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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Rep. Cheney Survives Vote to Keep Her GOP Leadership Job; Food Stamp Recipients Not Receiving Enough Assistance; Justice Department Charging More Severe Crimes in Capitol Riot; Reports: Barber's Positive Test Causes Scare for Chiefs. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 04, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:23]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It's Thursday, February 4th. It's 5:00 a.m. exactly in New York and on the East Coast.

For the last two weeks, but really for four years, questions have been raised about the future of the Republican Party. Overnight, House Republicans took a vote on that future, a secret ballot on whether Congresswoman Liz Cheney would keep her leadership job after voting to impeachment former President Trump. Cheney refusing to apologize for trying to hold Trump accountability for inciting the capitol riot.

JARRETT: Speaking of accountability, there was none of that for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who for years has spread lies and conspiracies rooted in bigotry. But Greene's no longer the outlier in her party and the pervasive spread of lies, much of it on social media, has trickled down to exploit fears in Americans outside of Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY VANDERBILT, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: When President Biden was sworn in, I was just crying. I mean, I couldn't stop. It was that ugly cry that you do, just kept going. I was like, oh, my gosh, like I'm seeing the funeral of our country, and instantly, I went into panic mode. I had called my mom and I told her, we're all going to die.

We're going to be owned by China. I might have to pull my daughter out of school because they're going to take her. I was scared to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's someone who does not believe the lies anymore but she wasn't forced to confront reality until Trump left office. And the spread of QAnon and like-minded conspiracy groups have left Republicans who helped build the party for a half century, the Bushes, the Cheneys, the McCains, has left them outside the party looking in. So, today, Republicans will have to go on record about what kind of

party they want to have.

More from CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura.

Now, Liz Cheney survived a vote trying to push her out of the number three spot in the House leadership, the Republican conference chair. Now, she voted, of course, as one of 10 Republicans to impeach Donald Trump and that got her into a lot of hot water with the Republican conference that overwhelmingly supports Donald Trump but at the end of the day they sided with Liz Cheney. At the end of the day, only 61 members voted against her. And 61 is still a healthy margin. It shows how many members believe she should be gone, but a vast majority supporting her despite that vote.

Now, at the same time, Republicans say that they have no problem with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial congresswoman who in the past has said things that promoted QAnon, conspiracy theory, made racist comments, other inflammatory remarks. They let her say she could stay on committees as far as they're concerned because the Republican argument is that she made those claims before she was a member of Congress and should not apply to her now.

She offered some contrition behind scenes, but she has not yet to do so publicly. That's what Republicans want be to hear. Even though they won't get her off the House Education Committee or the House Budget Committee, Democrats want her off. So, they will move today to vote to get her off those two committees. They will have enough votes.

Still, there are Democrats who are concerned about the precedent here. But they believe her views are so out of the mainstream that it's time to take action and they're going to do that in a matter of hours in her case -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right. Manu, thank you.

House Democrats now inching closer towards party line approval of President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill. It's the president's first big agenda item. But the White House and Republicans are still about $1.3 trillion apart. One area they largely agree on, food assistance. The number of people on food stamps has just shot up during this pandemic.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich spoke with them about all of the challenges they face.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA BEDICO, SNAP RECIPIENT: It was life or death. We were either going to starve or we were lucky enough to qualify for SNAP benefits.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's that black and white for Veronica Bedico, unemployed with three children at home. The government's food stamp program is her lifeline.

BEDICO: Gets you to go all the way around.

YURKEVICH: Many are facing hunger for the first time. The number of Americans on food stamps or SNAP has grown by more than 20 percent during the pandemic, and spending skyrocketed to $90 billion.

BEDICO: SNAP benefits came in, you know, perfectly to help me subsidize the meals that we're going to increase because everybody was at home for every meal and every snack.

[05:05:07]

YURKEVICH: SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is just that, designed to boost food budgets for families who live below the poverty line. Historic unemployment forced government to increase benefits by 15 percent in December.

STACY DEAN, DEP. UNDER SECRETARTY FOR FOOD, NUTRITION AND CONSUMER SERVICES, USDA: It is supposed to be enough, but many experts and more fundamentally the families who use it are worried that it just isn't enough. So, we're actually taking a look at that now to see if adjustments are needed to make it so that families can afford a basic diet with our benefits.

YURKEVICH: That's why these Americans find themselves here, in this single food line at the Los Angeles regional food bank. Those on SNAP say they need more food.

KATHALEEN WALLA, SNAP RECIPIENT: I'm homeless. I'm staying with my sister. So, you know, it's hard to be able to go to market -- and she'll go -- she'll go to market with me and stuff, but it's definitely not enough.

