Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

DOJ Watchdog To Investigate Efforts To Overturn 2020 Election; Tonight, House Delivers Trump Impeachment Article To Senate; White House Briefing As Trump Impeachment Article Being Sent To Senate. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: His family did not have any pets in the White House during his term.

[13:00:03]

Thanks for joining us today on Inside Politics. Hope to see you back here this time tomorrow. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now. Have a good day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar, and I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Tonight, as the House delivers another impeachment article to the Senate condemning former President Trump for inciting insurrection at the Capitol, his successor is adding to his record-breaking list of executive actions, more than 30 so far. Now, Joe Biden begins his first full week as president. And in moments the White House will hold their press briefing to give more details on one of today's orders.

Now, this one, unlike many of the others, does not undo Donald Trump's work, instead it echoes it. President Biden is launching his Buy American initiative to boost American manufacturing. But two other actions that are going into effect today do reverse Trump's directives. Just moments ago, President Biden signed an order to lift the ban on transgender troops in the military.

And Biden is reinstating coronavirus travel restrictions that Trump scheduled to be lifted this month. The restrictions impact travelers who are not U.S. citizens, who are coming from Brazil, Ireland, the U.K. and much of Europe. President Biden also added South Africa to the restriction list.

And Biden has replaced the White House physician, removing Dr. Sean Connelly who gave misinformation about then President Trump's condition while he had contracted coronavirus.

And as the President exercises his individual power to make changes, he is also lobbying Congress for his giant $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. And for that let's turn to our CNN Senior White House Correspondent, Phil Mattingly.

And, Phil, I want to talk to you about the negotiations on this package on the lobbying, but I also know that you've got some breaking news from the Justice Department. Tell us about this.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Brianna. Look, while this new administration is obviously doing everything in their power to move forward, there are still remnants of what occurred particularly after the November 3rd election that are being looked into. And that includes now, the office of the inspector general at the Justice Department is opening an investigation into whether any Justice Department officials acted improperly in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Now, this obviously follows numerous reports from several different media organizations regarding one Justice Department official in particular, by the name of Jeffrey Smith, who was having conversations with President Trump about whether or not the Justice Department would do anything to back what the president was attempting to do in overturning the results of a democratic election, also the possibility that they were trying to fire Jeffrey Rosen, who was the acting attorney general, which looked on track to happen during a New Year's eve weekend were it not for the threat of mass resignations from the senior leadership at the Justice Department.

So Michael Horowitz, the inspector general at the Justice Department, obviously, he's conducted a number of very high stakes investigations over the course of the last several years, will be conducting this investigation. Worth noting, on Capitol Hill, Senator Dick Durbin, the incoming chairman at the Senate Judiciary Committee, has also said he will be looking into this issue as well. So, no shortage of investigations into what occurred in the final days of the last administration, this one coming from the inspector general at the Justice Department, Brianna.

KEILAR: And these negotiations on the president's COVID relief bill, is he making any progress with Republicans?

MATTINGLY: Define progress, right? Are they any closer to a final --

KEILAR: Has he won them over?

MATTINGLY: He has not won them over. He is not near an outcome yet. I think what is so interesting right now, particularly when you talk to Democrats on Capitol Hill who obviously are newly empowered in the United States Senate, and the majority, obviously still maintain the majority in the House, is this kind of divide over whether or not they want to move now on a partisan basis on as big as they can possibly go on a package. The president put down a proposal for $1.9 trillion, or whether they want to hold out and see if they can get at least ten Senate Republicans to join them on any package.

The president's decision or what the president wants is very clear. President Joe Biden has made clear he wants a bipartisan package. Over the weekend, the president's top economic adviser, Brian Deese, held a conference call with 16 senators, eight Republicans, eight Democrats, and concerns were raised, particularly by Republicans, about the scope of the package, about the scale of the package, about very specific elements of the package and whether or not it is justified given how large it is. That has been seen as kind of a bad sign as to where things are going.

But I think it's also important to keep in context who the president of the United States is. President Joe Biden considers himself a dealmaker. President Joe Biden, when he was vice president, made deals for President Obama with people like new Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

So this is going to be a process. It's going to take time. And I think that people on Capitol Hill I was talking to who are either directly involved or briefed on that call made clear it was the start of a negotiation. They don't get the sense that White House feels like $1.9 trillion is a red line. They don't get the sense that many of the components of that $1.9 trillion proposal are redlines.

[13:05:00]

They want to start the negotiation.

That negotiation has officially started. Those meetings are going to continue in the days and weeks ahead. The expectation is the president will play a key role in some of those talks as well. The bigger question right now for the White House as they push toward a bipartisan agreement, or at least an effort for a bipartisan agreement, is will Democrats on Capitol Hill who want to move now and who want to go big be willing to be patient and let that process play out, or will they try to move unilaterally. Brianna?

KEILAR: Oh, the sausage making that happens at times like these. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much, covering the White House for us.

