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House to Send Impeachment Article to the Senate Tonight; Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine is Effective Against New Variants; Arizona GOP Censures Flake, Ducey and McCain, Signaling Fractured party in Key Swing State. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A very good Monday morning to you. Let's find a reason to smile today. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: I'm Poppy Harlow. Okay, I'll take it.

We are now just hours away from something that hasn't happened before. For the second time in just over a year, House impeachment managers will deliver to the Senate an article of impeachment against former President Trump charged with inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

SCIUTTO: His second impeachment trial in a little over a year now set to kick off two weeks from today. That timing key for the Biden administration, which has been scrambling to launch an ambitious and it had hoped bipartisan agenda. Already, it is facing bipartisan pushback on its sweeping nearly $2 trillion COVID relief bill. Just hours from now, we will see President Biden at the White House where he is expected to sign an executive order aimed at boosting American manufacturing.

Let's begin with CNN's Manu Raju. He is on Capitol Hill. So, Manu, what are we expecting today as the Senate prepared to receive the article of impeachment, what do we know about the schedule going forward?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This will begin the ceremonial aspects of the trial. On the House of the Capitol, the managers will actually prosecute the case, will bring the article of impeachment as the president incited an insurrection from the House walking through the Capitol rotunda, into the Senate chambers, where they will formally exhibit or read the article of impeachment to the sitting senators. Then tomorrow will be the day in which the senators who are the jurors in this case will be officially sworn in. Summons will be sent to the president and his team.

But then after that there is going to be a bit of a lull. There will be pretrial briefs that will be submitted to the Senate, which, of course, is acting as a court in this case. And then the week of February 8th, on February 9th specifically, we expect the trial arguments to officially begin. The question will be how long this trial will go. There are some expectations that it will be shorter than the 2020 trial of President Trump, which lasted 21 days. But no precise timing as of yet.

Now, in the interim, the Democrats are going to try to get some of President Joe Biden's nominees confirmed. Tonight, there is going to be a vote to confirm Janet Yellen to the treasury department. That would just be the third cabinet nominee confirmed, that is far fewer than predecessors who have moved, gotten their nominees confirmed in a quicker clip.

And part of that has to do not just with the impeachment trial debate, about that taking up time in the early days the Senate, but also the Senate officially organizing itself. There is still a dispute between Republicans and Democrats about how exactly the -- whether they can move forward on a power-sharing agreement because of separate fight over whether or not to keep the filibuster or not, something that Republicans who are now in the minority are now demanding.

So, questions about how quickly the nominees can be confirmed in this interim before the former president faces an impeachment trial and also questions if there are 67 senators to convict Donald Trump. At the moment, that does not appear to be the case. We'll see if anything changes during the trial. Guys?

HARLOW: Okay. Manu, thanks very much for that.

We turn now to the Biden administration's first full week. The president is kicking off with a major focus on building and buying American and a big push for some sort of compromise on COVID relief.

SCIUTTO: CNN's John Harwood is at the White House. John, executive actions expected today on manufacturing, pandemic travel restriction and using his pen not only to overturn several of President Trump's controversial orders but also some movement forward on COVID relief like this manufacturing order.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Jim. The huge overwhelming priority of the Biden administration is to get that COVID relief package through and they've got negotiations ongoing to do that. But while those negotiations go on, try to figure out whether it is bipartisan or all Democratic approach to this bill, President Biden is taking actions to try to signal his priorities and take some limited steps forward on them.

So you've got the orders today on buy American. These are orders that both parties tend to make gestures toward, economists hate them because they think they raise prices on Americans. They usually don't do all that much. We'll see whether this one is different. Tomorrow, he is going to take some action on racial equity, set up a policing commission to try to explore some of the changes that Democrats think are necessary.

On Wednesday, there is going to be executive action on climate regulations. Of course, climate change is a huge priority for the president.

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He rejoined the Paris accord, took steps to rejoin the Paris accord last week.

