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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Dems Open Impeachment Case with Devastating 13-Minute Video; GOP Senators: Trump Attorney Rambles, Wasn't Effective; Biden Focuses on COVID, Letting Senate Handle Impeachment; White House Now Seeking to Reopen at Lease 50 Percent of Schools; New COVID Cases in Nursing Homes Drop More Than 50 Percent in 4 Weeks; Citi Field Opens as Mass Vaccination Site Security Concerns Around Impeachment Stretch Beyond Washington; Futures Higher After Dow Snaps Six-Day Winning Streak. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 10, 2021 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. About 31 minutes past the hour here in New York.

It began with a national trauma. Democrats opened their impeachment case before the Senate with powerful video evidence from the scene of the crime, drawing a direct link between Donald Trump, what he told the crowd at his rally, and the deadly insurrection that followed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the fuck are they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's got to be something here that we can fucking use against these scumbags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We what we fucking need to have, 30,000 guns!

CROWD: Fight for Trump!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Fight for Trump. Much of this truly harrowing video we have not seen before, that along with a rambling presentation by Trump's lawyers leaving six Republicans to join all Democrats in rejecting the argument that trying a former president is unconstitutional.

With that out of the way, open arguments begin today. CNN's Jessica Dean starts us off this morning from Capitol Hill. Jessica, we're told even more previously unseen evidence will be part of this case.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you, Christine, great to be with you guys. That's right, we're expecting to really get into it with the House

impeachment managers, beginning to present their case to the 100 Senators who are acting as jurors and who are also in the unique position of having been witnesses to all of this as they were here for the deadly insurrection on January 6th.

So, we do expect to see more video like the clip you just saw. That was some 13 minutes where House impeachment managers really took it step-by-step, seeking to draw that through-line from former President Trump's speech to the rioters marching down to here at the Capitol, to then breaking in. And then what he said and didn't say throughout the day, and really putting together a very compelling case, so much so, that former President Trump's lawyers kind of rearranged what they were going to do with their statements today.

So, we do expect to see more of that. Hear more of that, hear more about the human toll that was taken here. Of course, we know about officer Sicknick who died during -- as a result of that riot.

[04:35:00]

We also heard from the House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin about head and brain injuries suffered by Capitol police officers. About someone having their eyes gouged out. About another officer losing three fingers. So just incredible physical and also mental tolls that have been taken here at the U.S. Capitol. And Raskin talked also, too, about what he experienced personally, that happened just the day after he had buried his son. And he talked about the toll it took both on his family, himself and others. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD) LEAD IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: I told her how sorry I was, and I promised her that it would not be like this again the next time she came back to the Capitol with me. And you know what she said? She said, dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol.

Of the all the terrible brutal things I saw, and I heard on that day, and since then that one hit me the hardest. That and watching someone use an American flagpole, the flag still on it, to spear and pummel one of our police officers ruthlessly, mercilessly, tortured by a pole, with a flag on it that he was defending with his very life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN (on camera): Again, just some really horrific, vivid details from what happened here on January 6th. Now, as for the logistics, today, Christine, things will get under way at noon. That's when House impeachment managers can begin to present their case. They're going to have 16 total hours to do that. That's eight hours spread over two days. So to do all of that math, that means they get started at noon today with breaks and whatnot. They should finish up around 10:00 tonight. And we'll see what happens the following day.

And one more thing, Christine, to keep an eye on is whether or not witnesses will be called in this case. The agreement between Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer allows for that to happen, for the Senators to debate on that and vote on witnesses being introduced if House impeachment managers ask for that. So we are keeping our eye to see if they're going to do that. They have not tipped their hand one way or the other so far -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jessica Dean for us at the Capitol, thanks so much. We know you'll be working hard today -- Laura.

JARRETT: OK, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. John, great to have you bright and early --

ROMANS: Hi, John.

JARRETT: -- I don't know about you but to me impeachment 2.0 feels different this time. It feels different from the last go-round because of this visceral video evidence of the crimes. Put aside the embarrassing performance of Trump's attorneys for a second. But that evidence it was just so powerful. Even though we knew what happened that day, we had seen some of this video. What was your takeaway?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It was powerful. I mean, this is an impeachment trial happening in a crime scene. And the entire severity and solemnity of this is really the different magnitude than really any impeachment in American history before. Gran it there've only been four. But this one is for inciting insurrection, the attack on the Capitol that everyone saw in realtime. And it's the one that's closest to the one that founding fathers were afraid of.

And that's why it should be dealt with more solemnity, and that's why I think the dumpster fire defense by Donald Trump's lawyers fell so especially short in contrast with the preparation and the argument and the video and the personal testimony of the House managers' defense. And they just dug themselves a hole that they weren't able to climb out of.

ROMANS: You know, only six GOP Senators, John, voted with Democrats to proceed with this trial. Mitch McConnell told his colleagues that convicting Trump is a vote of conscious. But he still voted against the trial anyway. So if Democrats can't convince 17 Republicans to convict Trump, what is the real objective here?

