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CNN Holds First Presidential Town Hall with Joe Biden at 9:00 P.M. ET; North Carolina GOP Censures Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) Over Impeachment Vote; Study Identifies Seven New Coronavirus Variants in U.S. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 16, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: President Joe Biden, and it's happening right here on CNN, his first town hall, his first real trip outside of Washington, as he heads to Milwaukee to answer questions from voters, his first real chance to address the American people since the impeachment trial of his predecessor.

[07:00:15]

Now, we expect him to use the time to push the $1.9 trillion relief package that is working its way quickly through Congress.

Another major development overnight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing a push to create an independent commission to investigate the deadly siege at the Capitol similar to the September 11th commission. Now, this would require legislation and a presidential signature. And there are questions this morning about how much authority this commission will have to call witnesses and to get real answers.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: So, overnight, Senator Richard Burr became the latest Republican to be censured by his own party for daring to vote his conscience by voting to convict former President Trump.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger's own family wrote him a scathing letter published by The New York Times saying they're embarrassed to be related to him because of his vote. They're accusing him of being in the, quote, devil's army.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us at the White House with a preview of tonight's presidential town hall. What should we expect, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. For weeks, President Biden has been stressing the urgency and importance of passing this $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, but most of that business of selling the American public has been happening here at the White House, as the president has tried to drum up bipartisan support in meetings with senators and representatives, as well as a group of bipartisan governors and mayors who came to the White House on Friday.

But now, President Biden will have his first opportunity to take his message outside of Washington directly in conversation with the American people. That is why President Biden is heading this evening to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he'll participate in the CNN town hall.

I just spoke with a senior official who made clear that President Biden is going to continue to make his pitch for this coronavirus relief bill, talk about his response, his administration's response to this coronavirus pandemic. But I'm also told that the president is looking forward not just to answering these questions but also to hearing from people, to hearing about the challenges that people are facing amidst these dual crises, this health crisis and this economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. You can expect though that the president will also likely face questions about school reopenings.

This is the first time that the president will speak in public since the CDC released its new guidelines for reopening schools on Friday. That's a top issue on the minds of so, so many Americans. And, Frankly, it has been one issue that this White House has struggled with, muddled messaging with the White House briefing room at times and the CDC over this issue. But now that those clear guidelines have been laid out, we will have an opportunity to hear from the president directly.

And, again, the urgency of this relief bill is something he will stress in just 26 days, those federal unemployment benefits expire. That is the deadline by which the president and House Democrats would like to see this legislation passed. John?

BERMAN: Jeremy Diamond, great to have you with us. Thanks very much.

Joining us now is CNN Political Analysts David Gregory and Margaret Talev. Margaret is the Managing Editor of Axios.

This is a big deal. When a president goes outside Washington for the first road show, it is a big deal. It's an even bigger deal because it's on CNN but a bigger deal also because it comes just after the impeachment trial of the former president, David. And as President Joe Biden wants to sell the American people on this giant relief bill, what do you think he needs to do tonight?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's a few things. First of all, you know, the hardest part about pursuing leadership when you say there's been failed leadership is getting the job. And now you have to lead. And you have to lead during a crisis. So I think he uses this tonight to underline the fact that people are hurting, that they're without jobs, that they're just struggling to make it. There's such weariness in the country about COVID how long these shutdowns are going on, and the dull drums and, worst, the depression of the pandemic world. He's got to underline that people are still hurting and the government, specifically, can help.

And then I think these other two points, vaccine rollout and reopening schools. He's going to face a lot of pressure on these. And I'll be very interested to hear his answers tonight on where there's poor coordination about vaccine rollout and how this administration is going to change that and what they're going to do to get schools open again. People are going to be listening for that. And it's a tall order. But he doesn't have a lot of time, you know, because people are impatient on these matters. He's got to act.

CAMEROTA: And they're desperate. I mean, Margaret, I don't know how big of a sales job he has to do when 11.2 percent of adults, American adults, went hungry this month. That's the last numbers we have are from January 20th to February 1st.

[07:05:01]

That's how many people are in food insecurity. We've all seen the lines at food banks. I feel like we've been talking about this for a long time. And Congress has been, I don't know, going on recess or dithering or we're just still talking. So does he have to sell this tonight? Or what's the plan?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I mean, Alisyn, we talk about like political head winds. The public is saying that they are very much in favor of the sort of mechanisms that President Biden is talking about. Of course, he's got a $1.9 trillion plan, $1,400 payments, as expressed some willingness to negotiate. So he has got the public saying they want this but he's got real pushback from many Republicans about the size and the scope of this. And we're going to hear all of that messaging in the coming weeks.

