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President Biden Pledges to Speed Up Vaccine Deliveries to States; 45 GOP Senators Reject Constitutionality of Trial, Signaling Likely Acquittal; Impeachment Managers Consider Using Video to Bolster Case. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 27, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Expect these additional two million doses to be delivered this summer.

[05:59:54]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that there is a plan to ramp up gives me great peace. We're feeling better about where we are headed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this variant takes off here in North America, I worry the next six to 14 weeks could be the darkest of the pandemic.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the Republican senators attempted to try and halt this trial by suggesting it was unconstitutional. Only five Republican senators crossing party lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He should be held accountable. I'm sorry that more of my colleagues in the Republican Party could not see that.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, January 27, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And today the government's top scientists hold their first coronavirus briefing of the Biden administration. The big questions for most Americans: when can I get vaccinated? Where can I get vaccinated? Is there enough vaccine for me? Simple questions, but questions to which there have been few clear answers.

The Biden administration is trying to change that. The president announced that the amount of vaccine shipped will increase 16 percent starting next week. President Biden also announced the U.S. has purchased 200 million more doses overall. That would be enough to vaccinate nearly -- nearly the entire population. Available to be vaccinated by the end of the summer.

So what does that mean for you? We have new reporting on that just ahead.

Nearly 80,000 deaths this month alone. That's the deadliest death of the pandemic so far.

But there's good news in some of the other numbers. Hospitalizations continue to drop, and the CDC is now recommending that children return to school, as new studies indicate that it can be done safely.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Senate Republicans still rallying behind former one-term President Donald Trump. They appear willing to overlook his role in the deadly insurrection of the U.S. Capitol.

Forty-five Republican senators voted to try to prevent an impeachment trial by claiming it would not be constitutional, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who just one week ago directly blamed Trump for inciting the siege.

But if there's one group of people that believes Donald Trump was responsible, it's the rioters themselves. This morning, we bring you new video that could be used at the trial, showing how Trump's rabid supporters followed his cues during the siege.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to walk down to the Capitol.

TRUMP: We're going to walk down to the Capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Invade the Capitol building!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's take the Capitol right now! We'll take the Capitol!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take the Capitol right now!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: They heard President Trump loud and clear. But we begin with the push for more coronavirus vaccines, and CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us at the White House. What's the latest, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

A week ago today, President Obama came into office facing this coronavirus pandemic. He made clear it would be his top priority. And even as he inherited this messy vaccine rollout today, President Biden taking concrete steps to improve vaccine distribution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DIAMOND (voice-over): President Biden announcing plans to expedite vaccine distribution, as shortages and long lines fuel frustration across the country.

BIDEN: The end goal is to beat COVID-19. And the way we do that is to get more people vaccinated

DIAMOND: Biden says the U.S. will buy an additional 200 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna, increasing the nation's supply to 600 million.

Since both vaccines require two doses, that's enough to protect 300 million Americans against COVID-19, more than the U.S.'s entire adult population.

BIDEN: The brutal truth is, it's going to take months before we get the majority of Americans vaccinated. Months.

DIAMOND: The announcement coming one day after the president raised his daily vaccination target to 1.5 million people a day. All part of Biden's plan to give 100 million shots in his first hundred days.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president said, I hope we can do even more than that. And that is certainly, of course, his hope. He is continuing to push our team to get as many Americans vaccinated as quickly as possible.

DIAMOND: The president beginning his term focused on speeding a messy vaccine rollout in the U.S., signing an executive order to boost vaccine supplies on his first full day in office. And on Tuesday, the White House's coronavirus coordinator told governors vaccine allocation will increase by about 16 percent starting next week.

BIDEN: Until now, we've had to guess how much vaccine to expect for the next week, and that's what the governors had to do. How much am I getting next week? This is unacceptable. The -- you know, lives are at stake now.

[06:05:02]

DIAMOND: The weekly vaccine supplied to states, tribes and territories will grow to a minimum of 10 million doses, up from 8.6 million.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): At least now we can do a schedule for three weeks, and we can schedule appointments and start to run on an efficient basis, rather than what's been going on.

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): The fact that there is a man to ramp up gives me great peace. Of course, it's not as fast as we all want, but we're feeling better about where we are headed as a nation.

DIAMOND: The White House coronavirus response team also says it's committed to making sure vaccines are given fairly.

ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE: That means we're going to send vaccines to churches and mobile clinics and things like that. That may mean it takes a couple of days longer to get into people's arms. But it will also mean that people of color, people in rural communities, and others will have access, too.

