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President Biden Signs Flurry of Executive Orders to Reverse Trump Policies; Sources: Biden Inherits Non-Existent Vaccine Plan From Trump. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 21, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be a president for all-Americans. I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are so many firsts. One of them is the fact she is the first female vice president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Joe Biden signing 15 executive actions and two agency actions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are President Biden you want to set a different standard, a different tone, a different direction than his predecessor and he does that with an executive order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was not just a change of power. It was a profound change of attitude amid real suffering and fear, and concern in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

[05:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, January 21st, 5:00 here in New York.

President Biden is waking up in the White House for the first time, and this morning the very hard work begins. The president will devote his first full day in office to our greatest crisis, the pandemic. More than 4,000 American deaths were reported overnight. That's on the one-year anniversary of coronavirus arriving in the U.S.

Also breaking this morning, brand-new reporting about the vaccine rollout and it is much worse than we thought. Sources tell CNN that the Biden administration is inheriting a non-existent vaccine distribution plan from the Trump administration. That means they will have to start from scratch. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a big deal and we're going to have

much more on that developing story shortly.

Overnight, the president signed 17 executive orders on everything from masks, to immigration, to the environment. If you made the mistake of going to sleep at all last night, you missed a couple historic moments.

First, three former presidents with a joint message for unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Mr. President, I'm pulling for your success. Your success is our country's success and God bless you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We've never seen anything like that, nor have we ever seen anything like this. The mother of all fireworks displays.

I mean, honestly, you're watching this and asking yourself, how much more could there be? How much more could there be? It just kept going and going and going.

CAMEROTA: I feel like the second gentleman really expressed America's feeling in his exuberance upon watching it. My gosh. My gosh.

BERMAN: It just keeps going and going and going.

CAMEROTA: Spectacular.

BERMAN: Serious fireworks there.

All right. Jeff Zeleny, who I'm not sure can hear us this morning, along with the D.C. metro area who lost their hearing overnight from the fireworks. Jeff joins us this morning from Washington.

Jeff, great to have you here.

There is nothing on earth like going from the euphoria of inauguration day to the reality of governing and it happens like that and the Biden team, the Biden administration has big plans starting now.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

You know, the changing of the guard happened really instantaneously. There were no inaugural balls like there typically are. So President Biden got directly to work. Just hours after he got sworn in, he was sitting in the Oval Office, already signing those executive orders, as you said, and he talked about ending this uncivil war. He talked about the importance of truth in America.

So, certainly, this is the first full day of his administration but yesterday he got started in a hurry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): With a stroke of a pen, President Joe Biden using his first hours in office to address the multiple crises facing a deeply divided America.

BIDEN: With the state of the nation today, there's no time to waste. Get to work immediately.

ZELENY: The new president signing 17 different actions, launching a 100-day mask challenge, stopping the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, and extending the existing eviction moratorium and pause on federal student loan payments.

Biden also reversed some of President Trump's key policies, among them rejoining the Paris climate accord, halting the Keystone XL pipeline, ending travel restrictions from several Muslim majority countries and stopping construction of the border wall.

And unlike her predecessor, Biden's press secretary says she's bringing back the daily briefing.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRES SECRETARY: His objective and his commitment is to bring transparency and truth back to government, to share the truth even when it's hard to hear and that's something that I hope to deliver on in this role as well.

ZELENY: The president also held a virtual ceremony to swear in top administration staff.

BIDEN: Everybody deserves to be treated with decency and dignity. That's been missing in the big way the last four years.

ZELENY: The Senate confirmed his first cabinet nominee last night, approving Avril Haines for director of national intelligence.

Biden's arrival to the White House without the crowds and pageantry, dampened not only by the pandemic but also security threats.

But the inauguration ceremony still went ahead Wednesday morning. Biden taking his oath at the U.S. Capitol.

BIDEN: I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear --

ZELENY: Before sharing a message of healing and unity on the same steps that became a site of a deadly insurrection just two weeks ago.

BIDEN: We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.

[05:05:01]

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.

ZELENY: His inaugural address moments after Kamala Harris made history.

HARRIS: So help me God.

ZELENY: Becoming the first woman and first black and Asian-American vice president.

At night, fireworks brightened the sky across the nation's capitol as the president and first lady, Jill Biden, looked on from the White House balcony. The display, the finale of a virtual celebration featuring a star-stunned lineup and three former presidents, an optimistic note amid a deadly pandemic for an inauguration day unlike any other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): And the inauguration with all of the security really penetrating Washington, turning the Capitol into a fortress went off largely without a hitch. Now, the tough work of governing begins. And President Biden is going to get right to that. He'll be signing executive orders this afternoon at the White House, all focusing on coronavirus. Of course, that is challenge number one for this new administration.