Let's look at where this is happening, right? It's the Midwest, this town hall tonight. It's the Midwest and importantly one of those crucial swing states to the last election. Biden won Wisconsin by like 20,000 votes, but Trump had won it four years ago. It will be in play three years from now. It will be in play in a year in the midterms with one of the really crucial Senate races that the country will be watching.

And so, there is an audience here that the Democratic Party wants to reach but also a bipartisan audience that I think President Biden wants to reach to get that message that this is not a Democratic fix but it is a national fix.

BERMAN: And the interesting thing is, at least right now, polls show that the American people, including a large number of Republicans, are supportive of what's in this bill. The people not supportive are Republicans in Congress, largely exclusively Republicans in Congress.

Now, I don't know if that's because there's been so much focus on the impeachment trial that some of the arguments on the other side haven't seeped in yet. We'll see. But it's also just as possible, David, that with the sales pitch that President Biden can bring even more people on board. What he's offering in terms of money is a lot of money to a lot of people.

Now, whether or not it's too much is a different story. But, people like getting money.

GREGORY: Yes, they do. And I agree that that makes things easier. I think, look, Biden wants the microphone back. It's been tough. He was inaugurated and then there was so much focus on the impeachment of the president, the second impeachment and the trial. He wants the microphone back. He wants the attention back to start to build support, to tap into the support that's already there, to take action and reach and deal with that desperation that people are feeling. So I think that's a big part of this job and people do want this.

And I think the bigger bet that the Biden administration is making even if the size and the scope are big and bigger than Republicans want, the bet is on the economy getting better at a time when more vaccines are getting into people's arms and that he will be the beneficiary of that politically. As Margaret said, it's not just Republicans thinking about 2022, obviously, this president is thinking about that too, and thinking about where his base of support and how he expands that base beyond people who are anti-Trump to becoming more pro-Biden. And this is where he starts to lay that groundwork.

CAMEROTA: As far as the vaccinations, Margaret, they're going better. They're not perfect. I mean, this is from the governors who wrote a letter to the Biden administration saying, we believe that the federal decision to use pharmacies and these federally qualified health centers should be coordinated with state governments. If the federal government distributes independently of states to these entities without state coordination and consultation, redundancy and inefficiency may very well follow. Yes, that's the whole point.

And we've been talking about for a year the federal government needs to coordinate with the states.

TALEV: Yes. I mean, look, you're going to see some of this tension between governors and the federal government, but what the Biden folks are saying is that they basically inherited this very poor/non- infrastructure and they had to form in many ways a pipeline as the vaccines were coming in. We have seen a huge emphasis on purchasing of vaccines and most of that is for domestic policy, some that is for foreign policy. But the distribution is still an issue.

And some of this is politics. Democratic and Republican governors both are going to look to blame the federal government if they can't get the doses in the arms of their people. But some of this is real. It's a real struggle. And this is Biden's presidency now whether or not he had to build a new infrastructure. The buck is still going to stop with him in terms of how this is all delivered.

But you're just seeing a phenomenal -- this has moved so quickly. I mean, the vaccine moved so quickly, the creation of it and now the distribution of it. Everybody wants it. Everybody is trying to figure out when they can get it, you know? It's a real challenge. We're going hear him talk about, I think, a little bit more the economy tonight and a little bit more about the vaccines on Thursday when he's in Michigan, another swing state, Midwestern state, but this is on every American's mind this week.

[07:10:05]

BERMAN: David Gregory, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi coming out in support of creating a September 11th-style commission to investigate what happened on January 6th. It's a big deal. I mean, we still feel the impact in this country with what happened with the September 11th commission. It created the director of national intelligence position. It de-siloed the entire intelligence community and it found out a lot of information about what happened on September 11th. So that happens on for what happened on January 6th, it's a really big deal.

It does require Congress to pass legislation and the president to sign this. What do you expect to see here?

GREGORY: Well, I think 9/11 was different. And I think the questions that they were asking after 9/11 were far deeper about what happened and what didn't happen within the federal government. I think there's a lot to be learned about security lapses on January 6th. But we did just have an extensive trial about the culpability of the president, about what communications were like.

So I think one of the questions will be what more needs to be learned at this level with this kind of commission. And, yes, I think there will be some disagreement about moving forward on this. And I would be curious whether this is something that the president really wants to move forward right now after he's had to kind of sit on the sidelines in some way during this impeachment.

