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New Day

The Worlds Biggest Tech Companies Are Taking Action To Silence President Trump; Interview With Jean Evans Who Resigned Because Of The Treats From Trump Supports Days Before The Capitol Siege; Parler, For Social Networking Sometimes Considered Twitter Without Rules But They Say That Is Changing; Stripe, A Credit Card Processing Company, Means Trump Can't Accept Donations Anymore, Hurting His Business Interests. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 11, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: What should happen to Republican Senator Josh Hawley? Hawley was the first senator to object to counting Joe Biden's electoral votes, a decision he stuck with even after the deadly siege on the capitol. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, MISSOURI (R): What we're doing here tonight is actually very important.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Josh Hawley facing fierce backlash for his role in challenging the election results. The 41-year-old freshman from Missouri was the first senator to publically object to the Electoral College certification process.

Now, he's being blamed for instigating the riot on Capitol Hill that resulted in a death of five people, even by his own Republican colleagues.

SEN. BEN SASSE, NEBRASKA (R): Senator Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass. This was a stunt. It was a terrible, terrible idea.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY, PENNSYLVANIA (R): I do think people who knowingly contributed to that, people who knew better and nevertheless encouraged that belief. They've got a lot of soul searching to do.

MALVEAUX: Hawley's actions are also drawing criticism back home in Missouri. An editorial in the Kansas City Star says, "He deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that's been shed."

Hawley's mentor Former Missouri Senator John Danforth says supporting his was "the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life." And one major Missouri donor is calling on the Senate to censor Hawley for his "irresponsible inflammatory and dangerous tactics."

SEN. HAWLEY: This is the appropriate place for these concerns to be raised.

MALVEAUX: Hawley has now lost a book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster which he calls "Orwellian" and "a direct assault on the first amendment." Hawley was seen outside the capitol encouraging Trump supporters before the insurrection. During the siege itself, Democrats reached out to Hawley.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA (D): I asked him personally when we were all in the room together in that locked down room. I said, "Josh, please, please reconsider what you're doing here and what it's doing to our country."

MALVEAUX: But Hawley refused to back down.

SEN. HAWLEY: Violence is never warranted and violence will not be tolerated. This body will act to address the concerns of all American s across the country. We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud. We do need a way forward together.

MALVEAUX: At least six Democratic Senators are now calling on Hawley and Texas Senator Ted Cruz to resign.

SEN. CHRIS COONS, DELAWARE (D): I've called for them to resign. What I'll be looking for in the coming days and weeks is whether they take any accountability.

MALVEAUX: When asked whether Senators Hawley and Ted Cruz who also objected to election certification should resign, President Elect Joe Biden said--

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT ELECT: I think they should be just flat beaten the next time they run. I think the American public has a real good clear look at who they are.

MALVEAUX: Hawley and Cruz are both up for reelection to the Senate in 2024. But they might have their eyes on another office that year, the presidency. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: And joining us now is Jean Evans. She was the Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party until she resigned because of threats from Trump supporters days before the capitol siege.

She was also a Missouri state representative. Representative Evans, thank you very much for being here. So, what was your breaking point? What got you to the point of feeling that you needed to walk away and resign?

JEAN EVANS, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MISSOURI REPUBLICAN PARTY: I think the tweets from the president encouraging people to come to the mall and to come to D.C. We had been getting indications from the campaign and from the RNC that they knew that the election was over and that he had lost.

So, this sense of false hope of coming on the sixth and somehow overturning the election was just something that I couldn't defend. And in my position you have to be able to support and defend all of your elected officials and that was just not something I felt like I could do. And I really did not want to be in that position on the sixth.

CAMEROTA: And as I understand it, you also believed that violence was going to be inevitable. So what made you think that?

EVANS: I don't know if I thought it was inevitable. I certainly -- if I really thought it was inevitable I think I would have raised alarm bells but I noticed the tone and tenor of people who were contacting me was getting angrier and angrier.

And I think that if you invite that many people with a false hope of what's going to happen there are bound to be repercussions, hopefully not violence.

I mean, I always hope there's not violence. But I think that -- I really think the president should have known better and certainly should not have encouraged people to come in such large numbers and with some of the rhetoric that he used.

[07:35:00]

CAMEROTA: I mean, you were getting messages that were saying things like you need to do something. You need to bus us to Washington, D.C. What were those messages like?

