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Republican Senator Ron Johnson Demands $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Bill be Read Aloud on Senate Floor; Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell Files Lawsuit against Former President Trump and Others for Inciting Capitol Insurrection; Health Officials Worry About Spring Break Spike of Coronavirus. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 05, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Republican Senator Ron Johnson demanded that the 628-page bill be read out loud. It took 11 hours. We also have new reporting on how Republicans intend to gum up the works even more today.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: To be clear, he didn't read it out loud. He delegated that.

BERMAN: Interestingly enough, though, he had to be in the room the whole time.

CAMEROTA: The whole 11 hours?

BERMAN: Yes, because if he didn't then someone could object to and stop the reading there. So he has some stamina.

CAMEROTA: OK, good to know.

BERMAN: Also, federal investigators are examining the communications between members of Congress and Capitol rioters to see whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists. At this point, investigators say they have no evidence that members of Congress knowingly aided or were involved in the insurrection, but the investigation continues.

And Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill with our top story. Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, Alisyn. Ten hours and 45 minutes, that is how long the Senate clerks were reading that 628-page bill. That's how long it ultimately took them. They finished in the middle of the night. And at the end, Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from the state of Maryland, rose to ask for some consent to go ahead and restart this debate, beginning at 9:00 a.m. today in the U.S. Senate.

I want to tell you why that is significant. He argued that they are going to have three hours of debate. And that's important because, remember, the whole reason that Senator Ron Johnson wanted the reading of that bill was he was arguing he wanted to delay this process. In the end, instead of having 20 hours of debate, because there wasn't a Republican there to object at the end of this process, they are now just going to have three hours of debate.

Then they will start at noon with this vote-a-rama. And of course, this is a very well-known process up here on Capitol Hill. It's an exhausting process because what it means is one amendment after another, about one amendment every 10 minutes until senators can't stand it anymore. We expect that Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from the state of Vermont, is going to offer an amendment on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. But after that, we expect just one Republican amendment after another. And that is intended to put Democrats in a tough spot on a series of issues, whether that's energy, whether that's immigration, whether it's specific provisions in the bill that they want to call out and call attention to.

Now, the president has made it clear, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made it clear he wants Democrats united against these poison pill amendments. Will they be able to stick together on every one? That's going to be a test.

At the end of this process, and it could be 12 hours, it could be 24 hours -- we just don't know at this point -- there will be a final vote on whether or not to pass that $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. We expect the Democrats have the votes that they need. We have our eyes on one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has not said whether or not she would support this piece of legislation or not. We expect it will pass, but it's going to be a long few hours ahead. John?

BERMAN: Lauren, one procedural question. What's to keep Republicans like Ron Johnson offering amendments until infinity?

FOX: Nothing. Just exhaustion. It is a matter of how long can you keep this process going? Remember, because they are voting about every 10 minutes, there's not really an opportunity to go back to your hideaway, grab food or really have a substantial meal outside the U.S. Capitol. That keeps members not wanting to do this forever. You also have to remember, it's the weekend, and jet fumes have always had a powerful effect up here on Capitol Hill getting lawmakers out the door.

BERMAN: All right. Lauren Fox --

CAMEROTA: Now we'll see stamina.

BERMAN: Priorities right there.

CAMEROTA: We'll see who has stamina now.

BERMAN: Exactly. They have got to get to the airplane.

I want to bring in CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. And John, let's actually talk about like the actual facts of what's in this. If we can put it up on the screen so people can see, we're talking about $1,400 checks to millions of Americans, $400 a week in unemployment assistance. That's higher than it is right now. Right now it's $300. Small business assistance, funding for schools, states, and local governments, funding for vaccine distribution.

And as of now, this has about -- oh, and we should note what is not in it is any increase in the minimum wage. That is not part of this bill at all at this point in the Senate. It has about 62 percent approval right now with the American people, which is high in this day and age. So what do Republicans get out of the delay?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, and that 62 percent approval that you just mentioned, John, you were asking Lauren a moment ago, what prevents Ron Johnson from offering amendments until infinity? Sixty-two percent overall public approval is what limits Ron Johnson and the Republican Party from offering amendments until infinity. They can do it for a while, but at some point, if there's something the American people want, and that is communicated to them, that's going to be pressure on the Republican Party.

Look, what Republicans are doing, and you talked about this in the last hour with John Garamendi, the Congressman from California, Republicans have struck an initial pose which resembles the pose that they struck at the beginning of the Obama presidency in 2009 of total resistance to what Democrats are trying to do.

