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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

McConnell Drops Filibuster Demand, Senate Dems Take Full Control; Biden Faces Economic Crises: Unemployment, Eviction, Hunger; First U.S. Case of Brazil Coronavirus Variant Found. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 26, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:25]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Tuesday, January 26th. It's 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And breaking overnight: a big breakthrough for the people's business in the U.S. Senate. Democrats taking full control after a week-long battle over power-sharing in the divided chamber. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell dropping his demand for Democrats to keep the filibuster.

Now, McConnell's concerns apparently eased by recent comments from two moderate Democrats against gutting the filibuster which, of course, can be used to gum up the legislative process. All this means Democrats can now turn their attention to matters of national importance, like immigration, health care, the climate.

But there's one big thing standing in the way of all of that, impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The House impeachment managers literally walked through the scene of the crime to deliver the sole article of impeachment to the Senate. More Republican senators are arguing it's simply not constitutional to impeach Trump now that he's out of the White House. But one impeachment manager says the timing doesn't matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): You think about someone who's going to attack the peaceful transition of power and hold on to power despite the will of the people. That's going to happen at the end of their term not the beginning so it presents a very dangerous precedent if we were to say, look, a president, or vice president gets a constitutional freebie. You get one free thing, do it near the end so it will be late in your term. That would be very, very dangerous for our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: President Biden weighing in on impeachment with the most direct comments so far telling CNN's Kaitlan Collins the Senate trial has to happen even if it means holding up his legislative agenda and his cabinet nominees. The president told Kaitlan there would be a worse effect if it didn't happen.

Meanwhile, targets of the capitol insurrection, members of the U.S. Senate, will be sworn in today as jurors. The historic trial, only the fourth in U.S. history, but the second against Donald Trump.

CNN's Ryan Nobles starts us off this morning from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, good morning from Capitol Hill, where the articles of impeachment are now in the hands of the United States Senate. And now begins the clock ticking on the next impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump. It's going to be about a two-week process for the president and his legal team to get their legal affairs in order.

On Tuesday, the senators will be sworn in. The presiding judge will take over the responsibility of overseeing this trial and then the process will begin, all with an eye towards February 9th. That's when the trial itself will take place.

We're not exactly sure how the trial itself will look, whether or not there will be witnesses, how long the trial itself could take. Both Republicans and Democrats have said that they're prepared for the possibility of witnesses. Some suggesting that perhaps even the senators themselves may be called to testify since they were a part of the capitol insurrection which is at the core of this impeachment.

Meanwhile, President Trump attempting to put together a legal team. He has hired Butch Bowers, who's a South Carolina lawyer. But there are sources telling our Jeff Zeleny that he's having a hard time gathering together a big legal team, that there are many law firms that don't want to be associated with the impeachment trial and also may be as simple as being worried that they're afraid that President Trump won't pay them. So, that's the situation the president finds himself in.

His close ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, said he spoke to President Trump over the weekend and he said that the president, like many Americans, just wants to see this impeachment trial behind him as soon as possible -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Ryan, thank you for that. One notable difference between the upcoming impeachment trial and the

last one, who is in charge? Senator Patrick Leahy will preside this time, instead of Chief Justice John Roberts. That's because the 80- year-old Democrat is the longest serving lawmaker in the majority party, otherwise known as the president pro tem of the Senate.

And since Trump is no longer in office, Justice Roberts doesn't have to preside under the Constitution. Senator Leahy is vowing to oversee the trial with impartiality.

ROMANS: Now, the Justice Department's internal watchdog investigating whether a DOJ official tried to help overturn President Biden's election win. This inquiry was announced after reports from "The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" revealed a plot between former President Trump and a top DOJ official to challenge the election results.

The plan included the possibility of firing acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen who had privately rejected the president's demands.

[05:05:07]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the inspector general's probe saying it was unconscionable a DOJ official would try to subvert the people's will.

JARRETT: Breaking overnight, a large and extremely dangerous tornado ripping through Alabama. The tornado causing significant damage in Birmingham suburbs of Fultondale and Center Point. Some people are hospitalized with serious injuries. Search and rescue teams are combing through debris now.

Officials say a house collapsed on one family. No word on their condition yet. A hotel in the city was heavily damaged. A church had part of its roof torn off. A tornado watch remains in effect for parts of Alabama and Georgia.

ROMANS: All right. A historic first, Janet Yellen has been confirmed as the first female treasury secretary in the U.S. history. She'll be sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris today. Yellen, of course, is a battle-tested economist who once chaired the Federal Reserve. Taking the top job at Treasury in the middle of this crisis makes her one of the most powerful women in the world.

Her job now, she's got to be the salesperson for the Biden administration's rescue of the battered American economy. Biden's $1.9 trillion plan includes a bigger stimulus check, money for state and local aid, funds for a crucial national vaccine plan. It's a big lift after $4 trillion already spent. But Yellen argues the crisis demands that she says right now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big.

