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Biden Takes Action to Ease "Deepening" U.S. Economic Crisis; Trump Impeachment Trial to Begin February 9; U.K. COVID-19 Variant May Have Higher Mortality Rate; Biden Looks to Normalize Relations with Cuba; Republican Lawmakers Try to Bring Weapons onto House Floor; Russia Protests, Demanding Release of Alexei Navalny. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired January 23, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi. Welcome to all of our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. Good to see you. Just ahead this hour --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I try my best but, like, how much can you try?
How far can you go?
What can you do?
CURNOW (voice-over): Americans continue to struggle as the Biden administration pushes for economic relief.
The question now is when will help come?
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CURNOW (voice-over): Plus, the U.K. is now the worst hit country on Earth when it comes to coronavirus deaths per capita. My guest has been a vocal critic of the government's response, calling it, quote, "an embarrassment."
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: U.S. President Joe Biden isn't wasting any time trying to get more relief to Americans hardest hit by the pandemic, to combat the deepening economic crisis, he signed two more executive orders on Friday.
They focused on expanding food assistance programs, delivering stimulus checks to hard to reach Americans and paving the way to raising the federal minimum wage. The president says the time to act is now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is this: we're in a national emergency. We need to act like we're in a national emergency. So we've got to move with everything we've got. And we've got to do it together.
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CURNOW: These measures build on Mr. Biden's proposed COVID relief plan, which needs Congress' support. His administration says he prefers it to be a bipartisan prospect. The hope is to bring at least 10 Republicans on board, despite several of them already signaling opposition.
Meantime, the timeline of Donald Trump's second impeachment trial is becoming clear. A single article of impeachment against the former president will be delivered to the Senate on Monday evening.
Senate leaders have agreed the trial will begin two weeks later. In order to convict, Democrats will need support from at least 17 Republicans. While that is certainly a tall task, CNN has learned dozens of influential Republicans, including former Trump administration officials, are quietly pushing GOP members to vote for conviction.
They're focusing on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who has signaled he may support convicting Trump. And the delayed trial will not only give Trump's legal team time to prepare, it will give Senate Democrats the chance to confirm President Biden's cabinet as Kaitlan Collins explains from the White House.
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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.
BIDEN: 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?
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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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CURNOW: I want to discuss this a little further with Leslie Vinjamuri. She joins me now from London. She's head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House.
Lovely to see you. I want to talk about the impeachment plan in just a moment but first I want to talk about the COVID economic plan.
Does this set up the president's first clash with Republicans in the Senate, particularly because he says he needs more?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Absolutely. It's a very large plan, $1.9 trillion, and it's focused on putting those stimulus checks that Congress had been battling with itself over for the size of the stimulus checks for many months.
That battle will resurface. There is a lot in there on vaccine dissemination, public health, unemployment, lifting that baseline up the federal level. So there will be a battle over the size.
But it is imperative to get that crisis package through. Of course, what the Biden administration wants to do is to move forward on the pandemic so they can address the longer-term economic problems, investing in infrastructure and energy transition, the climate plan.
Those are really the big wins for the American economy, for the American people. But it's not possible to get there without really getting through this pandemic first. So that is the first order on the agenda. And, of course, the necessary first step is getting the cabinet confirmed.
CURNOW: The impeachment has been -- delayed I suppose is the wrong word -- for two weeks. But it's not happening next week.
How much does that complicate the president's attempts to unify the country?
Whether this impeachment is on Wednesday or in two weeks' time, in many ways, is President Biden caught between a rock and a hard place?
VINJAMURI: Yes. This will be very difficult. I think it's good that it's been pushed back for a couple of weeks because that breathing space is critical, not only for effecting real change but also for the symbolism of a new president, a new team, being able to demonstrate to the American people and, frankly, to the rest of the world, that America can function again, that there's competent government in place, that it can move forward.
And the number one concern for so many people watching America inside and out is that America can deal with this extraordinary not only partisanship but division across the country. Remember, people still have in their minds the number of people who voted for Donald Trump, the Capitol attacks, horrifying and shocking to so many people who are sitting right there.
