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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden's Brother Touts Relationship with President in Law Firm Ad; New York Attorney General Report: New York State Undercounted COVID Nursing Home Deaths; Donald Trump Jr. Calls Into Rally Against GOP Rep. Liz Cheney; Pakistan's Top Court Rules Men Convicted of Kidnapping & Murdering Journalist Daniel Pearl Should Be Released. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired January 28, 2021 - 16:30   ET

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

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly convinced a deal with any Republicans on Biden's $1.9 trillion proposal is simply not possible, sources say.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The smartest thing we can do is act big.

MATTINGLY: And they are ready to push ahead on a partisan basis.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We would hope that we would have bipartisan Cooperation, but we're not taking any tools off the table should they not.

MATTINGLY: All as the depth of the economic destruction wrought by COVID comes to light. The U.S. economy contracted 3.5 percent in 2020, the first annual decline since the 2008 financial crisis, and the worst drop since 1946.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Middle of this COVID crisis.

MATTINGLY: The damage from the pandemic also driving Biden's newest executive action on Obamacare, the man who made BFD famous.

BIDEN: This is a big (EXPLETIVE DELETED) deal.

MATTINGLY: Now re-opening the law, the deal was so big, as he presses to undo his predecessor's efforts to kill the law.

BIDEN: Basically, the best way to describe it, to undo the damage Trump has done.

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MATTINGLY: And, Jake, the White House also announced on Thursday it's their policy not to allow any business to imply it has the endorsement from President Biden. That would obviously be a shift from his predecessor.

The reason it's coming up right now is on inauguration day, a Boca Raton law firm for which Biden's brother, Frank Biden, serves as an adviser, had an advertisement in a local newspaper touting Frank Biden's ties to his brother. The White House did not specifically comment on that ad but making sure they don't endorse such behavior implying any presidential endorsement of a deal, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: That's right. Biden told me his brothers and sons would not engage in anything that appears to be a conflict of interest. That's already been violated to a degree.

Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

The vaccine rollout mess taking a new turn. A 22-year-old accused of giving a shot to his buddies, just one of several wild and potentially illegal developments that we found. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our "National Lead", devastating news from New York state where Governor Andrew Cuomo is currently facing new questions after a new report by the state attorney general accusing his Department of Health of severely underreporting the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.

In March 2020, the Cuomo administration blocked nursing homes from rejecting any residents solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnose for COVID. More than 6,000 residents were then admitted even after having tested positive which very well could have increased the spread of the virus. Cuomo eventually reversed the order but he has insisted it was in line with federal recommendations.

At the time, the Cuomo administration has since been accused of trying to keep the high nursing home death toll numbers under wraps. The state only counting residents who died at nursing homes, not residents who were moved to hospitals where they died. That would keep the reported death count lower.

The report from the Attorney General Latisha James, a fellow Democrat, says, quote, government guidance requiring the admission of COVID-19 patients at the nursing homes may have put residents in increased of harm in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess that risk, unquote.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins me now.

Brynn, what are the most damning findings in this report?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, you know, this is something that's dogged the governor and his health department for a better part of a year now, and essentially, the Department of Health publicly posted numbers on nursing home deaths today. If you look at that, it counts about 8,700 people. So, this A.G. report suggests thousands more residents whose deaths are already recorded should be reflected in those nursing home statistics. This is a big difference and matters as you can imagine for those families who for nearly a year now feel like their loved ones weren't properly accounted for by the state.

And this is also, of course, important for state lawmakers, Democrats as well, who for months have been demanding from the state an accurate count of how many nursing home residents died from COVID-19.

Now, in addition to what you already mentioned about the March order by the Cuomo administration, a controversial state Health Department report released last summer said the March memo wasn't to blame for an increase in deaths. But this A.G. report questions all of that saying the guidance issued in March put residents at risk. Quote: Nursing home implementation of some guidance may have led to an increased risk of fatalities in some facilities and may have obscured data reported by nursing homes.

Now, the state Health Department just commented on this report to CNN in part saying, quote: The word, undercount, implies there are more total fatalities than have been reported. This is factually wrong. In fact, the OAG report, itself, repudiates the suggestion that there was any undercount of the total death number. The OAG's report is only referring to the count of people who were in nursing homes but transferred to hospitals and later died.

Now, in addition to all of that, the A.G.'s office received reports and found some nursing homes, Jake, weren't following infection control protocols like, get this, not separating COVID-positive patients from other residents, not having enough PPE on hand, PPE, and demanding sick employees still come to work or possibly get fired or not properly screening staff members. Of course, all of this contributing to the spread of the virus among the most vulnerable.

And here's the rub. Last year, Jake, the state legislature and the governor created some immunity for nursing homes, protecting them from potential liability. So what the consequences will be for these homes and the state, really, it's unclear at this point.

