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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Nancy Pelosi Vows to Impeach Trump if Pence Doesn't Remove Him; Corporations Sever Ties with Trump and Suspend Donations to Republicans; Stadiums and Arenas Gear Up to Become Mass Vaccination Sites. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 11, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world, this is EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: And I'm Laura Jarrett, it's Monday, January 11th, it's 5:00 a.m. here in New York. And we start this morning with House Democrats moving full steam ahead on a second impeachment of President Trump. This time for provoking the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said for the first time overnight, the house will move to impeach if Vice President Mike Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Well, sadly, the person who's running the executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States, and only a number of days until we can be protected from him, but he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The draft impeachment resolution includes just one article charging the president with incitement of insurrection. And Trump may not be the only target.
ROMANS: Speaker Pelosi is asking Democrats for inputs on invoking the 14th Amendment which bars anyone who is engaged in insurrection or rebellion from serving in Congress. Last week, about 150 Republicans voted to ignore electoral college votes even after violence erupted at the Capitol. Now, security concerns are intensifying over next week's inauguration. Our coverage begins with Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, good morning from Capitol Hill. It's going to be busy here on Monday because that's when Nancy Pelosi is ready to begin the process of impeaching President Trump for the second time now. She's going to give Vice President Mike Pence one more opportunity to begin the process of invoking the 25th Amendment, but if that doesn't happen, Pelosi said in a letter to her colleagues, that she's ready to begin the impeachment process. Now, we're not exactly sure how the timing of this is going to work. We know on Monday morning, she's going to introduce a resolution that essentially puts Pence on a time clock to decide whether or not he is going to move ahead with the 25th Amendment.
Now, she wants to initially introduce it under unanimous consent, which would likely mean a Republican would object to it. That would force a floor vote. So, it could extend into Tuesday, probably, the earliest is Wednesday that we would actually see the impeachment proceedings begin. And then of course, the question is, after it gets passed in the house, which is likely what happens to it in the Senate. There doesn't seem to be a real appetite with the Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell to begin the process of a trial and conviction of President Trump, particularly in the window before he leaves office in just now, less than 10 days.
So, this could be for the most part ceremonial. There is also the option that they impeach the president now, but then hold on to those articles of impeachment until after the Democrats can take control of the Senate. There's still a lot we don't know. The only thing we know for sure though, is that the house speaker is prepared to begin the process of doing at least something to hold President Trump accountable for his role in the riots that took place here last Wednesday. Laura and Christine?
JARRETT: Ryan, thank you for that. One argument for waiting to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate is the Biden agenda. Democratic House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Sunday, "it's important to give the incoming president enough time to tackle the critical issues facing this country, like of course, coronavirus, and nominations of federal judges before the start of a time-consuming Senate trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Let's give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we'll send the articles sometime after that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has told his colleagues that even if the house moves to impeach the president, the Senate will not return to session before January 19th. That means the start of the trial would be January 20th, the same day as Biden's inauguration. And Christine, you have to imagine this was not how the incoming president --
ROMANS: Right --
JARRETT: President-elect Biden imagined that his first couple of days, maybe even perhaps 100 days in office would go. But if you genuinely believe that this president violated his oath of office and you're a member of Congress, how do you not vote to impeach him?
ROMANS: Right, I mean, consequences here really important. But at the same time, there's a Biden legislative agenda that is pretty --
JARRETT: Right --
ROMANS: Important for Americans. I mean, there are a few things that terrify me here. You've got a guaranteed paid sick leave has expired. That leaves millions of Americans out there unprotected. And that could be counter protective actually for containing the virus as well.
[05:05:00]
Four million Americans have been unemployed for 6 months or longer. We know economists say that can be hard to come back from for a family. That's really critical. And women we know are getting slammed --
JARRETT: Yes --
ROMANS: By the jobs crisis, women accounting for, you know, the net job loss in the month, that was all women. So there's a lot to be done right here. You want to make sure that Congress is laser-focused on that agenda.
JARRETT: Well, as America confronts the reality of this attempted coup, experts warn the calls for more violence have only intensified ahead of inauguration day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tell me that's stuck on the bar, just go home, OK?! You see me, just go home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The more video that emerges, the more terrifying this deadly riot becomes. In this latest video, you can see the mob dragging an officer down a set of stairs, I'm sure you'll see it in a second, as they beat him with flag poles, American flags, Trump flags and sticks. This was ten minutes after the White House posted that video with the president saying -- you all remember this, we love you. Also, go home.
