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Capitol Hill, All 50 State Capitals Tighten Security Amid Warnings Of Armed Protests; Pentagon Authorizes 25,000 National Guard Members For Inauguration Day; FBI Investigating 275-Plus Cases Nationwide Following Capitol Attack; TSA On High Alert, Heightened Police Presence At D.C. Airports; Pelosi Expected To Send Article Of Impeachment To Senate Next Week; Dem Rep Says She Feared Her GOP Colleagues On Day Of Riot; Biden Unveils $1.9T Plan To End Pandemic, Save Economy. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired January 16, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with America on alert in our nation's capitol and in state's capitals facing heightened security amid new threats of violent protests. More than a dozen states activating their National Guard ahead of planned protests in the coming days.

And on Capitol Hill in D.C., where President-elect Joe Biden will take the oath of office in just four days, it looks more like a fortress today.

The Pentagon authorizing the deployment of an additional 5,000 National Guard troops bringing the total to 25,000 to protect the inauguration following that deadly insurrection last week. This as we're learning so much more about that attack.

"The Washington Post" reporting that an internal capitol police report written three days before the siege warned that violent protesters could target congress itself. Investigators say they have opened 275 criminal cases, charging nearly 100 people so far for their alleged role in the coup attempt. That number only likely to rise as more information comes to light.

We have reporters across the country covering all of the preparations. Let's first go to Capitol Hill. CNN's Pete Muntean joining us now. So Pete, what preparations and adjustments are being made today?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Security getting more and more strict all the time here, Fredricka. In fact, this is about as close as you can be to the capitol on foot. We are blocks away and I want to show you the eight-foot tall fence here that now surrounds the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol. It's also going up around the National Mall.

Beyond it, some 7,000 members of the National Guard and the head of the D.C. guard, which is leading the operation says, 25,000 members of the guard could arrive here by Inauguration Day. He says all of them are being thoroughly vetted so there is no possibility of an internal threat.

Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL, D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: We pretty thoroughly vet all the guardsmen that are going to be out here. It's kind of like know your customer, like a credit card agency, we know our guardsmen. We know our people.

So the guardsmen that are coming here, first of all, they have to be U.S. citizens. They have to be cleared to make sure they don't violate the Lautenberg Act, and then COVID screen. So it's a full process to actually be put on a point in the District of Columbia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The roadblocks here truly stretch for miles, more going up all of the time and we have just learned that the bridges from Virginia into D.C. will close on Tuesday through Inauguration Day.

The TSA has also stepped up screening at all of the region's airports, BWI, Reagan National and Dulles. And TSA agents will be at gates checking for boarding passes and IDs. The TSA says it's also considering adding people involved in last week's failed insurrection to the no-fly list.

But Fredricka, security getting more strict here all the time. This is going to be an inauguration like no other.

WHITFIELD: Really will be. In general, people who live there, people visiting, could go right down on the mall, but of course they're not going to be able to see that. A lot of this inauguration will be watched on television.

All right. Pete Muntean, thank you so much for that.

We have got other reporters across the country standing by. Let's go to Lansing, Michigan, where just months ago there were protests at the Capitol building, armed protesters and that just happened not a long time ago and the breakup of this alleged plot to kidnap the state's governor.

Sara, what is the situation there today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, if you wanted to see an example of what exactly they were going to try to do here at the Capitol, all you had to do was look to January 6th.

Similar thing happened there that the alleged plotters were going to try to break into the Capitol to kidnap the governor and possibly other legislators that were inside. That was what the federal authorities and state authorities said they found among these who have all been arrested.

There is a heightened security here. The National Guard has been called in. There is fencing around. It's more of a visual deterrent because all of the legislators have decided that they are not going to be holding any sessions, not doing the people's work from Monday to Thursday, because there has been a credible threat according to the police to this Capitol here in Lansing, Michigan.

And so the legislators have decided to do the safest thing and keep people the safest themselves included and they are going to be in their respected safe spaces whether it's at home or elsewhere. But for right now, we are expecting that there will be some sort of gathering here of militia.

Now remember that this was planned before what happened on January 6. And there has been some discussion that we've been seeing online between some of these militia members that some of them are saying that maybe we shouldn't do this right now. Fred.

