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Biden Takes Action to Ease "Deepening" U.S. Economic Crisis; Trump Impeachment Trial to Begin February 9; Narrowly Held Democratic Senate Could Hinder Biden Agenda; Confusion, Frustration Grow as People Wait for COVID-19 Vaccine; U.K. COVID-19 Variant May Have Higher Mortality Rate; Biden Makes First Call to Canadian Prime Minister; Trump Businesses Hit Hard by Pandemic and Toxic Image. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired January 23, 2021 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): President Biden's second full day in office, signing more executive orders, taking aim at the economic woes caused by the pandemic.
One hundred million people, in 100 days, a personal look at America's path to vaccination.
And Donald Trump facing more than just another impeachment trial. Why his business revenues are shrinking and worries in Trump land are rising.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Appreciate your company, I am Michael Holmes.
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
In Washington right now, the new president gets to work while the old one gets to wait. Former president Donald Trump, his Senate trial is delayed until February 9th. Senate leaders, reaching a deal to push the trial back. It will give Mr. Trump's legal team more time to prepare to defend him against the charge of inciting an insurrection and also give the Senate more time to confirm President Biden's cabinet.
One key post was filled on Friday, retired General Lloyd Austin, becoming the first African American Defense Secretary.
Back at the White House, President Biden signed executive orders to get food help and relief checks to low income Americans, as pandemic continues to hammer the economy.
The White House says that the pandemic has pushed the economy to a precarious point and the new president is determined to do something about it. CNN's Kaitlan Collins with the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden signing another round of executive orders today, as he attempts to use the power of his office to blunt the economic fallout from the pandemic.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to act. We have to act now.
COLLINS (voice-over): By expanding food stamps and speeding up stimulus checks for eligible Americans who haven't received them yet, Biden is hoping to deliver desperately needed relief.
BIDEN: We cannot, will not let people go hungry. We cannot let people be evicted because of nothing they did themselves. They cannot watch people lose their jobs.
COLLINS (voice-over): Today, Biden's top economic aide, Brian Deese, spoke bluntly about the challenge that is facing them.
BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Our economy is at a very precarious moment. If we don't act now, we will be in a much worse place and we will find ourselves needing to do much more to dig out of a much deeper hole.
COLLINS (voice-over): Deese adding that Biden's executive orders should not be seen as a replacement for the $1.9 trillion relief package he's called on Congress to pass.
DEESE: The single most important thing economically right now is to take decisive action.
COLLINS (voice-over): This impeachment announcement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has some White House officials worried that Biden's early agenda could be left in limbo.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I have spoken to Speaker Pelosi, who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday.
COLLINS (voice-over): That means President Trump's trial could start as soon as next week. But, today, Biden seemed to side with Mitch McConnell's proposal they wait until next month.
QUESTION: Mr. President, do you support Mitch McConnell's timeline for a February impeachment trial?
BIDEN: The more time we have to get up and running and to meet these crises, the better.
COLLINS (voice-over): Privately, White House officials have voiced concern about whether an impeachment trial would affect passing a relief package or confirming Biden's Cabinet nominees, given only two have been confirmed so far. Today, the White House press secretary declined to say if President Biden ultimately believes his predecessor should be barred from holding office.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, he's no longer in the Senate and he believes that it's up to the Senate and Congress to determine how they will hold the former president accountable.
COLLINS (voice-over): One Biden official was more candid, telling CNN, "We need to move past this. The only way for that to happen is for the trial to begin."
Coronavirus remains the top challenge facing the Biden administration. And, tonight, there are new questions about this campaign trail promise:
BIDEN: At least 100 million COVID vaccines shots into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days, 100 million shots in the first 100 days.
COLLINS (voice-over): Data from the CDC says the U.S. has already reached that goal of vaccinating one million people per day, leading some experts to say Biden's plan is too modest.
BIDEN: God willing, not only do 100 million, we're going to do more than that.
COLLINS: We've seen President Biden try to steer clear of weighing in on this impeachment trial, although he did today and, shortly after that, we got an announcement from the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, saying that they are going to delay that trial for a little over two weeks from now. -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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HOLMES: Joining me now, Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent for the "Huffington Post."
