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White House Holds Briefing Before Biden Signs Climate Executive Actions; White House Briefing As Biden Pledges To Speed Up Vaccine Rollout; GOP Opposition To Impeachment Trial Grows. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 27, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13: 00:04]

GINA MCCARTHY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL CLIMATE ADVISER: You know, solar jobs will be everywhere but we need to put people to work and their own communities. That's where their home is. That's where their vision is. So we're creatively looking at those opportunities for investment so that we can get people understanding that we are not trying to take away jobs.

Remember, when we say climate change, eventually, people are going to think jobs, just like President Biden when he hears the words climate change. And so we'll do everything we can to recognize that revitalization is necessary in these communities to find creative ways to put them to work.

And then we're going to do as Secretary Kerry says and start investing in new technologies and new manufacturing. And that includes the large manufacturing, like cement and steel. That's work that we should be doing here. That's work that inevitably is going to be necessary to rebuild our infrastructure, which is also one of the biggest opportunities we have for job growth moving forward.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Take us off, Peter.

REPORTER: Two for -- sure. Administrator, one to you and one to the secretary, if I may. We hear from some corners of the criticism is why are we doing this now when we're already in an economic crisis. You look at the state of New Mexico, where one-third of the state's budget is funded by oil and gas. So, why not let the country get back on its feet before we do this?

MCCARTHY: Well, the issue in New Mexico is that somebody reported a bit incorrectly, or maybe not as precisely enough, that this wasn't about impacting existing permits and fracking. This was about new leases on federal lands. So I think that the opportunity for the states to continue to accrue the royalties from both coal and oil and natural gas that is properly done on federal lands is going to continue. And there's even an opportunity in the review of that program to look at the royalty issues, look at the job growth opportunities, look at a variety of things to make sure that public lands are being properly managed.

Now, in terms of the job issue, we're explicitly doing this because our economy is right now stagnant. We have millions of people out of work, out of jobs. Millions of people that are afraid they can't feed their families. If you're faced with that, what do you do? You boost the economy and you grow jobs.

But why at the same time aren't we thinking about the weaknesses of our current economy in terms of the number of environmental injustice communities that have been left behind, the number of people breathing dirty air and their kids are getting asthma? So instead, let's think about it all at the same time.

I know it's a crazy idea in bureaucracy. You're only supposed to do one thing but we're going to do and think of it and thing about all of it because people need to have jobs. This is all about building the jobs of the future we want, not to continuing to nibble at an economy that is no longer going to be where our future lies.

REPORTER: And, Mr. Secretary, to you, right now, over the course of this first week there are a lot of big priorities here. There's COVID, the economy, immigration, racial justice, now climate change. As a veteran of Congress, of the Senate, what is the priority and how quickly do you need legislation to make this permanent?

JOHN KERRY, SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: Well, Peter, the priority is precisely what the president has set out, all of them, all six of the major crises that he faces. And he's addressing every single one of them. And he knows that the United States, all of us, have the ability to be able to do that.

And the reason that has to be done is every single one of them are life and death. Every single one of them represent a challenge to the very fiber of our society. And the other reason, obviously, everything -- I agree with everything Gina said, but I'd simply add that the other reason for doing it now is the science tells us we have to. And that's one of the things the president is restoring today, in the executive order, is respect for science and the science office.

So, I mean --

REPORTER: $2 trillion price tags, $2 trillion for COVID, $2 trillion for this, it's a lot of money go a lot over there.

KERRY: It is real money, and, yes, it's a lot of money. But you know what, it costs a lot more if we don't do the things we need to do. It costs a lot more.

There are countless economic analyses now that show that it is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it. We spent $265 billion two years ago on three storms, Irma, Harvey and Maria. Maria destroyed Puerto Rico. Harvey dropped more water on Houston in five days than goes over Niagara Falls in a year.

