Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Biden Focuses on Relief Package; Trump's Impeachment Trial is Constitutional; North Korea's Nuclear Program; COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Drop in U.S.; Gronk and Brady on Super Bowl Win Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 09, 2021 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:36]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, he's got an offer to come and testify. He's decided not to. We'll let the Senate work that out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That was President Biden refusing to comment further on Trump's second impeachment trial. Instead, Biden is pushing ahead.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With his predecessor's impeachment trial starting today, President Joe Biden will not be watching.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think it's clear from his schedule and from his intention he will not spend too much time watching the proceedings.
DIAMOND: Instead, the White House says Biden is focusing on his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. Monday, House Democrats advance a child tax credit expansion as part of the package, boosting payments to $3,600 per child under the age of six, and $3,000 for children ages six to 17. The full benefit would be available for single parents making up to $75,000 per year and couples earning up to 150,000.
REP. RICHARD NEAL (D-MA): If we can get this done, which we will in the next four weeks, we're likely to make this a permanent feature of what is known as tax expenditures.
DIAMOND: On stimulus payments, even as Biden signaled last week he was willing to negotiate income thresholds, House Democrats flatly rejecting a Republican counterproposal that called for $1,000 to individuals earning less than $40,000 a year and couples earning less than $80,000. Instead, democrats unveiling legislation that would provide $1,400 per person to individuals earning less than $75,000 per year and couples earning under $150,000. There would be $1,400 for each dependent.
Under that plan, individuals making over $100,000 and couples earning more than $200,000 would get nothing. That's double the threshold proposed in the GOP plan. Still in limbo, Biden's proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, apparently that's not going to occur because of the rules of the United States Senate.
DIAMOND: On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki playing clean-up.
PSAKI: The president is -- remains firmly committed to raising the minimum wage to $15. There is a parliamentarian who will make decisions about what can end up in a final package.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND: And we are still weeks away -- and we are still weeks away from knowing exactly what the final composition of this bill will actually look like, but the White House is looking for President Biden to be able to sign this by March 14th. That's when those federal supplemental unemployment benefits expire.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hard work in the White House. Jeremy, thank you very much.
We are hours away from the impeachment trial of the former president. You will hear a lot of claims today, but know this, when it comes to some arguments, the Constitution doesn't say what they claim it says.
John Avlon with a "Reality Check."
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Today, for only the fourth time in American history, a president will face an impeachment trial in the Senate. Now, Donald Trump accounts for half the presidential impeachments in American history, but this time he's facing a charge of inciting an insurrection. And that's the kind of high crimes the founders contemplated when they put impeachment in the Constitution. If you listen to some self-styled constitutional conservatives, the Senate trial is over before it's begun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Forty-five Republicans have said it's not even a legitimate proceeding. So it's really over before it starts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: Here's why he's wrong. The vote Senator Rand Paul is referring to was to debate whether it was constitutional to impeach an ex- president, whether to go forward. Listen to Senator Rob Portman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): No, it was not about dismissing the trial. It was about not discussing the constitutionality. I'm a juror. I'm going to keep an open mind as we go through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: More importantly, this question has already been addressed. Because way back in 1876, a corrupt secretary of war named William Bellknap was impeached after he resigned. He was charged with prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain.
In addition, President John Quincy Adams, someone well aware of the founder's intent, made it clear that he considered himself accountable to impeachment for everything he did in public office for as long as he lived.
So this should be a settled question, folks. No wonder that's backed by 170 constitutional lawyers, including a co-founder of The Federalist Society. And as conservative lawyer Chuck Cooper wrote, given that the Constitution permits the Senate to impose the penalty of permanent disqualification only on former office holders, it defies logic to suggest the Senate is prohibited from trying and convicting former office holders.
[06:35:12]
And all that is in addition to the fact that Trump was impeached before he left office, which also should ease concerns about any slippery slope.
So, yes, not only can Donald Trump be impeached, he already has been. But now it's up to the senators to be impartial jurors.
The appropriately high two-thirds bar for conviction, which has never been cleared in the case of a president, is no reason to disregard the proceedings because of all the impeachments in American history to date, this one is closest to the founder's worst fears.
This isn't about disagreements about reconstruction policies or lying under oath about an affair, or even trying to compel a foreign power to announce a bogus investigation into a domestic, political rival.
Alexander Hamilton wrote that impeachment is for political offenses related to the abuse or violation of some public trust. This -- Professor Jeffrey Engel wrote I the book "Impeachable," impeachable offenses were, in the eyes of the founders, those perpetuated with sinister intent to harm the republic for personal gain. Is there a better description for what Donald Trump did to our country by lying and allegedly inciting an insurrection in an attempt to overturn an election to hold on to power? As founder George Mason asked during the constitutional convention, shall any man be above justice? The answer is no.
