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Impeachment Article To Be Delivered To Senate Tomorrow, Trump's Trial Scheduled To Begin On February 9; U.S. Surpasses 25 Million Total Coronavirus Cases; Biden Urges Patience On Improving Vaccine Supply Chain. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 24, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:17]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with the stage set for the second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump. Tomorrow, House Democrats will ceremoniously walk over the Article of Impeachment to the U.S. Senate and the trial is set to start the week of February 8th.

This, as we learn a new stunning report about Trump's desperate efforts to invalidate President Joe Biden's election victory. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting today that Trump pressured the U.S. Justice Department to file a case with the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election that he lost.

Meanwhile, President Biden will begin his first full week in office facing unprecedented challenges as the U.S. surpasses the grim milestone of 25 million COVID cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER BECERRA, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY DESIGNATE: I believe President Biden's make it very clear. The plane is in a nosedive, and we've got to pull it up, and you're not going to do that overnight. But we're going to pull it up, we have to pull it up. Failure is not an option here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. has now recorded more than five million cases over the last 24 days alone, and it took the nation 97 days to record the first one million cases and another 104 days to surpass five million cases.

To put all of that in perspective, the country with the second highest number of cases is India, which has recorded under 11 million total cases. CNN's Evan McMorris Santoro is in New York, which has just surpassed 34,000 deaths according to the state health department.

Also, Paul Vercammen is with us from Los Angeles, reporting another 429 deaths. Paul, let's go to you first. PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the numbers are just out of

the State of California, adding to these total cases, 24,111 new cases, as you said, Fred, 429 deaths and then the hospitalizations are a glimmer -- a glimmer of hope. They are now under 18,000.

So here in Southern California, we're seeing mortuaries absolutely overrun by this mounting death toll, taking these phone calls every day. In Boyle Heights, at the Bagues Mortuary, they can see several hospitals that are completely filled with COVID-19 patients. Subsequently, many of these patients pass and so, the owner of one of these mortuaries has some advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER BAGUES, FUNERAL DIRECTOR, FELIPE BAGUES MORTUARY: I think I would just say to the public to just do their part, wear your mask, use gloves. Really don't go out -- you know, you may not get sick, but you come home to grandma and grandpa, and I think that's the saddest thing to hear on the phone is when you know these people are realizing that they didn't get it, but they passed it on to a family member who passed away.

So to hear it in their voice, you know that that's -- that's hard. You can hear that, you know, and that's something they have to live with forever, so it's really sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And so Los Angeles County embarking on an ambitious effort to vaccinate, supersites opening up at places such as the Forum, trying to test and vaccinate some 2,400 people at each site per day. Back to you now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Paul. Evan in New York is reporting a decrease in hospitalizations, ICU admissions and intubations from yesterday, but what more are you learning still?

[15:05:08]

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Some of those numbers about dealing with the pandemic, as it is right now, are going in the right direction. But there are fresh numbers just out from the Governor's Office, we just got them that show just how urgent the pandemic vaccine crunches here in this state.

The Governor says that we're about to run out of the week six allocation of vaccine today, and he is not expecting the week seven vaccine allocation to start rolling into the middle of next week. So he's trying to roll out the vaccine as fast as he can. He says he has the capacity to get out 100,000 vaccine doses every day, he just doesn't have enough vaccine to do it.

Speaking at a church this morning, the Governor spoke about the challenge of trying to get the vaccine here and get it out into people's arms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): While the vaccine is still scarce across the country, I am working as hard as I can to get it here for you. I will fight to deliver it, and we will make it available through churches, community groups, public housing, and many different ways to make sure it is accessible to the hard-hit communities of color.

The second issue is where I need your help, we all need to trust the vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTORO: Now, Fred, as the Governor alluded to in those comments, it's not just about making the vaccine available. I'm at Citi Field, a location that the state is trying to make available for the vaccine. They just don't have enough vaccine to open up the site yet.

But as the Governor was talking about in those comments, he also wants to make it available in community groups and community centers across the city, across the state where some of those hard-hit communities that maybe aren't getting the same access to medical care can have access to that vaccine.

