All around the world. Im robyn curnow. Thanks for joining me. So ahead on cnn, little more than a week before the start of former u. S. President Donald Trumps Impeachment Trial, five of his Defense Attorneys leave the team. Plus a tiny bit of good news in the fight against The Coronavirus in the u. S. As cases reach a new milestone. Also, protests across russia are under way again in support of activist Alexei Navalny. But now supporters are reaching out to the u. S. For help. Announcer live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom. With robyn curnow. And we begin this hour with breaking news. With just a little more than a week before former president trumps second Impeachment Trial begins, were learning his five Defense Team Lawyers have quit. South carolina attorneys butch bowers and Debra Barbier were expected to be two of the lead attorneys. Theyre no longer with the team. Also gone greg harris, johner and joshua howard. According to people familiar with the matter the problem was legal strategy. Mr. Trump wanted the attorneys to argue his false claims the election was stolen instead of focusing on the legality of convicting a president after hes left office. And mr. Trump has got legal briefs due early next week. Heres what former u. S. Attorney harry litman had to say about it. Its a disaster for the defense, and five is all that there are. Its not simply that they open a week from tuesday. He has briefs due with his basic legal position on tuesday. Its inconceivable to me that he could get any kind of halfway professional lawyer and get together his basic claim to submit by tuesday, especially since he seems to be insisting on staying the course with the sort of Big Lie Fraud Claim that actually was the source of the problem in the first place. It was his sort of insistence and at all costs clinging to that claim. Thats what led to the insurrection here. So if he were to go in, it would be the ultimate, leading with his chin. But now that all his lawyers have deserted him, i dont know what any litigant, much less the former president of the United States in an Impeachment Trial, is going to do. So were told that the attorneys had not yet been paid in advance and Letters Of Intent were never signed. Well keep you posted on that story. Now, across the globe The Coronavirus pandemic is spreading with dangerous speed and shattering new records every day. But a glimmer of hope. There is one. For the first time in nearly two months current Covid Hospitalizations in the United States have fallen below 100,000 people. The u. S. Reported just over 97,000 hospitalizations on saturday. But the numbers are certainly still grim overall, as you can see here. The u. S. Continues to lead the world in the number of confirmed covid cases and deaths. The u. S. Has now surpassed 26 million confirmed infections since the pandemic started. And over 430,000 deaths have been reported. Well, heres natasha chen on the latest efforts to curb the virus. Natasha. What actions were taking reporter the cdc says starting monday night everyone over 2 years old using any form of Public Transit must wear a mask. Even if one has already had the Covid Vaccine. Its a mandate that comes a year after the first reported u. S. Case of covid19. We didnt expect to lose any of them, to be honest. We all thought they was going to bounce back. Reporter this family lost three loved ones. To wake up and know that hes not there, i cant call him. Reporter january was the deadliest month of this yearlong pandemic. More than 90,000 people in the u. S. Have died this month alone. And to give you some perspective, thats about 20,000 more people than could fit in this entire nfl stadium. The mercedesbenz stadium that hosted the super bowl just two years ago is now a vaccination site. We can actually get more vaccines out given the resources that we have or that are shortly coming to us. But if you dont have the vaccine, then we cant do it. Reporter Johnson Johnson is expected to apply for Emergency Use Authorization for its vaccine next week. Its global phase 3 Trial Results showed the vaccine is 66 effective but 85 effective specifically against severe disease. This is a singleshot vaccine in which you start to see efficacy anywhere from seven to ten days following the first and only shot. It is very, very good with regard to cold chain requirements, namely, requiring only a refrigerator. Reporter meanwhile, a new Study Suggests children are safer from the virus in schools than out of them. The author of the first detailed study of two k12 schools said in order to reopen schools safely they need federal centralized guidelines and better access to testing. Health experts are also eyeing new variants of the virus including the first domestic cases of the variant first identified in south africa and more than 400 cases of the variant first identified in the uk. Experts believe these variants will be more dominant by the end of march. I believe that we should be treating every case as if its a variant during this pandemic right now. A pandemic thats far from over. The virus killed nine nuns in a Retirement Home in michigan all within a few weeks. It is numbing, and we have i do a much deeper appreciation for all the other families who have gone through this, the hundreds of thousands of families. And until it personally touches you i dont