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New Day

Changes in Vaccine Distribution; Second Case of COVID after Capitol Attack; Coronavirus Rages in California; Corporations Halt Donations to Lawmakers; Anti-Semitic Images on Display by Insurrectionists. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 12, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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


[08:30:00]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Or adults with other pre-existing conditions. That map right now you see on the screen, that sort of gives you a reflection of the country. In red is the earliest phase. Many states are still in that early phase of vaccine distribution. Some have moved along. Michigan is furthest along in terms of getting people in the later on priority groups vaccinated as well.

So this may help. We'll see. I mean, you know, there's a lot of issues with getting these vaccines out as we're learning. The biggest one, probably just the manpower to actually inoculate people, observe people after they've been inoculated, make sure you have the square footage to observe them, just the basics like that.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Sanjay, I want to ask you about what happened on the Capitol, the U.S. Capitol. Not only was it an armed insurrection, it also appears to be a super spreader -- to have been a super spreader event.

Congresswoman Jayapal was supposed to be on with us this morning. She had to cancel late last night because she was experiencing symptoms bad enough not to be able to be on TV. She has now tested positive for COVID. She was one of the lawmakers, all of them, trapped in this lockdown situation as these, you know, armed bandits were invading the Capitol.

And here you can see some video, her fellow Republicans refused to wear the masks that were being passed out by another lawmaker begging them to put their masks on. They refused. And now some people in that room have tested positive.

A couple more data points for you. Congresswoman Jayapal, as we understand it, was vaccinated against the coronavirus on the 4th. This super spreader event, armed insurrection, was on the 6th. Today she's very sick. What does all of that tell you?

GUPTA: Well, first of all, I mean, that's terrible that that happened because, you know, so many months into this pandemic, we understand some of the highest risk situations for the virus to actually spread, indoors, closely clustered people, and those people who refuse to wear a mask were refusing to protect those around them. I think people who watch this program understand this by now, when you wear a mask, you're doing it in large part to protect those around them. So when they said, hey, look, I'll pass, I'm not going to wear a mask, they weren't being heroic in any way, they were being careless and reckless because they were make -- if they were carrying the virus, they were making it more likely to spread to other people.

And it does sound like that's what happened here. It's always hard to know for sure. It's a contagious virus. But if you look at the calendar, this is last Wednesday, five days later, roughly, I think, you know, you're saying Monday, that's when the congresswoman started to develop symptoms. She's quite ill now. It's not entirely surprising that she got maybe her first dose of vaccine a couple of days before that and still became infected because, you know, you really don't get the full -- let me rephrase. It's not surprising that she became symptomatic a couple of days after that first dose because you still don't become fully protected until about seven days or so after your second dose. So that part doesn't surprise me at all.

I wish her well. I mean this is a tough -- it's a tough disease. And, you know, we know another congresswoman is getting an antibody treatment now after also testing positive. This is real. This is what happens.

And I'll just add, you know, I mentioned this to you guys before. I was at the White House in late November, early December timeframe and I'll never forget, I was walking through -- this is the Eisenhower Office Building and maybe 25 percent, 30 percent of people were wearing masks at that point, in the middle of a pandemic in a federal building that was, you know, responsible for the coronavirus response. So it doesn't surprise me, but it's still shocking every time I hear these stories.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's why Kate Bennett's reporting there's going to be a deep cleaning -- an unusually deep cleaning of the White House and its grounds before the Biden team takes over next week.

Sanjay, thanks so much for being with us.

GUPTA: You got it.

CAMEROTA: California continues to lead the nation in coronavirus cases. Nearly 36,000 new cases and more than 250 deaths on Monday alone.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live in Los Angeles with more on how communities of color in particular are being ravaged.

Sara, what do we know?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, here in Los Angeles about one in eight people are dying of coronavirus. It is unconscionable when you think about how many people are dying. One every 8 minutes, excuse me.

I think the answer to your question is, the black and Latino community is getting hit disproportionately. They are taking the brunt of this and many of those people are the people that we rely on to live our daily lives, the people who are at the grocery stores, the people who have to work to make the country move and they are suffering the most. And it is incredibly difficult to see that because there are folks that won't wear masks, and they won't self-distance, that we are literally killing each other.

[08:35:13]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice over): Mariachi music slices through the silence. The melody is meant to soothe a family's sorrow. The cruelness of COVID- 19 on display. This is a funeral in a parking lot.

JULIANA JIMENEZ SESMA, MOTHER AND STEPFATHER PASSED AWAY FROM COVID- 19: My mother was a very strong woman, and she fought to the very last breath.

SIDNER (voice over): Juliana Jimenez Sesma says these are the last words they exchanged.

JIMENEZ SESMA: I told mom, do not be afraid for the Lord is with us. I love you and may God bless you. Keep strong for me, mom. And all she answered me was, yes, mija. Yes, mija, with that voice, with fear.

SIDNER (voice over): Sesma lived with and cared for her mother who had a lung condition. Her stepdad had asthma and diabetes. Her brother lives right next door with his young family.

