Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Los Angeles And New York Set Up Supersites To Help Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines; Man Who Participated In Storming Of Capitol Buildings Charged With Threatening To Assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY); Senate Leaders Agree On Schedule For Second Impeachment Trial Of Former President Trump; Broadcast Interviewer And Journalist Larry King Passes Away; President Biden Promises 100 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations Administered Within First 100 Days in Office; Report Indicates Former President Trump Plotted with Justice Department Lawyer to Oust Acting Attorney General in Attempt to Undo Georgia Election Results. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired January 23, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

HOLLY MITCHELL, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR: So what does that mean? We need 75,000 doses of vaccine a day. If we were able to do that, in 200 days we would have 75 percent of our entire population vaccinated. And so what we need is supply, and we need it fast.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we want to talk to you about this death toll. It's just heartbreaking to hear that more than 750 people died in California yesterday, to set a record. In your district, this African-American community, Latino community has been hit super hard. What are you telling your constituents?

MITCHELL: I'm telling my constituents that we're doing everything we can to create opportunity for you to be vaccinated. I'm so proud of the county family, firefighters, Office of Emergency Services, who have set up places like this in our communities where you can come and get vaccinated.

All of us have been touched by this. And so what we have to do, even though it's been a year and everybody has grown fatigued of being safe at home and the kids are back at school, but we have to hold on. We have to continue to wear our masks, wash our hands and stay socially distant until we can get the vast majority of us vaccinated.

VERCAMMEN: And one of the solutions is right here, these supersites now where you hope to vaccinate a lot of people a day. The goal here in Inglewood is 4,000 a day, and you have other sites.

MITCHELL: We've got five sites of these mega sites across the county, but we also have over 250 other sites that the county alone, not to mention the city and other private providers, health care providers, federally qualified health clinics. And so people should go on the website here in L.A. county, VaccinateLACounty.com, to find out where you can go. The point is we're trying to make it available and accessible to everybody. If you have a car, you can come here. If you don't, you can walk into a local clinic. VERCAMMEN: And what do you tell those constituents who tell you they

have got COVID fatigue?

MITCHELL: We don't have the luxury of having COVID fatigue because COVID is not fatigued of us. Too many people are testing positive a day and are dying every day. So we have got to work to keep ourselves safe. Wear your mask, wash your hands.

VERCAMMEN: We thank you so much, Supervisor Mitchell, for taking time out.

On this rainy day in Los Angeles, you can see how they're trying to chip away at this huge problem and put those needles into people's arms. Back to you, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Paul, thank you. That's a resonating message, COVID is not fatigued of us. It is still a big problem, people.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is also joining us from New York where the governor has just announced new plans aimed at strengthening fairness and equity in the vaccine distribution process.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Similar to what Paul was just talking about, the challenge here in New York now is getting the vaccine into people's arms at a high enough rate. They're waiting on more and more vaccines to make that happen, more doses.

But additionally to that, a big challenge that the governor wants to address is making sure that communities that were hit hardest by the virus are the ones that have enough access to the vaccine. So today he went to a vaccine site in Brooklyn, and he's been to several of them throughout the pandemic, talking about the idea of making sure that -- the infrastructure in place to make sure that poor people, minorities, people who have been hit the hardest actually get access to the vaccine as well. But in order for that to happen, he has to get more vaccine, which is what they're trying to do here in New York.

WHITFIELD: Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you very much, Paul Vercammen as well, appreciate you both.

We'll get back to the pandemic in a moment. But this breaking news, a Texas man is charged with threatening to assassinate Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's one of five criminal charges stemming from his alleged participation in the assault on Capitol Hill. Marshall Cohen is following these developments for us from Washington. So Marshall, what more can you tell us about this Texas man?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Fred. Yes, some new details on this guy, Garrett Miller, one of more than 125 people that have been charged. I'm just going to give you some new details from these documents that were just filed a day ago. This guy posted a lot. He is accused of going to the Capitol during the insurrection and tweeting threats, quote, "Assassinate AOC," and also tweeting threats about the U.S. Capitol police officer that fatally shot a Trump supporter who was trying to breach the Speaker's Lobby near the House chamber.