MANUEL ZARAGOZA, SNAP RECIPIENT: Not enough but, you know, I love my job.

KENYA EDWARDS, SNAP RECIPIENT: I get like 200 bucks and, you know, I can make it stretch but, you know, once it's gone, it's gone.

YURKEVICH: The L.A. regional food bank serves 900,000 residents a month, 1/10 of the L.A. population. In Georgia, one in seven adults and one in five children are now food insecure. In New York, Public Health Solutions says SNAP signups are up five-fold.

LISA DAVID, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PUBLIC HEALTH SOLUTIONS: This is a bit of a stopgap. Better than nothing, great, but it's not helping people confident they can put food on the table for their families every day.

YURKEVICH: Bedico doesn't know when she'll be back at work, a sign the recovery has a ways to go. President Biden's proposed relief plan hopes to extend the SNAP benefits increase through September.

BEDICO: I would like for the administration to remember that we're real people and that we're not, you know, welfare queens that are just taking advantage of the system. I am a real person who had a real job and now I need help so that I can provide for my children during this hard time.

YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Now, the disconnect between those struggles on Main Street and the riches on Wall Street is pretty stark right here. Some 18 million Americans receiving some sort of jobless benefits and the benefits aren't keeping up. New analysis shows out of work Americans missed almost $18 billion in benefits last month. The president delayed signing a broader relief package at the end of the year. Then it took states several weeks to update their systems with the new relief provisions.

Now, the benefits are retroactive. You will get them eventually but eventually doesn't help people who need it right now for food and for rent. And millions of Americans may miss payments again if the benefits lapse. The $900 billion package only provided a $300 boost through mid March.

We will eleven how many more Americans filed for first-time benefits in the next few hours. Claims -- those jobless claims have remained very high week after week. This is what you're seeing there is a jobs crisis, recovery stalling, and a number of long-term unemployed is growing. The economy is still down nearly 10 million jobs since February, Laura.

JARRETT: You look at that chart and it shows you how stubborn these numbers are. They're not moving.

ROMANS: No, they're not.

JARRETT: All right. To coronavirus now, a new study overnight says rapid COVID testing is the key to reopening schools. The Rockefeller Foundation finds weekly screening of all students, teachers and staff can reduce in-school infections by 50 percent for high schools and 35 percent for younger kids.

Right now, there are major battles between school districts and teachers union, over in-person learning in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Montclair, New Jersey. Some unions demanding that teachers be vaccinated before returning to their classrooms.

"The Miami Herald" also reports a proposal is moving quickly through the Florida Senate that will allow parents to have their children repeat a grade to recover from all of the learning losses they experienced during the pandemic. It's a choice that state law currently leaves up to school officials. ROMANS: Yeah, the COVID learning loss a real, real crisis here. Health officials in New Jersey, California, and Alabama have identified victims believed to be linked to the variant first found in the U.K. Hundreds of people contracted these variants but limited genetic sequencing means that number is guaranteed to actually be higher. Ashely Jackson lost her husband to heart complications from the U.K. variant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHELY JACKSON, LOST HUSBAND TO COVID-19 VARIANT: My first thought was: How, when did he get that? Where? And also: How many others have that same variant that are unaware.

Pretty much every day was like a roller coaster. You know? One day went great. The next day went really bad.

When I told her, she asked to see her dad and video call her dad. It was very hard.

I had to go ahead and tell her. You know, daddy became an angel just.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: A recent Monmouth poll say one in four Americans say they will avoid the vaccine if possible.

But the phase of vaccinations has been rising overtime. On December 30th, the seven-day average was about 255,000 shots per day. Now, it's 1.3 million. But remember, 75 percent of this population needs to get the vaccination to achieve herd immunity and for us all to get back to normal. And at this rate, it would reach the threshold of herd immunity around Halloween.

ROMANS: All right. Murder the media. New charges from members of the mob that stormed that capitol. So, why are some of the defendants focused on organic food and trips to Mexico?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back.

More than 180 federal criminal cases now filed against rioters and others connected to the deadly capitol insurrection.

[05:15:03]

The latest cases, charging more severe crimes reveal that troubling history of the accused and shed light on the terror tactics of the right wing extremists.

CNN's Marshall Cohen joins us with the very latest from Washington -- Marshall.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Christine and Laura, the Justice Department is cracking down on the Proud Boys with new arrests and new indictments in the last 24 hours. Prosecutors charge two members with conspiracy accusing them of planning since Election Day to come to Washington and disrupt the Electoral College proceedings in congress. They're even accused of raising money for that mission.

The men, Nicholas Ochs and Nicholas DeCarlo were photographed inside the capitol that day, allegedly vandalized one of the doors writing, quote, murder the media.