care how much we can have a sympathetic heart, its different when youve already been there. Reporter natasha chen, cnn. Atlanta. Californias regional stayathome order has come to an end even though the state has been reporting a Staggering Amount of covid deaths each day. So Los Angeles County restaurants can now reopen their Outdoor Dining areas. But at no more than 50 capacity. And there are other rules they need to follow. Heres Paul Vercammen showing us what the situation is like right now. Paul . Reporter so 638 deaths in california. That pushes the death toll in the state to more than 40,000. But officials are saying that other numbers are going down and they are projecting that way more Intensive Care Unit beds will open up in the future and thats why they are relaxing a lot of the stayathome orders. That includes restaurants here in l. A. County. They opened today with new restrictions, tough rules, among them tables have to be eight feet apart. No more than six people at a table. And a rule that is really bothering some of the restaurateurs is they say they want to be allowed to have televisions, especially for the super bowl, but right now they cant. If you put people out of safe spaces for super bowl, you are putting them literally in danger and putting them into homes and house parties, which will take place. So please, have some common sense. Let us use the teevds. Give us the chance to keep people safe and give them a little bit of community because thats what people need right now. And i dont know what else to do other than to get on my knees and just pray or beg. Lets use some common sense here. Reporter there are 1,830,000 Food Services worker jobs in california according to restaurant. Org. So a lot of celebration. Down the street one restaurateur actually started the macarena. Hey, macarena thats from casa vega, a traditionrich restaurant in los angeles. But the owner, christie, says shes not going to open until february 2 27bd, National Margarita day. She says shes just not ready to implement all of the new rules and restrictions that have just been handed out by l. A. County. Reporting from los angeles im Paul Vercammen. Now back to you. Thanks so much for that, paul. Now to another battle in california surrounding the pandemic. Take a look. [ Honking Horns ] these are antivaccination protesters in los angeles on saturday. Its a reminder that some oppose Covid Vaccination efforts even as these case numbers rise across the country and the world. There were some reports these protesters temporarily halted operations at this vaccination site, but the Los Angeles Police Department Says thats simply not true. Now, supporters of jailed russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Are Holding Mass Protests today. The crowds are coming out across the country in spite of Police Crackdowns. The demonstrations first kicked off two weeks ago after navalny was detained for Parole Violations he says are politically motivated. Well, Matthew Chance is live for us in moscow with more on what is expected to unfold throughout the day. Hi, matthew. Reporter hi, robyn. Thats right. These protests taking place across the country. Thousands of people turning out at this point in the far east of russia. There have already been sort of quite large protests in various cities across the russian far east. With at least 145 people arrested so far. Were using that measure because last week when there were those first round of protests across the country more than 4,000 people were arrested nationwide. And so its a sort of useful comparison to see how much confrontation, how much anger there is on the streets. These protesters of course calling for the release of Alexei Navalny, the anticorruption campaigner, Opposition Leader who was suffering that horrific poisoning earlier this year and was evacuated to germany, where he recovered in a berlin clinic. He was then arrested earlier this month when he returned from germany having recovered and court cases to get him released from detention have failed. And thats been fueling these nationwide protests. Were expecting to see Tens Of Thousands of people come out across the country to voice their concern at his continued detention. Robyn. And what do we expect mr. Putin to do . What is his response . I mean, in many ways hes juggling a fine political line here, isnt he . Reporter look, in the past Vladimir Putin and those around him have always dismissed Alexei Navalny as sort of an irrelevant blogger, they sometimes refer to him as. But the truth is hes come back from his poisoning in certainly a very enhanced state. Hes come to represent more of a challenge to the kremlin than any Opposition Figure really that i can remember in the years that ive been reporting here. And as such, you know, i think the kremlin are taking him very seriously indeed. In terms of what theyll do, well, they have a brutal track record of dealing with Opposition Figures. At the moment Alexei Navalny is in prison. Hes on a 30day detention. But within the next few days hes going to face another hearing to decide whether to convert a 3 1 2year suspended sentence that hes currently serving into actual jail time. And the expectation is that the court will decide to actually go ahead with that. So Alexei Navalny could be facing many years in prison. Also a number of extra criminal cases that hes facing, that he could face trial for as well, robyn. Okay. Thanks so much. Live in moscow there Matthew Chance. Well continue to check in with you throughout the day. Thanks, matthew. I also want to bring you up to speed on Vaccination Efforts in the u. S. In just a moment. On top of an exclusive interview with the director of a program thats helping to get vaccines to those who have been left behind. So thats coming up as well as perus hospitals and Health Care Workers are exhausted and also overwhelmed by this latest coronavirus wave. Theyre fighting to save patients as resources dwindle. We have that story too. 