Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Married Couple of 70 Years Dies of Coronavirus Minutes Apart; Biden to Sign Made in America Order; Sarah Sanders Announces Run for Arkansas Governor. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:19]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Just a few days after celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary, Dick and Shirley Meek of Ohio tested positive for coronavirus. The couple were childhood sweethearts and they passed away on January 16th within minutes of each other while holding hands at an Ohio hospital. The couple was scheduled to get their first dose of the vaccine three days after they died. Eighty- nine-year-old Dick Meek and 87-year-old Shirley Meek are survived by five children, 13 grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren.

Joining us now are three of their grandchildren, Jesse Fischer, Corey Fischer and Cassie Howell.

Guys, thank you so much for being here with us. We're so sorry for your loss.

CASSIE HOWELL, GRANDPARENTS DIED OF CORONAVIRUS: Thank you for having us.

JESSE FISCHER, GRANDPARENTS DIED OF CORONAVIRUS: Thank you.

COREY FISCHER, GRANDPARENTS DIED OF CORONAVIRUS: Thank you.

HOWELL: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Cassie, I want to start with you.

Tell us about your grandparents and their long marriage and their courtship and everything.

HOWELL: They truly were childhood sweethearts. My grandpa loves to tell the story of how he was riding by my grandma's house on his bike when he was a kid and saw her on the front porch. And he fell in love immediately.

And they have been together ever since. And they really truly loved each other for all of those years. And not only loved each other, they loved life. They were passionate. They were energetic. They were kind. They had the biggest hearts. And they just truly not only left a legacy of love for each other, but our entire family. They taught us all really what love is.

CAMEROTA: Jesse, the pictures of them are incredible. I mean just the picture of them through the decades. Those are some good-looking grandparents you had. I mean they -- and they're just together, you know, obviously in every shot. And I know that you want to make the point of just what dedicated grandparents and family members they were to all of you.

J. FISCHER: Well, like Cassie alluded to, they set the example for all of us and the family of what a marriage is and what a family is. And, you know, one of our best memories as grandchildren was getting together out at their house for not just holidays and special occasions, but just for a weekend to go have a slumber party with our cousins when we were kids growing up. And a lot of the stuff that they let us do, most -- most parents and grandparents probably, you know, would cringe at, but they loved it. They loved the grandkids being there, the sounds of laughter and playing and maybe even a little destruction.

CAMEROTA: Corey, we have a picture of them with you at your graduation. I know that it was their practice to just drive wherever you guys were.

[08:35:03]

And -- here it is. Look how stylish your grandparents are, OK, first of all. Second of all, just, you know, they would drive from state to state for when any of you had children or graduated or sporting events. I mean they were dedicated.

C. FISCHER: Oh, yes. It's nothing to see them at a soccer game for one of my kids on a Thursday night or Friday afternoon in North Carolina for one of the grandkids on Saturday afternoon. But, in fact, there was a funny story with them traveling with my wife when we were -- that's my second graduation from a mortuary school in Cincinnati. And I threw a surprise birthday party because we were -- she was stuck with our oldest in the apartment while I was at school all day and we threw a surprise party at a restaurant there and I told her parents, my parents and, of course, my grandparents on both sides and everybody made an evening of it, staying overnight. But not them. They just came down -- they drove three hours to eat dinner, turn around and went home that night. And that -- that was them. I mean we got to the point where we started hiding stuff from them to an extent because I knew grandpa would stand outside and watch a soccer game in 32 degree rain driving sideways. So we just would kind of forget to tell him about some of them.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. I mean their energy is a marvel.

But, Cassie, I'm sure that when they got sick -- I mean they -- your grandma was 87, right, and your grandpa, was he 89 or 90? I mean either way, when they got sick, you must have been terribly, terribly worried, of course, about them, but they were not so worried. I mean did they think that they would survive COVID?

HOWELL: You know, grandpa was determined to make it to his 90th birthday, which would have been January 19th. And when they first got sick, they said they just had colds. And then they tested positive. But they were so determined. We all talked to them on the phone and facetimed them before and even after they initially went into the hospital. They never once faltered. They never once sounded worried or scared. They were determined to beat it.

They didn't have a doubt in their mind that they wouldn't be back home packing for their annual trip to Florida. They were just more annoyed that their trip was going to be delayed. They just -- they were determined to fight and beat it. And I don't really think that they ever considered another outcome. They still had several good years left. They were ready to live them.

