Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Interview with Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL); Biden White House Reinstates Daily Press Briefings; Live Coverage of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Press Conference. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired January 21, 2021 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: This was just moments ago, pictures of President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and the second gentleman, watching the Inaugural Prayer Service this morning. Of course, in the age of COVID, it was a virtual service -- you see those screens there behind them.
Well, also this morning, we are learning that House Democrats are discussing sending over the single article of impeachment against former President Trump to the Senate as early as tomorrow. No timing has been finalized, but a complicating issue remains. That is that the former president still has not named a lawyer to represent him in the trial.
That's important because Democrats want this to be a fair trial, and that would help convince some Republicans to convict. That remains a daunting challenge, though, for Democrats, given that a faction of Senate Republicans are warning the minority leader -- now-minority leader, Mitch McConnell, if he votes to convict, he may be out -- Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jim, thank you.
Well, this morning, a group of Republican lawmakers are vowing to help the Biden administration in President Biden's effort to unify the country. Seventeen freshman House Republicans sent a letter to Biden, promising to work with him on COVID relief, on health care, on infrastructure, on economy. Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida is among them, and he joins me.
Good morning, and thank you for being here.
REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): It's my pleasure. How are you doing this morning.
HARLOW: I'm all right, thank you very much.
Let me read part of this letter to folks. You write, "It's clear that the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans does not serve a single American." That's true, and I wonder if you had a change of heart because even after all 50 states certified Biden's win, and even after the insurrection on the Capitol, you went back in that building and you voted against certifying Biden's win.
GIMENEZ: No, I didn't. Actually, the two states that we voted -- that I voted against, it was on constitutional grounds, and they didn't have sufficient Electoral College votes to overturn the election. Unlike in 2005, when Democrats objected to Ohio, 31 voted against certifying Ohio, 80 abstained. That would have changed the election. So, no, it wouldn't have changed the election, my votes wouldn't have changed the election.
HARLOW: OK, but you walked in there and you objected to Pennsylvania and Arizona, two states where the state supreme courts said the processes in which the election had changed -- right? Because of COVID -- were legitimate. And they are the deciding bodies and --
GIMENEZ: Well yes, but --
HARLOW: -- all 50 states had certified the election results again. So I'm wondering why you did it. Did it not just help promote the big lie that Biden didn't legitimately --
GIMENEZ: No, no.
HARLOW: -- win?
GIMENEZ: No, what we were trying to do is trying to make sure that individual people and not the state legislatures, all right? The state legislatures are the only ones that can set the rules and the methods by which the electors are selected. In some of these states, individual people changed the rules, either just before or during the election. That needs to stop --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: And the supreme court said it was legitimate to do so. I guess I'm trying to get at what you were --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- what you were trying to achieve, because your vote and what you did --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- after the Capitol was attacked and five people died matters a lot in the message that you're sending to the American people.
GIMENEZ: Absolutely. And the message I'm sending to the American people is that individual people shouldn't be changing the rules. Courts are not going to overrule and overturn an election, they're very hesitant to do that.
[10:35:09]
What we need to do as a country is make sure that the rules are established by, as the Constitution says, by the state legislatures, not individual people. Because if we continue to change the rules either just before or during elections, you're going to have people with questions about those elections --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Yes, I --
GIMENEZ: -- we need to stop that.
HARLOW : I get --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: And that's the reason why I voted that way.
HARLOW: OK, I get the way -- I get that you don't like the way it happened in those states, but it is how it happened, and their supreme courts in the states ruled. And you said, back in November, on NPR, "If they think there's some kind of irregularity in certain states, they should pursue it through the courts." So you seemed to have trust in the courts then.
Let me ask it to you this way. Listen to this, I know you heard the powerful, beautiful poem delivered by the Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman just yesterday. Let me play this line for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANDA GORMAN, NATIONAL YOUTH POET LAUREATE: We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: By making that move, not to vote to certify Biden's win, were you not at least trying to delay democracy?
GIMENEZ: Absolutely not. Like I said before, those two states would not have overturned anything. President Biden was going to be certified that day, and President Biden was certified that day. Those two states did not have sufficient Electoral College votes to overturn the election, unlike 2005, when the Democrats tried to overturn Ohio, which would have overturned the election. And you know --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: So I --
GIMENEZ: -- there seems to be a double standard here. When the Democrats in 2005 tried to overturn the election --
HARLOW: So they --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: -- of Ohio, of George Bush, then you know, and then there are people there, had constitutional questions just like we did, you know --
HARLOW: It was very --
GIMENEZ: -- that you know --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- different --
GIMENEZ: -- we have a responsibility to protect -- we have the responsibility to protect the Constitution. I don't want this to happen anymore. We need to have a rule (ph) --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: OK, it was very different than 2004 --
GIMENEZ: -- OK? Yes, ma'am.