[12:05:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Sara Sidner, thank you so much in Lansing.

Let's go now to Austin, Texas, where we find Matt Rivers. All right. So what is going on there in preparation of planned protests, or organizing of people.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Very much in wait-and-see mode right now, Fred, with the Department of Public Safety, though, out of what they call an abundance of caution, shutting down both the Capitol building and the Capitol grounds here in Austin, Texas.

Behind me I can show you that they're very much prepared. They've locked the gate here. They're not letting anyone in. And if you looked inside to the grounds there, they're pretty far away, a lot of the officers, but we know that there are dozens of officers that have been deployed here to the Capitol grounds in anticipation of what could potentially be some protests here this weekend.

DPS say, they're tracking three potential events for this weekend. One for today, two potential events tomorrow, Fred. We don't exactly how big they're going to get. We don't know what will happen at these particular events, but clearly DPS here in the state of Texas is preparing for the threat of violence, whether that happens or not, remains to be seen. But it's certainly something that they are watching out for. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Matt, thank you so much. We will check back with you.

Let's go now to Atlanta. Natasha Chen is there. What preparations are being made there?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, you can see these low-level barriers around the State Capitol right now. It wouldn't be too hard to push through these if somebody really wanted to, but at the same time we're seeing the presence of armored vehicles and law enforcement showing a strong force here. Georgia has sent more than 300 National Guard troops to the

Washington, D.C. area for the inauguration, kept dozens of National Guard here to protect the State Capitol. Now, as we've been talking about, there are threats for all 50 state capitals that we're told of.

But the Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has said that the threat level here in Atlanta is relatively low. Still he is taking no chances. He has made a very clear statement in the past week that the illegal un- American activities, he calls it, that happened on January 6th in D.C., will not be welcome here in Georgia.

Now, the Georgia building authority would be the one to issue any permits for protests. And they tell us that they have not issued any at this point, but then again, the stop to steal protesters who were here in November at this spot. They didn't have a permit then either. So everyone here is just prepared for people to potentially gather, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, everybody. Natasha, Matt, Sara and Pete at the top. Appreciate it.

All right. Seems hard to believe, but it is President Trump's final weekend at the White House. And as the country faces nationwide threats, President Trump has not been seen publicly. It was the Vice President who visited National Guard troops on Capitol Hill.

CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House for us. And so Joe, I understand there is a little bit of activity going on there. I understand a number of Trump's top aides are there, maybe not necessarily in the Oval Office, and also his daughter and son-in-law?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's interesting, especially given the fact, Fred, that this is the last weekend of the Trump administration.

So what we do know is that Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Jared, of course, being the senior advisor to the president, the son-in-law of the president; and Ivanka Trump, his daughter; as well as Mark Meadows, the Chief of Staff; and Robert O'Brien, who is the National Security Advisor, all have been spotted here at the complex this morning and the question is why.

It doesn't appear that there was a meeting going on, at least in the Oval Office, because the sentry is not there. A lid has been called at the White House, and anybody who follows this stuff closely knows that means we don't expect to see the president. So the question is, why are they here? Four members of the president's inner circle.

One person, who is a part of the president's inner circle, who is not here is Mike Pence, the Vice President. He is out on the West Coast, apparently talking to DOD personnel there. Tomorrow he is supposed to be in New York. He's been taking a very high profile lately, and some suggestion that the attempt there is to try to show the world that there is a functioning government despite all the strife and confusion over the last several weeks. So we have not gotten any information at all from the press shop. Of course, the press shop is depleted. The press secretary has gone. Other members of the press operation are gone. It's a very unusual time here at the White House. And certainly, difficult to get information, but we'll let you know when we figure it out, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. I'm sure you will. And then, too, we're talking about four days until inauguration, it too can be packing up day too.

JOHNS: That's absolutely right.

WHITFIELD: OK. So now let's talk about a visitor that came to see the president yesterday, Michael Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, with some notes. What do we know about what was discussed?

