

VAN ALLEN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And this was a video shoot.

VAN ALLEN: Yes, here in Atlanta.

BLACKWELL: Music video shoot here in Atlanta and from what you describe in the documentary, there was grooming early on. Explain that, if you would.

VAN ALLEN: He pretty much right away told you what he's into, what he likes, what he doesn't like. He also during sexual acts, the whole time, he's telling you exactly what to do, whatnot to do, what he likes, what he doesn't like, so yes.

PAUL: It was interesting because at that time you said, "I didn't assume that he liked younger girls. At that moment, I thought he just liked me."

VAN ALLEN: Yes.

PAUL: At what point did you realize something was very off here?

VAN ALLEN: There wasn't just one time. It would be recurring things where I was getting older. You know, I'm 19, the girls are still 18 -- 19. I'm turning 20, they're still 18 -- 19. You know what I mean, like...

BLACKWELL: Yes.

VAN ALLEN: And then it was like, eventually it was like okay, he likes young girls. It's not just me. It's not just the rumor about Aaliyah, which is not a rumor, but you know what I mean?

BLACKWELL: Tamra, obviously, we're going to have to wait for the evidence to come out in this case in the ten counts, but does this time feel different as it compares to the 2002 charges, the 2008 trial? Does this feel different?

SIMMONS: I mean to me it does. I didn't follow the 2002 trial like in depth, but I'll be following now because I have Lisa to thank for being so brave and other survivors and families still fighting to get their daughters back. But I think that now there's so much in - like I was saying, in the public's face, you can't turn a blind eye to it so I do believe that they're going to do their due diligence and make sure this doesn't continue to happen.

VAN ALLEN: Yes, and I would like to put it out there, he's always been in your face about it anyway. I mean he calls himself the Pied Piper, and you know the Pied Piper takes - if you know anything about the book the Pied Piper lures children away from their families. He's known for doing that. My book is, "Surviving the Pied Piper," gets more in depth about that.

BLACKWELL: There were descriptions from Sara Sidner who we'll get back to in just a moment that really kind of mirror what you described in the documentary of having to call him "daddy" and not speaking to other people.

VAN ALLEN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Tell us about -- you said you were involved with R. Kelly and another girl who was 14. But you didn't know she was 14 at that time?

VAN ALLEN: No, I was 17, he told me she was 16.

BLACKWELL: OK, but you expect that he knew how old she was?

VAN ALLEN: Yes, I mean yes I do, honestly because it was supposed to have been his family member, but I didn't know at that time. He told me it was his neighbor who was 16 and I was 17. He said what he needed to say to get me to agree to do the threesome.

PAUL: All right. We want to get back to Sara Sidner now real quickly. Again, Sara is in Chicago, she's been following this whole thing. Sara, as we look forward to what - as we look ahead to what is going to happen today, is there an expectation that we are going to actually hear from R. Kelly? He has not particularly been silent on this.

[06:15:00]

SIDNER: Look, there are a lot of people that are going to be waiting to see if he says anything, a, in court. But the big thing that folks are going to be waiting for is that this is a rare move. The state's attorney has asked for a no bond saying basically that they want R. Kelly to be kept in jail up until the trial and up until there is a decision by a jury. That is significant here when you consider R. Kelly's status that has been in the world and certainly here in Chicago as an R&B superstar.

They're basically saying they do not want him to be able to pay money to get out of jail. That will be up to a judge. There is a bond hearing this afternoon here in Chicago. We will be there. Watching and listening to every word. But it could be that a judge agrees with the state's attorney. It decides that yes, indeed, he is going to be staying in jail until the trial comes forward. But in recent times, and Joey can certainly speak to this, in recent times there's been a lot of pushback about someone who is presumed innocent and having them sit in jail while they're waiting for a trial, before they have been convicted of a crime.

And so, it will be interesting to see what the judge decides. The state's attorney group is going to have to convince this judge that no bond is the right thing to do. That is significant. I do want to speak about the attorney for R. Kelly, Steven Greenberg, came out fighting, if you will, fighting words, making accusations against the women who have said they're survivors and victims of R. Kelly. He did talk about double jeopardy and I can tell you, I know there is consternation about that. And as Joey pointed out, there were charges that were put in the beginning in 2008.