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And so the purpose of Ron Johnson's stunt, enforcing that reading and delaying the consideration of the bill, was to demonstrate on doing every possible thing I can to slow this down. That's consistent with Republican Party strategy. It's also consistent with Ron Johnson's political strategy, assuming he runs for reelection in Wisconsin. He's trying to say I'm the number one target for Democrats because what that identification gives you is a whole lot of fundraising, a whole lot of conservative energy to his side.

So that's the mission that he's on. Democrats are on the mission of holding the party together, getting through this process and putting this on President Biden's desk in the next couple of weeks. And all signs, as Lauren indicated right now suggest that's going to happen. And in fact, it's notable that we're wondering less about whether a Democrat is going to defect, because there's no sign of that, but more as to whether one Republican, Lisa Murkowski, peels off and votes for this bill.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about Senator Murkowski. Here is what she has said. She said "I'm going to see what's in it. We already know there are some things in it that are clearly not COVID related, but I'm looking at some of the things that will provide a level of relief for a state like Alaska." Is this Lucy on the football again? Are we holding our breath for Senator Murkowski, as so often Democrats on the Hill do thinking there might be one Republican who they can peel away, but then it doesn't happen?

HARWOOD: Well, I don't think, Alisyn, the White House is counting on Lisa Murkowski's vote. I think they are playing a longer game than that here. They are trying to build some sort of bridge. President Biden talked a lot about trying to pull the country together, achieve bipartisanship. Exceedingly difficult to do in this environment. Yes, you can get support from Republicans around the country to some degree. Anywhere from one-third to half of Republicans in some polls have indicated sympathy for this bill. Very tough to do with elected officials.

But if you can make some headway, that gives you some margin over time. Now even if she votes against this bill, the Democrats may be making some accommodations to her. Alaska has been very hard hit in the pandemic by the loss of tourism. You show a little deference to that consideration, maybe that gets you something down the road. We did see that Lisa Murkowski indicated she's going to support Deb Haaland, the Biden nominee for Interior Secretary.

BERMAN: John, there has been so much focus on the $1,400 checks and even the extended unemployment benefits, not as much focus on something you've done extensive reporting on which could be monumentally significant, which is the child tax credits here. Explain what people can expect there.

HARWOOD: This is the entering wedge, John, of what Democrats hope will be a redirection of federal spending priorities to the benefit of people who have been left behind, lower income families. In this bill, there is an expanded and refundable, which means even if you don't have tax liability, you get it, tax credit for low income families of children. If your children are under six years old, you would get a $300 a month check per child. The check phases down for kids between six and 17, but that is a substantial aid for those families.

There's also a child care tax credit which gives you a credit of up to $8,000 for childcare expenses if you have got more than one child in childcare. That is a substantial redirection. These are temporary in this bill. It's one of the reasons why the cost is $1.9 trillion. There is a significant amount of money for that, more than $125 billion for that, for Obamacare subsidies, for an expanded earned income tax credit for people who don't have children.

But what Democrats hope to do in the follow-on legislation, the build back better legislation, is try to make some of those credits permanent. President Biden indicated that this week, he wants to make those credits permanent. So do Democratic legislators. So this is a toe in the water toward the care-giving agenda that President Biden has talked about to try to narrow to some degree the income inequality that's characterized our economy in the 21st century. It's one step. He's hoping to take more steps later after this bill.

CAMEROTA: John Harwood, thank you very much.

HARWOOD: You bet.

CAMEROTA: So federal investigators are examining communications between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. They are trying to figure out if any lawmakers knowingly or unknowingly helped the insurrectionists. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is live in Washington with more. What have they figured out, Shimon?

[08:10:00] SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, and Alisyn, that's exactly the key question, trying to figure out if there's anything nefarious here. The fact is that in all of the arrests so far that the FBI has made, and some of the phones they have gotten from the rioters, they have seen contacts between them and some members of Congress. They've also obtained other information that indicates that there was contact in the times around the insurrection, the days leading up to January 6th, and then also on the day of the insurrection, January 6th. So they are trying to figure out exactly what those contacts are.

We don't know if they were text messages or if there were phone calls. We don't know the contents of some of those contacts and what they were talking about. But certainly, this has investigators very concerned and it is something they are looking at.

Another thing, Alisyn, that they have found is that in some of the phones that they did recover from the rioters, they themselves, among themselves, with each other, the rioters talking about their association with some members of Congress. That also has something -- is something that investigators are trying to figure out.

The thing is they've been trying to build out this conspiracy, the FBI, this conspiracy case, and as part of that, they've been gathering all sorts of cell phone information and other data to try and figure out exactly who these rioters were working with. And, obviously, to see that there's this kind of contact between some of them and members of Congress is certainly concerning for investigators.