Great to have you on, Jonathan. The Senate, operating on rules from the last Congress when the GOP was the majority. What that means, so people understand, is that things like confirmation hearings for Joe Biden's cabinet picks are being chaired by Republicans at the moment.
For people watching internationally, Republicans are not the majority anymore. Mitch McConnell is the minority leader.
Why is he wielding so much power and what can the Democrats do about it?
JONATHAN COHN, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "HUFFINGTON POST": So at the moment, we are in a very strange short period. They need to agree on how they are going to divide power, going forward in the next two years.
Because the Senate has 100 seats and is exactly divided 50-50, it's an unusual circumstance and there is a more complicated negotiation about that than there normally would be.
When it is all done, the Democrats will have the majority, because the rule is, when you have a 50-50 split in the Senate, the vice president breaks the tie. Of course, the new vice president is Kamala Harris, the Democrat.
So the Democrats will be in the majority. Chuck Schumer from New York will be the majority leader. But the way American government works and, in the Senate, a minority party does have a lot of power because we have this thing called the filibuster.
Basically, it is a rule, not in our Constitution but it has evolved. And it basically says that if senators want to block a vote, it takes 60 senators to overrule that.
Originally, it's been around for a while, it was only supposed to be used very occasionally but now it is used all the time, on almost every piece of legislation requiring 60 votes. So Democrats have the majority but they need to deal with the fact that the minority, Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, have the power to block legislation.
HOLMES: That's a great explanation, to explain the sort of dysfunctionality, if you like. It is a political thing. Democrats have long been accused of playing softball while Republicans pull out the big guns politically.
How hard do Democrats need to push their agenda?
How tough do they need to be?
COHN: They have to be tough. I think they have learned, especially over the last 10 years or so, Republicans do play hardball and they will do what it takes to win. If they have a tool that is available to them to use and they can use it to stop legislation or pass legislation, they will use it.
Democrats, traditionally, have been reluctant to do those things. There are more inclined to try and find agreements with Republicans and pass things on a bipartisan basis.
So I think the consensus is, Democrats need to learn from that. It is a bit of a weird moment in American politics, because we did just have the Trump presidency, that ended with the armed insurrection on Capitol Hill.
And I think a lot of Republicans are a little bit rattled by that. In addition, Republican suffered big losses in the election. I think Democrats, always inclined to try and deal with Republicans, will probably give it a shot here.
Joe Biden, the new president, always talks about unity. And I think they will want to make an effort. But I do think that they will be quicker to abandon that effort if they see that Republicans --
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HOLMES: Yes, having seen what Mitch McConnell did to Barack Obama in 2009 when he got the Senate back, it would seem a bit naive to play Kumbaya with Mitch McConnell still in the Senate.
I guess too, because of the American system of government, again, there's midterm elections next year. Democrats have razor thin majorities in both houses.
How great is the imperative, the need, for legislative speed for Biden?
He could have two years to get things done and, if he doesn't, back to the Obama experience.
COHN: Absolutely. Everyone knows that. It worked out with Obama. It worked that way with Trump as well. He lost a majority after two years. It is accepted, widely, that when you're a newly elected president, you have a very small window to do big things.
In addition, I think Democrats realize that we are in the middle of a national emergency. People are restless and anxious. It is important to show them that Democrats can govern quickly and get things done.
Politically, if they can get things done quickly, they will build support and they may have support to do more things later on, this year, next year. And who knows, maybe even they hold power in the midterms. Of course, most importantly of all, there's a national emergency, people do need help and we need to get vaccines out.
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COHN: The United States needs to fund vaccinations. It needs to give economic support to all of the people out of work. So the best argument for speed is that it will get help to people right away, when they need it.
HOLMES: Excellent. Good to have you on to discuss all of this, Jonathan Cohn from the "Huffington Post," thank you so much.
COHN: Thank you for having me on.