[12:10:00]

JOHNS: Well, depends on who you talk to. First part of this is he came out of the West Wing with some of those notes in his hand. A "Washington Post" photographer got a picture at least on the front page, they talked about Martial Law, but it wasn't clear what he was talking about and talked about some type of a personnel change at the CIA, that wasn't clear.

Jim Acosta over here actually talked briefly to Mike Lindell and asked him what was going on. Lindell said, he talked to the president for about five minutes, tried to give him some information that was essentially about fraud in the election, but sounded more like the conspiracy theories we've been hearing for weeks and months.

What is clear about Lindell is that he'd love to see this president get another term in office, but that train has already left the station, especially after the votes were counted. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Five-minute meeting, it takes longer to get into the building.

JOHNS: Absolutely right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Johns, thanks so much, at the White House. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, Republicans walking a fine line, forced to choose between their loyalty to the president and loyalty to country.

Plus, rioters facing theft, vandalism, trespassing charges, but what about domestic terrorism? Why authorities may have trouble making the most serious charges stick?

And governors across the country are confused and angry after the Trump administration promised coronavirus vaccines that are no longer in supply.

[12:15:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. More than a week after that mob attack on U.S. Capitol. Federal prosecutors have opened 275 criminal cases and charged nearly 100 people. In his first appearance since the riot, FBI Director Christopher Wray delivered a message to those suspects. FBI agents are coming to find you.

According to "The Washington Post", just three days before the violent attack, an internal Capitol Police intelligence report cautioned that violent supporters of President Trump could zero in on congress itself. So why wasn't security better prepared?

CNN's Jim Sciutto has more on what the Department of Homeland Security identifies as the greatest terror threat to this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan's governor, just two recent instances of a violent right wing extremist movement that has been growing on U.S. soil for years.

According to current and former counter terror officials, the threat now rivals that from international terrorism.

PETER BERGEN, CNN'S NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: There is no debate. The facts show that right wing extremists have killed more people since 9/11 than any other political ideology and that includes Jihadi terrorists.

SCIUTTO: Since 9/11, 114 people have been killed in attacks by far right-wing terrorists in the United States, 107 by Jihadist terrorists. And right-wing attacks are increasingly outpacing Jihadi terrorism, responsible for two-thirds of attacks and plots in the U.S. in 2019, and more than 90 percent between January 1 and May 8, 2020. Attacks and plots by such groups have now occurred in 42 states in the District of Columbia in the past six years.

Fueling right wing extremist are the conspiracies propagated by the president of a system organized against them and two essential ingredients.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DHS: The first is a leader who tells them what to do, who tells them how to feel, who makes them believe that they are part of something bigger, that this is a mission.

The other is a network, whether it's social media or platform, or ways of communication, that lets them essentially talk amongst themselves, get organized.

SCIUTTO: The growing degree of organization particularly alarms U.S. officials. Investigators are pursuing signs the assault on the Capitol was planned and not spontaneous, including knowledge of the Capitol's layout, radio communications among protest leaders, and planting of explosive devices to divert law enforcement.

The worry now is that the targets could expand along with the planning from the U.S. Capitol to all 50 state capitals to so-called soft targets, mirroring those attacked by Jihadi terrorists.

CHRISTOPHER KREBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: Infrastructure hitting soft targets, the disruption of services, those are the sorts of things that every systemically important infrastructure owner, operator, CEOs needs to be assembling their crisis management teams yesterday.

SCIUTTO: Fact is the FBI and Justice Department have been warning about right wing extremism for years and the DHS now identifies it as "the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland". However, political appointees in the Trump administration, at times, downplayed it.

BERGEN: The political signals have been that the right wing terrorism is ok, certainly what the president said at Charlottesville - after the Charlottesville terrorist attack. And he continues to some degree.

SCIUTTO: Downplaying the threat and even echoing extremist rhetoric.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Our country will be destroyed and we're not going to stand for that.

SCIUTTO: That has had consequences.

KAYYEM: The failure to identify it, to name it and to focus resources on the growing threat of white supremacy terrorism has meant that agencies have not focused on it in the way that they should.

SCIUTTO: January 6th laid that vulnerability bare despite weeks of chatter online, U.S. authorities were not prepared for a deadly assault in the heart of the U.S. Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:00]

WHITFIELD: And our thanks to Jim Sciutto. 25,000 national guardsmen are deployed to Washington, D.C., and that is nearly four times the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined.

