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Biden Targets Trump's Legacy with Executive Orders; Trump's Impeachment Trial Possibly Delayed; Japan is Determined to Hold Games Despite Cancellation Rumors; U.K. Introduces New Penalty for Breaking Lockdown Rules; Two Studies Raise Questions About Impact of COVID Variants; Biden Stops U.S. Exit from World Health Organization; Biden's First Call to a Foreign Leader Will be to Canada's Trudeau; Biden's First Foreign Leader Call To Be With Canada's Trudeau; China Sanctions Pompeo, 27 Other Former U.S. Officials; Mitch McConnell: President Biden Has Already Taken "Several Big Steps In The Wrong Direction"; Joe Biden Signs Executive Orders As Part Of "Wartime" COVID Plan; Nazi Flag Under Biden/Harris Sign On Tree Replaced With American Flag. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 22, 2021 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): U.S. President Biden targeting Trump's legacy with a slew of executive orders. This as Donald Trump spends time in Florida while he awaits his impending second impeachment trial, a trial that could be delayed.
And then more possible challenges in the fight against COVID-19. New studies show a new variant could be a problematic for vaccines.
Welcome to "CNN Newsroom," everyone. I am Michael Holmes.
Thanks for your company, everyone. Joe Biden spent his first full day as U.S. president outlining his plans to fight COVID, still raging, of course, out of control in this country.
He also signed a slew of executive actions, reversing key policies from the Trump administration. The border wall, halted. The travel ban on mostly Muslim countries, reversed. And, departure from the World Health Organization, cancelled. And of course, the U.S. is now re- joining the Paris climate accord.
But fighting COVID is his top priority as Thursday marked the one year anniversary since the first reported case in the U.S. Now, nearly 25 million Americans have been infected. More than 410,000 have died. Deaths are actually going down in more than half of the states across the U.S., with only Alaska, Georgia, and North Dakota up sharply to some good news, but the numbers are still horrifyingly high.
President Biden said that the effort to fight coronavirus will be like fighting a war. He promises his plan will be based on science, and not politics.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports from the White House. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We didn't get into this mess overnight. It is going to take months for us to turn things around.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On his first full day on the job, President Joe Biden outlined his national strategy to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
BIDEN: Our national strategy is comprehensive. It is based on science, not politics. It is based on truth, not denial, and is detailed.
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden promised to use the full powers of the federal government to ramp up supply production in a way, he says, the last administration didn't.
BIDEN: For the past year, we couldn't rely on the federal government to act with the urgency and focus and coordination we needed, and we are seeing the tragic cost of that failure.
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden promised transparency after his coronavirus coordinator, Jeff Zients, blamed the Trump administration for not sharing critical information about the state of vaccines and supplies.
JEFF ZIENTS, COORDINATOR, BIDEN COVID-19 TASK FORCE (voice-over): What we're inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined.
COLLINS (voice-over): The president started his day with a virtual prayer service and a nod to the pandemic that is expected to consume his first year in office.
BIDEN: Protect and defend --
COLLINS (voice-over): Only 17 hours after being sworn in, he began working to reverse Trump's legacy by undoing many of his predecessor's policies, well pushing his own, citing 17 executive actions or directives in the Oval Office.
BIDEN: There's no time to start like today.
COLLINS (voice-over): While wearing his mask in the Oval, something Trump was never seen doing, Biden signed an order requiring masks on all federal properties and by all federal employees.
President Biden also reinstated ties with the World Health Organization after President Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. last summer.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He sends an executive order reversing Trump's decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization. This will strengthen our own efforts to get the pandemic under control by improving global health.
COLLINS (voice-over): Also, construction crews along the U.S.-Mexico border have halted their work after Biden signed an executive order instructing them to stop building -- quote -- "as soon as possible," an order now under review by the Defense Department.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): Now, to Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. The former president spent Thursday golfing in Florida. The top Republican in the Senate, meanwhile, Mitch McConnell, says the trial should be delayed. Democrats have some strong incentives to go along with that.
CNN's Manu Raju explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed delaying the start of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial until mid-February.
[02:05:00]
RAJU: His argument? The Trump team needs some time to prepare. The former president has actually hard a time getting an attorney to represent him. We are told from sources that he has talked to various people, but now, he has settled on one, a South Carolina-based attorney, to lead this case. We expect other attorneys to be named, as well.