We do know that one of these cases matches the case with the 14-year- old girl back in 2008. We also know, from two sources, that the videotape, the newly uncovered videotape, is, according to these sources, the same girl that was focused on in 2008. That is just one piece of physical evidence. But the state's attorney is using different charges and this is a different time, different point in time. This is not the same tape that was used in 2008.

BLACKWELL: Joey, quickly -- quickly to you, Joey. The 2002 charges didn't go to trial until 2008, six years passed here. Are you expecting something different, something similar that we'll see this now until 2025? What do you expect?

JACKSON: No, I don't. I think we're in different times and there's a world of concern for him. Look, it's Me Too, time's up. The wheels of justice move, Victor but oftentimes very slowly. I think the prosecution is motivated to move forward. They have these women who have come forward now and they've talked about what these allegations mean. And I think we're going to see pretty rapid movement. I don't believe it will be six years. I think obviously, a criminal case takes a number of months, sometimes a year or more, but I think that's what will occur.

Look in this era, I think the defense has to be concerned about this climate. People are mad as heck and they're not going to take it anymore. Me Too time is up. In this case also that's different is you have four different victims, right? Think about how a jury processes that information. Is everybody lying, really?

That obviously is a source of concern. And then the other concern, Victor, to what extent will the judge allow prior bad acts, that is not criminal convictions. I'm not suggesting he was convicted; he was acquitted, but any prior bad activity, how much does that filter in? That could be damming. And very briefly on the issue of detention that Sara was talking about, the bail hearing. Yes, they want him to stay in but remember that the purpose of bail, no matter how much you don't like R. Kelly, believe these charges, think he should have been put away a long time ago. The purpose of this bail is to ensure that you return to court. It's not a preventative detention to punish you because of the presumption of innocence. And on that basis if the judge does remand him because of bail I would expect significant motion practice from his attorneys. It's called habeas corpus petition to say, "Hey what are you doing? Allow him to be out. He's presumed innocent. He may very well be guilty, we don't k now but allow that process to play out." So I suspect that he will be given bail with conditions. But look, as Sara said, it's always up to a judge.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Joey Jackson thank you for your analysis, Sara Sider for your reporting.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Tamra Simmons and Lisa Van Allen, thank you so much as well.

VAN ALLEN: Thank you.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

PAUL: Absolutely. Listen, still to come, New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, facing charges of soliciting prostitution. This is part of a large-scale sex trafficking crackdown. The latest developments for you and what is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:00]

BLACKWELL: Senator Dianne Feinstein gets into a heated discussion with a group of kids representing the Sunrise Movement Friday. A group of middle and high school aged children met with the Senator Friday to request that she back the Green New Deal. Now a video posted by the Sunrise Movement shows the Senator and the children debating that deal.

PAUL: The Senator argues that the policy will not pass the Senate. She says she doesn't agree with it. Listen to this exchange for yourself here.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are trying to ask you to vote yes on the Green New Deal.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: Okay. I'll tell you what, we have our own Green New Deal piece of legislation. There are reasons why I can't because there's no way to pay for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well you have tons of money. The government is supposed to be for the people, by the people and all for the people.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: You know what's interesting about this group is I've been doing this for 30 years. I know what I'm doing. You come in here, and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don't respond to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're the people who voted you. You're supposed to listen to us. That's you job.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 16. I can't vote.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: Well you didn't vote for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter. We're the ones who are going to impact it.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: Well, you know better than I do, so I think one day you should run for the Senate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great I will.

SEN. FEINSTEIN: And then we'll...

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: So Senator Feinstein, she didn't provided the group with an alternative climate resolution proposal, saying she believes it has a better chance of passing. In a statement last night, though, this is what she said in part. She said, "Unfortunately, it was a brief meeting but I want the children to know they were heard loud and clear. I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real meaningful climate change legislation. I always welcome the opportunity to hear from Californians who feel passionately about the issue and it remains a top priority of mine." BLACKWELL: All right, joining me, CNN Political Commentator and

Political Anchor for "Spectrum News," Errol Louis. Errol, good morning to you.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So what do you think? A misstep by Senator Feinstein, or if you send children into a Senator's office demanding something, sometimes they're going to get a no.

