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Pelosi on Security Threats: 'The Enemy is Within the House'; Kevin McCarthy Meets with Donald Trump 3 Weeks After Blaming Him for Insurrection; U.S. Capitol Police Chief Calls for Permanent Fencing, Back-up Security; Novavax Vaccine Effective, But Not Against South African Strain. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 29, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and I intend to win it.

[05:59:39]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his looming impeachment trial, Trump remains front and center in the Republican Party, even as it faces an identity crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is absolutely shameful that Kevin McCarthy did this. You have all of these Republicans who are choosing to stand with Trump as opposed to choosing to stand with our Constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we should expect new variants, and we are in a race against the variants right now.

NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The more contagious variant first found in South Africa is here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It almost certainly means there are other cases out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 is Friday, January 29. It's 6 a.m. here in New York.

So why is this man smiling? No, not the guy on the left who lost an election by seven million votes and presided over the deaths of 400,000 Americans from coronavirus. The guy on the right, the Republican leader of the House. Why is he smiling?

Is he smiling because he's been working on some bipartisan deal to get vaccines to millions of people? Is he smiling because he's been fighting for economic relief for millions of people out of work? Is he smiling because he's taken a new public stand against lies, hate, and bigotry? No, no, and no.

He's smiling because he got a political pat on the head, the tender embrace of the man who told a mob to march on the Capitol. A mob that beat police officers, killing one. Two other officers have since taken their own lives.

With the pandemic and economic crisis hanging over the nation, Kevin McCarthy is super-duper happy that the former president likes him again.

We have new reporting this morning on what this means for the Republican Party and safety issues for Congress going forward.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, a new development in the effectiveness of vaccines against that new coronavirus strain. Preliminary results from the drug maker Novavax show that, while it is 89 percent effective against the regular strain that we've been dealing with, the vaccine is only 60 percent effective against that South African variant.

The first cases of that strain were found in the U.S. yesterday, in people with no travel history. And that means there's already community spread. Dr. Anthony Fauci says, quote, "It doesn't look good."

But let's begin with CNN's Lauren Fox. She is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Good morning, Lauren.

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

That's right. Today on Capitol Hill, lawmakers still trying to grapple with how to move on from the coronavirus and come up with some kind of bipartisan stimulus package.

Meanwhile, Republicans with problems of their own, dealing with a fractured party, split between those who want to stick with former President Trump and those who are ready to move on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (voice-over): Just over three weeks after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying security threats to lawmakers there aren't only coming from outside of Congress.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We will probably need a supplemental for more security for members, when the enemy is within the House of Representatives.

FOX: When pressed by reporters, Pelosi giving this response.

PELOSI: It means that we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress. FOX: This as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spends time in Florida,

looking to make amends with former president Donald Trump, just weeks after making this statement following the Capitol attack.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

FOX: Trump's political action committee saying the meeting at Mar-a- Lago discussed taking back the House in 2022, falsely adding, "President Trump's popularity has never been stronger than it is today."

Democrats condemning McCarthy's visit.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): It tells me that he stands with someone who basically incited insurrection, as opposed to standing with our Constitution.

FOX: McCarthy ignoring warnings of the appearance of crawling back to Trump, one source close to the House minority leader tells CNN, while some top Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are trying to distance the party from the former president.

But now, some of Trump's most loyal allies are targeting GOP House members who voted to impeach him earlier this month, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz slamming her at a rally in Wyoming, Cheney's home state.

GAETZ: If you want to prove that you have the power to defeat Liz Cheney in this upcoming election, and Wyoming will bring Washington to its knees.

FOX: This despite McCarthy privately asking Republican colleagues to stop fighting, bluntly begging them to "cut this crap out," two sources on the call tell CNN.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): We have to save America.

FOX: Also taking center stage for the GOP, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. House Republicans giving the pro-Trump promoter of conspiracy theories a seat on the House Education and Labor Committee, a move Pelosi disapproves.

PELOSI: Assigning her to the Education Committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, what could they be thinking?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:16]

FOX: And meanwhile, the drama is building up on Capitol Hill as lawmakers are trying to put together some kind of bipartisan effort on this stimulus bill. There are still questions about whether or not Republicans would come onboard, with some Democrats losing patience and charging forward with the process that could unlock their ability to pass this, with just a simple majority of Democratic votes -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Lauren, thank you very much for all of that.

So the acting chief of U.S. Capitol Police calling for permanent fencing around the Capitol as law enforcement tries to confront the ongoing threats to lawmakers.

CNN's Whitney Wild is live in Washington with more -- Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is creating a bit of a back and forth among leaders here in Washington, D.C.

