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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
End of Impeachment Trial Puts Focus on Biden's COVID Relief Package Agenda; GOP Senators Who Voted to Convict Trump Face Backlash; Powerful Winter Storm Takes Aim At U.S. Plains and Texas. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired February 15, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is a President's Day edition of EARLY START. We have reports this morning from the White House, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, London, Johannesburg and West Palm Beach, Florida. Good morning everyone, I'm Christine Romans.
LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: We are everywhere this morning --
ROMANS: We are --
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett, it's Monday, February 15th, it is 5:00 a.m. here in New York. The impeachment trial is over and the new White House has an ambitious agenda. President Biden finally gets a chance to use his bully pulpit for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that could come together in Congress later this week. And that's not his only big priority. Let's go to CNN's Jasmine Wright, Jasmine is at the White House. Jasmine, lay it out. What do the next few days look like for the president?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Biden wakes up today, his first President's Day, as he looks to turn the page and push forward on his agenda. First up, we expect him to push hard on that $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill now that the Senate is free to fully focus on it. Now as impeachment went on last week, the house made substantial effort and progress on that house bill, having it go through markups in various committees. Now on Friday, President Biden doing his own part, hosted a group of Republican governors and -- excuse me, bipartisan governors and mayors who sat and talked about it including Republican Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan who talked about the advice that he gave to President Biden on -- with Jake Tapper yesterday on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION". Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. LARRY LOGAN (R-MD): We had about an hour and a half meeting in the Oval Office, and I said to him, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. And I said that I thought that it was good for, you know, his agenda over the next four years if he started out by getting some Republicans on board in a bipartisan way. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: Now, it is unclear of whether that bill is going to garner that bipartisanship support. Hogan said that Biden agreed with his advice, but again, we still have no Senate Republicans outwardly saying that they would support a bill of this size. Now, as we know that Democrats want to fast-track it, that possibility is still there for them to go it alone. And so, this bill will go through the house as Democrats attempt to push it forward, then possibly going to the Senate, and we know that there will be negotiations there on both sides. But again, if Democrats go it alone, they have to stay united. They have to stay together because they cannot lose a single vote because of their slim majority to get this thing passed.
JARRETT: So, Jasmine, COVID relief is obviously the first priority, but there's a lot more on the president's agenda. There was an infrastructure meeting at the White House Thursday that sort of got lost, but Biden is also talking about common sense gun reforms. He says he won't wait for the next mass shooting to call for background checks on gun sales and ban assault weapons. What else is on the agenda that you're learning?
WRIGHT: That's right. President Biden has a busy week this week, and it's towards pushing that COVID relief bill as we just spoke about. But it's also to getting those bigger ten campaign promises done. Now, on Friday, President Biden will virtually attend his first G7 meeting, talking to leaders across the globe, and we expect him to push a solution for this coronavirus pandemic globally, and that is a big break from former President Trump who sought to go it alone without the allies in attacking this global pandemic. Also, President Biden will be making his first domestic work trip, going to Milwaukee where he will also have a CNN town hall. That's on Tuesday.
On Thursday, he will go to Michigan to visit a Pfizer vaccine manufacturer, again all in service of that COVID aspect. But bigger issues are going to be he's to round out that cabinet? Right now, he only has 7 out of those 23 nominees confirmed. And he's going to need people like that, like his Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland to push through that agenda and push through those reforms that he says he wants to make in this country. Laura?
JARRETT: Yes, pretty amazing, he only has seven confirmed as you mentioned, and not an attorney general confirmed right now. All right, Jasmine, we'll see you back in a little bit, thank you so much. As Jasmine just mentioned, President Joe Biden will join Anderson Cooper live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for his first town hall of his presidency as CNN exclusive, starting tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
[05:05:00]
ROMANS: So a majority of U.S. senators voted to convict former President Trump in his second impeachment trial, seven Republicans joined Democrats, but it wasn't the two-thirds needed. Trump acquitted, but serious legal troubles may still be ahead. Senator Mitch McConnell voted to let Trump off the hook, but the GOP leader is trying to limit Trump's chances of staging a comeback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen. Unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office. Didn't get away with anything yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Boris Sanchez has more from West Palm Beach.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Donald Trump and his legal team expressing relief over his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial over the weekend. Though privately, according to sources close to the former president, he is concerned about potentially facing criminal charges over a litany of issues. For one, federal investigators have laid out to CNN that they are looking at anyone and everyone involved in the insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6th, and that includes the former president. We're also hearing that D.C.'s Attorney General says that Trump could potentially face charges locally in the district, that office apparently weighing its options as we speak.