LOUIS: Well, that's right. In the short term, yes. If there's a playbook to be a politician it would probably include don't argue with children in front of the camera. So to that extent, it looks a little bit bad for Senator Feinstein but there's an underlying political point that I don't think she made very well.

But it's a real one which is that this resolution, it's really a sense of the house. It's not something that is intended to truly implement most of the ideas that are laid out in the Green New Deal and you actually hear some of the organizers acknowledging that towards the end, sort of saying, look, we just want to make a symbolic statement about where the United States needs to go. The bill is in fact going to come up next week. It is probably not going to pass. Senator Feinstein could have played along with them, but she chose to try and engage them and I would actually give her credit for that.

BLACKWELL: So is this effective? I mean let's put the video back up. These are young children going into the Senator kind of saying, "You have to listen to us. It is our future and we want you to do this. We voted for you," but then she said she was 16. They've gone into other Representatives' and Senators' offices. Does it work?

LOUIS: I'm not so sure be the targets. I understand kind of where they're coming from. I've been known to do a little protesting myself way back when I was a young man and you want to pin people in the corner morally, that's the whole point of the exercise. So they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. What must that mystified me for Sunrise Movement really from the beginning is that one of their first targets was Nancy Pelosi. Now one of their targets is Dianne Feinstein. These are some the most liberal members of Congress. They come from a state, California, that's actually led the way in renewables and in emission standards and all kinds of important elements of the environmental movement.

And so I wonder why they don't take this to some of the oil and gas industry-funded Senators from other states; the people standing in the way of them and their goal. But other than that, no, I think this is exactly what young people are supposed to do. To sort of put a stake in the ground to call for exactly what it is they want, and to always answer, why not, when the establishment says it's not practical, we can't do it just yet.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk about Paul Manafort. There was this midnight deadline for the filing of the sentencing memo in his case; not publicly released yet. Is there anything you can glean from our not having it yet? Is this suggest that this will be more consequential at least for the public discourse once we get it or will this just be another way to show how many black lines you can put on a page?

LOUIS: I'm assuming as I think many other political journalists are that there is something explosive in it, that there's something that the Mueller team doesn't want to make public just yet. That there's information that's going to come out as we get closer to sentencing of Manafort that's going to really sort of show all of the cards or most of the cards that Mueller has - what they've really been able to conclude after this long exhaustive, multifarious investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. There's no getting around that. And so I think when I - I didn't stay up until midnight waiting for it the way some of my colleagues did...

BLACKWELL: Yes, neither did I.

LOUIS: ...but I think anybody who's waiting has to understand that there's a reason they're holding it back. They just don't want to sort of show all of their cards just yet. There may be more indictments. There may be more arrests. There may be more information that they want to control the timing on. And all of those blacked-out pages that we've seen in the past, they tell you that there's explosive information, or sensitive information, at a minimum, that the Mueller team has.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll see if there's anything publicly released, coming soon. Errol Louis, thank you so much.

LOUIS: Thank you.

[06:30:00]

PAUL: All right, still to come New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is being -- we assume arrested. He's being charged in the statewide trafficking sting in Florida. Now, he is facing charges of soliciting prostitution. What does this mean for him in the future and how does the NFL handle this?

Also, three generations, two presidents, one powerful family, "The Bush Years" narrated by Ed Harris. It premieres Sunday, March 3rd at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft facing charges of soliciting prostitution at a day spa in Florida.

BLACKWELL: Yes, he's one of more than 100 people that were caught in this statewide trafficking crackdown that began late last year. Kraft is not in custody and a warrant for him has not been process yet. Charges are expected to be filed Monday according to the state attorney's office. CNN Sports Correspondent, Andy Scholes, joins us with more. Embarrassing? Obviously for one of the most notable NFL owners.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly an embarrassing moment for the Patriots, Robert Kraft and really the entire NFL, because Robert Kraft, he's one of the most recognizable owners that we have in all of sports now, outside of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Kraft the most well-known to NFL fans. He's of course, coming off his sixth Super Bowl title with the Patriots and he's really loved in the New England area. And he's a guy that loves the lime light. I saw the 77- year-old at Super Bowl parties dancing with Cardi B on stage.