Mitch McConnell has spoken to that attorney, says there needs to be some time for them to prepare for defending the president against a charge of inciting an insurrection.
Democrats have to agree in order to delay that trial and it's possible they may. They are considering it right now. They also want, in exchange, some assurances that some of Joe Biden's nominees could get confirmed by the United States Senate. That has not happened as fast as Democrats would like. So we will see how that shakes out.
We will also see if Republicans break ranks and vote to convict Donald Trump. Mitch McConnell, one of the key votes everybody is looking at, he has said, privately, he believes Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses, but publicly, he is telling his colleagues, and privately, he is telling his colleagues, he has not decided what to do just yet.
I'm told by Republican senators that if he votes to convict Donald Trump, he could face a hard time retaining his leadership position in the next Congress. So, there is a lot riding on this for McConnell, as well.
Some Democrats are concerned that delaying the trial even further could give Trump some benefit here because passions, potentially, could have cooled by the time it comes to vote on whether to convict Donald Trump. If he is convicted, then there will be a vote to bar Donald Trump from ever serving elected office again.
So, a lot is riding on the decisions here. For the moment, McConnell wants to delay, Democrats are considering it, and Donald Trump is awaiting his future, his political future, as Republicans and Democrats weight what to do.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): I spoke earlier with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, and I asked him why the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, seems to be holding all of the cards, and how Democrats should respond.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think, on this front, the Democrats are going to hold together. Also, they're not going to let Mitch McConnell, as the minority leader, decide the rules by which they, as the majority, can run the Senate.
As I've said, if you could do this routinely, every time we change power in the last 40 years, it would be, you know, it would be the minority -- the party leaving control that would get to set the rules. It's ridiculous.
But the longer term question, I think, is very clear. I mean, Joe Biden ran on this idea of unity, that he could make deals with Republicans. He is testing that with his $1.9 trillion rescue package. He wants to go through regular order on that, which means he would need 10 Republican senators to break a filibuster.
It is going to be really hard. I mean, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, two of the most likely targets, have already expressed skepticism about it. If he can get 10 Republicans on that on the fiscal plan, he does have the fall back of using this special tool called reconciliation that he can pass with just 51-vote majority.
But, on almost everything else they care about, particularly the racial justice agenda, Voting Rights Act, police reform, democracy reform, immigration reform, that tool is not available. So sooner or later, they are going to confront this issue of whether they allow the filibuster to survive and in effect give a veto to the republican minority.
HOLMES: Yeah. And again, for international audience, because of the peculiarities of the American system of government, there will be midterm elections next year. Democrats got to raise a majority in both houses. How bright is the Biden need for speed and aggression, really? He possibly has essentially less than two years to get things done.
BROWNSTEIN: Tremendous need for speed. I mean, if you look at what happened to Obama, in 2010, the Democrats had the worst midterm election for either party since 1938. It effectively ended his ability to drive legislation for the rest of his presidency.
One reason they felt that they did so poorly in his first two years, partially one of them was their choice, when they passed the Affordable Care Act, they backloaded a lot of the provisions, thinking that will actually diminish resistance. In fact, it meant that people had not felt the positive impact of it in their first two years.
And even more important, facing the exact same situation that Biden does now, Obama significantly cut his economic stimulus plan in '09 to win the three republican senate votes needed to break a filibuster there. And Democrats, to this day, said that it had the effect of not allowing the economy to recover fast enough and thus hurting them in the midterm. Biden faces exactly the same, I think, dynamics here.
If he cannot get the virus under control and the economy moving, it is going to be a very tough 2022 for Democrats, and each day that goes by without making progress towards that, you know, increases the odds to that kind of negative result.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein there.
And President Biden is expected to sign more executive orders in the day ahead on economic relief.
[02:10:01]
HOLMES: One deal is with social welfare programs such as Medicaid, jobless benefits, and food assistance for needy families.
Mr. Biden also may take questions, which would mark his first news conference since becoming president.
Now, the Japanese government says it is determined to hold the Olympic Games this summer despite rumors and some reports that they could be cancelled.