So it's two twin challenges here. One, getting the vaccine here to the state and two, making sure it's in the places where it needs to be to be the most effective -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and still lots of question marks such as you know, when might more doses of that vaccine actually arrive? The same question a lot of places are asking.

Evan McMorris Santoro and Paul Vercammen, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

So the President is urging patience as the new administration works on ironing out the country's vaccine supply chain, but the longer it takes, the more harm the virus can do. And right now, hopes for a quick and efficient vaccine rollout are simply not being realized.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy joining us right now.

Governor, so good to see you.

GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): Likewise, Fredricka. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely. So I want to start with, you know, what the incoming H.H.S. Secretary had to say on CNN this morning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: When will anyone who wants a vaccine be able to get one?

BECERRA: Well, that's a matter of making sure we're coordinating with the states, because it's not the Federal government that's putting the vaccine in the arm. But we are trying to provide it. We're providing the resources and the help to make it happen. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So we know that this administration is inheriting, you know, what had already been put in place from the prior administration. But what do you say to the new administration about what New Jersey needs in order to get more vaccines in arms?

MURPHY: Yes, first of all, what a difference four days make. You've got an administration, which understands in all of its actions and words that public health is the only way we could get to economic health.

They inherited an empty cupboard, and they understand we were on with them all the time. They understand the imperative before us. You know, we've now crossed 550,000 persons vaccinated in the state. We're doing 25,000 or more a day. We could at least double that, if not more, and I'm confident it's going to require patience, there is no question about it.

And again, they inherited an empty cupboard here in terms of supply, but they have a laser focus on this as do we. And I'm confident this cures itself, but it's going to take a little bit of time.

WHITFIELD: How do you double that 25,000 number you just spoke of?

MURPHY: Well, we need more supplies. So we've got -- we're getting about 100,000 doses a week, a little bit more than that. We could probably take two or 300,000 easily. We've got 270 something distribution points, six mega sites.

We've got -- you know, we were in the mindset of if you build it, they will come, and the "they" in this case are more doses. So when we get them, we will get shots into arms as soon as we get them.

WHITFIELD: And what about the issue of mobilizing people to the locations where the vaccine is available. Of course, you know, New Jersey is quite varied in terms of how people live and the access that people might have. But there's a real obstacle for a lot of folks to be able to -- they don't either have a car or maybe there's not public transportation to get to the vaccine site.

So is there anything like that in the plan for your state to change, to modify, to enhance?

[15:10:10]

MURPHY: Absolutely. So we're both the most diverse state in the nation and the densest state in the nation. The latter of those two means when you've got 270 plus locations around the state, you're not too far from one of them, no matter where you live -- and that's a good thing.

The diversity gets to the point that Governor Cuomo was speaking about, and in fact, I attended one of our big mega sites on Friday, communities of color, especially, have a rightful skepticism as it relates to vaccines. And if that weren't enough, we've got many of our citizens who may not have access to the internet or their own transportation.

So we're opening up a 250-person call center in the morning and at the county and local level, we're working with our partners to get transportation arrangements in place to do just what you suggested.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, too, Governor, if it's the case in New Jersey, like it is in so many other states that it's difficult for people to even make appointments, you know, to get through on these web sites to inquire about distribution sites.

Have you received complaints like that, you know, a great volume throughout New Jersey that you're able to address?

MURPHY: Certainly, some of that. I mean, there's an enormous supply- demand imbalance right now, there is no question about that. And again, I'm confident that with the Biden administration, we'll work through this over a course of weeks, but we have well over two million people who have already pre-registered for a vaccine.

We have heard from our seniors, in many cases that they're not on the internet. So that's not an option for them, which is why opening up this call center, 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, is hopefully going to be a game changer for those seniors in particular.

WHITFIELD: So a lot is riding on the success as well of this $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. What are the stakes of that legislation for you and your state?

MURPHY: Now, the stakes are enormous. The American Rescue Plan is exactly what we need. I'm glad we got the downpayment in December of $908 billion, but I've been saying for months and months that this is at least $3 trillion or $4 trillion moment and history will not be unkind to us if we overshoot. It will be devastatingly unkind through the lens of pain and suffering of our citizens if we undershoot.

