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Biden's Vaccine Plan Calls for 100 Million Shots in First 100 Days; Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Holds Press Conference after Second Trump Impeachment. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 15, 2021 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:30:06]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are watching Capitol Hill right now. At any moment, we expect to hear from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You see the room set up and ready to go. This will be the first time that she's really going to be taking questions from reporters since the House voted to impeach President Trump.

And as we are getting also a new and more terrifying perspective on how grave the threat was to lawmakers' lives when the mob breached the Capitol. We're going to bring you that as soon as it begins. We're going to be keeping an eye on Capitol Hill.

But also today, President-elect Joe Biden, he will rolling out his detailed plan of how to hit his goal of getting 100 million Americans vaccinated against COVID and in his first 100 days. That is a big hill to climb considering, as of this morning, only 11 million people have gotten COVID shots.

Also in the first 100 days, Biden says that he wants a majority of elementary and middle schools reopened for in-person learning. He wants to dedicate hundreds of billion dollars to hit these goals as he laid out in the nearly $2 trillion COVID relief package that he announced. But, of course, he needs Congress to do all that.

Joining me right now is Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

[11:35:02]

It's great to see you again, Dr. Jha.

Given how the vaccine rollout is well behind expectations so far, do you think 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days is possible?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, Kate, thanks for having me on. I do. I do think it is possible, certainly not going to be easy. The Trump administration has really managed unfortunately botched the rollout. So the Biden team is going to have a lot of work to do. And I don't expect in the first few days he'll be hitting a million a day. But I think if we put our energy and resources into it, we absolutely can hit that. And to be perfectly honest, I want them to beat that because we need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

BOLDUAN: I was going to ask you, because Dr. Jonathan Reiner, he took it a step further, and he told CNN that he thought 100 million shots in 100 days wasn't enough in terms of what we need to really kind of get past the pandemic. And he was talking about the need for 2 million shots a day to get to herd immunity. Do you agree?

JHA: I do. I think Dr. Reiner is exactly right. Look, right now, we want as many shots into people's arms as possible. We're in a very bad situation in the pandemic. We have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people getting infected every day.

The question is what is going to be possible and realistic. Everything out of the Biden team is a pretty aggressive approach to both vaccine supply problems and distribution problems. So let's hope that we beat the million a day.

BOLDUAN: And kind of in tandem to that, Biden's goal, as he laid out early about getting majority of schools reopened in the first 100 days, with that and where we are, is that feasible?

JHA: I do. Again, I think these are all feasible things. I think one of the problems of the last year has been that the Trump administration has tried to skimp on these things. It has really made it very, very difficult to do these hard things.

Look, schools have to be open. They're safe. We can make them safe. But they require resources, they require work. And the problem with the Trump team has been they never wanted to put any resources or work into gets these things done.

So, are these things doable? Yes? Are they going to take work? Absolutely. Are they going to get resources? They are. But and there are no higher priorities in my mind than getting people vaccinated and getting kids back to school.

BOLDUAN: And part of what we have seen with the Trump administration, and we've seen every administration, is it matters who you put in charge, it matters who you put at the top, no matter who the president is. And Joe Biden has announced a few new key kind of assignments to lead the effort. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler to lead the vaccine effort and Andy Slavitt, someone you've seen many times on our programs to come in and as help as well. Do you think they have expertise to fix the problems?

JHA: Yes. Kate, there has been a longstanding tradition in American government that when Republicans are in the office, they put conservative-leaning but competent people in key leadership positions. When Democrats are, they tend to put more liberal-leaning but competent people in leadership roles. The Trump administration really had a lot of people in leadership roles who had no experience, no ability to do their job. That is what slowed us down. Dr. Kessler has run the FDA. He's incredibly competent and effective, somebody known for getting stuff done. He is going to be a really important part of getting vaccines out to the American people.

BOLDUAN: Good to hear from you. Thank you to you so much, Dr. Jha.

JHA: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, an expletive written rant and a shrinking circle of allies. Next, new details about the president's final days in office, including his anger over being compared to that former president, Richard Nixon.

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[11:40:00]

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): While we celebrate and observe Martin Luther King Day Monday, today is actually the Martin Luther King's birthday. And as we observe it in this extraordinary time, it is important to remember his words, all of them so appropriate one time or another. Today, I remember him saying true peace is not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice.

I particularly am drawn to that phrase because one of my favorites that I had in my office is Pope Paul VI. He said, if you want peace, work for justice. The connection is very clear. Justice is called for as we address the act of insurrection that was perpetrated against the Capitol complex last week.

Right now, our managers are solemnly and prayerfully preparing for the trial, which they will take to the Senate.