Let's get right to CNN's Selina Wang in Tokyo with the details. Essentially, this is a newspaper report really basically and it's getting knocked down around, isn't it?
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Michael, this is according to Times of London Report, citing an unnamed senior official who is a member of the ruling coalition in Japan, saying that the Japanese government has privately concluded that the Olympic Games should be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, as you said, this has been shot down by the Japanese government. The prime minister today is also coming out reaffirming that Japan is committed to holding these games. And just yesterday, Michael, the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, said that Japan does not have a plan B for these Olympics. They will go on as scheduled. But no surprise here that there is growing skepticism as to whether or not Japan can pull this off. We are just six months away and the whole city, Tokyo, is in a state of emergency. Residents are currently urged to stay inside. Japan has currently banned for travellers from entering the country. We talked about vaccinations. Japan is behind several other countries. They are not even expected to start the rollout until later next month.
Now, I spoke to the longest serving member of the IOC, Dick Pound, and he told me he is not entirely sure these games can go on as planned. Take a listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK POUND, MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Confident. Not -- not -- not -- it's not a guarantee, of course, and everyone understands that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WANG (on camera): Michael, I cannot overemphasize how big of a deal it would be if these games were cancelled, not just for Japan, of course, but also for the athletes and sponsors.
According to audits, Japan has some at least $25 billion into these games. In addition to the economic loss, there is the loss of face. Japan wants to be the first country to host these massive, joyous games in a post pandemic world. The prime minister has said that he hopes these Olympic Games can be proof that humanity has overcome the virus.
The public opposition here is also increasing. According to a recent poll from national broadcaster NHK, nearly 80 percent of people in Japan think these games should be further postponed or cancelled. Certainly, the mood on the ground here is that the Olympics would be great for Japan but unrealistic at this point.
HOLMES: It's hard to have joyous games when 80 percent of your public think it it's not a great idea. Selina Wang, great stuff, thank you, there in Tokyo.
Now, the U.K. is cracking down on those not following its lockdown rules. If that isn't enough to change people's minds, one official has a message. We will give it to you when we come back.
And the U.S. could be on the verge of reviewing and then authorizing a third COVID vaccine. We will hear what the president's chief medical adviser has to say about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES (on camera): Europe is considering new border restrictions to keep more contagious versions of the virus from spreading. Now, starting on Sunday, France will require most people entering from other E.U. nations to show a recent negative PCR COVID test.
There are several coronavirus hot spots on the continent right now. The head of Europe's Center for Disease Prevention and Control says wherever these variants have become established is where the situation is getting worse.
European leaders are now looking into restrictions on nonessential travel. The European Commission plans to discuss new measures on Monday.
Now, the U.K. is also dealing with these more contagious variance, of course, even identified one of the first. The home secretary says far too early to ease lockdown measures even though millions of people have already gotten their first vaccine dose.
The U.K. ranks number five worldwide, when looking at Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 case numbers. More than 3.5 million people so far. The British government is now rolling out tougher penalties for house parties. Here is one message that one medical official has for people who are breaking the rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIN DIWAKAR, REGIONAL MEDICAL DIRECTOR, NHS ENGLAND, LONDON REGION: This is the biggest health emergency to face this country since the Second World War. For me and for my colleagues in the NHS, breaking the rules, in a way that has been described today, is like switching on a light in the middle of a blackout in the blitz.
It doesn't just put you at risk in your house. It puts your whole streets and the whole of your community at risk. That is why it is absolutely critical that, for now, based on the information we've got, please follow the rules, please stay at home, please help save lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): The U.K. is also watching other concerning virus variance, including the one that was first found in South Africa. The British government is now banning all arrivals from Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is also trying to stay ahead of the virus by ramping up vaccinations. The National Health Service says that it is adding new vaccination centers to its list, including a movie theater and a mosque.
Two new studies are raising questions about whether antibody treatments and vaccines will be fully effective against new variance of the virus. They are not peer reviewed or published in medical journals but they are still worth paying attention to.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: As coronavirus has spread around the world in the past year, the virus has mutated, and that is to be expected. Experts say most of the mutations are likely to be harmless. But they are concerned about a few of them, including one that was first spotted in October in South Africa.
The concern here is that it might spread more quickly and also that it might be able to dodge antibodies that were produced by the vaccines. Two studies out of South Africa this week showed that there are reasons for this concern.
They looked at this variant and they tried to see what happens when we put antibodies against it, antibodies created by people who were sick before, and what they found is that those antibodies often didn't work very well, and so they are concerned that the antibodies that the vaccine creates might have the same problem. Now, these are studies that are done in labs. They have not been peer reviewed or published.
And there is another study that has much more optimistic results. That one looked at antibodies created by the vaccines and then had much more optimistic findings about what the vaccine might be able to do to fight off this variant. But that study was done a little differently. It didn't include all of the mutations found in the virus.
More studies need to be done, but experts tell me that these studies, as well as others, are red flags that we need to pay attention to this variant first spotted in South Africa.
It has been spotted in other places, as well. Take a look at this list of countries. These countries have seen the variant in their countries. These countries are in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has not yet been spotted in the U.S. but that might be because the surveillance system in the U.S. is not as good as it is in many other countries. Back to you.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.
[02:20:00]
HOLMES (on camera): Now, President Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says a new vaccine could be up for review in the U.S. next month. He spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Johnson & Johnson is right around the corner, Chris.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What does that mean?
FAUCI: You know, the people from J&J -- right around the corner means that there are probably a couple of weeks away from getting their data looked at, to have the FDA evaluate whether or not we are in a situation where we could move ahead and start thinking about getting it out into the public.
CUOMO: Single shot?
FAUCI: Because the last time we checked -- yes, it is a single shot. I mean, it has some advantages. As a single shot, it doesn't have stringent cold chain requirements. So, it would be really good to get it in the mix for a number of reasons. One is the single shot, and two, it is, yet again, another source of vaccine that we will need to relieve the pressure of the amount that we have available.
CUOMO: What about AstraZeneca?
FAUCI: AstraZeneca is not quite there yet. You know that. That is one that is being tested in multiple countries. It's a little bit behind, but not too far behind.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): Dr. Fauci has indicated he is pleased to be serving under President Trump and not Donald Trump, and that letting the science speak is a -- quote -- "liberating feeling." He is also relieved the U.S. will resume its work with the World Health Organization. Jacqueline Howard is with details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Dr. Anthony Fauci gave remarks to the World Health Organization. Now, keep in mind, Dr. Fauci is now President Biden's chief medical adviser. And in his remarks, Dr. Fauci confirmed that the United States is no longer withdrawing from the World Health Organization.
President Biden reversed the Trump administration's decision to withdraw, so that means the U.S. is now resuming meeting with WHO regularly as a member. The U.S. will fulfil its financial obligations to the organization.
And after Dr. Fauci gave these remarks, WHO's director general said that the organization is a family of nations. He said -- quote -- "We are all glad that the United States is staying in the family." Back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): Earlier, I spoke about the U.S. decision to remain in the WHO with Dr. Carlos Del Rio from the Emory University School of Medicine.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We have a global pandemic. We need to engage with WHO, which is a public health agency of the United Nations, and we need to work with them. We may be in disagreement with some things, but at the end of the day, the U.S. can provide leadership within the WHO, and I think it is in the best interest of the U.S. that the entire world is immunized. Nobody is going to be safe until everybody is safe.
HOLMES: Exactly, exactly, vaccine nationalism, no place for that. I am wondering if you are concerned about the red flags from the South African variant, (INAUDIBLE) variant but the South African one, on whether the vaccines will be able to protect against it.
You know, just a thought that these long-awaited vaccines may not win this fight, in the short term, is pretty worrying. What do you make of that?
DEL RIO: Well, again, you know, I worry about variance, but you got to remember that viruses, when they are replicating, that is when they mutate, improve (ph) variance. So what we have to do to control the variance is to stop transmission.
If we stop the virus from replicating, if we stop the virus from transmitting from multiply, we stop the mutation from happening, we stop the variance.
So, the key right now is get everybody masked, socially distance, avoid gatherings, and get vaccine rollout as fast as we can, because if we do that, if we bring down the number of transmissions, we are going to bring down the mutations.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES (on camera): Dr. Carlos Del Rio there, speaking with me earlier.
Now, for some other COVID stories we are following at this hour, China closing in on 100,000 coronavirus cases as it rushes to finish a huge quarantine camp for people who had contact with COVID patients. The facility is expected to hold at least 4,000 people and this coming after a coronavirus outbreak this month, mainly in Hubei Province.
One Beijing neighborhood has been on full lockdown since Wednesday. People who want to leave the district need to provide a negative COVID test within three days. More than 24,000 residents in the area have also been asked to stay at home until further notice.
In India, the number of coronavirus cases is starting to plateau, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 10 million cases overall. It still has the second highest numbers in the world after the U.S.
On Thursday, five people died in a fire at a vaccine production facility there. Serum Institute of India is the world's biggest vaccine maker and is helping to produce the Covishield vaccine.
[02:25:04]
HOLMES: The company says the fire will not impact COVID vaccine production. The cause of the blaze is yet to be determined.
And for more on the pandemic and the response, visit our website at cnn.com. We have a live feed going there with the latest news as we confirm it here at CNN. Be sure to check that out.
Quick break, if Joe Biden will soon begin reaching out to world leaders for the first time as U.S. president, first, the Canadian prime minister. How Justin Trudeau is reacting to Biden's executive orders.
Also, China is targeting the former U.S. secretary of state with sanctions. But is that a pointed message for the Biden administration? We will discuss when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I am Michael Holmes, coming to you live from Atlanta.
And here in the United States, Joe Biden marked his first full day as president, hitting reset on the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic and outlining a strategy that he pledges will be based on science and not politics.
And he signed a series of executive actions to get the ball rolling, among them, new masking requirements and provisions to ramp up vaccine supplies. Mr. Biden's goal is to administer 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office.
Later in the day, Biden will make his first call to a foreign leader as U.S. president. He is going to be speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The White House says they will likely discuss Biden's executive order to revoke the permit for the Keystone Pipeline.
John Defterios is joining me now live from Abu Dhabi. President Biden's move to block Keystone, it is about more than just a pipeline, right?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN ANCHOR AND EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, indeed, it is. The Keystone Project has been around for a dozen years, Michael, but it doesn't fit into the much bigger agenda that Joe Biden has, and that is a green energy transition that he wants to get into place as fast as possible.
You know, Keystone was blocked by President Obama, approved by President Trump in early 2017, and it looks like it will be stopped in its tracks here by Joe Biden.
Now, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada can see the political optics here. He put out a statement that was quite a nuance, saying he is disappointed about Keystone because it's very important to the region of Alberta, in the oil and gas producers there.
[02:30:00]
But then he added, very pleased, they are going to join the Paris climate agreement again. This is something again Donald Trump jumped out of it. He thought it was a hoax. So Joe Biden's ambition here is to have a $2 trillion green energy transition, to modernize the power system in the United States. It will be very tricky, because of a split in the Senate. Budgetary matters here and that Senate are split 50/50. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD MORNINGSTAR, CHAIRMAN, ATLANTIC COUNCIL GLOBAL ENERGY CENTER: I think a lot can be done, and a lot can be done with respect to stimulus. There can be a lot done in cooperation between the U.S., and EU, which we can get in more specifically.
But there is going to have to be some compromise in the Senate to get legislation passed and we will see how much that compromise has to be. So high expectations, but it is not going to be perfect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: Ambassador Morningstar, talking about Europe because of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the COP 26 being held in Glasgow by the end of the year. Thus to modernize that agreement, and Joe Biden wants to put 100 percent renewables on the grid by 2035. That, Michael, is ambitious.
HOLMES: Yes, tell us about why the sense of urgency when it comes to Bidens or green agenda, which isn't a green as some would like on the left of the party but, why the urgency?
DEFTERIOS: Well, you know what we lost a lot of time in the last 4 years because President Trump just didn't believe in climate change. So having the number one economy out of that process sent the wrong signal. So the European Union is thrilled that he is back in, and so they can have that Trans-Atlantic alliance.
The big concern here is they are trying to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees centigrade by 2050 Michael. A lot of reports out there new survey saying we are at 1.2, or slightly above now. It is nearly impossible, and why Biden saying, let's push, and push aggressively and get the private sector involved as well.
HOLMES: Yes, there is a tipping point and what pretty much there. John Defterios in Dubai, always a pleasure, good to see you John thanks.
And I did speak a short time ago with CNN Political Analyst, Michael Shear, who is also the White House Correspondent for "The New York Times". And I asked him how much work the Biden Administration has to do when it comes to repairing international relations.
MICHAEL SHEAR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think there is a concern inside the White House, this new White House, that a lot of damage was done, and that some of it will be lasting. I mean, I think you are going to have some things that will snap back very quickly.
Some of the really durable relationships that the United States has had for a long time, I think, will be repaired overtime. The kind of intelligence sharing between partners like the French, the British and the Israelis, like all of that's going to continue.
I don't think that it is a cataclysmic end to U.S. leadership. But look, I think that the U.S., under Biden, over these next 4 years, is going to have to earn some of that trust back. The United States rejoined the World Health Organization yesterday, they rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, but, simply, rejoining is not enough.
They are going to have to demonstrate, again, that they want to be that - the United States, wants to be the leader of some of these organizations which was where the United States was when Donald Trump decided to yank them out of the organization. And I think it's going to take some time.
HOLMES: I have to also mention a round of course the nuclear deal on life support, the damage done by the U.S. withdrawal which only really led to more and risky - for a run. I mean, it's a clear whether it can be salvaged in any meaningful way.
SHEAR: Well, I mean, so, on the plus side, I think there has been a lot of over the years since the Trump Administration pulled out of that agreement, there has been a kind of consensus among the other nations, the other European nations that were partners to the U.S., that they wanted to salvage it.
I think the real question is, can you achieve, even with the kind of partners that the Obama Administration had assembled to negotiate that deal with the Iranians, can you put the genie back in the bottle? Can the Iranians be coaxed back to the table?
And if they come back to the table, what kind of deal could you get now? Does the United States have the kind of credibility, frankly, on the world stage? Having gone through the last 4 years and adversaries, and allies' alike seeing agreements being ripped up, that people had put stock in.
HOLMES: Thanks to Michael Shear there for his analysis as always. China is sending off the Trump Administration with sanctions against 28 of its highest level officials, including the Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
The new Biden Administration is blasting the move. The National Security Council Spokesperson says that China is attempting to play partisan divides, and it will not work. Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong.
[02:35:00]
HOLMES: You can't ignore the timing I mean, these were in now it's literally as Joe Biden was in the middle of his inauguration speech. It was hard not to see a message.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes and the Biden Administration sees the message, and as you just reported it has blasted the move that China made here, calling these new sanctions, cynical, and unproductive. On the very same day of Joe Biden's inauguration China announced 28 sanctions, or new sanctions against 28 Trump officials, including Steve Bannon, John Bolton, as well as you could see the list there on your screen. Peter Navarro, Robert O'Brien, Matthew Pottinger, Alex Azar as well is the Former U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
Now these sanctions followed final moves by the Trump Administration, targeting China, including a fresh round of sanctions as well as a declaration that the Trump administration said, saying that China committed genocide, against - Muslim Uyghurs as well as other minority groups in Xinjiang.
Now that there are sanctioned these 28 Trump Administration officials as well as their families, will be banned from entering Mainland China, Hong Kong, as well as Macau. And any organization or institutions that are linked to them will be restricted from doing any business with China.
On Thursday we heard from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and this is how Hua Chunying its spokesperson rationalized this move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUA CHUNYING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: The Trump Administration, especially Pompeo, has laid too many land mines, dismantled too many bridges, and destroyed too many roads, to be declared rebuilt, and repaired. I think both China, and the U.S., needs to pluck up the courage, and show wisdom, to listen to each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Now CNN has reached out to the Biden Administration, for reactions to these sanctions. Again, targeting Trump Administration officials but announcing the same day of Joe Biden's inauguration.
In a statement, from a national security council spokesperson is bringing up for you, Emily Horn says this. "The Biden/Harris Administration has noted China sanctioning more than 2 dozen former Trump Administration officials. Imposing these sanctions on inauguration day is seemingly an attempt to play it a partisan divides.
It will not work. Americans of both parties oppose this unproductive in cynical move. President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position Americas to out compete". Now this may be a new administration in the United States, but the unprecedented friction, and tension between U.S. and China still remaining on a, "Variety of fronts".
