Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden to Sign More Executive Actions on COVID-19 Response; Confirmation Hearing for Transportation Nominee Buttigieg Underway; Woman Accused in Capitol Hill Riot Appears in Court. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 21, 2021 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden spending his first full day in office focusing on pandemic which has now killed more than 400,000 Americans, more than 4,000 just yesterday. His team says the president will be signing executive actions today that focus on reopening schools and businesses and that is on top of the of the 17 executive actions that the president signed yesterday.

Let's get straight to the White House for more on this. We have a lot of moving parts. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is there, he's been standing by.

Jeremy, early this morning, the Biden team put out a 21-page COVID plan and there are more executive orders coming. What is in it all? What does it all mean?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's making clear is on President Biden's first full day in office that the coronavirus pandemic is job number one for this administration and that it is the most urgent crisis that this administration faces.

President Biden and his team unveiling this national strategy to combat the pandemic which really is a stark contrast to what we saw from the previous administration in two ways. First of all, on the implementation side, you are seeing a coordinating national strategy rather than what we saw with the Trump administration which was often allowing states to simply figure it out.

And you are seeing several executive actions that President Biden will be signing today at 2:00 P.M. He will direct agencies to use all available methods, including the Defense Production Act, to really speed up the supply of critical elements, including vaccine distribution, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, all of things shortfalls that the Biden administration has already identified, also establishing a COVID pandemic board for example and requiring masks at airports and other modes of transportation.

This builds on the work that we already saw from President Biden yesterday in his first hours as president when he signed 17 executive actions, including several that were focused on the coronavirus pandemic, including officially naming Jeff Zients as his coronavirus coordinator, and also requiring masks on all federal properties among several other measures.

The second aspect of how this is different from what the previous administration did is on the messaging front. And that is why we're see going to see Dr. Fauci joining the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, later this afternoon for a coronavirus briefing.

One of the goals that this administration has identified in the strategy is restoring public trust in the government's response to coronavirus. And so much of that is going to be based on stopping the flow of misinformation that has come out of this White House for the last year and instead providing science-based recommendations to government agencies and also more importantly to the public as this goes forward.

But one key thing that we do need to note here, Kate, is that despite the flurry of executive actions that we are seeing from this administration from the president today, so much of this also will require Congress. Much of what is laid out in this 21-page strategy requires funding, that $1.9 trillion that President Biden has laid out requested from Congress. And that, of course, will tall order to secure the funding from Congress. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Jeremy, thank you.

So, so much worse than we could have imagined, that is how the new White House coronavirus coordinator, Jeff Zients, as Jeremy was pointing out, is describing what his team is inheriting from the Trump administration. Sources are describing it to CNN this way, that there is not a single vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration. One Biden official telling CNN, quote, we are going to have to build everything from scratch. It is Biden's problem now, that is for sure.

Let's dig into this. Joining me right now is Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of the Biden transition's COVID advisory board, joining us from Gillette Stadium, where his non-profit is helping running a mass vaccination site there. So, good on you to that. First and foremost, Doctor, thank you for being here.

I want to ask you about this reporting that CNN has coming in, saying that there is no vaccine distribution plan that was left by the Trump administration, that the White House now has to start from scratch. Did you know this?

DR. ATUL GAWANDE, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID ADVISORY BOARD: No. What we knew in the transition advisory board was that we were not getting any information that was not public information already.

[11:35:01]

And so it was a complete mystery, was there going to be a binder describing the national strategy and what the status is of production, of distribution and where things were, and the team on arrival, the president and his team, found that there was not those pieces there and no coordinated national effort. What you're seeing in the plan that was unveiled is a national strategy, which is not what we've really had. It is been all breakthrough and no follow-through.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you real quick. On the way out of the door, the former head of HHS, Alex Azar, he was asked about the Biden team voicing some criticism of the work that they had done vaccine rollouts specifically, and Azar said, and the he put it is that he thought it was a concerted effort by the new team to down talk where things are so they could look like heroes when they come in. Can you respond to that? Is that happening here?