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France has now closed its borders with countries outside of the eu in an effort to stop new variants from spreading. Travel is banned even for citizens except for essential reasons. A quick Vaccine Rollout could also help fight these new variants. But the eu has been locked in a fight with astrazeneca over their delivery contracts. Melissa bell joins us now live from paris with an update on all of that. Hi, melissa. What can you tell us . Reporter robin, the eu still extremely keen of course to get to the bottom of these problems with regard to the delivery of the astrazeneca vaccine. Weve heard over the course of the last two days that of course it has been approved now for use here in the eu and in theory that some schmean that in the course of the next few days, robyn, countries begin to get their vaccines. Now, although thats already been approved by the European Medicines Agency it now goes to the National Health agencies. We know for instance that the German Agency has recommended has said rather that there isnt sufficient data for the vaccine to be used to be seen to be effective in over 65. Now, the e. M. A. Approved it without any regulations. So it would be possible for people over 65 to receive it. Its now a question of how individual governments decide that rollout should happen. Emmanuel macron on friday explained that he also understood just as the German Agency had that there were issues over the amount of Data Available for over 65s. It will now go to the French National agency this week to decide how that rollout happens. We also heard from the German Health minister yesterday who said it may be possible necessary, rather, for germany to look at the Vaccination Order now that the astrazeneca vaccines going to be coming online. And of course fundamentally the question of those quantities remains. As you say, the solution to all this would be a fast rollout of vaccines in europe. That has not happened. And given the shortages of the aft rah zeneca vaccine thats we know are likely to happen over the next few weeks its very unlikely theyre going to get their vaccination programs up and running anytime soon, robyn. Thanks so much. That update there from paris. Melissa bell. Thanks, melissa. So a new Coronavirus Lockdown has also gone into effect for much of peru. It will be in place for 15 days and includes lima the countrys capital. Peru is expecting to receive its first batch of vaccines on February The 9 g9, and thats not soon enough for hospital thats are certainly at breaking point. As isa soares now explains. Reporter every morning dr. Rosa luz lopez looks at this list of covid19 patients. And wishes she didnt have to make this difficult decision. Its overwhelming. Hospital nacional guilliermo in lima, peru is one of the largest in the capital. Here icu beds have almost quadrupled but that simply isnt enough. With no space inside the main hospital these patients are now being seen in the temporary room in the patio. Dr. Lopez, who is the head of the Intensive Care Unit here, shows us around. Back inside the icu ward medical staff work around the clock to meet the surge in cases. More than 100,000 in the last month alone. Understandably, theyre beyond exhausted. Not far away from here, in the hospital dos de mayo dr. Jesus valverde says they only have 50 icu beds and theyre all full. But even if they had icu beds they wouldnt have the staff, he says. Amid mounting criticism president Francisco Sagasti is promising there will be more icu beds. No word, though, on the medical staff needed to run them. And while the promise of more beds will be a relief to many, hope may be distant and fading. No vaccine has yet arrived in peru. Isa soares, cnn. The World Health Organization Team Investigating the origins of The Coronavirus has now arrived at the Seafood Market linked to many of these first cases in wuhan in china. Now, earlier on saturday the team visited a wholesale market cold storage area. As you can see from these images. The investigation comes a year after wuhan went into lockdown. Many are skeptical about just how much these experts will actually be able to uncover this late into the pandemic. And so far nearly 30 million vaccine doses have been administered in the u. S. That amounts to about half of the nearly 50 million doses distributed so far. And as wealthy nations try to protect themselves the Covax Program backed by the w. H. O. , the World Health Organization, will deliver vaccines to some of the poorest countries. Ivan watson was able to get an exclusive interview with the Managing Director of the covax facility and she struck an optimistic tone about their mission. Take a listen. So the covax facility