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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Republican Infighting Over Party's Future; Democrats Work to Hammer Out Stimulus Relief Bill. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired February 08, 2021 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:34:32]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our politics lead: The White House says that President Biden plans to watch little, if any of former President Trump's impeachment trial when it begins tomorrow in the Senate.

Instead, Biden is focused on passing this massive coronavirus relief deal -- quote -- "as quickly as possible."

But new fractures in the Democratic Party are threatening to derail that deal, including a public debate over whether or not raising the federal minimum wage should be part of the bill and just how many Americans should be get a $1,400 stimulus check, as CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports.

[16:35:06]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Returning to Washington today, President Biden immediately faced questions about his predecessor's looming impeachment trial.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, he's got an offer to come and testify. He has decided not to. We will let the Senate work that out.

COLLINS: For weeks, Biden has gone out of his way to avoid weighing in on former President Trump's fate, as aides say he will be too busy to watch the proceedings.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think it's clear from his schedule and from his intention he will not spend too much time watching the proceedings, if any time, over the course of this week.

COLLINS: Biden is set to counterprogram Trump's trial, as he attempts to keep the focus on his legislative debut, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

PSAKI: We have already announced his plans to go visit the NIH, to go visit the Department of Defense.

COLLINS: Biden has moved on from courting Republican support and is now focusing on fast-tracking the bill with only Democrats on his side. PSAKI: Obviously, it's -- the most likely path at this point is

through a reconciliation process.

COLLINS: But now Democrats must battle it out over the bill and whether to include Biden's $15 minimum wage proposal, which he hinted in an interview Friday wouldn't make the final cut.

BIDEN: Apparently, that's not going to occur because of the rules in the United States Senate.

NORAH O'DONNELL, HOST, "CBS EVENING NEWS": So, you're saying the minimum wage won't be in this...

BIDEN: My guess is, it will not be in it.

COLLINS: But that was before the Senate parliamentarian had ruled whether the minimum wage requirement could be included.

(on camera): Who had told him that he wasn't going to make it through likely?

PSAKI: Well, the president was in Congress for -- in the Senate for 36 years. Again, it still has not worked its way through the process. And that can take a bit of time. And we certainly defer to the parliamentarian.

COLLINS (voice-over): While Biden seemed ready to move on without the minimum wage increase included for now, other progressives are still pushing for it.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I can tell you, as chairman of the Budget Committee, we have a room full of lawyers working as hard as we can to make the case to the parliamentarian that, in fact, raising the minimum wage will have significant budget implications.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Jake, Democrats are also planning a child tax credit that would be part of this coronavirus relief proposal.

Right now, the framework is about $3,600 for children, per children under 6 years of age, about $3,000, going up until 17 years of age. Of course, that would phase out depending on how much money the parents were making, about $75,000 for individuals, $150,000 for couples, though we should note that is far from final, and it's still got to go through the Senate as they're working on this proposal right now as it is.

TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki today trying to clean up President Biden's comments after he told Norah O'Donnell that former President Trump should not get intelligence briefings because of his -- quote -- "erratic behavior."

COLLINS: Yes, that was news, in and of itself, that a current president would say that about a former president, because of course, former presidents enjoyed that access as a courtesy.

But the White House is now saying that this is not a final decision that President Biden has made. And, instead, they are still going to rely on those intelligence officials for what this decision should be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: He was expressing his concern about former President Trump receiving access to sensitive intelligence. But he also has deep trust in his intelligence, own intelligence team to make a determination about how to provide intelligence information, if at any point the former president requests a briefing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, that last part there is also critical to this, Jake, because then I later asked Jen Psaki to clarify: Has President Trump asked for an intelligence briefing? And she said not that she knows of.

TAPPER: They could just blame this all on Trump's former deputy director of national security -- or national intelligence, Sue Gordon, who's the one who raised this. I don't know why they're handling this so clumsily.

Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Let's bring in my team to discuss.

Gloria, let's first start with this balancing act for Democrats.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

TAPPER: You heard Kaitlan detailing these emerging splits in the Democratic Party, specifically over the minimum wage and the stimulus checks, who should get them, what the threshold is for income.

Is there a risk here that Biden's first big bet, this COVID relief deal, ends up falling apart?

BORGER: Well, there is a risk. And let me tell you two words, Joe Manchin.

Joe Manchin is somebody who is a very moderate Democrat, West Virginia. And he came out and said -- and he got other moderates to agree with him -- to say, look, I don't want it to be $150,000. I'd rather it were $100,000 top earning per couple if you're to get these stimulus checks.

And now it's much more than that. So I think there's going to have to be some give on the targeting of these stimulus checks. And the president has indicated that that might be OK with him.