GAWANDE: I wish it were true. It is not hard to see on the ground that the vaccine distribution has been chaotic, to say the least. And when you talk to states or cities, and I'm running this site here at Gillette Stadium, we don't have visibility into how much vaccine actually is available.

So that was the facts on the ground and remains where we are. And it is going to take time to build and put all of that together for the new administration.

BOLDUAN: And that is, I think, a key question I actually have for you. So if the target for the Biden administration is 100 million doses in 100 days, if that is the mark, that's 50 million people vaccinated by late April. Follow that through at the current rate we're look at now, that is not until February of next year for there to be three quarters of the adults in this country to be vaccinated. Is that an acceptable target?

GAWANDE: Well, you have to imagine is that as a target we're building up to, on the one hand, it is an ambitious target for the administration and it is not there yet. On the other hand, we have to be well past the million vaccines a day that will be required getting up to 2 million and more because the ultimate end goal is get everybody access to vaccines as fast as possible. That is both about production, which is not there yet, and supply, meaning production and administration, being able to know where can you go to get the vaccine and have it go smoothly and scheduled in a structured way.

It is getting better. Counties, cities and states have been heroic in standing up for efforts. And now what is some real transparency and from the top, including the instructions that FEMA will now provide the reimbursements and the financial resources for states to know that their supplies and needs for the vaccines and for testing are going to be addressed.

BOLDUAN: I want to ask you, testing, vaccine, prevention, our actions is all part of this. There is a move in Europe right now because of the new COVID strain to require, to push people to only wear medical style masks now, Germany and France saying that people should no longer be wearing cloth masks because they might not provide enough protection. Do you think that move should happen here in the U.S.?

GAWANDE: I've strongly endorsed taking this approach. Right now, the new B-117 strain that is spreading across the country, doubling every week, is much more contagious. The single layer cloth mask has done an effective job against the strain that we've had, but it is clear we're going to likely need more protection in order to prevent this from surging, creating yet another surge in the weeks to come.

So, medical grade masks means surgical masks, those are better than single layer masks, or the N-95 or Kn-95 masks. I think this is the direction we will need to head to be more effective in controlling this new strain.

BOLDUAN: And we're going to need more supply as well. Really quickly, just logistically speaking, now with the administration in place, what happens with the COVID advisory board that you've been on?

GAWANDE: Yes, we've all been retired as of yesterday. Now that they have the resources of the CDC, the NIH, the FDA and others which weren't available at all to the transition and we were a rump team providing that kind of expertise and advice, now we are retired, some have gone into the administration, I and others remain available for advice as needed from the outside.

BOLDUAN: So I hope you enjoy retirement because, clearly, I can tell you are slowing down. It is good to see you, Doctor, thank you very much.

Coming up for us, President Biden gets to work with just one cabinet member in place on his first full day in office.

[11:40:00]

How soon is the Senate going to get the rest of the Biden's team confirmed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Biden's pick for transportation secretary is in the midst of his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill as we speak. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, of course, and the former primary rival to President Biden, is one of the cabinet picks that are weeks behind schedule in getting confirmed, getting these hearings, getting in place.

[11:45:11]

President Biden begins his presidency with only one cabinet selection in place, the director of National Intelligence. That is less than any president in modern history.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill and he is following this for us. Ryan, what is the status for the Biden cabinet and what is the timing expectation of getting people in place?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is no doubt that President Biden would like to see these cabinet secretaries confirmed as soon as possible. But there are really two complicating factors for this new administration. The first is just the timing, in general. There could be an impeachment trial that begins here perhaps as soon as next week. That's just going to mean that more time is going to be taken up by the business of the Senate that normally could be focused on confirming these cabinet secretaries.

And then there is other complicating factor that even though Democrats now enjoy control of the majority in the Senate, it is only a 50/50 split. So that means it's a lot easier for Republicans to gum up the process a little bit, make it go a little bit longer would normally under certain circumstances and really press some of these Biden cabinet secretaries depending on where they have preservation (ph). So it really depends on the cabinet secretary in terms of the timing.

