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McCarthy Refuses to Punish Greene for Conspiracies & Violent Comments. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 04, 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. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I denounced all those comments. She came inside our conference and denounced them, as well.

[05:59:31]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marjorie Taylor Greene, she is effectively the minority leader. She has broken Kevin McCarthy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is effectively getting a pass. She did get a round of applause. Some people did stand up when Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke, and Liz Cheney is getting pounded.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We really did have a terrific vote tonight. We're not going to be divided.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are barreling ahead with Biden's big proposal.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not going to start my administration by breaking a promise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of the variants may actually lead to increased mortality. And the jury is still out how these vaccines are going to work against these variants.

(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's Thursday, February 4, 6 a.m. here in New York. And a moment of revelation for the Republican Party overnight.

So days ago, it was Mitt Romney who said, "Our big tent is not large enough to accommodate conservatives and kooks."

Days ago, it was Mitch McConnell who said, "Loony lies and conspiracy theories are a cancer for the Republican Party."

But last night, it was Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, who said, essentially, Hold my beer. No action against Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-supporting House

Republican who endorsed the execution of Democratic leaders, harassed school shooting victims, called mass shootings a hoax, reportedly trafficked in anti-Semitic propaganda about Jewish space lasers. No action. She keeps her committee assignments. And received an ovation from half the Republican caucus after speaking to them last night.

Today, there will be a full vote in the House about her committee posts. Republicans will have to go on the record about where they stand on this.

One other note: McCarthy made the claim overnight that he doesn't even know what the conspiracy group QAnon is. He might want to check the tape from January 6. Some of them were the folks who invaded his office.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, the third-most powerful Republican in the House, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, reportedly got an earful from her GOP colleagues, but she survived an attempt to remove her from leadership because she dared to vote to impeach former President Trump for inciting that deadly insurrection.

The final vote was 145-61, and it was conducted in a secret ballot, meaning the Republicans who stood behind her can remain anonymous.

So we have a lot to cover. We begin with CNN's Lauren Fox live for us on Capitol Hill. What's the latest, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, last night, this hours-long meeting behind closed doors of the Republican conference, the first big test of what the future of the Republican Party is going to be after former President Donald Trump.

And you had two members whose fates were really up to their conference, Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene. One who voted to impeach the former president, the other who holds extremist views.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (voice-over): On Capitol Hill, a major test for Republicans, divided over whether to continue to be the party of former President Donald Trump or to leave him in the past.

After an hours-long meeting with the House GOP, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declining to pick a side.

MCCARTHY: We just had a very good conference.

FOX: House Republicans voting Congresswoman Liz Cheney will keep her leadership position in a 145-61 secret ballot vote, according to several people in the room.

The third-ranking GOP member under scrutiny by her colleagues after voting to impeach Trump a second time, a move Cheney told CNN Wednesday she does not regret. CHENEY: We really did have a terrific vote tonight, terrific time this

evening, laying out what we're going to do going forward, as well as making clear that we're not going to be divided.

FOX: Cheney's win, a victory for traditional Republicans. And Wednesday's meeting was also a major victory for one extremist member: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't mess with her!

FOX: The freshman lawmaker from Georgia facing backlash for her support of Trump's lies about the election and for social media posts from before her election, promoting conspiracy theories and even calls for violence.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): It's a crime punishable by death, is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason.

FOX: And despite Senate Majority [SIC] Leader Mitch McConnell calling "loony lies and conspiracy theories" a cancer for the party, McCarthy dismissed his concerns, saying the Georgia congresswoman privately denounced her extremist views.

MCCARTHY: She said she was wrong. She has reached out in other ways and forms. The voters decided she could come and serve.

FOX: The House minority leader also ignoring calls by Democrats to remove Greene from her committee assignments. Calling their efforts, a partisan power grab. House Democrats are expected to attempt to do so in a House vote later today.

REP. JAHANA HAYES (D-CT): I respect the fact that the people of Georgia voted for her. But in Congress, we have a responsibility to discipline our own members for their behavior.

FOX: McCarthy arguing there's space for Republicans like Cheney and Greene within their party.

MCCARTHY: It's just an example. This Republican Party is a very big tent. Everyone's invited in. And you look at the last election, we continue to grow, and in two years, we'll be the majority.