Joining me now to discuss is Michael Zeldin, a formal federal prosecutor. Michael, good to see you.

So the U.S. Patriot Act, let's talk about that. It defines domestic terrorism as "Any acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States, or any state that appeared to be intended to, intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or to influence the policy of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping".

Then why haven't we seen domestic terrorism charges for any of these Capitol Hill rioters thus far?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, I think because the investigation is ongoing. These charges tend to follow a path of you arrest and you charge with the most straightforward crime and then you continue your investigation. And if evidence warrants more serious charges, conspiracy, RICO, other things like that, you supersede your initial charges with those secondary charges.

WHITFIELD: The Department of Justice is now walking back allegations made by federal prosecutors in Arizona, who said Capitol rioters intended to capture and assassinate elected officials and they said that in this court filing.

So one official attributed the disconnect to the broad and complex nature of the investigation. What do you make of that?

ZELDIN: So I think that's probably right. This is probably the largest domestic manhunt in American history. We've got law enforcement agencies from west to east coast, searching for individuals who they are - I tried to identify through photographs.

And sometimes in the course of the chaos of these types of investigations, sentences here and there slip into pleadings that when you have a moment to look at them upon reflection you realize that is an overstatement and what these prosecutors did was proper, which was to remove it and essentially apologize for its inclusion.

WHITFIELD: So at least one of the Capitol rioters we understand has asked the president for a pardon. President Trump will have pardon powers for the next four nights or so. Do you believe that a reason why some federal charges are being delayed could be to preclude the president from potentially pardoning some of the people that he has been calling patriots?

ZELDIN: Well, it's possible. My experience as a prosecutor is, we proceed with our cases in the way - manner in which we get our evidence and are able to then marshal the facts to that evidence and then determine what to bring. We don't think about, if we bring this charge now the pardon will occur.

But the president is a unique president and we don't know how he will behave. And so, it's possible that a federal prosecutor may be delaying action. But of course the president can, with his very broad powers of pardon, pardon anyone for all crimes committed during this period of time, which would encompass uncharged charges.

So my expectation is the prosecutors don't have powers of pardon in their mind when they're thinking about their timeline. I think their timeline is dependent upon the evidence and the facts.

WHITFIELD: OK. President Trump, he did make history this week, unfortunately, for him, right, becoming just the second president in history to be impeached twice. And a source tells CNN that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to send the singular article of impeachment, a phrase rolling inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol, and she will be sending that apparently to the senate, maybe even next week.

Do you believe the constitution grants the senate the authority to conduct an impeachment trial even after the president has left? ZELDIN: Yes. I believe it requires a trial. The way the process works is the house charges and then the senate tries. In this case, the house has impeached a sitting president. So it's not like he's been a former president who has been impeached. He's been impeached, charged as a present president, then the matter goes over to the senate. And I think the senate is duty bound to try this case.

Defenders of the president may say, well, the senate lacks jurisdiction over the former president, but there is case law or precedent, rather, of judges who have been removed having left office. I think the powers of the senate to try a former president are important because the senate has the power, not only to remove, which will not be relevant in the case of a former president, but to disqualify that former office holder from holding office in the future.

And it's that secondary power that the senate has to disqualify from holding office in the future that the trial has to address.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Zeldin, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

ZELDIN: Thanks, Fred.

[12:25:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, as some Republican leaders want to cut ties with President Trump, others worry about the Trump loyalists who still support him.

We'll talk about the fractures within the GOP next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In the aftermath of his second impeachment, President Trump is plotting his revenge against Republicans who voted to impeach him.

A source tells CNN, the president is demanding to know which Republicans voted against him, and whether those lawmakers could be primaried in 2022.

David Swerdlick is an assistant editor for "The Washington Post" and a CNN political commentator.

[12:30:00]

David, good to see you.