And that's your "Reality Check."
BERMAN: The Republican Party needs to meet George Mason.
John Avlon, thank you very much for that.
So, new details about how Pyongyang is actively developing its nuclear and missile program, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:38]
CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, CNN has obtained a new U.N. report about North Korea, which concludes that Pyongyang is actively developing its nuclear and ballistic missile program while continuing to evade international sanctions.
CNN's Will Ripley is live in Hong Kong for us with more.
What have you learned, Will?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, the bottom line here is that the North Korea that President Biden is inheriting is far more dangerous, far more heavily armed than it was when President Trump took office. Despite the three face-to-face meetings with Kim Jong-un and President Trump, Pyongyang, according to this new U.N. report, has been upgrading its ballistic missile infrastructure, producing more material to make nuclear bombs and unveiling and parading new weapons, short range, medium range and long range missiles, even missiles that could be launched from submarines.
The U.N. says it is likely that North Korea now has the capability to put miniaturized nuclear warheads on these missiles. The question, can they launch an intercontinental ballistic missile into space and have it survive in tact upon re-entry. Now, in order for North Korea to determine whether they can do that, they would need to conduct more tests. And many analysts believe that more tests could be coming given that the North Koreans consider the Biden administration more predictable, much like the Obama administration, that strategic patience policy, which -- during which Kim Jong-un launched scores of missiles and conducted nuclear tests at an accelerated pace.
This report also says that North Korea is getting money for this by conducting cybercrimes. $316 million stolen the U.N. alleges from financial institutions, stealing things like Bitcoin, that virtual currency that's untraceable. North Korea finding creative ways to get around 15 years of U.N. sanctions in place since 2006. Even as much of that country's population suffers with its economy really in the tank given that its borders have been closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Will, thank you very much for that report. We'll stay on it.
BERMAN: We do have breaking news. Mary Wilson, the co-founder of the legendary Motown group The Supremes, has died. Wilson's publicist says she passed away suddenly at her home in Las Vegas. She was 76.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE SUPREMES (singing): Stop in the name of love before you break my heart, think it over. Baby, baby, think it over
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Oh, it's amazing to listen to. Obviously, the songs of The Supremes defined a generation. They made music history but I make the case they're important to American history overall. The hit making trio, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, they had a dozen number one songs in the 1960s.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE SUPREMES (singing): Baby love, my baby love, been missing you, miss kissing you. Instead of breaking up, let's do some kissing and making up
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So Motown founder Barry Gordy says Wilson was a trail blazer, a diva and will be deeply missed. And that comment is loaded, I think, for lovers of music history and the history of that trio. Calling Mary Wilson a diva, I think, is to place her at the same level as Diana Ross to make the case that all three of the originals were so crucial in their sound and their development, whether or not they were singing lead or the incredible backup.
CAMEROTA: I could listen to this all morning long if we have time. We can cancel the rest of our segments and I could just listen to this because they did this, I think, magical musical combo that they perfected, which was setting really sad lyrics to very upbeat, poppy tunes. And so then what happens is you end up all day long singing the sad lyrics but in this upbeat way. And I just have always loved that.
Yes, OK, so let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE SUPREMES (singing): But if you feel like I feel, please let me know that it's real . You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:48:53]
CAMEROTA: Nearly 10 percent of Americans have now received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Hospitalizations are at their lowest point since mid-November. But, there is growing concern that the new variants could erase this progress.
Dr. Peter Hotez says we are in the eye of the hurricane at the moment, and he joins us now. Dr. Hotez, I just want to pull up for everybody the new cases. OK. So
when you look at this graph, it's just like the hospitalizations. You see it coming down steeply and it's so comforting.
And so when you say that we're in the eye of the hurricane and we sort of can't let our eye off the ball here, what does that mean? You think that the numbers are about to start going straight up again and when do you think that's going to happen?
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, Alisyn, it all has to do with the spike protein target mutants. These new variants coming out of the U.K. and also South Africa and possibly Brazil. The U.K., who ones seemed to be the first that's -- are popping up. We have almost 200 cases each in California and Florida.
And, remember, we're undercounting because we're not really doing a lot in the way of active surveillance for these spike protein mutants from the U.K. and South Africa.
[06:50:07]
So there's probably a lot more there.
And we know they are far more transmissible and maybe higher mortality. So that's why I used the metaphor of the eye of the hurricane. Everything seems good right now. The number -- everything's going in the right direction, right? The numbers are doing down. We're starting to rev up in terms of vaccinations. Everything's looking really promising. But, you know, unfortunately, we have these spike variants that seem to be mounting and that really worries me.
CAMEROTA: But if we were to see the spike, when would we see it?
HOTEZ: Hard to say. You know, there's not a lot of precedent to go on. We know, for instance, in the U.K., in southeastern England, it went from being a rare variant in September and by November it accounted for half of the variants. So the centers for disease control is saying now with the U.K. variant that it's doubling roughly every ten days. So that means the numbers are going to go way up.
And, again, without having that active surveillance program in place, we don't know what the beginning part is. And we -- they may -- these variants may already be starting to be widespread in the country. So I think we're looking at potentially a very difficult April and May, maybe as soon as March. And that's going to be the tough time because the vaccines are not going to be here in large quantities coming from Novavax, coming from J&J and also the mRNA vaccines probably until June or July.
So this is going to be the toughest part of the epidemic for the American people and for the Biden administration is how we navigate this very difficult period as the spike variants start rising in March, April and May. And this is -- this is going to be a tough time. But, you know, we'll get through it. But it -- you know, how -- exactly what it's going to look like at the other end still -- there's still a lot of uncertainty about that.
BERMAN: We're just about out of time, Dr. Hotez, but what's your target in terms of hospitalizations and cases? Because I remember Dr. Fauci, early in the summer, when things started dropping again, he said, they're not dropping enough. I mean the case load is still high. When you're talking about where it is right now, it's still very high. But what number do you think we have to get below to feel more safe?
HOTEZ: You know, there's no -- no one magical number. Look, here's what we want to do, John. We want to interrupt transmission of this virus through vaccination. And we potentially can do that by this summer. And so that's -- that has to be the goal. We need to get back to a significant level of normalcy back in the United States. And that's only going to happen when we really bring down transmission to containment level defined through various ways as one new case per million residents per day, one new case per 100,000 residents per day, one new case per 10,000 residents per day, you pick the target. But far below what we're at now.
And I do think we can get there. I have a lot of optimism. But it's going to mean vaccinating the American people as rapidly as possible and really doubling the current vaccination numbers. We're about 1.5 million immunizations per day. We should be at around 3 to 4 million to really halt this virus.
And I know the Biden administration is doing everything it can to get there. But there's a lot of technical hurdles still to overcome.
And we're also learning, and I'm really sorry to say this, that Operation Warp Speed, all we heard about with, you know, manufacturing at risk and the vaccines will be here as soon as we know the vaccines are working turns out not to be the case. There's still a significant lag, and that's a huge disappointment as well.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you for giving us the straight scoop. Great to talk to you.
HOTEZ: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: OK, coming up, we have a one on one interview with Rob Gronkowski, or as I like to call him, Gronk. He says winning --
BERMAN: Just you. It's your pet name.
CAMEROTA: Yes, just me. I mean everybody can use it.
BERMAN: No one else calls him Gronk.
CAMEROTA: If you guys want to use it, feel free.
He says winning this Super Bowl with Tom Brady is one of the greatest sports stories ever. You know what, Gronk, we'll be the judge of that.
BERMAN: It's true.
CAMEROTA: OK? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:58:18]
BERMAN: Former New England Patriots' star Rob Gronkowski says winning the Super Bowl this year was one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history.
Andy Scholes spoke with the man known as Robert. He has more in the "Bleacher Report."
Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.
Yes, Gronk told me that he only slept a few hours before heading over to Disney World to continue to celebrate that Super Bowl championship. And, you know, Gronk, he and Brady now together down there in Florida. So I wanted to ask him, you know, how long are they planning on staying down there and playing together? Gronk said, ah, he's a year to year guy right now, but Brady thinks may play forever. This was Gronk's fourth Super Bowl title. And he says the way it all came together, with him coming out of retirement to reunite with Brady and them winning it all, again, he thinks it's one of the greatest sports stories ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB GRONKOWSKI, FOUR -TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION: Buccaneers, they haven't been to the playoffs since 2007. They haven't even won a playoff game since 2002.
They just had a lot of talent on their team. And Tom Brady, just being with one team and going down to Tampa, myself coming out of retirement to join the Buccaneers, it was just an unbelievable story. It was epic, man. And now I'm here at Walt Disney World as Super Bowl IV champion and it feels great, dog. It feels great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And the White House says they're going to invite Gronk, Brady and the rest of the Buccaneers for a celebration there at the White House whenever it is COVID safe.
And, John, I wanted to ask you, now that we're another day removed from the Super Bowl, as a super Patriots fan, how do you feel watching Gronk and Brady celebrate a title?
BERMAN: I think it's great. I think it -- I think it's absolutely fantastic. I do. It feels like a seventh ring for the Patriots because half the team won it again this time.
[07:00:00]
And I'll also say of Rob Gronkowski, you know, he is a Disney World ride. I mean Rob Gronkowski is like Space Mountain. It could be a separate nickname for him for a ton of reasons.
Andy --
CAMEROTA: Do you feel great?