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And Irma had the first recorded winds of 185 miles an hour for 24 sustained hours, that last year, with one storm, $55 billion. So we're spending the money, folks. We're just not doing it smart. We're not doing it in the way that would actually sustain us for the long-term. So this is critical. We're -- the goal of the Paris agreement was to hold the earth's temperature increase to 2 degrees centigrade. Even if you did everything that was in Paris, we're going up to 3.7 or 4. That's catastrophic. What President Biden is trying to do is listen to science, listen to facts and make tough decisions about what we need to do to take the world to a better place, and particularly our own country. And that is what he is committed to doing.

So, yes, there are a lot of challenges right now, which, sadly, all of them were exacerbated by the last four years. Now, we have to try to make up for that. And that is a hard pull but this president is capable of doing it. He is putting together a great team that I think will help him do that.

REPORTER: Thank you, sir.

PSAKI: Thank you. Gina McCarthy, thank you, Secretary Kerry for joining us. You're free to go to go see the president.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

PSAKI: So you can all see, they're both experienced and passionate and tenacious, having worked with both of them in the past. So, the crisis is in good hands.

I know we have a short period of time here. But I just wanted to provide an update on a question that you all have been asking a bit about which is what some of the outreach our teams are doing as it relates to the COVID package. That is a top priority for President Biden.

As we have talked about almost every day, and yet probably every day, our team continues to build support for the American rescue plan as more and more voices across the country recognize the urgent need to get American families the help they need.

We've obviously seen a broad coalition of support emerge from the Chamber of Commerce to Senator Sanders and organized labor, and to hundreds of mayors and public officials. The president and vice president are engaged directly with members and have had a number of productive conversations that will continue through the course of the week and will only pick up in the days ahead.

Senior white house officials are also engaging with not just congressional leaders but also state and local officials, key constituency groups and others to gather feedback on proposal and move the package forward. So let me give you a couple of examples from just yesterday.

Chief of Staff Ron Klain engaged with members directly throughout the day, as did Senior Adviser Anita Dunn, which they will both continue do moving forward. Counselor to the president, Steve Ricchetti, and office of the Legislative Affair director, Louisa Terrell, are quarterbacking the team's broader legislative outreach and have had dozen of conversation with individual members to understand their priorities and received their feedback. In addition to ongoing conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle, already this week, members of the National Economic Council and Domestic Policy Council and Staff Room Treasury have met with the relevant committees, including Senate Banking Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Ways and Means, House Financial Services, House Education and Labor and the Bicameral Small Business Committee.

And you see Director Brian Deese is doing one-on-one briefings with members of the Congress and meetings with caucuses, including yesterday's meeting, which I believe has been reported with the problem-solvers caucus to discuss the proposal. Hill engagement will continue with Jeff Zients and Brian Deese meeting with the new Dem Coalition along with several other briefings that are scheduled.

Also our outreach isn't limited to Congress, which is vitally important. This isn't just about speaking to elected officials. This is also about speaking to the country and building support and educating and engaging with leaders across the country.

So, yesterday, Jeff Zients and his team spoke with bipartisan governors, as you all know, they talked about the COVID package by the National Governors Association, organized by them and administration officials briefed travel leaders and number of mayors yesterday as well.

And the Office of Public Engagement led by Cedric Richmond briefed civil rights groups yesterday, including the NAACP, the National Action Network, Justice Section Network, Urban League Coalition of Black Civic Participation and Black Women's Roundtable. Today, they have meeting with labor leaders, advocates for young people, as well as organizations dedicated to building wealth in the black community.

On Friday O.P. will also -- the Office of Public Engagement I should say, I hate acronyms, will convene a hundreds president's of historically black colleges and universities also to discuss this proposal.

And the only other thing I wanted to mention before we get to your questions is that, as you all know, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was just confirmed. The president will be meeting with his economic team on Friday, including Secretary Yellen, for briefing on impact of delay and moving forward with the additional economic relief.

[13:10:06]

Now, with that, let's get to your questions.

Alex you're first in to the White House briefing room. And Alex's first days, to Alex's first days. There's an initiation afterwards for the Press Corps (INAUDIBLE). Yes, go ahead.

REPORTER: I'll make it quick because I know you have a pretty hard out in a few minutes.