AVLON: Well, I mean, first of all, I don't think this is over but that was discouraging. Bill Cassidy moving over I think he showed an opening to reasoning. Remember, all of these Senators have taken an oath to do impartial justice. And if 44 of them can look at the gap between those presentations and say that they don't really care about the evidence. They're just going to go with their party, that's a bad sign.

It's good that McConnell has opened the door to a vote of conscience. We'll see how the evidence brings up and indeed, what new evidence is presented.

But I think Republicans and really all Senators need to look into their soul in a moment like this and say, are just going to ignore all the evidence as a matter of partisan loyalty? Because that falls so short of the oath they take and what is required by reason in a democracy.

[04:40:00]

You know, there's still a possibility that their scenarios where they could do a resolution that would take 60 votes that may result in censure and invocation of the 14th amendment. We're a long way from there right now. It's a question of how open or data is, it's basic.

JARRETT: It remains to be seen on that front. John, one of the things that seems to have been lost in all of this are some of the security threads that kind of emerged in the days after the riot.

AVLON: Yes.

JARRETT: But we haven't heard much about them. Some of the National Guard failures. The maps that people had of people's offices. We heard about panic buttons being removed in one Congresswoman's office. So many questions that are part of this trial but may go unaddressed because even Democrats seem to want to move this thing along quickly.

AVLON: Yes, but I do hope the Democrats address some of those open questions, as you just indicated. They have said there is new evidence they are going to present. They have not yet floated what that will be. But there are so many open questions, as you said. Why did the National Guard not get authorization from the Pentagon to respond quickly? Was it an innocent reaction to controversies over the summer? Or was it about politicization.

What about the pipe bombs that were placed? We don't know who placed them. What about the panic buttons? How did some of these secret offices or hidden offices were found by the crowd? There are a lot of open questions that really demand answers and they should happen ideally before the vote is cast. Because, you know, may be civil and criminal proceedings but I think it will impact our awareness and the Senators' conscience. Anything can provoke it. It's that kind of detail.

ROMANS: You know, this is history here. You know, I was watching this with my 14-year-old yesterday. I mean watching history, he didn't go to law school, but he was really sort of confounded by the defense, honestly, of this president. It's consuming Washington. We're watching history unfold.

But frankly, outside Washington, the pandemic is still here. People are sick. Another 3,000 deaths reported overnight. People are hungry. Kids are not in school. And that's where the current president's focus is, John. How can he navigate this period?

AVLON: Look, I think their showing enormous sort of restraint by not weighing into this. Even going as far as to say Biden is not watching this impeachment. That's a matter for in the Capitol to deal with on its own. He's focused on cobbling together that deal. And as long as they're continuing to work and trying to win a few Republican votes or getting reconciliation ready, they know they need to move when this trial is over. Whether Saturday, Sunday, Monday, they need to get a win on the board and have a big ticket COVID relief Bill that has some degree of bipartisan appeal. The greater danger is not going too small not too big from an economic and COVID -- combatting COVID standpoint.

ROMANS: I would agree with that. And you look inside that $1.9 trillion plan and there's some legacy building thing in there that I think the impeachment is causing a lot of head headlines, but there's some legacy building happening there if you can get it done.

AVLON: That's right.

JARRETT: And when you have a pandemic on the other side of this, that's not something to easily ignore.

ROMANS: Exactly.

JARRETT: All right, John, thanks so much always great to have your perspective, appreciate it.

All right, breaking overnight, the Chicago teachers union voting in favor of a tentative deal to return to in-person learning after a serious standoff with the mayor of Chicago. Students, teachers and staff will have a staggered return to their classrooms early next month.

The White House, at the same time as moving the goalpost on President Biden's push to reopen schools. Millions of kids are still learning remotely. That means parents can't go back to work full time. And a lack of wi-fi makes matters worse for low-income families. In December, President Biden said he wanted most schools to reopen in the first 100 days. That goal was paired back to just include just K through 8 grades and now --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools so more than 50 open by day 100 of his presidency. And that means some teaching in classrooms. So at least one day a week. Hopefully, it's more. And obviously, it is as much is safe in each school and local district.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: To be clear, reopening over 50 percent for some teaching in- person, at least one day a week is a significant rollback. 26 states are now vaccinating teachers. But a survey by the National Education Association finds 82 percent of educators still have not been vaccinated. Public schools in cities like Atlanta and Hartford have been looking into expanding their academic calendar or requiring several week of summer schools to make up for academic losses.

JARRETT: Vaccinations are picking up nationwide, but health experts say maintaining or accelerating that pace is going to be challenging. Because if the greater vaccine supplies are still needed, this White House is using the defense production act to speed up production. But there is good news on the nursing home front. CNN has the pandemic covers coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen. Since the federal vaccination program began at nursing homes, cases at nursing homes of COVID-19 have gone down. Let's take a look at the results of the CNN analysis.

Between December 14th and January 24th, cases among nursing home residents went down 55 percent.