At the same time, we are in transition. With a COVID relief package, President-elect Biden announced last night, he is delivering on what he said when he was elected. Help is on the way. His plan makes big, bold urgent action, building on some of our Democratic initiatives and the last Congress including an increase in direct payments to $2,000, vaccine distribution and testing support in a fair and equitable way addressing the disparities in access, additional aid for small businesses, funding for state and local governments to protect our heroes' jobs, extension of unemployment benefits, help for renters for food insecure people and for our children.

As the last jobs report of the Trump administration shows, the need could not be more urgent. Moody Analytics says this morning, they say that this package, the rescue and recovery package put forth by Joe Biden last night, this package will take us to full employment by 2021, one full year earlier than it would occur without it, 2021 versus 2022, one full year earlier.

In just five days, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States. Following the attack last week on the Capitol complex, there has been unprecedented mobilization of security in the Capitol. I want to express gratitude to our Capitol police, to the National Guard, who are present here to protect our democracy. They have shown great courage and we're very proud of them. And I was honored to be able to extend gratitude to them in person on behalf of the Congress.

We must subject this whole complex though to scrutiny in light of what happened and the fact that the inauguration is coming. To that end, I have asked retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore to lead an immediate review of security infrastructure, interagency processes and command and control. The general is a respected leader with experience dealing with crises.

[11:45:04]

As a former vice director of operations J-3, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his focus with military support to civilian authorities, military support to civilian authorities, and he has experience with the national capitol regions security.

House leadership has welcomed General Honore seen up close and personal his excellent leadership at the time of Katrina, particularly, Mr. Clyburn was the head of our Katrina task force. So he and I and others know full well how fortunate we are that the general has accepted, is willing to do this.

Members are moving forward from oversight committees, of course, to have after action review. There is strong interest in the Congress and the 9/11 type commission and outside commission to conduct that after action review. In the meantime, I'm very grateful to General Honore for taking on this responsibility.

I find this to be a very emotional time. I said to the members, we're very passionate to the reaction to this assault on our democracy, on this temple to democracy. We're very passionate about our reaction, but we must be very dispassionate in how we make decisions to go forward, for security, security, security.

As I see many of the film and the incitement of it all by the president of the United States, but as you see the film, one figure of so many disgusting images, but one figure, the man in a shirt with Auschwitz on it, Auschwitz. Work equals freedom for Auschwitz.

In this January, one year ago, I had the privilege of bringing a delegation in January to Yad Vashem, the Museum of the Holocaust in Israel. To join heads of state, I came as head of the Congress to observe the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and Birkenau

On the way to Israel, I brought the delegation to Auschwitz and Birkenau, probably one of the most transformative national security visits that we have made. All of our travel outside of the country is about our national security, and so was that.

To see the dehumanizing of people that was perpetrated there was so, so overwhelming. To see this punk with that shirt on and his anti- Semitism that he has bragged about, to be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol requires us to have an after action review to assign responsibility to those who were part of organizing it and incentivizing it.

In the meantime, we're grateful to General Honore for making some recommendations to us and how we can keep our members safe, our staff safe, the people who make the building function, like the custodians and the rest, who had to clean up after this insurrectionist mob.

But security, we take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Our democracy, and that is what we will do. And we will protect all of those who are here to honor their oath of office.

Questions? Yes, ma'am?

REPORTER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can you tell us a couple things on scheduling? Is there any update on when you might send the articles of impeachment to the Senate? And, secondly, (INAUDIBLE) President- elect Joe Biden's recovery package?

PELOSI: Well, we'll start with that. We're very pleased with what the vice president put forth last night.

[11:50:02]

I'm eagerly awaiting some of the particulars of the vaccine proposal that will come out this afternoon, because this is a matter of complete urgency.

As the vice president said last night, this administration, the Trump administration, handled the distribution of the vaccine in a very disappointing way. He used stronger language. But now, we have to move on and do it in the right way, and that will require resources which will require legislation.

How it will be done effectively, we'll know more about. I have some idea about it because we have made some suggestions in that regard, but I think that the message of last night and later today from the vice president will be a message of hope to encourage people to, again, when they are, it's appropriate for them to receive the vaccine to do so.

But as was said, as will be said, it's not just about the vaccine, it's about testing and distancing and all the rest as we go forward so that we can crush the virus, which is what we must do, crush the virus so we can open our schools and our businesses, honor our heroes who are on the frontline of this, our health care workers, our police and fire, first responders, transportation, sanitation, food workers, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers, and put money in the pockets of the American people so that the lives and the livelihood of American people are addressed. So we're hoping that we can work in a bipartisan way as we go forward.

In terms of the timing, as I mentioned, one week ago, on January 6th, there was an active insurrection perpetrated on the Capitol of the United States incentivized by the president of the United States. One week later, Wednesday to Wednesday, that president was impeached in a bipartisan way by the House of Representatives. So urgent was the matter they're now working on taking this to trial, and you'll be the first to know when we announce that we're going over there.

Yes, ma'am?

