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Black And Latino Americans Face Unequal Access To Vaccines; Republican Officials Discuss Forming New Conservative Party; Man In Far-Right Militant Group Joined Capitol Mob After Appearing With Trump Ally Roger Stone. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 11, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:30:51]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, nearly 34 million Americans have received their first coronavirus vaccine dose, 1.6 million administered yesterday alone. But in places like New York, here, data shows that Blacks and Latinos receive far fewer shots than white residents.

Laura Jarrett back with us with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START" (voice-over): Rossi is a small, family-run pharmacy in Brooklyn, but its modest frame belies the heavy load it's been carrying for the last four weeks.

AMBAR KELUSKAR, PHARMACIST, ROSSI PHARMACY, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: Some of us are just really breaking down from the stress.

JARRETT (voice-over): After a mountain of paperwork, the Moderna vaccine finally arrived. And since then, Rossi pharmacist Ambar Keluskar says the shop has been overrun with appointment requests.

KELUSKAR: Our rollout plan went out the window.

JARRETT (voice-over): Keluskar's family has owned Rossi since the early 1990s and he says he noticed his usual customers who live in this predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood weren't the ones scooping up the slots. Who was coming?

KELUSKAR: Mostly patients from Long Island, Manhattan, Westchester. You can kind of very clearly tell who's here if the vaccine is here for normal pharmacy business.

JARRETT (on camera): So how do you know?

KELUSKAR: They're white and they look confused.

JARRETT (voice-over): Rossi is like many other pharmacies and clinics now on the front lines of an equity crisis when it comes to who is receiving vaccines in such high demand and short supply.

In New York City, critical data is missing on a little over 300,000 people who've received one dose of a vaccine but have no reported race or ethnicity.

And in the available data, the racial disparities are staggering. Out of roughly 300,000 residents who received at least one dose so far, 46 percent were white. Whereas, only 12 percent were black, even though black people make up nearly a quarter of the city's population. And nationwide, the CDC says Black and Hispanic people are almost three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than white people.

So how is it that nearly two months into the city's vaccination effort the people who face some of the greatest risks from COVID are still largely left behind when it comes to getting a shot?

IVELYSE ANDINO, FOUNDER, RADICAL HEALTH: There is some hesitancy, but I think beyond that it is concrete access.

JARRETT (voice-over): Public health experts and advocates like Ivelyse Andino say the first problem is the way most appointments are booked online.

ANDINO: The challenges are for folks maybe who don't have access to a computer, who don't speak the language. It's really challenging to find this place and do all the things that I've talked about, sign up, and get here. Beyond that, there's a lot of eligibility requirements.

JARRETT (voice-over): Then there's the issue of where to go for a shot. State and local leaders have promised more efforts to reach minority communities and point to mass vaccination sites -- sites like this one at Yankee Stadium that's limited to Bronx residents -- but it's a frustrating solution if you can't get there.

ANDINO: This site at Yankee Stadium isn't the most accessible to folks in the North Bronx. Beyond that, the taking off of work, coming in during the middle of the day -- that's not -- you know, childcare. Asking people to come to a center and get what they need instead of meeting them where they are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Meeting people where they are, John, is something I heard over and over again not just from advocates like Ivelyse but from people themselves who are having a heck of a time getting an appointment.

So what's being done about this? Well, Gov. Cuomo announced just yesterday two new vaccine sites -- one in Brooklyn, one in Queens. They're supposed to vaccinate up to 3,000 people a day.

But again, the question is how do you make sure that it actually serves the communities it's intended for and not people who come from outside to take up the shots?

BERMAN: I am so glad you are reporting on this Laura because it's not just a question of how many, it is a question of who --

JARRETT: Yes.

BERMAN: -- at this point, and that matters so much.

Laura Jarrett, thanks very much.

JARRETT: Thanks.

BERMAN: So, a new report that dozens of former Republican officials are talking about breaking away from the Republican Party, forming this new party. We will speak to one of these Republicans next.

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[05:39:22]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK FUENTES, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: It has to happen now. We are going to destroy the GOP.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! Let's go!

SECOND MILLION MAGA MARCH PARTICIPANTS: Destroy the GOP! Destroy the GOP! Destroy the GOP!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, that's House Democrats revealing new video of Trump's supporters chanting "Destroy the GOP." How are Republican senators responding to that and to the repeated calls to hang Vice President Mike Pence?

Joining us now, CNN political commentators and former congressmen Charlie Dent and Joe Kennedy. Great to see you both back for a repeat performance by audience demand. Great to see you guys.