[04:45:00]

Cases among nursing home staff went down 53 percent. Now, we can't say that vaccinations in nursing homes are the sole reason for this decline, but vaccinations of residents and staff at nursing homes started at the beginning of that time period, so, clearly, they likely played a role.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta outside Mercedes Benz Stadium in Fulton County. State officials here tell me on average more than 1,000 people per day are being vaccinated. This is actually one of several NFL stadiums that are currently in use as a mass vaccination site and more are expected to come online. In fact, just on Tuesday, Levi Stadium in San Francisco, opened up its doors. And the plan is to vaccinate up to 15,000 people per day once supplies have increased. And if and when that happens that would make it the largest vaccination site in California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles. 40 hospitals in Washington state have been alerted that hundreds of thousands of N95 masks have been received in December may actually have been counterfeit. At this point, many of the masks have already been used. And it's still not clear whether or not these fake masks are effective. This all came to light when the company that makes the N95 masks 3M alerted homeland security. And this after the company was working with Washington state officials and looking at some of its other products that they deemed were in fact counterfeit and were not purchased through an authorized distributor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alexandra Field in New York City. Citi Field, the home of the Mets to be the city's latest mass vaccination site set to open now just days after Yankee Stadium opened for the same purpose. Mayor Bill de Blasio says there will be a special focus on vaccinating people who hold taxi and limousine commission licenses, as well as food delivery workers. Half the doses at the ballpark will also be reserved for Queens

residents. For the first few days, the site will operate 24/7. The goal is to make that permanent once the supply of vaccine increases.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martin Savidge. What do bananas, peanut butter and the COVID-19 vaccine all have common? Well if you live in the state of Florida, by the end of the week you may be able to pick up all three in the very same place.

Governor DeSanctis announcing that the Moderna vaccine will now be able in pharmacies in supermarkets like Winn-Dixie or Publix and also in Sam's Clubs and Walmart, and that's just to name a few. Initially, they're expecting about 65,000 doses that will be made available to seniors at 490 location and 52 counties. So roll up your sleeves. Don't forget the bananas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, thank everyone for those reports.

The impeachment trial poses a new challenge for law enforcement nationwide. We've got that next.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The impeachment trial posing a new challenge for Capitol police just a month after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. Sources within the department tell CNN officers are physically and mentally exhausted and worried the leadership is not equipped to handle the heightened threat.

Impeachment security concerns stretch well beyond Washington. Memos filed by federal prosecutors nationwide show officials are treating the threat of organized violence as not just possible, but likely. That echoes warning from homeland security issued last month. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, law enforcement officials are not only focusing on the physical layers of security surrounding the impeachment trial, the fencing, the national guardsmen patrolling and also the security detail surrounding all of the impeachment managers.

But they're also looking at surveillance and intelligence, that's a big component of what's going on regarding security during the impeachment trial in and around the Capitol, around Washington and elsewhere. Law enforcement sources telling CNN that law enforcement officials are

monitoring several people across the United States conducting surveillance on them when they have probable cause to do so, in an effort to try to find out whether anyone might be planning any violence surrounding the impeachment trial.

They're also actually reaching out in some cases to suspects who they might suspect could be thinking about planning something and warning them, actually, not to try to pull anything off during the impeachment trial. Law enforcement sources telling us that officials in law enforcement in Washington and elsewhere are acutely aware of the idea, the possibility, that some rhetoric may emerge from the impeachment trial and Congress and elsewhere that some rhetoric might come on social media that might inspire people to act out a violent intent in Washington during the impeachment trial.

So this town obviously still very, very jittery in the weeks after the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. This intelligence operation is widespread. And you can get a sense that they really are just trying to monitor any potential violence before it even percolates up in chat rooms and other places, surrounding this impeachment trial. And not only that, in the weeks to follow because they know that they cannot let their guard down after this impeachment trial ends in a few days. That this town is still very much on edge, in the weeks since January 6th, and will be, maybe for months to come -- Christine, Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Brian, thank you so much for that.

Let's get a check on CNN business this Wednesday morning. Checking out markets around the world. Gains -- look at Hong Kong at almost 2 percent. Shanghai having a good day as well. They're now closed. You can see European shares have opened higher for the day.

On Wall Street also some optimism there.

[04:55:00]

The focus is less on impeachment and the trial you're seeing in Washington and more on hopes of something else that's happening in Washington. The hopes from a stimulus from this new administration.

Futures leaning higher, stocks finished mixed, really, on Tuesday. The Dow snapped a six-day winning streak. The Nasdaq managed a small gain, just enough barely, to record a record high, finishing above 14,000 for the first time in history.

All right, if you think Donald Trump's lawyers had a rough day, check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe you have a filter turned on in the video settings. You might want to -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh. We're trying to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A Texas attorney accidentally appeared for a virtual court proceeding Tuesday as a cat. The lawyer Rod Ponton frantically tried to remove this zoom filter telling the judge, I am not a cat. The judge took it well, posting the mishap on Twitter as an example of how the justice system continues to function in tough time. What would your Zoom filter be, Laura?

JARRETT: I don't know, but clearly if he wants to blame it on the kids, but it could be his cat. So I don't know. I think the judge took it well though.

ROMANS: Oh, my gosh, yes, blame the kid.

JARRETT: Exactly, always.

ROMANS: I do endorse that. Blame the kids for the technology foul up. Thanks for joining us, I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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