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Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is Interviewed about Trump's Impeachment; Dark Weeks Ahead for U.S. Due to COVID; Parler Coming Back Online; Navalny in Jail for 30 Days. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired January 18, 2021 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And because a Senate impeachment trial of a soon to be former president has never happened before.
With me now is Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota. She's going to be a juror in the trial.
Good morning, Senator. Thank you for your time.
SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Good morning, Poppy. Great to be with you.
HARLOW: Good to have you.
Do you think a trial, a Senate trial, of President Trump should happen this week?
SMITH: I hope that it can get going as quickly as possible. What I'd like to see is that we get sworn in maybe on Thursday and proceed to pace. And I don't think it needs to take a lot of time. This is a simple article of impeachment. We all saw what happened. It unfolded in plain view. And I think that there is a big opportunity for the Senate to hold this almost former president accountable and then be able to also get the work done that people need us to do.
HARLOW: That -- right. That's the question is, can you do both at the same time? You can. Will you do both at the same time? I -- you know, Senator Manchin, your fellow Democrat, has said it's ill advised to impeach the former president. And when asked that question on "60 Minutes" last night about why do it, right, even if you believe it's an impeachable offense, why do it when he's gone? Here's how soon to be Majority Leader Schumer responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We convict him, we have 51 votes, remove him from ever running for office again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You'll need 17 Republicans to help you convict the president. Do you have any indication this morning, Senator, that you have anywhere near that number? SMITH: I think it is an open question about how many Republicans in
the Senate will vote to impeach. You know, I think behind the scenes you hear many of them express disgust with what happened. And it was clear that the president incited this mob attack on Congress.
And right before I came on, we were hearing the stories about these folks that were in the United States Senate chambers clearly there to do harm. So, to me, this is about -- this -- to me this is not about punishment, this is about making sure that this person can never hold office again and also clearly showing through the accountability that we bring that this is not acceptable in a democratic society. If there isn't accountability, we are essentially saying, OK, well, this happened, but we just need to move on, and that's just ridiculous.
HARLOW: So you mentioned all of the work that both chambers have to do going forward with the Biden administration, especially if it can achieve what it wants to in the first 100 days.
You told "Politico" recently after the insurrection on the Capitol that you, quote, will not work with those Republicans, meaning those who even after the riot still did not vote to confirm Biden's win. Those are senators who are not going anywhere. They were elected by the people. Do you mean you will never work with them on anything again? And, if so, how does that not further divide the country when Biden's message has been unite?
SMITH: Well, let's be clear about what we have here. We have individuals, members of the House and the Senate, who have refused to acknowledge that this -- their role in this riot, this mob that attacked Congress. And, you know, part of accountability is accepting your role in what went wrong and then trying to make it right. And we don't see that here.
Now, I want to be really clear, I work with Republicans in Congress every single day. That's how you get things done in Washington. But part of accountability is saying that these folks that are responsible for this, who refuse to take responsibility for what their role has been, have to be held accountable, too.
HARLOW: Sure. I just wonder how not working with them on anything really holds them accountable. Is that not up to either you guys can move to censure or expel or up to the people when they vote?
SMITH: Well --
HARLOW: But, I mean, even last year you -- you know, you -- you co- sponsored legislation last year with -- with Senator Cruz, for example.
So the question is, doesn't it just get in the way of getting the business of the American people done?
SMITH: I don't -- I -- I just -- I just don't think so. I think it's really important to send a clear message that what these -- what Senator Cruz and Senator Hawley did was just flat out wrong. And, I mean, I called on them to resign. I don't think that they should be in the Senate.
The thing, though, that is really important is that, you know, the Republican Party has to go through a reckoning about who they are and who they want to be. That's not going to be my job.
But my job is to work for the people of Minnesota and this country and there are lots of Republicans that I can do that work with. In fact, I do that every day.
HARLOW: OK. That's a clear answer on that.
Before you go, Governor Walz of Minnesota is very mad about the message on, you know, where these extra doses of vaccine are.
Listen to this from him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: What immediately needs to come from the Biden administration on that?
[09:35:02]
Because I am sort of flabbergasted that this could have been any sort of misunderstanding.
SMITH: How could it be a misunderstanding when Secretary Azar is saying we're going to release the rest of the doses, and then it turns out that there aren't any doses. I understand the governor's frustration. I talked to him about it just a couple of days ago.
So the Biden team has a big job on their hands, to get this vaccine distribution program under control. And I believe that they're up to it.
You know, our fellow Minnesotan, Andy Slavitt, is going to go in and try to help get this whipped together.