EVANS: Yes, they were voicemails, and those sort of messages telling me to get off of my you know what and do more for the president and we need to stand up and fight and even to the point of we need to come together on the sixth and overturn this election. So those are the sort of things that just really are not Republican to me. They're certainly not American. We believe in the Constitution and the rule of law, and those aren't things that I want to participate in. And in general, Republicans aren't protestors and the party apparatus is never an apparatus that supports protest. It's just not something that we do. We do rallies and we do events for our elected officials, but we don't do protests.

CAMEROTA: And when you say that you got to the point where you could no longer defend the elected officials, what about Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri? I mean, could you defend what he was doing?

EVANS: So I really like Josh Hawley. I worked with him when I was in the legislature. I know him personally. I think he's a great person. I think he made a mistake here. I do think, though, he was responding to what we're hearing on the ground here in Missouri of people concerned about irregularities in the election, and I do think that the states where some of these irregularities occurred need to take a look at that, and that's part of what will help us come together. We need to feel like our vote is secure. So I understood why he was responding to a large number of people in Missouri that just do not feel like the election results were fair. Whether they're right or not, that is a concern, and as an elected representative it's his job to respond to those concerns. CAMEROTA: But as a leader isn't it also his job to tell them that they're unwarranted? I mean, sure. There's irregularities in every single election but not enough to overturn the results. He knew that.

EVANS: Well I think that, you know, the legal team was not able to prove a lot of these accusations they were making -

CAMEROTA: Any of them. There were 60.

EVANS: -- so that -

(LAUGHTER)

-- that is a concern. It's very difficult to prove voter fraud as we've known for years, but in this case I think it was very unfortunate that they were making promises about evidence that they had but then they were unwilling to present that evidence in court. So to me if you're going to --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Maybe because they didn't have any.

EVANS: Well then be angry at the legal team. That's what I say to folks who are upset about this because if they're going to make a promise they need to deliver on it, and they weren't able to do that.

CAMEROTA: Correct. And so, since they didn't do it, shouldn't Josh Hawley as a leader have been able to quell some of the great, you know, dissatisfaction with that and tell them there was no evidence. Isn't that what a leader's job is?

EVANS: Well I got to tell you I definitely disagree with how he handled this here, but I don't agree with how all of my leaders handled things. It's unusual to agree with any of your leaders 100 percent of the time, and I think that in this case he mishandled it, and it think there'll be consequences for that.

CAMEROTA: Such as? What do you think is going to happen with him?

EVANS: Well I did - we're already seeing some of his donors have backed away from him, and I think some of his colleagues have backed away. And having served in the state house I understand how important it is to have those relationships when you're trying to accomplish things. If people don't feel like they can trust you it's hard to move legislation forward. And so, I think that it'll be challenging for him, but he's very intelligent and if he continues to work hard and prove himself to his colleagues he'll be able to eventually repair that damage.

CAMEROTA: We'll see. I mean, the Kansas City Star editorial is saying if Missouri Senator Josh Hawley had a conscious he'd resign. He'll have to be removed. The Washington Post says thousands - 5,000 law school alumni and students are pushing for the disbarment of Senator Hawley and Cruz, and as you know we just played Senator Ben Sasse saying Senator Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass. So look, we'll see.

EVANS: Well I (inaudible). Yes, I have to say, you know, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris was raising money to bail out rioters and looters after the Minneapolis riots, so I mean if that's OK then -

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Well I mean people do put an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol in a different category. You know, five people -

(CROSSTALK)

EVANS: I understand.

CAMEROTA: -- are dead. But Jean Evans, thank you very much. We really appreciate getting your perspective on everything that happened with your job as well as Senator Hawley. Thank you very much for being on New Day.

EVANS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So the world's biggest tech companies taking action to silence President Trump's megaphone. We'll tell you about the latest service to go offline overnight. That's next.

[07:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:30]

BERMAN: This morning President Trump is a man without a megaphone, knocked off his favorite social media sites after citing the deadly insurrection of the U.S. Capitol.

Overnight, Parler, the social media platform favored by conservatives was forced offline entirely.

CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter joins us with the very latest. I have to say this silence has been stunning and revealing in many ways.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, isn't a little bit eerie not to be hearing from President Trump at all hours of the day. We've all become so accustomed to be led around by the tweet instead of by the nose, but no more. All weekend long banned by Twitter.

And as you mentioned, Parler is this ongoing -- it's not a game, but game of whack-a-mole, what we saw over the weekend where Google, Apple and then Amazon all taking moves against Parler because this social network, sometimes considered Twitter without rules, really doesn't have any rules in place for content moderation.

Now, Parler claims that's changing, they claim they're taking action. But it's too late. Amazon basically took the servers offline overnight, so Parler is no more. Parler only matter because far right extremists were using to gather and organize and make further threats.