But when you look at a national vaccine plan and the money for it, national testing, a National Health Corps, getting schools safely reopened, the $2,000.00 checks, the state and local aid, and by the way, that sounds very abstract. But what that is, is allowing us to keep the firefighters, police, educators, healthcare workers, EMS employed in their jobs, delivering services at our desperate hour of need here for our residents.

You combine all of that, this is exactly what the doctor ordered. I don't think it's the end. But it's a huge step in the right direction.

WHITFIELD: All right, all the best to you, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and everybody else in the Garden State. Appreciate it.

MURPHY: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. All right, now, disturbing details about President Trump's final weeks in office. New reporting on the various ways that he was plotting to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. Plus, the White House is hard at work this Sunday trying to drum up

support for its COVID relief package. The phone call happening this hour with senators from both sides of the aisle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:47]

WHITFIELD: A new bombshell report is providing more details on just how far former President Trump was willing to go to overturn his election loss. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting today that Trump pressured the Justice Department to file a case with the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election that Trump lost. This, coming one day after we also learned that Trump tried to fire the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with a D.O.J. attorney who was going to push to overturn Biden's election win in Georgia.

Let's bring in CNN crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. So, Shimon, what more can you tell us about this reported effort by Trump to overturn the will of the voters?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, certainly very troubling reporting here from "The Wall Street Journal." When you think about the idea that the President, then President Donald Trump was trying to use government lawyers to essentially try and overturn the election is very troublesome.

And what "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting is that the President at the time, Donald Trump tried to put pressure on his Attorney General at the time, William Barr, and other people at the Department of Justice, to file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to try and get the election overturned.

The Attorney General at the time, William Barr and the Deputy Attorney General, and also the Solicitor General all refused, saying that they had no standing, that the United States had no standing in any kind of a lawsuit to try and overturn the election. And so they refused to do so -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. That is striking. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of information, any of that information is in some way going to be folded into the proceedings that are about to get underway, early February, the impeachment of the former President. Thanks so much, Shimon.

So the Senate will hold the impeachment trial for former President Trump, February 9th. In fact, tomorrow the House will walk over the singular Article of Impeachment to the Senate charging Donald Trump with incitement of insurrection for his role in the Capitol riot.

Let's get more now from Joe John's on Capitol Hill. So, Joe, any more information about what is being said behind the scenes about what this process could look like.

[15:20:04] JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the big

question and I can tell you, Fred, look, there are Democrats who are on board with convicting the President. Clearly, probably almost all of the Democrats are on board, but Republicans need 17 -- the United States Senate needs 17 senators to sign on in order to convict Donald Trump. And the question is, what kind of arguments are behind the scenes?

Now, we've heard some of the most common arguments, some of the people who oppose this trial say it's going to create more divisions in the United States. They say there are other things the Senate needs to be spending its time on, particularly with a new President, his first hundred days, and so on.

Also the issues of another COVID relief bill, as well as, for example, all of the people who have already been nominated to fill positions in the Executive Branch. But one argument that doesn't seem to hold water, but keep people keep putting it out there is the argument that it's not constitutional to hold a trial for somebody who has already left office and that has already been asked and answered, going back as far as 1876 with a Secretary of War. His name was William Belknap.

He resigned when he found out he's about to be impeached. He still got impeached. And the Senate still decided that they were going to go ahead and hold a trial for him. So that's already been asked and answered. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: There's already that precedent. All right, Joe Johns, thanks so much on Capitol Hill.

So Dr. Deborah Birx, she is finally speaking out about what she saw in the Trump White House: misinformation, belief in a hoax and mysterious parallel data. So why didn't she speak out earlier? Why now? The story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:18]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. In a new interview, Dr. Deborah Birx is now speaking out about the challenges that she faced serving as the White House's Coronavirus Response Coordinator under former President Donald J. Trump, admitting there were incidents when she had no idea where the President was getting his information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: I saw the President presenting graphs that I never made. So I know that someone or someone out there or someone inside was creating a parallel set of data and graphics that were shown to the President.

I know what I sent up, and I know that what was in his hands was different from that. You can't do that. You have to use the entire data.

QUESTION: Who was doing this?

