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White House & Republicans Far Apart on Details of Pandemic Relief; House Impeachment Managers to Outline Their Case Against Trump; McConnell: 'Loony Lies' Spread by Rep. Greene are a 'Cancer' on GOP; Major Winter Storm Blankets Parts of Northeast U.S.; Trump Defense Team to Focus on Constitutionality of Trial. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 02, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I wouldn't say that we came together on a package, but what we did agree to do is to follow up and talk further.

[05:59:40]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's not a lot in this package that the White House wants to change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the day, what the president and vice president won't do is compromise their values or let the American people down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Storms are unpredictable, so I want everyone to realize it's not over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a while since we had a snowstorm in this area of this magnitude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not out of the fight yet. The continued message is to please stay off the road.

(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 Tuesday, February 2, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And a cancer for the Republican Party, scathing comments from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about a fellow member of Congress. Honestly, you never hear this kind of talk from McConnell about another Republican member. So why is he saying this only now about Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene? What does it tell us about where that party is going? We have new reporting about a possible showdown between Republicans today in just a minute.

Meanwhile, a peculiar sight at the White House. Look at this. What would you call this? This is like a political unicorn. It doesn't even compute. It's an actual, collegial, substantive bipartisan meeting inside the White House. President Biden with a group of Republican senators comparing their plans for economic relief.

Now, huge gaps remain between the president's $1.9 trillion plan and the Republican $600 billion counteroffer, but we have new details on what happens next in negotiations, even as today Democrats introduced the framework for passing the president's version with only Democratic votes.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump ramps up today. This morning, we will see legal briefs from the House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team. But we already have a preview from Mr. Trump's newest lawyer, who says the trial is, quote, "completely unconstitutional," end quote.

And there are new warnings from one prominent Senate Republican, who says next week's trial could lead to delays in President Biden's agenda and cabinet nominations.

We're also tracking the snow totals from the monster winter storm that continues to bury the northeast. A nor'easter was one of the biggest to hit New York City in years.

But we begin with those relief talks. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the snowy White House with the latest. So what's happening?

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

After weeks of talking about bipartisanship and unity, joe Biden finally putting his money where his mouth is, sitting down with ten Republican senators in the Oval Office for a lengthy two-hour meeting. But even after that meeting, no sense that they're any closer to reaching a bipartisan deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: Two hours in the Oval Office. President Biden and ten Republican senators hashing out their differences over the next round of coronavirus relief.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel like I'm back in the Senate.

DIAMOND: Republicans pushing their plan, aiming to scale down Biden's $1.9 trillion package to $618 billion, trimming Biden's $1,400 direct stimulus checks to $1,000, lowering the president's unemployment payments from $400 until September to $300 through June. Slashing Biden's $350 billion ask for state and local aid; and eliminating the $15 minimum wage increase from the plan.

SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISOR & SPOKESPERSON FOR VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: While there were some broad areas of agreement in that meeting, like the need for relief for small businesses. The president and vice president specifically reiterated that he will settle for nothing less than what is needed to urgently meet the need for the American people.

DIAMOND: Leaving the White House, the Republicans calling the discussion useful.

COLLINS: It was a very good exchange of views. I wouldn't say that we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting.

DIAMOND: Other Republicans agreeing with their colleagues on the need to slash the price tag.

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): We do have to be fiscally responsible, but also provide relief to those that need it the most. What we don't want to see is a bail-out of bad behavior from previous years.

DIAMOND: But congressional Democrats are quickly moving to pass coronavirus relief without Republican support. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer beginning procedures to pass the stimulus bill using reconciliation, allowing the Senate to pass the bill with a simple majority.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (R-NY): It makes no sense to pinch pennies when so many Americans are struggling. The risk of doing too little is far greater than the risk of doing too much.

DIAMOND: The White House says the president is on board if it comes to that. White House press secretary Jen Psaki writing in a statement that Biden "reiterated that while he's hopeful that the rescue plan can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end."

CEDRIC RICHMOND, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: I think that's why we had the Republicans in here today. Because we don't want to wait. The truth is, families can't afford to wait. There's no rule that Republicans cannot join us in helping the American people in the path that we're choosing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:04]

DIAMOND: And this morning we're also learning about three executive orders that President Biden intends to sign focused on immigration. Taking aim at the hardline immigration policies of his predecessor.

Senior administration officials telling us that one of those executive orders will establish a task force to reunite the hundreds of families separated at the border who still remain separated today.

The other two executive orders will order up wholesale reviews of some of President Trump's immigration policies, including that asylum policy that required Central American migrants to stay in squalid conditions in refugee camps along the U.S./Mexico border on the Mexico side, of course.