FOX: Some House Democrats questioning McCarthy's ability to lead the GOP.

REP. MARY GAY SCANLON (D-PA): In the past, we've been able to rely upon the parties to police their own, but apparently, the Republican Party has changed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:01]

FOX: And of course, Greene actually addressed her conference, her fellow Republicans, in this closed-door meeting. We are told that about half of the conference clapped for her after she spoke. She has yet to apologize, of course, publicly.

Now, there will be that vote later today on the House floor, where lawmakers on both sides on the aisle -- this is an easy vote for Democrats, but a harder one for Republicans -- will decide whether or not she should lose her committee assignments. Because Democrats control the majority, we expect it will pass -- John.

BERMAN: Lauren Fox, terrific reporting. Thank you so much. Keep us posted.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst, Seung Min Kim, a White House reporter for "The Washington Post." Also with us, CNN senior political analyst Ryan Lizza, chief Washington correspondent for "Politico" and the co-author of "The Politico Playbook."

So Ryan, I want to start with you. Just what's the skinny? I mean, give us some color about what went on behind closed doors overnight.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The skinny is that McCarthy decided on unity above all else. And that negative partisanship, you know, hatred of the other party, is a pretty powerful drug, right?

I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene was empowered by this process. She raised money off of it. She rallied the Republican conference around her, as was shown by the standing ovation she got in there last night, by a number of members. She did not even face a vote within the conference to expel her. She did not publicly apologize.

And McCarthy after the meeting did not demand that she publicly apologize for the previous comments. We'll see today if, on the House floor, she says something during this other vote.

So, clear victory for Marjorie Taylor Greene. And a clear victory for Kevin McCarthy, whose No. 1 goal is to win back the majority next year. And he decided that whatever these comments were before she was elected as a member, it was better for him to keep his conference together, turn this into a, you know, Democrats are the enemy issue, right? That's how he kind of turned the dynamic around here. And move forward with -- with Cheney and Greene, inside the tent, rather than either of them outside of the tent.

CAMEROTA: See, Seung Min, here's the problem. It wasn't just before she was elected. When she has been given a chance, as recently as about 24 to 36 hours ago, to clarify those statements, her violent rhetoric, to apologize for it, to modify it somehow, she has loudly and proudly refused to.

So 24 hours ago or 48 hours ago, she still believed all of those extreme things she said, the executions of leaders of the opposing party. All that stuff, she refused to -- I mean, these -- this was on radio shows. This was on her own social media. She stands by it.

So Kevin McCarthy can, I guess, ask the public to believe him over their own ears. But no one in the public has ever heard her say that she has a different viewpoint than the viewpoint that she's expressed in all of that violent rhetoric. SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, I think that's a really

critical point here. You heard Leader McCarthy say in the clip that you just played earlier that she forcefully denounced those -- the comments that she had made. That she disavows them, that she disavows the conspiracy theories.

But we as the public are not hearing that from her. I would be interested in seeing if she does kind of make those remarks later today.

But you're right; she has stood by those comments, has not disavowed them at all. So we are kind of left hanging on Leader McCarthy's word that she has, you know, disavowed them. And I think it would be really critical for her to say that in public.

But just with the larger point on McCarthy, I mean, he has talked -- I mean, he talked last night, which Republican sources tell us that it was kind of his best remarks as a Republican leader, about bringing the conference together, that you can have Liz Cheneys and you have Marjorie Taylor Greenes.

But the problem is, there are many other people in the Republican Party, many senior officials in the Republican Party, believe that the Republican Party should not have a Marjorie Taylor Greene in their ranks. That they're -- the GOP disavows those kinds of remarks.

And that's why you've seen such a different, you know, tact from, you know, Kevin McCarthy to Mitch McConnell, who, as we heard multiple times earlier this morning, has called her views a cancer on the party.

But McCarthy is making a clear political calculation here. He wants to win back the majority. He wants to be speaker in the year 2023. And he's making a broadly political calculation than perhaps a moral one for the future of the Republican Party.

BERMAN: Until she makes a public apology or a public clarification, this is basically the girlfriend in Canada, right? We don't know it exists other than the word behind the scenes.

[06:10:00]

And it's more important than that, also, because of the people who believe in these things. They need to be told it's not true. Else, we see what can happen. We see the dangers and the threats on people's lives that emerge from it.

