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Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) is Interviewed about Stimulus and the Veto Override; Washington Nursing Home Begins Vaccinations. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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


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[08:30:18]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of developments in Washington overnight.

Dozens of Republicans joined House Democrats in a vote to increase the amount of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 for struggling Americans. Also, more than 100 House Republicans again joined Democrats to override President Trump's veto of the defense bill. Now, both of those measures are heading to the Senate.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark. Next week she becomes the fourth highest ranking member of the House as assistant speaker.

Good morning, Congresswoman.

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's talk about what happened yesterday. The House passed these $2,000 checks for struggling Americans. What is going to happen, do you believe, when that is in Mitch McConnell's hands?

CLARK: Well, it was a good day yesterday for the American people when Congress and even some of my Republican friends across the aisle decided to invest in families that are suffering and offered them a lifeline. These checks can literally make a difference for families between surviving this pandemic and not. And so it's up to Mitch McConnell. It is long past time that he schedule a vote on making sure that American families have what they need to get through this pandemic.

CAMEROTA: He doesn't seem inclined to do that. Do you have any information that there is going to be a vote on this?

CLARK: No, not at this time. And that is a pattern that is well- established with Mitch McConnell.

Let's go back and think about in May, when all of this was foreseeable, everything that your last panel just talked about with vaccine distribution, the economic hit to families, the suffering, the 40 million Americans who are now on the verge of homelessness, the 8 million that have fallen into poverty. And what was Mitch McConnell's response then? He said let's hit pause. Let's wait and see.

And so we have been at a negotiating table for seven months often by ourselves as Democrats. But here we are and we finally have the ability to garner some Republican support and get this done for the American people. And Mitch McConnell has to step up to the plate.

CAMEROTA: This Sunday the new Congress will be sworn in and you will be joined by a bunch of new members, including some new progressives. And this past weekend, they were on "State of the Union" with Dana Bash and it sounded like they were not necessarily on board with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's leadership.

So let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORI BUSH (D), MISSOURI CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: What I'm going to do is make sure that the voices of the people of St. Louis are heard and that we have what we need. And so you'll find out then.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: That's not a yes.

BUSH: I'm working with my community. That -- I'm working with my community.

BASH: OK.

And, Congressman-elect Bowman, will you vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker?

JAMAAL BOWMAN (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: So you will find out when my vote is tallied. And, again, organizing with our community to figure out what's best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What do you think of those responses?

CLARK: Well, I can tell you, as a proud progressive myself, that I am going to be voting for Nancy Pelosi because I think she has been a remarkable leader through these very turbulent and challenging times for our country. And I think that our new members are doing exactly what they should be doing, checking in with their constituents, making sure that they understand the best way to fight for their families at home. And, you know, this is -- this is a new role for them and they're taking it seriously and there's nothing wrong with that.

CAMEROTA: Do you think, though --

CLARK: But I am confident that --

CAMEROTA: Though, I mean, my question, I guess, is that now, with -- with President-elect Joe Biden picking some Democratic members from Congress for his cabinet, there's only a three-vote margin in the House for Democrats now. And so do you think that the fact that they seem to be on the fence, the progressives seem to be on the fence, that it will affect Nancy Pelosi or Democrats' agenda going forward?

CLARK: Absolutely not. Our agenda, we are unified behind. And we are so grateful to have a powerful new ally in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris joining us in Washington. It is long past time that we change the focus and put it back, not on the wealthy and well-connected, but back on to American families who are suffering in this time.

[08:35:10]

We have to address this pandemic and we have to look at all the inequities that it has exposed. We knew they were there before, but now we are going to have a powerful president who can help us in our agenda. And if you look back over the last two years at the work done by House Democrats, we put American families first. We put the their jobs first. We put making sure that they are healthy first. We put the national security of our country first. And that is the work we are going to continue to do in this new Congress. And we are going to have a president who believes in the same things, who believes in Americans and knows that when we make families strong, we make our country strong.

CAMEROTA: President-elect Joe Biden gave a speech yesterday in which he forcefully basically declared that he's not getting cooperation from some elements of the Trump administration, namely the Department of Defense, and that they're obstructing his transition. So now what?

CLARK: Well, once again, this president and his administration is putting their own narcissism over national security. It is outrageous and it is dangerous that they are acting in this way. But we have seen it. We have seen a president who has lied to the American people and misrepresented this pandemic and its effects and now is misrepresenting and lying about the election. He cannot take in the fact that he lost to Joe Biden. And so he is, you know, acting in a petulant and childish and selfish way.