PSAKI: I think you all have a hard out too, but, yes. REPORTER: I wanted to ask about (INAUDIBLE) impeachment. Nearly every Republican senator last night voted to throw out the impeachment trial against President Trump. Does President Biden have a reaction to that? Does he trust Congress to hold President Trump accountable for the insurrection against the Capitol? And does he see censure against former President Trump as a viable alternative to convictions since it looks unlikely at this point?

PSAKI: Well, the president certainly respects the role that Congress has. Senators, of course, the Senate, as they're overseeing the trial moving forward in determining the pace and the path forward for holding the former president accountable. That continues to be his belief.

In all of his conversations that he's been having with members about the recovery plan, he has -- they have said they expect from him that his focus will be on COVID relief. That's how he will use the bully pulpit. That's how he will speak to the American people. And they are eager to work with him on that. So that's where his focus remains. And what steps they take to hold the former president accountable he'll leave it to them.

REPORTER: Why the resistance on weighing in on the issue?

PSAKI: We've weighed in many times. The president has been asked about the issue. We put out a statement when the House put out a vote -- voted on impeachment, I should say. But his focus is on doing -- delivering on what the American people elected him to do, which is to get relief to the American people, to get the pandemic under control, to ensure working families can put food on the table. And that's where he feels his efforts should be to remain.

Okay, go ahead.

REPORTER: Does the White House have a comment on the social media profile that has emerged on Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene? And is there a response to whether any disciplinary action should be taken against her given everything that's come out?

PSAKI: We don't. And I'm not going to speak further about her, I think, in this briefing room.

Okay, go ahead.

REPORTER: One more, if you don't mind. It's just kind of a little bit of a housekeeping.

PSAKI: Sure.

REPORTER: The last administration has suggested that on the origins on the COVID-19 virus that it may have originated in a lab in China. It was never definitive. Do you have an update on that, on the origin, where we are in that investigation?

PSAKI: Well, first, obviously, the misinformation, of course, that we've seen also come out of some sources in China is of great concern to us. It's imperative that we get to the bottom of the early days of the pandemic in China and we have been supportive of an international investigation that we feel should be robust and clear.

Our view is that we must prepare to draw an explanation, collected and analyst by our intelligence community, which is something that is ongoing, and to work -- and also to continue to work with our allies to evaluate the report's credibility on the investigation once it's done.

In addition, as you all know, secretary of state was just -- Tony Blinken was just sworn in yesterday, and one of his priorities is, of course, ensuring that our staffing on the ground in Beijing, which is something that fell back in the last administration is returned to what it was prior, which means we want to have science experts, policy experts on the ground, in the roles that they should be serving in to ensure that, you know, we're also there representing, you know, our interests from the United States on the ground in China.

Go ahead.

REPORTER: A couple of quick ones, and I still don't think I fully understand. I know the executive order that was signed but has this White House invoked the DPA? And how soon that we'll actually see companies compel to produce supplies or vaccine or whatever else that impacts Americans?

PSAKI: We -- it was invoked the day it was signed, within 24 hours of it being signed.

REPORTER: I know that jumpstarted the process. So I guess that mandate was invoked?

PSAKI: Yes, I confirmed that. When it was -- the next day, the following day in the briefing room, which I realized everybody can't be here every day because of COVID, but it was invoked and it means that our work is ongoing with companies to ensure that we are expediting the manufacturing of materials to ensure that we can get 100 million shots in the arms of Americans.

And I know there's been some confusion about this and what exactly it is. What does the DPA mean? There are a few examples that our team has cited, including on vaccine supply, low dead space syringes, which means allows for the ability to get an extra dose into the Pfizer vial, which is important to getting more doses out there. Help -- additional N-95, the production of additional N-95 masks, isolation gowns, gloves, pipette tips and high absorbency foam swabs.

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So we're really talking about very specific materials that can be used by vaccinators to get the shots in the arms of Americans.

REPORTER: Thanks for clarifying. There was some confusion on the earlier call, which is why we repeated here.