HARLOW: Right.
SMITH: And that's what we're going to need. And the thing, though, is that we're going to get back on track and this vaccine is incredibly safe and effective and it is the way forward out of this terrible pandemic. And it's going to take some time but we're going to get it right with the Biden administration.
HARLOW: We have to.
SMITH: Yes. HARLOW: Senator Smith , thank you very, very much. Good to have you.
SMITH: Thank you. Thank you so much.
HARLOW: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:04]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
Well, more than 60 percent of the nearly 24 million COVID cases in this country have been reported since Election Day. It is tragic and it's according to new data from John Hopkins.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The number of lives lost to the virus in this country will soon pass 400,000. Incoming CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in warning that the number could reach half a million in just a months' time, by mid-February. And, in her words, that we should all brace for, quote, dark weeks ahead.
Joining us now for more, Dr. Ashish Jha. He's dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
Dr. Jha, I want to ask first about vaccinations, right, because there's been so much back and forth about this and I'm sure folks watching right now are confused as to how well, how badly this is going and when they might be in line to get a vaccine. Clearly this administration did not meet its goals. The new administration has very ambitious goals.
Where does the vaccine plan in this country stand? Is it as bad as some of these numbers look like?
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, so good morning and thanks for having me on.
So, yes, the administration clearly -- the current administration clearly botched the vaccine rollout, missing its targets by a lot.
The good news here is that vaccinations are starting to pick up. States are starting to kind of move these vaccines forward. And the production system for these vaccines remains intact. So the Biden team is going to have to come in, pick up, do much more clear messaging and ramp up that vaccines. I think it's all doable. But they're being dealt a pretty tough set of hands -- or a pretty tough hands to play at this moment.
HARLOW: So we heard from the woman soon to be the head of the CDC, Dr. Walensky, say that half a million deaths from COVID is what she is predicting by mid-February. That would mean 100,000 more than where we are today.
You retweeted this morning a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Junior appropriately on this day, and that quote is, of all the forms of inequality and justice and health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death, right? And that is health disparity.
I just -- I wonder your thoughts and your recommendations to the incoming Biden administration to not lose track of that. It's not just about getting a certain number of people vaccinated, it's about the inequality and the injustice of this more adversely affecting black people and Hispanic people in this country.
JHA: Yes, there are two or three kind of related notions here. I mean one certainly is that we have to do everything we can to save lives. That is critical. But we know that this virus has not had an equal effect on everybody. It has disproportionately affected communities of color. It has sickened and killed more black and Latino Americans than others. And so if we're going to prevent suffering, part of our agenda is to really address the underlying disparities.
I think the good news is, Dr. Walensky and many of the other folks who are coming in understand this. And I hope that they will take action that is necessary.
SCIUTTO: The Biden administration, to achieve this goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100 days, is going to inject more federal participation in the vaccination plan, not just leave it all to the states, including, for instance, setting up big vaccination centers, like in sports savings, right? We've seen that as a part of this.
I just wonder, for folks at home again watching now, who are -- who are outside the priority groups, when does this mean a large percentage of them will be able to get a vaccine? Is it still springtime? Is it early summer? What's the most realistic outlook?
JHA: Yes. So, first of all, like part of what's been really frustrating is the completely poor communication that we've been hearing from the Trump administration. It's really hard to tell what's going on. I do think we need federal involvement. Federal government should be helping states. I'd like to get clear messaging from the Biden team about when the vaccines are going to be available.
My best guess is that the average American, not in a high-risk group, will begin to get access to vaccines in April or May, could slip to June, but certainly by the summer. But I'm hoping it will be before then.
HARLOW: When you hear from these governors that are up in arms about, you know, where all those extra vaccine doses are that HHS said they were going to release, and I believe Dr. Fauci said it was a misunderstanding, how does that not happen again? How can it be a misunderstanding that all this just wasn't there for them to tap?
JHA: So what I would recommend to Dr. Kessler, who's going to be taking over Operation Warp Speed --
HARLOW: Yes. JHA: Is, first and foremost, be straight and plain with the American people about how many vaccines we have, where they are, how much in being kept in reserve, when they're going to be sent to states.
[09:45:00]
This stuff is not that hard to do and it's been puzzling why Secretary Azar has been so kind of less than straight-forward about this stuff. I think rule number one has got to be transparency and openness. And that, I think, will help a lot in terms of alleviating concerns people have and helping governor's plan more effectively.
Well, Dr. Jha, we're grateful you're here this morning.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Thank you very much.
JHA: Thank you.