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HOLMES: We are going to take a quick break, when we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, frustration growing as people wait in lines, for hours, for a COVID vaccine. Only to be turned away. We speak to an expert on how to turn this around. We will be right back.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: The U.S. is ramping up its vaccination efforts. But demand is causing hours long waits in places like what you see here.
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HOLMES (voice-over): This is Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Many states also fear their supplies will run out soon.
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HOLMES: The CDC's vaccination count increased by nearly 1.6 million doses on Friday. It's the biggest jump to date though it's not entirely clear, when the vaccinations took place; 2.7 million Americans have received their full doses now. That's under 1 percent of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated.
Here is how the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says things can be improved.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We got to go into the trenches and I've said this so many times, and figure out what it is that is the cause we are hearing that, sometimes, doses are not being given and they're hanging around and another state is saying we need more doses. We have so many people who are lined up.
You got to get into the local area and find out, what is going on here?
What's wrong?
Let's try and fix it.
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HOLMES: Officials at the state level blame the Trump administration for the chaos, saying they never even saw a plan for the rollout. The situation in Florida, typical of what's going around the country. Cases are climbing, residents are left confused about where and when they can get the vaccine. Rosa Flores reports from Miami.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Diagnosed with cancer during the pandemic, Joyce Fish is fighting for her life, isolated with her husband, Jack, in their home in Palm Beach County.
JOYCE FISH, CANCER PATIENT: My years are numbered. I'm 82 years old and I feel like I have lost a year.
FLORES (voice-over): She has yet to get her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It has been a year without embracing her family.
FISH: I see you, big girl, yes, I do. FLORES (voice-over): She hasn't met their 7-month-old great-
granddaughter, Dylan (ph).
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The vaccines will be targeted where the risk is the greatest. And that is in our elderly population.
FLORES: Do you feel you were given false hope?
FISH: I do.
FLORES (voice-over): She thought vulnerable seniors like her would be first to get the vaccine in Florida.
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FLORES (voice-over): Instead --
FISH: Hi, how you doing?
FLORES (voice-over): -- she and her daughter, Sharon (ph), have been in a "Hunger Games" of sorts, using five devices to try to get an appointment.
FISH: Everything said filled, filled, filled, filled, sorry.
SHARON LASHER, JOYCE'S DAUGHTER: It's very emotional and I cry every single day about this. Legitimately, I cry. It breaks my heart. And I feel like I am helpless.
FLORES (voice-over): In Florida so far, more than 1 million people, mostly seniors, have received the first dose. Just yesterday, the state put in place a residency requirement but not before nearly 40,000 nonresidents got the shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Spanish).
FLORES (voice-over): One woman, who documented her travels from Argentina on social media, took to the airwaves to say she got the vaccine for free and said, when she received it, residency was not required.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That really angers me.
FLORES (voice-over): Wendy Walsh says that after weeks and hundreds of calls to get her 92-year-old mom the vaccine, she drove her 55 minutes to another county near Tampa to get her the shot.
Other Floridians are having similar struggles due to jammed websites and phone lines and supply shortages. This was the case at one vaccination site in The Villages where 7,500 appointments were canceled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we are just left high and dry.
FLORES (voice-over): This, just after Governor DeSantis had announced the site was opening. DESANTIS: Obviously, a site like this is great for The Villages,
because many people live here.
FLORES (voice-over): The company who runs it says, they didn't get doses from the state.
FISH: They're going to need to come to Florida someday, see?
FLORES (voice-over): CNN started following Joyce's journey to get the vaccine two weeks ago.
FLORES: Last time you use the word frustrated, now, what word would you use?
FISH: I'm extremely frustrated because I've tried everything out there and nothing is working.
FLORES: I do have some good news to share, Sharon, Joyce's daughter, said she was able to get an appointment for her mom. That appointment is set for Saturday afternoon. Florida governor Ron DeSantis maintains -- and he has said this at multiple press conferences -- that he stands behind the rollout of the vaccine in his state.
It is important to note, however, that Florida is not alone. We have heard similar frustrations from people across the country -- Rosa Flores, CNN, Miami.