Let me ask one other question. Yesterday, you defied (ph) to this to the USOC, but my question is a little bit different today. We're now hearing from the organizers of this year's summer games in Japan. The head Japan's Olympic Committee is seeking public reassurances from President Biden himself given that the U.S., of course, is the largest contingent of athletes, that the games should be able to go on.

As the world is dealing with a pandemic right now, based on where we are right now with the vaccine, does President Biden believe the games in Japan can safely go on?

PSAKI: Well, the president, and I'm not sure if this readout had gone out yet, but he had spoken with the Prime Minister of Japan earlier this morning. And a readout was going out as we were coming out to the briefing. I'm not sure if they spoke about the Olympics. I'm happy to check with our national security team on that to follow-up but I don't have any more assessment of the Olympics at this point in time.

REPORTER: Whether -- so it hasn't been discussed whether he has a position on whether it would safely be able to go ahead?

PSAKI: I don't have anything more other than -- I haven't had much on it. But I don't have anything more than I have on other days on it.

REPORTER: So, we asked. So we'll follow up on that.

PSAKI: Understood. And they just had a call this morning. But I haven't had a chance to talk him specifically about it.

Go ahead.

REPORTER: Thanks Jen. Two vaccine questions. First of all, this came up on the COVID call earlier but how seriously is the White House considering using the Defense Production Act to compel other pharmaceutical companies to produce the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to the supply?

PSAKI: Well, I didn't hear the entirety of the call because we were doing preparation for the event this afternoon. But from listening to the team talk about it, there are obviously manufacturing facilities that have the capacity and ability to get these vaccine doses out. And we don't want to get behind the pace, and start from scratch, I should say, and ensuring that they're ready to do that.

I don't think our concern at this point is whether or not we're going to have the vaccine doses. Obviously, the president announced yesterday the intention to purchase additional doses, our confidence in the manufacturers to have those doses available. The concerns we have are, one, contingency planning and all of the different things that can happen because this is a herculean task that has never been done before, but also ensuring we have vaccinators, we have vaccine sites, et cetera, available.

So I have not heard from our team a plan to seek other manufacturers at this point in time and I'm happy to follow-up with them and see if there's anything additional.

REPORTER: And then on the 200 million doses the president said he's ordering them. What is the status of that order? Have Pfizer and Moderna agreed to produce 100 million doses each? And how quickly do they say they can do it?

PSAKI: Well, we expect to get the doses by mid to late summer, the majority of doses by mid to late summer, some earlier than that. So we are confident that we'll be able to get those from the manufacturers.

Yes, go ahead, Karen.

REPORTER: Jen, a couple questions on schools. Does the administration plan to develop metrics or standards for what a safe reopening of schools will look like?

PSAKI: We do. And our CDC director, and I'm not sure again if she was asked about this important question, I know as a fellow mother, but we will have specifics that we will defer to the CDC on the safe reopening of schools.

As you know, the president has talked about his commitment and his goal of reopening most K through 8 schools within 100 days. There are obviously a number of steps that will need to be taken in order for that to be possible. But he has directed the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services to provide guidance on safe reopening and operating for schools, child care providers and institutions of higher education.

But as our COVID team has outlined, that's going to require testing materials, support for contact tracing, vaccinations for teachers and ensuring they're equitably provided. But our CDC director and team will be looking into putting together some specific guidelines so there can be clarity on that front, which I know districts are looking for.

REPORTER: Those things you mention all cost a lot of money and the big part of the COVID relief package is a lot of money to go to schools reopening. If Congress doesn't approved the money you want, and school don't have what they need to pay for things to open safely, would the president support teachers staying at home and support virtual learning continuing through this entire school year?

PSAKI: Well, I think the president recognizes, as we all do, the value of having children in schools and doing that in a safe way, which is one of the reasons he's set this ambitious goal of reopening most K through 8 schools within 100 days. But one of the reasons that the funding for safe reopening for getting schools the equipment, the testing, the ventilation in some cases that they need is because nobody wants to be having a conversation in May or June about why schools are not reopen.

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So, this goes back to the argument that our team has been making and all of these calls and engagements and meetings that I outlined about the importance and vital nature of each component of the package.