DAVID SWERDLICK, ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. So perhaps before the insurrection, Republicans were confident of Trump's influence in the party, but now after the riot, I mean, can Trump really threaten the political careers of those GOP members who voted against him? SWERDLICK: Yes, good afternoon, Fred. I think it really depends on the race. For example, there are rumors that Ivanka Trump might want to primary Senator Marco Rubio in 2022 the next cycle in Florida, in that kind of a race where you have someone with the Trump name against someone who has looked increasingly weak ever since he dropped out of the Republican field in 2016, the presidential field, you might have a situation where the influence of now former, soon to be former President Trump could really make a difference in our state that has a lot of Trump's support in other districts, especially in House districts that are a little more compact, a little more local politics at play.

I do think there will be plenty of Republicans who can say, look, I voted for President Trump twice. I supported him. I wish he was President. But he's gone now. And we have to move on. So I just think it really depends. Trumpism, the grievances of Trumpism are going to be with us for years to come. The question is whether Donald Trump himself will continue that influence and I think that remains to be seen.

WHITFIELD: And it seems especially since there's still so much unknown about the planning and coordination of that attack. And a lot is weighing on that even for the President, former presidency demise. So there are also some suspicions among lawmakers worried that fellow lawmakers could be complicit in the planning of that riot. Take a listen to what Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to say about her concerns on the day of the mob storming the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I did not go to the secure location because I feared other members of Congress that, you know, that would have allowed harm to me. And so I was not in a secure location that day. I was almost never in a secure location that day. One of the most frightening things, as I have said earlier was just not knowing who's there to help and who's there to hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, huh, David. I mean that there is this feeling among law enforcement as well as among lawmakers who were saying they weren't even sure who to trust even amongst, you know, their ranks. So Speaker Pelosi is now vowing to investigate and prosecute if any members of Congress aided or abetted rioters. What has this riot done to an already tenuous existence between members of different parties?

SWERDLICK: So Fred, I think it took tensions that were already there and then push them into a new realm where there's this real level of distrust. I think when you see that clip, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has legitimate reasons to express that concern and that fear in real time.

If you think about the things that her political opponents or even enemies say about her publicly or on social media, you can imagine her thinking that behind the scenes, something even worse, might be directed toward her or toward members of the squad or especially towards younger of color backbench, newer members of Congress.

I think there's going to be two categories of investigation and sanction. You're going to have a Speaker Pelosi and others in Congress, look at comments that were made by people like Congressman Brooks, who spoke at that rally two Wednesdays ago with the President and said something like, you know, it was time for the President's supporters to kick ass and take names. Ultimately, I don't think comments like that are going to get much sanction.

If turned up in an FBI investigation or a House select investigation that either members or staff or members of the Capitol Police affirmatively paved the way for that mob in a riot that where people died to breach the Capitol, then I think you will see penalties up to and including potential criminal charges.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, David Swerdlick, emotions still so very raw. Thank you so much.

SWERDLICK: Thanks, Fred.

[12:34:30]

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, Joe Biden unveils his plan to administer 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office as part of a massive $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. But will it make it through Congress? We're live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President-elect Joe Biden unveils an ambitious plan to get Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus. It includes widening the eligibility for who gets the shot and hiring thousands more people to support the rollout. The President-elect stressed the urgent need for this package.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure thus far. This should be one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation. We'll have to move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The plan is part of a larger $1.9 trillion plan that also includes money to help resuscitate the U.S. economy. CNN's Jasmine Wright is in Wilmington, Delaware. So Jasmine, President-elect is staking a lot on the success of this plan. What more can you tell us about it?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN VIDEO PRODUCER: Fred, President-elect Joe Biden is saying this is what I need to battle and ultimately defeat the ongoing pandemic. And he is making that big ask, he's asking for $1.9 trillion from Congress for his plan that will go to value pandemic. And a large part of that money he's asking for will go to funding his national vaccine program.

[12:40:07]

And he introduced that plan yesterday here in Wilmington. And it features a lot of parts. But some of them I'm going to read from my notes here include a mass vaccine, excuse me, includes mass vaccination sites supported by the federal government. That's things like arenas and baseball fields all set up to get those shots into people's arms.