We're also expected to hear from the new president this afternoon as well talking about this deep challenge.

So, John, no question the hard work beginning, but also the real question is, how does this new relationship work with Congress? What happened behind the scenes yesterday on Capitol Hill is quiet conversations with Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leaders, as well as the Democratic leaders, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and new Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. Those relations are so key.

But for now, the White House trying to keep up momentum of the things they can control and that is the stroke of the very powerful pen -- John.

BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny, stand by for a little bit, because we need much more from you in what we'll see over the next few hours.

But, first, breaking news. New word from inside the Biden administration on the dire situation facing the country in terms of vaccine distribution, shock at what they have found left behind for them, essentially saying that the last administration in terms of what they had, there was no plan.

CNN White House correspondent M.J. Lee with this breaking news.

MJ, tell us what you've learned.

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we are starting to get a clearer picture of what exactly the Biden White House is inheriting from the Trump administration when it comes to COVID, when it comes to the vaccine distribution. And sources with direct knowledge telling CNN within hours of Biden being sworn in, that there simply was no vaccine distribution plan under former President Donald Trump. One source telling CNN, quote, there is nothing for us to rework. We

are going to have to build everything from scratch. Another source saying there was a moment of realization for the Biden COVID team where they realized they would have to start from scratch one, and it was further affirmation of complete incompetence.

Now, obviously, this is some strong language that we are hearing. What we are told is that some members of the Biden COVID team wanted to be careful to not be overly critical while Trump was still in office because they were having a hard enough time getting critical information from them about COVID, about the vaccines.

And now that Biden is officially in office, what they hope to do is almost go on a fact checking mission to try to get a sense of what exactly is going on here, what is the situation with vaccines, with production, what is it exactly that each different individual state across the country will need from us.

I just want to leave you with something that Jeff Zients, the White House COVID coordinator told reporters yesterday because it sums up the situation they are facing. Zients said yesterday: For almost a year now, Americans could not look to the federal government for any strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach to respond to COVID, and we've seen the tragic costs of that failure as President Biden steps into office today, that will change tomorrow.

So, obviously, the Biden white house promising immediate change when it comes to COVID and the vaccine distribution, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: MJ, that is stunning breaking news for you to report this morning. I mean, after all of the promise of yesterday, to wake up to this news in your report is just devastating, actually.

MJ, thank you very much. Please come back to us with any more that you learn on this.

We have a lot to discuss. Jeff Zeleny is back with us. Also joining us is Anna Palmer, the founder of "Punchbowl News".

Jeff, it's horrible. I mean, again, there was a feeling of such exuberance, promise, new start, new day yesterday, and then to wake up this morning, the biggest crisis that Americans are facing, the pandemic, and to know there was no plan, the Trump administration delivered 30 million I guess doses to states and that was it. No second phase. No second part of the plan. And here we are.

ZELENY: Alisyn, this is what the Biden administration -- the incoming Biden administration has been telegraphing and worrying about for the last two months or so. Not exactly sure what they were going to find once they were allowed into the offices, once they were allowed to really look under the hood to see what this program actually has.

[05:10:07]

And what they were finding as MJ is reporting and we're learning, simply there is not a detailed plan we've seen. This really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise because we have seen this in a variety of state plans, federal plans. It's confusing to say the least, but beyond that confusion, there does not seem to be anything orderly.

So, that is why this is the biggest task of this administration coming in now. They now own this. So the period for blaming the Trump administration is going to hit an expiration date fairly quickly here and the Biden team knows this very well.

So, Jeff Zients is bringing in a team of other experts here to try to get to the bottom of all of this. That is why we're going to see President Biden exerting more of his executive authority trying to jump start the government to get this vaccination program up and running even more, because it simply isn't now. Of course, President Trump when he was for the last 2 1/2 months has barely said a word about it. So, that, of course, is the problem here.

BERMAN: Ana, the Biden administration has this idea of having theme days for the next ten days or so and today is absolutely coronavirus. Tomorrow is economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, and you just get the sense even though they're moving on to other subjects after the weekend, coronavirus is going to be the subject every day here. It needs to be by necessity.

ANNA PALMER, FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Absolutely. I think what you're really seeing is the foundation that the Biden team is laying for trying to get this pandemic under control. I believe in all of my conversations with folks on his team and those around it, they feel like this is his legacy. This is going to be the bedrock of the first year, if not two years of the Biden administration.

