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Dominion Files Defamation Lawsuit; China's Crackdown on Citizen Journalists; Negative Test Requirement for International Travelers; Biden Reopens ACA Marketplaces. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 26, 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]

TOM CLARE, ATTORNEY FOR DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS: You're right, Alisyn, that these folks could not have done it alone. I mean if -- if Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani had stood in a -- the middle of an abandoned street and whispered these lies about Dominion, the damage wouldn't be anywhere near as great. But a lot of folks handed them a megaphone and a very loud megaphone on cable news shows and on the Internet. And we are looking at each and every one of them. We're looking at what did they know at the time that they put these folks on the air to spread these lies, and at what point did it become reckless for them to give a platform to them?

And, in many instances, many of the hosts of these shows and many of the anchors of these programs said these lies in their own words. They adopted them as their own and they tweeted them. And so they have their own individual responsibility quite apart from putting these folks on the air.

And we're looking at all of them. We haven't ruled anybody out. But You can certainly expect there will be more lawsuits in the weeks ahead.

CAMEROTA: We have some examples of people who grabbed that megaphone and ran with it. Here are some Fox TV personalities saying disinformation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: In the state of Michigan, Republicans are moving in to investigate this software glitch called Dominion that actually changed thousands of votes from Trump to Biden.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS: They say they have hundreds of affidavits of people who have sworn testimony that they have seen the way the Dominion systems work, that they can switch votes.

LOU DOBBS, FOX NEWS: At the center of it all, Dominion Voting Systems. Are they the culprit here? Not the only culprit, but are they the principle culprit?

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: So, Mr. Clare, what are the chances that you would sue Sean Hannity or Maria Bartiromo or Lou Dobbs?

CLARE: Well, I'm not going to comment on specific defendants that we're looking at right now, but the examples that you played are examples of the types of statements that we're looking very carefully at because at the time those statements were made and many others just like them on different networks, these allegations about Dominion have been broadly discredited. And it was reckless for folks to say these sorts of things on the air and to continue to put these lies forward before the lies about Dominion had been disproven by hand recounts and independent audits and state procedures designed to ensure the integrity of these elections. And so we're going to be looking at those statements and many, many more.

CAMEROTA: How about Donald Trump? He also said there are tremendous reports about Dominion. I mean he went on as well. He's a private citizen now. How about him? Would you consider -- are you -- is he on your list for possible lawsuits?

CLARE: We have not ruled anyone out. We have, of course, now sued Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, two folks who were acting on behalf of the president at various sometimes. And so we expect that discovery in this case will yield much greater light on what the role of the president was and the others around him. And Dominion is being very careful. We're being very deliberative. We're not filing lawsuits just for the sake of filing lawsuits. We're going to go where the evidence leads us. And if the evidence leads us in a particular direction, no one has been ruled out by virtue of their position.

CAMEROTA: Tom Clare, thank you very much for the update. We appreciate you giving us all the information.

CLARE: Thanks for having us.

CAMEROTA: They risked everything to expose the truth about coronavirus in the crucial early days of the pandemic. So you're going to hear from the citizen journalists of Wuhan, China, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:28]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Wuhan, China, a brutal crackdown on citizen journalists who risked everything to expose the truth about coronavirus.

CNN's David Culver, who has done so much reporting on this from the very beginning, joins us now live in Shanghai with this revealing story.

David, what are you learning?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is revealing, John. And when we think back to the early days of this outbreak, one thing we cannot overlook is that some of the initial in-depth reporting came from Chinese journalists. And they were, for a brief period of time, operating with what seemed to be a hiatus on the usual censorship that the Chinese government puts forward.

In fact, as I'm looking at a monitor here, that censorship is continuing even as we're telling this story here in China. So it's something that they're used to. And when they had that window of opportunity to share the truth of the outbreak, they were doing so. But now many of those journalists and those who tried to preserve their reports are paying the price.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (voice over): Nearly 5,000 miles from his home in China, Chen Kun is now finding his way in a new life in exile. He fled to Paris after his younger brother was arrested last year, caught up in a crackdown on citizen journalists who reported on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. His brother, Chen Mei, used his online project, Terminus 2049, to archive published stories about the virus, preserving them in case they were deleted by government censors.

CHEN KUN, BROTHER OF DETAINED CITIZEN JOURNALIST: At the beginning of the pandemic, the Chinese authorities, they covered up the real information about COVID. I think that information my brother (INAUDIBLE) and the reposting will make the Chinese government feel ashamed.

CULVER: In the early, chaotic days of the outbreak, people used social media and live streaming to provide vital information to the public on the epidemic during a moment of national crisis. It also forced government officials to acknowledge the rapidly spreading threat.

CULVER: At the time here in Wuhan, there seemed to be a window of opportunity for journalists to do this kind of reporting, a lifting of China's usual censorship on media coverage that was seen as a positive sign of things to come. But soon that window slammed shut.