It also includes a public education campaign to reach those who are really hesitant about getting that virus, I mean, excuse me, getting that vaccine, and as well as a federal push to increase vaccine supply using the Defense Production Act. So again, this is Biden making the case that he needs this money to battle the pandemic. And what he says is only going to get worse before it gets better.

WHITFIELD: And then Jasmine, you know, not long from now, the President-elect will introduce his science team. What more can you tell us about who he will be introducing today?

WRIGHT: Exactly in just over really an hour, he will be introducing this team. And those members of the science team are going to be really influential in helping with the way that this administration responds to this ongoing pandemic. And one of those people that he's nominating is Eric Lander, he will be the director of the Office of Science, Technology and Policy and also a presidential adviser. And that's a role that will now become part of that Cabinet, really hitting the nail on the fact that this is something that's serious that it's going to need Biden's attention really take -- tackling this ongoing pandemic. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Jasmine Wright, thanks so much.

All right, in addition to money for the vaccine program, Biden's plan also includes another round of stimulus checks, billions of dollars to help students and to safely reopen schools and extend the eviction moratorium. Joining me right now is Cecilia Rouse, Dean of the Princeton school for Public and International Affairs. And she has been nominated to chair the President's Council of Economic Advisers. And if confirmed, she would be the first African-American woman to hold that position. Dean, good to see you.

CECILIA ROUSE, BIDEN NOMINEE TO CHAIR THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Nice to see you. Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Well, congratulations on the nomination and how excited or anxious are you about, you know, getting your hands dirty?

ROUSE: Well, look, it's just an honor to have been nominated by the President-elect to help at this time. As your last block suggested this is -- these are unprecedented economic times. And not only do we need to build back from this pandemic, which has been devastating to so many millions of Americans and businesses in our communities.

But we know that there were inequalities in our economy even before the pandemic struck, and so on us to actually do better and to build back better, and to repair some of those structural inequalities as well.

WHITFIELD: So then Dean Rouse, let's talk about the money for the vaccine program for beefing it up, making things better. What kinds of differences do you believe this money could make?

ROUSE: Well, job one right now, so to speak, is that we have to get the pandemic under control. Unlike prior economic crises that were caused by a problem in the economy, this one is entirely due to the pandemic. And so until the pandemic is brought under control, we cannot actually start to rebuild our economy. So the package that the vice -- that the President-elect has just rolled out is designed to do just that. It's meant to help those struggling families and individuals whose jobs have been imperiled because of the virus.

It's meant to help bring relief to our families. It's meant to contain the virus, which as I mentioned, is job one. And it's meant to help our communities, which includes those small businesses who've really been hurt, especially our small businesses that are owned by people of color, and our communities, which have also been really the safety net to help get us through and to ensure the jobs of first responders, our transit workers and other essential workers.

So this package is designed to help bridge us through this pandemic, so that we can start to rebuild and make sure everybody can participate in our economy. And the President-elect will be talking about some of those other components in the coming weeks.

WHITFIELD: And of course, there's also the issue of billions of dollars for education to help to safely reopen schools. Why is that so crucial in trying to jumpstart the economy and get it back on its feet?

ROUSE: Well, it's important for two reasons. First and foremost is the fact that so many of our children are not getting the education that they're going to need. So when we think of education as a long term investment in our labor force, and in our people, it's so important that those kids are back in school so they can learn and grow into the productive, happy, curious adults that we know that they can be.

[12:45:09]

In addition, we know that this pandemic has had a particularly impact on the labor force participation of women, especially women who have children. And so reopening schools is not only important for the children, but it's important to allow their parents especially their mothers to be able to participate in the labor market to the extent that they can as we work through this pandemic.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dean Cecilia Rouse, good to see you. Thanks so much, and congratulations and good luck.

ROUSE: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Join CNN for all day live coverage of the inauguration of President Joe Biden a history making event in unprecedented times. Special all day live coverage starts Wednesday right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:19]

WHITFIELD: There's a new projection from the University of Washington team that creates the influential coronavirus models, 192,000 new COVID-19 deaths between now and May with the pandemic peaking in February. But more rapid vaccination efforts can potentially bring that number down. Despite more than 31 million doses being distributed so far, actual shots in the arm so far, remember only 12 million. And now we're learning the reserve shots that many hoped would be released to boost the vaccination rate no longer exist and governors are angry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: It is not debatable that the United States did this more poorly than any nation on earth. They were lying. They don't have any doses held back.