BERMAN: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for that report.

We do have some breaking news. A new lawsuit just filed against the former president and his close allies for inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the lawsuit filed by California Congressman Eric Swalwell. CNN's Jessica Schneider live in Washington. This is the second lawsuit like this we've seen, Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, John, another member of Congress now suing former President Trump for that alleged role inciting the violence on January 6th. We saw the first lawsuit filed last month. This one being brought by California Democrat Eric Swalwell. He also was a House impeachment manager. This one a bit more robust in what it's claiming and who it is targeting.

So this not only names Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani as plaintiffs, but also Trump's son Don Junior and Congressman Mo Brooks, both of whom spoke at that rally before the Capitol was attacked. Now, this case alleges civil rights violations for interfering with Congress, like the last lawsuit, but it also alleges infliction of emotional address on members of Congress, a violation of D.C. law that outlaws incitement to riot, and also bias related crime. So there's a lot in this lawsuit.

And as we have seen, it accuses Trump and others of directly inciting the violence and blaming their repeated rhetoric that the election was rigged on encouraging their supporters to cause violence. So this one, like the other one, of course, it does face an uphill climb because of free speech claims that could be made, possible immunity claims from Trump. But it also opens up this possibility yet again that if it moves forward, Trump and others could be deposed. They could be subject to discovery that could provide us more information about what Trump and others at the White House knew about these plans to storm the Capitol if they knew anything at all.

Plus, this lawsuit, it not only seeks money damages from Trump, but interestingly, it also wants to mandate that Trump or these other defendants, his son, Mo Brooks, that they provide notice any time they plan a rally or event in D.C. or any other state capital that could potentially interfere with election related activity. Also, the members of Congress can go to court to potentially stop this rally.

So this case, like the other one, it could be a long shot, but it only compounds Trump's legal problems, Alisyn. He's facing investigations on a number of fronts, and now we're seeing these lawsuits, one last month and now the latest one from Congressman Eric Swalwell this morning. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It's really interesting, Jessica. So it's an uphill battle, I hear what you're saying, but is there precedent for this? Is it just a kind of -- not stunt, but is it futile, or is there history here?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there's question as to whether or not these lawsuits will move forward. Will they just be dismissed off the bat? But this case, this lawsuit in particular, it alleges a lot of different causes of action, infliction of emotional distress. So I do think this lawsuit as well as the other one we saw filed last month, they do have a leg to stand on. They're not completely frivolous. There's not a lot of precedent to this to stand on, but we'll see how far they move forward, and if, in fact, the former president and his son and others are forced to hand over material, it's going to be interesting to see how these progress, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Really helpful context. Jessica, thank you very much for all of that reporting.

So there's new concerns this morning about a spring break coronavirus surge. We have the latest from Miami Beach, Florida, next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY AT UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: We have early evidence that the spring break in Florida and college students is going to be a big one this year. That's one of the hot spots right now for this virus. In just a couple of weeks, all these students are going to be where all this virus is, and then they're going to be coming home.

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BERMAN: Health officials warn that spring break in Florida could be a new super-spreader event.

Right now, no state has more cases of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant, the one seen first in the United Kingdom. No state has seen more of it than Florida.

Joining me is Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.

Mr. Mayor, always a pleasure to have you on.

So, with Florida having a quarter of the cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the entire country, how concerned are you of another surge?

MAYOR DAN GELBER (D), MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Thanks, John. Thank you for having me.

And we're very concerned. You know, a lot of things are helping simultaneously. You've got the variant down here, and we still are having sometimes dozens of deaths a day in our county. And at the same time, we've got incredibly cheap round-trip tickets for 40 bucks, you know, from anywhere in the Northeast down here, discounted rooms and people who have been really in their -- bent up and wanting to get out with no other place to go than here.

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So we are very worried that there's going to be a convergence of people here and a real problem in the aftermath of that.

BERMAN: It's not so much the beaches, right? It's what happens after people are on the beach. Explain.

GELBER: Yeah, well, you know, we have 7-1/2 miles of beautiful beaches. Clearly, the science says that outdoors is not nearly as dangerous and there's a lot of room to spread out.

But all those people coming here go to bars, which are open, per the governor's order, go to restaurants, and most of our restaurants have been really responsible. There's a lot of outdoor dining. Hotels have been incredible in terms of setting up all the protections for people.

But it's really the bars and those other kinds of gatherings that might become the kinds of super-spreaders that I think we saw a year ago.