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HOLMES: Joining me now, Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, chief clinical officer for the Providence Health System.
Doctor, always a pleasure, good to see you. Let's start with the vaccine rollout, the U.S. hitting over 1 million vaccines just yesterday. That is actually, only, a modest bump from the Trump plan. Experts are saying, we need 2-3 million to be vaccinated daily to end the pandemic by September.
Do you think that -- do you agree with that?
Is that achievable?
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think it is totally achievable. The amount of vaccine we give depends on the amount of vaccine in the supply chain. So right now, we have two vaccines that have been approved, Moderna and Pfizer, and as we get other ones, for example, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson approved, we'll really open up the supply chain.
The more vaccine we get out, the more we can get in arms, the faster we can get it over with.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask, you in the interest of looking for silver linings at the moment. I just want to pull up maps of, first, Europe and then I will show the U.S.
The thing is, it is quite encouraging, because they are almost all green, particularly the U.S. one, which we will do right now. Not long ago, there were almost all red. By any means, that is an improvement.
Tell us what is behind the improvement, while remembering, of course, it's important to remember, the numbers themselves are still crazy high.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: The numbers are crazy high but they are coming down. They are going the right direction. Still, they are significantly higher, the number of people who have infections, are significantly higher than over the summer, for example. I don't want people to relax, just because the map is green.
We still have a large number of people with infections. And that said, it's over the hump because people are doing the right things. People are wearing masks, they're washing their hands, they're socially distanced and now, we have people getting vaccines. So all of that is going the right direction.
HOLMES: Exactly, but still a high base and, of course, as if the original virus isn't enough to deal with, we have these far more contagious variants, which, themselves by being more contagious mean more deaths.
But one big question is whether the vaccine will be effective against these new strains, that are emerging and what is being done and can be done, to make sure that they are covering it.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Variations happen because there is a little mistake, as the virus replicates itself. So the more virus is circulated in the community, the more virus is replicating itself and the more chances there are for a mistake in that replication or a variation in the virus itself.
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COMPTON-PHILLIPS: So as long as we have these very high rates of virus transmission around the globe, we have a much higher risk of having variants emerge.
That said, especially as we can tell, particularly the U.K. variant, the existing vaccines do seem to work. We are hoping the same holds true with the Brazilian variant, the South African variant; time will tell.
But right now, those variations haven't been ones that have been significant enough that the vaccines will not work. If we don't get the worldwide transmission of virus down, so not only in wealthy countries that are starting to roll out vaccines today but worldwide, then we are at risk for having a big enough variation the vaccines will not work.
So this is an all in, across the globe approach, to get this all under control. HOLMES: Absolutely.
I'm curious, what is your take on the U.S. rejoining the WHO, the World Health Organization?
I think I know your answer, it's great news. But speak to the importance of this being a global pandemic.
It does need a global response, doesn't it?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Absolutely a global response. Every country, these, days is connected to every other country. So if you only protect your country, you will still, continuously, get people flying back and forth across the globe, transmission of the virus. We don't want to lock ourselves into our own borders.
If we want our lives back all the way, we need to make sure the globe is protected. So delighted about World Health Organization.
HOLMES: I think most people are. To that point, how important that there is, as part of the global effort, I think the U.S. will also join COVAX, trying to get the vaccine out to places that, perhaps, don't have leverage so they are covered as well.
So there is a social or moral imperative there as well, isn't it?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: There is. One of the reasons why people go into medicine is because you believe life has value and life doesn't have value only if it exists within this particular zip code. All life has value.
So not only because I know it will get the pandemic under control for all of us but because I do believe we can lean on that social imperative to protect everybody. So I'm thrilled, we will be that part of the global community doing that.
HOLMES: Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, I appreciate, it as, always thank you.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Always a pleasure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We are taking a quick break, when we come back, at first, U.K. officials said that the new coronavirus variant they found didn't seem deadlier. Now they are saying the opposite. Add that to the fact that it is more contagious and it's also very worrying. We take a closer look and we will be live in London when we come back.