TAPPER: All right. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Also on our national lead today, the rush to vaccinate as many Americans as possible for COVID led to shady behind the scenes deals, from Washington state, where wealthy hospital donors were reportedly invited by a Bellevue hospital to cut in line to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where a student now admits he took vaccine doses home to give them to his friends.

CNN's Sara Murray takes a closer look at how any of this was even possible.

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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the sprint to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans as quickly as possible, alleged bad acts are already beginning to appear. ANDREI DOROSHIN, CEO OF PHILLY FIGHTING COVID: Really the health

department here who's giving us a shot and they're trusting us with their vaccines.

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MURRAY: Philadelphia now cutting ties with the group, Philly Fighting COVID.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In retrospect, we should have been more careful with this organization.

MURRAY: Its 22-year-old founder admitting he pocketed vaccine doses for his friends when they were supposed to be earmarked for vaccination sites to serve health care workers.

DOROSHIN: The doses were about to expire. We called everybody we knew, every single person.

MURRAY: Andrei Doroshin also admitting he isn't qualified to administer vaccines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, Andrei, you're not qualified, right?

DOROSHIN: No. That is my mistake to carry for the rest of my life, but it is not the mistake of the organization.

MURRAY: The group drawing scrutiny from Philadelphia's district attorney who called their reported activities concerning, and asked the public for any information on crimes related to this matter. In Washington state, a hospital blasted out an email to its major donors advertising available vaccine appointments.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): If, in fact, they were giving preference to some VIP list, that's not the way to do it. That is not acceptable for us.

MURRAY: Now, Overlake Medical Center is apologizing saying: We recognize we made a mistake by including a subset of our donors and by not adopting a broader outreach strategy to fill these appointments.

In Georgia, the public health department says the medical center of Elberton was booted from the state's vaccination program after providing shots to local school district staffers even though they weren't yet eligible for vaccines.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): I share your hope that we can vaccinate these deserving Georgians soon. The truth is, we do not yet have enough vaccine.

MURRAY: And in Florida, a fire rescue captain allegedly stole vaccine to try to inoculate his mother, pressuring a paramedic who ended up forging the paperwork for the missing doses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely disappointing. MURRAY: Joshua Collin recently named the county's paramedic of the

year, now under arrest, along with Anthony Domiano (ph), the fire captain he covered for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can run but you can't hide.

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MURRAY: Now, CNN has not been able to get in touch with Domiano (ph). But Colon's (ph) attorney in a statement says he regrets his weakness and failing to alert the chain of command to the theft of the vaccine. We also reached out to Andrei Doroshin in Philadelphia and have not heard back from him.

And, Jake, of course, it bears noting most of the folks out there trying to administer these vaccines are doing the best jobs they can. They're honest brokers in this. But, of course, a few bad acts are emerging.

TAPPER: That's right. In a crisis, you see the best of humanity and you just brought us some of the worst.

Sara Murray, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

The effort to punish a top Republican who voted to impeach President Trump now drawing a member of the Trump family back into the spotlight. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our politics lead, one week since leaving Washington, D.C., members of the Trump family are in the spotlight again today.

Just in the last hour, Donald Trump Jr. called into a rally in Wyoming with Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, urging MAGA supporters to vote Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney out for Congress for voting to impeach his father.

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DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP (via telephone): The people of Wyoming are clearly not thrilled with Liz Cheney, I'd find someone who can replace her and actually do that job well.

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TAPPER: As I said, Congresswoman Cheney voted in favor of impeaching Donald Trump. That was her offense.

Let's discuss. Ron and Abby -- Abby, I mean, did the Trump era end?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Apparently not. I think, you know, Don Jr. seems to be up to his usually shenanigans focused mostly on political considerations that are squarely focused on his father, rather than the Republican Party at large.

I mean, this is exactly the kind of thing that, obviously, the minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, is trying to avoid, this sort of Republicans eating their own narrative. But that is exactly what is happening here. And the only person who benefits from this is Donald Trump who is no longer in office, even though McCarthy says that he's going to help elect Republicans in the House and the Senate. I think Republicans have a real reason to be skeptical of that, especially after what happened in Georgia, when the president seemed to put his own political fortunes ahead of his party.

TAPPER: And, Ron, just yesterday, CNN reported that House Minority Leader McCarthy told his fellow Republicans in a call to, quote, cut the crap when it came to attacking each other. One day after that, Congressman Matt Gaetz goes to Wyoming which is kind of far from his home district in Florida and he and Don Jr. rally against the number- three Republican in the House.

I mean, did McCarthy's threats mean anything to the Trump wing of the party?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No. I mean, look, and the Trump wing of the party, you know, remains the party. I mean, this is exactly what Republicans have let themselves in for, as we discussed before, by allowing Trump's unfounded claims, his lies about the election, to take root because they basically guarantee his influence in the party remains enormous.

You can't look at him and say, well, he led us to defeat. No, he wasn't defeated. It was stolen. You know, that argument.