BERMAN: Explain to me -- you are limited in terms of what you can do in your -- in Miami Beach in the bars and restaurants. You can't shut them down below 50 percent capacity, right? So what can you do to try to control the spread?

GELBER: We can't fine anybody. We were the first city in the country after the CDC to have a mask mandate but we can't even fine anybody. We'd given out 1,000 violations before the governor said we couldn't enforce it that way.

So, what we're doing is we're doing what we can do. For instance, our police and code officers are there giving out masks, up to -- when they meet people. They -- to get them and encourage them to do that. We have people walking around, goodwill ambassadors handing out masks.

We are -- we have a curfew which is very helpful, a midnight curfew in the country. Close places down at midnight and often it's after midnight a lot of that kind of partying which becomes a super-spreader happens.

We're enforcing, we have an ambient noise ordinance. So, loud music, we've closed many places down because the CDC says loud music in a bar is exactly the way this virus spreads, clearly. So we are doing what we can in finding workarounds.

But it's very hard. And I would love to have the governor's voice urging people to be responsible, but we really don't have that right now.

BERMAN: So, Governor DeSantis is facing criticism for setting up vaccine drives in wealthy Florida communities. "The Miami Herald" reported nearly all of those age 65 and older in a wealthy, gated enclave in the Florida Keys have been vaccinated by mid-January, including one resident who contributed a quarter million dollars to the governor's super PAC.

Now, the governor denies the state had any involvement in that specific vaccine drive. But, you know, Congressman Charlie Crist is calling for a Department of Justice investigation.

Do you think that's warranted?

GERBER: Well, look, if that happened, of course, it's warranted. But until we know the facts, I would -- it would be unfair of me to make that accusation.

Now, that said, it's a federal benefit. The vaccine isn't owned by a governor, is not owned by a mayor. It's a federal benefit for all citizens and residents of our nation.

So, you really can't use it for political purposes, obviously for fundraising. If that happened, it would be terrible. I hope it didn't.

BERMAN: What evidence, if any, have you seen that wealthy Floridians are getting any kind of unfair advantage on vaccine distribution?

GERBER: Well, I think one of the things with vaccine distribution is that people who have wherewithal, who are Internet savvy, who have relatives who have means are going to do better than people from communities where there may be Internet divides, where there may be language issues.

You know, we have reached out to our congregate living communities which are by and large entirely sort of fixed income seniors, Hispanics often who don't speak English and we've actually -- we're one of the only cities doing this. We're going in with our firemen and bringing people down and giving them the vaccine.

We go to faith-based groups. And we -- they have -- they have a phone list because those people don't have emails. So, you really have to get to those groups that don't have the advantages that might come with wealth or just, frankly, wherewithal. And it's been a task. But we're very proud what we're doing here and I think a lot of communities are doing the same thing.

BERMAN: So, one more thing on Governor DeSantis because he takes a lot of flack from Democrats and people around the country. Florida schools have been open in person, for in-person learning since August. Businesses have been mostly open. There's no statewide mask mandate.

Yet Florida is ranked 27th in deaths per capita in the nation, better than stricter states like now, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts.

What do you attribute that to?

GERBER: Listen, I don't -- you can't compare apples to oranges on this. Compare yourself to what you've done.

All I know is this. Since we opened everything up and didn't allow us to impose a mask mandate, there has been a massive amount of suffering. And others before that, it was down, if you follow the time he did that order, it went up.

So you can't compare yourself to some place that doesn't have tourists or has more tourists than you or has more commercial residents. You have to compare yourself to what you do.

And all I know is once we pull back everything and said we're not even going to tell people they have to wear masks, we've had an enormous surge in deaths and hospitalizations.

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And that's the facts. That's science. That's provable.

BERMAN: Mayor Dan Gelber, we always like having you on. Thanks so much for being with us. Good luck in the next few weeks. Good luck keeping that music down. You know, turn down the music, kids.

GELBER: Right.

BERMAN: All right. The family of George Floyd speaking out as the police officer charged with killing him heads to trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: He was the judge, the jury and executioner all at once, right then and there when he took my brother's soul from his body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: More from his brother in his own words. A remarkable report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAMEROTA: This morning, George Floyd's brother is speaking out days before the former Minneapolis police officer charged in Floyd's death goes on trial for murder.

And CNN's Sara Sidner is live with the latest.

Sara, tell us about that conversation.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Alisyn. The trial for Derek Chauvin, the police officer seen on video kneeling on George Floyd's neck, begins on Monday with jury selection. And we were able to speak with Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Floyd.

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