CULVER (voice over): Chen Mei was arrested in April, along with his friend and the website's co-founder Cai Wei, accused of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, was sentenced to four years last month for the same crime after she live streamed on the ground reports about the outbreak in Wuhan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): After I took some pictures of some patients, I was warned by national security officers.

[08:40:07]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're still filming. I'm going to smash it.

CULVER: She has staged a hunger strike to protest her detention. Her lawyer says she fears she may die in jail.

Others who spoke out include another lawyer, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, who uploaded a video of body bags at a Wuhan hospital. Both have disappeared into China's shadowy legal system.

Police also reprimanded a Wuhan doctor, Dr. Li Wenliang, who had warned contacts on Chinese messaging app WeChat of the rapidly spreading SARS like virus in his hospital. The doctor later died of the disease, leaving a pregnant wife. His bravery in speaking out made him a martyr in China and sparked national calls for freedom of speech.

To reclaim the narrative and control the public message, China's propaganda department deployed more than 300 journalists to Wuhan in early February. The Chinese government has since denied targeting people for their reporting, saying, in China, no one gets punished or penalized simply for making remarks.

In Europe, Chen Kun now becoming a whistleblower himself, protesting outside the World Health Organization and trying to tell the world what happened despite the risks to his family.

CULVER: Are you worried that speaking out could impact them?

KUN: Yes. I'm worried. But I don't have any choice. I just have one option to do. And it is speak out. Maybe the Chinese government, if they want to rewrite and temper the history of the COVID in Wuhan.

CULVER (voice over): He hopes his brother's attempt to preserve that history may help the world piece together the origins of the world's worst pandemic in a century.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So, David, if journalism was suppressed, if truth was suppressed, how is state media trying to shape the narrative right now?

CULVER: I think there are two narratives they're putting out as of now, John. One is that China has this virus for the most part under control. And, anecdotally, our lives here show that to be quite true, in fact. I mean there are cluster outbreaks but it does seem as though they have the containment in place.

The other narrative they have out there is sowing doubt as to the origins of this virus and it's because of how highly politicized and sensitive it's become. And especially coinciding with the WHO team now in China, in Wuhan, to begin their field research and source tracing the virus.

So they put it out there as though it could have come from many other sources, including being imported originally into Wuhan. That's what's being floated. But even as we're reporting right now, John, you and I talking, this is what folks here in China, in mainland China, are seeing. It's this on their screen, which is quite common, especially when it's something sensitive. It essentially says, please stand by, no signal. Of course, that's the censorship in place so that this report can't be aired here.

John. BERMAN: That is just amazing to see.

Well, David, you keep on pressing. Keep on doing the reporting. Keep on doing the journalism. It's so important to get the story out all around the world. Thanks so much for being with us.

CULVER: Thanks, John.

CAMEROTA: Wow, seeing those color bars really drives it home.

So, here's another story.

All international travelers are now required to present a negative coronavirus test in order to enter the United States.

CNN's Pete Muntean is live a Dulles Airport -- International Airport with details.

What do we know, Pete?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is where international travelers arrive after they clear customs. But these new restrictions take hold well before those travelers ever get here.

Now, all international travelers coming into the United States will have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to their airline well before they leave. You know, it's really politics driving the policy here. The Biden administration is also restricting travel for those coming from the United Kingdom, much of Europe, Brazil and now South Africa. It is those type of restrictions that the Trump administration wanted to do away with.

Here is what the White House said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: With the pandemic worsening and more contagions variant -- contagious variants spreading, this isn't the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel. And in light of the contagious variant, B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now there is a new warning from the State Department to all U.S. citizens to avoid international travel altogether, in part because of those new coronavirus strains.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says all of this shows the seriousness in which this new administration is trying to deal with this virus.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Pete, thank you very much for that developing story.

We also have new reporting on a new action that President Biden plans to take to get more Americans health insurance during this pandemic. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:49:03]

BERMAN: So developing this morning, CNN has learned that President Joe Biden will take executive action as early as Thursday to reopen for a time federal marketplaces selling health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Joining us now, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, open enrollment is over. People know what open enrollment is. It's over. But what the president will do is reopen the exchanges so people can go in and buy health care that they need. And the thinking here is, is that people have so much increased need because of the pandemic, what would this do?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so that's exactly right. I mean it's tough to know exactly how many people have lost employer-based health care through this pandemic, but it's exactly to address that potential need.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation, the number could be 2 million to 3 million people but, you know, we don't know. A lot of people have obviously lost their jobs. How many of those people did have health care insurance through their employer? How many people were able to get things like COBRA to extend their health care insurance?