As you mentioned, the acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police Department is advocating for permanent fencing. She says that these recent events have proven that additional security measures like that are necessary.

However, just about an hour before she released that statement, the mayor of D.C. told reporters she did not think that permanent fencing was the answer. She didn't want to see that kind of security posture in the district on a permanent basis.

This is also being met with bipartisan criticism. Here are two full screens for you. The first is from a Democrat from Massachusetts. He tweeted, "It is a mistake to turn the home of our democracy into a fortress. The Capitol needs to be safely opened for constituents, press, and visitors."

A Republican from New York basically echoed that statement, saying, "I am adamantly opposed. There has been no threat briefing given to members of Congress to justify this proposal."

Now, all of this comes after news out of the district on Wednesday. A man was contacted by police after parallel parking, basically, in the middle of the street, Alisyn.

When police contacted him and said, What are you doing here, he said that he was here to see the fencing around his Capitol. He said that he had questions and concerns about the honesty and the integrity of the election. He was very animated. He was shouting at the National Guard.

And importantly, when police said, Do you have a firearm, he said, yes. he had a 9 millimeter handgun in the console of his car. In addition, he had 20 rounds of ammunition.

He told police he thought that his West Virginia license to carry a handgun would transfer to D.C. That is not the case here, Alisyn. He's now facing weapons charges for all of this.

In addition to the weapon that they found in his car, police also found "Stop the Steal" paperwork, as well as a list of members from both the U.S. Congress, as well as the Virginia state legislature.

He was in court earlier this week. A judge sent him home and said, You cannot come into the district unless you have a court hearing, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It's amazing how emboldened and entitled people like that are feeling at the moment.

What's the status of the guy who had his feet up on Nancy Pelosi's desk during the insurrection?

FOX: Well, he was in court. He had another hearing about whether or not they were going to keep him in custody, and the resounding answer is absolutely.

The chief judge here in D.C. saying that we are still living with the results of the violence on January 6. And said -- absolutely just lambasted these rioters. Denied his request to try to get out of custody. She said -- and I have the quote if you'll give me a moment -- well, I'm sorry, Alisyn, I don't have the quote.

But the point is, she made one of the loudest and most resounding statements about all of this. She said that the charges he's accused of, which are -- including trespassing, she said that the title of those offenses don't even come close to capturing the real scope of the effect those rioters had on the Capitol on January 6.

It was a hard "no" for him to get out of -- get out of custody. And she, again, really lambasted the hundreds of rioters who are now accused in this case -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I -- I hear that logic. That the idea that trespassing doesn't seem to capture the spirit with which they went marauding through the Capitol.

Whitney, thank you very much for all of that reporting.

BERMAN: All right. Lauren Fox is back with us. Also joining us, CNN commentator Charlie Dent. He's a senior policy advisor at DLA Piper and a former Republican member of Congress from Pennsylvania.

Charlie, this is what the House Republican leader says of his meeting with the former president. "President Trump's popularity has never been stronger than it is today." I'm reading this with the longing that Kevin McCarthy clearly wrote it with. "His endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time."

So Charlie, you know, you keep telling me, Adam Kinzinger keeps on telling us, Denver Riggleman keeps on telling us there's a battle going on inside the Republican Party. What battle?

I mean, a House Republican leader just traveled, did a pilgrimage to Mecca to bow before the former president of the United States, and then sent this, you know, statement out, which is the definition of obsequiousness. I mean, he makes Lindsey Graham look like a man with an incredible spine. I mean, doesn't this just indicate to you that whatever battle you were hoping existed is over? [06:10:21]

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, John. I think the battle has just begun. That statement you just read was painful to listen to.

Obviously, Kevin McCarthy went down there on bended knee and behaved too much like a supplicant to the former president, who was not that popular, you know, who's been twice impeached, who's been disgraced, who lost resoundingly in the general election. And this is not the future of the party. We all know it.

I think right now, with the leadership, what the Republican side needs to do is come out and tell Marjorie Taylor Greene what they should have told her this summer, which was to give her the Steve King treatment and say, you know, no committees, you're not welcome into the conference. We're going to work with -- we're going to work with the Georgia state GOP to defeat you in the upcoming primary. Hey, enjoy your time in Congress.

That's how they should be dealing with her and this problem and dealing with these fringe elements, QAnon, Proud Boys, and the other -- these other wild elements out there. They have to be put out of the party completely. This is simple.

I mean, are we going to stand with Matt Gaetz or are we going to stand with Liz Cheney? Let's have a public conversation about that. I'm with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and the rest of them. This is where we have -- I think this is just beginning this fight. I mean, I hope it's not going to be a short war. It's going to be a longer one, I fear, between now and 2022 and then 2024.