Regarding that police officer, this man allegedly said that he, quote, "deserved to die," and that it's, quote, "hunting season." So prosecutors from the Justice Department put that in his charging documents, hit him with a charge of making threats, interstate threats, as well as the lesser crimes of trespassing at the Capitol. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And so, Marshall, this is quite extraordinary, because it wasn't long after the Capitol Hill riots that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke about why she was reluctant to go to the same safe locations as some of the other lawmakers, because of threats she was feeling. Tell us more about that.

[14:05:11]

COHEN: Look, she's faced a lot of attention from across the political spectrum. And I think what we're seeing with this case and others is that she has faced legitimate threats towards her life, serious enough to attract a criminal charge from the DOJ. Her comments have been met with some skepticism from Republicans, but I think a development like this really shows that it's serious business, and at this point somebody may go to prison over it.

WHITFIELD: In fact, here are her comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRA OCASIO-CORTEZ, (D-NY): I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die. It is not an exaggeration to say that many, many members of the House were nearly assassinated. It's just not an exaggeration to say that at all. We were very lucky that things happened within certain minutes that allowed members to escape the House floor unharmed. But many of us nearly and narrowly escaped death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, Marshall, now that there has been this arrest of at least one person now as it relates to an assassination attempt on her, whether her thoughts, her reflections, will be treated or considered differently.

COHEN: It's a good question. And I do want to be clear that there have been more than 120 people charged so far in connection with this attack. Most of them are basic misdemeanors at this point. The Justice Department, though, is trying to keep some of those people in jail, considering them too dangerous to be released.

This man, who allegedly tweeted about AOC, falls in that category. The Justice Department does want to keep him in jail. There is a hearing set for Monday. And as these things progress, Fred, we might learn a little bit more about what went on on that really crazy day here in Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marshall Cohen, keep us posted, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Senate leaders have agreed on a schedule for the second impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump. It is set to begin two weeks from now, February 9th. Suzanne Malveaux is on Capitol Hill. So Suzanne, what more do we know about the timeline?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- negotiation between the new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Mitch McConnell, because it gives both sides, it was the Biden administration as well as Democrats that were seeking some time to push through some more of President Biden's nominees for his cabinet. And then it was McConnell on the other side pushing for President Trump and his legal team to have time to get their case in order. So both sides seem to be happy.

And it does take off the plate, perhaps, a complaint that some of the moderate senators, Republicans, were having, Senator Murkowski as well as John Thune, saying that the president wouldn't have due process or a fair process. But Fred, make no mistake, the process will move forward starting on Monday. That is when literally the House managers will physically walk over that Article of Impeachment for incitement of insurrection to the Senate side.

It will be introduced on the Senate floor. And then the next day, you will have that summons issued to Trump, followed by some critical deadlines that you see there -- February 2nd, a deadline for the Trump team response to House managers to present their own pretrial briefs, and then also a deadline for Trump to also present his pretrial briefs. And then that final day, February 9th, the House going ahead with its rebuttal, and then the formal opening, if you will, of this trial.

It's still uncertain, Fred, just how many witnesses will be called forward, what type of time senators will have to question those witnesses and additional aspects of the hearing. But all that will be negotiated in the days ahead.

WHITFIELD: And then, Suzanne, one has to wonder whether even today's news of this Texas man being charged with attempted assassination of a congressperson will at all sway, influence their decision or their posture heading into this Senate trial.

MALVEAUX: It will be very difficult, Fred, to get a conviction of the president for a number of reasons. You would have to have all 50 Democrats, but also at least 17 Republicans. You do have some Republicans now that are saying they question whether or not it's unconstitutional now that the president is out of office to even move forward with this. But there is definitely a deep sense within Republican circles that there has to be some sort of acknowledgement of wrongdoing or punishment or censure of some sort.

[14:10:04]

We are looking at some of the moderate Republicans, not surprisingly, some of those people on the list, Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski, as well as Mitt Romney and others, Pat Toomey, for instance. The big wild card here, Fred, is whether or not you will have Mitch McConnell, who quietly is trying to purge Trump from the Republican Party, whether or not he will move forward in some sort of public way and say he too is for convicting the president. So far, no indication of that.