The minimum wage, you heard Bernie Sanders say they're going to try and find a way to make this happen. But the president kind of threw in the towel when he spoke with Norah O'Donnell, and that's got lots of progressives upset.

[16:40:07]

So, he's got to keep his 50 votes together. And that's becoming more and more difficult.

TAPPER: Meanwhile, Ayesha, progressives are hammering Biden and Senate Democrats for talking about the stimulus check being $1,400 for individuals. The way that they get that figure is you combine with the December checks for $600 per individuals. That makes $2,000.

But after the December deal passed, in January, Biden, Harris, Warnock and Ossoff and Georgia, they weren't talking about cutting a $1,400 stimulus check. They were talking about $2,000. As our friend Mehdi Hasan says, this is a broken promise, in the view of progressives. Is that fair?

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR: Well I think this is something that was dealt with.

And, as you said earlier, this was something that was dealt with a bit clumsily, this issue of whether it was going -- whether the $600 was a down payment on what -- and that they would get $2,000. But, certainly, some voters likely heard that they were going to get $2,000 checks, and now they're talking about $1,400 checks.

And it may not even go to the same people or not as many people may get the $1,400 checks. So this is something about messaging and the message that you send forth, and being clear when you're campaigning and making those promises exactly what people are going to get, because they're going to know what shows up in their bank account.

TAPPER: Yes.

RASCOE: I am skeptical of whether people are how much individuals are really looking at, OK, am I going to get $1,400? Am I going to get $2,000? I think that, because they got the $600 in the past, I'm not sure whether voters, how much they will hold Democrats to account for that.

But, overall, people are looking for help. They're looking for something that is going to make a difference. And I think that if they don't see some material changes in their own predicaments and their own life, that's what's going to -- what Democrats are going to have to pay a price for.

TAPPER: And, Gloria, while dealing with all this, the new Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is also trying to fend off possible primary challengers from the progressive left at home in New York.

"The New York Times" writes -- quote -- "Armed with a sweeping set of policy promises, he's courting the activists, organizers and next- generation elected officials in New York who would likely make up the backbone of any effort to dethrone him, should one ever arise."

It's kind of the Ed Markey approach to keeping his Senate seat, fending off the challenge from Joe Kennedy. Is there a risk that if it's a smaller-than-expected COVID deal, that could hurt Schumer?

BORGER: Sure.

Look, he's trying to cover his left flank. And it's a really large problem. I mean, you have AOC out there saying that you can't cut back the income level of those who are entitled to get these checks, pushing for the minimum wage increase. And you have the president listening to moderates within his own party.

He's also listening to some Republicans on that to target the stimulus a little bit more. Everybody knows Joe Biden of yore is somebody who actually liked to negotiate and cut these deals. But he feels pressure from the left as well. So where they end up is going to be very important to Chuck Schumer.

TAPPER: Ayesha, meanwhile, Republicans are dealing with much bigger fights over much more ridiculous issues, the issue of whether or not they should double down with liars and conspiracy theorists.

Axios is reporting that Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to get Liz Cheney to apologize for voting to impeach President Trump in front of the Republican Caucus last week. She did not. She's still not backing down.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (D-WY): We have to make sure that we are able to convey to the American voters we are the party of responsibility, we are the party of truth, that we actually can be trusted to handle the challenges this nation faces like COVID. And that's going to require us to focus on substance and policy and issues going forward.

But we should not be embracing the former president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: "We should not be embracing" Trump.

How many Republicans do you think agree with her?

RASCOE: Well, publicly, I don't think you're going to get a whole bunch of them.

I mean, you will have Liz Cheneys -- the Liz Cheneys of the world, Mitt Romney in the Senate and some others, Ben Sasse, but you're not going to have -- and we have seen in the Senate and the House that you're not going to have that support or that turning away from President -- from former President Trump. You're just not seeing that.

Liz Cheney has basically said: Hold the vote on me. See -- and she's still in her number three spot. And so now she is emboldened. And she's making a bet, or she -- you know, it can happen.

[16:45:00] She may be standing on principle, that the idea that, you know, this party -- that Trump cannot be the future of the Republican Party. That is a stance she's taking. It will be interesting to see in the future what voters say. What does the base of the Republican Party say? Because right now, they have not broken with Trump.

So will they make the Liz Cheneys of the world and, you know, others who have been critical, will they make them pay? And because they're the ones that are really going to decide what the Republican Party is.

TAPPER: Yeah, Ayesha Rascoe, and, Gloria Borger, thanks so much.

BORGER: Sure.

TAPPER: Really appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

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[16:50:07]

TAPPER: In conflict of interest watch in our politics lead, in December, I had a simple request for then-President-elect Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Will your brothers, will your son take leave from any business interests, not just foreign, but any business interests that might create any even appearance of impropriety?