You have Janet Yellen, who is the pick for treasury secretary and also Anthony Blinken, who is the secretary of state nominee. Both of them are expected to have relatively easy confirmation fights. But it is still going to take this some time.

Now, you're going to run into some more controversial or lengthy processes with Lloyd Austin, who is the defense secretary pick, mainly because it is going to require a waiver for him because of his service in the Defense Department as a member of the military to get through that stage. And then, of course, Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the pick for the Department of Homeland Security. There are some reservations from Republicans as well. So those two complicating factors means it's not going to happen immediately, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It is good to see you, Ryan, thank you so much.

So with only one member of the president's cabinet in place, in a huge task ahead, really, to get the country on a path of recovery on so many fronts, how do you put promises into action on day one?

Joining me right now is Melody Barnes. She's a former domestic policy adviser to President Obama. It's good to see you, Melody. Thank you for being here.

How concerning is it, from your perspective, that President Biden only now has one cabinet member confirmed on day one?

MELODY BARNES, FORMER DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, first of all, it is great to be with you, Kate. And certainly this is not optimal but it is also not unusual. I think in the reporting just before we began our conversation indicated that this was the first time in modern history of presidents only had one cabinet secretary in place but President Obama only had six and President Trump had two. And it took 86 days for President Obama to get his cabinet fully installed. So this isn't unusual.

But what does happen, and this is why so many of us were really concerned and interested in the transition process moving forward, is that during that process, agency teams are assessing what is happening in those agencies, others who don't have to be confirmed are starting now to move into the agencies and the departments and they're doing so armed with information that was gathered during the transition. So it isn't as though these are agencies and departments that are acting without direction.

And remember, even though President Obama didn't have his full cabinet in place for almost three months, we were still able to move legislation forward, we were still able to do the nation's business even in the middle of an economic crisis.

BOLDUAN: You know, Biden has talked a lot about healing and unity and empathy, a very big part of his speech yesterday, and you wrote about that in a Washington Post op-ed before even the inauguration, about what history has taught us about healing as a nation, that I really think is very interesting and appropriate here. You make the case looking back at history that the -- in order for the country to heal from something like the insurrection on January 6th, people need to be held accountable. Accountability, not denial, is essential to healing, how you put it.

Let me play something then that the new White House press secretary said when asked if Biden thinks that Donald Trump needs to be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He is going to leave it to members of Congress to carry out their constitutional duty and determine what the path forward is and what the mechanisms are going to be, what the process and what the timeline will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Do you think that is the right position for them to take?

BARNES: Well, clearly, at this point, the issue of a Senate trial does sit with Congress. It sits with the Senate. The House has acted. Those articles of impeachment should move over to the Senate fairly soon. We know that during the transition before the inauguration that then president-elect, now President Biden, asked about the possibility of bifurcation of an agenda so he could move forward addressing the economy and COVID, and at the same time the Senate could handle a trial and those two things could happen at the same time.

[11:50:16]

I don't believe, after watching Joe Biden as a senator, after working in the White House when he was a vice president, and listening to his speech yesterday at the inauguration that he is trying to whistle past what happened on January 6 and all that preceded it. In fact, I think he issued a call to action for all of us yesterday in furtherance of healing and in furtherance of unity, and that's very different than what Carrie Janney and I wrote about in our op-ed, those who were trying to move beyond it, speak to healing and unity when they cared about neither. They have no interest in that. They just didn't want to take responsibility for what's happening.

I think that's different than what President Biden is asking for, and now the Senate has to move forward with a trial, and at the same time, President Biden has spoken to all the ways that we have to act together to address the extremism, the anger, the resentment, and all of us sitting in our communities have to take action as well. This is an issue that sits at all of our doorsteps, not just that of the White House.

BOLDUAN: So interesting, Melody, your perspective on this.

Really quickly, in pushing for unity and empathy and kind of the plea to come together, already this morning I've seen -- let me read what I saw this morning from Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who wrote about Biden's plea, the following, President Biden called for empathy but one of his first actions was canceling the Keystone pipeline, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Where is the empathy for Americans who are now unemployed thanks to Joe Biden?