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DIAMOND: And last week, when President Biden announced his national strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic, he made clear it wasn't just about the logistics, the vaccine distribution and testing supplies. It was about restoring trust with the American people as it relates to this response.

And so that's why today, we could see the first in what will be a series of multi-weekly briefings by health experts, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci. The CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, will also be attending, as well as several White House officials working on the coronavirus response -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy, don't go far. We're going to come back to you in just a moment.

Joining us now, CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes and William Haseltine, professor -- president of ACCESS Health International and a former professor at Harvard Medical School.

Kristen, I want to start with you, because you've been on the phone with states around the country, officials dealing with the vaccine rollout and the actual administration. So I just want to ask you what they are saying about what difference they think that these announcements will make.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the response is really two-fold. One, they are breathing a huge sigh of relief. Keep in mind, the state officials didn't believe that they were going to see any sort of increase in the vaccine until late April or early April, late March.

So this is a welcome discovery here. This is very welcome.

But there is a lot of skepticism here. I want to read you one thing that one state official said to me. He says, "So Sunday they say they don't know what the vaccine supply is and now two days later, they say they not only know, have a handle on it, but they say they can increase the supply." So there is some skepticism here.

One thing we have to keep in mind is these states have really been through it all. They are on the front lines, fighting this coronavirus. And they've been promised things before that really haven't come to fruition.

So even the most optimistic state officials that I talked to yesterday essentially said that they really, really hope that this is going to happen, but they also are waiting to see it to believe it.

CAMEROTA: Professor, we heard some of that sentiment from Governor Cuomo yesterday from New York. Listen to him.

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CUOMO: It's true, it's not enough is 16 percent going to make the difference for those states that can administer the vaccines at a higher rate? No. Look, at this rate, we're talking about months and months, obviously.

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CAMEROTA: So that's obviously the news that governors, excuse me, though that they would be getting 16 percent more vaccine supply soon.

WILLIAM HASELTINE, PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: It's good news that they will be getting more vaccine. But it's also good news that they're getting the vaccine, because that was a question. I'm not sure it's there. So it sends a fundamental message that's a very positive one.

And also, it helps them plan. Now that they know three weeks in advance, they can plan.

Let me say, there's another part of the plan that's really important. The states desperately need more money to help implement the vaccine program. It's not just enough to get the vaccines to the states. .We have to make sure that, once the vaccine is there, people can receive it. And that's a very local matter.

And the states are desperate for money. Some are totally out of money. Some are just at their wit's end as to what to do. Putting in the National Guard, paying for the National Guard. All of those are really important steps.

Also, when you try to get the vaccine to minority groups, it's going to be expensive. Because rather than going to all the major centers, you've got to distribute it to many local centers, where people are, where those people can get to the vaccine early. That's expensive, and it's going to require state money. And the state money has got to come from the federal government, because the states just don't have it.

CUOMO: Hey, Professor, can I ask you? We're going to hear from the governor's top scientists today for the first time in a long time. We're going to hear from Fauci, the CDC director Walensky, and they're going to be talking about all kinds of things.

We haven't been able to ask them questions like this in one place. What question would you ask them? What's the one thing that you would want to know right now from the government's top scientists?

HASELTINE: I would want to know, where are the rapid tests? Where are the tests that will allow people to know whether they or their families are infected and how soon will we get them? That's a very big question.

[06:10:02]

Second question I would like to ask is, are you planning incentivized isolations? What's happened with that program? It's not enough to know somebody is infected. You've got to do something with those people and help them isolate. Where are those programs? That's the big unanswered -- those are the two big unanswered questions I have, because mitigation is absolutely essential while we wait for the majority of the population to be vaccinated.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about the other big news on this front. And that is schools. And there is new research from the CDC that shows that on balance, it appears, that kids have really suffered, as we know, being out of school, mentally, their education, their emotional level; and that going back into school, schools have not been seen as super-spreader places. They're not the same as nursing homes or meat- packing plants.

So here's one study that was from Wisconsin schools. I believe maybe in rural areas: 37 percent lower incidence found of coronavirus in schools versus the surrounding community.

In other words, it's safer to be in school than to be out of school, Kristen. And then 191 cases found amongst students and staff, but only seven student cases linked to in-school spread.

And so now there's this push to get kids back into the classroom, but of course, there's all sorts of complications, because teachers' unions and teachers want certain, you know, parameters hit in terms of safety measures, and not all schools have those.

HOLMES: Well, that's right, Alisyn. And remember, this all comes down to money. I, myself, am a former public school teacher, and when I wanted any resources when I was teaching, I bought them myself. And so when you're talking about these studies and talking about what these federal officials are saying, they're saying with proper social distancing and proper precautions in place, that that's when it's safe to go back to school.