Form issues over sovereignty in the South China Sea, human rights in Xingjian, the fate of future of Hong Kong as well as the trade war, the tech war has also issues of Taiwan. One final note to leave on, Taiwan representative was invited to present at the Biden inauguration events, the first time a representative of Taiwan was invited to present is such inauguration events since 1979 back to you. HOLMES: Kristie Lu Stout, thank you there in Hong Kong. We will take a quick break there were many spectacular images during President Biden's inauguration. One meme has gone viral and you must have seen this, Bernie Sanders keeping warm with his grumpy chic look. It is everywhere. We report on it when we come back.
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[02:40:00]
HOLMES: Now whenever the U.S. President holds a presidential inauguration, attention is often focused on what the first ladies, past and present, where. Stuff like that. This year it was Jill Biden sparkly blue coat. Michelle Obama looking great in a pants suit but there was also a pair of mittens that left everyone. CNN's Jeanne MOOS reports on Bernie Sanders grumpy chic fashion statement.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): People gushed about Michelle Obama's outfit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I just remark of how flawless Michelle Obama, is?
MOOS (voice over): Some even gushed about the $2000 sneakers worn by an in law of Vice President Kamala Harris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rocking some do your, air Jordan's, it amazing, amazing.
MOOS (voice over): But none of that gushing came close to the gushers of memes inspired by Bernie Sanders for what was dubbed his grumpy chic look. There was just something about the pose, the mittens, and the social distance.
One company is already rushing to turn Bernie into a bubble head. His image is on a set of birch coasters, selling for a night 11.99 on ETSY. He's been transferred to Forrest Gump's bench behind the resolute desk seated in the "Game of Thrones", thrown. Appropriately dressed for crossing the Delaware or less heroically--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An old man on his way to the post office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As if he had an appointment at the DMV.
MOOS (on camera): Or was taking a break with the boys in that famous construction photo. True, Bernie's mittens may be on the far fringe of fashion but so what if he's seemed dress for riding the subway rather than the integration looking warm, tweeted Dion Warwick. People were smitten with the mittens made for him two years ago by a Vermont school teacher a few fan.
JEN ELLIS, MADE MITTENS FOR SENATOR SANDERS: I gave those mittens to Bernie as a gift just expecting nothing in return. And I think it's beautiful that they've gone so far. MOOS (voice over): They are made out of old wool sweaters with fleece from recycled plastic. Sadly, I have no more mittens for sale Jen Ellis tweeted after a flood of requests. Maybe the look isn't everyone's cup of tea. Maybe he'll never be described as--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely flawless.
MOOS (voice over): But Bernie saw no flaws in his inaugural look. Coming from Vermont--
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We know something about the cold. We're not so concerned about good fashioned. We want to keep warm.
MOOS (voice over): Bernie is in just warm, he's hot, capable of making pottery and love mittens. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: If you haven't seen the memes, you have got to check them out. It is really. Bernie looked like he was happy to pop in for the inauguration, but he was going to make it his whole day. Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Michael Holms, World Sport after a quick break and Kim Brunhuber.
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[02:45:00]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So Joe Biden spending his second night in the White House as President, after reversing a slew of Trump policies through executive actions President Biden setting an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days in office.
Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter. She is the Deputy Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Good to see you, congresswoman. Thank you so much. So before we get to that, I want to ask you about some news that's coming in to CNN.
We learned tonight that thousands of National Guard members have been moved to a parking garage after they were told that they had to leave the Capitol grounds, many were sleeping on the ground. Now after word got out, it appears that they have invited back. They were there to protect lawmakers. Is that any way to treat the guard?
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): I have no knowledge of why they were asked to move and why they're moving back. To be clear, having walked a lot of miles around the Capitol complex, these National Guards people are already sleeping on hard marble floors and they were uncomfortable. We should be looking at what we need to do to make them more comfortable, not uprooting them and sending the wrong signal.
LEMON: So Congresswoman, we hear a lot about executive orders. Thank you for answering that question. Let's talk about the executive orders. Has the incoming administration started working with you guys in congress yet on getting some laws passed instead of doing executive action? PORTER: Those conversations are beginning and they actually began during the transition where members like me were asked to identify our top priorities for me, for example, dealing with the mental health pandemic that's accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic. And then to elevate the priorities early to the Biden team as they began to plan the transition.