Not only vaccine deployment but getting the economy jump started, trying to figure out a way to work with Congress to get some sort of a package done the first month or two of his administration, to get that economic relief that is needed in the states. These are big problems and the Biden administration has come in saying we are the steady hand that is going to guide this country to a better time, to a better moment in its history, and we're really going to see, you know, the rubber is going to hit the road, rather, as Jeff said in terms of there's going to be a very short grace period before people are wondering what is their plan?

They've said all along that they're going to be the people that look to science, that are going to have that steady hand. We are all now looking to say, okay, it's time to get going here.

CAMEROTA: You're so right. Obviously now it is on the Biden shoulders because now they find out the Trump administration's projections were all wrong, they were never right, they were never based in what was really going to happen. So, Jeff, the 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days, do we have any idea if they are rethinking that, or if that's still the plan?

ZELENY: We are told they are not rethinking that. That is the aspirational goal. And that has always been the challenge, even under the best case scenario, which clearly is not one that is operating under at this point. But the challenge for that is if more vaccines, I'm told, are approved, that certainly will make that goal much more possible.

If it is just the two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, that may be more of a challenge but it is not being scaled back at all. The White House, the new administration, all of the top new health officials, they have been working, you know, nonstop on this. So even though some of these cabinet secretaries are not confirmed, in fact none of them are in the health sector, underneath all of that the work is underway.

So they do believe it's still an obtainable goal but a difficult goal, no question. But we're going to hear more from the president on that later today talking exactly about this thing.

BERMAN: So, Anna, these 17 executive orders or 15 executive orders, two agency orders, actions that President Biden took, generally speaking these are the fulfillment of campaign promises. This is the result of candidates who say on day one I will do X. This is the only thing any president can do on day one and Joe Biden did it.

What's interesting is what he chose to do. Number one, the mask mandate on federal building. Obviously, that's usually important. Rejoining the WHO, hugely important as well in terms of the pandemic but also taking executive action on immigration, reversing the so- called Muslim ban, putting the U.S. back in the Paris climate accords.

What do you think the message that was being sent was intended to do here?

PALMER: I mean, it's frankly a little bit of whiplash. You go from the Trump administration to what Joe Biden did just on his first day. I think that that was carefully crafted. That was the signal they wanted to send, a different leader is in town.

This is going to be a very different leadership from America, I think it was to the U.S. citizens, but also to the world.

[05:15:08]

A lot of those executive orders were not just inward looking for the voters and the citizens of this country, but were really a global message being sent that, all right, we have a new leadership in town. It's time to, you know, kind of think -- rethink America's relationship with the world and its leadership around the world.

BERMAN: So, Anna, Jeff, stand by for a moment because there was this other piece yesterday which is something we've never seen before. Three former U.S. presidents taping this individuals yes, they obviously taped it yesterday, when they were at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington with the message of unity. We're going to discuss what the importance of this was, what the intention of this was.

And as we head into break, more from this historic concert that you may have missed if you were sleeping.

CAMEROTA: Including somebody named Springsteen.

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[05:20:24]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I think if Americans would love their neighbor like they like to be loved themselves, a lot of the division in our society would end.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: That's what this means. It's a new beginning, and everybody needs to get off their high horse and reach out to their friends and neighbors and try to make it possible.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If, in fact, as George said we're looking for what binds us together, the American people are strong, they're tough, they can get through hardship, and there's no problem they can't solve when we're working together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's just a video of three guys ripping.

CAMEROTA: It really was. In the age of social media, I can see somebody saying, hey, guys, you got any thoughts?

BERMAN: Those three guys happen to be three former U.S. presidents of both parties talking about unity, which was obviously the primary message from President Biden's inaugural address. In that video we saw, truly remarkable in the fact that those three presidents were sending that message or sharing that message with the current president and just the way it was done. I think so deliberately designed to send a visual message well.

Jeff Zeleny back with us, Anna Palmer, founder of "Punchbowl News".

That was really something, Jeff.

ZELENY: It absolutely was, John. I was talking to some aides to all three of the former presidents yesterday as this was coming together. It was recorded, as you said, at Arlington National Cemetery at the same time all of the former presidents and the current President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris went to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

And then they recorded this message, and it was designed to be a free flowing conversation. I'm told this is an edited version of a 20- minute long conversation three men had. So, boy, would you love to see the outtakes of all of this. I certainly would.

I am told that the Biden transition and inaugural committee asked the former presidents to come together and really just have a conversation. It was unscripted but talk about democracy and, of course, the most striking comments come from President George W. Bush, the only Republican former president in attendance because President Trump declined to go.

You may wonder why wasn't he invited to this meeting of the former president's club? Because he left town. He left town before the inauguration. So, had he been there, he likely would have been invited. He chose to take himself out of this equation for now.

But a fascinating, you know, message for them. We should remember back to November 7th when Joe Biden became the president-elect, when his victory was declared, one the first people to send a message of congratulations in a phone call was George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush. He has been celebrating the Biden victory since the very beginning, never got on board with any of this nonsense about how this was a lie.

CAMEROTA: And now this leads to your new reporting, Anna, and it's about bipartisanship. This, you know, mythical goal that so people think about.

But Joe Biden, President Biden, appears to be built for bipartisanship. That is his natural inclination. He's proved that over the years. But for that to happen, it means that other people on both sides are going to have to kind of break the addiction to insulting the other side, seeing the people across the aisle as other, you know, hating on them.

And you have this new reporting about what you're calling the sweet 16 and what -- what promise does this hold? What are they suggesting they're going to be able to achieve?

PALMER: I don't want to be Pollyannaish about this and think just because Joe Biden comes to town as the new president, all of a sudden, we're going to have this massive kumbaya moments, and Republicans aren't going to be Republicans, and Democrats are going to continue to be Democrats.

But what we are reporting is because of the tight majorities in Washington right now with Democrats in control but a 50-50 Senate with Kamala Harris being that deciding vote, there is all of a sudden a new pressure and kind of spotlight on this idea of the Sweet 16, this bipartisan gang of senators who could really have a lot of sway to moving things in the middle when you look at packages like coronavirus relief, when you look at other things that this presidency wants to get done.

And that is really looking at the moderates, the senators from Alaska, Senator Murkowski, Senator Collins from Maine, Senator Manchin. So, they're already starting to do outreach by the Biden team which is probably very smart.

[05:25:01]

It's a very different tactic that we had than the Trump administration where they largely ignored or didn't work very well with, you know, Congress that much. And so, even from the first day, they're starting to come out of this from a very cool perspective. So, that is what we're watching. Can this Sweet 16 as we're calling

them, come together, try to find some ways forward when it comes to some really big problems in the country.

BERMAN: And there's literally a meeting set up with these senators, yes, at this point, Anna?

PALMER: Yes, absolutely. So, Brian Deese is going to be meeting with them. We didn't have an exact date, I think it's before the end of this week, early next. They're working on some of the scheduling there. I think it's important to take a step back.

The fact that this was even being set up before Joe Biden had been sworn in. It just shows how seriously this administration is taking its relationship with Congress. You saw Joe Biden giving his inaugural address and mentioning both Republicans and Democrats, how important it was that they work together.

So I don't think this is just words for the Biden administration, I do think it will be a -- really a clear attempt to try to reset the page here in Washington. Time will tell whether or not they're going to be able to be successful.

BERMAN: Yeah, you said you didn't want to be Pollyannaish. He had some strong words where he didn't say I expect everyone to come along with me. He said this kind of unity works if enough come along.

The direct quote is in these difficult moments in history enough of us came together to carry us all forward. Enough of us seems to be a message, Jeff, to that sweet 16.

ZELENY: No question about it. I'm told that that meeting is going to happen this weekend with those senators who than was just talking about there. And it's really bringing back. You know, we've heard about the gang of 8, the gang of 14, any of us who covered Capitol Hill. This is a back to the future kind of moment.

That is what President Biden really believes is possible. He bristles and smiles sometimes when people say you're naive, you can't -- you know, no one wants to work together. There's actually an imperative for both sides to work together because of all the seats that -- we shouldn't start talking about the next election campaign but this town already is.

2022, control of the Senate so important. Obstructionism is likely not going to be the name of the game this year. Both sides want to show that they can work together, at least along the margins here.

So, again, those key relationships that President Biden has with some of his old friends from the Senate are very, very important here. They all have different motives. They know they won't get everything they want.

But Anna is absolutely right. Those senators in the middle, so important here. That's why it's going to be fascinating, both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, in this new Washington with the capitol's waking up to today.

BERMAN: See what we did there, unity between Jeff Zeleny and Anna Palmer. It's just everywhere.

CAMEROTA: Was it that hard? That really --

BERMAN: It's everywhere.

All right. Friends, thank you both for being with us this morning.

ZELENY: You bet.

BERMAN: There is that talk of unity. There is a very real reality facing the U.S. Senate, an impeachment trial for the former president while the current president is waiting for almost his entire cabinet to be confirmed. We want to give you the very latest on what the status of all of this is. We have some new reporting for you next.

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