[08:50:04]

Regardless, there's obviously a need here. And I think that that's what this executive action is sort of intended to address. So six weeks typically is what open enrollment is, you know, near the end of the year. They say that maybe they'll keep this option, these exchanges, open for a few months to try and let people buy in -- buy health care insurance that otherwise would not have access right now.

So we'll see how this plays out. There's some details that we still need to sort of drill down. Is it going to be open everywhere? How long will it be open? Who's most likely to benefit from this? And on Thursday, as you mentioned, we should get a lot more details.

CAMEROTA: Let's look at a snapshot of where we are this morning with vaccinations. And 22.7 million Americans have gotten vaccinated. We have 41 million doses distributed. Obviously we need to do better, Sanjay. And so that is what President Biden is talking about. But can we accelerate it? I mean we also hear from, you know, local city officials who say they're running out of supply. We hear from the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, who says she can't tell you how much supply we have on hand right now.

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, that -- that -- that part is really surprising. I mean Operation Warp Speed, people know this term, did incredible work in terms of getting these vaccines authorized. But the idea now that these super precious commodities, and we still don't know exactly how many doses there are, is obviously a problem.

But I do think, and this is based on talking to lots of people in different sectors of this entire vaccine rollout, that the numbers can be increased significantly.

There are a few caveats. You've got to have the vaccine. You know, we talk about these huge companies like Pfizer and Moderna, maybe Johnson & Johnson, potentially within a year being able to make a billion plus doses. Now that's not all earmarked for the United States, obviously. But the point is that they could have significant manufacturing capabilities. You've got to have the simple supplies like the syringes and even these special what are called load dead volume syringes so that you can -- you can get every last drop literally out of these vials. And you have to have the vaccinators, people actually pushing the syringes into people's arms. So, you know, those are the big needs that are -- that are -- need to be addressed.

But, you know, if you talk to the people at the -- in the retail pharmacy world, they say if they have adequate resources, adequate manpower, they should be able to do up to 100 million doses per month. That's the pharmacies alone.

The picture on your screen, by the way, is one of these load dead volume syringes. John and I talked about this last Friday. But basically there's no dead space. So when you're trying to get six doses of the vaccine out of a vial and you can't have any dead space in that syringe because you'll lose some of those drops, that's what these syringes are designed to do. We actually don't have enough of these right now in the United States, as it turns out. And that's why they're invoking the Defense Production Act to make more syringes that look just like that one.

BERMAN: So, Sanjay, some news just crossed and we knew it because of the calendar, but Johnson & Johnson is telling us that we are going to get their data by early next week, they said, of the third phase of their trial. Johnson & Johnson is a single dose vaccine. It doesn't need to be stored at the bajillion degrees below zero temperatures, so it's easier to get to people, easier to get to them quickly.

I have to say, we don't know yet what the data shows, but they're really raising expectations here. I have -- if these don't come back good at this point, I think it would be a huge disappointment.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean I think you're right, John. I mean -- and what is -- what is successful now that you've had two vaccines that have had 90 percent plus efficacy. You know, it's a pretty high bar. But, you know, I talked to some of the -- the scientific development officers with Johnson & Johnson and they look at how much antibodies, how many of these neutralizing antibodies were being produced in the phase one and phase two trials. And it is significant. I mean it's on par, at least with the antibody production, as what you saw with Pfizer and Moderna.

To your point, does that translate to significant percentage of people being protected against illness as a result of taking the vaccine? That's what they hope. And the reason the next week is critical is that that's the two-month mark of safety data. You remember the FDA requires two months of safety data from these trial results. That's going to be the two-month mark and that's likely when the trial will be unblinded and they will look for the first time and say, how many people got sick and what percentage of them were in the vaccinated group versus the placebo group. Again, with Pfizer and Moderna, the vast majority of people who got sick were in the placebo group. That was that 90 percent plus efficacy. We'll see what Johnson & Johnson shows.

But this -- this cold storage thing where you don't need the -- just normal refrigeration requirements I -- is big, you know? I mean this allows distribution into lots of different areas around the country, but also around the world.

[08:55:05]

CAMEROTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

And we have a quick programming note for everyone.

Join us for a new CNN global town hall on the race to vaccinate America. Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top doctors from President Biden's coronavirus team will join Sanjay and Anderson Cooper tomorrow night. That's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

BERMAN: So U.S. senators will be sworn in for the next role in the Senate impeachment trial. This is the first impeachment trial ever of a former president. Our coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

President Biden tells CNN the impeachment trial, quote, has to happen. And one hour from now, the process is happening. It is moving forward. The Senate will convene at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time and later senators will be sworn in today as jurors in this stunning second impeachment trial of former President Trump.

SCIUTTO: Amazing to see this just in the span of 13-some odd months. But Biden also told CNN he does not think that 17 Republican senators will vote to convict to reach two-thirds.

We are following all the developments from Capitol Hill to the coronavirus, include something good news on the coronavirus.

[09:00:05]