GOV. KATE BROWN (D), OREGON: Let me be very clear, this is deception on a national scale.

GOV. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: What we really need is a new administration. We need President Biden, Secretary Viscera to restore some competence and sanity to this to figure out what the hell's going on and if they have extra doses to get them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, people are upset. Joining me right now Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. del Rio, good to see you. So when we talk about this reserve that the administration promise was there and now come to find it. It's not the second dose of the first dosages that have already been administered, right, this is like the extra, you know, batches that would have been made available.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXEC. ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM: Yes, you're right, Fred. I mean, I think that truth and transparency have always been critical. And we have not had from the federal government that kind of truth and transparency from the very beginning, you talk about the rollout of testing, now the rollout of vaccination, it's all been really a mess. And it's been a mess, because there's been really two things lack of leadership and lack of a national plan. And we haven't found this appropriately.

WHITFIELD: And it takes money to distribute and to have the infrastructure, right, in place because in some states, they don't even have the personnel in which to give the shots in the arm. So it's very basic in terms of the needs.

DEL RIO: Absolutely. And again, the fact that they're not, the research, you know, doses that we all heard about, it's really concerning, because, you know, who's minding the shop, who was paying attention to that. I am hopeful, however, that Pfizer and Moderna have committed to provide 100 million doses each by the end of January. And then Moderna has offered another 100 million by the end of March. So I think vaccines are coming. And I'm really looking forward to having a comprehensive strategy of distribution and administration of these doses.

WHITFIELD: So there is some encouragement there, you see. So this model, you know, which is highly regarded, it's projecting 192,000 people will die, you know, between now and May 1st. And that's almost half the current death rate. So why is the number so high in a matter of a few months?

DEL RIO: Well, because we had a lot of people getting infected. We're having over the last seven days, over 200,000 new infections per day. We're having close to 4,000 deaths per day. So, you know, those sick people in the hospital, then turn into deaths, right.

Now, there's some encouraging things that are happening over the last three days, the number of hospitalizations is not going up anymore. It's actually starting to come down. It's still pretty high. It's still about one of every three hospital beds in our country are occupied with patients with COVID. But the numbers are starting to come down. So I hope that that will translate into decreasing mortality.

I'm also hopeful quite frankly, the holidays are over so large gatherings hopefully will stop. We need to get people to not double down. We need to get people to stop gathering. We need to get people to continue wearing a mask, because decreasing mortality has to be important.

WHITFIELD: Do you see a direct correlation with the promise of more people getting the vaccine, having access to it, and that might make a difference on the numbers.

DEL RIO: It will make a difference if we can vaccinate everybody over the age of 65, severe disease, hospitalizations, and mortality would clearly decrease. But that's going to take some time. So I don't think it's going to impact that much. And if you look at the model from the Institute for Healthcare Metrics and Evaluation, they say that appropriate rollout of vaccinations would probably decrease by about 60,000 the number of deaf people. But, you know, we're going to be seeing by May, over half a million Americans who have already died from COVID-19. It is a just a mind boggling number.

WHITFIELD: And do you see that variant is, you know, to be blamed for the increase in numbers here in the states too?

DEL RIO: Well, I think variant is also a concern. We know that the -- this variant, specific variant we're talking about the U.K. variant of B117. It's actually more transmissible than the other COVID, the normal, the usual COVID was seen up to now. And even though it doesn't cause more severe disease, if you have more cases you are going to have it -- going to have more people sick and more deaths. [12:55:20]

So again, I'm very concerned, this is a very tough time. We have a more transmissible strain around. And it really we have to take, you know, extra precautions. The best thing you can do right now is don't get infected with COVID-19.

WHITFIELD: Yes, good advice. Dr. Carlos del Rio, thank you so much. Good to see you.

DEL RIO: Delighted to be with you.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead. A nation on alert as pro Trump riots are expected ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as many as 25,000 National Guard troops will converge on the Nation's Capitol. CNN's live coverage continues next.

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WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone.