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Georgia Politics Changes U.S. & Reflects Sharp Divide; Trump Allies Target Cheney, GOP Defectors in Bid to Galvanize Base; Russia's Putin Now on His 5th U.S. President; Rural America Dispatches Couriers in Minivans to Deliver Vaccine; Mayor Jane Castor (D-Tampa) Discusses Ordering Mask Use Outdoors for Superbowl. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired January 29, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR, "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY": And then, on top of that, I think you're going to see even more so these -- more conspiratorial ideas gaining purchase in the parts of the state that are pushing back against the diversifying elements of the state that, that are more populist, that are more black, that are more brown, and that are more Democratic.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's talk about this Trump purity test that is kind of playing out in the GOP. Because the former president, former President Trump is actually pushing allies in Congress to go after Republicans who voted for his impeachment, like Liz Cheney.
We saw Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was in her state yesterday, her district, holding a rally. What does this say about the divide that we're watching inside of the party right now?
PHILLIP: I mean, this is going to be the battle for the future and the soul of the Republican Party.
Do they want to be the party of Liz Cheney, or the party of Matt Gaetz or of Donald Trump or of even Marjorie Taylor Greene?
What's interesting is that you see, you know, the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, going down to Florida and kissing the ring of President Trump, saying that President Trump wants to elect Republicans but also reprimanding his members, saying cut it out, don't attack each other.
But he's going and sort of paying fealty to Trump who made it very clear he wants to rid the Republican Party of Republicans who don't support him.
So they can't have it both ways. At some point, they have to decide, do they want to be some kind of bigger-tent Republican Party in which conservatives like Liz Cheney can exist, alongside folks like Kevin McCarthy? Or do they want to have only a Trump party where you can only be a Trump loyalist in order to be within that party?
I think, so far, Kevin McCarthy seems to be wanting to walk that line, but he's not really doing a great job.
It's pretty clear that it's the Trump wing he is siding with right now. And that's going to push people line Liz Cheney out, push people like Adam Kinzinger out.
I think a lot of Republicans are having a soul-searching moment. What's the future here?
I think it's very hard to see one that doesn't include President Trump and Donald Trump Jr really running the show of who gets to call a Republican a Republican this day and age.
KEILAR: I think you're right, Abby.
All right, Abby, I'll see you on Sunday.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: I'll be in my pajamas but you will be working and I will watch you and it will be wonderful.
Thank you so much for coming on.
PHILLIP: Just grab a cup of coffee. Tune in. It will be great.
KEILAR: I will. I will.
Thank you.
Yesterday, we reported on Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's voting record in the new Congress.
Senator Hawley's office reached out to let me know that I overstated the Senator's political experience in the story when I incorrectly reported that he was in the Missouri House when he was running for state attorney general when he criticized others for using their jobs as stepping-stones.
So I want to correct that. Hawley was not an elected official before he ran for state attorney general and criticized others for using their jobs as stepping-stones.
Now, still ahead, we're tracking the great lengths that rural America has to take to get vaccines to people who need them. In some cases, we're talking couriers in minivans.
Plus, President Biden getting tough on Russia in his first week in office. We'll roll the tape on how Vladimir Putin has gotten along with the last five presidents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:37:21]
KEILAR: Vladimir Putin, a president, former prime minister, former spy, rabble rouser, election meddler, shirtless rider of horses and, as of last week, Russia's point man is now on his fifth American president and each relationship has been vastly different.
So let's roll the tape.
More than two decades ago, when TLC wanted no scrubs and the Backstreet Boys wanted it that way, the new prime minister met with President Bill Clinton in Norway. The two trading complaints over Russia's military campaign in Chechnya.
A year later, when Clinton was on his way out, they met in Moscow after Putin became president to discuss missile defense systems.
Fast-forward three months before 9/11, President George W. Bush and Putin meet in Slovenia. This infamous chat when Bush claimed this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to -- get a sense of his soul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Two months after 9/11, Bush invited Putin to his Texas ranch, agreeing to reduce their nuclear stockpiles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: President brought rain, for which we're always grateful in the state of Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Another famous meeting included the 2007 visit in Maine where the two went fishing and talked military defense systems.
Then the Obama era. Seven months after taking office, President Obama meets with Putin in Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We think there's an excellent opportunity to put U.S.-Russian relations on a much stronger foot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: This would lead to a new treaty agreeing to shrink their nuclear stockpiles.
And in 2012, there was that infamous hot-mic moment indirectly involving Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: This is my election.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV, FORMER RUSSIAN PRESIDENT & FORMER RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
OBAMA: After my election, I have my flexibility.
MEDVEDEV: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, while conservatives jumped all over that, the administration said Obama was referring to negotiations over the defense missile system.
Then, after Obama's reelection, the relationship got frostier than a Wendy's treat. They met in June 2013 at the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland. They disagreed on the war in Syria.
And then later, Obama snubbed Putin, retaliated, really, cancelling a meeting after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor.
In the following years, the G-8 gave Russia the boot for the invasion of Crimea.
Putin and Obama talked about Syria and Ukraine at the United Nations. They disagreed on both.
[14:40:04]
And in their final meeting, the two met in Beijing at the G-20 summit and failed to agree on a cease-fire deal with Syria.
This is also when Obama said he told Putin to cut it out on interfering in the 2016 election.
Perfect transition to the Trump presidency.
Putin and Trump met at the G-20 for the first time in Germany. They hammed it up at the cocktail table. Trump chatting him up during dinner next to Melania Trump.
Just months later, they met on the sidelines of another summit and Trump said he believed the former KGB agent on his denials that he had interfered in America's election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I said there is I believe he believes that and that's very important for somebody to believe. I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The statement, of course, after U.S. intelligence reported that Russia did, in fact, meddle, and Putin himself ordered the attack to hurt Hillary Clinton.
Which leads perhaps to the most infamous moment between a U.S. president and Putin. And that was the following summer, Helsinki.
Trump cowled to Putin before the world, rebuking America's own Intelligence Community, his own Intelligence Community when he said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Trump was swiftly condemned back home. He denied that he took the word of an adversary over the word of the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the director of National Intelligence, but, of course, he did.
That moment was just one that illustrated how soft President Trump was on Putin, whether the poisoning of opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, or military provocations, or telling the Russians classified information inside the Oval Office or just flat-out refusing to ever directly criticize Putin.
And now Putin's fifth U.S. presidency. He was one of the last world leaders to acknowledge Biden won the election as Biden vows to be tough on Russia.
The two spoke for the first time since the inauguration and we're told that they discussed arms control and Ukraine and a number of other topics.
For a preview of what to expect over the next four years, here is one quote to keep in mind. In Evan Osnos' Biden biography, Biden described a meeting that he had with Putin while in Russia in 2011.
Quote, ""Mr. Prime minister I'm looking into your eyes and I don't think you have a soul.' And Putin looked back at me and he smiled. And he said, 'We understand one another.'"
Up next, the Tampa mayor has ordered masks be worn outside during the Superbowl. She'll join us live to talk how they're planning to avoid the spread of COVID with tens of thousands of people coming to town.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:47:24]
KEILAR: Getting the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of Americans is proving to be no simple task. And those obstacles are even more overwhelming for rural health care providers.
Sanford Health System is one of those. It's based in South Dakota. And Sanford serves the far reaches of the upper Midwest, including small farming towns close to the Canadian border.
To reach those most in need of the vaccine, Sanford put together a fleet of minivans to get the vaccines to those in need.
CNN's Omar Jimenez joined them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not just talking about a few miles to a suburb. We're talking hundreds of miles.
SUSAN JARVIS, CEO, SANFORD HEALTH OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA: Right. Talking about hundreds of miles.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In rural America, the journey to administering a COVID-19 vaccine is a long one.
JIMENEZ: Our couriers travel many, many miles. Our physicians are staff travel miles. Many of the providers in those rural areas live there. But also we do send some out from other areas to meet the needs of that population.
In Minnesota, the vaccine's journey starts with being packed up in coolers, constantly monitored for temperature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Requirements for freezer temperature refrigeration temperature, they're only good for five days once out of that ultra- cold freezer. So that data logger is a piece of equipment monitoring the temperature during transport until they get to a refrigerator at their hospital.
It's nice to play offense for a change.
JIMENEZ: Once they're secured and ready to go, the next step is getting the minivan. And driving.
(on camera): Snow or shine, these couriers are within a network responsible for covering hundreds of miles of road. This ride alone that we're following is just under 100 miles. All just to get vaccine in the position to be administered.
(voice-over): This drive is going from Bemidji eventually to a town called Thief River Falls, Minnesota, right around 70 miles from the Canadian border.
Nationwide, rural Americans live an average of more than ten miles from the nearest hospital. And this region has the longest average travel time to the nearest one than any other part of the country, according to Pew Research.
These courier routes are within a larger network from Sanford Health that covers more than 200,000 square miles across multiple states anchored by just five locations drivers launch from that can actually store the vaccine for them.
And when it arrives, fresh from the minivan, it's not flashy. It's just a guy in a jacket walking into a hospital with temperature- monitored coolers in his hands.
But in a small town like Thief River Falls, population around 9,000, it means everything. Especially since they thought they'd avoided the pandemic, until they didn't.