Today, also, the president's homeland security adviser -- sorry, secretary of homeland security is also expected to be confirmed in the Senate -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So Jeremy, back to that COVID relief, I thought that Susan Collins' statement last night was gracious, but where are we this morning? Are talks continuing?

DIAMOND: Yes. Look, they made very clear that this was a productive discussion, that it was nice to have this kind of open line of communication between the White House and between Republican senators.

Certainly, bipartisan talks like this are something that we haven't seen for years here in Washington, largely because of the personality and the politics of the previous president.

But at the same time, even as those discussions were under way, we got the clear signal from the White House yet in that statement from Jen Psaki and in the comments that you heard from Symone Sanders and Cedric Richmond, two key White House advisers, that this White House is prepared to move forward without Republicans, if necessary.

And that is to say that they are clear that they want to maintain many of the key elements of their $1.9 trillion proposal. They're certainly not going to come down to something along the lines of $600 billion that these ten Republicans proposed. And essentially, they're saying, look, this aid is needed urgently, and we're certainly not going to slow down in order to negotiate for weeks on end.

So again, there were discussions. It does appear that there is -- there are going to be more discussions to come out of this. But at the same time, we know that Democrats this week are moving forward with that budget reconciliation process, and as of now, that appears to be the most likely path for this next round of coronavirus relief.

CAMEROTA: OK. We will await updates. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. In just hours, House impeachment managers will lay out their case against the former president. And we're hearing for the first time from the former president's new maybe cheaper lawyers.

CNN's Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill from what we will see and hear today, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, John. In just a couple hours, we expect to see some preliminary arguments being set forth by both the president's lawyers and the House impeachment managers.

We expect that the Democrats are going to make the case that the president intentionally worked for months, both before the election and after the election, to subvert the will of voters. And they're going to argue that it's more than constitutional to move ahead with an impeachment trial in the Senate, even though the former president is no longer in office.

Now, we also expect that, on the former president's side of the aisle, that they are going to be arguing that this is not constitutional and, of course, that's significant. Because that is an argument that many Republicans have adhered to over the last several weeks. You saw multiple Republicans, 45 of them to be exact, voting that this process was unconstitutional just a few days ago in the U.S. Senate. So that is something that's going to be resonating with them.

Meanwhile, you have the fact that the Senate is, essentially, going to be put on standstill once this impeachment trial begins, really on full display this morning.

You had last night Senator Lindsey Graham, who is currently and technically still the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that he would not move forward next week on Monday with a nomination hearing of President Biden's nominee for attorney general. He's arguing, essentially, that that's supposed to be a two-day hearing. And right now, because the impeachment trial is going to start on Tuesday, they don't have Monday and Tuesday to be working on that.

Now, Democrats disagree, but because there is still not an organizing resolution that has passed the Senate, Republicans still are chairing those committees, John. So it's making for some complicated fireworks behind the scenes as they try to navigate how to get some of these nominees to the floor of the Senate and confirmed.

BERMAN: So Lauren, I do not think I have ever heard Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, ever talk this way about another Republican member of Congress. He basically called Marjorie Taylor Greene, although not by name, a cancer on the party. What's going on?

FOX: Well, I think that this statement last night from the majority leader -- and again, he did not say Marjorie Taylor Greene by name, but it's very clear who he's talking about is one of the most remarkable statements I have seen from the minority leader in my time covering Capitol Hill.

Remember, he's very strategic about what words he uses and when he speaks. And it's really a stark contrast, given the fact that we have heard very little from Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the House Republican conference.

And I want to read you part of McConnell's statement. It says, quote, "Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. Somebody who suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre- staged and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on the substance that can strengthen our party."

And I just want to highlight that last line. Every day that Republicans are talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene, they are not talking about the differences between President Biden's agenda and the Republican future and what their agenda could bring.

And I think that is something that Republicans in power are getting very frustrated about on Capitol Hill. Because remember, they could be going out and talking about immigration policy. They could be going out and talking about the problems with Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan.

Instead, they are stuck every day in a news cycle about Marjorie Taylor Greene, in part because she continues to make news; and a lot of leadership is not standing up against what she is saying. And I think that that is what McConnell is trying to put an end to with this statement yesterday.

Two issues that need to be discussed going forward. No. 1, why did Mitch McConnell speak out about this and maybe not years' worth of somewhat similar statements from the former president of the United States. And No. 2, what will Kevin McCarthy do about this? Now, he's in a corner, and I'm very interested to see how he responds.

Lauren Fox, thank you so much for your reporting -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John. This powerful winter storm pounding the northeast, and it is still not over. Thirty inches of snow are already on the ground in some parts of New Jersey. This storm is one of the biggest to hit New York City in years, and CNN's Polo Sandoval is live near Central Park for us again with more.