I saw Kraft last week sitting court-side at the NBA All Star game, hanging out with rapper Meek Mill. He is in the public light quite often and Kraft now facing charges on two counts on soliciting another to commit prostitution for two visits to the Orchid of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. That's according to Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr. Now the misdemeanor charges against Kraft stem from a sex trafficking sting that begin in November of last year, in which 24 other men have also been charged in Jupiter.

A spokesperson for Robert Kraft putting out a statement saying, "We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity. Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further." Police say they have video evidence to back up their charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

ANDREW SHARP, LEAD DETECTIVE, JUPITER, FLORIDA: The video that we obtained, it shows the act that took place. On every gentleman that you have a list of, the act that took place is recorded on that video. The question was, does the video contain Mr. Kraft inside receiving alleged acts, the answer to that is yes.

(END VIDEO)

SCHOLES: Now everyone in the NFL is subject to the league's conduct policy and the NFL telling CNN yesterday that the NFL is aware of the ongoing enforcement

matter and will continue to monitor developments. Now no matter how the legal process plays out, Kraft could receive discipline from the league. According to the NFL's conduct policy, everyone who is a part of the league must refrain from conduct detrimental to the integrity and public confidence in the NFL. It also reads, "Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subjected to more significant discipline when violations of the personal conduct policy occur.

Now most recently, the NFL fined Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson $2.75 million after a 2017 "Sports Illustrated" investigation into a culture of sexual harassment within the Panthers Organization. Richardson did not comment on those allegations but voluntarily sold the team soon afterwards.

Colts owner Jim Irsay was suspended six games and fined $500,000 in 2014. He had been arrested on charges and ultimately pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. But guys I would not expect anything to come from the NFL very soon on this. They tend to drag their feet. They wait for the legal process to play out and it's an interesting situation because Robert Kraft is Roger Goodell's boss basically so you have a situation where Goodell is going to have to hand out some discipline to his boss. It could take a long time before we hear anything from the NFL.

BLACKWELL: All right. Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thank you Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLACKWELL: The Venezuela crisis turns into a deadly clash over humanitarian aid. We'll talk about this, in a moment

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

PAUL: There's a critical point in the crisis in Venezuela this morning. The power struggle between Nicolas Maduro's government and opposition leader Juan Guaido is turning into a face-off over aid. We know at least two people were killed at the border with Brazil after the Venezuelan military opened fire on a group that was trying to help bring aid into the country.

BLACKWELL: Well today is the deadline that Guaido has set for aid to cross the border but Maduro has already closed the border with Brazil and is now threatening to close the border with Columbia and deliveries from the U.S. have been stuck on the Venezuela - Colombia border. But the U.S. is making preparations to bring aid in through another route. All of this is happening as dueling concerts kicked off in Venezuela on the border with Colombia. One sponsored by billionaire Richard Branson and a rival one staged by Nicolas Maduro. CNN Senior International Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, has details for us.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An extraordinary day of symbolism here. The free concert put on behind me by British philanthropist and millionaire Sir Richard Branson has come to an end now. Many of the crowds and numbering tens of thousands are moving back into the night here in (Inaudible) but a lot of them have been given leaflets telling them to stay here and be part of tomorrow's bids to get humanitarian across the border because this afternoon, the show, the festivity, the music has really only been part of it. It's been about trying to get people here in numbers and show unity and hope it (inaudible) humanitarian aid across the border tomorrow.

Now the key moment we've seen in the last hours here has been quite remarkable. The opposition leader self-declared interim president Juan Guaido has turned up here inside Columbia. The first time he's left Venezuela since he swore himself in in front of a crowd of thousands as president and he's posed for a family photograph with Columbian President Ivan Duque and the Chilean and Paraguay counterparts too.

A remarkable show of regional unity around this opposition leader, but also a key sign of defiance by Juan Guaido who has been banned by Maduro-loyal supreme court in Venezuela from leaving the country. Regardless, he came here. We don't know his plans from being here whether he intends to pass back in tomorrow and be on the Venezuelan side of the border in his bid to move humanitarian aid across or whether he's perhaps going to stay and do something here.

