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Sources Say, Biden Team Says it's Inheriting Non-Existent Vaccine Plan; GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Tries Rewriting History on His Role in Insurrection. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 21, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: That certainly is. And I hope those followers slowly figure out they've been on the wrong path. But we shall see. Donie O'Sullivan, grateful as always for that important reporting, and grateful for your time today. We'll see you back here this time tomorrow.

Stay with us, a busy news day. Brianna Keilar picks up right now. Have a good day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar, and I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

On his first full day as president, Joe Biden will soon speak about the most important item on his agenda, the coronavirus response plan. And he's doing it as he's getting hit with a major setback when it comes to vaccinations.

Sources tell CNN President Biden is inheriting a, quote, non-existent vaccination distribution plan from the Trump Administration, and that the Biden team will need to start from square one. Another source says, the lack of a plan is, quote, just farther affirmation of complete incompetence.

A member of the Biden coronavirus advisory board explains that the team only knew the details that were known to the public, and that included Operation Warp Speed briefings and details on distribution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ATUL GAWANDE, MEMBER, BIDEN'S COVID ADVISORY BOARD: What we knew in the transition advisory board was that we were not getting any information that was not public information already. And so what 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 were not those pieces there and no coordinated national effort.

It's been all breakthrough and no follow-through.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: As of today, there are more than 19 million doses still to be administered, according to the CDC. The absence of a vaccine plan is coming a day where we're seeing several major developments in the pandemic. The president releases his national strategy for the COVID response. The U.S. is reporting it's the second biggest day of the pandemic, more than 4,200 lives lost. And it was one year ago today that the CDC reported the first U.S. case of the coronavirus.

CNN's Sara Murray is following this story. Sara, tell us what you're learning about what the Biden team is inheriting and when it comes to this vaccination plan. Can he still make good on his vaccination pledge?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, it's very clear this is not going to be any kind of seamless transition. You know, the Biden team feels confident that 100 million shots in 100 days is still an achievable goal, but they really do feel like they're walking into a mess. They want to read you what one source told my colleague, M.J. Lee, there is nothing for us to rework, we will have to build everything from scratch.

And you can see why the Biden team feels like that, because they believe that this distribution process should really be a federalized process, that the federal government should be involved in making sure there is enough vaccine supply, communicating that clearly the states, and even setting up some of these mass vaccination locations.

That's not the approach the Trump worked on. You know, a big criticism of the Trump team is that they have focused so much on getting these vaccine developed, and they didn't pay enough attention to the sort of last mile, making sure they actually get shots into arms.

But I think, you know Brianna, we also have to look at this through the lens of politics. The Biden team knows they have an astronomical challenge ahead of them, so they are also trying to manage expectations here and say, you know, look what a catastrophe we're walking into, looking what a total mess this is. And part of that will be so they can get their arms around the situation but also so they can buy themselves a little bit of time to determine exactly what steps they feel like they can take to actually make a difference on this.

KEILAR: Yes, both of those things can very much be true. Sara Murray, thank you so much, great report.

In about an hour, President Biden will be signing a handful of executive orders, and this is part of his national strategy for getting the pandemic under control. CNN's Phil Mattingly is following this from the White House. Phil, what are we expecting from him today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Brianna, yesterday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president goes to sleep thinking about the pandemic, wakes up thinking about the pandemic, and that's his focus of today, with some of the focused yesterday too. But today is all about the pandemic and fighting the pandemic. What you're going to see the president put into place here in about an hour is a raft of executive actions trying to really kind of, as Sara was talking about, really federalize the response to things, trying and fill in gaps that they feel were left by their predecessors.

It will start with a surge on supplies, really invoking the Defense Production Act, trying to utilized efforts to boost crucial supplies for testing, for vaccinations, for PPE, things of that nature as well, also going to set up a national testing board as well to work -- to look at potential shortfalls on the testing front of things where those gaps can be filled in.

There's going to be boost on reimbursement for FEMA, and why that matters from state by state is that will help as they move it from 75 percent to 100 percent in terms of helping to finance when they need help from the National Guard. But also, for school openings as well, they plan to be able to use that reimbursement.

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You're going to see a series of actions that are being taken by this administration making very clear that this is their primary number one issue. There is no question, there are series of crises, many of them directly connected to the pandemic that they will be trying to address in the days ahead, whether it's on economic issues, whether it's on racial inequity as well.