BERMAN: Senator Richmond, who works inside the White House, told me yesterday that if Congress passes it, they will support what Congress does on this, but they're going to let Congress drive this at this point.

David Gregory, Margaret Talev, thank you both very much.

GREGORY: Thanks.

BERMAN: Be sure to join us tonight, Anderson Cooper moderates the first presidential town hall with President Joe Biden. It is live from Milwaukee at 9:00 P.M. Eastern only on CNN.

CAMEROTA: Breaking overnight, three people are dead and at least ten others hurt after a tornado tears through a coastal town in North Carolina. At this hour, search and rescue crews are looking for others who may be trapped, some inside their homes. Officials confirmed several homes have been destroyed or severely damaged. Power lines are down. And emergency responders are securing gas leaks. A widespread systematic search through all impacted homes gets under way when daybreaks there. We'll keep you posted.

Another Republican censured overnight for voting to convict Trump. You will not believe what Congressman Adam Kinzinger's family is saying about him for his criticism of former President Trump. More on the growing civil war within the GOP, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, Senator Richard Burr becomes the latest Republican to be punished by the GOP for daring to criticize President Trump's role in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Congressman Adam Kinzinger's own family wrote him a scathing letter published by The New York Times saying they're embarrassed to be related to him. What does all this mean for the future of the Republican Party?

Joining us now is Georgia's Republican lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan. Good morning, Lieutenant Governor.

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Good morning.

CAMEROTA: So, let me just pull up that list again. Okay, here are the 12 Republican lawmakers or high profile Republicans, like Cindy McCain, you know, who dared to say that -- who dared to criticize President Trump's role in the insurrection at the Capitol. And I know that you believe that we're at this pivot point for the Republican Party, and you're looking for GOP 2.0, but what do you say to these 12 people who are having to explain that they voted their conscience?

DUNCAN: Well, look, I think at the end of the day, that's the most important thing we should do as elected officials is vote our conscience and be intellectually honest with as many folks as we possibly can. Certainly this has been a very tough time for us here in Georgia but also for us in America and certainly as a party.

But, Alisyn, I think majority of Americans are ready for us, as you said, to use this as a pivot point to move on, to talk about real issues, how people can keep their jobs or advance their careers or keep their communities safer or tackle a pandemic. These are real issues that I think a majority of Americans want us to tackle in a bipartisan format.

CAMEROTA: Then why didn't the Republican Party in North Carolina, Wyoming, South Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, Washington State, Arizona, Illinois, why didn't they get that memo?

DUNCAN: Well, look, I can't speak for the other states and certainly there's factions inside the Republican Party, but this is truly a time for us to move on, for us to really double down on the policies that got us here as a party and look at opportunities for us to improve conversations.

You know, we always talk about in this party trying to expand the tent, going back to kind of Reagan's philosophy. But we can't wait until two weeks before an election to have a fancy ad run to try to expand that. We need to spend the next four years really getting to know the folks who are trying to invite the vote for us, understand their issues, move our feet on a couple of issues and try to tackle some of those problems that some of those other communities have to bring them into the fold and help us win the White House back in 2024.

CAMEROTA: How about poor Adam Kinzinger, what Congressman Kinzinger has to deal with from his own family? He got his letter from all of his cousins, a large chunk of them that say, oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God. We were once so proud of your accomplishments, exclamation point. Instead, you go against your Christian principles and join the, quote, devil's army. You have embarrassed the Kinzinger's family name, exclamation point. Do you get any pushback like that?

DUNCAN: It's cringe worthy to hear that somebody would write and use faith as a centerpiece for it. But, yes, certainly, I've been shocked, our family has been shocked that kind of the perspective that some folks brought us to.

But, again, to tell you, Alisyn, the tide is turning and we continue to receive additional, more and more, you know, momentum behind folks encouraging us to just continue to do the right thing and to really try to step up, right?

There's a vacuum in leadership inside the GOP. And certainly there's going to be some folks to step up and fill that vacuum and help lead us into the future.

[07:20:04]

CAMEROTA: One last point on this, because I hear your optimism, okay, and I know that you want to believe that this is a pivot point for Republicans. But then you hear Senator Ron Johnson. May I share with you his take on what happened on January 6th? He doesn't think that there was any armed insurrection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN.RON JOHNSON (R-WI) (voice over): This didn't seem like an armed insurrection to me. I mean, armed. When you think hear of armed, don't you think of firearms?

Here are the questions that I would have like to ask, how many firearms were confiscated? How many shots were fired? I'm only aware of one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What do you say to Senator Johnson?