How much snow did they get?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, the big breaking news this morning, it's finally not snowing in New York City. Actually, those flurries let up just a little while ago.

To answer your question, almost 17 inches of snow in Central Park. Making for, actually, quite the beautiful scene, but it is also going to make for pretty serious headaches for commuters this morning, people who are going to be either walking or driving to work.

Obviously, people walking very carefully on the sidewalk. It is still very cold here in the city.

You think the conditions here are bad, you go about 30 miles northwest of here, where parts of New Jersey seeing a foot, almost a foot and a half of snow.

In fact, state authorities there responding to hundreds of vehicle accidents, responding to hundreds of calls for service. Here in New York, though, it seems that things are slowly getting back online, at least to a certain degree. Mass transit back online right now.

The vaccinations, the COVID vaccinations we talked about yesterday, those are still going to be postponed today. Those are going to be happening, possibly, late this week or early next week. Also in-class teaching, that will be scheduled for tomorrow, as well -- guys.

BERMAN: All right, Polo, thank you very much.

Let's figure out who got the most snow. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with that -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Do you call that the winner or the loser, John? I'm not sure.

Yes. We talked about these bullseyes yesterday, where there were going to be spots with 30 inches of snow. And it happened. And these are old numbers. These numbers came in at 10 p.m. Last night. We're expecting brand-new numbers at 7 a.m. So, we're going to add one or two inches to some of these.

But New York, New Jersey, into Pennsylvania. An awful lot of snow came down. The biggest bullseye I see here is in western New Jersey at two and a half feet of snow, and it was windy, as well.

Now, it's still snowing right now, but there's a small, dry area around New York City. Most of the heavy snow is now upstate. Even some of my peeps in Cheektowaga might be able to get a little snow from this but just not much. Nothing like we're seeing here.

Still snowing in parts of Eastern Pennsylvania, up on Hazelton mountain and even Edwardsville picked up almost 20 inches of snow there, back up to the north. This is what it's going to look like today. Still snowing across parts of New Jersey.

So adding to those totals. Back up into Burlington, Vermont, seeing some snow. Up into the ski resorts. And they will take it if they can get it.

And finally, by 7 a.m. tomorrow morning, really tapering off. So we're not expecting as much as we had yesterday, but there are still some pockets in here with 12 to 18 inches, most of that way upstate or up into Maine.

As for the heavy snowfall yesterday night, last night, and it is still snowing there now. So we'll see what happens to the numbers here, John. I'm suspecting there'll be 35 by the time tomorrow.

BERMAN: All right. Take it to the bank, Chad Myers. Thank you very much for that.

So we've heard from the former president's new impeachment lawyers for the first time. We have a preview of the case they will make, plus, the one argument that Republican senators are telling them to stay away from, next.

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[06:19:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SCHOEN, TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE LAWYER: This process is completely unconstitutional, and this is a very, very dangerous road to take with respect to the First Amendment, putting at risk any passionate political speaker, which is really against everything we believe in in this country, foundation of the First Amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: So that's one of the president's new -- former president's new impeachment attorneys. Presumably cheaper impeachment attorneys, because CNN and others are reporting that the former group that parted ways with the president, one of the things that got between them, they were charging too much money.

Back with us, CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond. Also joining us, CNN political analyst Margaret Talev. She is the managing editor at Axios.

And listening to David Schoen, it is crystal-clear that the new legal team is not doing what the president, former president apparently wanted, which was to say that the election was stolen. That's the argument that -- that the former president apparently wanted to make, Margaret.

[06:20:07]

The new attorneys coming in and saying, no, we're going to -- we're going to stick to other things, because we know we could get into some trouble here. What do you see?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, John, that's truish. But I think there's another emerging theme, which is that there may be an effort to sort of split the difference, right?

You can -- you can argue, make the unconstitutional argument, but also, it seems there's going to be an effort to make the case that the senators shouldn't be able to sit as jurors, because it's a conflict of interest since the siege happened to them.

And I think this is, you know -- this is going to be very difficult needle to thread. And a lot of senators on both sides of the aisle feel like part of the reason they're so upset about what happened is because it happened to them.

So I think you're really seeing this tug of war. The president wants to make the argument still that the election was fraudulent to begin with. His lawyers understand that that is a no-go in the Senate, that they're getting overt warnings from people like Senator Cornyn, you know, Republican senator, saying, Don't make that argument.

And the reason why is -- is precisely because, when you make that argument, you can kind of enter into evidence all of the things that happened. You know, so this is a conundrum. We're going to see it play out.

