presidents putin and xi meeting ahead of the beijing olympics to send a message about the stand-off over ukraine. >> and taerg michael avenatti is found guilty of stealing from stormy daniels while representing her against donald trump. we're going to break down his conviction and the prison sentence he's now facing. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is "cnn newsroom" breaking news. >> we begin with breaking news on former vice president mike pence publicly and directly rejecting donald trump's election lie. let's go straight to our senior legal affairs correspondent polly reed. we have not heard pence criticize his former boss like this before. >> that's right, wolf. pence rebuked the former president in the strongest terms yet, saying trump was wrong about pence's authority to overturn the election on january 6th. his remarks come 13 months after the insurrection, which he once again called a dark day in the history of the u.s. capitol, and then he called out trump's big lie. let's take a listen to what he told the crowd at a conservative event in florida. >> i heard this week that president trump said i had the right to overturn the election. president trump is wrong. i had no right to overturn the election. the presidency belongs to the american people and the american people alone. and frankly, there is no idea more un-american than the notion that any one person could choose the american president. under the constitution, i had no right to change the outcome of our election. and kamala harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024. look, i understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. i was on the ballot. but whatever the future holds, i know we did our duty that day. if we lose faith in the constitution, we won't just lose elections. we'll lose our country. >> and pence's remarks take on new significance as we have learned more about the pressure he was facing on january 6th from trump and his allies from the house committee's investigation, on the attack in the capitol. two of pence's top aides have recently testified before the house committee, but it's not clear if pence will also cooperate with those lawmakers. and the split in the gop evident earlier today at the rnc's winter meeting in salt lake city, where they voted to formally censure liz cheney and adam kinzinger for their involvement in the january 6th investigation. cheney tweeted in response, i do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the constitution to embrace donald trump. so wolf, obviously not all republicans are embracing trump over the rule of law, but the gop clearly at odds with itself today. >> certainly is. paula reed, thank you very much. let's discuss all of this with cnn senior political correspondent abby phillip, michael smerconish, and maggie haberman, the washington correspondent for "the new york times." abby, how powerful is it to hear directly from the former vice president in his rebuke of trump like this? >> it's really important pence said trump's name in a sentence also with the word wrong. i mean, it's important for him to be clear about this. he's alluded to this in the past, in past statements, saying he and the former president don't see eye to eye on what happened on january 6th. but saying it is a different story. the one thing, though, wolf, is that it's also what was not said. not only is it true that pence did not have the power to overturn the election. but i did think it was notable he didn't go further to say that trump's attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the entire electoral system in this country are also wrong. it wasn't just about what pence should or should not have done on that day. it was about all of the things that were said and done in the lead-up to january 6th, and that's what pence is still silent on. >> pence, maggie, has been trying to toe the line for more than a year and not necessarily overly upset trump, so why take this stand now? what do you think is going on? >> what happened, wolf, is the former president issued a statement last weekend where he said that actually mike pence could have overturned the election. overturned the election was a quote. that was in a written statement by the former president. and it was really, you know, something of a reveal, frankly, by the former president whose advisers have continued to insist he really just wanted to have the electoral vote sent back to states, that it wasn't about trying to overturn it. it was trying to quote/unquote get the results right, because according to them, trump really won it. in fact, trump acknowledged he didn't win it, that was about overturning it. that's what pence was responding to. i think pence and his folks have realized at a certain point, trump is getting more overt with his taments. he was very overt with a bunch of statements that same weekend last weekend where he talked about protests in cities, if prosecutors do things that trump considers wrong or illegal as they're investigating trump. he dangled pardons for the january 6th detainees and arrestees and defendants. i think you're seeing a gradual progression from the former president and pence needs to make -- it is a big deal. abby is right, the fact pence said trump's name is really significant. that having been said, pence is merely stating reality, which is he did not have the ability to do this. >> certainly did not. so michael, how seismic to you believe this moment is to see the man