Today, there will be a vote in the full House. The full House will vote about whether to strip her of her committee assignments. And Marjorie Taylor Greene, in an interview says -- basically, it's the Obi-Wan Kenobi defense. You know, strike me down, I'll be more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

She says, "How stupid they are. They don't even realize they're helping me. I'm pretty amazed at how dumb they are." Ryan, that's a suggestion that Democrats are overstepping the line

here. But Republicans are going to have to go on the record today. Aren't they in a bind, as well?

LIZZA: Well, yes, we're going to have -- we're going to have another number at the end of today. We have the number 61. That's the number of Republicans who privately voted to take Cheney down from leadership, right, in the conference meeting last night.

So how many Republicans? What's that number going to be today to strip Marjorie -- Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments? Will it be above 61? I doubt it. I think it will be a much more partisan vote.

You'll have a lot of Republicans saying, Well, whatever you think of her, her former views, we don't want to set the precedent of the majority party, you know, telling the minority party where their members can -- what committees their members can sit on. And, you know, there's this other principle they will bring up of comments before you were elected should not be met with the kind of death penalty here.

And you know, you can probably quibble with both of those things, but I think those are the -- those are the main arguments you're going to hear, and I doubt very much that you're going to get more Republicans voting to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committees than you got last night of them trying to kick Cheney out of leadership.

And that will be a very telling contrast, right? More people trying to get rid of Cheney than get rid of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe Republicans will step forward and condemn her and vote to -- and vote with Democrats. But it seems very unlikely. It seems much more unlikely that this will be a very partisan vote.

On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if there are any Democrats who decide, No, we don't want to do this, because we don't want to set that precedent.

CAMEROTA: Well, just to remind everybody, just one of the gems that she perpetuated. This is the violence against Hillary Clinton and President Obama. There was a comment on social media that said, "When do we get to hang them?" question mark. "Meaning 'H' and 'O.'"

Marjorie Taylor Greene responded, "Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off."

So in other words, you know, let's -- we'll figure out how to hang them, literally, but we have to do it carefully.

And so when Republicans try, Seung Min, to set up this false equivalency between, Well, you know, look what Maxine Waters once said. It wasn't executions. It wasn't physical violence. OK? It may be -- have been offensive comments, but it wasn't executions.

And so I thought it was interesting what Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Democrat, said it best, that a member of the House is calling for assassinations. That's the new precedent. That's the new line. So that's when the other party can try to remove you from your committees. That's now the bar.

KIM: Right, right. And the precedent issue is a really interesting one, too, as well. And you've seen just -- you know, from -- for, you know, all Democrats and perhaps for some Republicans later today, those kind of offensive, really alarming remarks may be the final line or maybe just kind of the final draw.

But it does seem like Republicans are going to kind of lead on a more process, procedural argument later today, saying, We -- you know, we -- I'm sure a lot of Republicans will say something along the lines of of, We -- you know, I condemn her remarks. Those are abhorrent, but we don't want to set a precedent down the line of removing members from committees for actions or things that they said before they were elected. We don't want to let the majority party dictate the minority party's committee assignments.

And to me, that's not unlike a lot of the process arguments that Senate Republicans leaned on last week when it came to President -- former President Trump's impeachment trial.

You know, they may say they disagree with the former president's behavior, what they said -- what they said, and his role in inciting that riot on January 6, but they leaned on a process argument to kind of get themselves out of this hole. They said, We don't believe this trial is constitutional and that it shouldn't continue; that you can't, you know, go ahead with these proceedings for someone who is out of office.

[06:15;03]

And it just, you know, it's giving House Republicans and Senate Republicans, you know, kind of an out, rather than really confronting these issues within their own party and kind of the bigger issue writ large.

So it will be really interesting, as Ryan said, to see those vote counts later today, what Republicans lean on just the substance of Representative Greene and what she represents to the Republican Party and who she represents, the politician; versus kind of, again, leaning on these process arguments and procedural arguments.

BERMAN: All right, guys. Stand by.

Kevin McCarthy made the claim last night that he doesn't even know what QAnon is. You know who Kevin McCarthy might want to speak with? Kevin McCarthy. Who knows what QAnon is? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCCARTHY: I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what you told all of us. Denouncing QAnon -- I don't know if I say it right. I don't even know what it is.