ROMANS: Right. There were blue lives matter flags in that crowd, yet, they're attacking a Metro D.C. police officer. New details overnight about what was happening behind the scenes from outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund who has -- who was forced to resign, given all the security failures. Sund has faced criticism for failing to ask other agencies for backup. But now tells the "Washington Post", he asked for the D.C. National Guard to be put on standby, but he says those requests were turned down by the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms because it would look bad. They have since being forced out as well, and have not commented.
JARRETT: Sund also tells "The Post", he called the Pentagon in the middle of all this, saying quote, "I am making an urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance. I have got to get boots on the ground, only to be told by an army official again, optics were a problem." Quote, "I don't like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background", the official said according to Sund and others on the call. This echoes what other officials have been saying for days now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): Our Guard mobilized and was ready, but we couldn't actually cross over the border into D.C. without the OK. And that was quite some time. We kept running it up the flag pole. Our general is talking to the National Guard generals. We had already been mobilizing. We already had our police there. We already had our Guard mobilized, and we were just waiting for that call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sund says he suspects that pipe bombs at Republican and Democratic headquarters were an intentional effort to draw officers away from the Capitol as terrorists looked for lawmakers. CNN learned overnight, federal authorities are working to determine the level of coordination among the insurrection including members of law enforcement and the military. Among the question, was there a plan to hold members of Congress hostage, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or even Vice President Mike Pence who of course refused to bend to Trump's orders to overturn the will of the voters.
It's just something, those images of the zip ties, you know, the -- and I know that there are arrest warrants for those people who were walking around with zip ties there.
JARRETT: It's just chilling to think how bad this could have been, given how bad it already was. And the fallout growing this morning for those who inflamed the crowd before terror broke out at the Capitol. The PGA Tour is canceling plans to play its 2020 championship at a Trump golf course. And tech company Stripe will no longer process payments for the Trump campaign's website, interrupting a huge revenue stream for the outgoing president. Some of America's biggest companies are also suspending donations to Republican Congress members who objected to the electoral college votes. Companies like Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Marriott.
And now Parler, the social media platform favored by some conservatives has been forced offline entirely. Google and Amazon pulled the app, then Amazon pulled the site from its web services entirely.
ROMANS: In Vermont, Middlebury College is taking steps to revoke Rudy Giuliani's honorary degree and more calls for Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to resign for backing house lawmakers who wanted to toss out electoral college votes. After the "Kansas City Star" called for Hawley to resign last week, the "Houston Chronicle" now saying the same for Ted Cruz. Quote, "we're done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives".
JARRETT: As all this is happening, members of Congress will now have increased security while traveling through airports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lindsey Graham, you are a traitor to the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Several senators, including South Carolina's Lindsey Graham there, you can see were harassed at airports in the wake of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. Graham who has vigorously backed this president for years now was confronted by Trump supporters at Reagan National Airport after upholding the electoral college vote.
ROMANS: All right, big facilities nationwide opening their doors as mass vaccination sites. Is this enough to speed up a program that has to work, so we can return to normalcy?
[05:10:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Giants arenas and stadiums are stepping up to get Americans vaccinated faster. Minute Maid Park in Houston, State Farm Stadium in Arizona, Alamodome in San Antonio and Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, all trying to repurpose their facilities into mass vaccination sites. But logistics are challenging between filling out forms and social distancing, only so many slots are available each day.
JARRETT: This as President-elect Biden is changing course from the Trump administration. He's planning to release nearly every available dose of vaccines that could quickly ratchet up availability, but it also comes with some risks. Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines, remember, require two doses at specific intervals and manufacturing has not ramped up as rapidly as many experts had hoped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: The game has changed on the vaccine. We really need to get this vaccine out more quickly because this is really our only tool, our only backstop against the spread of these new variants. If we can get a lot of people vaccinated quickly, we might be able to get enough protective immunity into the population, and this stops spreading at the rate that it is.
[05:15:00]
So, we need to acknowledge that it's not working, we need to hit the reset and adopt a new strategy in trying to get it out to patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: New York City is planning to open three additional 24-hour vaccination sites this week, adding to an expanding list.