So, we won't get into a hypothetical. We are confident that Congress will move forward with the package.

Let me just go -- oh we have to wrap up soon. Okay, I'm sorry, we'll do more questions tomorrow. But we have two such great guests. Jen, go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you. I just have two quick question. One is from the climate actions today. They leave out treasury, financial stability, oversight council, as the experts say, could an influential in addressing climate risk. Does the administration have plans to take action on climate finance and should (INAUDIBLE) direct agencies and regulators to address climate change?

PSAKI: Well, I'm going to use a reference that my friend and colleague, Ambassador Susan Rice, used yesterday, which is there are 1,453 days left in this administration. And addressing climate and the crisis of climate is an issue that the president has conveyed to members of his cabinet, members of his senior team as an absolute priority.

So, Secretary Yellen has been in her role for one day, but, certainly, I'd send you to them for any more specifics, but this is the beginning, not the end of work on climate.

Oh go ahead.

REPORTER: Is the White House concerned about the stock market activity we're seeing around GameStop, and now with some other stocks as well including the subsidiary, or whatever, the companies that was Blockbuster? And have there been any conversation with the SEC about who to proceed?

PSAKI: Well, I'm also happy to repeat we have the first female treasury secretary and a team that surrounding her and often questions about market, we'll send to them. But our team is, of course, our economic team, including Secretary Yellen and others, are monitoring the situation. It's a good reminder though that the stock market isn't the only measure of the health of our economy. It's going to reflect how working in middle class families are doing.

As you all know, from covering this we're in the midst of a K-shaped recovery. America's workers are struggling to make ends meet, which is why the president has introduced this urgent package to get immediate relief to families.

All right I'm going to Nadia, and then we'll be totally done because everybody has to go. Okay, go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you Jen. Good to see on the front podium. I have two questions.

PSAKI: Sure.

REPORTER: One about COVID, one about China. Regarding COVID, the president promised supplies to states like 10 million doses, yet statistic shows that but 47 percent of Americans are hesitant to take the vaccine, despite that the president and vice president took it publicly. What is the administration doing to convince Americans to take it to reach the herd immunity by, say, 70 percent by the fall?

PSAKI: You're absolutely right, Nadia, that this is one of the challenges we face. And for anyone who tuned into the briefing that our health team led this morning, it was one the first issues that CDC Director Dr. Walensky raised. And one of the things we're doing is prioritizing, providing correct information about it.

And the vaccine -- so I'll take the opportunity, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe and effective. That's one of the things she said today. They were tested in large clinical trials to make sure they meet safety standards. About 30 percent of U.S. participants in those trials were Hispanic, African-American Asian or Native American, but half are older adults.

And so we want to provide clear data as I just did, but also we want to meet people where they are, communicate directly with communities of color, people who have concerns and use medical and health professionals to do exactly that.

Okay, you had a China question and then you really have to go, but go on.

REPORTER: And second, many welcomed you rejoining over WHO, yet someone has to push for a transparent investigation into the relationship between China and WHO. And also yesterday in the hearing in the Senate, Governor Raimondo declined to blacklist Huawei Technology in the U.S. Is this some kind of giving into China or is that nuanced way you could deal with China?

PSAKI: So, I think the second reference, I think, was to Huawei, right, and then --

REPORTER: Yes.

PSAKI: Yes. So let me just convey clearly our position on this. Let's be clear, telecommunications equipment made by interested vendors, including Huawei, is a threat to the security of the U.S. and our allies. We'll ensure that the American telecommunications network do not use equipment from interested vendors and we will work allies to secure their telecommunications networks and make investments to expand the production to telecommunication equipment by trusted U.S. and allied companies.

Again, we'll take many more questions tomorrow. Thank you all. Have a great rest of your day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right. A few headlines there coming out of the briefing at the White House. Jen Psaki, the press secretary, is saying -- continuing to really side step questions about the Senate's impeachment trial.