REPORTER: Madam Speaker, so a number of House Democrats -- you have mentioned a couple of investigations that have been going on since January 6, but a member of House Democrats has signed a letter to a sergeant at arms and Capitol police asking them to look into GOP members who may have brought tourists through the Capitol on January 5th. What would you like to see during (ph) that investigation? Is there a timeline or any action that may be taken for members who did bring public groups into Capitol before January 6?

PELOSI: When we talk about security, we have to talk about truth and trust. In order to serve here with each other, we must have trust that people have respect for the oath of office, respect for this institution. We must trust each other, respecting the people who sent us here. We must also have the truth and that will be looked into.

If, in fact, it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress in terms of prosecution for that.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: We all are seeing the extraordinary security measures now in place here on the Capitol, and it really grasped much of the district. I'm just wondering your level of comfort about next inauguration.

PELOSI: Let me just say, and thank you for the question, as a member of the JCCIC, the committee that prepares the inauguration, for a long time now, weeks, it has been determined that we would have a very small inauguration because of COVID. That in order to have the distancing and the rest on the platform and then some people down below, it would be necessary to limit it. I don't know if they had publicly released the numbers.

I won't, but a very small number of people, tiny percentage of the people participated before, most disappointing, because obviously we're excited about nominating a new president of the United States, but not at the risk of people's health and well-being and, indeed, their lives.

[11:55:06]

So this is always going to be small.

Now, with the insurrection of last week, it is necessitated by security to have more security, but it hasn't changed the nature of the swearing in. I think it's important for people to know that this is not a concession to the terrorists, it is a recognition of the danger of COVID.

So, again, I'm in close touch -- I will be again, for like the third time in two days, with the secretary of the Army, spoke with the head of the Secret Service last night. We all want to be sure that the requests that are made by the Capitol police are being honored by those who are in a position to meet the needs.

Again, it depends on the intelligence, and we have to have more security than the intelligence might warrant. I think in this case, redundancy may be necessary, not too much, but enough.

REPORTER: First off, the Republicans are saying that, as far as the metal detectors are concerned, that the danger on January 6th came from the outside, not the inside. And, secondly, as far as the speaker's lobby is concerned, totally different, when can we expect that to be open for us, and will it be when the pandemic ends? And when do you see that happening as far as --

PELOSI: It won't be one minute before it is safe to do so from a COVID and a security standpoint or one minute later than that.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: Madam Speaker, well, Representative Ryan's subcommittee will be investigating the Capitol police --

PELOSI: I'm sorry

REPORTER: Well, Representative Ryan's subcommittee will be investigating the Capitol police.

PELOSI: Ryan, Tim Ryan.

REPORTER: Right.

PELOSI: The legislative branch of the Appropriations Committee, yes.

REPORTER: At the very minimum, what would you like to see in reforms of U.S. Capitol police, especially in like of allegations from members of the caucus of institutional racism within the police force and also maybe even collusion in the insurrection? What reforms would you like to see?

PELOSI: Well, I think the investigation is central. That has to come first. But there will be, in addition to Mr. Chairman Ryan's (INAUDIBLE) committee, we have Homeland Security Committee, we have issues that relate to intelligence, from Judiciary and Intelligence Committee, we have the Armed Services Committee. So there will be a full -- the committees will be doing their oversight in many different ways. And, of course, the appropriations committee and the Oversight Committee have overarching responsibility.

But, again, the investigation will tell us what we need to know to have truth so that we can trust the system that we have here.

And it is -- it's so sad. Imagine, like, ten days ago, as I said, we really lost our innocence in this because we always prepared to protect and defend from all enemies foreign. But the Constitution also says, and domestic. And now we have to protect ourselves from enemies domestic. How close within the investigation will let us know.

REPORTER: Have you told the article on (INAUDIBLE)? Are you considering withholding the articles indefinitely?

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITCS: I'm John King in Washington. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, leaving a room, a news conference, a remarkable news conference, several headlines out of it, many are related to last week's insurrection at the United States Capitol connected to concerns and heightened security for next week's inauguration of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.

The speaker also taking questions about the next stage of the impeachment drama here in Washington. The House, of course, has impeached Donald Trump for a second time, President Trump, for a second time. The speaker said she had no update on when the House managers would carry the article of impeachment over to the Senate and push for a trial. She said that was still TBD as we head now again into this remarkable period of time, five days until Joe Biden takes the oath of office, Donald Trump in his final days, a capitol city here in Washington fortified.

Let's begin our conversation with CNN's Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash.

Remarkable to her the speaker. Number one, she said they're asking retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. Many Americans might remember him just after Katrina. He had a large role in New Orleans, getting security and the apparatus back up in New Orleans post Katrina.

[12:00:00]

He worked on Joint Chiefs of Staff. And he will lead an investigation, what went wrong, how did those rioters so easily get into the United States Capitol?