BIRX: To this day, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Craig Spencer, the Director of Global Health and Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Good to see you, Doctor.

DR. CRAIG SPENCER, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL HEALTH AND EMERGENCY MEDICINE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. So what do you make of Dr. Birx speaking out now rather than directly challenging President Trump's misinformation on the spot?

SPENCER: Look, everything that she revealed this morning, it's quite frankly not a surprise to any of us who have been speaking out on the disinformation that's come from the White House since day one of the pandemic. This would have been a lot more helpful to hear from someone in her position many months ago as opposed to now.

And again, I respect Dr. Birx. I respect her public health career with the C.D.C. and with PEPFAR. But hearing the rest of her interview, the fact that they didn't listen to her guidance, they didn't follow her criteria for reopening. She didn't see the President for many months despite being one of the leads in their Coronavirus Taskforce, we have to wonder whether she could have made a bigger impact speaking out earlier on, rather than standing at the President's side while he spouted deadly disinformation for so long.

WHITFIELD: Are you disappointed that perhaps she didn't find a way to speak out, you know, more clearly, like you just, you know, laid out sooner while she was at his side?

SPENCER: I'm sure that she absolutely tried, but look, everyone else that has been in this administration that has served has not has not emerged untarnished, right? We had a President who made it his priority to stand up and muse on the virus and spread misinformation about it just going away.

I recognized that she was in a difficult spot, and perhaps early on, she probably hoped that she could have redirected the conversation in the right way in the public health grounding, but I think it became very clear pretty early on that that wasn't going to happen and it would have been better served if we if we had known this months ago as opposed to this morning.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So aside from Dr. Birx, you have noted that, you know many lives could have been saved if Twitter had suspended President Trump's account months ago. Dr. Fauci now says that it is clear to him that science will rule and that science will speak when it comes to coronavirus response under President Biden. So what is that like to hear?

SPENCER: Well, it's good that you mentioned Dr. Fauci because yesterday, the White House put out a very short video from their Twitter account and what it was, was Dr. Fauci saying, "Please wear a mask." It was short. It was simple and it was science based, which was in sum everything -- everything that the President himself, President Trump put out. It was exact opposite of all of that over the past few months.

Look from Trump's Twitter account, he accused doctors of stealing personal protective equipment and inflating the death count from COVID. He accused healthcare workers of falsifying COVID diagnoses. He undermined basic public health recommendations like wearing a mask.

He bullied the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. Each one of those individually had an impact, but combined, the disinformation dominated the discussion and left us this really disastrous impact.

[15:30:13]

WHITFIELD: And you know, this is not a question that is about politics, but really, about the science and the prospect from this point forward. How much relief are you now feeling? Or is there comfort? I mean, what is your outlook from this point forward knowing that we are at the year mark of when the first hospitalization took place as it relates to COVID-19. But today, how are you feeling?

SPENCER: I'm feeling a lot better. Look, we're not out of the woods, but we do have an administration that said it's going to stand by the science, you know, really, on day one, they put out a national strategy. This is something that we've been missing since day one.

You know, we've treated this as a state by state "Hunger Games," where governors were having to order tests from different countries or fight amongst themselves to get personal protective equipment.

We are all in this together and we need to be working through this together. So having a national strategy for how we're going to respond, for how we're going to roll out this vaccine is certainly heartening and very comforting.

The next few weeks and the next few months still are going to be really difficult. It's going to take a long time until we get enough people vaccinated until we are able to diminish the amount of virus that is in our communities, and in fact, our friends and our colleagues, but today and for the past week have been a lot more optimistic than I have, quite frankly, at any point since this pandemic again.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Craig Spencer, thank you so much. I'm glad you're feeling optimistic because it makes all of us a little bit more optimistic, too. Thank you so much.

SPENCER: Stay safe.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely. Always wear the mask. Wash the hands, too.

All right. Please join us for an all new CNN Global Town Hall. Join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for "Coronavirus: Facts and Fears." It airs live Wednesday night eight Eastern only here on CNN and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:02]

WHITFIELD: The Arizona Republican Party is sending a clear message of loyalty to former President Donald Trump. They voted to censure Republican Governor Doug Ducey, former G.O.P. Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, wife of the late Senator John McCain, all three of them, letting it roll off their backs. Cindy McCain, in fact, calling it a badge of honor for serving her state and nation well.