Well, what are those precautions and how costly are them -- are they? And can these schools actually afford it? There's been a lot of talk about how private schools have gone back, but public schools haven't.

Now, a lot of this comes down to money. These teachers want reassurances that they'll be able to actually afford and pay for the precautions necessary to keep them safe when they go home to their families.

Obviously, this is incredibly welcome news. As you said, we know that kids are struggling at home. They aren't meant to learn on computers, and they're meant to interact with other children. It's just how exactly this can be implemented.

BERMAN: All right. Kristen Holmes, Professor Haseltine, thank you very much.

As I noted, we are going to hear from the nation's top scientists later today, their first coronavirus briefing. And then again tonight, Dr. Anthony Fauci; Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC; others. They will join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a new CNN coronavirus town hall. That's tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

So this morning, we have this stunning video that shows President Trump's supporters directly invoking his words as they storm the U.S. Capitol. This even as 45 Republican senators suggest that, in the last months of a president's term, he or she can commit high crimes and misdemeanors or treason with no sanction at all. That's next.

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[06:16:53]

CAMEROTA: Forty-five Republican senators voting against former President Trump's impeachment trial. They claim it is unconstitutional. That would suggest a likely acquittal for Mr. Trump for encouraging this violent mob at the U.S. Capitol three weeks ago today.

We also have some new details about Mr. Trump's legal team.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill for us with more.

Hi, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

That's right. Just five Republicans voting with Democrats to proceed to this trial. Ultimately, Democrats prevailing in this vote, but it really gives you a sense of where Republicans might be on that question of whether or not they would convict former President Donald Trump.

You have those five Republicans -- Senator Pat Toomey, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Mitt Romney, Senator Susan Collins, Senator Ben Sasse -- voting with Democrats here.

Now, some Republicans are arguing this isn't ultimately where they would end up on conviction, but you know, we should note that when they started their day yesterday, Republicans weren't expecting to have to go on the record about this question about constitutionality.

Remember, this has been something that the Republican conference has really been debating and grappling with over the last several weeks. But certainly, moving forward, the question becomes, how do House managers make the case on the floor that this is a constitutional process?

We are told that that is certainly something that they plan to focus on. Now, moving away from the House managers, you have former President Trump very much still working on his defense.

You have some extra clues about who might be helping him. Senator Lindsey Graham, of course, suggesting lawyers for the former president. And two South Carolina lawyers are going to be working with former President Trump. Really a sign of the fact that he does not have the same legal team he had a year ago when he was working and trying to defend himself in the other Senate impeachment trial. Again, just 13 months ago. Now, one thing to be looking at is the

question of whether there will be witnesses as part of this trial. We know that that is still very much up for debate on the Democratic side.

This is what Senator Graham had to say, however, about the prospect of having witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (D-SC): If there's an effort by the Democrats to call a single witness in the United States Senate, they had no record in the House, there will be delay of this trial, there will be a Pandora's box being opened. We will want witnesses, and this thing will go on for weeks, if not months.

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HOLMES: And some other expected developments yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy, who had been presiding over swearing in senators as jurors as part of this impeachment trial yesterday. Out of an abundance of caution, he was taken to the hospital yesterday afternoon. He was now returned back to his house, where he is resting and recovering. Of course, we wish him well.

But a sign of just how tenuous Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's majority really is when you're dealing with a 50/50 Senate here, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Lauren. Thank you very much for that.

New details about the evidence. House impeachment managers are considering that they will use at the Senate trial. And it includes this video compilation from the national security forum called Just Security, which reveals President Trump's comments minutes before the siege, with social media posts from the insurrectionists, using those very same battle cries. We warn you, there is graphic language in this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was over. It was awesome. Some of you may have seen it online. It went over all the voter fraud.

I am very concerned about Mike Pence. I have no idea what he's going to do. Did not love the way the president talked about that. And I don't know. We'll see.

Anyways, we're walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don't know. Maybe we'll break down the doors.

GRAPHIC: 2:24 PM @realdonaldtrump via Twitter: "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!" (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I think that might be it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHIC: In the Crowd, Parler

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike Pence is a bitch! Mike Pence is a bitch! Mike Pence is a bitch!

GRAPHIC: 2:27 p.m. Parler

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I speak to Pelosi? We're coming, bitch. Oh, Mike Pence, we're coming for you, too, fucking traitor.