SIDNER: How many people ended up getting it? Did everyone --

JIMENEZ SESMA: All of us.

SIDNER (voice over): Her stepfather and then mother ended up here, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. They fought to live, just like those filling all the ICU beds now. But they died within 11 days of each other.

Dr. Jason Prasso treated both Sesma's parents.

DR. JASON PRASSO, PULMONARY & CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN, MLK JR. COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: I just want her to know that we here tried our hardest and, you know, we're really sorry that things went the way that they did.

SIDNER (voice over): The terrible scenario is not unusual as COVID ensnares those who live in multigenerational families and are part of the essential work workforce.

PRASSO: We have had the misfortune of seeing this disease run through families and all too frequently take multiple members of a single family.

SIDNER (voice over): The state of the art hospital is an oasis of care in the health care desert of south Los Angeles. It is no wonder the heavily black and Latino neighborhood is suffering disproportionately. The inequities in health care invites death.

DR. ELAINE BATCHLOR, CEO, MLK JR. COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: Diabetes is three times more prevalent here than in the rest of California. Diabetes mortality is 72 percent higher. The life expectancy is ten years shorter here than in the rest of the state. And all of that is related to this being an under resourced and underserved community.

SIDNER (voice over): That was before coronavirus arrived.

PRASSO: We're running like well over 100 percent capacity.

SIDNER (voice over): The 131-bed facility is suddenly treating more than 200 patients. Sixty percent of them are COVID patients. They've made space everywhere. Tents outside, inside hallways, the prayer room, a former gift shop. The battle to save a life, physically and mentally exhausting. But on this day, a surprise reminder of why they fight.

UNKNOWN: Hello, gang (ph), I'm here.

UNKNOWN: Hi.

UNKNOWN: There you go.

UNKNOWN: Oh, my goodness. You look amazing.

UNKNOWN: I'm back.

UNKNOWN: Oh, let me see. Let me see now. You got the dance moves? Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

SIDNER (voice over): Seventy-four-year-old Elaine Stevens (ph) returns to thank her doctors and nurses. She spent more than 40 days in this ICU before walking out alive.

ELAINE STEVENS, COVID-19 SURVIVOR: I made it. A lot of days I didn't want to make it, but I did it.

SIDNER (voice over): As she celebrated a second chance at life, ceremony for death was still playing out in a parking lot for the Sesma family.

JIMENEZ SESMA: Don't let this be you. If you truly love your loved ones, don't let this be you. Continue to, you know, take all the precautions. Take extra precautions. Exaggerate if you have to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): You know, this is the tenth hospital that I have been -- I'm sorry. This is the tenth -- I apologize. I'm going to try to get through this. This is the tenth hospital that I have been in. And to see the way that these families have to live after this and the heartache that goes so far and so wide, it's really hard to take.

I'm sorry, Alisyn. CAMEROTA: Sara, no apologies. No apology needed. We've been watching

your reporting on the ground throughout this horrific year, and we have all been struck by the grief, the collective grief that all of us are in. And to see these families who are soldiering through it, who are persevering and who are having to have these funerals in parking lots, like the ones that you showed us, it is just a collective trauma that all of us are living through.

And, Sara, we all appreciate the heart that you bring to this every single day as well as your excellent reporting.

[08:40:07]

SIDNER: Thanks. It's just not OK. It's not OK what we're doing to each other. These families should not be going through this. No family should be going through this. So, please, listen to what this family is saying. Don't let this be you. Do whatever you can to keep this from killing your family members and your neighbors and your friends and your teachers and doctors and firefighters. All of these people are here to help you. But you have to do your part.

CAMEROTA: Sara, we wouldn't be able to see it so vividly without your reporting. And so thank you very much. We all feel for you. It's taking a toll on all of the reporters who are going into the hospitals and you've just done an incredible job for us. So, thank you very much. Take care of yourself and we'll check back.

SIDNER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: And NEW DAY will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Breaking news, CNN has just learned that Deutsche Bank will no longer do business with Donald Trump. A move that will cut off his business from a major source of loans.

[08:45:00]

This is just the latest example of corporate backlash against Trump after he spoke before that deadly mob that then launched the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans has the breaking details.

Romans, there are signs that Donald Trump's business empire is crashing down all around him.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. You know, first reported by "Bloomberg News" and "The New York Times," Deutsche Bank severing further business with President Trump and his company. Trump owes the German bank $300 million. The president's other bank is calling for him to resign and that bank is closing his personal accounts. It's Signature Bank and it says, quote, we believe the appropriate action would be the resignation of the president of the United States, which is in the best interest of our nation and the American people. That's its customer telling them -- telling him to resign.

All this after some of America's biggest companies say they do not want their political donations in the war chest of lawmakers who wouldn't accept the free and fair election, American Express, AT&T, UPS, they're joining Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Commerce Bank in suspending political donations. Many are the same companies that signed a letter urging a peaceful transfer of power before the riots.