But he is the president of the United States and when he acts that way it has real ramifications for our national security. I think you've seen that play out just this week in vetoing the NDAA, our national security funding, in part because he does not want to meet this moment of racial reckoning and get rid of confederate general's names from our military bases and installations. This is --

CAMEROTA: And so -- so do you worry about our national security for the next 23 days?

CLARK: I do. I have worried about our national security for the last four years. Don't forget, we have had this president, who tried to sell our elections off to foreign governments, inviting foreign interference in. That is the offense for which he was impeached.

And this is a hallmark of this presidency. But it is going to be chaotic to the end. We have to get through it. We have to remain holding him accountable and make sure that we have the information that Joe Biden needs to get through this lame duck period and to guide our country back to safety and security.

CAMEROTA: Congresswoman Katherine Clark, thank you very much for your time. Great to have you on NEW DAY.

CLARK: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, we have some breaking news right now.

A powerful earthquake has just struck eastern Europe. Reports of homes and schools collapsing. We have all of the breaking details and some video for you, next.

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[08:42:57]

CAMEROTA: We do have some breaking news.

A powerful earthquake has rattled eastern Europe. The magnitude 6.4 quake struck central Croatia flattening buildings, including a kindergarten classroom. The local mayor says no children were inside at the time. The residents are reportedly pulling people out of cars. They are searching for loved ones. It is not yet clear how many people there have been injured.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in the U.S., the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Columbus, Ohio, has now been fired. New body camera footage -- this is it here -- shows Officer Adam Coy shoot Andre Hill seconds into their encounter, just seconds, at a home that Hill was visiting. Hill was holding a cellphone. Police chief pushed for Coy to be fired, saying the use of deadly force was not reasonable. The chief also said the officer failed to immediately give Hill first aid. Hill's family is demanding justice.

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KARISSA HILL, ANDRE HILL'S DAUGHTER: It just looked like murder. How can we pay these people to walk around and still be on payroll and murder?

ALVIN WILLIAMS, ANDRE HILL'S BROTHER: Andre was shot multiple times, four times, and he was actually just left for dead and could have been many possibilities for him to maybe to survive his injuries and he was just killed like an animal. Killed like an animal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: No first aid administered.

State investigators are now looking into Andre Hill's death and the mayor said that the Justice Department might step in as well. So far none of the officers involved have been charged.

CAMEROTA: Accused Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell will remain behind bars pending her trial on sex trafficking charges after a federal judge again rejected her plea for bail. Maxwell proposed a $28 billion bail package that would include friends and family pledging their assets and Maxwell remaining in the custody of a private security guard at a New York City home. But the judge ruled for a second time that her wealth, international ties and, quote, willingness to deceive make her an extreme flight risk.

[08:45:06]

CAMEROTA: Well, the first vaccinations have finally arrived at one of the hardest hit nursing homes of the very beginning of the U.S. pandemic. We'll take you there next.

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CAMEROTA: The Washington state nursing home that was ravaged by the first cluster of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has begun vaccinating residents and staff.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live in Kirkland, Washington, with more.

So how's it going there, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, for once I can say it's going well. This has been ten months in the making. And for ten months, you know, at the very beginning of all this, this really was the first epicenter of a major coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Back then things were extremely chaotic. There were finally smiles and some cheering when the vaccine showed up yesterday.

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ALICE CORTEZ, NURSING MANAGER, LIFE CARE CENTER OF KIRKLAND: That feels good.

SIDNER (voice-over): These were some of the very first people in the United States to go to war with a new virus without weapons to fight it. Ten months into the pandemic, they are finally getting the most powerful weapon available, a vaccine.

SIDNER: What is this day like for you?

CORTEZ: What I feel right now is a new life, a new beginning, but a better life.

SIDNER (voice-over): This was the first epicenter of America's deadly coronavirus outbreak.

[08:50:05]

SIDNER: What was your most difficult day?

CHELSEY EARNEST, NURSING DIRECTOR: March 4th.

SIDNER (voice-over): Registered nurse Chelsey Earnest cannot get the memory of what happened that day out of her head.

EARNEST: That was the night there was like five ambulances in the parking lot.

SIDNER (voice-over): Patients were dying or needed to be hospitalized. Ultimately, 39 patients died, ten died at the facility.

SIDNER: Whose job was it to call the family members?

EARNEST: There were many that -- that I had to call to either say they were going out to the hospital or that they didn't make it.

SIDNER (voice-over): The trauma of those days in March and the family members' cries haunts them all. That same month, several members of the staff spoke to CNN. Life Care Center said in the first few days they begged government agencies for help and received little.

SIDNER: Did you get what you need when you needed it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.