CAMEROTA: And so, Jesse, just tell us the significance for your family of the idea that they died minutes apart from each other and holding hands.

J. FISCHER: Well, I think that's one thing that kind of gives our family a little bit of solace, you know, in a terrible situation is the fact that one of them did not have to bear the loss of the other. They were together so much, everywhere, traveling the globe, and their -- their love story, which now the world is learning about, how can you write a better ending for them? It hurts for us, but we can be selfish here and want to keep people with us when I think the -- the nurse at Riverside, who was so great, Mariah Sawers (ph), she summed it up so well. Grandpa was the perfect gentleman. He let grandma go first and he followed right behind her. And how can you describe it any better than that? You know, just an amazing ending to an amazing life and an amazing marriage.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

And, Cassie, I know that your own daughter's birthday I believe was this weekend and did she get a card from your grandma?

HOWELL: My grandma -- my grandma already had cards addressed to the grandchildren who had birthdays in January and February. And so, yes, when I checked the mail on my daughter's birthday, her 13th birthday is Saturday, there was a card, handwritten, from my grandma. And that's who she was. She kept up on correspondence and not only did we have them for such a long time as grandkids, so many of our children got to know them and that was such a gift for us be -- our children be blessed by them as well.

CAMEROTA: I, too, got a card from my grandma after she died and it was just like -- it was a though it was a communications from heaven. I mean it was such a gift that I treasure now. And I know that your daughter will, too.

Jesse and Corey and Cassie, thank you so much for sharing a little bit of your grandparents with us. They seem so wonderful. And you're lucky to have them for all of those years. We're sorry for your loss, but thank you very much for your personal story.

HOWELL: Thank you so much. J. FISCHER: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:41]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Biden administration's first full week in office kicks off with a focus on buy American. The president will sign an executive order today aimed at strengthening American manufacturing.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now with that.

Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

You know, the president working to sell Congress on his $1.9 trillion economic rescue. And he's moving ahead with executive orders in the meantime. Today it is made in America, directing government agencies to buy U.S.-made goods.

Now, right now, federal rules require a portion of government spending be allocated to goods made in the U.S., but there are loopholes depending on the material, the amount of the purchase and what qualifies as American made. So Biden's executive order closes some of those loopholes. It changes how domestic content is defined and how it is measured. It connects new businesses with government contracts and creates a senior position at the Office of Management and Budget.

Now, Biden fulfilling his campaign promise that the government needs to fight for American workers. You know, the pandemic has devastated the manufacturing sector here. Manufacturing has lost 543,000 jobs since February. It's the rare area the Biden administration is not veering from Trump's America first policies. And American allies, John, by the way, are watching this warily. They're hungry for the actual language of this action. Over the weekend, Canada's foreign affairs minister said it might jeopardize the integrated supply chains that exist between the United States and Canada.

[08:45:05]

John.

BERMAN: That's right, the language here is going to matter a lot.

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely.

BERMAN: A whole lot of people waiting for that.

Christine Romans, thanks very much. So there's been all this talk about what happens next to the Republican Party. Will it still be the former president's party? Well, here's a sign, a former top aide making a big announcement. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, developing this morning, former Trump White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders just announced her bid for governor of Arkansas.

Listen to a little bit of the video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Their socialism and cancel culture will not heal America. It will only further divide and destroy us. Everything we love about America is at stake. And with the radical lefts now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:50:01]

BERMAN: All right, joining us now, CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.

John, if you can, you know, leave aside for the fact Sarah Huckabee talking about cancel culture. She took away press passes from reporters. So, you know, there's hypocrisy there.

But I think the larger picture here is what is most interesting and it has to do with the future of the Republican Party. What do Republicans want? Do they want the fat-free celebrity aspect of it or are they going to revert to a different type of party? And this may tell us.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, in Arkansas, I don't think that is going to be the sign of how the Republican Party reacts in the rest of the country. Donald Trump won Arkansas by almost 30 percentage points, beat Joe Biden almost two to one. And so the Trump message of 2020, the same message, by the way, that produced that insurrection against the U.S. Capitol, was kind of popular in Arkansas. So Sarah Sanders is saying in that video, they are coming to get you. We are the last line of defense for your way of life. It's wildly exaggerated. Of course, it's not true. But that's something that appeals to that white working class, blue collar vote that feels besieged by the way the country is changing demographically and economically.