is on track on its primary goal, which is making sure that we had access to supply. We need about 2 billion doses of Covid Vaccines in 2021 but its not going to be a straightforward pathway throughout the whole year. Thats for sure. Reporter the European Union was just slamming pfizer and astrazeneca for delays in production and in supply of vaccines. Are you seeing the agreements that are being made, are you seeing slowdowns because of not only demand but unforeseen problems in production . Manufacturers are scaling up at a speed thats unprecedented. So i think we can expect that its not going to be all smooth sailing as the Vaccine Manufacturing is scaled up and distribution happens. I think its important for everyone to be able to be accountable to the commitments that theyve made. Reporter the head of the w. H. O. Has been quite critical about wealthier countries doing advance orders. And setting back the supply of vaccines to poorer countries, through covax, for example. How much of a problem is that for you . No 2021 we are in a situation where demand is going to outstrip supply. I mean, this is exactly the reason why covax was created to avoid a bidding war for vaccines. Without concerted effort lowerincome countries will be left behind because of the restrictions on their Financial Capabilities to be able to buy vaccines. Reporter what is the budget like to provide and distribute hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine essentially for free to the worlds poorest countries . Weve had very, very strong end endorsements by donors. Weve been able so far to secure pledges of 6 billion from over 2020. But we do need at least another 2 billion in 2021 to carry on being able to procure and also to be delivering doses. Reporter the new Biden Administration announced it wanted to join the covax facility. What kind of an impact will that have . I think its a very strong endorsement of the covax facility, of the aim to have a global and multilateral approach to fair and equitable access for covid19 vaccines. So the very welcome news from the Bidenharris Administration to join covax is also coupled with a very significant pledge of 4 billion, which covers the procurement of covid19 vaccines and delivery. Short break coming up. Next, Russian Police are urging people not to attend opposition protests today. But thats not stopping them. We have that story as well. Hey malcolm, you know that audibles got a lot more than audiobooks . Of course, podcasts. Originals. Bestsellers. Future bestsellers. Sleep stories. Sleep stories . What are you talking about Sleep Stories . Malcolm. Oh wow. Malcolm. Malcolm malhey no roxy, hey roxy, get out of malcolms house the most inspiring minds. The most compelling stories. Hi, im a new customer all in one place. Audible. And i want your best new tsmartphone deal. G minds. The most compelling stories. Well im an existing customer and id like your best new smartphone deal. Oh do ya . Actually its for both new and existing customers. I feel silly. But i do want the fastest 5g network. Oh i want the fastest 5g network. Are we actually doing this again . Its not complicated. Only at t gives everyone the same great deal. Like the Samsung Galaxy s21 5g for free when you trade in. Its moving day. And while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, wherever you are. Its 30 minutes past the hour. Im robyn curnow. Thanks so much for joining me. So were watching, this mass protests under way right now in russia. Theyre calling for the release of Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny. Hes been detained for two weeks on charges of a Probation Violation that he claims are politically motivated. Now, crowds of his supporters are braving the cold, as you can see here. And Police Crackdowns all across the country. Samuel green is the coauthor of putin versus the people. Hes also the director of the Russian Institute at Kings College in london. He joins me now to further discuss all of this. Good to see you, sir. This has all been inspired and led by mr. Navalny even though hes behind bars. What is his end game here . Well, i think the reality is he doesnt have an end game. This is unpredictable. Right . And uncertain. And really that is the point. That putins goal throughout his time in power, really since 1999, has been to promote himself as inevitable and to get people to believe that his rule will last for as long as he wants it to and its not really much up to others. And so navalnys aim here really is to demonstrate that thats not the case, to try to create at least the idea in peoples heads that this could go in another direction, to demonstrate to them, let them demonstrate to themselves that they have some power, and to let the kremlin demonstrate exactly how it plans to rule the country, through attempting to poison him, through putting Opposition Members in jail, through fairly draconian restrictions on protests. So then is this the most serious challenge to President Putin that you can remember . Our correspondent Matthew Chance there on the ground in moscow says he cant really remember when hes seen this kind of pushback. Is there navalny here succeeding where others have not . So we have seen protests before. Maybe even a little bit larger. Going back to 2012. But i dont think that weve seen this degree of emotion before. I think we