WHITFIELD: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much on Capitol Hill.

Coming up, remembering a legend. We'll have more of Larry King's iconic interviews throughout the day. Here's a look back at his first show on CNN, June, 1985.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. My name is Larry King, and this is the premiere edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Every night at this time we'll be here for one hour. We're going to meet fascinating people from all walks of life, talk about things they're interested in. I'll ask some questions. We'll take some calls. We hope that you enjoy this kind of alternative to primetime programming, rather than murder, mayhem, sex, violence. We'll bring you all of those, but disguised.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:22]

WHITFIELD: Today we're remembering the life and career of talk show legend Larry King. For six decades the Brooklyn native had a career in radio, television, and digital media, including 25 years as host of CNN's LARRY KING LIVE. His hire, a chance taken by CNN's founder Ted Turner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: By 1985, CNN's maverick owner Ted Turner had set his sights on the king of talk radio.

TED TURNER: We really needed a new primetime talk show host. And I knew Larry. I had been on his radio show.

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: We're live from Washington.

TURNER: He was good. He was the best interviewer available, and I thought he would be interested in a proposition that put him in primetime.

COOPER: Ted got his man. Larry was ready for CNN, but was CNN ready for Larry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We actually got the show on, LARRY KING LIVE, on in two weeks. From the time he signed his contract to the time he actually went on with our first guest, Mario Cuomo, we had two weeks.

COOPER: In June of 1985, LARRY KING LIVE debuted.

KING: Good evening, my name is Larry King, and this is the premiere edition of LARRY KING LIVE.

COOPER: Your first broadcast. Were you nervous?

KING: I didn't know whether I was going to like it or not, and I didn't know CNN. But five minutes in, I said, it's going to make it. There was an electricity.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about that iconic broadcaster with another talk show legend, Dick Cavett, who began his own career in the late 60s and has had iconic shows on multiple networks, "The Dick Cavett Show."

Good to see you Dick Cavett. I can't even call you Dick. I have got to say "Mr. Cavett."

(LAUGHTER)

DICK CAVETT, FORMER TALK SHOW HOST, "THE DICK CAVETT SHOW": I hope I'm looking at you.

WHITFIELD: This is fantastic to talk to you. But you were contemporaries. And you were the king of these fantastic conversations with so many other iconic figures. What were your impression of Larry King as a talk show host?

CAVETT: I liked him right away. His was, not to offend anybody still living or not, the easiest one to do because of the kind of magical ease that he was able to create in the studio. He always was ready with something to say. He liked to compliment, and I gave him one he liked, once. I said, every talk show host has trouble and hard moments and difficult things that come up in a show. I have never seen you in trouble. He sort of glowed. And somebody came by, and he said, Dick said he's never seen me in trouble.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVETT: It was sort of sweet about him. He was amazing in the way that he could keep things rolling. He was criticized at times for being not deep or not controversial enough. But I think that was silly. He delivered a really delightful show. It wasn't his nature to be a deep, provocative, gangbuster serious host. I never felt a moment of tension in doing a show with him.

WHITFIELD: Wow, what glowing compliments. Do you feel like he felt like he hit it out the park every time, or could you ever detect from him, or did he consult with you about how to make things better?

CAVETT: No, I don't think there was anything I could teach him. I once used an unusual word, and I noticed that Larry used it a couple of nights later, so I thought, oh, good, he's watching me. But he was so happy to do what he did. He couldn't really live without it. I almost have the feeling of a ghostly figure saying, we're taking away everything in your life except your show or we'll take your show and you can have the rest of your life, he would have -- it would have been an easy choice for Larry. He was just fully, fully alive, content, happy, and skillful at what he did.

[14:20:08]

WHITFIELD: Now, here you were for so long in a position to interview people, try to pull out information, making other people feel comfortable. You admired him for the way he did it. But then what was it like that first time when you were then being interviewed by him? Because so often it's difficult for the interviewer to ever feel comfortable about being interviewed.