But it -- but it's not the only reason why that other legal team fell away. And we know from President Trump's history of business dealings and wrangles with previous lawyers, Axios reporting yesterday Trump thought he was getting a steal for $250,000 when he realized that that legal representation might cost upwards of 3 million. All of a sudden, the legal team was off, and they had to kind of scramble and reconstitute.

And this is the team he's come up with. Controversial team, controversial tactics. And we're going to see where this is going, you know, in the coming days.

BERMAN: And affordable.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Jeremy, this is absurd, the idea that any lawyer would entertain this notion of using the election lie as the defense.

Actually, that's the smoking gun. The election lie is the smoking gun that drove the mob to the Capitol. That's not exculpatory evidence.

But, you know, again, I mean, we know enough about President Trump's psychological makeup to know that he can't not say the election lie, because that would mean he's a loser.

DIAMOND: Yes. And also because President Trump has lied so much about the outcome of the election that he's actually started to believe his own lies. We know that that's a trend with Donald Trump. Is he repeats a lie so many times that not only do his supporters start to believe him, but he also starts to believe himself.

And -- and we know that President Trump, in his final weeks in office and now, as a former president, you know, has -- has deluded himself into believing that he actually won that election.

Who is going to focus on the election lies that Donald Trump put forward are the impeachment managers. You know, CNN is learning that in that brief, that pre-trial legal brief, that we're going to see from those House Democratic impeachment managers, they're going to focus not only on President Trump's comments leading up directly to the insurrection at that January 6 rally just steps away from the White House, but also on the comments that President Trump made before the November election.

And that is to say that they are going to try and show a pattern, a long-standing pattern and a long-standing effort by the president to try and delude his supporters into believing that this election was stolen and that he was already preparing those conspiracy theories and those lies before the election actually took place.

BERMAN: Margaret, I want to read to you the statement that Mitch McConnell gave first to the Hill yesterday and remind everyone, Mitch McConnell doesn't do anything casually. Everything is calculated. So this was a planned release statement, and this was what Mitch McConnell says about Marjorie Taylor Greene.

He says, "Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. Somebody who suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party."

He didn't mention Marjorie Taylor Greene by name, but he laid out clearly, very clearly some -- just some of the things she said. She's said much more than that, in fact. Why is Mitch McConnell doing this? This is a House matter technically.

Kevin McCarthy is the one that needs to deal with Marjorie Taylor Greene. So what's McConnell doing here?

TALEV: I think you're absolutely right to note that reach into the House, which is not typically what you're seeing Mitch McConnell doing.

He's trying to do three things. No. 1, he's trying to tell Kevin McCarthy what he -- what he should do. What McConnell feels he needs to do.

No. 2, he's trying to put a stop to what Marjorie Taylor Greene is doing, defend Liz Cheney, kind of reset some what he believes to be some order, some traditional Republican values. And also, put an end to the conspiracy theories and the fomentation of this kind of side show.

But No. 3, it's Mitch McConnell. He is trying to minimize Senate losses in 2022.

He is trying to minimize Senate ell. He is trying to minimize Senate losses in 2022. And he has different considerations than House Republican leader does, where there are going to be hard-core right districts where there's an appetite for some of this to play out.

If you're looking at losing control or having trouble regaining seats, right, in places in the future swing states like Pennsylvania, like Arizona, if you're looking at the spectacle of future candidates like Marjorie Taylor Greene impeding your ability to function as a party, then this is the direction you're going to push. And that's part of what we're seeing play out also.

CAMEROTA: Margaret, one follow-up question to that. Why is he being so coy? Why not mention her name? We all know who he's talking about. There's only one person who, you know, chased a Parkland shooting survivor, a teenager down the street, heckling him and harassing him. Why -- why not use her name?

TALEV: Well, part of this may be Senate decorum. Part of it also may be not wanting to incur, get into a bigger food fight with Donald Trump.

And the third aspect of it is that it's really not just about Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is the current person in the crosshairs now, but there could be others, as well.

There may be other House members who are actually in the House who have sided up with her, who Mitch McConnell was also trying to message, too.

So this is absolutely internal messaging inside the Republican Party. And it is McConnell trying to step in and try to control a situation that, to his view, the Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, has not been able to control at this point. BERMAN: I mean, I'm not sure how coy he was. I think that maybe a

bigger question that I have is why now? Where was Mitch McConnell all of November when people were spreading the election lie, which is as dangerous, as we've seen on Capitol Hill, as some other things. It's very interesting what he can countenance and what he can't.

We're going to talk much more about this. Yes. Margaret, Jeremy, thank you very much.

DIAMOND: Thanks.

BERMAN: So a new study raises the idea that a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine may be enough for some people. Which people? Next.

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