ROMANS: The race to test and vaccinate people is being put on hold today for football. CNN has reporters covering the coronavirus pandemic from coast to coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Natasha Chen. As the vaccine
rollout in Florida gets off to a shaky start with all night lines and crashed servers, a new snag, a college football game. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will pause COVID-19 testing today and only open for three hours of administering vaccines because of the College Football National Championship game scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. The football game will be held with a maximum of about 16,000 spectators who are required to wear masks. Meanwhile, the CDC says Florida has administered nearly 30 percent of available vaccine doses. On Sunday, the state reported more than 12,000 new cases of COVID-19, the highest Sunday records since the Summer spike.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN REPORTER: I'm Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles. Hospitals in this region absolutely overwhelmed by COVID-19 deaths. On Beverly Boulevard in Montebello, two funeral home chains reckoning with the absolute constant flow of the dead coming inside. You can see a grease board where they have listed the names of the loved ones who have passed, the hearse driver, also the cemetery and other parts that are key to the services. They say that they're having to turn away clients here. They're just overwhelmed, and one funeral home has a trailer on it where dozens of bodies are stored inside.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Polo Sandoval at one of New York City's so-called vaccine mega sites now offering that sought after vaccine 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to eligible people. The list of those who can come here with an appointment now including teachers, first responders and now people over the age of 75. The Javits Center here in New York City that last year served as a COVID field hospital will be a vaccination distribution center. New York, very ambitious here, trying to vaccinate at least a million people before next month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Thanks to all of our correspondents for those reports. Lawmakers and their staffers now are being warned of possible coronavirus exposure all from that rioting at the Capitol. The Capitol's attending physician says house members who huddled together for safety during the deadly siege may have been exposed to someone infected with the virus. Six members of the house have tested positive since being sworn in last week.
ROMANS: All right, a new Democratic majority in Congress. What that could mean for your paycheck, coronavirus relief, student loan debt and more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:00]
JARRETT: Rescuers say they have located the black boxes of that Indonesian passenger jet that crashed in the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday. The search operation resumes today, there appears to be no hope of finding any survivors. Twelve crew members and 50 passengers were on board when the flight vanished from radar, including a pregnant woman and a family of five. Family members gathered Sunday at a victim identification center where they waited for any news of their loved ones.
ROMANS: All right, 22 minutes past the hour. President-elect Joe Biden inherits the health crisis, of course, an economy far below pre- pandemic strength. But Democratic control of the house, the Senate and the White House could mean more targeted fiscal stimulus to help make families whole. Control of all three branches of government gives the incoming Biden administration an advantage with its agenda, first, stimulus checks. At the end of last year, the house passed a bill to increase direct checks to $2,000. It faced opposition in the Senate. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer says the $2,000 payments are a priority now, but he's facing some push-back from West Virginia's Joe Manchin who wants more targeted relief.
Biden is also under pressure from the left-wing of his party to forgive student loan debt. He'll have to sell moderates on that. It could be tough. Biden also wants to raise taxes on rich people, roll back some 2017 corporate tax cuts, and has promised not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year. Many economists have said the economy will need more help to get back on track. Biden has called the recent $900 billion stimulus package a down payment, and said, more money will be needed. But Laura, just about every aspect of your financial life here is pretty much up for discussion here as we head into the Spring.
JARRETT: A new day. Still ahead, Donald Trump is poised to become the first president to be impeached twice. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ready to fast-track a vote if the vice president doesn't come up with a plan to remove Trump soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:25:00]
JARRETT: Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: Good morning, I'm Christine Romans. It's 28 minutes past the hour. And house Democrats moving ahead on a second impeachment of President Trump, this time for provoking the deadly insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said for the first time overnight, the house will move to impeach if Vice President Mike Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: Sadly, the person who is running the executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States, and that only a number of days until we can be protected from him, but he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The draft impeachment resolution includes just one article charging the president with incitement of insurrection, and Trump may not be the only target.
JARRETT: Speaker Pelosi, we're told, is asking Democrats for input on invoking the 14th Amendment which bars anyone who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion from Congress -- sorry, from serving in Congress. Just last week, about 150 Republicans voted to ignore the electoral college votes even after all of the violence erupted at the Capitol. Now security concerns are intensifying over next week's inauguration. Our coverage begins with Jeremy Diamond at the White House.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine and Laura. That move by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi making it increasingly likely that President Trump will be the first president in American history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. Now, of course, a trial in the Senate is another matter, highly unlikely to happen before President Trump leaves office.