And more companies are reviewing their contributions, John, or they're suspending all contributions for now. You know, money talks in politics. Business political action committees contributed $360 million in the 2020 cycle. More than half of that flowing to GOP candidates.

One public relations firm put it this way, capitalism is trying to ride to the rescue of a political system that doesn't have an answer for Donald Trump's conduct.

Of course, raising money is the oxygen of American politics. Rick Scott, one of the senators who objected to Electoral College results, he's the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. His job raising money has just become much harder now and so has Donald Trump's.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, and, look, Maggie Haberman reported the one thing that really upset President Trump, not the insurrection but the PGA pulling out of a tournament at his Bedminster golf resort.

Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: So the disturbing message of hate that stood out during the Capitol insurrection. More on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:13]

CAMEROTA: President Trump's supporters carried so many hateful messages and images into the U.S. Capitol last week. Here's just one example. An extremist wearing a sweatshirt that says "Camp Auschwitz" on it.

Joining us now is Rabbi Steve Leder. He's the senior rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and the author of the new book "The Beauty of What Remains," about handling grief during this terrible time.

Rabbi, great to have you here this morning on so many levels.

Let me just --

RABBI STEVE LEDER, SENIOR RABBI, WILSHIRE BOULEVARD TEMPLE: Thank you. I'm honored to be with you.

Go ahead.

CAMEROTA: Let's just start with that. Let's just start with the hateful images that we saw in the U.S. Capitol during an armed insurrection. I mean not only did we just see the sort of, you know, foaming at the mouth anger, but we saw anti-Semitic messages.

And so what did you think when you saw that and is -- why is anti- Semitism on the rise again?

LEDER: Well, I'm not so sure it's on the rise again as much as the lid has been kind of taken off the pot. And when I first saw those images, the first thing that came to my mind is, here we go again. You know, anti-Semitism is the oldest of stories. It broke my heart to see it, but it didn't surprise me to see it.

And what it made me think of, Alisyn, is something I heard in 1981 when then-prime minister of Israel Minakam Bagin (ph) was asked about the lessons of the Holocaust. And he said the first lesson of the Holocaust is that if an enemy says he seeks to destroy you, believe him. Don't make light of it. Believe him and do everything you can to rob him or her or them of the means to carry out that kind of just pernicious hatred.

So it was another wake-up call that we really do need to take hatred from the extremes very seriously in this country. And I hope that we do.

CAMEROTA: That's such an important message to remember. And, Rabbi, I don't know if you just saw our segment with our reporter Sara Sidner, who's been reporting on the ground in so many different hospitals. She just is able to bring to light the emotion that I think so many Americans are feeling. And I'm just not sure that we completely understand the trauma, the collective grief that all of us in this country have been through for the past year. I mean between an armed insurrection on the U.S. Capitol and the pandemic that's killed 376,000 of our fellow Americans. And what are your thoughts on how we're all supposed to get through this?

LEDER: Well, first of all, you're 100 percent right, we are all suffering tremendous loss. Whether or not we have a loved one affected directly by COVID, we've lost our freedom, we've lost our sense of invulnerability. Many of us have lost jobs. We've lost our -- the ability for our children to go to school, which is where they belong. And perhaps most subtly but painfully, we all lost the ability to hold and be held by the people we love. And this is so painful. And then you layer on top of that what Sara was experiencing with really looking death in the face.

And, look, the question is not, can we avoid this loss because we're in it. The question is, what will we make of this loss? Will we find a way for this loss to inform our lives going forward that makes our lives more beautiful and more meaningful? And that's the challenge I'm talking with people about. Let's not come out of this empty handed.

CAMEROTA: And I now that that's part of your motivation for writing "The Beauty of What Remains."

And so just tell us about that and what we're supposed to take away.

LEDER: Well, in my view, after 33-plus years of seeing death up close, what I have learned about death, and the book also chronicles to some degree my journey with my father's ten-year battle with Alzheimer's and losing him not just as a rabbi but as a son, and how that informed my new understanding of grief.

[08:55:20]

Look, what we can do is learn the lessons of loss. We can ideally use loss to enable us to take our lives more seriously, to be grateful for the simplest of things. One of the things I hope this pandemic has taught us all is that good is great. And a little is a lot. And we were all missing many of the ordinary blessings of our lives that we took for granted.

And I think the pandemic and, why did I write this book about loss? Because ideally what loss teaches us is that no matter how many times we say I love you, no matter how many times we hold the people we love and are held by them, it is never enough. And loss comes to teach us -- death comes to teach us. In fact, Alisyn, my view is death is the great teacher to impel us all to lead a more meaningful life and a life in which we take care of each other more and not less. And God knows this country needs that now.

CAMEROTA: Rabbi Leder, thank you very much for your words. People can get more of that wisdom in "The Beauty of What Remains," your new book. And it was just really fortuitous to have you on this morning talking about all of this. I think that we really needed to hear those words.

Thank you very much.

LEDER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Come back any time.

LEDER: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And CNN's coverage continues next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:01]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

The president's final days coming to a dark and stunning end.