JACOB CHANSLEY, SELF-PROCLAIMED "QANON SHAMAN": We won by sending a message to Pence, OK? That if they don't do what they -- is their oath is to do, if they don't uphold the Constitution, then we will remove them from office, one way or another.

GRAPHIC: January 8th: Senator Ben Sasse, Hugh Hewitt podcast

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Back with us to discuss are Lauren Fox and Jeremy Diamond.

Well, I mean, if this were a criminal case, if this were a criminal trial, Jeremy, that would be Exhibit "A," and it wouldn't be hard for the jurors to see who the insurrectionists were taking their cues from. They're parroting the exact same language. It was minutes after President Trump said those things.

But, of course, this is a Senate trial, so there's different rules.

DIAMOND: Yes, there certainly are, but it seems that House impeachment managers are still going to try and use this video evidence to try and draw reaction. If not out of those Republican senators who are on the fence, then at least out of the public, to try and pressure those Republican senators to vote to convict the president.

Look, this video evidence mirrors what we all saw for ourselves just a few weeks ago, but putting it together in sequence like this, and seeing the president's words interspersed with, you know, echoing cheers from the crowd, certainly will be powerful.

Whether it's enough to actually change enough Republican senators' votes, I think that's unlikely, in particular, because they already have seen this. They have seen this, and what they are thinking about is not the broader public opinion about what happened during that insurrection, but rather, what these very same people think and what the president's political -- former President Trump's political base thinks. That is who they are tethered to.

BERMAN: You know, Lauren, I wonder if the framing on this has all been wrong. There's been a suggestion that there's a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. I don't know that there is. I mean, 45 Republican senators basically said, nothing to see. We're done. We're done here.

So isn't that battle -- doesn't that indicate -- Mitch McConnell, who a week and a half ago and has all his aides saying that he thinks the president committed impeachable offenses voted not to have an impeachment trial. So, again, where's the battle?

FOX: Well, John, I thought it was very revealing that yesterday during that Senate Republican lunch, they invited Jonathan Turley. That is one of the lead constitutional scholars who has been arguing that it is not constitutional to move ahead with this trial.

And the reason I bring that up is because, look, Republicans are trying to find a way to not take a vote on what happened and the president's role on what happened.

Instead, they want to make this a debate about process. They want to make this a debate about the constitutionality question. And that's what you saw yesterday with that procedural vote on the floor of the Senate.

I think it's very clear that Republicans are looking ahead at what could potentially happen to them in their own re-elections when they're making this calculation.

Look, I talked to Senator Kevin Cramer yesterday. He is a Republican from the state of North Dakota. You don't get a lot more conservative than the state of North Dakota. He voted against challenging the results of the election. He said he is still hearing from voters. And while it's slowed down a little bit over the last couple of weeks, he said, they still -- they still are out for his head, essentially.

And that it's very frustrating for him, as somebody who believes in the Constitution, who thought that he did the right thing, who thought he's been fighting for states' rights this entire time, to continue hearing from constituents who think he wasn't loyal enough to the president.

And we should note, Kevin Cramer was one of the first people who endorsed former President Donald Trump when he was running for election in 2016.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Jeremy, Officer Brian Sicknick has -- was killed. Nobody has been charged with that, as far as we know. We know that investigations are going on. But there's video, we believe. No one has been charged. I remember a time in the not-too-distant past, when Republicans cared when a bloodthirsty mob killed Americans and killed a law enforcement officer.

How -- why don't Republicans talk about that?

[06:25:05]

DIAMOND: Again, I think it comes back to what their single-minded focus is, is on their political base. When -- when you look at the polling and you look at the percentage of Republicans who don't believe that Joe Biden was legitimately elected as the president of the United States, somewhere around three quarters of Republicans who don't believe that, it is stunning. It is stunning.

And that is the only number that matters to so many of these Republican senators, who are considering how to act in this impeachment trial and also, how to respond, more broadly, to this insurrection on Capitol Hill.

Now, to be clear, many of those Republicans expressed condolences for the death of Officer Sicknick. They, you know, called for -- you know, they condemned the violence that took place there. But as far as anything else, you know, this is a very different reaction from the one we saw when you saw Black Lives Matter protesters railing against police brutality.

You know, you saw those Republicans jumping to the police officers' defense. And that is not what's happening here. And I think it all, you know, boils down to that political calculus they're making in their minds.

Lauren, Jeremy, thank you both very much for all of the reporting.

So the head of the U.S. Capitol Police now admits the Capitol Police knew about the potential for violence before the Capitol siege. One lawmaker calls it, quote, "dumb luck" that more people were not killed there. So what happened? What went wrong? That's next.

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