CAVETT: I don't remember any problem with it. The minute you sat down with him, you knew it was going to go well. I once asked him, do you have two or three things in mind each time, so that if the first one doesn't go, you switch to the next one?

And he laughed and said he wasn't aware of having a technique, but his nature was what he had. It worked as a technique. And people liked it. I don't think people tuned out because he wasn't controversial enough. He had a loyal audience. I was surprised at how many people told me, I saw you on the Larry King show.

WHITFIELD: Oh, wow. And a very loyal audience. Something that I think people credited with you as to why you were considered one of the greatest talk show hosts too is because you're comedic and funny, and at the same time could get personal with people. We would see those self-deprecating moments for Larry King, which is partly why a lot of folks felt like they could identify with him too. Is that what it takes to be a figure, a talk show host that can appeal to everybody, to be willing to reveal some of themselves with the audience and the subjects?

CAVETT: Yes. And he never seemed to be seeking admiration, but he liked it, and he deserved it. And a lot of what he did, I think, was just spontaneous, unconsciously planned. And yet he never, never ran out of gas. It was an amazing thing.

I think -- oh, by the way, do you know what his birthday was?

WHITFIELD: Do I know what what?

CAVETT: His birthday?

WHITFIELD: No, tell me.

CAVETT: This is not a test. I just noticed in reading "The Times" --

WHITFIELD: I know birth year, 1933. But OK, give me the date.

CAVETT: It's November 19th. So is mine. So I guess we were made for each other.

WHITFIELD: You're kindred spirits. CAVETT: You know those cards that tell famous people's dates and birthdays. He and I, and I think Ivan the Terrible have the same birthday.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, I will never forget it now. Thank you for that. Dick Cavett, what a great honor talking to you.

CAVETT: I've got to tell you that he was mortally afraid of water, being in it. If he was tossed in by a parrot or some other kids, he was just -- the word scared him. He came to a Virgin Island that I was on, and an amiable group said, Larry, let us take you down and see what it's like to be in the water. They took him down to the beach, gave him a mask, a snorkel mask, we all held him in place in about eight inches of water, and he saw something, and a fish went by. I never saw anybody come out of the water horizontally.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: That's a great image.

CAVETT: That's it, that's it. Never again.

WHITFIELD: We'll leave it right there, that's a good image to leave it on. That is fun. Dick Cavett, thank you for sharing your great memories, great honor to talk to you.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVETT: Well, I'll be the judge of that. You're very good at this, by the way, don't let anybody tell you you're not.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: OK, thank you, I'll take it from you, thank you so much, Mr. Cavett. That was great.

Straight ahead, the vaccine hunger games, a governor sounding off about the speed of vaccine distribution across the country, how that is impacting communities everywhere, next.

And we'll have more on the life and the legacy of Larry King, right after this, including the day Snoop Dogg introduced him to Hollywood's famous Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:00:00]

SNOOP DOGG, RAPPER: That's what I'm saying, this is the only restaurant where you can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at the same time. You feel what I'm saying? I see you're working over there. Work that out, Larry.

(LAUGHTER) LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: The chicken is fantastic.

DOGG: Work that out. They got that seasoning in the sauce. It ain't that shake and bake.

KING: This works.

DOGG: You like that?

KING: Got to go to work. See you Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had good taste.

DOGG: Be good, Larry.

KING: Looking forward to it, Snoop.

DOGG: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:0]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Biden has promised 100 million vaccinations will be administered within his first 100 days in office. Advisers now say they are confident more vaccines are coming to shore up the supply. CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz joining me now. So Arlette, how is the administration going to get this done?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Biden has said that the distribution of these vaccines will be a wartime undertaking. And one of the challenges they will be facing is ensuring that there is enough supply to actually carry out these vaccinations. And some of his top advisers, including his incoming, or his nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, have said that they're confident that there will be more vaccine supply coming. Take a listen to what he told a group of mayors yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL NOMINEE: We've been deeply involved in conversations with the companies on a very regular basis. And those are conversations that, frankly, started even before the election, to try to understand just more closely what the supply was, what the challenges were, what the roadblocks were to getting even more supply accelerated.