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HOLMES: Across Europe, most countries seeing fewer new cases this week, compared to last week, with a few exceptions. Spain and Portugal, in the midst of a surge that started in early December and has not started to ease.
Elsewhere, the trend line seems to be falling. Here, for example, Italy is in green, Germany in red, Netherlands in orange and the U.K. in blue. Let's not forget, the European Union is dealing with multiple coronavirus variants, including the one first identified in the U.K.
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HOLMES: The British prime minister now says, it could actually be deadlier than previous versions. CNN's Scott McLean, joining me now from London.
I guess, Scott, how certain is the British government that this new variant is, in fact, more deadly?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, the British government is quite certain that this new variant of the virus is 30-70 percent more transmissible than the original. Whether it is more deadly, however, they don't seem that certain at that point at all.
British prime minister Boris Johnson's top scientific advisers were quick to point out, there is still a lot of uncertainty because sometimes the sample sizes are a lot smaller than they like and there's a lot of potential variation here.
For instance, they say when you look at all of the cases of the U.K. variant of the virus, it appears to be slightly more deadly than the original virus, across all age groups. Here's where it gets muddy. They say when you look at only those who end up in the hospital with the coronavirus, regardless of the variant, you are no more likely to die from this new variant than you are from the original.
Either way, the good news is that vaccines are still effective. Research shows vaccines are quite likely to be effective even against this new variant of the virus but the government is now concerned about other foreign variants being found in South Africa and Brazil, that might be brought in, that the government knows less about, the worries that they will be slightly more resistant to a vaccine.
But they don't know for certain. To that end, the government says it is not ruling out the possibility of further tightening border restrictions to bar foreign visitors from coming here at all.
HOLMES: So you have the U.K. dealing with this new variant that spreads more easily, potentially more deadly.
But what about mainland Europe?
Faring any better in that regard or with the virus in general?
MCLEAN: Yes, things still aren't looking good over in Europe. Germany, for instance, just recently surpassed 50,000 coronavirus deaths. Spain saw its deadliest week since the first wave of the coronavirus hit. That country, remember, Spain was one of the hardest hit on Earth. Things may well get worse before they get better.
Let me show you a few graphs which illustrates the problem here. The first one shows new cases, per 1 million, across Germany, U.K., Ireland, Spain. Notice that with the exception of Spain, all of the numbers are declining. That is good news, undoubtedly.
But remember, deaths are usually a lagging indicator by about a few weeks, compared to when someone is first infected. If you look at the second graph, you can see the death tolls continue to rise. And they are likely to rise for some time before they start to fall back down.
Europe, also trying to do its level best to keep the U.K. variant out. It's already arrived in many countries and as well as those foreign variants. France, for instance, requiring people to test negative before coming into the country. In most cases, Belgium is barring nonessential visits from the country.
They are also trying to vaccinate people as quickly as they can. The problem is, they can only get those jabs in people's arms as quickly as manufacturers can send them the product. So there is one country in particular, which is unwilling to wait for the E.U. and that is Hungary.
They have approved, the first country in Europe to do so, and have agreed to buy, shots of the Russian made Sputnik V vaccine. Michael?
HOLMES: Great information there. Thank you Scott, Scott McLean, in London.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump has more time to prepare for his second impeachment trial. Senate leaders have picked a date to start arguments. We have a full report from Capitol Hill, when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
And it has been a very busy first week for President Biden, of course. Friday, signing executive orders expanding food aid and relief checks for low income Americans.
Biden also learned he will have more time to get his administration up and running to tackle the pandemic and the economy. Senate leaders agreeing to delay former president Trump's impeachment trial. That gives the chamber more time to confirm Biden's cabinet.
And it gives Mr. Trump more time to prepare for his defense as well. Democrats have their work cut out for them as they try to get a conviction on the second impeachment. CNN's Manu Raju with more for you from Washington.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So Donald Trump's political future will have to wait at least a couple of more weeks to determine whether or not he will be able to ever hold office again.
If he is convicted by 67 senators during his impeachment trial and then a simple majority of senators vote to bar him from holding office again, Donald Trump can't be president again.