On Thursday, health care, he will reverse the so-called Mexico City policy, which has been a ping-pong ball between Democrat and Republican administrations over the last couple of decades. This would lift the ban on U.S. funds being used for international organizations that provide abortion-related services.

And then On Friday, he is going to take steps on immigration in particular to take steps toward reunifying some of those families that were separated by President Trump's border policies.

HARLOW: A big week ahead for them, for sure. John Harwood, thanks very, very much.

Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii joins me now. And let's begin, Senator, on the upcoming trial.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): Good morning.

HARLOW: Good morning, thank you very much for being here.

So, aside from Mitt Romney, who made very clear in the great interview that our Dana Bash did with him yesterday, that he thinks a trial of a former president is constitutional, you have got a number of Republican senators coming out and saying they don't think it is.

And then you have comments from Wicker and Cornyn, who say, a conviction, the chances are nil. You have got Senator Braun saying it is going to be hard to even get a handful of Republicans to convict the president. I wonder if you think that any sort of support for convicting the president among your Republicans colleagues is waning.

HIRONO: I think that there is certainly pulling back on some of their outrage that they talked about after January 6th. So this is typical a party that does not want to take responsibility. And the fact is that this trial will give the Republicans a chance to, after hearing the evidence, and we all experienced this insurrection in real-time by the way, they will have a chance to decide whether inciting an insurrection is an impeachable offense and Mitt Romney obviously believes it is. And so we're going to go forward.

But the other aspect of this trial is that we should make sure that this president cannot ever hold elected office again. And for that, we need a conviction and we need to go through this trial.

HARLOW: One thing that I thought was interesting was the comments from your fellow Democratic senator, Amy Klobuchar, yesterday who said, I think we're going to get more evidence over the next few weeks. And, in fact, what did we learn over the weekend? We learned that the president almost fired the acting attorney general to get someone who agreed with him in that post to try to push Georgia to overturn their results.

And I know you didn't like the delay of this trial, but I wonder if now you think it might actually help your case.

HIRONO: I think starting on February 8th is not what I would call a delay because it gives both sides an opportunity to brief their case. And every day, as you say, Poppy, that goes by, that we find out more things the president did to undo the free and fair election results. So I think it just adds to the piling up of the evidence that his inciting insurrection was definitely a months' long effort on his part.

HARLOW: So, turning the page to your fellow senators, you and six other Democrats in the Senate have called to open an investigation, an ethics investigations into Senators Hawley and Cruz for their role in what you guys deem is inciting the insurrection.

So this morning, I'm sure you've seen it by now, Senator Hawley is punching back and he is calling for an investigation against you and those six senators and he writes, quote, that you're abusing the ethics process, quote, the idea that one senator who disagrees with another can therefore have the senator punished, sanctioned. Censured or removed is antithetical to our democracy.

He then accuses you guys of, quote, apparent coordination with dark money groups and I want you to give you obviously a chance to respond to those allegations.

HIRONO: This is what I call projection on Hawley's part. It is not just a matter of him disagreeing. It was part and parcel of Hawley and Cruz continuing to put out the lie that millions of people believed. And they were very much participating and pushing out the lie that this election was stolen from President Trump.

And so this is not just a matter of incitement or disagreement, I should say. This is a matter of their participation in the insurrection and we simply call for an investigation as to their role in it.

And you know what, he should take responsibility for his part in challenging the results because you could have over 100 members of the House try to challenge the results but if they didn't have a senator that went along with it, this objection would never have gone anywhere. So he and Cruz very much were ringleaders in the Senate to overturn the results of an election that they have to have known was not fraught with fraud.

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Over 60 cases deemed that there was no fraud.

HARLOW: Senator, on COVID relief and stimulus, there are some concerns that have been voiced among your Republican colleagues in the Senate. And I want to play for you what Mitt Romney told CNN yesterday.

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): How has the first $900 billion we just passed a couple of weeks ago, how has that been distributed? Most of it hasn't been yet.

This is important that we don't borrow hundreds of billions -- actually trillions of dollars from the Chinese for things that may not be absolutely necessary.