And what's happening here is all across the internet these extremists are trying to find places to hide and plan what to do next, right? To continue this big lie about Trump winning the election and Biden stealing it. They're trying to find places to organize and these big tech companies are shutting them down.

This is bigger than Trump, right? Twitter, Facebook, they all fear that Trump will use their platforms to insight further violence, they're trying to protect the public from the president. But, they're also trying to protect users and the public from these extremists who are trying to organize online.

BERMAN: Now.

CAMEROTA: Now.

STELTER: Now.

BERMAN: I mean, now.

[07:45:00]

CAMEROTA: Now. I mean, they're a little slow on the uptake. You know, I guess it just takes a deadly insurrection for them to figure out that people were spewing hateful violent rhetoric on there.

Here are the social media restrictions that -- where that have restricted President Trump. So, it's -- it's Twitter, as you say, also SnapChat, also Apple, also Twitch, also Facebook, Amazon, Google, Instagram, YouTube, Shopify. I mean, this is -- this is just really an interesting moment, Brian. And I'm not sure when you talk about whack- a-mole where will this pop up next? I mean, has this licked the problem or what do we need to prepare for?

STELTER: Well I think in many ways this has further infuriated that core part of the Trump base that is so loyal to him, that will do anything for him, watching these platforms go down, taking Trump down, I think it actually causes further anger and frustration.

But, what's missing in the conversation in right wing media is that this happening because of the incitement of violence, because of the threat. We have a group of Americans that have been radicalized on these platforms. We know from Middle East terror experts that the internet accelerates the radicalization process. It makes people get more extreme, more quickly.

Facebook and Twitter are belatedly acknowledging that, trying to make sure there's no more blood on their hands. And by the way, I think one of the most interesting platforms that has taken off Trump, Shopify.

Also last night, Stripe, it's a credit card processing company, which means Trump can't accept donations anymore. This is going to affect his business interests, if -- if he'll have any business left in the coming years.

CAMEROTA: I hope the 30 -- the $300 million that he's already raised from supporters since his loss --

STELTER: Oh yes, there is that.

CAMEROTA: -- is -- will be enough to live on.

BERMAN: You know, one thing that we should have noted that we didn't note, is that the PGA announced it's pulling the PGA Championship --

STELTER: Yes.

BERMAN: -- from the Club at Bedminster, so this hitting President Trump in the wallet, which you know is something, if nothing else gets to him, that will.

STELTER: That will.

BERMAN: Brian, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

BERMAN: Joe Biden will assume the presidency at the worst point of the coronavirus pandemic. We have new reporting on the incoming administration's plan to get more Americans vaccinated. That's next.

[07:47:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:51:20]

CAMEROTA: President-Elect Joe Biden wants to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days, but with only nine days left until his inauguration sources tell CNN there are still major details to be sorted out before he can meet that promise. CNN's M.J. Lee joins us now. What do we know, M.J.?

M.J. LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Alisyn, there is not a bigger national security crisis for the Biden team than dealing with COVID, and we have some new reporting this morning on just how concerned the Biden team is and the fact that there are some major details of the national vaccine distribution plan that have still yet to be figured out by the team, which is note worthy given that we are now just nine days away from inauguration.

The mood within the Biden COVID team has been described to us as one of absolute soberness and that that concern comes directly from Biden himself that he is deeply worried about just the slate of issues that he is about to inherit. And so, he has asked his team to add more public health officials to his COVID team. One of the repeated concerns that we have heard is that President Trump and Operation Warp Speed seems to have focused a lot on vaccine creation but not having a streamlined planned on getting the vaccines actually distributed. Once some of the sources that we spoke to including some lawmakers saying that the Biden team is treating COVID as a national security level crisis. One congressman describing the mood as the Biden team saying this is