I read this because it shows the real task at hand on how to bring about empathy, how to bring about more unity and if people are using different definitions of this.

BARNES: Right. And let's not play politics with what happened on January 6 and the insurrection, not to mention what's happened in the months and years prior to that. Let's not play politics with the fact that the American people have been lied to about the election that just took place.

There will be disagreements about policy, and our democratic institutions were designed for those kinds of debates. We have an election, elections have consequences, and President Biden will act. But at the same time, the very fundamental nature of our democracy was called into question, was attacked. And we have to call for responsibility and accountability to that in the way that Dr. Janney and I wrote about in our op-ed. If we don't do that, we don't ensure the future that we all want.

What needs to happen isn't a distraction from the nation's business, it's an insurance policy to make sure that we have the kind of government and the strength of democratic institutions that we need so we can move forward without violence, without lawlessness so that our institutions can operate and can function and we can have a rich and robust debate and move forward in the best interest of the American people.

BOLDUAN: So interesting. Melody, thanks for coming in.

BARNES: Great. Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: Of course. Coming up for us, a woman accused in the Capitol Hill riot appears in court, and authorities arrest one of the leaders of the extremist group, the Proud Boys. More details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: Just moments ago, a bail hearing for that woman, Riley Williams, a woman who has also been seen in videos seeming to direct rioters around the Capitol building during the insurrection. She is now charged, a court hearing just wrapped up.

CNN's Josh Campbell, has been following this. He's back here with more details on this, Josh, walk us through what happened in this morning's hearing.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kate, we're seeing the wheels of justice turn here as these arrested suspects are now finding their way into courtrooms and before judges. And let's look at this woman, Riley Williams. We have her on video. We showed this to you before. She was allegedly directing people on that day of that Capitol mob around the area into the building, and that's one of the things that really caught the eye of prosecutors here.

Now, let's look at what they accused her of. Of course, there was a tipster who told the FBI that she had stolen a laptop from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attempted to send that to a friend in Russia in order to sell it to Russian intelligence. Now, there isn't any indication beyond that allegation that that was the case, but we do know that prosecutors are charging her with assisting with the theft of government property as well as unlawful entry.

Now, she was released just a short time ago on bail. Our colleague, Sonia Moghe, was in the courtroom. And let me describe what the judge said really unleashing on this defendant saying, and I quote, we know now that the mob failed and the Constitution prevailed. The Constitution prevailed because Congress, stepping over the wreckage of its Capitol, met and confirmed with the vice president of the United States the vote of the Electoral College, setting the stage for the latest peaceful transfer of power yesterday. The judge went on to tell her directly, you are being released today because the Constitution has prevailed.

Now, she will be in home confinement, but, again, just one of the latest defendants that we're hearing about working her way through the system as authorities continue to investigate those who took part in this attack.

BOLDUAN: And also, Josh, a self-describe organizer for the extremist group, the Proud Boys, also appeared in court and was released. What can you tell us about this one?

CAMPBELL: Yes, exactly, another defendant. This is a Florida man named Joseph Biggs. Now, authorities say that he was allegedly an organizer with the Proud Boys group who was there on the day of the attack. And they say that he had actually posted to Parler, the website, beforehand, saying that people should try to blend in, wear clothing that would blend them in. They also say that he was seen on video with an earpiece, with walkie-talkies, communicating.

Of course, that brought up that question about whether this was an orchestrated and coordinated this attack or whether this was simply an organized effort or people have just got out of hand. That is looking more and more, as we read through these court filings, that there was communication on the ground, you had people directing each other, that information coming from court documents. And then, finally, I'll say that, Kate. We've been digging into these court records. Authorities have released certain information now. There is still a lot they have not released.

[12:00:00]

A lot of these cases remained sealed. Of course, experts look at that and say that could be the bigger fish. We are waiting to see just how serious these charges will be as investigators continue to do their work, Kate.