And part of that is making sure that people who are taking on these new roles in the executive branch know what's on congress' mind that they're hearing from people who represent people across the country.
LEMON: Democrats have the White House both chambers of congress right, but the margins are narrow especially in the Senate. Do you think enough Republicans want to cooperate?
PORTER: I certainly hope so. I think there's a responsibility on them to do the right thing, to reject President Trump, to reject that kind of hateful language, and to turn a corner and show that they want to work.
I think there's an opportunity for us as Democrats to focus on the problems at hand, how we engage all Americans regardless of party in the problems? So one can describe the situation we're facing in our economy with an unprecedented number of women particularly women of color facing job losses, the crisis we face in hunger.
We can talk about those things without blaming one party or the other and talk about solutions. And So I think you know I represent a very, very purple district, even numbers of Democrats and Republicans so I always try to focus on what's wrong and how can we fix it?
LEMON: So we hear a lot of talk about unity. Does that mean different things right now to Republicans and Democrats? What does it mean?
PORTER: Well, I definitely cannot put myself in the shoes of some of my newer Republican colleagues who I think are really violating some of the important norms and traditions, and in some cases even laws. Certainly rules regarding wearing masks, not bearing weapons on to the House floor.
But I do hope and I think Joe Biden is giving us a road map. He's offering a set of language, opening a door to a way for us to talk about unity, to talk about working across the aisle and I find it very inspiring and I'm excited to be trying to echo those same kinds - that same kind of language as I work with Republican colleagues.
LEMON: The president is saying that COVID is his top priority. Your State of California reported its second highest single day death toll yesterday with nearly 700 deaths. What are you telling your constituents? Because the president says the worst is yet to come. He said it's going to get worse before it gets better.
PORTER: I think that people need to hear the truth. I think they know on the ground how bad it is? People are losing loved ones; they're already spending hours and hours or days and days trying to get a vaccine appointment. They're struggling to find a COVID test. And so I think that the American people know how bad this is? I think what Joe Biden is trying to do, President Biden is trying to do is level with the American people, establish where we are and then begin to lay out a plan for how things can get better?
[02:50:00]
PORTER: They need to get better. We need to ramp up vaccine production and distribution, we need to commit at the federal levels the state and local funding but we have to have a plan. We have to know what's going on. The Trump Administration was hiding so much important information from us and it's really important now to let people like Dr. Fauci do their jobs and exercise their competence and that will take some time for them to make a difference.
LEMON: Congresswoman, Katie Porter thank you. I appreciate you joining us. Stay safe.
PORTER: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. There's a lot of attention on rioters waiving confederate flags and symbols of anti-Semitism but what happens when a Nazi flag gets put up in a small town? Take this. It gets taken down.
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[02:55:00]
LEMON: Take this, as President Biden vows to take on white supremacy from the White House, citizens in North Carolina are doing their part to reject hate in their own community. Let me explain to you what happened.
Prior to inauguration police say a man nailed a Nazi flag underneath a Biden-Harris campaign sign, right? That flag is a white supremacist anti-Semitic symbol of hate. There is no place for it anywhere in this country.
Well, today an unidentified man yanked down the Nazi flag and replaced it with an American flag. And you'll notice that the man had to put it over a confederate flag that had also been posted to the tree. This reporting is coming from our affiliate WRAL.
Only three weeks ago violent insurrectionists storm the U.S. Capitol with confederate flags. Some were blatantly anti-Semitic clothing. These symbols of hate perpetrate harmful believes and backwards points of view. They're used to endorse white supremacy and that they can be seen out in the open from North Carolina to the Capitol proves that the country still has a lot to reconcile when it comes to hate, a lot to reconcile.
I certainly wrote a book about that and I truly believe that it can help. It's called, "This is the fire: What I say to my friends about racism". It's full of honest fearless conversations that I have with my own friends and family. So I hope you'll check it out. You can get it anywhere you buy books Amazon, Barnes & Noble and so on. So you can check and preorder it now.
Next, President Biden calling for unity, but with the pandemic raging and Trump's second impeachment looming, will the country come together? Stay with us.
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