[06:20:06]

There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party. I do not support it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So in August, he didn't support it. And last night, he didn't know what it was anymore.

Back with us, Seung Min Kim and Ryan Lizza.

Ryan, this willful ignorance, if that's what you call it, head in the sand stuff, is strange. I mean, usually, after a group tries to kill you in a bloody insurrection, you -- I don't know, you Google it. You try to figure out who the murderous mob was.

And the other dangerous thing about this is, it's not going away. It's not going away. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as far as we know, hasn't denounced it. She's never said that publicly. She is an adherent. She's not going away.

And so the idea that Kevin McCarthy can come out and be like, I don't even know if I'm pronouncing this right, I've never heard of this thing, what is that?

LIZZA: I mean, it's absurd. He probably noticed the mob vandalizing and sacking the Capitol on January 6, that half of them had giant "Q's" on their chest.

And last night, he spent a couple of hours in a conference meeting where one of the big issues was one of his members' conspiratorial views that were mostly about this QAnon conspiracy.

So the idea that Kevin McCarthy didn't take a few minutes to Google "Q" and get up to speed on what that is and how it's tearing his party apart and leading to violence in the Capitol and calls to expel members is obviously ridiculous.

But he's being tagged now by Nancy Pelosi as, you know, the QAnon leader. I saw Bill Kristol on Twitter going viral with calling Kevin McCarthy "Kevin McQarthy." Right? So he's now being defined as -- you know, with this -- with this QAnon conspiracy theory, partly because of his unwillingness to -- to take stronger action against Marjorie Taylor Greene. And he's denying that he knows anything about it.

BERMAN: Seung Min, one place where they're not talking, or trying not to talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene -- and it's interesting -- is the White House, which you cover. So what's going on there. What is Joe Biden's positions? What's the White House angle on all of this?

KIM: Well, it's really interesting. I mean, you've seen press secretary Jen Psaki get asked about this. Not too much, but at least a couple of times. And the most recent time was yesterday in the briefing room, when I was there.

She was asked whether President Biden had any view on whether Congresswoman Greene had -- should lose her committee assignments. And Jen had repeated something that she said before, that she is not going to talk about that congresswoman in that briefing room.

And that is very strategic here. I mean, they have -- you know, they are singularly focused on trying to get their agenda through Congress, and they are -- they have made a strategic decision not to elevate her from that podium.

And it's similar to kind of how they're going about with the impeachment trial of, you know, former President Trump, which begins next week. They have really deliberately, you know, tried not to engage too much on that issue. When asked by reporters at that podium, they talk about it only really in the context of how it affects their agenda, you know, and perhaps in terms of the Senate schedule and for COVID relief and confirmations.

And you do see, you know, President Biden and his team really trying to stay above the fray of, you know, what is going on, you know, in the Republican Party and particularly on Capitol Hill.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, I think that when a lot of Democrats -- and I mean 80 million of them -- voted Donald Trump out of office, they thought that maybe he would go away, or that they would be able to move on. But he is still playing a big role, obviously, in the Republican Party. How do you define it right now?

LIZZA: Well, there was a brief window after January 6 where leaders like McConnell stepped forward and tried to nudge the Republican Party in a certain direction, right? Came out criticizing Trump in a much more forceful way than they had previously. It seem -- McConnell talked, or at least let it be known, that he might be in favor of impeachment. Right?

Cheney spoke very strongly on the House floor when he voted for impeachment.

And right after that, there was a backlash against that, with -- with the Republican base and the populist wing of the Republican Party going after McConnell, going after Cheney, saying that, you know, impeachment was about punishing everyone who ever supported Trump. And that window to rid the party of Trump and -- has basically slammed shut in the -- in the weeks since then.

[06:25:20]

And Trump is, you know, as strong in the Republican Party as he's ever been. And that wing, as we saw with the -- with what happened last night in the House conference, is feeling emboldened right now.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Ryan, Seung Min, thank you both very much for all the reporting. LIZZA: Thanks, guys.

CAMEROTA: So Canada labeling the far-right group the Proud Boys a terrorist group. New charges against members relating to the Capitol insurrection. We have the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Developing this morning, the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that does allow Democrats.