HARLOW: It was very different than 2004, people can go back and read. John Kerry had even said that there was nothing on the ground that showed that it needed to change, that their lawyers had determined that. There were so many differences, I'm not going to take the time to go through them now. Even Democrats -- Senator Van Hollen on this show a few weeks ago -- said he didn't agree with that move back in 2004, but there is an important difference between them.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: But that's -- but that's --
HARLOW: -- where do you go from here with your important --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: -- the then-speaker of the House --
HARLOW: -- letter -- can I -- let me just finish the question. Your letter to Biden's important, because it says you want --
GIMENEZ: OK.
HARLOW: -- to work with him on things for the American people, I'm just trying to clear up exactly where you stand, going forward. Because there are some that saw what you did -- and are listening to you now and reading this letter, and it doesn't -- it rings a little hollow with them.
GIMENEZ: Is that a question now? Or is that a statement?
HARLOW: Yes, it's --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: You're asking me --
HARLOW: It's a question for people who wonder where you stand now. Are you all in with Biden on working on those items?
GIMENEZ: I am all in with working on the president, and to move America's agenda forward. It doesn't mean that we're going to be agreeing on everything that the president wants to do. Obviously, you know, we have -- we may have differences of opinions on different things.
But on those things that we do agree on, we should move forward, and we need to stop the bickering and the finger-pointing (ph) back and forth, about you're right, I'm wrong. And we have to find a way where we can agree to disagree in an agreeable manner, not in the way that the discourse is happening today in --
HARLOW: OK.
GIMENEZ: -- America. And so -- and quit, you know, finger-pointing, one or the other, hey, you're doing this, hey, you're doing that.
HARLOW: Right, right.
GIMENEZ: You don't know what you're doing, you don't -- I don't know what I'm doing. And you know, you're trying to destroy the country, all that is not good for the country.
HARLOW: OK.
GIMENEZ: I think that letter was (ph) an attempt by us to say, look, we're willing to work with the new administration, we want to work towards common ground, we want to come back to the middle, right? Where most of this country is, either center-right or center-left. And work for those things that are important to the American people. Together.
HARLOW: To that point -- to that point --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: That's what we need.
HARLOW: -- finally, on working together, you have been a really vocal supporter, even just in the last five days, of number-three House Republican Liz Cheney.
And now there's this group of some Republicans in your caucus who are trying to get enough folks to sign a petition to talk about ousting her from that position because she voted her conscience, as you said people should have the right to do, and voted to impeach the president. What do you make of those efforts?
GIMENEZ: Like I said, everybody has a right to their opinion. I believe -- you know, I believe in the right to disagreement, OK? Like you and I obviously disagreed on what I did on January 6th, all right? But it doesn't mean that I'm not American. It means I have a difference of opinion, and that's all it means.
[10:40:12]
And we need to get to a point where we can have that difference of opinion, that I need to step into your shoes and you need to step into my shoes, and to see how I see things, and maybe how you see things. And maybe we can come -- OK, now I understand why you see things that way, maybe you can step into my shoes and say, well, I can see how he sees things that way.
And then even though we may not agree, all right? We can say, OK, I understand the reasons why you think that way, and then we'll have a better understanding of each other, and then we can move forward.
I think Liz Cheney voted her conscience, that's fine, I didn't vote with Liz Cheney, but I think she voted her conscience. And so I'm fine with Liz Cheney continuing as our conference chair --
HARLOW: OK.
GIMENEZ: -- I don't think we should be having, I don't -- you know, but there are other -- some of my other colleagues are in bitter disagreement with it, and want to remove her. I don't, I think she's great --
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: -- and I think a difference of opinion is always good.
HARLOW: I'm hearing I'm out of time, so sorry to step on you at the end. But thank you for being here, and thank you for that message. We'll have you back soon.
(CROSSTALK)
GIMENEZ: Thank you.
HARLOW: OK, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:49]
HARLOW: New body camera evidence from the Capitol insurrection shows Capitol Police officers fighting for their lives as they were attacked with flag poles, fire extinguishers, basically anything those rioters could get their hands on.
SCIUTTO: CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez, here with more details. I mean, think about this, Evan, right? Is it -- it's shocking, but
it's also an enormous trove of evidence against these people.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It really is. And we're beginning to see some of that being used, Jim, in the court documents, with the charges that are being filed against these people.
And, you know, obviously one of the more notorious images is the one of someone attacking a police officer with a flag with the American flag on it. And you know, some of the people were using Blue Lives Matter flags to attack these police officers. We've heard it described as armed combat in the halls of Congress.
I'll give you just the names of a few of the people who have now been arrested and who have been charged with some of these crimes. There's a New York man by the name of Samuel Fisher, he's been charged with going on social -- he apparently described some of the activity that was going on, he's charged with some of the assaults. And he allegedly wrote on social media about the insurrection, "Even though people died, it was great if you ask me."
Another one, Patrick McCaughey, he's accused of being one of the people who was seen crushing that D.C. police officer, Daniel Hodges, during the Capitol riot. Again, you see the images, that is now -- those are the images that are being used against these guys.
And another, Tim Gionet, he's another -- he's a far-right media personality known more commonly as Baked Alaska. He's now appearing before a federal magistrate.