SIDNER (voice-over): Testing took days to get the results then. Now they have a rapid test that takes minutes. Initially, the staff was blamed for not controlling the COVID outbreak by just about everyone.

EARNEST: We got threats.

SIDNER: What kind of threats?

EARNEST: All kinds of death threats. We ended up getting security.

SIDNER (voice-over): And, soon, threats of a loss in funding and a fine of $611,000 unless the facility resolved problems found by inspectors. Federal inspectors said Life Care failed to rapidly identify and manage all residents, putting them in immediate jeopardy. State inspectors reported similar findings. Life Care Center appealed.

NANCY BUTNER, VICE PRESIDENT, LIFE CARE NORTHWEST DIVISION: We knew what we had done was the best we could have done.

SIDNER (voice-over): In September, a state administrative judge largely agreed, saying the state provided relatively little evidence that the facility actually failed to meet any expected standard of care or failed to follow public health guidelines. The federal case is still pending.

Ten months after the initial chaos of the outbreak, the closest we could get was a look from the outside in. In-person visits are still forbidden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you guys cover his legs up?

SIDNER (voice-over): The chairs outside patients' windows, used by families to communicate in March, are now a semi-permanent fix here. This facility is COVID-free right now but several of the nursing homes Nancy Butner oversees are not.

BUTNER: There is not a day that goes by where I don't get a phone call or a message that we have a new positive patient or staff. SIDNER: Coronavirus is still killing patients?

BUTNER: Absolutely.

SIDNER: Still sickening staff?

BUTNER: Yes.

SIDNER (voice-over): Which is why this day is one of the most hopeful days they've had. But for this physician's assistant, the day was bittersweet.

CHRISTY CARMICHAEL, PHYSICIANS ASSISTANT, LIFE CARE CENTER FO KIRKLAND: I have one resident who last week asked me if she can get the vaccination. I said, sure you can. Unfortunately, she passed away. So I did promise her that she would get it, so it's just sad that she didn't get to see this today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And you can hear the sorrow in Christy Carmichael's voice. It was a hard day for her, but ultimately a good day, a day that gave her and some of the patients who also got the vaccine some hope.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Sara, that is the -- that is the sad truth. It is too late for hundreds of thousands of people. So now has everyone there at that facility gotten the vaccine?

SIDNER: Everyone who wanted the vaccine got the vaccine. It's interesting, I had a conversation with the vice president of the northwest region of Life Care Centers and she said, look, we sent out a survey and I found this really interesting. She said, we sent a survey out in the beginning before we did a lot of education and 20 percent of the staff said that they didn't think they would ever take the vaccine. They have tried to do more education, tried to get more people to agree to it, not just in this facility but in facilities across America because they have them across America. That is always going to be an issue. There are some folks that have, for example, allergies or religious rejection of getting a vaccine. But, ultimately, most of the folks here got it, including the patients.

And I do want to mention this. At the very beginning of all of this, when these nurses were being blamed, they were being threatened, they knew once they realized what was happening inside of this facility, they knew that this would probably happen to other facilities, it was just a matter of time and certainly it did. The latest numbers from the federal agency that overlooks nursing homes says more than 86,000 nursing home residents across America have died from coronavirus.

Alisyn and Jim.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, the numbers are just so stroking.

Sara, thank you very much. SIDNER: They are.

SCIUTTO: Boy, I think we need this, this morning in particular. Time for "The Good Stuff."

A disabled three-year-old in Denver was given the gift of mobility by a young stranger 1,000 miles away. When Seattle area eighth grader Eli Murphy heard about Oli Horton's (ph) plight, there he is, he made it his own mission to help him.

[08:55:04]

He adapted a ridable electric Jeep, fitting it with an easy to control steering system, new pedals and safety features.

Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELI MURPHY, 8TH GRADER ADAPTED RIDEABLE TOY FOR DISABLED THREE-YEAR- OLD: Because it felt like the right thing to do. But I was also looking for something to do while COVID was going and just gave me some sanity kind of throughout this tough time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time he learned something new on the Jeep you can just see him light up. And that empowerment is really, really fun for us to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Eli built Oli's new ride for less than $400, including the Jeep, far less than an electric wheelchair, which can run tens of thousands of dollars.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. I'm going to introduce Eli to my eighth grader who focuses on TikTok over building things and inventing things.

SCIUTTO: Oh, yes. I mean it gives you hope.

CAMEROTA: It does.

SCIUTTO: I mean there are moments like this every day around the country and God bless him.

CAMEROTA: I'll see you tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: I'll be here.

CAMEROTA: And CNN's coverage continues next.

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