But tensions are certainly going to rise overnight so this stage behind me should be dismantled very quickly in the hours ahead and the broad question now is whether or not there will be clashes potentially. Tomorrow there are fears that the scene we saw in Venezuela's border with Brazil today in which one woman was shot by Venezuelan security forces in a scuffle of a distribution there could be repeated on a much wider scale here. There could be tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border trying to get this aid across. But concerns obviously high that this could be a yet more volatile situation tomorrow. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Cucuta, Columbia.

PAUL: It is proving to be a bit volatile today. We're going to keep our eyes on that and bring you the very latest when we get it. Also, take a look at this. It's beautiful isn't it? The snow out west.

BLACKWELL: Those cacti?

PAUL: But you know what these pictures are going to get a lot uglier as will the weather and it's heading East. We're going to take you live to the CNN Weather Center. Buckle up.

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BLACKWELL: This snow out west, I mean, people are going crazy.

PAUL: They don't know what to do with themselves.

BLACKWELL: They don't know what to do because, I mean, it's really odd now. But it could make things pretty dangerous today. Because people in Las Vegas. Look at this. They really didn't know what to do when they got their first big taste of snow in a decade.

PAUL: They're wondering, did I drink too much in that casino?

BLACKWELL: Well, maybe.

PAUL: What am I really seeing?

BLACKWELL: But it also snowed.

PAUL: Well yes. Flagstaff, Arizona, they saw an all-time snow record. We're talking about 40 inches there. Not unusual, obviously for Flagstaff to get snow, but it's moving east and this time, it is taking with it, not just snow but the threat of tornadoes. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar with us. Okay, what do you expect is going to be happening?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEROLOGIST: There's going to be a lot. You've got rain in the forecast. You've got snow in the forecast but we also have, yes, the potential for tornados. This is the area we're talking about. We're looking at the threat for damaging winds, the isolated tornados, a lot of lightning, and yes, even flooding. The best threat areas are going to be where you see the orange and the

red colors. Now here's the thing to keep in mind, we're actually below average this time of year for tornadoes. So far this years, we've actually only picked up 34 tornados since January first. Normally, we would have already seen about 89 of them by this point in time.

It is rare to have tornadoes in February. This is the second lowest month that you see them. But if you are going to see them, this is the area you're going to likely see them in, where you see the yellow and orange colors. It's called Dixie Alley. And that's just it. Dixie Alley is exactly where we expect to see the threat for tornadoes today. This is a look at the forecast radar. Watch this portion of your screen right here.

Once we get to say late morning and especially into the afternoon hours, you're going to start to see a lot of those storms begin to develop along the Ark-La-Tex Region, then as we get into mid afternoon, now you're talking places like Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Mississippi. Here's the good news, once this system continues to slide east though, it starts to weaken considerably so that by the time it gets to places like the Carolinas and Georgia, that threat for severe weather really begins to plummet.

Now, one of the other things, is again all of that rain. This area doesn't need to see it. We've already had landslides, lots of flooding across places like Tennessee and Kentucky and now we're adding even more rain. On the northern side of this storm, you've got snow in the forecast, nearly 10 states are under blizzard warnings. So we're not just talking about the amount of snow but poor visibility, incredibly gusty winds that are going to go along with it.

You've got that narrow swath, Victor and Christi, for places like Iowa, Wisconsin and even portions of the U.P. of Michigan that could end up picking up as much as a foot of snow before this system finally pushes out.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's a cute anomaly when it's just flurries, but when it's this type of accumulation, be safe out there and everybody down south, be safe too. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

PAUL: Yes, take good care of yourself there. So President Trump and Kim Jong-Un are going to meet for a second time. That meeting happening this week and there's a barber in Vietnam who is taking advantage of all of the meetings. He's giving some free haircuts.

BLACKWELL: Wait till you see these.

PAUL: They're modeled after these world leaders. What do you think is more popular so far...

BLACKWELL: Oh yes, we'll talk about it.

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[06:55:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Significant developments after decades of women who have come forward and accused R. Kelly of sexual misconduct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think all the women are lying. Double jeopardy should bar that case. And he won that case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patriots owner Robert Kraft accused of soliciting prostitution.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's proclaimed his innocence totally, but I'm very surprised to see it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The government is supposed to be for the people and by the people and all for the people.

SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: You know what's interesting about this group is I've been doing this for 30 years. I know what I'm doing. You come in here, and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don't respond to that.