[05:40:03]

Charlie, because you are a Republican, when you hear the chants of "Destroy the GOP," these senators -- the Republican senators would have to side with the insurrectionists who want to destroy them in order to let Donald Trump off the hook. This is mind-bending. I mean, do they realize that this, long-term, might have some devastating consequences for their survival?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM: I hope they understand that. And that was, I guess, one of the great tragedies or contradictions of the Trump era.

I mean, Trump was really never a common-sense conservative or a center-right Republican. He wasn't a Republican at all.

He was always an illiberal populist. That's where he was and that's apparently where a lot of his supporters are -- at least those who showed up at the mob rally. They were -- they're illiberal populists and insurrectionists and that's the truth.

Trump engaged in a hostile takeover of the GOP. I hope some people have finally learned that fact or discovered it because these -- all of those supporters clearly don't like many of the current occupants of the seats in Congress. That's very clear to me.

BERMAN: Congressman Kennedy, I was fascinated to watch the House managers yesterday stoke this division as a clear strategy. To set this up as Donald Trump is not part of your party, the Republican Party.

I don't think I've ever heard Eric Swalwell say so many nice things about Mike Pence. I'm not sure he's ever said anything nice about Mike Pence until yesterday when he was in the Senate well saying it.

So what did you take from that?

JOE KENNEDY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (via Cisco Webex): Look, I think obviously, the video that the House managers put together now over the past couple of days has been stunning and it's been disturbing. And it has -- you saw the footage yesterday as senators were taking it in and in my conversations with senators in the past 24 hours. So, they said it's been very tough to watch.

But that means there is a choice, right? It is not just an impeachment trial for President Trump. It is a trial for Senate Republicans to make a choice.

Do you confront it as evidence? Are you going to look down at a page and doodle or are you going to understand the ramifications of what is coming before you and actually make a choice that protects our democracy? And as of now, it looks like only a handful will.

CAMEROTA: And, Congressman Dent, John framed it I think really interestingly earlier in the program. Is it also a choice between Vice President Pence's life and Donald Trump's acquittal? I mean, have they -- have the House managers successfully set it up as you can either be with Mike Pence -- and that he had to run for his life that day and be ferried out of the chamber -- or you can say I'm with Donald Trump.

DENT: Well, the most disturbing part of yesterday's video was the -- were the images of Mike Pence and his family, and Senators Schumer and Romney being whisked out of the Capitol just moments before the mob descended upon -- was about to descend upon them. I mean, that is what is so striking.

I mean, that performance yesterday by the prosecution was simply overpowering. And when you contrast that with the defense, which was so weak -- I mean, somebody may have to invoke the mercy rule here if this trial continues at this rate.

But we all know that the outcome is not likely to change much. I am hoping that a few senators may actually be persuaded by what they heard -- probably not enough to convict.

But Mike Pence -- I mean, how could -- I mean, poor Mike Pence. He was at risk. They wanted to -- they wanted to take him down.

BERMAN: So one second, Congressman Kennedy because I want to go back to Charlie with one more question here. What are you going to do about it is the question now Charlie in terms of the Republican Party. We understand that you were part of some big conference call with 120 Republicans. I would like to know exactly who they are and what are your plans?

DENT: Yes. Well, the plan was this. I mean, the 120 people want a new direction for the party united around some common principles like truth and honesty, democracy, rule of law, reason. I mean, that's partly what they're talking about.

Many -- I was in the camp of maybe how about a new faction within the GOP or a new faction independent of the GOP. Some wanted a new party. I think the group was fairly evenly divided. But everybody wants a new direction and rejects this whole cronyism and this ugliness that we've seen the last four years.

So that's where the group, I think, is. I don't want to speak for the group. I can only speak for myself. But there are a number of prominent people there. You know, Michael Steele, Charlie Sykes, Bill Kristol, among others. So we had quite a -- quite a group who spoke and made their presentations.

And I can't -- like I said, I'm not -- Evan McMullin organized the event so I don't want to speak for the group because I didn't organize it.

[05:45:00]

CAMEROTA: Congressman Kennedy, reasonable, rational Republicans -- does that worry you?

KENNEDY: It sounds great. It sounds great.

Look, our system for democracy that aspires to be a (INAUDIBLE) that we say to this -- about our country literally, and our founding documents and through our rhetoric that we want to be able to represent people of all shapes and sizes and colors and creeds in everything we can.

So you're going to have a difference of opinion and that's fine. Charlie and I say this -- have these discussions all the time.

You're -- members of Congress are going to disagree. You're supposed to disagree. You feel passionately about federal policy and the direction of our country. You put yourself out there to run for office.