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HARLOW: It is not just him, Senator Susan Collins put out a statement last night that said the additional stimulus checks in this $1.9 trillion plan are not well-targeted. She pointed out that a family of five bringing in over $300,000 a year could get partial stimulus, not $1,400 but some. And she thinks that just doesn't make sense. Do they make valid points?

HIRONO: I think there are going to be some compromising that will occur with regard to Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion bill. But the fact is that the numbers that are in this bill did not just come out of thin air. They are based on identified need for people in our country to be able to contend with the harm that was caused by this pandemic. So the extension or the increase in the unemployment insurance benefits, which economists say is probably one of the most important things we can do to get this economy into some form of normalcy, not to mention that we need to get control of this pandemic in order for all of that to happen.

HARLOW: It sounds like you disagree though with Senator Bernie Sanders who said to Dana Bash yesterday in clear terms, look, if we don't get Republican support on this $1.9 trillion bill, we're going to use the reconciliation process to push it through. Do you disagree with that? Do you agree with Angus King, who says, laws are more durable and better if they are passed on a bipartisan basis?

HIRONO: I would like us to do this on a bipartisan basis. I would like the Republican to face up to the fact that our country is in the middle of a pandemic and, therefore, we need to provide relief to people that actually helps people. And therefore, if the Republicans do not come forward with some level of understanding of what people are going through, then I would agree with Bernie Sanders and others of my caucus, that we will use what we need to do to get the help to the people that is necessary.

HARLOW: Okay. Clearly, you support reconciliation if it comes to that. Senator Hirono, I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

HIRONO: Thank you.

HARLOW: Well, still ahead, some good news. Moderna said its COVID vaccine is expected to protect against the new variants. We'll give you an update.

SCIUTTO: Plus the new CDC director says the Biden administration, listen to this, does not know exactly how many vaccines are available due to a lack of data collected by the Trump administration. It is remarkable.

And the Arizona Republican party sends a clear message it remains loyal to former President Donald Trump, this after the party voted to censure through the state's most prominent party leaders who criticized Trump. One of those three, former Senator Jeff Flake, will join us.

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HARLOW: Welcome back. Some good news on the vaccine front, Moderna says its vaccine is expected to protect against the two new variants of COVID-19, those ones that you often hear referred to as the U.K. variant and or the South African variants.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been following this. Elizabeth, you said last hour that these variants, there is evidence they are deadlier. So this particularly good news that the current vaccines will protect against them.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, there are some suggestions that the U.K. variant is indeed deadlier. The South African variant seems to be giving the challenge a bit more of a challenge.

So, Moderna put out a press release that said, hey, our studies show that the will -- we still expect it to be protective against this variant that was found in South Africa. But then when you read the fine print, you're like, hmm, because there was a six-fold reduction in neutralizing antibody tighters, which is a fancy way of saying the vaccine did not work as well against this variants from South Africa or found in South Africa as it did against other variants. And, in fact, there is enough concern that Moderna is developing a booster that they think could help really sort of make it even more protective against the South African variant.

So will it still be protective against the South African variant, the vaccine that's out there now? The experts that I've talked said, yes, they think that it will but it might not be as protective. Instead of the 95 percent protection that we've talked about so much, maybe it is 90 percent, maybe it's 85, maybe it's 80, maybe it's 70. It's unknown. But there seems to be agreement among the experts that I have talked to that this vaccine is not going to fully protect against the variant found in South African. And that is why Moderna is testing out a booster. Jim, Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Understood. I suppose 70 percent would save lives. So we'll follow this as best we can. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

President Biden will reinstate travel restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of, as we were discussing, new variants of COVID- 19.

[10:20:00] HARLOW: The restrictions apply to travel from Brazil, much of Europe and South Africa. Let's go tour Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean, who has more. Good morning, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. Now, the Biden administration is really going above and beyond here after the Trump administration wanted to do away with these restrictions starting tomorrow. These new restrictions will require those coming into the U.S. from Europe, U.K. and Brazil show proof of a negative coronavirus test. But now, the Biden administration is going above that adding South Africa to that list.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said this morning this really shows the seriousness in which this new administration is dealing with this pandemic when it comes to travel.