who serves alongside trump for four years say trump is, quote, wrong? >> depends whether he follows it up with testifying before the january 6th committee. i, too, drew significance from the fact he name checked trump, that he also said donald trump was wrong, but there's one other piece of this, very close after that, he referenced un-american. he essentially said it was un-american for president trump to have asked him to do what he asked him to do. and one other observation, if i may, wolf. if you're mike pence and you're finally going to say the things we all know he believes, this is the audience to do it in front of, a group of right-leaning libertarian attorneys who fashion themselves as originalists. that's why he had the reference to the constitution in the speech. and very cleverly in that key graph, he ties it to kamala harris, which was a guaranteed applause line. so you listen to it, and you want to know, how did it go over in front of that crowd? and you hear the applause. all by design. >> certainly heard a lot of applause there. you know, abby, the crowd at this federalist society event down in florida, obviously applauded pence. listen to this for a second. [ applause ] >> standing ovation at the same time. how much of a backlash, abby, do you think the former vice president will now face from the trump base? >> you know, that room, as michael just mentioned, these are the gentile republican establishment types. so if pence were to do this in front of a different crowd, say trump rally crowd or younger conservatives, it would be a completely different reaction. he has been heckled in the past at some of these events. that's because the base that is really in lockstep with donald trump views pence frankly as a traitor. i took note that in the same sentence that he said, you know, he mentioned kamala harris, he said we are going to beat kamala harris in 2024. well that word "we" is doing a lot of work because there's a lot of questions now about whether pence will be anywhere near a 2024 ballot if donald trump also runs. you know, their relationship right now seems completely severed, and with trump attacking pence the way he is, i don't see how he and pence could run, certainly not on the same ballot. >> we know, maggie, that the former president, trump, won't take this well, will he? >> no, i think that president trump is -- former president trump, excuse me, is frankly luckily he's not on twitter anymore. if he was, he would spout out a statement that would be more harmful to the former president than to pence, but i expect we're going to see some kind of nasty gram that comes out at some point. i don't know how pence will handle that. i do think that michael is right, that whether this really has durability depends on what pence says going forward. i don't suspect this is going to become a staple of all of pence's speeches. i think if trump continues to talk about pence, and trump tried to correct himself this past week. he issued a follow-up statement in which he seemed to be walking back what he said, however, walking back what he said suggested the january 6th committee should be investigating pence. if you see trump continuing to ratchet up pressure on pence, i think pence will feel like he has no choice but to keep talking. >> the same day, michael, the former vice president was publicly directly taking the stand, the rnc actually punished congresswoman liz cheney and congressman adam kinzinger for simply seeking the truth about january 6th. what's going on? is the gop having an identity crisis right now? >> can you imagine if former vice president mike pence attended that rnc meeting and delivered the remarks to that group that he delivered to the federalist society on a day as you point out, wolf, that they're censuring the two who are participating in the investigation? it would not have gone over so well. therein lies the split within the party, but i think still more of the stalwarts are in the group of the rnc than were represented at the federalist society. >> i remember in the old days when ronald reagan was president of the united states, he would always say, yes, there are conservative republicans, liberal republicans, moderate republicans, libertarians. we're a big tent party. we're all working together. i don't hear that from the republican leadership right now. michael smerconish, thank you. first of all to you, thanks very much, tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. eastern, his excellent show, smerconish. we all watch it. and abby, don't forget, abby phillip anchors inside politics sunday, 8:00 a.m. eastern. it's also must-watch tv right here on cnn, and maggie, thanks to you, of course, as well. >> just ahead, vladimir putin and xi jinping join forces at the beijing olympics, sending a strong message to the u.s. and the west about ukraine. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." . -hey tex, -wooo. can someone else get a turn? 