But I think there still is this question, of course, that there needs to be a reckoning; there does need to be an official counting. So pushing it back is important but ultimately we've seen many countries around the world deal with this question of how do you look back but also look forward.
And when you don't look back, when you don't have an official reckoning, inevitably, the issue resurges.
CURNOW: Let's talk about foreign policy. The Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has reached out to the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
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CURNOW: He made a point of saying that this was his first call of the job, signaling outreach to NATO and to allies, stuff we haven't heard in years, multilateralism, I think is a word that is no longer a swear word within the American political system, at least publicly now.
So what does this do beyond the symbolism of this outreach?
VINJAMURI: Well, it is -- not to under -- as you've said, for four years, Donald Trump really assaulted America's commitment to NATO. And it really had ripple effects in terms of undermining the partnership between the U.S. and Germany and all of America's NATO partners.
So the symbolism can't by understated. It will kickstart diplomacy and it kickstarts it in a way that's saying we're going to work with you multilaterally, not bilaterally first. And we take America's security commitment to Europe very, very seriously.
That's also important in the context of a condition where Russia has been very aggressive, very assertive, where America has experienced dramatic, widescale cyberattacks on its government agencies and it's seeking to do something positive with Russia, which is renegotiate an extension of the New START Treaty.
So saying to Russia, we are working with Europe, we are all in this together, deterrence is going to be much tougher and much clearer, I think all of that is an incredibly important context. It does say to the rest of the world, America's got its problems but we are moving forward with a multilateral and productive international agenda.
CURNOW: OK. Always good to speak to you. Thank you.
VINJAMURI: Thank you so much. CURNOW: So there's a little good news for the U.S. in terms of the coronavirus fight. Take a look at this image. Hospitalizations are declining. According to the COVID Tracking Project, just over 116,000 people are in hospitals being treated for COVID right now. That's the fewest in about a month.
But the death toll is, averaging more than 3,000 people dying a day. At the same time, vaccinations are ramping up. But less than 1 percent of the U.S now has been fully vaccinated, hampered by confusion over the supply and where people can go to get shots.
Despite the uptick in vaccinations, states such as California are reporting a heartbreaking number of deaths every day. Here's Nick Watt with more on that.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Dodger Stadium in L.A., up to a five-hour wait for a vaccine shot.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: Demand far outstrips supply. We are still waiting to learn when more doses will arrive.
WATT (voice-over): In New York City they have paused vaccinating police and firefighters. Why? Dwindling supply. Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated so far, double dosed.
There's a new hands-on plan from Fauci and defense.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We've got to go into the trenches.
What we need to do is get there and say, OK, what went wrong here and how can we help you fix it?
WATT (voice-over): The bright side?
President Biden's first full day in office, 1 million shots were administered for the second time. Promise kept so far. That's the promise every day for 100 days.
FAUCI: If we do better than that, which I personally think we likely will, then great.
WATT (voice-over): And this could be huge. Johnson & Johnson expected to submit its single-dose vaccine for authorization soon. They're ramping up production.
DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, BOARD MEMBER, JOHNSON & JOHNSON: With the goal of having perhaps enough vaccine for 100 million Americans by spring, by this April or so. So, that's going to make a big difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Are you ready?
WATT: It's now a race of sorts. Vaccinate fast before more contagious variants spread even farther, now blamed in part for the startling surge in Los Angeles.
GARCETTI: I am very concerned and think it does explain what happened in December.
WATT (voice-over): How far and wide have these variants spread already?
We don't really know.
FAUCI: We must be honest and say that the level of comprehensive sequence surveillance thus far is not at the level that we would have liked.
WATT: And amid all this talk, it's important not to lose sight of the daily pain for people in California, 764 deaths reported.
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WATT: Across America on average, 3,000 people are still dying every day -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CURNOW: Thanks, Nick, for that. Sobering numbers, indeed.
Coming up, the editor of one of the most respected medical journals is calling Britain's COVID response an embarrassment. He explains why, just ahead.
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CURNOW: Across Europe, most countries are seeing fewer new cases this week with a few exceptions. Spain and Portugal are in the midst of a surge in new cases.