But today is about the pandemic, today is about the Biden team and the Biden operation trying to address some serious issues that they believe were not addressed prior to coming into office and major issues that they believe need to be addressed in the coming weeks and months to hit some of those targets that they have laid out, and perhaps, as you talked about managing expectations, exceed them over the course of the next several months, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, Phil Mattingly, thank you so much, live for us covering the White House.

And let's get a firsthand perspective now, on just how hard it is to get vaccinated. It's been about a month since the first COVID vaccine was granted emergency use authorization. And John Knapp said that they finally got their first shots after a whole lot of effort. They are joining us now. Ann is 73, John is 88. They live in Delray Beach, Florida. And, look, thank you so much to both of you for just lending your stories so that we can talk about what's happening as people are supposed to be vaccinated.

Ann, I know that you called initially a vaccine number where you should have gotten some help, what, more than 30 times?

ANN KNAPP, FRUSTRATED WITH VACCINE ROLLOUT; HAD A HARD TIME GETTING FIRST SHOT: Yes, I tried when it was first on our T.V. station, a vaccine number here in Palm Beach County. I called 33 times. It never went through. On 34th time, it went through but I had to remain on hold for an hour. After an hour, they told me your call cannot be processed. So, then they gave me an email. I tried the e-mail, and it had crashed.

So, I ended up having to go to Broward County, which is the county just south of Palm Beach County. I registered there. I never heard from them. I never heard -- when I finally did get through to Palm Beach County, never heard anything from them either.

KEILAR: John, this sounds incredibly frustrating for you guys.

A. KNAPP: Oh Yes, very much so, very much so. And then the lines where people were doing drive-thru, the lines were so long that it was impossible to even think about getting an appointment in some place.

KEILAR: And, John, can you tell us what -- going through this process of jumping through hoops, I know eventually a neighbor kind of came to help -- understood where it would be a better place to get a vaccination, and ultimately, you were able to do that. But you are kind of, you know, feeling your way through this with so much trial and error. What surprised you, John, about the process and how difficult it was?

JOHN KNAPP, FRUSTRATED WITH VACCINE ROLLOUT AND HAD A HARD TIME GETTING FIRST SHOT: Well, you know, we are all in this thing together, and not only in the state of Florida but in the United States. And the leadership here in Palm Beach County, basically, really needs to improve some areas of life.

We had to go almost an hour away to get to a vaccine to (INAUDIBLE) Jackson Memorial Hospital. And when we got down there, it was only because one of our neighbors gave us some information and put us on a website that we could get in and get out at the same time at the same day. So, we both went down. What day was it on?

A. KNAPP: It was a week ago today.

J. KNAPP: A week ago today. Now, we scheduled to have another vaccine on the 4th of February, and we're both going down -- we both schedule for that. It seems like it's so much more (INAUDIBLE). But if you were talking about Dade County, which is twice the size of this county up here and Broward County is almost five the size of us, so we have a lot of work to do down here. I'm sorry, Brianna.

KEILAR: No, no, no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but you know Ann, your husband says there is a lot of work to be done. Who needs to be doing this work? Who is responsible for what has been, at least in your area, not a great rollout here?

A. KNAPP: Well, so Brianna, from my perspective and what I've seen on the news and what I've researched is that our health department for Palm Beach County, the head of it, Dr. Alonzo, is not a county employee. She's a state employee. That's number one.

Number two is that, as far as I'm concerned is the federal government knows everybody over the age of 65, they have all of our information, they probably even don't know our phone numbers. They should be contacting us saying, if you live in a certain zip code, if your last name starts with this, go to this place and get the vaccine. It could be so easily handled if it would have been done federally instead of by the state, by local and then county governments.

[13:10:00]

It's just there're too many variables that are going into it. They started vaccines at our grocery stores here. They were out within a couple hours. And now we have to wait until January 23rd until the next time they can do --

KEILAR: Yes, and it does sound like that is something that people are experiencing all across the country. Ann and John, thank you so much. I'm so glad that you were finally able to get vaccinated, and, hopefully, you know, what you're saying goes right into the ears of people who are responsible for this. So thank you both.