HARLOW: Let's turn to the radicalization that we're seeing and all of this online. New signs of life for the far right social network Parler. We're going to tell you about it ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:01]
HARLOW: Welcome back.
The social network Parler, largely used by the far right, seems to be coming back online. It's a platform that for months has been pretty riddled with violent threats and conspiracies. It was then subsequently last week kicked offline by Amazon after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
SCIUTTO: But it appears that Parler has now registered with a new platform. The CEO of Parler posting, hello, world, is this thing on?
Donie O'Sullivan joins us now.
So, Donie, is it back up for real and with the same reach that it had before?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, right now it's just there's signs of life at Parler. Over the past week it's been totally cut off the Internet. If you went to parler.com you would seeing nothing.
Over the weekend a message, as you mentioned, emerged from the CEO. So there is signs of life at Parler, but if you were a Parler user, it's not as if you can go on there and post and read comments or share misinformation or violent rhetoric. But the fact that they do appear to have found some host, we're not entirely sure who is hosting it -- we know Amazon certainly isn't -- is a big deal. Whether they'll get back up in time for this week's inauguration and
what's to follow, we're unsure, of course. But, you know, we have seen in the past week Trump supporters, far right extremists and other groups migrating to other platforms now that FaceBook and Twitter has kicked off a lot of them, moving over some to encrypted platforms, which makes it more difficult for law enforcement to track.
HARLOW: And, Donie, speaking of Twitter kicking folks off, they temporarily suspended the account QAnon supporter, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, yesterday. Is that the beginning of a full out ban like they did for the president? And if it is, I just assume this will really ramp up the voices of critics who say that Twitter is taking action to silence the right. I'm not saying that's what they're doing, but I'm saying that that's what the critics are saying about Twitter.
What do you think?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, interestingly, Greene got suspended under new rules that were brought in by Twitter after the insurrection, which was that if you continually post election misinformation, first your account might get temporarily suspended, as happened to Greene, but she may get permanently suspended if she keeps sharing election misinformation.
SCIUTTO: Yes, that -- I mean that's the distinction they're making, right, for -- for disinformation, deliberately false stuff, that appears to be the new standard here.
Donie O'Sullivan, thanks very much.
HARLOW: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will officially resign from her California Senate seat today. This comes just two days before she is inaugurated and making history as the first female, first black, first south Asian vice president. She spoke with CBS about this monumental moment, the security concerns surrounding the inauguration, and the challenges facing their administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT FOR THE UNITED STATES: I'm not going to let anyone take my excitement from me.
This will be an inaugural like no other, in large part because of COVID. But we are going to get sworn in. And we're going to do the job we were hired to do. And that means focusing, for example, on getting people vaccinated. We want to get 100 million done in the first 100 days. It's going to be very tough to do it. We're going to reopen the schools in a safe way. We have to get to the job of healing America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Apparently with a two track plan with a Senate trial on the way.
Be sure to join CNN for all day live coverage of the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Special all-day live coverage will begin Wednesday on CNN. Be sure to watch.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:58:14]
HARLOW: One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics who survived an assassination attempt by Russia, by the way, is going to remain in police custody for the next month there.
SCIUTTO: That's right. Alexey Navalny, leader of the Russian opposition, was detained moments after he landed back in Russia yesterday. A brave move by itself on his part. He spent five months in German recovering after being poisoned with the most powerful nerve agent in the world, Novichok. It's the view of U.S. intelligence that this was a Russian assassination attempt.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Moscow.
Fred, I mean just remarkable for him to have the courage to return to the belly of the beast as he did here. He's now detained. Do we know how long and do we know what comes next?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim.
Yes, we know how long. It's at least for 30 days and certainly he's going to face other trials here in Russian as well. There's another case, a fraud case, from 2014 where he's set to go on trial -- he was set to go on trial on January 29th. It's not clear when exactly that trial is going to start now, but he faces another three and a half years in jail at that point in time as well. So certainly he's got a lot of odds stacked up against him.
And, Jim, it really is very difficult to describe just how remarkable some of the events are that unfolded here because last night a lot of journalists, a lot of Navalny supporters, were waiting at a Moscow airport for him to return here to Russia. And, as you mentioned, he was fully aware of the fact that he might get detained. The Russians closed the air space over that airport as that plane was about to land and it had to divert to another airport where he was then detained upon arrival.
And we were just talking about the fact that the detention has now prolonged to a month here in Moscow and that in itself was a remarkable event as well. Alexey Navalny, overnight, did not have any access to any of his lawyers and he said early this morning the guards let him out of his cell and said, by the way, there's a hearing against you.
[10:00:05]
It starts in one minute.