There is a lot of work ahead. Years of job market gains have been wiped out by this crisis. We're down 9.8 million jobs since February.

What's been called a K-shaped economy and now a health crisis have left millions behind while the rich, Laura, recovering very, very quickly. You know, the bottom -- I would say the bottom 20 percent -- 20 or 25 percent of earners of this country essentially, they have the economic conditions of the depression at this moment. So, that's something for Congress to keep in mind as the stock market hits records. Real people, especially people who live in poverty are hungry and feeling like dark, dark winter.

JARRETT: So important to keep the focus on that. Obviously, everyone wants the economy to do well. But so, so important to frame it that way, I think, Christine.

ROMANS: Yeah.

JARRETT: All right. Still ahead, Moderna and Pfizer both feeling the pressure to get more out the door. Hear why they say that's easier said than done.

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[05:11:36]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

The Biden administration is being greeted by an economy on life support. Unemployment claims are back up and all of the jobs lost last month were held by women.

So, which part of President Biden's relief package will help the jobless, hungry, potentially homeless families?

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich spoke to some who are struggling to hang on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Michelle Bennett and her children are living in fear. The landlord is trying to evict them after she lost her job and can't pay rent.

MICHELLE BENNETT, FACING EVICTION: I don't really have anywhere to go with me not having the income to pay during the pandemic because I don't want to be homeless.

YURKEVICH: The eviction crisis is just one of the economic disasters facing the Biden administration, including historic job loss and a growing hunger crisis. Last week, President Biden signed an executive order extending a ban on evictions through March, but that doesn't help Bennett whose lawyer says the landlord is using a loophole that's becoming more common during the pandemic.

Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus proposes about $30 billion in additional rental assurance. For months, Bennett's tried applying so she can stay in her home, with no luck.

BENNETT: When you call, it's like no money. Or call back next month. You know, maybe there'll be money then, you know? And then you call back the next month and still, oh, we're out of money.

YURKEVICH: Gabbie Riley is also out of a job. Weekly unemployment claims are back hovering around 1 million. And last month, the economy shed jobs for the first time since April. Every single one of those 140,000 jobs lost was held by a woman. Riley is one of them.

GABBIE RILEY, LAID OFF IN DECEMBER: It's maddening. It's frustrating. It's defeating.

YURKEVICH: Riley worked in sales at the Lowe's Hotel in Minneapolis. Leisure and hospitality lost more jobs than any other U.S. industry last year. Riley, a single mom, is worried her career is over.

RILEY: We have a long way to go yet before our economic society is really feeling and appreciating what females have to contribute to society.

MELODY SAMUELS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,L THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER: What is a food pantry without food?

YURKEVICH: As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, food banks across the country are running out of critical funding. The Campaign Against Hunger in Brooklyn, New York, says their money is nearly gone.

SAMUELS: It's frightening. I don't know what I'm going to do because I still have food to buy.

YURKEVICH: President Biden signed an executive order to address hunger, directing the Department of Agriculture to give families more money to replace school lunches, and increase food stamps for about 12 million Americans.

But some on the brink will still fall through the cracks and food banks need federal funding to feed them.

SAMUELS: I need assurance from all of our policymakers that, listen, you started, we need to finish this thing. We started helping families, we can't leave them in thin air.

YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. The coronavirus variant initially discovered in Brazil has now been found for the first time in the U.S. Officials in Minnesota say it was found in an American who traveled from Brazil. Now, even with the number of coronavirus cases falling, medical experts do worry about these variants which are believed to spread faster.

[05:15:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We've seen what happens in other countries that have actually had coronavirus under relatively good control. Then these variants took over and they had explosive spread of the virus and then overwhelmed hospitals. We've been there and it looks like we're trending in the right direction but all of that progress could be erased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Almost 23 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the U.S., but only a little -- only 3 percent of vaccine recipients have been fully vaccinated. Remember, you need two shots in most cases and will need more than 75 percent for things to even look like normal. But under pressure for the companies to deliver faster, vaccine makers say it will take time to scale up manufacturing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICH PELT, DIRECTOR, REGULATORY AFFAIRS AT PFIZER: It just takes time and I'm not saying that we're at the normal vaccine, years and years, it takes a few months to bring on another line. You had to -- you can't just add another one at the snap of a finger.

DR. STEPHEN HOGE, PRESIDENT OF MODERNA: When we make a drug it has to be exactly what we say it is. There can be no defects, and there can't be quality concerns. But even minor things, it can't be that it's only 90 percent as potent as you said. It has to be what you made the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, officials believe part of the solution here is having more vaccine options available. Johnson & Johnson getting closer to releasing its vaccine. Reopening schools meanwhile still a struggle for the second time in two days. Teachers declined to return for in- person learning.

Montclair, New Jersey teachers refused yesterday after Chicago teachers voted Sunday against going back in person. And the school superintendent in Los Angeles says teachers should be vaccinated before returning to classrooms.

JARRETT: In Seattle, the city council voted to bring back hazard pay, an extra $4 an hour for a grocery store workers during the pandemic. And while they wait for the entertainment industry to return, back stage crews are volunteering to help.

A labor union representing stage hands offered the White House its help to build or convert vaccination sites across the country.

ROMANS: Moderna expects its vaccine will be protective against coronavirus variants. Still, there's concern that the vaccine may not prove as effective against the variant first found in South Africa. So, what is Moderna doing about it?

CNN's David McKenzie live in Johannesburg.

And this has been a real concern. All of this effort, all of this time, all this money to develop these vaccines and the virus is starting to change. And we need to test to find out that these vaccines work on these variants emerging around the world.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. Good morning.

You know, that's the big issue that you face is that COVID-19 has been mutating throughout this pandemic and in recent months, you've had these disturbing variants emerging that have been discovered in the U.K., if you're in South Africa, and Brazil you mentioned earlier. The good news is that U.S. officials believe that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine should be effective in halting the severe disease from COVID- 19 of these variants.

But they do say it's slightly less effective against the variant discovered here in South Africa for the Moderna vaccine, and they are developing a booster shot for that. It does really bring up this key issue. It's a race against time because as these vaccines are delivered in the U.S. and other parts of the world, this virus can mutate further and you haven't had a single vaccine administered here in South Africa and many parts of the continent, only a handful of vaccines given up. And that means as it continues to circulate through the second and third possible waves throughout the continent, you could see mutations that are more problematic, say scientists, for these emerging vaccines.

We'll find out in the coming weeks whether the Oxford vaccine and Johnson & Johnson and others will be effective against the strains that are emerging. But it really is troubling because the second wave here in South Africa has been dramatically worse than the first wave. And it might be possibly due in part to re-infection of people because the antibodies from the earlier variants weren't effective. So, it really is important, say, scientists, to get the vaccines out equitably to the entire globe.

ROMANS: Agree. All right. David McKenzie for us, thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: Well, with so many questions about all of these new variants, CNN brings you a new global town hall, "The Race to Vaccinate America." Top doctors from President Biden's team join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for "CORONAVIRUS: FACTS AND FEARS", live tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

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[05:24:04]

ROMANS: Welcome back.

Tom Brady's dad revealing yesterday that he and Brady's mom both battled COVID-19 last year.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Christine.

So, Tom Brady Sr. says he and his wife both had COVID-19 at the beginning of the NFL season and were sick as a dog. Brady Sr. having to spend three weeks in the hospital. Now, Brady Sr. revealing that they battled COVID to ESPN's Mike Greenberg yesterday. Brady's mom who's a breast cancer survivor did not need to be hospitalized. The couple is 76 years old.

Brady Sr. says his son would FaceTime him every day to and from practice. But it was definitely a stressful time for the six-time Super Bowl champ.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TOM BRADY SR., TOM BRADY'S DAD: We've never missed a game in Michigan, or New England, or wherever. So, the first two games when I was in the hospital, I didn't even care if they were playing, much less missing the game.

[05:25:03]

It was -- it was a matter of life and death. Just like anybody that goes into the hospital. It's serious stuff.

And Tommy fought through it and so, now, it's just -- it's in the rear-view mirror. We're healthy, we're happy, and everything is good.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Officials in Kansas City meanwhile say they will not have a parade or public celebration if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl due to COVID-19 concerns. The city says the decision was made to protect the health, safety, and well-being of fans, players, team personnel and the community. However, city leaders left open the possibility of celebrating some time down the road.

All right. Today is the one-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi's tragic death. Nets star Kyrie Irving honoring Kobe Bryant last night by wearing a number 8 Lakers jersey before his game against the Heat.

This one was close for three quarters. Then James Harden and Kevin Durant led Brooklyn on a 15-0 run to pull away and win the game in the fourth quarter at 98-85.

The Lakers meanwhile playing at the Cavs. LeBron's first game back at home since 2018. And he went off for a season high 46 points, 21 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone. The spark coming after LeBron heard a Cavs executive joking about a missed shot. Lakers win that one, 115-108.

Over the weekend, LeBron reflected on what this past year since Kobe's death has been like for the Lakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: Man, it's insane. Time heals all, you know? And as devastating and tragic as it was and still is to all of us involved with it, you know, only time and it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process.

ANTHONY DAVIS, LOS ANGELES LAKERS CENTER: To this day, mamba on 3. We want to recognize, you know, that he's part of our organization and, you know, ever since the tragedy happened we had a mindset that this is bigger than, you know, ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Laura, hard to believe it's already been a year since Kobe's death, as a sports fan that's one of the moments where I remember where I was when I learned the news. I was at my son's Little League baseball practice. That's a moment I'll never forget.

JARRETT: Yeah, I remember you had just interviewed Kobe not that long ago.

SCHOLES: Yeah, two weeks before.

JARRETT: Yeah. All right. Andy, appreciate it. Thanks.

All right. What you are seeing here has only happened four times in American history. A historic second impeachment trial for Donald Trump happening at the scene of the crime.

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