And by allowing and abetting that argument, they have put themselves in a position where his tattoo on the party getting deeper and deeper. It is worth noting while Republicans are still overwhelmingly bending the knee to Trump as we saw in the Senate as well, there was new polling out today from the Public Religion Research Institute that roughly three-fifths of Americans overall says he's encouraging white supremacist groups and he bears a lot of responsibility for the attack on the capitol.

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I mean, they are deepening their association with him, even after an unprecedented riot that raises deep questions about the extent of his reach through the electorate going forward.

TAPPER: And, meanwhile, as they go after Liz Cheney, they're standing by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican from Georgia who's a conspiracy theorist and a bigot. Speaker Pelosi attacked McCarthy today for putting Marjorie Taylor Greene on the education committee, even after video had surfaced of Greene attacking a Parkland survivor, after news that she had spread conspiracy theories about Parkland, about Sandy Hook. Now, the congresswoman just responded. Congresswoman Greene just

responded to efforts to punish her saying in a statement that, quote, Democrats want to take me out because I represent the people and they absolutely hate it.

Abby, what do you think?

PHILLIP: Well, this is part of the same, you know, it's the other side of the coin of the Matt Gaetz situation where you're seeing the so-called Trump wing of the party really running the show here. And Marjorie Taylor Greene not only is not being reprimanded for her well- known conspiratorial comments and beliefs, but she has also been welcomed into the Republican Party by Trump, himself, being invited to the White House multiple times when Trump was president. Even after all of these views had been well known, her sympathies for QAnon and so on and so forth.

This is just further evidence that, you know, Kevin McCarthy as a minority leader has absolutely no intention of moving these sort of fringe views outside of their party, placing her on a committee and saying he's going to give her a slap on the wrist is about, you know, as weak of a reprimand as you can get. It's not even a reprimand. It's just him skirting the issue altogether. And this is something that I think could be very destructive to the Republican Party. Just given how really out of the -- beyond the pale some of these views are on Sandy Hook, on Marjorie Taylor Greene, high school, all of these view are reprehensible.

TAPPER: Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

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PHILLIP: Sorry.

TAPPER: No problem.

And it's -- and she's a bigot, too, an anti-Muslim bigot. I mean, it's reprehensible.

Ron Brownstein, Abby Phillip, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, free to go. The killers who beheaded American journalist Daniel Pearl have been released from prison. What U.S. officials are planning to do about it -- that's next.

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TAPPER: Troubling news in our world lead. The four men accused of beheading American journalist Daniel Pearl should be released from prison, Pakistan's top court has ruled. Pearl was working as the South Asia bureau chief of "The Wall Street Journal" back in 2002 when he was kidnapped in southern Pakistan and brutally murdered. A video of his beheading caused international outrage and fears of the growing and now-ever present threat of radical Islamic terrorism. CNN's Alex Marquardt joins us to discuss now.

Alex, what was the court's reasoning for releasing these killers?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, remarkably, Jake, they haven't really said. We're waiting to see the court documents. But essentially, what they did is they upheld the ruling from a lower court, from a provincial court, that last year had overturned the sentences of these four men including the alleged ringleader.

His name is Ahmed Omar Sheikh. He had been convicted and sentenced to death row. His sentence last year reduced to seven years. So that's essentially time spent.

Now, after that was overturned last year. And this was the wording of the court then, that these men suffered had irreparable harm and extreme prejudice. They were not released. They still have not been released even though the Supreme Court has ordered them to be released. They're still being held under Pakistan's national security authorities -- Jake.

TAPPER: These men, terrorists, are obviously very dangerous. What is the Biden administration doing about this?

MARQUARDT: Well, some very strong words from the White House today. The White House is saying that the U.S. is outraged about it. The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, as well as the Secretary of State Tony Blinken saying that this is an affront to victims of terror everywhere. They have called on Pakistan to review all of their legal options, including having the U.S. prosecute Sheikh for the murder of Daniel Pearl.

We got a statement just a short time ago from the Secretary of State Tony Blinken which says that: We are also prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the United States for his horrific crimes against an American citizen. We are committed to securing justice for Daniel Pearl's family and holding terrorists accountable -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Alex Marquardt, thanks so much. And stay on this story, please, because the Pearl family deserves justice at the very, very least.

Before we go, we want to remember one of the 431,000 people who have died of COVID in the U.S. -- Corky Lee.

Corky Lee was a legendary photographer known for documenting the life of Asian-Americans. He was born and raised in Queens, New York.

He was a founding member of the local chapter of the Asian-American Journalists Association. The organization says that old photos of the transcontinental railroad inspired Lee to become a photographer. He noticed that there were no Asians in the photos even though, obviously, thousands of Chinese migrants were vital to its construction. In addition to photography, Corky Lee was also a political activist.

He helped petition New York City to create bilingual voting ballots. He spent two weeks in the ICU with COVID before he died yesterday. Corky Lee was 73 years old.

To the Lee family, our deepest condolences and may his memory be a blessing.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @TheLeadCNN.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

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