A. KNAPP: Well, thank you very much.

J. KNAPP: I hope we don't have to go to Cuba.

KEILAR: All right, you guys, thank you. There are tensions that are building in the Senate as Republicans and Democrats are fighting over sharing power and an impeachment trial is looming.

Plus, the House minority leader tries to rewrite history on his role in the Capitol siege.

And just in, we are learning the fate of FBI Director Christopher Wray in the Biden Administration. We'll talk about that.

This is CNN special live coverage.

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[13:15:00]

KEILAR: Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowing to play nicely with Democrats, but he is rewriting history in the process throwing out lame whataboutisms as he pretends that he and some of his Republican colleagues didn't try to overturn the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you regret the role and you played, in any way, is sowing doubt about the election?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I denounce any violence, I denounced it that day, I denounce it now, I denounced it in the summer, I denounced to what happened last night in Portland and Seattle as well. I'm very consistent. What I voted on wasn't to overturn an election because it wouldn't.

I've always denounced whatever individuals did here, what they did in the summer, what they did last night. That's un-American, that's undemocratic, and anybody involved with that should be prosecuted. REPORTER: Do you believe that former President Trump provoked?

MCCARTHY: I don't believe he provoked if you listen to what he said at the rally.

But one thing we learned in the last four years of President Trump, that he listened to voices that nobody was hearing on either party, also voices we should continue to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That was a great question from Manu Raju, but that was a horse pocky response from the House Republican leader. Here is what really happened. McCarthy was a ringleader in a conspiracy theory circus that ran amok for two months after the election and continues to this day. He lent his support to conspiracy theory challenges in court, in Congress and on television, where the ringmaster of the conspiracy theorists circus could hear him loud and clear. He refused to even say that Biden was the president-elect until the riot. He amplified the rhetoric until the riot.

And implicit and McCarthy backing off those crap claims only in the days after the siege on a Capitol is an acknowledgment that by casting doubt on the election, by feeding the conspiracy theory monster, he was a major part of why those rioters showed up at the Capitol, convinced that their votes had been ignored, sure, that they could overturn the election. For McCarthy, it was all a political gain for two months until the monster showed up on the doorstep of his workplace.

Today McCarthy dodged questions about whether he is accountable. He refused to answer why he didn't speak the truth when it mattered, why he didn't say what he knew all along, that the election was free, fair and finished. and to top it off, he's still defending the man who is probably driving his golf cart across the putting green right now, and to say that Trump didn't play a role in the insurrection is not only a lie, it contemplates what a key person in all of this said eight days ago.

So, let's listen to Kevin McCarthy and then we'll list to Kevin McCarthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

I don't believe he provoked if you listened to what he said at the rally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's talk about this now more with CNN Political Analyst Rachael Bade, she is a Playbook co-author for Political, and CNN Senior Political Analyst Ryan Lizza, who is Chief Washington Correspondent of Politico and another new Playbook co-author. Ryan, to you first here. Help me square this circle of what McCarthy has said and what McCarthy is saying.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, I think it's -- look, you're getting very hung up on what he -- McCarthy is just moving with the political wins. Let's just say that at the start. He's clearly contradicting himself. Who knows if he believed the first thing or the second thing?

And I think what's fascinating about this is the shift, Bri, right? Because Kevin McCarthy is a pretty establishment politician, came up through the system in California. He was wasn't considered as sort of populist right winger of the Trump kind until Trump came along and changed the Republican Party.

And so, this sort of cynical shift in just a matter of days, to me, is fascinating because he is not afraid to do it, right? These guys have been terrified by their own base, the Trump base, for four years, basically. And now, whether it's McConnell got to him or some other elements of the Republican Party, the fact that he has decided he needed to be on the other side of this issue after, as you point, supporting the lawsuits, supporting the objection to the results and not being able to call out the incitement, the fact that he has shifted makes me wonder how broad a shift this will be with his members who, after all, he needs support from.

[13:20:06]

And as Rachael, who covers Congress and knows a lot more about this than I do, can tell you.

KEILAR: So, Rachael, can you speak to that? Because you're hearing Kevin McCarthy, he said -- you know, one thing just days ago, he is saying this, Mitch McConnell has said something different, at least he's been consistent in it. So, what is the difference in the calculus between Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell aside from, I would say, I think, Mitch McConnell is a more astute politician, that's well established, but what is the difference in the calculus?