Meanwhile, many areas are seeing a decline. Here, for example, are the trendlines for Italy in green, Germany in red, Netherlands in orange and the U.K. in blue. The United Kingdom is now the worst hit country on Earth when it comes to COVID-19 deaths per capita.
Prime minister Boris Johnson is now warning about a potential danger from the new coronavirus variant first identified in the U.K.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: We have been informed today that, in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant -- the variant that was first identified in London and the South East -- may be associated with a higher degree of mortality (END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: So I want to talk more about this with CNN's Scott McLean.
Those are certainly quite terrifying words for many Brits and for many people around the world awaiting the arrival of this variant on their shores.
What is the prime minister basing his evidence on here?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it's a couple of studies here but the prime minister's top advisers were quick to point out that there is a lot of uncertainty around this new data. The new variant is more transmissible than the original.
That is having a devastating impact right now on the National Health Service in this country. Hospitals are simply packed to the brim. Some of the sample sizes of these studies that the government is basing its estimates on, they're smaller than they would have liked. So that is leading to a lot of variation.
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PATRICK VALLANCE, U.K. CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER: If you took somebody in their 60s, a man in their 60s, the average risk is that, for a thousand people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die with the virus.
With the new variant, for a thousand people infected, roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die.
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MCLEAN: So Robyn, a similar trend holds true across all age groups. But here is where the evidence weakens significantly. If you look at only the people who get hospitalized with the virus, you are no more likely to die in a hospital if you have the new variant than if you had the original virus.
And the vaccines will be effective on the new variant and the original virus, which is good news. The U.K. is rolling out its vaccine faster than any country in Europe. But the government's own estimates say it won't start to have an impact on hospitalizations or mortality until at the earliest later this month but more likely next month.
CURNOW: Scott McLean, thank you so much for that update live in London.
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CURNOW: Joining me now from London is Richard Horton, the editor of "The Lancet" and the author of "The COVID-19 Catastrophe: What's Gone Wrong and How to Stop It Happening Again."
Good to see you, sir. Thanks for joining us. So as we listen to these and see these U.K. numbers and death rates, you've said the U.K. response is an embarrassment. Why?
RICHARD HORTON, EDITOR, "THE LANCET": Well, we're now heading for 100,000 deaths in the United Kingdom by the end of January. That is one of the worst responses in the Western world.
And now because we've had such a vigorous infection, we've created the situation for the variants, for this to appear and as we just heard from your correspondent, not only is it more transmissible but there is evidence that it's more deadly.
So our National Health Service is under grave threat as we come to the closing days for the first month of this new year.
CURNOW: Let's talk about the variant. This sort of new strain is common with viruses. They do mutate.
Was this expected?
And how much of an impact will this have on vaccines and the vaccine rollout?
HORTON: Well, that's absolutely right. The viruses mutate all the time. There are usually one to two new mutations every month.
But where you have the virus at very, very high levels of prevalence in the population, clearly that is a lot of mutations taking place. There are now three variants causing great concern around the world.
One in the -- originated in the U.K., one originated in South Africa and one in Brazil. The ones in South Africa and Brazil are particularly concerning because the pattern of mutations suggests that they might be able to escape the current vaccines that we have.
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HORTON: It is very important that we are paying very great attention to borders and making sure that these variants don't spread from country to country. And we need to be very adaptable as we think about the vaccine rollout in the coming months.
CURNOW: And also you're suggesting lockdowns. Some of your criticism about the U.K. was delaying -- implementing lockdowns sooner.
As you've assessed -- it's been a year now -- how governments and authorities have handled this correctly, we're on first, second, third waves, who has learned from their mistakes in the early stages?
Where do you see some positive lessons being learned here in terms of dealing with it?
HORTON: Well, there have been good responses and mainly in East Asian countries. Today is the one-year anniversary since the lockdown in Wuhan. Pretty much life has returned to normal in that city. Patterns of life come very much back to where they were before the pandemic struck. The lesson from that was that a very harsh lockdown was able to
eliminate community transmission of the virus, eliminate the virus from society. And that has enabled people to return to pretty much normal lives.