Trump could also potentially be indicted in Georgia for his effort to overturn the election there. Local investigators confirm that they are looking into Trump's call to Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and of course, Trump's financial dealings in New York are also under scrutiny by investigators. And we can't forget to point out, Trump is also facing defamation lawsuits by a pair of women accusing him of sexual assault. So even as we hear rumblings about Trump's future in politics, whether it's campaigning or fundraising against Republicans that he feels betrayed him over the impeachment saga or it's potentially running again for President in 2024, there are a number of legal hurdles the former president will first have to overcome. Christine, Laura.
JARRETT: Boris, thank you for that. Instant fallout for the seven Republican senators who voted to convict the former president. Hours after the impeachment trial ended, the Louisiana Republican Party censured Senator Bill Cassidy. Overnight, Cassidy defended his vote in a local newspaper, writing this, "I have no illusions that this is a popular decision. I made this decision because Americans should not be fed lies about, quote, 'massive election fraud'. Police should not be left to the mercy of a mob. Mobs should not be inflamed to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power."
ROMANS: North Carolina Republican Party will vote on censuring Senator Richard Burr, he is running for reelection next year. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only Republican Senator facing the election in 2022 who voted to convict Trump. She says if Trump isn't guilty of insurrection, then she cannot imagine what would be disqualifying. A historic blast of arctic air spreading across much of the U.S., hundreds of record low temperatures, snow and ice in the next 36 hours from coast to coast.
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[05:10:00]
ROMANS: All right, brutal Winter weather across much of the country this morning. Nearly 170 million people, that's more than half the country under Winter weather alerts. About 1.7 million customers without power from Oregon to Virginia. In Texas, rolling power outages ordered to reduce demand on the system. A ferocious Winter storm is hitting the south central U.S. badly right now. Emergency declarations in seven states. This is extremely rare. At one point here, every single county in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas under a Winter storm warning.
JARRETT: Conditions are very slick in Oklahoma. A fiery crash involving several trucks and cars northeast of Oklahoma City there, highway patrol responded to more than -- more than 80 crashes Sunday, at least one person was killed. And in Houston, police responding to more than 130 crashes on icy roads. All this in areas reeling from a separate storm last week and another strong storm system likely tomorrow. Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin is live with the details. Tyler, walk us through, what are folks in store for today?
TYLER MAULDIN, METEOROLOGIST: All right, so we're going to see the temperatures continue to drop. We have this arctic air plunging down across the plains, and if it's not below freezing, below zero where you live, it certainly feels like it's below zero. We have wind-chill warnings in effect from Canada all the way to Texas for the first time in history. Houston, Texas, is under a wind-chill warning. Temperatures are at about 50 degrees below average for your Monday that's going to last right on into Tuesday. And are we going to see records broken? Yes, absolutely. Over the next 48 hours, we have the potential of seeing 250 cold-record temperatures or cold temperature records, rather. We also have the snow, too, and the ice as well.
You can see that here. In fact, down in southeast Texas, we're dealing with not just thunder snow, but thunder ice in Houston, Texas. And this is going to be moving to the northeast, and that is the reason why we have Winter storm warnings from the southern plains all the way to New England as this low pressure system ejects to the northeast. It's going to bring heavy snow. It's going to bring that cold air with it and it's also going to bring the threat for ice.
And it's really the ice that is going to be problematic for us over the next few days. So, we could see upwards of a foot, maybe more of snow across the Ohio River Valley and the Great Lakes. And then when it comes to that ice, you can see from the lower Mississippi Valley all the way into New England, up the spine of the Appalachian, we could see more than a half inch of ice accumulate. That is certainly enough to bring down some power lines.
JARRETT: Sure --
[05:15:00]
MAULDIN: So, we could see more in the way of power outages in the days to come. JARRETT: Bringing down power lines, making driving just a mess. All
right, Tyler, thanks so much, appreciate it.
ROMANS: Well, that's --
MAULDIN: Yes --
ROMANS: Temps 50 degrees below normal. That's something. All right, the U.S. could be turning a corner in the pandemic, but those bad old habits that made the situation worse make a return for the holiday weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. This morning, we are seeing some positive trends in the pandemic. Hospitalizations in the U.S. are way down with a little over 67,000 right now. That's about half of where the number stood in early January. The CDC says it's critical right now not to let our guard down, but this can't help.
[05:20:00]
More than a million people at U.S. airports, Thursday and Friday, 900,000, and Saturday for the long holiday weekend. Of course, holiday travel was part of the trend that drove numbers up in December, and with questions still surrounding reopening schools. The CDC director weighed in with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION: I am a strong advocate of teachers receiving their vaccinations. But we don't believe it's a prerequisite for schools to reopen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The CDC guidelines issued Friday for reopening schools include this, mandatory masks, desks 6 feet apart, hand washing, of course, limiting extracurricular activities and staggered arrival and dismissal times. The CDC says curbing COVID transmission within the larger community is just as important as vaccines. But some teachers unions argue that poor ventilation in cramped old buildings mean teachers need to be vaccinated before a return to the classroom.
ROMANS: A year into this pandemic and the travel industry still crushed, and there's no clear road to recovery. Border closures and stay-at-home orders have returned, and air travelers in different countries face evolving and uncoordinated travel restrictions. Industry officials warn if severe restrictions remain, demand could recover to just 38 percent of 2019 levels. Remember, thousands of companies rely on travel and tourism to make money. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, these companies employ 330 million people around the world in 2019, about half of these workers have been laid off or furloughed. Later this week, earnings for major industry players including Norwegian Air, Hyatt and Marriott will give us some insight into the recovery ahead. JARRETT: Well, investigators from the World Health Organization are
looking into the origins of coronavirus have discovered signs the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan, China, than previously thought. Now officials are trying to access thousands of blood samples that China has kept under wraps. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh spoke with the lead at W.H.O. investigator and has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The leader of the W.H.O. mission to China investigating the origins of the coronavirus has told CNN the virus was likely much wider spread in China in December 2019 than was thought. Peter Ben Embarek revealed the 174 positive cases found that 1st December, likely severe cases meant there could actually have been an estimated thousand-plus total cases in and around the city of Wuhan that month.
PETER BEN EMBAREK, PROGRAM MANAGER, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The virus was circulating widely in Wuhan in December, which I think is a new -- is a new finding. And the 100 laboratories confirmed and 74 clinically --
WALSH (on camera): Diagnosed -- about 174 would suggest a 1,000 or so plus even?
EMBAREK: Yes, probably, very likely, yes, because that's again a good feat with all the other amounts tested that we have looked at.
WALSH (voice-over): The team also established that in that 1st December, there were as many as 13 slight variations of the virus from samples of all or bits of its genetic code circulating in and around Wuhan where this seafood market is thought to have played a role.
EMBAREK: We have 13 strains covering individuals in December. Now, some of them are from the market or into the markets, some of them are not into the market. Though, this is something we found as part of our mission.
WALSH: That many variations so early on could suggest the virus had been circulating for some time, some analysts told CNN, although precise timing is still unclear. Their work heavily scrutinized, tense and frustrating conditions.
EMBAREK: Yes, remember, we had the entire planet on our shoulders 24 hours a day for months, which doesn't make the work amongst scientists easier. As you know, argued, as always between professional scientists or you get heated discussion and argumentation about this and that.
WALSH: They hope to return to access biological samples they say China has yet to share, especially hundreds of thousands of blood bank samples from Wuhan dating back two years. China's pledged transparency with the investigation.
EMBAREK: There is about 200,000 samples available there that are now secured and could be used for new set of studies.
WALSH (on camera): And you want to look at that urgently?
EMBAREK: Yes, that would be -- that would be fantastic if we could move with that.
WALSH: Is it not amazing that they haven't already looked through those samples?
EMBAREK: You could say that, but we understand that these samples are extremely small samples and only used for authentication purpose.
[05:25:00]
WALSH (voice-over): So many more questions still to answer, first if China would let them back in. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Nick, thank you for that report. The end of Donald Trump's presidency and impeachment trial means the start of a new chapter for President Biden. And COVID relief isn't the only thing he's pushing for next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JARRETT: Good morning and welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans on this Presidents' Day, it is 29 minutes past the hour. And President Biden finally gets the chance to use the power of his office to get moving on his agenda now that this impeachment trial is over. He's making a big push for his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package and some of his other top priorities as well. Let's go live to the White House right now and bring in CNN's Jasmine Wright.