Those conversations, I think, have given us more confidence that there is more supply coming, and that it will continue to steadily increase over the next few months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And one thing President Biden did this week was invoke the Defense Production Act to try to ensure they can ramp up some of the production of these supplies to help carry out these vaccinations.

But one thing that the president and his team have cautioned is that it's going to take some time. This won't just happen with the flip of a switch. And so they are pressing for some patience during this process. We also know that the Biden administration is trying to get some answers about the possibility of states running out of vaccine doses. But the vaccination process is clearly very top of mind for the administration going forward.

WHITFIELD: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much from the White House.

Joining me right now to discuss, Dr. David Callaway, the Chief of Disaster Medicine for Atrium Health. He's also the chief medical officer for Team Rubicon. Good to see you, Doctor. So your health care system is part of a private-public partnership that's currently operating a large scale vaccination drive at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, and that plans to administer over 16,000 vaccinations this weekend. So how is it going?

DR. DAVID CALLAWAY, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE, ATRIUM HEALTH: Fred, it is going great. I don't want to overstate things. I've been on the front line working in the E.R. for 11 months, and I've seen individual acts of inspiring acts of bravery. But I just left our site yesterday, and we did 5,000 vaccinations with zero wasted vaccines.

We've got another several thousand this morning. And the patients are ecstatic, they're fist-bumping our staff. People are crying in their cars because they feel like finally there is some hope that they can see their grandkids again. So I am inspired. And it really goes to show what these public-private partnerships can do when we unleash them.

WHITFIELD: So why is this working? Because we've heard other stories where the lines are so long at large venues like that, they run out of vaccines, or there is a lack of organization. Why does this one seem to be working in Charlotte?

CALLAWAY: We've been planning events like this for 11 months, first of all. And so we're pretty good at operations on the medical side. But I would say most importantly it our partners. We partnered with Tepper Sports and with Charlotte Motor Speedway. If you're in a race to get vaccines out and you want to put 10,000 or 15,000 people through a site, then you go to a speedway. These guys are awesome in terms of logistics, organization, and really it's been exceptionally smooth.

And again, it goes to knowing what you're good at and knowing where you have partners who are excellent, and bringing them into the fold so you've got a great team.

WHITFIELD: I've been to that Charlotte Motor Speedway, and to envision it now as a vaccination site, that's a really impressive transformation. President Biden's surgeon general designate, Dr. Vivek Murthy, says the new administration will try to give state and local governments better and clearer guidance on how to manage the coronavirus. What kind of better guidance do you want to see happen? CALLAWAY: I think there are a few things in order for us to vaccinate

everybody. First we have to again, remember we're in a race against mutation. We now have the BK variant all over the country. It's more infectious and more deadly. So we actually have to get this done quickly. And so first of all is making sure we have enough vaccine. Second is getting it into the hands of people who can execute. And third is making sure you have a strategy for addressing all the populations.

So at Charlotte Motor Speedway, these are our mega sites, and this is helping move us towards herd immunity. But we also have mobile teams that are going out into vulnerable communities, working with our churches and our nonprofit partners to make sure that people who don't have a car or don't have a smartphone are still getting vaccinated.

[14:35:01]

So we need to get the vaccine to people, we need to have operational flexibility, and then we need people on the front lines who can execute. Again, just going back to our partnerships, Honeywell, Tepper Sports, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Team Rubicon, Atrium Health, we need to bring the public-private community together. It's the only way we get through a global pandemic.

WHITFIELD: That's evidence of a good plan in action, and hopefully it takes off in other places as well. Dr. David Callaway, thank you so much.

CALLAWAY: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, more reaction coming in to CNN on the death of broadcasting legend Larry King. Here's the moment he asked President Reagan about being shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: What is it like to be shot?

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I didn't know I was shot. I heard a noise when we came out of the hotel and headed for the limousine. And I heard some noise, and I thought it was firecrackers. And the next thing I knew, one of the Secret Service agents behind me just seized me here by the waist and plunged me head first into the limo.