one of the toughest and darkest times in American modern history. Now remember, Biden's stated goal is to get 100 million shots into people's arms in the first 100 days that he is in office, but what we are learning, too, is that there are some major details that have yet to be figured out like the role of the federal government versus individual states. What about the role of pharmacies? Will the U.S. military potentially get involved, including the National Guard, in getting these vaccines distributed? And finally I will note, Alisyn, one thing that the Biden team is watching carefully, that they are concerned about are these virus variants that are popping up across the country. This is just going to add one more layer of uncertainty in what is definitely going to be a very daunting year ahead for the incoming Biden administration, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, M.J.. Thank you very much for all of that background. Joining us now is Dr. Celine Gounder. She's a member of President-Elect Joe Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board. Dr. Gounder, great to see you as always. Here's where the numbers as far as we know it from the CDC exist right now in terms of vaccines distributed versus vaccinations given into arms. 22 million doses distributed, 6.6 administered. It's so woefully short obviously of what the Trump administration projected and promised. So is it - is it time to rethink the 100 million shots in the first 100 days from Joe Biden?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN'S CORONAVIRUSE ADVISORY BOARD: Well the President-Elect, Alisyn, is very committed to trying to make that work, the 100 million shots in 100 million arms in 100 days. That said, we really do have our work cut out for us. What we realize is over this transition process is the emperor has no clothes. There was not national plan beyond the assistance given to pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines. And so, there's so many different things that really need to be tackled still from who's going to do the vaccinating, who are these vaccinators? That's a huge increase in staffing that you're looking at having to recruit and train. We need tech systems to manage scheduling and calling people back for their second doses and figuring out, you know, just collecting demographics on all those people, reporting all of that back to the CDC.

[07:55:00]

Those systems were not stood up. And those are things that the federal government could've anticipated a year ago that they were eventually going to need.

And I think bottom-line Congress is really going to have to work with the Biden administration and provide a huge influx of funding to state and local health departments to be able to stand these systems up right away.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, I understand that President Elect Biden still wants to do it but from where you sit is it unrealistic?

GOUNDER: I think there is still a glimmer of hope that we may still be able to accomplish this but it's really going to require everybody working together not squabbling over partisan issues to get the job done.

CAMEROTA: As far as you know, has President Elect Biden become angry with his coronavirus task force because he thinks it's underperforming?

GOUNDER: Has President Trump gotten angry?

CAMEROTA: No, has President Elect -- there is reporting in Politico that President Elect, sorry, Biden is getting really frustrated.

GOUNDER: I think he is frustrated with good reason. I don't think it's really a question of his team underperforming, it's I think what we're inheriting that is a real disaster. The complete lack of planning here is quite frightening frankly. And I think all of us are very worried about what we're inheriting and stepping into right now.

CAMEROTA: What about the idea of releasing all of the vaccine doses at once, not holding some back for the second dose that people need. Is that a good idea?

GOUNDER: So, I want to be clear, the recommendation is still that people should receive a full dose of the vaccine and in the case of the Pfizer vaccine the second dose should still come 21 days.

The Moderna vaccine second dose should still come 28 days. The Biden brand is to follow the science and that is not going to change here. What we're really recommending is a change in how the supply is managed not how the vaccine is administered, dosed and the dosing regimen.

And what we've realized is we were in a sense making things overly complicated getting in our own way requiring that two doses essentially be on the shelf when somebody comes in for that first dose and that we hold that second dose for them until the time of their second dose.

So, that just becomes really logistically complicated particularly when you have state and local health departments that are already overwhelmed. I mean, as we have seen in Florida they can't handle the volume of people clambering (ph) for vaccination, so we're just trying to simplify the process here.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Celine Gounder, you all have your work cut out for you. Thank you very much for giving us a status report of where we are today. And New Day continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: The president faces the increasing possibility that he will become the first president in American history to be impeached twice. He's also facing calls for his resignation.

NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REP.: He has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.

UNKNOWN MALE: The president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again.

UNKNOWN MALE: I think the president did commit impeachable offenses. There's little doubt in my mind about that.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: We should certainly expect more violence and in particular we should expect violence in and around political entities, individuals and events.

ANNOUNCER: This is New Day with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is New Day. And the deadly attack on the U.S. capitol was even worse than we knew.

We have new video that shows just how blood thirsty the mob got. So this morning, Donald Trump could become the first president in history to be impeached twice.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also trying to pressure Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office. If Pence will not, the House plans to move quickly to impeach Trump this week but then wait for a Senate trial we're told until after President Elect Biden's first 100 days in office.

Again, this morning we have new video like you see on your screen and new photographs that capture the sickening attacks on police officers and on the U.S. capitol. In this one, a police officer is being repeatedly beaten by the insurrectionists.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: See the violence there?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: See the fiery?

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. They are -- they're using the flag poles from their Trump flags at times to beat him. Another officer was nearly crushed to death in the rush to swarm the building. He's crushed between glass doors here and he's begging for mercy.

BERMAN: Wow. All right. In a brand new interview, the Head of Capitol Police Steve Sund, who has since resigned, he said he suspects pipe bombs were planted at the RNC and DNC headquarters to draw officers away from the capitol parameter as these terrorists search for lawmakers.