So, Sarah Sanders also has the advantage of having not only been the White House press secretary, but her father was a successful governor in Arkansas. So that is an ideal petri dish for the Trumpist element of the party to prove that they're still in control. It may not be representative of elsewhere, but she's got a pretty good chance in Arkansas. CAMEROTA: Well, OK, the message is so confusing. I mean the radical --

with the radical left now in charge of Washington. Is Joe Biden wearing that horn helmet that we saw, you know, part of the marauding mob to the Capitol? Like, I -- it's just -- it's confounding.

But, so too are what Republicans are now saying about that mob and what happened in the insurrection at the Capitol and the impeachment trial, you're hearing more people vocally, I mean Senator Marco Rubio yesterday said -- he called it stupid that there would be a trial. I mean don't they still want answers? Don't they still want accountability or justice?

HARWOOD: No, they don't. What they want -- what people like Marco Rubio wants is for this to go away so he can start screening, which he already has, radical socialists at Joe Biden the same way Sarah Sanders was in that video. Joe Biden wasn't president for two days and he proposed that COVID relief bill and took some other steps on immigration executive orders before Marco Rubio said, look at this radical socialist agenda.

The quicker they can get away from the discussion of this massive crime against the United States that was perpetrated by a Republican president and his sympathizers, that was enabled by people like Marco Rubio over an extend period of time, the quicker they can try to unify themselves around attacking Joe Biden. That's why this prospect that Joe Biden has of trying to get bipartisan support, it's not impossible, but it's going to be very, very difficult.

Republicans simply want this to go away. They're going to fall back on to process arguments and say, well, the trial shouldn't even take place. They do not want to cast that vote over whether to acquit or convict Donald Trump. But it appears that they're going to have to.

BERMAN: So you just used the b-word there, bipartisanship. And my question this morning is, is it a four-letter word? I mean not literally but figuratively.

And, John, you're a little more bullish than some, or at least not as bearish as some on the issue of whether or not it's possible for President Biden to get any Republicans to support parts of his agenda. And specifically I'm talking about the relief plan.

HARWOOD: Right.

Look, my point is that, if it is possible -- and that is very -- a dubious proposition -- Joe Biden is the best politician on the Democratic scene who's capable of bringing that about by virtue of his experience, his personality. This is an economic, a bread and butter agenda that he's pushing. That's something that is the optimum territory for Democrats to try to appeal to some of those people who've drifted away from their party. And you also have the horrendous nature of Donald Trump's exit from the presidency. That in theory has the potential that some Republicans will say we need to show that we can work with the other side and not align ourselves with the intractable forces that produced that intersection. I think the early signs, as you guys have been discussing this

morning, criticism from Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, are not promising. However, they're not the end of the story. We've got a negotiation going on. It's not unlikely that Joe Biden would get a $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan, even if Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate. It's going to be paired down to some extent.

And the question for Biden is, what do I have to give up to get some Republican support, if I can get it?

[08:55:03]

And is that worth it? Otherwise, do I fall back to an all Democratic approach to this? He may end up having to do that. I don't think he's prepared to make that decision yet. He'll probably let it play out for at least a couple of more weeks.

BERMAN: Where's the harmonica, John?

CAMEROTA: I -- yes, is that -- is Bob Dylan with you or are you just jamming out to it?

HARWOOD: What's that, Dylan?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: We're hear -- we're hearing --

HARWOOD: Oh, no, that --

BERMAN: Go ahead.

HARWOOD: You know, the end stage of the Trump campaign, we've been having music blaring across Lafayette Park the entire time. And sometimes it was profane attacks on Donald Trump and sometimes it's rock music. Now we've got -- we had Marvin Gaye earlier. Now we've got a little Dylan going on. That's the sound track of this moment that we're in.

BERMAN: Next time we expect you to sing along, John.

HARWOOD: Yes.

CAMEROTA: The times, they are a changing.

HARWOOD: No, you do not want that to happen.

CAMEROTA: John, thank you very much.

I like it.

BERMAN: It was good.

CAMEROTA: I mean, why not.

BERMAN: I mean at first I couldn't recognize what they were playing, but then it became clear that it was Dylan at the end.

CAMEROTA: Anyway, it got louder.

OK.

CNN's coverage continues, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Two weeks from today this country will witness something that has never happened before, that is a former president tried, President Trump, in fact, his second impeachment trial.

[09:00:07]