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, McCarthy is sort of been in a sticky situation. He's trying to have it both ways. I mean, clearly, he sees the president is so popular with his members and with his base, but he's also sort of getting an earful from corporate donors who are wanting him to put separation between himself and the president. And so, I think that can sort of explain the evolution we have seen back and forth, back and forth. A couple days ago him saying, yes, the president did something wrong, he incited these riots, and then now saying he didn't, quote, provoke these riots.

We reported in Playbook just a couple days ago that the president was really angry at him for some things he was saying about Trump, including saying he was open to a quote censure in the House, and that he was calling him bad names behind the scenes. And so, clearly, McCarthy is seeing these reports. Perhaps he's getting an earful from conservative members of the House who are still with the president. I really do -- I agree with Ryan, I think it's an early indication that even though Trump -- we're moving on from Trump, you know, he's not gone yet and he still has a very strong voice and presence with these Republicans on the Hill who are hearing from his constituents back home, and that's why you see McCarthy doing this tap dance at a time when McConnell is ready to close the book entirely on Trump.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, here we can move on a little bit. And we'll talk more about the future here. You have a very interesting article, Rachael, in Politico, where you say that the Democrats were not expecting to win both of these Senate seats in Georgia. They weren't expecting that they would have this power in the Senate, so they've been caught flat-footed by the victory. How is that affecting this key time when they need to be tackling their agenda?

BADE: Yes. There is quite a scramble happening right now behind the scenes. I mean, obviously, yesterday, we saw smiles and joy, you didn't hear a cross word from Democrats. But if you talk to people sort of privately, they will admit that they really don't know what's going on right now.

You can take the COVID proposal as a good example of this. I mean we know that the top priority for President Biden is to address the pandemic, he's put out a proposal, he wants this big package to move, but, you know, there is a disagreement about how exactly to do that. We see Democrats right now, they have this idea of trying to sort of jam a big bill through Congress on a party line, they had sort of set up for that, and then all of a sudden Biden is calling and saying he wants to try bipartisanship first, and so that's what they're going to do. They're going to try bipartisanship first.

KEILAR: How much, Ryan, can Biden realistically get done, and how much time does he have to do it? And also, what kind of position is he in that maybe was different than Barack Obama who didn't have as much experience in Congress?

LIZZA: That's such a great question, because, basically, as president, you get your first year to do all the big stuff. That sounds kind of crazy when most presidents recently -- recent exception excluded -- have had eight years. But look at the Clinton era, look at the Bush era, George W. Bust, look at Barack Obama's presidency, it's that first year where you have a partial honeymoon. Most presidents do come in controlling Congress. Biden has accomplished that now with the Georgia seats. And this is it.

And the lesson from Democrats of the Obama years was strike while the iron is hot, because after 2009, that big, bold first year of the Obama administration, once Republicans won the midterms in 2010, it was just a slog, at least, legislatively, for the president and presidents tend to do a lot of domestic legislating in the first year, and as things slow down, turn their attention to foreign policy and other things. So now is Biden's moment.

And I think the big question is how long does he wait? How much time does he give Republicans? Does he extend his hand to Republicans? The left of the Democratic Party thinks that's a mistake just right out of the box. Other people will say, well, what's the problem with at least trying? And then if things get bogged down, the calls for getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate will be extremely loud, because that is the one nuclear option Joe Biden has to actually move his agenda forward.

[13:25:07]

So, the big question is how serious is Biden about requiring Republican support for his agenda?

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, I remember. So much time spent, I was covering Congress at the time outside of committee meetings where there were bipartisan negotiations that, sadly, in the end, never yielded anything. And I'm sure that Biden remembers that very well as well.

LIZZA: Max Baucus.

KEILAR: Yes, Max Baucus, exactly right, Ryan. Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade, hey, thank you, and congrats to both of you on your new roles. Thanks for joining us.

LIZZA: Thanks, Bri.

BADE: Thank you.

KEILAR: We have some new details on who from the Trump administration the president has dismissed.

Plus, we're going to go inside the new Oval Office to see what is different and what Biden decide to do put a spotlight on.

And two studies in two days show that a new COVID variant could be problematic for vaccines.

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