The administration, we're also learning, will soon impose a travel- wide mask mandate, all parts of travel, all forms of travel. And we're learned that the DOT, the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration will be involved and sources tell us they'll essentially deal with this like they deal with smoking on an airplane, something that's been outlawed for decades, a $20,000 fine is possible, what we're told.

And we're also told that a mask mandate will be part of the preflight safety briefing, something that flight attendants have been asking for for months but the Trump administration failed to act on this. It is still a problem. Delta says it has banned about 900 people for not following its mask rules.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

HARLOW: Pete, thank you for the reporting.

And now to the vaccine rollout. The Biden administration, their goal, 100 million vaccinations applied in the next 100 days.

SCIUTTO: So, is that achievable? And if so, how do they achieve it? Kristen Holmes has been looking at that.

So can they do it? How do they say they'll do it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, that is the big question. This big unknown variable is supply. Currently, the U.S. keeps on its track. They are on course to not only meet but likely exceed that 100 million doses.

Take a look at where we stand right this second. You have got over 41 million vaccines distributed and nearly 22 million vaccines actually administered, that means shots in arms.

But when it comes to supply, there are a lost questions. We have heard from state and local officials who say they simply don't have enough doses. And even though they have opened up the eligibility, some of these areas actually happen to cancel appointments because they don't have the supply. So with all of these questions circling around of when these states are going to get their next dose, how much it is going to be, their next shipment, this is what the CDC director said as to her knowledge on supply.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: You know, I would say one of the biggest problems right now is I can't tell you how much vaccine we have. And if I can't tell it to you, then I can't tell it to the governors and I can't tell it to the state health officials. If they don't know how much vaccine they're getting, not just this week but next week and the week after, they can't plan.

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HOLMES: These are really stunning remarks here that the head of the CDC does not have an idea of how much vaccine there is. This could affect really several different things, not just when people get the vaccine. We know that there was a new report saying that young healthy Americans could probably get it over the summer. That, of course, would be push the back without vaccine.

But also talk about the second doses, are people going to actually be able to get the second dose that makes this so effective?

SCIUTTO: Kristen, thanks for following it. We're going to be watching closely. We know you will.

Be sure to watch CNN's new global town hall, the race to vaccinate America. Dr. Anthony Fauci and top doctors from President Biden's COVID-19 team will join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Coronavirus, Facts and Fears. It airs live Wednesday at 8:00 P.M. E.T., a lot of good information there. You could get your questions answered.

HARLOW: Well, up next, a bitter divide inside of the Republican Party. Our next guest, former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, censured over the weekend by who, by his own state's Republican Party. Why? What is the future of the party? We're going to ask him, next.

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HARLOW: Something startling and really important happened over the weekend. The Arizona Republican Party sent a very clear message to anyone who dares to condemn former President Trump. It censured their own governor, Doug Ducey, the former senator republican, Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain, all opposed to Trump's efforts to spread the big lie and overturn the rightful win of Joe Biden.

SCIUTTO: Yes, the widow of revered Senator John McCain in that (INAUDIBLE). Senator Flake's response, this picture and the caption, good company. We're joined now by former Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake. Mr. Senator, thank you so much for taking the time this morning.

FMR. SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ): Yes, thanks for having me on.

SCIUTTO: You are among a small number of Republicans willing to go public with your criticism of President Trump. You have the handful who voted to impeach him in the House and others, but many more privately expressed that. I want to play a question-and-answer I put to Adam Kinzinger, who you know is someone leading a charge for a new look of the Republican Party in the House, how he answered the question of does he feel he still belongs in the party. Have a listen. I want to get your reaction.

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REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): We stand an angry divisive party, it will be hard to consider the Republican Party home.

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But my values wouldn't have changed, it would be the party's values.

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SCIUTTO: I wonder if you share that, if it remains.