Former Congressman and CNN political commentator, Charlie Dent is with us now. So Charlie, good to see you. What is this all about? This censure, a reflection of kind of a temporary influence on the G.O.P. Is it something with real staying power?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, Fred, I think the censure resolution of the three people of McCain, Ducey and Flake is utterly meaningless and useless, and it's a reflection of the Chairman of the State Committee, Kelli Ward, who's pretty good at losing. I mean, she ran for Senate twice and lost.

They just lost the presidential election out there, two Senate races, and they're out there censuring people who actually won in Arizona. I mean, it just shows you how absurd and how detached from reality some of these folks are.

WHITFIELD: So that it's also an indicator of, I guess, the building blocks needed to bring the party back together. How, you know, herculean of a task is it going to be in your view?

DENT: Well, clearly, a lot of these state and local committees, Republican committees are going to need to be cleaned up. I mean, the fact that they are attaching themselves to a man who has been impeached twice, and soundly defeated as the future of the party, a man who has left office in disgrace, again, it makes absolutely no political sense.

My observation is, and this has been going on for some time, some of these -- particularly these county committees have become so weak. They've become debating societies. They're not there to actually help candidates get on the ballot and do all the things they need to, to be successful candidates. They don't do that.

They've kind of got this, no, it's about loyalty to a man or before Donald Trump. It was about advancing an ideological agenda, rather than actually getting signatures to get people on the ballot and doing all the hard work of getting a campaign together.

WHITFIELD: So listen to what Florida Senator Marco Rubio said when asked about this on FOX News today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Finally, gear up for re- election in 2022, and there has been talk, as I'm sure you know, about the possibility that Ivanka Trump might run against you in a Republican primary in Florida in 2022. How seriously, do you take Ivanka Trump as a potential opponent?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Well, I don't really get into the parlor games of Washington to tell you that. When you decide to run for re- election in a state like Florida, you have to be prepared for its competitive race. You run it like a competitive race. So that's what I'm preparing to run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what do you decipher there, because a while he was against Trump for a very long time, he is, you know, all on board with the Trump Republican Party. And now if it's Trump's daughter who is going to run against him, potentially. Where are those loyalties again?

DENT: Well, yes, I mean, you know, good luck trying to out-Trump, Ivanka Trump, if you're Marco Rubio. So if Ivanka Trump does, in fact, take on Marco Rubio, I would suggest that he make a clean break from the Trumps and draw a very sharp and hard contrast. That's how people win elections: by drawing hard contrast and going after their opponents, not by simply agreeing with him.

So he is probably going to have a problem, but I think he can defeat it, but he's not going to be able to defeat or if he's going to be a mini-Trump. It won't work.

WHITFIELD: What do you think her chances are like?

DENT: Well, it's hard to say. You know, Marco Rubio, you know, he's well-known in Florida. You know, he is Cuban American. He's got a track record. I think he's going to be a lot tougher to defeat than she thinks.

You know, I mean, she's got the Trump name and she'll certainly have many of the Trump followers. Hard to handicap it at this point without seeing any polling data, but I would have to think she has got a bit of an uphill climb.

But that'll be a seminal case, in terms of, you know, how do you run against Trump and I think Marco Rubio is going to have to start positioning himself if in fact her candidacy gets off the ground. It'll be a serious threat.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right back to Arizona. I mean, it was a battleground state in this last, you know, election cycle. New Senator Mark Kelly, already back on the ballot next year. Does this raise any alarms for the White House working with a one-seat majority?

DENT: Well, yes, I mean, the Senate Democrats have absolutely no margin for error. I certainly think the Biden administration knows that. In fact, they don't have much of a margin for error in the House either. So in terms of what the Democrats hope to accomplish in the Senate, I

think they're going to have to work in a very bipartisan basis. I believe they should move away from this discussion of trying to end the filibuster, maybe they want to reform it, but don't end it. They're going to have to find ways to collaborate to get anything done.