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>> very dramatic, wolf. it's critical at a time when washington is raising alarmed concerned about both russia and china being increasingly assertive in expanding their reach. this meeting between president x sxirx president putin signaling to the world really beijing will back the kremlin. that seems especially true with the ongoing ukraine crisis. state media has been trumpeting this meeting, we should point out, since before putin arrived here in beijing, even publishing a letter from the russian letter to the people of china. in the talks on friday, putin and xi vowed to deepen their strategic coordination, saying it will have an impact on china, russia, and the world at large. state media saying it will include close high level exchanges and spoupporting each other in sovereignty and interests. it's vital to look at how both countries look at ukraine and even taiwan right now. the two also not so subtly referring to the u.s. and vowing to respond to external clearance and security threats jointly. china and russia not only signaling this closeness and defiance of the west. this is also and perhaps more importantly, a message to nations and democracies that rely on the united states for global peace and stability. china and russia here asking those countries, can you really trust the u.s.? and suggesting they reconsider their loyalty to the west, wolf. >> that's really important. very significant. and nic, putin is among just a relatively small number of world leaders to actually go to beijing to attend the loolympic games. what benefit does putin get out of this meeting? >> he really got on the big global stage. he got a boost from standing next to president xi. a boost from what president xi said. when he gets back here to moscow, things get a bit more real again because he's going to have to deal with less favorable interlocutors. emmanuel macron is coming here monday. they have had three phone calls up to now which have been fairly productive, indeed, macron's office has been saying that the kremlin considers him, you know, a good interlock uter. macron's agender is on three different levels. one, he wants to talk to putin about getting the authorities in kyiv to talk to the separatists in kyiv. they don't want to do that. the government and kyiv doesn't. that's going to be a tough one. he wants to get russia to de-escalate its tensions or the perception of their, you know, possible intent to go into ukraine and invade ukraine. that's going to be a tough one. and then the big one that is going to have the hard sell with his allies is his talking about with putin a new security order in europe, where the european union has its own place aside nato. that's also big. >> certainly is. nic robertson in moscow, david culver in beijing, thank you very much. >> let's bring in our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, for some analysis. it's really dramatic, what's going on, jim. how do you read this very warm welcome of putin at the olympics and the joint statement that these two leaders put out? >> it's part of a bigger trend, and it's important, wolf. i wrote a book a couple years ago about how china and russia have similar strategies in undermining the u.s. and at the time, the view of most u.s. officials, china, russia experts was that while they had a meeting of interests, the two countries operated independently. they didn't really cooperate on trying to undermine the u.s. and stand up to the u.s. that has changed in the last two to three years. you're seeing increasing explicit cooperation between the two of them. we have seen this in joint military exercises around south korea, around japan. we have seen it in meetings in the capitals beijing and moscow. today, notably, to see xi jinping endorse explicitly in so many words putin's approach to ukraine, basically saying this is all about nato overextending into eastern europe to say we agree with that, is a marked demonstration that there is a closeness here. a meeting of the minds, a perception of shared interests, particularly in standing up to the u.s. and the west. that has consequences. that means the u.s. is not just facing two separate competitors in russia and china but facing two of them that are willing to team up and perhaps consequential ways. >> if putin does invade ukraine, what are the potential implications for the russia/china relationship? >> given that xi has in effect endorsed putin's justification or pre-justification for military action in ukraine, that's notable. but it also feeds into a sense of how the u.s. and the west react to russia and ukraine is going to be informative and already is informative to china in terms of what it does with taiwan. right? it doesn't mean that china's going to act on taiwan tomorrow, but it will look at that as a signal. can the u.s. respond? is it willing to respond militarily? will it be able to unify allies against such a land grab? and both china and russia have already done land grabs before. russia in ukraine with crimira. china in the south china sea. will they do it again? china will certainly be watching the outcome of what russia does with ukraine. >> while the united states u.s. diplomats, government leaders are boycotting the olympic games, just take a look at the company president xi is keeping. is this an opportunity to thumb their nose at the united states? >> the one thing uniting those five people on that screen there, right, these are not democratic governments. they're effectively authoritarian regimes. that's another meeting of the minds, right? and listen, the u.s. still has relations with egypt and saudi arabia. it's not necessarily a one or the other. but there is a demonstration there of, hey, you know, we have things we agree on. and u.s. leaders do see this and european leaders as well, as something bigger. it's a conflict of systems. open societies, democratic societies, versus authoritarian ones doesn't have to lead to war. no one wants it to lead to war, but at a minimum, it is a conflict in terms of the way forward, and that's one i think you and i are going to be talking about and reporting about a lot in the coming years. >> we certainly will be. jim sciutto, as usual, thank you very, very much. coming up, president biden touts a new jobs report that defied expectations. is the u.s. economy breaking free from the pandemic at last? stand by. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself... 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increase than predicted. the president was eager to tout the numbers as our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins reports. >> the u.s. economy breaking free from the grip of omicron tonight. >> america is back to work. >> president biden celebrating after the january jobs report beat expectations and added 467,000 jobs last month. despite coronavirus cases surging nationwide. >> our country is taking everything that covid throws at us and we have come back stronger. >> biden continuing his victory lap, highlighting how employers added a record 6.6 million jobs during his first year in office, shattering the records set by his predecessors. >> 6.6 million jobs. you can't remember another year when so many people went to work in this country. there's a reason, it never happened. >> the labor department also revising payroll totals for november and december, revealing that 700,000 more jobs were added than previously estimated. the unemployment rate ticking up a little to 4%, a sign of a positive trend as more people are looking for work. labor secretary marty walsh and other officials who had been bracing for the worst, pleasantly surprised. >> i think what we're seeing here is businesses learning to live with their employees during a pandemic. and i think that we're in a very different position when you think about the workplace today as compared to march, april, june of 2020. >> president biden noting that the economic fight against the pandemic isn't over yet. >> i know that january was a very hard month for many americans. i know that after almost two years, the physical and emotional weight of the pandemic has been incredibly difficult to bear for so many people. >> biden also acknowledging the pain that americans are feeling from inflation and promising to address it. >> average people are getting clobbered by the cost of everything today. prices at the pump are up. we're working to bring them down, but they're up. food prices are up. working to bring them down as well. >> now, of course, wolf, that second part is going to be challenging for president biden. inflation is at the highest point that it has been in decades, and we're going to get that new consumer price data next week. this job's report today also is indicating further that everyone is keeping their eyes on the federal reserve to see what it is they do about boosting those interest rates, wolf. >> that's so important n deed. kaitlan collins, thank you. let's get more on the jobs numbers and the economy with cnn's matt egan. do you expect this economic momentum to continue? what does this mean for the americans people who obviously, as was just noted, are still dealing with inflation? >> well, wolf, we know omicron delivered a shock to the united states. but we now know that it did not derail the jobs market. if anything, the u.s. economis in stronger shape than we thought it was, just 24 hours ago. not only did hiring continue unabated in january, but there were these sharp revisions from the end of last year. plus, more workers came off the sidelines to look for jobs despite covid. i think if you zoom out, there's a lot of signs that this is a strong recovery. gdp in 2021 grew at the fastest pace since 1984. unemployment down to 4%. a near record 4.3 million americans quit their jobs in december. many of them to get better jobs and wages up nearly 6% in january. of course, the problem is that although wages are hot, inflation is even hotter. consumer prices soaring by 7% in december. the fastest pace in 39 years. new numbers out next week likely to show inflation got even worse in january. so that's where the federal reserve is moving to inflation fighting mode. raising interest rates to try to get the cost of living down. but the fed is in a tough spot due to little inflation could be worse, do too much and it could prematurely end the recovery. that's where today's shockingly strong jobs report is. the better the economy is, the more room the fed has to raise interest rates. the u.s. economy still down 2.8 million jobs compared to february 2020. we could get back to pre-crisis levels sooner rather than later. >> matt egan, thank you very much. >> just ahead, breaking news. a jury finds michael avenatti guilty of defrauding his former client, stormy daniels. we'll have the latest on the verdict right after the break. aahhh let's get you lovebirds flying! book with priceline and you save more... so you can “ahhhh” more. - ahhh... - ahhhh... - ahhhhh!!!!!!! - ahhhhh!!!!!!! ahhhhh! ahhhhh! aaaaah... i'll see you at the hotel. priceline. every trip is a big deal. well, well, well. look at you. you mastered the master bath. you created your own style. and you - yes, you! turned a sourdough starter into a sourdough finisher. so when you learn your chronic dry eye is actually caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation you take it on, by talking to your eyecare professional about restasis®... which may help you make