That is the lesson for Western countries as well. We can eliminate it from our communities and, as we roll the vaccine program out, that means, I think, by summer, we could get to where China is today, pretty much back to normal.
CURNOW: But we have seen some assessments that it might take two years to break, especially in areas that lag with the vaccine. And that, of course, begs the question how inequality plays into this fight against this.
HORTON: That's right. This is a global challenge. It's not a challenge for individual countries alone. It's no good to the United States or the United Kingdom having very high levels of vaccine if large parts of the world aren't protected as well.
So this is where the great challenge becomes and where the World Health Organization last week raised the concern of a moral failure if we do not pay attention to getting vaccines to those who most need it in continents of Africa, South Asia and particularly Latin America, where the epidemic is raging out of control.
CURNOW: Richard Horton, thank you very much for joining us, giving us your expertise.
HORTON: Thank you.
CURNOW: So the pandemic battered U.S. economy was the focus for the new U.S. president on Friday. Mr. Biden signed measures aimed at getting financial help to struggling Americans. Details straight ahead on that.
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CURNOW: It is 31 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow. Welcome back to all of our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.
So the second full day of the Biden administration saw a focus on getting economic help to struggling Americans. On Friday, the new president signed two executive orders that build on his economic plan.
They call for more unemployment, food and rental help for low income Americans and getting already approved stimulus money to those who haven't received it. And a push towards a $15 an hour minimum wage. He wants Congress to approve a new $1.9 trillion package that would include additional stimulus payments.
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BIDEN: The bottom line is this: we're in a national emergency. We need to act like we're in a national emergency. So we've got to move with everything we've got. And we've got to do it together and we have the tools to fix it.
We have the tools to get through this. We have the tools to get this virus under control and our economy back on track. And we have the tools to help people. So let's use the tools, all of them, use them now. Folks, this is one of the cases where business, labor, Wall Street, Main Street, liberal, conservative, economists know, we have to act now.
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CURNOW: Mr. Biden noted that food insecurity is growing across the U.S. He pointed out that one out of every seven American households is going hungry. Vanessa Yurkevich put on a human face on those disturbing numbers.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Joseph Palma lost hope in this pandemic. He says he often goes a day or two without food.
JOSEPH PALMA, UNEMPLOYED AIRLINE WORKER: It's not right, it's not great. I have to survive, I have to eat something.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Palma, a contractor for American Airlines, was laid off in March. He survives off $275 a week in unemployment and food stamps. He lost his apartment and now lives in this one room. Trips to the grocery store take him to the expired food aisle.
PALMA: That's the only way I can eat because it's cheaper, it is almost half the price and sometimes more than that. I keep it for the longest I can keep it so I can wait for my next check for food stamps.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): He's one of more than 120,000 airline workers out of a job since February. When Americans stopped traveling, the transportation industry took a blow and has yet to recover. Between air, rail and ground transport, more than a quarter million jobs have been lost.
PALMA: This is all my medicines, (INAUDIBLE).
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Nearly $300 worth of prescriptions sit by his bedside. A heart condition left Palma with $12,000 in hospital bills. With student loans, he's $20,000 in debt. He says all of that makes it even harder to find food and work.
PALMA: I can't even go to the food banks because I have no car. Every time I go out looking for a job, I have to walk so many miles.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): For 21 years, Gerson Fernandes has driven a Yellow Cab.
YURKEVICH: What's it like driving a cab, being a cab driver in the pandemic?
GERSON FERNANDES, NYC TAXI DRIVER: It's like you have to keep driving and hope for the best.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Yellow Cabs are an iconic part of New York City. At the height of the pandemic, ridership was down 90 percent for taxis, 85 percent for rideshare apps.
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YURKEVICH (voice-over): Recovery has been slow.
FERNANDES: Everybody is hurting, but I'm talking for cabs. And for us, we are hurting a lot.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Fernandes says he's lucky if he picks up four to five customers a day. He spends his eight-hour shift waiting for passengers at LaGuardia Airport.
YURKEVICH: What does that mean?
I mean, you have a beautiful home, what does that mean when you lost that much?