That's what the entire system requires. That's what it demands. That's fine. But dedication to some principle, like truth and honesty, that would be a good common ground to start. CAMEROTA: Final thought, Charlie?

DENT: Yes, final thought.

Yes look, I think whatever direction the party goes in the future, we have to talk about a center-right movement. And for too long, Republicans have ignored the center. You know, we talk about it -- lip service -- but they call them squishes or RINOs.

But maybe we talk this time instead of developing a coalition from the right and then moving to the center, maybe we start from the center and then start picking people off on the right, and even from the left. Make it a center-right and maybe get some center-left folks in here. That's how we should proceed and I think that's where many of the group were, talking about starting from the center.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Dent, Congressman Kennedy, thank you both very much.

KENNEDY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up, a new investigation linking a far-right group tied to the insurrection and one of Trump's biggest allies. We'll show that next.

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[05:50:56]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, a CNN investigation has uncovered a link between Trump ally Roger Stone and a member of the far-right militant group, the Oath Keepers, who joined the mob of terrorists at the U.S. Capitol.

CNN's Drew Griffin has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (voice-over): On the morning of January sixth, Roger Stone leaving the Willard hotel in Washington, D.C. would stop to chat and take pictures. And by his side, what appeared to be bodyguards.

Members of the anti-government far-right militant group known as the Oath Keepers were called by their leader to provide security for high- profile guests and speakers during the protests of January fifth and sixth.

The man standing near Roger Stone and wearing a VIP credential for the rally to save America is Roberto Minuta, according to four sources who know him. And hours after appearing to escort Roger Stone on January sixth, Minuta would be captured in this video at the Capitol, screaming at police.

Inside the Capitol, a few seconds of video have emerged of someone wearing clothing and goggles identical to those Minuta had on, though Minuta's wife tells ABC News her husband was not inside. Minuta has not been charged with a crime.

JOHN SCOTT-RAILTON, CITIZEN LAB, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MUNK SCHOOL We really need to understand the role of every single person wearing Oath Keeper insignia who was there.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Federal prosecutors alleged three people affiliated with the Oath Keepers planned and coordinated ahead of the January sixth siege on the Capitol.

University of Toronto researcher John Scott-Railton, who is working to identify Capitol rioters, says the Oath Keepers' proximity to rally speakers and Capitol Hill violence is troubling.

SCOTT-RAILTON: It's pretty clear the Oath Keepers were at the really far edge of a lot of the conflict that happened -- a lot of the pushing with police. And I think we're still learning the full scope and scale of their activities.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Minuta has not responded to multiple requests for comments from CNN. A woman at the tattoo shop he owns in Upstate New York said they didn't want to comment.

But the Capitol rally is just one in a long line of right-wing activism. Minuta was photographed walking near conspiracy propheteer Alex Jones in November, and near disgraced Gen. Michael Flynn at another rally in December.

And then there's this outside his own tattoo parlor in Upstate New York.

ROBERTO MINUTA, MEMBER, OATH KEEPERS MILITIA: We look forward to opening up in defiance of Cuomo's unconstitutional executive orders.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Last spring the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, called on all his members to rally at Minuta's tattoo parlor. He was reopening in defiance of the state's coronavirus shutdown. Rhodes even got a "We the People" tattoo.

MINUTA: I'm standing in defiance of these executive orders because they're destroying people's lives.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The city of Newburgh warned him to close his shop but in the end decided to just leave Minuta alone.

MAYOR TORRANCE HARVEY, NEWBURGH, NEW YORK: He knows his constitutional rights and it seems that he knows how and when and where to do things appropriately.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Today, his store has a padlock on its front door but appears the business is still open. Customers welcomed to bring guns.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Wow. Our thanks to Drew for that report.

So we have new reporting on what to expect in the impeachment trial today and new reaction to the stunning presentation -- video like this. Vice President Mike Pence evacuated from the Capitol. What senators are saying about that this morning, next.

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[05:59:13]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In never-before-seen Capitol surveillance videos, the managers demonstrated just how close the rioters came to many of the senators in the room.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): You were just 58 steps away from where the mob was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Showing that tape over and over again, it's continuing to open wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they have blood running through their veins they have to have been moved. But that's a very different question than whether or not they are going to break with their political realities that keep them in power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone was engaged watching and I just hope it changes some of their minds and some of their hearts.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This a special edition of NEW DAY. It's Thursday, February 11th, 6:00 here in New York.

I'm angry, I'm disturbed, I'm sad. That's what Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski says this morning of the stunning presentation by House impeachment managers.