As it turned out later, the shot that got me caromed off the side of the limousine and hit me while I was diving into the car and it hit me back here, under the arm, and then hit a rib, and that's what caused an extreme pain. And then it tumbled, it turned, instead of edgewise, it went tumbling down to within an inch of my heart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:45]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We're also following breaking news on former President Trump. "The New York Times" is reporting that Trump plotted with a Justice Department lawyer to oust acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in an attempt to undo Georgia's election results. "The Times" report says Justice leadership threatened a mass resignation in protest if then President Trump went ahead with that plan. This stunning development comes as the Senate prepares to hold a second impeachment trial for Trump in early February.

Shan Wu is a former federal prosecutor. Shan, so good to see you. So how do you see this development potentially impacting this impeachment trial?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It certainly could be grounds for another impeachment. But given that the impeachment process is not so bound by rules of evidence, it's easier to bring in a lot of evidence. So certainly this could also be evidence of this intent to undermine the election, and therefore leads to why he is inciting the riot.

There is also, of course, a lot of separate criminal liability here as well for both the president as well as the DOJ official, Clark, and possibly other DOJ officials, and even leading up to the White House Counsel's Office.

WHITFIELD: And do you see Justice Department officials testifying?

WU: I think so, Fred. If the prosecutors play their cards right here, they're going to bring a conspiracy charge. And that gives them very powerful leverage to compel the testimony, because the conspiracy charge is an offense all by itself, even if you don't prove the election interference. And of course, they're going to argue executive privilege and legal privilege.

And I think that Clark has already raised that. But I don't think that's ultimately going to be successful. They'll litigate it, but telling the president that you want to get rid of the acting A.G. to install yourself, that's not legal advice. That's a political power play.

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. And that's on the whole issue of trying to overturn the Georgia elections. And then you've got the other issue that precipitated this impeachment effort, which is the inciting a riot. And then you have some senators and some other lawmakers who are also being accused of helping to participate in this inciting of a riot. How do you see the trial not involving some of the lawmakers as witnesses? Could it possibly happen without them being called as witnesses too?

WU: It could happen without them being called as witnesses. It's really a fascinating scenario. We're in completely uncharted territory. Arguably, if it reached up to the senators themselves, some of them might have to be recused from being jurors in the Senate trial. But certainly, there's been much talk of members of Congress in the House of Representatives being possibly involved.

And we could well see them being called as witnesses. I'm sure they won't be happy about that. They may raise a number of obstacles to that. But you might have the very unusual sight in a Senate trial where you have House of Representative members having to testify.

WHITFIELD: And if there's no conviction in this impeachment trial, this whole idea that some Democrats have been floating, which is the use of the 14th Amendment to block the president from ever holding office again, what would be the sequence of events for that?

WU: Well, that would be a separate plan of attack that they would have to move under the 14th Amendment. If they were to convict him, they could also disqualify him with only a majority. But they have to convict him first. So I think the sequence of events would have to be, first, deal with the impeachment trial itself, and if that's successful, they can seek to remove him under the impeachment clause. If it's not, then they'll have to contemplate a new process, a separate one, to try removal under the 14th Amendment, which, again, uncharted territory, certainly never been exercised about a president.

WHITFIELD: Boy, are we all learning a lot, aren't we, every day. You have all the answers, I'm learning a lot, let me put it that way.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Thanks to you and others. Shan Wu, thank you so much, good to see you.

WU: Good to see you, Fred.

[14:45:02]

WHITFIELD: Happening right now, protesters heeding the call from Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, pouring into the streets across the country there. Hundreds have been detained as well. A live report coming up.

And we'll have more on the passing of a legend, Larry King. Here is the moment he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Larry King. Larry?