FERNANDES: When you say beautiful home, beautiful at that time. No longer now. Like we need to say, it was beautiful in those days. We could afford to buy a home and pay the mortgages or pay all the money. But now, it's so bad that, like, difficult to pay.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): His biggest expense?
The lease on his taxi medallion. He cannot afford the $3,000 a month.
FERNANDES: I try my best.
But, like, how much can you try?
How far can you go?
What can you do?
Very limited resources.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): It's the kindness of strangers that have helped fill his pockets and lift his spirits.
FERNANDES: So many people are tipping. In fact, people tell me, like, they give me $5 and even $10, I say, it's too much. They say because this time, everybody's hurting and you are working.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Queens, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CURNOW: Thanks to Vanessa for that powerful piece.
U.S. relations with Cuba might soon be described as back to the future. After the Trump administration enacted punishing sanctions on the Communist island nation, President Joe Biden says he wants to return to more friendly Obama-era policies. Patrick Oppmann has that from Havana.
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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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CURNOW: Great to have Patrick there in Havana.
Dozens of arrests have been made in the U.S. Capitol attacks. Investigators say hundreds more are yet to come. That's ahead.
Plus, details on a different kind of new security problem at the U.S. House of Representatives. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.
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CURNOW: Welcome back.
Investigators digging into violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th are now focused on extremist groups that parted in that attack. Officials expect to make hundreds of more arrests in addition to the 125 people already detained. Meantime, there have been a series of incidents involving Republican representatives trying to bring weapons onto the House floor as Sunlen Serfaty now reports.
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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a brazen move, some Republican members of Congress are defiantly dismissing Capitol Hill security meant to keep the U.S. Capitol safe.
Capitol Hill police are now investigating Republican congressman Andy Harris after the congressman tried to carry a concealed gun with him onto the House floor Thursday, setting off the metal detectors and, afterwards, trying to pass his gun to another congressman to hold it for him.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: Why does a member of Congress need to sneak a gun on to the House floor?
SERFATY (voice-over): And also on Thursday, according to a tweet from a "Huffington Post" reporter, congressman Don Young had a switchblade on him, passing it to his wife before he went onto the House floor.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: We still don't yet feel safe around other members of Congress.
SERFATY (voice-over): Multiple House Democrats say that they feel unsafe around some Republican members. One House Democrat telling CNN the increasing tensions with certain incoming freshmen has been building for months.
This is just the latest example of Republicans not only breaching security protocols but oftentimes bragging about it.
Freshman Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert releasing this provocative video on her first day in Congress, declaring she will be bringing her 9mm Glock to the halls of Congress and streets of D.C.
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R): It is our job in Congress to defend your rights, including your Second Amendment. And that is exactly what I'm here do.
SERFATY (voice-over): And freshman Congress man Madison Cawthorn saying, fortunately, he was armed when the mob stormed the Capitol earlier this month.
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Members are permitted to keep guns in their offices and carry guns on the Capitol grounds but not in either legislative chamber.
Following the insurrection on Capitol Hill, metal detectors were quickly installed just off the House floor, requiring members for the first time to walk through them to get onto the floor. The move was met with an immediate uproar from many Republicans. A handful who outright refused to go through them ignored Capitol Hill
police and just walked right onto the floor without being screened. Congressmen Mullin yelling at Capitol Hill police, "It is my constitutional right to walk through and they cannot stop me."
Congressman Andy Biggs calling the metal detectors, "Crap, the stupidest thing," and others just blatantly mocking the new security.
BOEBERT: I can tell you none of us were looking to one another saying, gosh, I hope there are more metal detectors outside.
SERFATY: And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has proposed a rule change that would fine members who refuse to go through the mags $5,000 to be deducted from their paycheck on first offense, $10,000 for the second. And Pelosi's office tells me that they expect to vote on this rule change in two weeks when they return to Washington.
But, of course, all of this speaking to the massive distrust that exists right now between members in what is already a very politically charged and emotionally charged environment -- Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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CURNOW: So just ahead here at CNN, a bombshell video released by Kremlin critics takes viewers to a billion dollar palace. They claim it's a luxurious playground for Vladimir Putin.