CAMEROTA: And Lauren, as -- as Charlie points out, this problem is not going away. Certainly, the Marjorie Taylor Greene problem is not going away. There is something fundamentally wrong with that person, who would chase a victim of a school shooting down the street, heckling him. That's not going away.

And there's new reporting from Axios that the Republican Party knew about Marjorie Taylor Greene before she was elected and knew it was a problem, because she had all of these hundreds of odious tweets and they -- the leadership got together, and they were like, Uh-oh, this is going to explode on us. But they didn't deal with it. They put it aside. And here we are. She's here.

I mean, she has -- her opponent has been quoted as saying, she has no interest in governing. You know? She just is a bomb thrower.

And interestingly, the hundreds of offensive Facebook posts and tweets that she put out have been scrubbed. So she knows enough to know that those things are offensive and can get her in trouble and to scrub her accounts of them. But she still feels that way

FOX: Well, and all we know right now is that Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, does plan to talk to her. But there is no evidence that there are going to be any changes to come from that meeting. Remember, she was just put on the Education Committee, after you saw

that video of her walking behind a gun violence victim and, essentially, berating them about what they were doing on Capitol Hill.

I mean, I think that there is a strong sense of concern from Republican rank-and-file members, in the conference, about how much time she is taking up for them. Essentially, every second that we are talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republicans say that they can't be talking about what they might disagree with in Biden's policies moving forward.

And I think that that juxtaposition and the distraction that she is going to continue to be, not to mention the fact that she still won her election by a huge margin; and the faction of the Republican Party that she represents -- remember, she got elected by real people, real voters.

And I think the question for the Republican Party is, how do you try to start and reckon with the fact that you have to go to your voters and tell them the truth about what is happening, the fact that the election was fair, the fact that Joe Biden deserves to be the president of the United States? And I think there's a lot of work to do that begins with a conversation, a tough conversation with Marjorie Taylor Greene and has to go far beyond that.

BERMAN: Yes, great points there, Lauren.

Look, if these Republicans do have a problem with Marjorie Taylor Greene, they have a strange way of showing it, which is to say, by not showing it at all. Basically, they're not doing anything publicly.

And Charlie, the point that Lauren brings up -- I can't believe I'm phrasing it that way -- the problem with Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't the Jewish space lasers that she blames for starting forest fires. The problem isn't her. The problem is the people who have accepted her. It's the leadership that looks the other way. It's the Republican Party apparatus in Georgia that has either looked the other way or embraced her publicly.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has always been Marjorie Taylor Greene. It's everyone around her now that's the problem.

[06:15:06]

DENT: That's correct, John. But remember, too, Steve King was elected multiple times, but not until the leadership of the party stood up and Kevin McCarthy, to his credit, stood up and condemned him, and said no more. You're off the committees. You know what? After leadership put their foot down on his neck, so to speak, they said, it's done. He was defeated in his primary.

The same thing has to happen to Marjorie Taylor Greene. That the leadership needs to speak clearly, that she is not welcome in the party. She is not welcome in the conference. And that she and her ilk, these conspiracy theorists and all these other whacky things that she supports, there is no room for them. Make it crystal clear. And they will defeat her in the next primary.

Hell, her opponent in the primary last time said he had a -- you know, he had a Dumpster full of opposition research on this -- on this woman that was just devastating.

Now we're learning more and more about it. So I think he said, no shirt, no shoes, no service. Kick her out. That's the only way to deal with this. She will lose that primary, but it's going to require leadership from the top of the party to squelch her.

BERMAN: Well, look, the leadership has spoken clearly. Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago, took a picture with a big grin and said it was the happiest day of his life. He's never had a prouder endorsement in his life. So right now they're speaking crystal clear.

But appreciate the conversation. Charlie Dent, Lauren Fox, thank you very much.

This morning, the brand-new coronavirus data that has Dr. Anthony Fauci saying not good. Potential major red flags in vaccine studies, next.

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[06:20:30]

CAMEROTA: New concerns this morning about the effectiveness of vaccines against the new highly-contagious strains of coronavirus, especially that South African variant.

Preliminary results from the drug maker Novavax show their vaccine is 89 percent effective against the original strain but only 60 percent effective against the South African strain.

Yesterday, the first cases of that South African strain were identified in the United States.

Joining us now is Dr. Carlos del Rio. He's the executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System.

Dr. Del Rio, thank you so much for being here. So can we assume that now drug makers are shifting into overdrive to begin trying to come up with boosters or new vaccines for these new strains?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes, Alisyn, I think that's already happening. We know that Moderna is already making changes in their vaccine to be active against these strains. And likely, everybody else is doing the same.