[14:50:00]
And staff tell us, at one point, most of their in-patients were COVID patients in a town where everyone knows everyone.
CARLA SZKLARSKI, INFECTION PREVENTIONIST: We've always thought, you know, that nobody dies alone. The family is a huge part of their care, their emotional and physical well-being. And then not being able to have them here, it's been the hardest thing.
JIMENEZ (on camera): And these aren't just patients. You feel like they are part of your family?
SZKLARSKI: Exactly.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): It's an awful feeling that Szklarski hopes goes away forever.
SZKLARSKI: I hope with this vaccine we can get that back, you know.
Hi. Welcome. Come on in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vaccine is here.
SZKLARSKI: I think it's something we, in the past, have really taken for granted, you know, to -- to walk into the hospital and visit our loved ones.
JIMENEZ: And that same feeling of hope persists no matter the population density and no matter the distance as part of that long journey for the vaccine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: And even with that long journey in the northern Minnesota region, for example, the hospital system has already been able to get two doses to over a thousand of their staff as part of that first phase distribution.
And now at least one dose to hundreds of patients, 65 and older, as part of this new phase.
And distribution is the key here. It's part of why, at least in Bemidji, they've partnered with the country public health department to help store the vaccine but all in an effort to get this out as efficiently as possible once they, of course, get that supply in -- Brianna? KEILAR: Omar, great report. Thank you, Omar Jimenez, for us.
When football fans descend on Tampa for the Superbowl in over a week, they best bring their masks and wear them.
Tampa's mayor signed an executive order that requires masks to be worn outside in the downtown area, the neighborhoods around the stadium, and at tourist hot spots.
But it may not be easy to convince all fans. These are pictures taken Sunday when the Bucs beat the Packers, and there was not many masks, that you can see, not a lot of social distancing going on.
So let's talk about this now with Tampa's Jane Castor.
Mayor, this is huge. This is the first Superbowl played before a crowd of home team fans. People are going to be so excited.
Do you really think they are going to comply with this?
MAYOR JANE CASTOR (D-TAMPA-FL): I do. I do believe that they will comply with this.
And we have put a great deal of energy into communicating. Our fans that arrive in the world's greatest airport, Tampa International, will hear my voice telling them of the mask requirement and how they can comply with that.
We have thousands of volunteers and tens upon tens of thousands of masks that we are going to be giving out in those locations that we expect will have large gatherings of crowds.
So we do anticipate that -- that there will be compliance with the mask order.
KEILAR: So the NFL is allowing 22,000 fans inside the stadium. You know, that's a lot but not as much as it normally would be for this game.
CASTOR: Right.
KEILAR: Since it is, though, a home game for the Bucs, what kind of crowds are you maybe planning for outside the stadium?
And do you have concerns that -- look, people are likely going to gather at their homes. They are going to want to be around with friends even people outside of their households perhaps.
CASTOR: Right. Again, we are, through social media, communicating the importance, as we have -- I tell everyone, I've asked everyone to wear a mask, somewhere in the ballpark of five million times.
But we will continue that, small gatherings, keep it with your family.
But the reality is we are making history. We're the first team that is going to play in the Superbowl in our own backyard. And we're going to be the first team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in our own backyard.
And people want to be a part of that and we understand that, but we're asking them to do it safely. Simply wear a mask.
KEILAR: And so, you know, I wonder, are you sure that this isn't going to be a super spreader event at the stadium or even like a super spreader event and that people are gathering like they would for a holiday?
CASTOR: Definitely isn't going to be at the stadium. Masks are required in there. There's going to be social distancing. We've taken all the steps. And there's more control in the environment like the stadium.
But clearly, in those areas that large crowds are going to gather, you know, entertainment spots, along our river walk -- we live in paradise here in Tampa Bay. So people want to be out and about, especially when their team is playing in the Superbowl.
But we have had good adherence -- despite those photos you saw of the Bucs arriving, we have had great adherence to our mask order for indoors. And we expect the same thing in the outdoor atmosphere.
[14:55:05]
And we are seeing a decline, a rather rapid decline in our positivity rate here in the Tampa Bay area.
KEILAR: Yes. And 25 degrees here in D.C. this morning, so I am very jealous of you down in Tampa.
CASTOR: Down in Tampa, it is a freezing high 60s here, with clear skies and a breeze. So come on down to Tampa Bay. It is paradise.
KEILAR: All right, Mayor, good luck. Big day for you. Really appreciate you being on.
CASTOR: Thank you. Go Bucs.
KEILAR: We have some new details -- go Bucs, she said.
We have some new details today about the first-single dose COVID vaccine. Johnson & Johnson set to submit their research for approval next week. What you need to know about how well this works.
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