are seeing people who we are beginning to believe that its now or never. Right . That if they do not create some kind of political change in russia that things can become so tightly controlled that there might not be another opportunity. Its that level of emotion and that level of desperation if you will that does make these protests unprecedented. So is this because this is an Inflection Point perhaps in mr. Putins rule . Is it a generational thing . Were seeing that a lot of these protesters and the supporters are quite deep and wide, also geographically and cutting across various demographics. What do you make of whos actually on the streets right now . And these are live images from northeast russia. This isnt moscow. This is across the country. It is across the country. Its one of the things navalnys been able to do. If you think back to the first antiputin protests they were really concentratesed in moscow and st. Petersburg. Over the last few years navalnys been able to gather more people, to get more people upset the way the countrys being governed and maybe get people to believe it could be governed differently. Were seeing that across the country. Usually these things happen around the times of elections. We dont have elections at the moment. Behl have parliamentary elections later this year. But i think really this has been caused by the kremlin. This has been caused by the fact the kremlin evidently tried to kill navalny and then was unable to prevent him from coming home and then arrested him as soon as he did. This is an ample opportunity for the kremlin to get people upset. What does the incoming Biden Administration do about this . How do they play into this scenario . How much pressure can they and more importantly would they use . I think that they understand their Mission First and foremost. And i think correctly as to do no harm. The reality is the future of Russian Politics is going to be determined by the russian people. Its the way it should be. And the u. S. Government or any other government should not be in the game of picking winners in Russian Politics. I do think that they have much more than the Trump Administration already spoken out to show solidarity with people on the streets, with people who want to see a democratic future with russia, and to express their concern about the ways in which opposition is being treated. There are calls obviously on the administration to impose that sanctions. That may be something politically they feel they need to do. But i wouldnt have too many illusions about the ability of those sanctions to actually cause change. Change is going to happen in the relationship between russian citizens and the kremlin, not in peoples Bank Accounts and foreign assets. Samuel green, great to speak to you, live from london. Thanks so much for bringing us your expertise. Thank you. So coming up on cnn, historic tensions between the u. S. And the middle east have only increased over the last four years. The daunting challenges ahead for the Biden Administration. Were going to talk about that next as well. No matter if youre young or old, tall or small, theres nothing more important than your health. Thats why we redesigned the Doctors Office for real life. You can book a same or nextday appointment, inperson or remote. Get 24 7 care over video chat at no extra cost with our app. And request prescriptions in just a few taps. And with all that, you can spend more time enjoying life. Thats care for who you want to be. Meet jeff. In his life, hes been to the bottom of the ocean. The tops of mountains. The er. Twice. And all the places this guy runs off to. Like jeffs, a life well lived should continue at home. Home instead offers Customized Services from personal care to memory care, so older adults can stay home, stay safe, and stay happy. Home instead. To us, its personal. Its moving day. And while her friends home instead. Are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. The u. S. President joe biden faces serious challenges across the middle east including the ongoing humanitarian disaster in yemen and tensions in iran, iraq, and syria. Lets go to Cnn International Senior International correspondent ben wedeman. He joins me from beirut with a closer look at all the challenges facing the incoming president. Ben. Reporter yes, robyn. Well, i cant remember any u. S. Administration coming to power at a time when the situation in the middle east is good, and the Biden Administration is no exception. Congratulations, mr. President. Reporter the new resident of the white house faces a middle east deep in a confusion of crises. Yemen remains the worlds worst humanitarian emergency, followed closely by syria, where millions are struggling through a brutal winter as their countrys agony goes on. Blood still flows in iraq even though the scourge of isis appears for now to have been diminished. Four chaotic years of donald trump saw the u. S. Cozy up to the regions autocrats, careening close to the brink of war with iran. Already the new administration is showing it will do some things differently. We will end our support for the Military Campaign Led by saudi arabia in yemen. Reporter tensions could recede as the Biden Administration tries to revive the iran nuclear deal, the jcpoa, says the carnegie instituting Mohammed Hage ali in beirut. The iranians cant