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Larry, I know this is big story out here. You did get here, but you're not here enough. We want you to have a replica to take home with you.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it up, Larry!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:23]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Protest rallies are sweeping through Russia today in support of detained Kremlin opposition activist Alexey Navalny. The U.S. State Department said a short time ago it condemns the harsh tactics used against protestors and journalists during today's protests. Navalny recently returned to Russia after recovering from a nerve agent attack while traveling. An investigation done in part by CNN determined the attack was likely ordered by the Kremlin.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow. So Navalny has been very outspoken against, of course, Vladimir Putin, but now what's the risk that all these protesters are taking by coming out in such huge force.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is a very big risk that they're taking. And the authorities, Fredricka, really made that clear before these protests even started. They told people not to come out. They told social media networks not to allow any posts to happen that called for people coming out to these protests. And yet you still had those scenes, for instance, that we're seeing on our screens right now.

And I think that the protests that happened today, despite all the authorities attempting to keep people away from these protests, they were a lot bigger and a lot more widespread than most people would have thought. They happened in pretty much the entirety of Russia, and many, many cities from the far east through Siberia all the way to here in Moscow. In fact, there were some in a place called Yakutsk at around minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

And what we saw today, and I think it's very important to point that out, Fredricka, is that there was a very heavy-handed response from the authorities. There were obviously a lot of people who were taken into detention. But there were also protesters who were pushing back and fighting back.

And I can tell you the past couple of years from having reported from here, that's something that I haven't seen in that form in a very long time. So that could be a change here among the protesters where they're saying, look, the threat from the authorities are there, but they still believe that they do need to go through with this. And they're already saying that they're calling for protests again next weekend as well, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Of course, they all want to know how Navalny is doing. He remains in prison. What do we know about how he's doing, and what do you believe?

PLEITGEN: Well, it's difficult. And one of the things that we have to point out, Fredricka, is that the prison that he's in is one of the toughest jails even by Russian standards. It's the jail that Mikhail Khodorkovsky was interned in for a long time. Sergei Magnitsky died in that jail. And so it's a very tough place to be.

And one of the things that Alexey Navalny has obviously said, he said he's not going to back down. But at the same time, he does seem quite concerned about his safety. He in fact put out a post quite recently, or had it put out by his people, saying, look, I need to state there. I don't want to hang myself. I don't want to do anything to myself. Obviously saying, if something happens to him, don't believe the authorities if they say that he did that to himself. So there does seem to be a lot of concern.

Obviously, the Kremlin has been trying to push back on a lot of this. They've been denying a lot of the claims he's been making, but you did see today that there was a great of momentum on the part of these protesters, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow, a very ominous forecast of the possibilities from him, too. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thanks so much for that.

Meantime, reaction continues to pour in remembering broadcasting legend Larry King. Oprah Winfrey saying "It was always a treat to sit at your table and hear your stories. Thank you, Larry King." Bette Midler tweeting this, "He always made me feel as if I was the only person in the room." And NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who was interviewed while in space, quoted the late King, saying, "If I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:21]

WHITFIELD: Today we've been remembering Larry King and all of his incredible interviews and classic moments. Take a look at what happens when Robin Williams took over the show's control room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN WILLIAMS, COMEDIAN: Go title, Larry. Just real time, if you can. That's tight. Just try and cut the suspenders, because I wore those first.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: OK, Larry, we have got an interview with one of your sperm. It's in an assisted living in Miami. So we're hoping to see it. It's been there for a couple years.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: I don't know, Bob, cut to the sperm. OK. Back to Larry. OK, Larry, Larry, we've got -- give me the shot the Britney. Pan up. OK. Yes, keep the two of them in. Keep the producer there wondering how we're going to air this.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Now we've got Mel Gibson and a rabbi. Let's see what's happening. He's doing a production of "Fiddler on the Roof" in Orange County. It's really fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: He made a lot of people have fun and laugh, and of course he made a lot of people think, too. A lot of touching moments, including this one when Larry King signed off on his final show after more than 25 years of hosting LARRY KING LIVE. We leave you with this heartfelt message. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks so much for joining me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: It's not very often in my life I've been without words, but I want to thank everybody associated with this program, all the people behind the scenes, as I mentioned, Wendy and the staff, the floor people, everybody who makes it possible, even the suits at the top.

So I'm going to go on, do a lot of other things. We're going to going to do specials here on CNN. I'm going to be seen in other places, do some radio work, be around baseball.