I mean, they can do reconciliation on some matters, but even that will be a tough sell. They only need a simple majority to pass budget related matters. So right now, if I'm the Democrats right now, I've got to figure out how to win over those moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats to enact an agenda.

WHITFIELD: Right. It won't be as smooth as a ride as some thought it might be. Charlie Dent, thanks so much. Good to see you.

DENT: Thanks. Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, as of today, prosecutors have charged more than 120 people with Federal crimes in connection with that deadly insurrection on the Capitol. Some of the most serious charges including conspiracy have been filed against three members of the Oath Keepers, an extremist militant group.

CNN's Sara Sidner takes us inside this group and has a closer look at who these three people are.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It is striking just how many people who are U.S. veterans that are now accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol.

SIDNER (voice over): They came to Washington trained in warfare, wearing combat gear, forming the line marching up the Capitol steps and then use their training against the U.S. Capitol.

These three Americans are some of the first to face the most severe charges in the attack on the Capitol, including conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and violent entry or disorderly conduct. All three are U.S. veterans.

Sixty-five-year-old Thomas Edward Caldwell served in the Navy, 50- year-old Donovan Ray Crowl is a former Marine. This is Crowl inside the Capitol Building on January 6th. The person who popped up behind him is Jessica Marie Watkins. She served in the Army as Jeremy David Watkins.

On January 6th, the former Army veteran riled up her troops in person and on the social media site, Parler. "We storm the Capitol today." Watkins is a member of the Oath Keepers, an extremist anti-government

group. She also started her own self-styled militia in Ohio. We wanted to know more about these Americans now charged with attacking the democratic transfer of power they claim to support, so we went to their towns.

It turns out, Watkins runs a bar with her partner in the village of Woodstock, Ohio.

SIDNER (on camera): I spoke with a neighbor who lives down the street from this bar who didn't want to be identified, but he told us that this is the watering hole for this town of about 300 people and that when you would go in to get your beer, Watkins would often try to recruit you to her militia. He said most people didn't bite.

But we know at least one person did because he was in D.C. with Watkins and they were both arrested.

SIDNER (voice over): That person was Donovan Crowl who lives just down the street from Watkins' bar.

MONTANA SINIFF, WATKINS' BOYFRIEND: She does is not a violent person.

SIDNER (voice over): Montana Siniff and Watkins run the bar. The two live upstairs where the F.B.I. showed up last week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shots woke us up and the yelling because they were on a microphone yelling it is the F.B.I. in to come down. And it was crazy.

SIDNER (voice over): It was flashbangs, not gunshots. The blasted out window remains broken. Only Siniff was home and says he was questioned and released. Watkins later turned herself in.

SIDNER (on camera): What was her plan?

SINIFF: She was supposed to help protect some VIP members within the Trump rally.

SIDNER: There are people calling her a traitor. How would you describe her? Is that fair?

SINIFF: That is very much an unfair statement. She would never try to dismantle the Constitution.

SIDNER: So you don't see this as an insurrection or a sedition?

SINIFF: It was illegal, and those people involved need to take their lumps --

SIDNER: Including Miss Watkins?

SINIFF: For what, if she is found guilty of anything, then she will have to take the consequences of that.

SIDNER (voice over): Siniff also knows Crowl and says he joined walk in self-style militia.

SIDNER (on camera): What's he like?

SINIFF: When drunk, the guy you want to shut up. When sober, the best man you could have.

SIDNER: Well, he came to the bar. So you saw him both drunk and sober.

SINIFF: That's how I got that barometer and the militia was a good thing to help him be -- like it was a reason to be sober.

[15:50:09]

SIDNER (voice over): Crowl has been convicted in Ohio for drunk driving. His mother told CNN by phone that a couple years ago, her son said they were going to take over the government if they tried to take Trump's presidency from him.

His mother said she didn't think much of it until January 6th happened.

About 400 miles away from Woodstock, Ohio near Berryville, Virginia is where Thomas Caldwell lives.

THOMAS CALDWELL, OATH KEEPER MEMBER: Every single [bleep] in there is a traitor. Every single one.

SIDNER (voice over): That is Caldwell at the Capitol calling legislators the traitors. Caldwell was a delegate to the Clark County Republican Convention last year. In Washington, D.C., authorities say, he was a co-conspirator with Crowl and Watkins in the assault on the Capitol.