Because of after he was charged with inciting an insurrection by a bipartisan House majority last week, the question is, will there be 67 votes in the Senate to convict him in his impeachment trial?
At the moment, that appears increasingly unlikely, almost virtually nonexistent, those chances are, according to Republican senators, up and down, who I've been speaking with.
Their belief is that either this trial would be unconstitutional to go after a former president -- someone who's no longer serving in office -- there's some dispute and debate about that. Democrats would say, of course, there's precedent for going after a former federal official in an impeachment trial and certainly constitutional to go against a former president who has committed a high crime or misdemeanor.
Nevertheless, that will be an argument that will play out. There are also some Republicans who believe the president needed to move on, somewhere to Trump's loyalists are not going to break ranks. All of which means it's highly unlikely we are going to get to the 67 votes needed to convict this president.
Now it would be 50 Democrats if they all join hands and also 17 Republicans. Right now only a handful are signaling that they may vote to convict. We'll see if the trial changes anything.
But at the moment it does not appear that way. Now Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has agreed with Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, to delay those proceedings until the week of February 8th.
That's when we plan to see those arguments happen on the Senate floor, the impeachment managers will make their case. President Trump's impeachment defense team will make their case. And then the senators will vote to decide what to do about Donald Trump.
At the moment, delayed action, delayed for a couple of weeks, the Senate will try to confirm some of Joe Biden's nominees and then discuss, to discuss Donald Trump's future -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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HOLMES: Now President Biden has made his first calls to world leaders to the north and the south of the U.S. on Friday, speaking with the president of Mexico and the Canadian prime minister on topics ranging from immigration and trade to the pandemic. CNN's Paula Newton with details from Ottawa.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: President Joe Biden returned the United States really to something of normalcy. He made his first foreign call to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Apparently it was a warm, friendly call but also substantive.
The leaders agreed that fighting the pandemic would be their shared top priority. They also discussed trade issues. And that is sure to be an irritant with many allies coming up at the next few weeks and months.
Joe Biden is committed to a buy America program and he is certainly going to be much more protectionist, perhaps, than in other administrations.
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NEWTON (voice-over): Having said that, Joe Biden, apparently in this call, went out of his way to say that, look, America was back in terms of having that goal of multilateralism, that it would continue to work with allies on things like climate change. And that it was definitely going to be a new approach and that he hoped it would be a productive one.
Interesting here as well, as the two leaders agreed to meet next month, now, of course, that meeting might be virtual. But they didn't rule out the fact that they might have an in-person meeting -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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HOLMES: U.S. relations with Cuba might soon be described as back to the future after the Trump administration, of course, enacted some of the most punishing sectors on Cuba in decades. President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the more friendly Obama-era policies. But rebuilding trust might be difficult. CNN's Patrick Oppmann with that.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The location for Miguel Angel Morales' restaurant in Havana's Cathedral Square is tough to beat. This historic plaza where his family has owned a building for five generations is on every tourist's list of places to visit in Cuba.
Business boomed after then President Obama lifted restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba. Miguel hung a welcome sign on the restaurant when Obama visited the Communist run island in 2015.
But even before the pandemic temporarily closed the restaurant, Miguel's business was suffering. The culprit, he says, were the sanctions against Cuba put in place by the Trump administration.
"We are situated in a tourist area next to the port," he says. "When Trump eliminated the cruises, we were impacted in a big way. We lost about 50 percent to 60 percent of our clientele."
Few countries felt the whiplash of the Trump presidency as much as Cuba. While Obama restored relations with Havana and said he was ending America's nearly six decades' old cold war with the island, when Trump took office, he enacted some of the most punishing sanctions on Cuba in decades.
The Trump administration made it harder for Americans to travel to Cuba, restricted flights, cut off cruise travel, all but ended remittances to the island and, in the final weeks of his presidency, put Cuba back on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the Obama policy of engagement. Rebuilding trust may be difficult.
CARLOS FERNANDEZ DE COSSIO, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: The future outcome, the durability of whatever we can achieve with the United States, has been put into question by a government that simply ignored what happened in the past.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The financial crunch brought on by the increased sanctions and the pandemic may force Cuba to seek negotiations.