Another member of the group also faces new charges in a separate case. His name is Ethan Nordean, and he's the self-described sergeant at arms for the Proud Boys affiliate in Seattle. Now, prosecutors say that his social media posts also indicate that he planned ahead to overrun police at the Capitol.

Meanwhile, the crackdown has gone global. The Canadian government announced it will put the Proud Boys group on its list of terrorist organizations along with several other white supremacist groups.

ROMANS: Marshall, despite the gravity of the charges, there's a growing list of bizarre requests by the defendants. Some are being granted by the court.

COHEN: Some of those defendants are making some pretty interesting requests. Texas flower shop owner Jenny Cudd raised eyebrows when she asked a judge this week to let her go to Mexico. She said she already paid for the trip, a four-day work retreat near Cancun. That request is still pending.

And another man known as the QAnon shaman waged a legal battle over the meals that he was given in jail, demanding only organic food. Well, the judge granted that request so the jail here in Washington has to give him only organic products from here on out in line with his religious beliefs -- Christine and Laura.

JARRETT: Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for all of that reporting.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is ordering a pause of operations across the U.S. military so commanders can study extremism in the ranks. Secretary Austin hopes this will allow military leaders to communicate expectations to the troops and gain insight on the scope of the problem. Extremism in the military has come into sharp focus since the riot at the U.S. Capitol. At least 22 people associated with the military have now been charged.

ROMANS: Firearms sales are soaring since the capitol riot, and the start of the Biden administration. According to an analysis by "The Washington Post", more than 2 million firearms purchased in the U.S. in the last month alone. That represents an 80 percent spike over last year, and the second highest total ever recorded for one month. In 2020, nearly 23 million firearms were sold, a 64 percent jump over 2019.

JARRETT: The NFL worked so hard to keep coronavirus away. Why are hair cuts suddenly a problem ahead of the Super Bowl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:22:47]

JARRETT: All right. A COVID scare for the Kansas City Chiefs as the players' barber reportedly found out he tested positive for COVID before the Super Bowl.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Andy, this sounds like a real mess.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, good morning, Laura.

Could you imagine if a haircut was the reason that a bunch of players ended up not being able to play in the Super Bowl? I mean, this nearly happened. According to multiple reports there was a number of Chiefs players lined up to get a haircut, including Patrick Mahomes, when they found out that the barber had tested positive for COVID.

Chiefs backup center Daniel Kilgore was in the chair getting a haircut when they found out. Both he and the barber were wearing masks. Kilgore poking fun at the whole thing, posting this picture on Twitter saying #newprofilepic.

According to ESPN, since Kilgore was already deemed a close contact, the barber did, in fact, finish his haircut.

Kilgore and receiver Demarcus Robinson on the COVID reserve list right now. They could still play Sunday if they register five straight negative tests.

All right. Now, usually both teams already are in the host city by Monday, but, you know, there's nothing usual about this year. The Chiefs are practicing at their home facility in Kansas City all week. Not going to fly to Tampa until Saturday afternoon a little over 24 hours before kickoff.

Meantime, Buccaneers, they're soaking up the Florida sunshine as the first team in NFL history to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium. They knew when they got Tom Brady, this was a real possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMERON BRATE, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS TIGHT END: Since we signed Tom in march, yup, Bucs are going to be in the Super Bowl at home and here we are.

ROB GRONKOWSKI, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS TIGHT END: It's the first time ever happening in history so, you know, it's like mind-boggling actually.

TOM BRADY, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS QUARTERBACK: I'm happy I'm in my own bed. I'm happy I'm eating good stuff at home. I'm happy I have extra time, don't have to travel, don't have to pack my clothes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: All right. Every year, Madden simulates who is going to win the Super Bowl. And over the years, it's been pretty accurate. Eleven out of 17 correct including one perfect score. This year, it's predicting a repeat for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

[05:25:03]

Madden has Kansas City winning 37-27 with Mahomes winning another MVP award.

And, you know, video game technology has come a long way in the past two decades. Sporting news tweeting out these two pictures. The difference between Tom Brady's first video game appearance on the left and his latest here on the right.

And Tom Brady himself responding to that tweet, comparing it to his infamous deflate-gate courtroom sketch and then comparing that to him at the Met Gala.

I'll tell you what, Christine, that deflate-gate sketch never gets old. I mean, it's an all-timer, just how it did not look like Tom Brady.

ROMANS: For such a pretty man it's fitting you have one really bad sketch. That does not match.

All right. Nice to see you. Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: All right. Joining us for a new CNN original series that chronicles Lincoln's life, his struggles, his character and the compromises he made to free slaves.

"LINCOLN: DIVIDED WE STAND" premiere Sunday, February 14th at 10:00 p.m. on CNN.

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