SINIFF: I do not believe the charges of conspiracy are at all fair.

SIDNER (on camera): It's unclear how Caldwell knew Crowl and Watkins, but according to Federal prosecutors, they were all in D.C. and Watkins was using the Zello phone application to communicate and help plan the attack on the Capitol.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Toledo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, President Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package, how soon could families struggling to pay rent and put food on the table actually see some financial help?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, happening right now, the White House is holding a conference call with a bipartisan group of senators trying to drum up support for the President's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan. It follows President Biden's signing of new Executive Orders that

expands food assistance to the most in need, expedite stimulus checks and raises the minimum wage to $15.00 for Federal workers.

With me now is Matt Egan. He is the lead writer at CNN Business. So Matt, good to see you. How much support is there for the President's Rescue Plan thus far?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Well, Fred, I think the biggest challenge is convincing skeptical lawmakers why they need to spend so much money once again. This is $1.9 trillion -- trillion with a T.

Just Congress passed that $900 billion relief package, I mean, this would be like paying to fix your broken down car, and then finding out a week later that your fridge broke. There's understandably some sticker shock.

And you know, it's not just Republicans. I do think that there's some moderate Democrats, particularly Joe Manchin from West Virginia, who needs to be sold on this. But President Biden, you know, he did get some help in his argument from an unlikely source, Kevin Hassett, the former Trump economist, he told me last week that he absolutely backs this $1.9 trillion Rescue Plan.

He said that without more help from Washington, he fears that the economy is going to be stuck in what he called a quote, "negative spiral." And also, it is so important to remember that even though the stock market has fully recovered from this crisis, and then some, the real economy has not.

The CNN Business back to normal index is at just 81 percent, meaning the economy is only 81 percent what it was in March. Everything from a restaurant reservations and open table to hotel reservations, box office sales, they are all so far below pre-crisis levels, another 900,000 Americans filed for unemployment claims during the last week of the Trump presidency alone.

So Fred, clearly the economy needs more help. I think the question is, how much more is going to come and how long it takes for it to arrive?

WHITFIELD: Right. Well, people are spokes of the economy. And you know, the President, the new President just said on Friday that one in seven Americans was having trouble putting food on the table, and it was one in five for black and Latino families. So what kind of impact might these benefits, you know, have right now because you're talking about people who can't pay rent, they can't, you know, pay the electricity bills, and they need food?

EGAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, the hunger crisis in America is real. That's why President Biden has signed some Executive Orders on Friday trying to get help to people who need it. One order aims to boost food aid to low income families. It would be $100.00 for a family that has three kids, an extra $100.00 every two months. So the hope is that some of this help will get to the people who need it the most -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And a lot of people in need, indeed. Matt Egan, good to see you. Thank you so much.

EGAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, and then maybe a little levity. Just a little bit. Finally today, the moment that we've all been needing. Senator Bernie Sanders and those mittens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that has seemed to have been a distraction from the pain you're talking about is you on the internet over the past week, the fact that you have become a meme of the picture of you sitting at the Inauguration in your mittens, thousands of memes such as some of them on the screen, I have to show you some of my personal favorites.

Demi Moore, she put your picture in her famous "Ghost" scene. Jennifer Grey, you know she played Baby in "Dirty Dancing," she put you in a corner, Senator.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Yes, I know.

BASH: And you know you're even a selfie with us on Election Night. So my question is, are you having as much fun with this as the world is?

SANDERS: I am, and not only are we having fun, what we're doing here in Vermont, is we're going to be selling around the country sweatshirts and t-shirts and all of the money that's going to be raised which I expect to be a couple of million dollars, will be going to programs like Meals on Wheels that feed low income senior citizens.

So, it turns out actually to be a good thing and not only a fun thing.

BASH: Well, and apparently, that's sold out, so you've got to start manufacturing more to give to charity like Meals on Wheels in Vermont and elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, a meme to money to meals. Lots of help. I like that. All right, thank you so much for being with me today. I am Fredricka Whitfield. CNN NEWSROOM with Ana Cabrera starts right now.

[16:00:36]