All of these people came here at the urging of the president. And even though, obviously, they claimed to be pro-police, what we saw in the images -- and certainly in the bodycam images -- is far from being pro-police.
SCIUTTO: No, the direct opposite of it. Evan Perez, good to have you on the story, thank you.
[10:48:00]
Well, they're back, daily White House press briefings, that is. It is a big deal, going back to kind of the way they used to be done. We're going to discuss, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Well, as journalists -- and I think just as Americans, here's some welcome news. White House daily press briefings are back, a chance to question our leaders.
HARLOW: Exactly. After four years of unprecedented communication or lack thereof, a return to normalcy as the Biden administration vows truth and transparency. Now it's about acting on that. Our chief media correspondent Brian Stelter joins us now.
So, Brian, how transparent is this going to be, how different? BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right, this is a return
to normalcy, one of many ways the Biden administration is showing a return to normalcy. Also a return to functioning government. The White House Press Office is now actually sending out press releases that are informative. So instead of having the Trump administration say, Trump is making many calls, the Biden team's actually revealing the calls. That's a good sign, that's progress.
And of course, the Biden team is trying to restore trust more broadly. That's a remarkable thing, given that we've been in a truth emergency for the past four years. And that emergency is not going to resolve itself. It's a tall order to try to restore trust, but the Biden team says they're going to try.
Here's what Jen Psaki said on CBS a couple hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The best antidote to false information is the truth and honesty and data and transparency. This is part of all of our objectives here: part of my job as the press secretary, part of the jobs of the policy teams, part of his job, part of the vice president's jobs. Because the institutions around the country have been -- the trust in them has been so frayed, trust in media, and trust in government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: So she is committing to what Biden has committed to, putting truth ahead of lies --
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: I hate to break in --
STELTER: -- but you know what, that is going to be a tall order.
SCIUTTO: -- apologies -- apologies, Brian, we have the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, speaking right now on the Hill. Let's listen in.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): -- when the president said, today is America's day, today is democracy's day, that was really true. That inauguration was a breath of fresh air for our country. The inauguration of Joe Biden as president, Kamala Harris as vice president of the United States, with all of the newness that that presented -- first woman, first African American woman, first Asian American woman, the best.
[10:54:47]
Not just about democracy but about quality of leadership. So exciting.
So now with the Biden-Harris administration in place, a Democratic majority that occurred later in the day yesterday when Chuck Schumer became the Majority Leader of the Senate, with the swearing in of three new members. We were very proud of Senator Padilla of California, just overwhelmed with joy about the two senators from Georgia, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock -- three new senators, a new Democratic majority, now we can recover from the pandemic and get to work to build back better.
Today, our nation marks the passing of 400,000 people -- that was yesterday -- 400,000 people died but today marks one year since our first knowledge of this pandemic. And what did we learn this morning? We learned this morning that the Trump administration had no real plan for the production and distribution of the vaccine, just another in a series of their terrible, ineffective approach to it. From the start, in denial, delay, distortion, calling it a hoax, and now we find that they don't have -- they didn't even have a plan.
As we go forward, though, we see immediately that Joe Biden has -- President Biden has put forth a plan to crush the coronavirus. You know what that is. Yesterday, he talked about it in his best -- in his executive actions, when he talked about wearing masks, distancing, science-based approaches.
Today, he'll sign further orders. My understanding is to use the Defense Production Act to speed up PPP -- PPE delivery, to expand testing, treatment and public health workforce that we need and launch a vaccination campaign, all of this to more safely open up schools and businesses, improve health equity, something that the Republicans would just erase from any bill, addressing the disparity in treatment and there -- and testing and therefore the disparity in incidents of COVID-19 in communities of color.
As we salute these actions, we are getting ready for a COVID relief package. We'll be working on that (inaudible). As you probably have seen, Mr. Hoyer announced that as we work on these issues, we won't be back in session until the beginning of February -- another week -- February 1st, is it, or 2nd? -- and -- but we'll be doing our -- we'll be doing our committee work all next week so that we are completely ready to go to the floor when we come back.
And then, again, these -- the COVID proposals from the administration build on many of the initiatives that were in our packages all -- all along. It's what the people need, it's what the country needs to crush the virus, put money in the pockets of the American people and honor our heroes.
We're talking largely about executive actions but I just mentioned that one bill, a COVID package. We also are pleased to see the President come forward -- the administration come forward with an immigration proposal. Very pleased -- and in the House, Linda Sanchez will be taking a lead, Senator Menendez in the Senate. It has the basic principles that we've talked about all along and we'll see what the timetable is on that.
Today, we are in session to vote on the Austin waiver. It is a waiver so that General Lloyd Austin can serve as Secretary of Defense. That's -- I have said General Austin is a highly qualified and well respected leader, with over 40 years of decorated service. He brings a great understanding of the challenges facing our nation's defenses, and the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and their families. Once the waiver is approved, I feel confident that the Senate will confirm the general as secretary of defense.
[10:59:44]
Civilian control of the military is not an issue for us, it is a value, it is a principle.