DUNCAN: Well, I couldn't disagree more with that perspective and conversations like that are not healthy for the GOP. They don't match reality. And, you know, I walked away from those events being as disappointed as I've ever been in the direction.

There were opportunities for the president to step up over the ten weeks leading up to those events and during that day to step up and to lead the party in a different direction and it didn't happen.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about the investigation by the Fulton County prosecutor. She sent a letter to you about that phone call that President Trump made, demanding the secretary of state find more votes. She's asked you to preserve documents related to that. Do you have emails related to that call?

DUNCAN: Well, we'll certainly cooperate with the district attorney's letter that she sent us, and certainly, our office doesn't really have much interaction with those events. There were some hearings that the state senate held but those are individually arranged by the chairs and by the individual senators.

But, look, we'll support -- we'll work with the investigation for sure. But speaking to the legalities of that, we'll let them do that. But I am, once again, disappointed with the way that conversation went, as you and I have talked about that. I just think it was inappropriate.

CAMEROTA: But are you -- I mean, I guess what my point is that is it a tall order, is it a tough ask to hand over that stuff? Have some stuff already been deleted from that phone call?

DUNCAN: We didn't -- like I said, I don't think we have anything inside our files but our entire staff has been alerted that if there is any information regarding that in communications to certainly preserve that.

CAMEROTA: I also want to ask you David Perdue, who lost the race, as you know, though you, I think, supported him, has announced that he's going to rerun against Senator Raphael Warnock this time. So he lost to John Ossoff and he is going to run again. Do you think it's going to be different two years from now?

DUNCAN: So, look, Senator Perdue has been a stalwart conservative here in Georgia and certainly I think over the next two years, if he does decide to run, I think I saw something last night where he filed some paperwork for it. But if he does decide to run, then my encouragement to him would be stay focused on the conservative policies that he helped get across the finish line in his six years in office and try to remind Georgians that that really aligns with our conservative values here in the state.

CAMEROTA: Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, thank you. We always appreciate getting your perspective on all this stuff.

DUNCAN: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, researchers have discovered several new coronavirus variants that originated right here in the U.S. We have one of the lead researchers to explain this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: So, researchers have identified seven new coronavirus variants that originated right here in the United States. And what is significant to all of us and maybe our health is that they're all mutating basically the same way.

Joining me now is Louisiana State Virologist Dr. Jeremy Kamil. He is one of the co-authors of a new study on these U.S. variants. Professor Kamil, thanks so much for being with us.

This is really interesting work, seven new variants all with a very similar mutation. Could you explain to someone like me, a humanities major, what this mutation is and why it's significant? DR. JEREMY KAMIL, VIROLOGIST: Well, what made us interested in the mutation, and I can't stress enough that we don't have evidence yet that this is making the virus more transmissible or in any way more dangerous and there shouldn't be any affects on vaccines, but what made it interesting to us is that there is a mutation in the position called 677, which if virus' fusion protein gets into cells as a harpoon, this is one of the triggers that might set off the harpoon. And it means the trigger is maybe changing, so it's a little looser on the trigger finger, if you will, would be a hypothesis to explain what it might mean. But this is going to take more research.

BERMAN: It might make that harpoon better or more effective. One of the things you have said is it does appear. Now, again, you have no proof of this yet. You keep on doing research, but there may be an obvious evolutionary benefit to the mutation for this virus. Explain what that means.

KAMIL: Well, there's a concept in evolution called parallelism. But, really, to boil it down for everyday people, it just means different organisms or people solving the same problem the same way even though they might be in different continents or different places.

So, in this case you're looking at a virus changing something that -- we have to remember, this virus didn't originate in people. It spilled over probably from bats or pangolins or some other species. And so maybe this changes a little signature of the virus is getting comfortable with growing in people.

But that doesn't mean it's more dangerous. There's coronaviruses that have existed in people for millennia and those ones are even better probably than this one with this aspect, and they're not more dangerous.

BERMAN: It doesn't necessarily mean that it's more dangerous. But when you talk about an evolutionary benefit in terms of a virus, what it means is that it's a benefit for that virus. It makes that virus have a better chance at survival or beater chance at spreading or staying alive.

Now, whether or not that leads to more infections in humans, we don't know. But the fact that we don't know, that is the question, I think, that a lot of people have concerns about going forward. And you do understand why people will be concerned about that, yes?

KAMIL: Yes, I do understand that.

[07:30:01]

But I think an important message to the viewers is that a lot of viral DNA -- sorry, viral RNA sequencing is happening around the world to keep track of so many.