continue to bomb and help their allies or support their allies bomb the u. S. Embassy in iraq or the riyadhs airport or any of these important facilities while they negotiate the jcpoa. And as the jcpoa is revived. Reporter the resumption of a dialogue between washington and tehran could have knockon effects in syria, iraq, and lebanon where iran is a major player. The Trump Administration did manage to orchestrate the establishment of ties between israel and several arab states, a move praised by its successor. Washington also recognized jerusalem as israels capital, opened an embassy there, and generally sided with israel as never before. All but killing the twostate solution, which means washington now needs to come up with new ways to address the conflict, as do the palestinians themselves. Perhaps the onestate solution has a more viable option. You know, asking for their rights as full citizens in the state rather than calling for a second state which has no now basis on the ground. Reporter and gone are trumps grandiose regional schemes like the deal of the century to end the palestinianisraeli conflict and the policy of Maximum Pressure on iran to bring it to its knees. In their place are more traditional u. S. Policies in the middle east, which frankly werent very successful either. Robyn . So with all of that in mind, does anything change . In particular iran. Do you see movement there and how much buyin will there be from tehran . Well, certainly the Biden Administration has expressed a willingness to somehow reengage with iran and perhaps rejoin the jcpoa after iran it says has gone back to full compliance. But of course it was the United States, not iran, that dumped out of the deal in the first place. So its really a question of whos going to blink first. But certainly the United States is clearly going to change what was a very confrontational policy with iran, this policy of Maximum Pressure that really just pushed the iranians into a corner. So they had no choice but to fight back against what was essentially a declaration of war, economic war by the United States against iran. And the appointment of Robert Malley as the envoy, the american envoy for iran, certainly does indicate a seriousness when it comes to reengaging with iran. The question is, robyn, whos going to take the first step. Okay. Ben wedeman, always good to speak to you. Wonderful to see you again. Thanks so much. So on his way out of the white house door, former President Donald Trump actually helped create challenges for his successor. Before leaving there pl trump called for the u. S. To withdraw all of its troops from afghanistan by may. But a Pentagon Spokesperson says the u. S. Will not commit to that because the taliban is not committing to its end of the deal. Newly confirmed Secretary Of Defense lloyd austin has not said how many troops might stay in afghanistan for now. More immediate goals appear to include repairing relations with nato and investigating the u. S. Domestic terror threat. So joining me now is cnn military analyst, retired Lieutenant General mark hertling. Hes the former commanding general of u. S. Army europe and the 7th army. General, lovely to see you again. Happy new year. Theres certainly a lot facing this presidency. As the pentagon and president Bidens National Security Team settle in, what for you do you think is the key Defense Issue they need to confront . There are all sorts of things. And happy new year to you, robyn. What ill say is theyre going to have their hands full with all corners of the world. I mean, if youre just talking about International Relations with both friends and foes, President Biden was quick off the start with reaffirming commitment to nato, which was a very good thing for our nato allies and our european partners. But there are some problematic issues as well in that organization given the recent stance by turkey and some of the other things that are going on there. You then jump to the threat from russia, the continuing threat from russia. You have issues with china in three different regions, hong kong, taiwan, and the uighur muslim issue, humanitarian rights across the board, and how that relationship has been addressed by the former administration. North korea is still threatening. You have the issue with revamping or restarting hopefully, as Secretary Blinken said the other day, the jcpoa with iran. So you can pick the kinds of things that the pentagon and the State Department and the administration are going to have to address that they believe have been overlooked over the last four years. A lot of those, like many other issues, they believe theyre starting from ground zero and rebuilding trust with nations while at the same time standing up to foes. So theyre going to have their hands full with International Relations to be sure. To be sure. And so much, as you say, has been talked about, the need to rebuild alliances, to recommit to nato, to reestablish americas unilateral dominance in the world. But the question is has that horse bolted now . The french president warned that nato is becoming braindead. That was back in 2019. This week he told the president in their phone call that europe wants strategic autonomy. Put simply does that mean that allies still dont trust america as a reliable partner anymore . And what does that mean for the American Defense