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CURNOW: These images happening right now, supporters of Russian politician Alexei Navalny are gathering across the country in protests, demanding his release from prison. They're chanting, "Navalny, we are with you."
Navalny was arrested and punished on his return to Russia from Germany on Sunday, where he spent months recovering from an attempted poisoning that he blames on the Russian government. Some of Navalny's allies, including his spokesperson, have also now been detained and accused of repeatedly calling for unauthorized protests.
For more, let's go straight to Fred Pleitgen in Moscow.
What can you tell us?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Robyn. These protests started really early in the morning hours. Russia, a country with 11 time zones. Hours ago, some drew a sizable crowd. Also in cities in the far east, Vladivostok, also across Siberia.
You had people coming out and calling for protests in more than 60 towns and cities across Russia. There was even a protest in Yakutsk in Siberia and the temperature was minus 52 degrees Celsius.
Alexei Navalny called for these protests after he was detained immediately upon his return from Berlin. He also released what his folks called a bombshell big investigation into Vladimir Putin's alleged wealth and a palace that the Russian president allegedly owns. Let's have a look.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): This is a video going viral in Russia an investigation done by Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his anti- corruption foundation showing the monstrosities and the luxurious details of a palace allegedly owned by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: We introduce you to the most secret palace in Russia, Putin's palace near Gelendzhik. This is the biggest private house in Russia and it takes up 17,500 square meters.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While the palace's existence has been known for years, Navalny's foundation managed to film it using a drone and created 3D models of the inside, using information they say they got from four plants and photos obtained from construction workers.
CNN is not able to independently verify Navalny's claims but with 11 bedrooms, two spas, a hockey rink and a church, Navalny's team claims the property is worth around $1.4 billion.
With some eccentric interiors -- a hookah lounge, for instance, with what Navalny's team claims is a dancing pole, Navalny mocking what he describes as the Russian president's over the top taste.
NAVALNY: We can't even imagine why you would need a pole on this stage. Maybe it's for a giant Christmas tree or giant swatter.
PLIETGEN (voice-over): The Kremlin vehemently denies the allegations and any claims of official corruption.
Vladimir Putin's spokesman telling CNN, "They are repeating the old story. It was the year 2017 or 2016 if I'm not mistaken that the first time it was mentioned there should be the so-called palace of Putin in Gelendzhik. This is not true. There is no palace. He is not an owner of any palace.
Alexei Navalny was arrested last Sunday as he arrived in Moscow from Berlin having spent five months in Germany recovering from being poisoned with the chemical nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny has been ordered detained for a month and faces other criminal investigations in Russia that could put him behind bars for years. Still, he managed to publish the palace investigation and he is calling for protests across Russia this Saturday.
NAVALNY: I urge you not to be silent to resist and to take to the streets. No one but ourselves will protect us.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): Several of Navalny's supporters have been arrested ahead of the planned protests and Russian authorities are warning people not to show up as the showdown between Vladimir Putin and his harshest critic heats up Navalny refusing to be silent despite being in one of Moscow's toughest jails.
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PLEITGEN: And we're keeping track of things as they're unfolding. So far, a little less than 240 arrests and detentions that have taken place across Russia. You're seeing live pictures there on your screen, which appears to be Moscow's Pushkin Square, which is where one of the main protests in the Russian capital is set to kick off a little over an hour from now.
There's some milling around, some detentions, that is some of the information that we've gotten, as well, that some folks have been detained around there. You can see the police barriers have been set up there, as well.
We have heard some key areas have been cordoned often, like the Kremlin and Pushkin Square, in the place in Moscow where the main protest is set to take place and is set to begin in about an hour from now.
The authorities have said they are going to crack down very hard on people who try to protest today, the protests deemed illegal. You can see the authorities making a big effort to try to keep people from going there, making announcements, get social media companies to take down videos, calling for folks to participate, threatening fines in many cases, as well. As you can see, police are out there in force, taking people into custody.
CURNOW: Thanks so much, Fred. Good to see you. Thank you.
So thank you for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. Kim Brunhuber will pick up things from now. More on CNN after the break.