JOE BIDEN, THEN-PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: My son, my family will not be in involved in any business, any enterprise that is in conflict with or appears to be a conflict, whether there's appropriate distance from the presidency and government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's not clear, however, if the Florida law firm that the president's brother, Frank, works for is honoring that pledge. Frank Biden is a senior adviser for the Berman law group. He's not an attorney, but he's a senior adviser, and he's profiled prominently on the firm's website. The firm also featured Frank's ties to the president in a Florida newspaper ad that just happened to run on inauguration day.

To discuss, let's bring in Walter Shaub. He was director of the Office of Government Ethics, and left under Trump in 2017. We should not before angry tweets that Walter has been a fierce critic of sleaze and the thousands of conflicts of interests that occurred during the Trump years. So, he's been consistent.

Let's talk about the Bidens, if we can, Walter. Last year, this law firm filed two lawsuits against China related to the pandemic. The firm told CNN, quote, there have been no discussions including, between the firm, including Frank Biden, with President Biden, the campaign, transition or administration about the law firm or any cases, including China-related matters, nor will there be.

The White House says that its counsel's office, family representatives have addressed potential conflicts of interests. The law firm may not have done anything wrong.

What do you think here? Is there a problem with at least the appearance of a conflict of interest?

WALTER SHAUB, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think there is a problem here. And it's an appearance problem, admittedly, but appearance matters in a period when we're trying to rebuild after what was inarguably the most unethical presidency in our history. We have Joe Biden coming in as a reformer, and having pledged that there would be a real distance between him and his family, and already, we've seen Frank Biden's law firm touting his connection to the firm and noting that he's a relative of the president's.

You know, I think it's not enough for the White House to tell us they have a mysterious process of some sort. I'd like them to tell us what that process is. And although it's not required by the rules, we're in a period when we're rebuilding from ethical failures, so I'd like to hear the president say that he has asked his brother to stop touting the connection to the White House.

Now, he can't control his brother, but he certainly can reassure us that he has asked him. He can share what the process they put in place is, and he can also ask that all of his political appointees will refrain from dealings with the law firm and defer to career government officials to handle any matters that arise. I think that would go a long way to resolving the appearance concern, and I hope they'll do that, because they haven't done it yet.

TAPPER: A White House spokesperson tells CNN that the president, quote, has pledged an absolute wall with any family members' private business interest, any implications to the contrary is flatly untrue and unsupported by the facts, unquote.

There's another relative in the head headlines. The family name will likely help the president's son, Hunter Biden. Again, he has a book due out in April. It's about his struggles with addiction.

The president recently talked about this and about his son's progress. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: But the honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem and the hope that it gave me hope reading it. I mean, it was like, my boy's back. Do you know what I mean? Anyway, I'm sorry, it's so personal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He gets very emotional, obviously, because the president has been through so much tragedy in his family and, obviously, Hunter's struggles are part of that. Hunter announced this right after his father took office. His addiction was a main target for Republicans during the campaign. He's also under federal criminal investigation for his business dealings with China.

And, look, I know everyone watching hopes for the very, very best for Hunter and understand that his story can be inspirational, but what do you make of this book deal as a government ethicist? Do you have an issue with it?

SHAUB: You know, I think it's important that Joe Biden has empathy, unlike the last president, and cares deeply about his son. But I think as we're rebuilding ethics, it would be better for the president not to be on television talking about having read his son's book.

And I think the fact that he started talking about it the same week as the marketing effort of the firm that's publishing the book announced the publication date is very unfortunate.

[16:55:07]

This was a lost opportunity to say, we're going to model government ethics by refraining from talking about the book. Now I'm happy to tell you how proud I am of my son but we're not going to talk about the book.

And instead, he said that he read the book and praised it.

TAPPER: Yeah. Although, we should note -- and I know, Walter, you've been very outspoken on this. This is apples to alligators when it comes to the Trump team. I mean, the Republican national committee was buying Donald Trump Jr.'s book.

Walter Shaub, thank you so much. Appreciate your efforts.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Before we go, we want to take the time to remember one of the 460,000 lives lost to coronavirus in the U.S.

Jacqueline Tardif (ph) was just 29 years old. She was an aerospace engineer in El Segundo, California. She helped design and build space satellites.

Her mother says her daughter, Jackie, was strong-willed, compassionate, fierce defender of those disadvantaged. She loved space exploration. She also volunteered helping children with special needs. She taught science and technology outreach programs.

Jackie was born and raised in Maryland where her family is planning memorial service for next weekend.

To the Tardif family, our deepest condolences. May her memory be a blessing.

Our coverage continues on CNN right now. [17:00:00]