more of 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here. he was convicted of stealing nearly $300,000 from his former client, stormy daniels. that was part of a book advance. prosecutors shows the jury evidence he had created falsified her signature on wire transactions, spent the money and lied to her repeatedly about it. today was interesting in the courtroom. the jury sent a note around 10:00 a.m. saying that one juror was refusing to deliberate. in part the note read, please help us move forward, not going on any evidence. all emotions and does not understand the job of a jury. so the judge told the jury to continue to deliberate. he sent them back to do that around noon. two hours later, they came back with that unanimous verdict. after the verdict, avenatti spoke to reporters. here's what he said. >> i am very disappointed in the jury's verdict. i look forward to a full adjudication of all of the issues on appeal. thank you. >> avenatti represented himself at this trial, and he refused -- he did not take the stand to testify, which he's not required to do. so i asked him if he had any regrets. he said not at all. i was true to myself. the judge told him to surrender in california to u.s. marlshals on monday. >> thank you very much. let's get analysis from areva martin and the state attorney for palm beach county in florida, dave aronberg. stormy daniels told cnn, quote, theft is theft. forgery is forgery. seems the jury agreed. what do you make of the verdict? >> yeah, wolf. despite the oversized characters in this trial, this was simply a trial about theft. and the defense here was that avenatti was entitled to the money, there was this vague clause in the contract that said he was entitled to book related profits. but if that were the case and he really were entitled to it, why did he lie? why didn't he tell stormy daniels he had the money? why did he forge her signature? that undermined his defense. in the end, avenatti has been compared to icarus in greek mythology who flew too close to the sun. it wasn't that long ago that he was in iowa giving speeches in a bid to perhaps run for president. he was posting position papers on his twitter page. and appearing on every cable network. but if you do so and start throwing those verbal stones, you have to make sure you don't live in a glass house. >> a good point. avenatti said he's disappointed in the verdict, as you just heard, but he doesn't regret representing himself. how much do you think that risky choice actually impacted the outcome? >> well, you know, wolf, there's a popular saying that he who represents himself has a fool for a client. and i think that statement is absolutely true in this case. i don't know why he is disappointed. he did not put on a case, he did not testify himself. he did not call a single witness. and basically made the argument or tried to make the argument that because he had given a lot of legal hours in terms of service to stormy daniels on other matters and that he helped her get this book deal, that somehow he was entitled to this money. he also in his closing argument made a point that he didn't intend to defraud her and that the prosecution had not proven there was intent with respect to his conduct. but pretty straightforward case. he stole her money, the jury saw it, and they held him accountable for his actions. i'm not sure why he's disappointed. maybe just something to say. we expect possibly he'll file an appeal, but he's facing lots of legal issues, not just with this case. he's got to come back to california. there was a mistrial in a case where he was accused of stealing money from other clients and he's already been convicted for trying to extort money from nike. >> at the same time, as you know, dave, he's facing potentially 22 years in prison, very long time, obviously. what do you expect from this sentencing? >> i think he's going to get a prison sentence of over three years. he got 30 months in prison for extorting nike. but that was when he had a clean record. now, he's got a conviction on his record, based on that conviction. so his newest conviction will get him more. and he gets at least two years in prison for the crime of aggravated identity theft. then you have wire fraud, which can get you up to 20 years. this is not going to go well for michael avenatti. plus, after he's done with this, he has a separate trial for bank and tax fraud and he was also granted a mistrial for a different claim that he hurt his clients, embezzled money from his clients. i think he's going to spend significant time in prison in the near future. >> dave aronberg, areva martin, thank you so much. >> coming up, even as covid cases are easing in the u.s., the total number of denaths in the pandemic hit a gut-wrenching new level. with unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans, there's so much to take advantage of. like $0 copays on virtual visits... - wow! - uh-huh. ...$0 copays on primary care visits... ...and lab tests. - wow. - uh-huh. plus, $0 copays on tier 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(chicka-chicka) grubhub. we have more breaking news this hour. the u.s. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic just surpassed 900,000. let's bring in cnn medical analyst dr. lena wen. when you reflect on this milestone, more than 900,000 americans lost to this virus here in the u.s. over the past nearly two years, what goes through your mind? >> i think about all the individuals who have lost their loved ones. every single death of these 900,000 is so tragic. and i also think about the fact that so many hundreds of thousands of deaths occurred after vaccines became widely available. we now know people who are unvaccinated are 97 times more likely to die compared to people who are vaccinated and boosted. we have the tools. let's use them. >> and more than 2,000 americans are dying every single day still from this virus. even as the death toll climbs, dr. wen, coronavirus cases, though, they are only on the rise, take a look at this map, in one state. you can say we can start -- you say we can start removing at least some coronavirus restrictions now. tell us why. >> well, i agree with colorado, with many other local and state jurisdictions that are beginning to lift government mandates. i think this is the key. i'm not saying that we should be stopping masking. but rather that this needs to shift from a government requirement to an individual decision. the government can't keep on telling our citizens that this is a five-alarm fire all the time. people are just going to start tuning it out and not pay attention. they'll be desensitized. so what needs to happen is we need to end the state of emergency and preserve the ability of public health authorities to reinstitute mandates in the future if we see more dangerous variants later. >> really scared of that. the c ddc just publicly release waste water surveillance data for the first time. is this a potential game changer as officials are crafting their pandemic responses? >> we need a lot more early detection for early signals. and waste water helps us to do that. you actually get a signal four to six days before test positivity or cases begin to increase. that becomes even more important now when we're doing so many rapid at-home tests that are not being reflected in the official numbers. so i'm glad that the cdc is doing this. this will allow for more resources to be surged into areas. imagine if you find there's a part of the country that's having a sudden rise in cases. you know to focus on this place, including with mask mandates if need be, in that particular area. >> good point. dr. lena wen, thank you so much for that. we're going to have much more news just ahead, including a live report from beijing where the 2022 winter olympics are officially under way. it leads. welcome to the next level. the all-new lexus nx. ♪ getting the incredible iphone 13 without t-mobile, makes as much sense - as playing hide-in-seek... - ready or not, here i come. ...in the desert. really guys? 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>> well, my experience, wolf, being in the summer games in athens as the coach of the men's games was surreal. being the birthplace of the olympic games there was one of the biggest honors of my life. i think the biggest thing for the athletes that were there playing in our sport and other sports as well, wolf, it's always to meet the other athletes. always to be part of the olympic village. always to go to the other events. clearly this olympics is different. the political issues surrounding it continue to be a big factor. the human rights issues of the chinese government. clearly the chinese government is saying loud and clear, they don't care what we think. they could care at all. i will be interested if there are some athletes that do their own particular protests. i think it should be about us and the journalistic world who has not said much about these olympic games so far. >> well, i'm -- how much do all of these factors influence or over shadow the athletes' experience? >> you know, i don't think they really impact the athlete's experience and doing their jobs there and the best they can. the athletes come in. most of the olympics, as they can. the '90s, 90 plus% are there to participate. athletes have that ability, walt, to be focused, single-minded. they'll deal with the things they have to. get on the right bus and get their testing done and perform to the best of their ability. i think it's a little bit of a bummer for them that they're not obviously having all of the fans that they would normally have, but as far as the athletic part of the event, it will be just fine. what should people be excited about. >> i love to ski. i'm a big fan obviously of the skating as well. these are athletes that have worked their whole life, walt, to be in this position, to have this opportunity to do it. it is about the story telling. that's one thing nbc does very well is tell the individual stories because they are very, very amazing stories that we hear about from these olympic athletes. the ones that we know about, the ones that we don't know about. before i go, wolf, i have to say because i haven't seen you since that epic loss of your buffalo bills. my condolences. that was one of the greatest games in nfl history. i'm sorry your bills had to take the loss. >> it could have been the greatest game in nfl history if only the buffalo bills had won that, patrick mcenroe. thank you very much. appreciate it very much. we will continue this and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "out front" starts right now. "out front" next mike pence takes on trump telling the world, quote, pence is wrong. why now? why finally today? plus putin's power move today standing shoulder to shoulder with his chinese counterpart. what they are learning as they are deployed more jobs. has the pandemic lost its grip on the economy? let's "go out