Everywhere you look these days in Cuba, there are longer, longer lines for food. And Cuba says it won't make any concessions when it comes to internal matters like elections or human rights. But clearly something has got to give.
And now that the Democrats control the White House and Congress, it's Cuba's best chance in years to lift the six decades' old trade embargo.
OPPMANN (voice-over): How willing and quickly Washington is able to engage is now the question.
WILLIAM LEOGRANDE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Will they go back to a really forward leaning, proactive policy of engagement with Cuba and push to lift the embargo the way Obama did?
I think we'll have to see.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Biden faces enormous challenges combating the coronavirus and restoring America's standing in the world. As much as Cubans need change, it's not clear yet whether a breakthrough in relations with Havana is high on the new president's agenda or if Cuba's long wait will drag on -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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HOLMES: Now as U.S. senators prepare to convict or exonerate former president Trump at his second impeachment trial, Trump's bankers, customers and the marketplace are already passing judgment. CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at the financial fallout Trump is facing now he's out of office.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TRUMP: Being president has cost me a fortune, a tremendous fortune, like you've never seen before.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That may be true and his own mismanagement of the pandemic may be partly to blame.
Revenues dropped about 40 percent across the 47 companies listed on Donald Trump's final financial disclosure form. Trump's golf courses and hotels were hit especially hard. Just look at the numbers.
At the Trump International hotel in Washington, D.C., sales dropped 63 percent compared to the year before. In 2019, sales at that hotel were more than $40 million. But they've since dropped to $15.1 million.
TRUMP: This is the most coveted piece of real estate in Washington, D.C., the best location.
KAYE (voice-over): Coveted, perhaps but, keep in mind, along with those sinking revenues, Trump still has a $170 million loan on that property.
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KAYE (voice-over): And revenues at some of Trump's golf courses are in a freefall. At his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, revenue fell about 62 percent last year to $9.8 million.
KAYE: And here at Trump National Doral Golf Resort near Miami, revenues have also dried up. After a banner year in 2019, with revenues of more than $77 million, revenues dropped to just over $44 million last year, according to Trump's final financial disclosure.
And documents also show Trump has mortgages on this property, between $55 million and $75 million. Those loans come due in 2023.
KAYE (voice-over): Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, saw revenues slashed by about $3 million, down to about $14.7 million last year. On top of that the PGA canceled its upcoming tournament there, delivering another gut punch to the former president.
At Trump's Wollman ice skating rink in New York City, one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic, revenues fell by nearly $5 million year over year.
It wasn't all bad news for Trump. Sales at the Mar-a-lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, which the former president now calls home, increased by about $3 million to $24.2 million.
But still, Trump's impeachment for inciting an insurrection sparked a mass exodus as businesses and banks severed ties with the Trump brand. Beyond the PGA tournament, New York City is looking to end all business relationships with the Trump Organization and cancel contracts with its ice skating rinks and parks.
Financial documents show Signature Bank, which ran Trump's checking account, is severing ties. Even Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank and Trump's largest business lender, has decided to no longer do business with him.
The Trump Organization still owes Deutsche Bank about $340 million. The Trump Organization tells us in a statement, "There are places, due to government mandates, we were not able to operate, which in some cases means you lose the entire season. We are very proud of our team and how we have continued to navigate this devastating pandemic. We have never been stronger."
Randi Kaye, CNN, Doral, Florida.
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HOLMES: Baseball icon and civil rights activist Hank Aaron passed away in his sleep early on Friday. Nicknamed Hammering Hank, the Braves' Hall of Famer broke Babe Ruth's all-time mark for career home runs in 1974 with that hit.
He faced down death threats, racist taunting and hate mail and persevered through it all with determination and class. His close friend, the civil rights leader, Andrew Young, says, Hank never let racism deter him. Hank Aaron was 86 years old.
I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company and spending part of your day with me. More CNN NEWSROOM in about 20 minutes or so. Until then, "MARKETPLACE AFRICA."