system, for the American Power . Yeah, in the organizations that ive been associated with, the atlantic council, hearing some of their presentations, the European Union is still very interested in pulling together with the United States as part of nato. Certainly there are some governments within nato who have lost a little bit of trust in the United States based on the actions of the last four years. But i also believe in speaking with some of the governments and my military colleagues and other armies they have been desirous of america to return for the u. S. To come back and see the kinds of things in terms of partnerships that weve had in the past. Make no mistake, its going to be tough to everycome some of the things that have been experienced by our nato allies over the last couple of years, but ive got to tell you, i think they always knew we would come back to the fold and be a part of that strategic alliance, and as we should. And i also want to get your take on what we saw during the capitol insurrection. About 20 of the approximately 175 people charged so far during the riots are current or former military members. I mean, general, i want you to hear this portion of a piece that sara sidner has reported on and get your take on the other side about the reasons for this radicalization within the american military. Sure. Take a look. Reporter they have the tactical training, gear, and guns to bring the war home. Cnn tracked down nine of the Military Veterans who are charged in the capitol siege. Former fbi agent michael german, who spent years undercover in domestic extremist groups, says hes not surprised so many of the rioters are former military. There are many possible reasons for their actions, but one stands out. What weve seen too often is that this kind of ideological militancy is allowed to exist in the military and there isnt enough effort to root it out and to actually paint it as what it is, an antidemocratic movement thats a threat to our security within our security forces. How deep and how dangerous is this enemy within . It is definitely dangerous. I disagree with mr. German, the last individual that was commenting, that it has been allowed to exist. It exists because extreme views arent new in the military this year or even in the last four years. There have been extreme views because there are extreme views in the population, and the military draws their recruits from the population it serves. So just like this isnt new in society but weve seen an uptick in it over the last decade or so, so is it upticking in the military. You know, in a 2019 poll by Military Times it was reported that 1 3 of all active troops and about half of Minority Service members have seen signs of White Nationalism or ideological racism in the military. Thats very troubling to me. I retired six years i retired six years ago. When i was still in command we knew it existed but its very difficult to root it out. Again, sometimes the military will focus on behaviors versus attitudes. You know, you cant often change the attitudes of some of the soldiers, but you can certainly ensure their behavior is correct. Unfortunately, this is an internal threat unlike external terrorism where you cant use some of the tools that the military uses on an external terrorist, like intelligence collection, targeting situations. So its much more difficult. But i do believe that the military, even though the vast majority of those who wear the uniform are serving their country well, there is an increase and i cant cite the numbers because i dont think anybody really knows of this kind of extremism, radicalism, whatever you want to call it, and its prone to violence in some cases, as we saw in the 6 january instance, but it has to be rooted out. Always great to get your perspective. Thanks so much, Lieutenant General mark hurdly. Good to be with you, thank you. Youre watching cnn, well be right back. Write your next adventure. Handwriting recognition and the audi q3. Lease or purchase a new audi suv and have your first months payment covered. This is what Community Looks like. Caring for each other, protecting each other. And as the Covid Vaccine rolls out, well be ready to administer it. At capella university, we know the world is pretty smart. Wicked smart. 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Parts of the midwest are also already seeing heavy snow with chicago possibly getting 10 inches, 10 inches before its all said and done. That same system is forecast to dump a foot of snow on places like maryland, pennsylvania, and into new england. Folks need to wrap up warm wherever you are in the u. S. Police in britain are searching for the culprits who vandalized an ancient monument in southern england. Officials say a face mask was added to the Chalk Carving of a giant on the hill known as long man of wilmington. Historians say the Archeological Site dates back to the anglosaxon or medieval period. A photographer whos visited the carving says its being restored to its original prepandemic state. Im robyn curnow at cnn World Headquarters in atlanta. Ill be back with more news in just a moment, so stick with us for that. Hi, im a new customer and i want your best new smartphone deal. Well im an existing customer and id like your best new smartphone deal. Oh do ya . 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