[13:25:03]

President Biden, we learned, still engaging with congressional leaders on a COVID relief bill, perhaps no surprise there. She also, Psaki, flat our said that she won't discuss Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in that briefing room after, you know, the QAnon associated congresswoman, it was revealed that she had made past social media post where she appeared to endorse executing prominent Democrats and FBI agents. She said she wasn't going to talk about her in that briefing room. And, of course, John Kerry and Gina McCarthy were previewing the president executive orders on the climate crisis.

So let's talk about all of this now, with CNN's Bill Weir, Kaitlan Collins who was at the White House, and Gloria Borger.

Kaitlan, what was the big takeaway for you?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So really going through the executive orders that we are going to see President Biden sign here in just a few minutes, that's why Jen Psaki had to run out of the room there at the end. And what we're looking at is really this aggressive policy that we're going to see. It's a lot of what Biden had promised on the campaign trail.

But these are very far-reaching orders and they are basically elevating this issue of climate change, weaving it into almost every facet of the federal government. And, of course, what you saw with John Kerry, the former Secretary of State, who now, with these orders, is getting a seat on the National Security Council as the international climate change envoy, was defending the size and scope of this, criticizing the Trump administration, saying that they'd been setback by the last four years and also defending the price tag of trillions of dollars that is going to come with this climate change policy.

And I think one of the biggest things that we're going to be looking at, Brianna, over the next few days, and Bill knows this just as well, is this order that is pausing new leases on oil and gas. Of course, that's on public lands and on offshore waters as well. It causes a rigorous review, it says, of those existing orders, the existing fossil fuel leases. And so that's going to be a big aspect of what people are looking at. Because, of course, the big question is how does this affect jobs, this is so expensive, what is that going to look like.

And so you saw the defense there. I think we're going to hear more from President Biden on it, in a few moments after they were previewing those order.

KEILAR: Yes. And, Bill, what did you think about what you heard on climate?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was really interesting that Gina McCarthy puts power plant and coal communities under the same umbrella of climate justice, which is usually applied to fence line communities of color who live next to power plants and have to breathe the most toxic air in the countries.

And how much they talked about bringing along the energy veterans, you have to think of them not as enemies who heated up the planet but as people who were just participating, feeding their families and need to be pulled along (ph). And if you know how to drill for oil, you can drill for geothermal. If you know how to put together machinery or in a coal mine, you can build solar panels. And these won't be, you know, little like she said, you can't move from West Virginia to California.

The needs for this are so vast. And a couple of the reporters in the questions there, it's common to say, why now? There's so much going on. Why does this cost so much? But if you talk to the scientist I talk to, you know, after half a glass of wine and they tell you the truth about what's coming, you would never ask those questions. The urgency is incredible.

And just some of the devices, the mechanisms he has, you know, electrifying the federal workforce would be a huge open the flood gates of innovation and drive down the cost to clean transportation for everybody, you know, pushing more scientific integrity. You know, the number of scientists who don't believe in climate change, you could fit in a restaurant booth, and Trump hired most of them, and they tried to do as much damage on the way out, even posting pseudoscience under the White House seal, which is under investigation.

But I think he gave a real shot in the arm to scientists out there who wonder if their work will ever be taken seriously, the national security implications of this. I mean for people who were been hungry for some sense of science-based solutions or just ideas in the conversation, this is like an all you can eat buffet. Of course, what's on the menu and what comes out of the kitchen can be very different in the end and there are going to be a lot of resistance.

KEILAR: I love your analogies, Bill. They're so good.

Gloria, I wonder what you think what Jen Psaki said that when she was asked about Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is, you know, very much on an extreme end of the spectrum, they're going to ignore her.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. They're not going to feed her social media. They're not going to dignify her by commenting about her, as she said from this podium. She's not going to do it. Don't forget, Marjorie Taylor Greene has just appointed to the Education Committee and she is the same person who once called Parkland a false flag operation.

So I think she just kind of gave her the back of her hand, said like, sorry, we're not going to dignify this.

[13:30:01]

KEILAR: But it's kind of interesting, Gloria.

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: Because, you know, certainly, there's a school of thought, I'm sure, on the Democratic side of politics.