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Trump Facing Mounting Legal Trouble Post-Impeachment; Biden Pushes Congress to Act Quickly on $1.9 Trillion Relief Plan; Calls Grow to Launch 9/11-Style Commission to Investigate Insurrection. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

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SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): There's a lot of other investigations going on about this man. He is done.

[05:59:35]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He still has a lot that he's going to have to deal with. All of these legal woes.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Donald Trump is the most vibrant member of the Republican Party. The Trump movement is alive and well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope Republicans in the Senate and the House will get on board, and I am absolutely confident they're going to be able to get something through both the Senate and the House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New coronavirus mutations have just been identified in the U.S., and they appear to make the virus more transmissible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now is the time to not let up our guard. Now is the time to double down.

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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 a special holiday edition of NEW DAY. It is Monday, February 15, 6 a.m. here in New York. It's special because Erica Hill is here with me.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, John Berman. I thought it was just the whole Presidents Day thing.

BERMAN: You make everything special. Presidents Day in your honor.

HILL: Yes. Mattress sales everywhere.

BERMAN: Exactly. Right. This morning the Senate trial is over, but the legal problems for the

former president just beginning. One of our legal analysts suggests that on a scale of one to ten, his level of concern should be a 10. His financial dealings in New York under scrutiny. A criminal investigation for his attempt to overturn the election in Georgia. Senate Republican Republican leader Mitch McConnell suggests his dereliction of duty during the Capitol insurrection was potentially criminal. And now lawmakers in both parties calling for a commission to investigate the Capitol attack, modeled on the 9/11 panel.

We're getting new information this morning on whether the former president might actually hold a news conference in Mar-a-Lago this week.

HILL: With the impeachment trial now in the rear-view mirror, President Biden is making a big push for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. And new this morning, researchers have identified seven new strains of coronavirus right here in the United States. And many of them have the same mutation as the variants first identified in the U.K. and South Africa.

Keep in mind, of course, the variant identified in the U.K. not only more transmissible but we're learning could also likely lead to increased hospitalizations and deaths.

We're also following breaking news this morning. A powerful winter storm paralyzing the southern United States. More than two million customers waking up without power to absolutely frigid temperatures in most areas.

We begin with CNN's Boris Sanchez, though, who is live in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kicking things off this morning with the former president's legal troubles.

Boris, good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica and John.

Donald Trump and his legal team expressing relief after his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial over the weekend. Despite that, the president foreshadowing a political future, but he will likely have to overcome some serious legal hurdles before getting to 2022 or even 2024.

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SANCHEZ (voice-over): Without the protections of being commander in chief, former President Donald Trump has a growing number of legal concerns and investigations.

Trump is facing at least two investigations in Georgia, including one, a source tells CNN, about the former president's phone call pressuring secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to find votes to overturn his election loss. Another by the Fulton County district attorney's office, looking into Trump's alleged efforts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election. FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Something occurred here

within my jurisdiction that may be criminal, and if that is the case, it needed to be investigated.

SANCHEZ: And there are multiple criminal and civil probes in New York, investigating Trump's properties and alleged insurance and tax fraud.

There could also be charges filed against Trump in Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA!

SANCHEZ: Federal prosecutors stressing that nothing is off the table when asked if they were looking at Trump's role in inciting violence during the Capitol insurrection in January.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I think there's grounds for further proceedings, both civil and criminal, against former President Trump. That phase of accountability moves to the courts.

SANCHEZ: Nearly a month after leaving the White House, Trump's influence on Senate Republicans could interfere with President Joe Biden's agenda, Democrats noting a preview of that possibility after all but seven Senate Republicans voted to acquit the former president in his impeachment trial.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): The rest of them, I think had effectively made the decision that, you know, Donald Trump's going to be in charge of their party for the next four years. As they were deathly afraid of him for the last four years, they are going to continue to be afraid of him for the next four years.

SANCHEZ: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell directly blaming Trump for inciting the riot, despite voting that he is not guilty. McConnell also saying the former president could still face criminal charges.

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 has run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office.

SANCHEZ: For some of his top Republican allies, Trump remains the future.

GRAHAM: The Trump movement is alive and well. The most potent force in the Republican Party is President Trump.

SANCHEZ: But for others, it's time to move on.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): You've got to look at what's good for the country and not worry about the next election.

(END VIDEOTAPE) [06:05:06]

SANCHEZ: Now, Erica, Trump is also facing a number of defamation cases, including one from a woman who claims that he sexually assaulted her back in 2007. Now, Donald Trump denies any wrongdoing in all of these cases, and the Trump Organization maintains that all of its businesses have been operated in compliance with the law -- Erica.

HILL: Boris Sanchez with the latest for us. Boris, thank you.

Well, with President -- former President Trump's second impeachment trial now in the rear view, the Biden administration is pushing lawmakers to quickly pass the president's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House this morning with more. Jeremy, good morning.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

With the impeachment trial of his predecessor in the books, President Biden, I can tell you, is looking forward to reclaiming the spotlight as he looks to push his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

Look, over the last week, we have seen those House committees, House Democrats working assiduously to write President Biden's $1.9 trillion package into law. That work will continue this week.

And so even as last week you saw work happening on Capitol Hill, President Biden also still meeting with governors, mayors of both parties to drum up support for this bill. He is looking forward to having the spotlight back this week so that he can really continue to push this piece of legislation.

That is why tomorrow we will see the president head to the state of Wisconsin, where he has a CNN town hall. And he is expected there to talk about this piece of legislation, to talk about the bipartisan support that he believes exists, perhaps not in Washington but more broadly across the country.

And then later this week, we will also see him head to Michigan, where he will tour a Pfizer manufacturing plant to again talk about the work that he is doing on vaccine distribution.

Even as the president has been touting all of the work that he is doing to respond to this coronavirus, whether it is ramping up vaccine distribution, or talking about testing, all of it ultimately, in his words, comes back to this relief package, which he says is essential not only to jump start the economy but also to get the funding necessary to ramp up vaccine distribution.

The president a few weeks ago had signed, also, an executive memo reopening enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, those federal marketplaces for Obamacare. That begins today. A three-week enrollment period that -- authorized by the president -- Erica.

HILL: The president is also urging, I know, Congress to take action on gun reform. What specific action does he want to see, Jeremy?

DIAMOND: That's right. President Biden seizing on the third anniversary of that horrific Parkland shooting. The president calling on Congress to enact common-sense gun reform, is what he is calling it. He says -- he calls on Congress to do three specific things: requiring background checks on all gun sales; banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; and also eliminating the immunity that gun manufacturers currently have when a shooting or a mass shooting occurs.

The president writing in his statement, quote, "This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call. We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer." He also notes that, like the families of Parkland, the American people should turn our grief into purpose.

Of course, passing any gun reform through Congress is going to be a tall task, particularly in the Senate, where Democrats have the narrow west of narrow majorities there. Sixty votes would likely be needed to pass most aspects of gun reform.

Of course, there is always executive actions on the table for President Biden. We have seen him take those steps so far.

But we do know that the work is happening here at the White House to begin moving towards gun reform. Last week, Cedric Richmond, the president's director of public engagement and a senior advisor, as well as Susan Rice, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, they both met with gun -- gun rights -- sorry, gun activists last week -- gun reform activists to talk about the process of moving forward with some of those reforms -- John, Erica.

BERMAN: All right, Jeremy. Jeremy Diamond at the White House. Thank you very much.

We do have some breaking weather news this morning. More than two million customers without power as frigid temperatures paralyzing a wide swath of the country. Ice is knocking out power and making driving conditions treacherous.

You're looking at pictures out of El Paso. This is El Paso, Texas. I'm pretty sure El Paso, Texas, not supposed to look like this in general.

Temperatures are the lowest in parts of Texas that they've experienced in decades. We have a map here with the wind chill. You can see the wind chill in many states. Look at Oklahoma City, minus 27 degrees with the wind chill factor.

HILL: Minus 7 in Little Rock. It's just amazing. The fact that these --

BERMAN: Well, Oklahoma City is minus 27.

HILL: I know. I'm not saying that's not bad. Don't get me wrong here.

BERMAN: It's worse than Little Rock. HILL: It is worse than Little Rock, you're right. But it's across the

board. And you look at so many of these areas, too, who are not prepared to deal with this kind of temperature --

BERMAN: No.

HILL: -- with this kind of winter weather. And certainly not for a sustained period of time.

[06:10:03]

BERMAN: This is Oklahoma, where obviously, the driving conditions are just simply terrible. All kinds of pile-ups on the roads there. We're monitoring this storm closely. We're going to bring you updates throughout the morning.

So on a scale of 1 to 10, the former president's level of concern should be a 10. That's what one of our legal analysts says about the former president's legal problems. Which investigation is the biggest threat? That's next.

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BERMAN: This morning the former president faces a range of potential criminal and civil investigations. Look at this. It fills up the screen.

[06:15:07]

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst and Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg. Also with us, CNN political analyst Margaret Talev. She is the managing editor of Axios who just talked dating with Dr. Anthony Fauci. How's that for a tease. Much more on that in a minute, because you're going to want to hear this.

First, Ben, I want to start with the president's -- former president's legal problems. It seems if smart people like you look at that list, that extensive list of investigations and possible jeopardies, and they see what's going on in New York, the financial investigations both by the Manhattan district attorney and by the state, as the major legal problem. Why?

BEN GINSBERG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's a major legal problem, because those prosecutors are looking at actions that took place before he was president that they had to put on hold to an extent while he was president. They go deep into his financial roots and foundations. They -- they are potentially legally very dangerous.

But on a personal level, defendants having to deal with those kinds of cases get really, really anxious. And the depositions and the discovery is -- is fairly nerve-wracking.

HILL: How nerve-wracking, Margaret, is it at this point for the president and his legal team? Are they seeing it to be as concerning as Ben's pointing out? MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Erica, I think that's right,

and it's because there are these cases on these multiple levels. The financial investigations and cases have the most duration and the deepest tentacles.

And I would say, like, Ben's the expert on this, but to some extent, the least insulation from the First Amendment argument, right? Like, these cases around his efforts to interfere in the election in Georgia and, in particular, the cases around January 6, there's going to be this consistent sort of free speech argument. Like, I wasn't trying to do anything wrong. I was just exercising my right to whatever.

The financial investigations are -- are a different matter, they really are. But when you put them all together, it just shows you that these tests and inquiries into whether he's conducted himself appropriately and properly exist on multiple levels, right? They exist jurisdictionally in different levels, geographically in different levels, on a time line in different levels.

And I think separate from the civil or criminal culpability is the political reality of whether that is going to chip away at enthusiasm for him over the course of the next couple of years. We know what it looks like as a snapshot in time now in terms of Republican polling and him having enduring support. We don't know what that's going to look like over time. And court cases and ongoing coverage do have a way of shaping public opinion.

BERMAN: And Ben, just to be clear, what happens to the former president and people in his orbit in these investigations in terms of depositions, in terms of being called to testify before a grand jury in terms of the phrase, "under oath"? What kind of pressure does that put on the former president and people in his wider orbit?

GINSBERG: It certainly puts a lot of pressure on them. I mean, if they're defendants, to avoid having to testify, they'll need to take the Fifth Amendment.

Donald Trump has said that only guilty people take the Fifth Amendment. That is a bad look for somebody who wants to be making a political comeback. So you combine it all, Margaret's right. He's got some reputational issues that will get in the way of either a political comeback or a peaceful retirement.

HILL: And it is fascinating, too, you know. When we finally hear from him again, which we know we will, I'm so interested to see what the take will be.

Because to both of your points, a lot of what existed over the last several years for what the president liked to point to in terms of -- I don't know -- excuses or things that he didn't have to worry about, that's all gone at this point. And so the narrative, Margaret, will have to be different, because it will be about facing reality.

TALEV: And, you know, I think what we have really to go on, all we can guess the future by is the past. And I think what we've consistently seen in the past is that former President Trump will take any argument that he can put towards the vindication argument and run with it.

And we have political reporters who spent the last four years covering him or longer, of why we've been expecting kind of a revenge tour to kick off once the impeachment trial was behind him.

That's not what you saw in the initial statement. A statement for history was to the contrary. It was like, you know, we would -- we would only ever support peaceful things and never, ever urge people to lead with revenge and hate.

But look, we all know how he's practiced politics in the past, and I think when you listen to Lindsey Graham and some other Republican lawmakers and the censure reactions that you see in these state GOPs in the places where the seven members crossed party lines to vote with Democrats, you see a real instinct by Republicans that it's not a vote of conscience as far as Donald Trump is concerned, and that he is going to respond accordingly in the coming days.

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BERMAN: So Ben, one of the things that's been floated is the idea of a 9/11-style commission, which after September 11th was actually a law. I mean, both houses of the Congress passed it, and George W. Bush signed it into law.

What do you think that would do? And do you think there is a Republican appetite for such a thing?

GINSBERG: I would be surprised if there's a Republican appetite. And I'm not sure there's a Democratic appetite to go really deep on it. Something like that is bound to be divisive.

The Democrats already showed, in not wanting to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial, that the primary goal -- and it is a clash -- but the primary goal is to move forward with the positive Biden agenda and not to look in the rear-view mirror about Donald Trump.

HILL: In terms of moving forward, Margaret, we can't ignore what we saw, too -- I do just want to touch on, really quick -- from Mitch McConnell over the weekend.

Of course, so we have the vote, and then we have this searing statement which, you know, you heard a lot of trying to have it both ways in the wake of that. But he is trying to have it both ways, because he wants to hold on, right, to his position as Republican leader and wants to say that he took a stand but also recognized fully, based on what we saw for those seven who voted, of course not to acquit, voted the president was guilty, the immediate backlash.

TALEV: Yes. He -- he wants to take on Trump while remaining in charge, which is a really -- of his party, which is a really difficult needle to thread. And I think he does, to some extent, have an eye on history for himself and the party; wants to separate the legacy of the Republican Party from Donald Trump. All that's going to be really difficult to do. But the bottom line is the procedural argument on which he makes the

crux of his case not to -- not to side with convicting Donald Trump, isn't -- it isn't actually real. There was a test vote on this to ask whether the Senate did have the jurisdiction. The majority of the Senate voted yes.

So it's kind of a flimsy argument, but it does show that McConnell is still committed now, even in the minority, to using all the procedural tools at his hand to try to rule as if he were still the majority leader of the Senate.

And he doesn't care about immediate political backlash. He cares about steering the GOP through this incredibly divisive and difficult time. And if he has to take some hits on a lot of tough questioning, he's always seemed to thrive on that brand. He's going to go for it, and he's previewing his playbook for the next several months, which is it is not about being the barometer of national morality. It is about doing what needs to get done for the party and for the ideological goals that he supports through policy.

BERMAN: Yes. Profile in courage there.

Ben Ginsberg, important relationship question. Are you familiar with the term "Fauci-ing"?

GINSBERG: Not as familiar as I think I'm about to be.

BERMAN: You're about to be very familiar with it. I would like to play for you Margaret Talev speaking to Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the subject is dating. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALEV: There is actually a term in dating now called "Fauci-ing" someone. Do you know what that means?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No, what does It mean?

TALEV: It means cutting off a relationship if you don't think that that other person is serious enough about social distancing and taking the pandemic seriously.

FAUCI: (LAUGHS)

I'm going to Fauci you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Margaret, can technically, Fauci "Fauci" somebody? I mean, is that -- you know, does it -- does it work if he does it himself?

TALEV: I mean, I don't think his wife will be happy about it if he does, let's just say that. I think he was just so relieved it didn't mean something hotter than that, you know? Like, look, here's the think about Fauci, is that he realizes, right,

that he's become this cultural icon, even though he's a scientist, and that people will -- many people will literally hang on his word. And then there's another whole camp of people who just despise him and hang on his word the other way and threaten him and stuff.

And during the course of our interview, it's very clear that he's trying to navigate this terrain. He doesn't want to totally get sucked up in the adulation; doesn't feel right. But he knows he has an opportunity to show people, to model the appropriate way to get through the next few months until everyone can get two shots.

And so I think -- I think he likes the term. He seemed to actually be delighted by it.

BERMAN: And he doesn't mind being blamed.

GINSBERG; Can I -- can I help rewrite the Axios personnel manual?

HILL: I love it.

TALEV: Fauci.

BERMAN: All right. Margaret, Ben, thank you very much. That was terrific, Margaret. Appreciate it.

So we do have a quick programming note. President Biden will join Anderson Cooper for his first presidential town hall, live from Milwaukee. That's tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

Now this is something that Dr. Anthony Fauci is watching very closely. Researchers have identified seven new coronavirus variants here in the United States. So what threat do they pose? That's next.

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HILL: As of this morning, new coronavirus cases in the U.S. are down 70 percent since the peak in early January. That decline, absolutely positive news.

Experts, though, caution this is not the time to let down your guard, especially as we're seeing new coronavirus strains circulating. Overnight, we learned of seven.