I think the results we got from Novavax, in a way, are good. They were good in one sense, because they're -- the vaccine looks pretty good. Ninety percent effective against the strain that is currently circulating and even against the U.K. strain.

But it doesn't look that good against South African strain. And particularly doesn't look good in persons living with HIV.

BERMAN: And the South African strain is here in the United States now. We know it has been found, two people in South Carolina, people who have not been to South Africa.

So clearly, it is here, and it is beginning to spread. I sense real concern amongst some of the findings in this Novavax study. As you said, clearly the vaccine does not work as well against the South African strain.

And also people who had it before, people who have had the original strain, are being infected again by the new strain. This basically just raises concerns about a battle that's not over, Doctor.

DEL RIO: That's absolutely right, John. The cases of reinfection that we saw in the Novavax trial are concerning, indeed. Because they suggest that the neutralizing antibodies of people who got infected and are producing are now protecting against the South African strain and, you know, the vaccine is confirming that.

So it is looking like that strain is one we need to be very concerned about. And the fact that we already found it in the U.S. really is concerning.

CAMEROTA: Here's what Dr. Fauci has to say about the vaccines and the new variant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The early indications from a trial that literally just came out from a company called Novavax indicates that a vaccine that looks really good against what we're dealing with now doesn't look that good in the sense of not 90, 95 percent. It's somewhere down around 60 percent for non-HIV-infected individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: But practically speaking, Dr. Del Rio, what does this mean? Should people -- even if it's not -- even if it's not 89 percent. Even if it's 60 percent. Will people be able to get that and get that 60 percent protection? Or will they have to wait until Novavax and all of these other drug makers perfect their vaccine?

DEL RIO: Well, that's a really good question. I mean, I think you've got to remember that, even though that strain is here, it's not the predominant strain. And let's not forget the vaccine showed 90 percent efficacy against strains current circulating.

I'd rather take something that protects me about what's here now than worry about what may happen later on. In my sense, you know, you have to take something that is going to give you some degree of protection. Otherwise, you're stuck without another degree of protection.

BERMAN: Something's better than nothing. I mean, that's crystal clear. If there were no Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and the only thing we had was something that was 50 or 60 percent effective, you can see people rushing to it.

But it does create new challenges and new questions, Dr. Del Rio. For instance, you know, what if you could get the Novavax. Say the South African variant spreads and becomes dominant or at least very prevalent in the United States. You can only get Novavax, right, at 60 percent.

Do you then try to get, when available, Moderna or Pfizer? Can you combine vaccines to try to get more resistance?

DEL RIO: John, you sound like a scientist. Those are really good questions. At this point in time, we don't know the answer, but those are very important questions.

At this point in time, my preferred vaccines would be the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine. I think, you know, the Novavax, you know, is looking like one that you may not put at the top of your list. But it may be an option if you don't have the other ones.

And again, remember that we still have AstraZeneca. We still have Johnson & Johnson. Results will be coming out anytime.

[06:25:06]

And I think once we look at this, we will know what, you know, the platform looks and what options we have and what are states going to do. What's the federal government going to do? Remember, we have, through Operation Warp Speed, bought -- already bought millions of doses of these vaccines.

CAMEROTA: People are excited about the ones that you just mentioned, the Johnson & Johnson, for instance, because it's just one dose. And that -- is that a game changer?

DEL RIO: Having a one-dose vaccine will be a total game changer. It also doesn't have some of the refrigeration requirements that we see with Pfizer and Moderna. And the cost of the adenovirus vaccines is a lot cheaper. So we're talking about $20 for the Moderna and Pfizer. We're talking about $4 for the adenovirus vector vaccines.

BERMAN: Dr. Del Rio, thank you for helping us understand this and the new questions that are raised all of a sudden about this pandemic. Appreciate it.

A millionaire couple in Canada is accused of posing as workers in order to get a coronavirus vaccine. Canadian authorities say Rodney Baker and his wife, Ekaterina, flew to a remote village in the Yukon earlier this month instead of isolating for two weeks as required by law.

The couple showed up at a mobile clinic posing as local workers to get the vaccine they were not eligible to get. They were charged for getting -- they were not charged for getting vaccinated, but for breaking quarantine requirements. Canada has given indigenous community there priority for vaccines. The

Bakers could face up to six months in prison. CNN has reached out to them for comment, but there has been no response.

CAMEROTA: What do you think tipped off the locals that they weren't part of the indigenous community? Was it the evening gown that she was wearing or the tuxedo that he was in, do you think?

BERMAN: Brings out the best in people, doesn't it? You really find out about people's true nature when something like this comes up.

We have new morning this morning about where the relief package is that so many Americans are waiting for and new decisions that the Biden administration and Democrats may make to get it passed. Next.

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