And in the next few hours, the impeachment trial of Donald Trump will get set in motion, when the House walks over the article of impeachment to the Senate. This is a move that will trigger the president's second impeachment trial, which is now set to get underway in about two weeks.

CNN's Manu Raju, is on Capitol Hill, live for us. Manu, any indication that any Republicans senators are going to support this effort to convict?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There probably would be a handful of senators who are seriously weighing convicting the president or may actually vote to convict the former president, but will there be 17? That is the magic number, because there are 50 Democrats and who have all joined to convict Donald Trump, 17 Republicans have to join as well to convict him, and then they can vote to bar him from ever holding office again.

But in talking to many Republican senators over the last week, it is clear that most Republican senators are most likely going to vote to acquit Donald Trump, and there simply are not the 17 senators there at the moment. We'll see if anything changes during the trial.

But you do have some senators like Senator Mitt Romney who made very clear that he has considered what the former president did an impeachable offense. Of course, he voted to convict the president, was the only Republican to do so in 2020. And then other Republican senators made clear that they don't believe this effort to try a former president is constitutional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The preponderance of a legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after someone has left office is constitutional. I believe that's the case. I'll, of course, hear what the lawyers have to say for each side. But I think it's pretty clear that the effort is constitutional.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I think the trial is stupid. I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So the argument that Democrats are going to make during the impeachment trial that is this is absolutely a constitutional action to go after a former president who has been impeached. They're going to point to past precedent where the Senate has gone after a former federal officer who has resigned. Of course, there has never been an impeachment trial of a former president. So that's going to be part of the debate going forward. But this is going to happen in the next couple of weeks today.

Tonight, they're going to actually march over that article of impeachment, charging Donald Trump in inciting an insurrection that led that deadly violence on Capitol Hill on January 6th. That will be then allowed in the Senate. Tomorrow, those senators, who are jurors, will be sworn in and then they will put together those briefs. They will be sent to the Senate, which is serving as a court before the arguments actually take place in February.

What is also different, Brianna, about this trial, Chief Justice John Roberts will not be presiding over this trial because it's a former president. It's actually going to be the Senate president pro temp, Patrick Leahy, according to multiple Democratic sources, tell us that Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat Senator, who's the most Senior member of the body, will preside over the chamber during the trial. He can also vote in this trial. But that will be bit of the difference here. Also the difference will be whether more than one Republican will vote to convict, maybe a handful, but 17, unlikely. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju, live for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

And we are right now standing by for the start of the briefing at the White House. As we are waiting that, I want to bring in our CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and CNN Political Director David Chalian.

And, Gloria, the Department of Justice inspector general, we just heard, is now investigating if any DOJ official engaged in improper -- an improper attempt to interfere with election results. How might this impact the impeachment trial? GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it very well might impact the impeachment trial in this way. If people believe there was a crime committed, that is an impeachable offense, and they want people to vote to convict, they could say this is motive.

They could say the president was plotting -- it's all too remarkable to even say because it sounds like a story, that the president was plotting with somebody inside the Justice Department to dethrone the acting attorney general so he could get the Justice Department to overturn the election in Georgia. It's remarkable, but it does go to the motive of the president, saying, look, he was planning this insurrection in many different ways.

[13:10:00]

KEILAR: And, you know, this is a big day, of course, David. The impeachment article is going to be walked over to the Senate. And there is a sense, I think, we just heard Manu reporting, you know, maybe a handful of Republicans, certainly far shy of that 17 that would be necessary to convict the president, only a handful are thinking about this, really doing this. It seems like there's been a shift from the heat of the moment after the insurrection to now when it comes to where Republicans are.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, certainly I do think that as time marches on, the equilibrium comes back and people looked at all of the political ramifications of leaving Trump on this, not sticking with the whole notion that was the story of the Republican Party through the Trump years , which is sort of fealty first, because that's where the voters are.

And, Brianna, I don't know that we should be terribly surprised. I mean, even in the heat of the moment, right, a week after the insurrection, only ten House Republicans join with Democrats in voting that impeachment article out of the House of Representative. Yes, that's 10 more than a year ago on the president's first impeachment, but nonetheless, it is a small fraction of the overwhelming majority of Republicans who either just would like this to go away or believe that staying locked arm with Donald Trump is the path forward for the party, that that's where their voters are.

And so, I'm not terribly surprised that we don't yet see 17 Republicans in the Senate emerge as potentially voting to convict the president. And to Gloria's point, yes, this news of the DOJ investigation is, no doubt, going to be part of this case. I mean, Eric Swalwell, one of the House managers, already indicated it will be.

Amy Klobuchar, one of the jurors yesterday was saying she fully expected this to be wrapped into the case, and yet I still don't think you're seeing the math move much on the Republican side.

KEILAR: And so, Gloria, go on.

BORGER: Well, I was just going to say I think that's because the Republicans, by and large, have decided not to go to the issue itself but rather argue this point in the Senate on the question of whether it is, in fact, constitutional to convict a president who is no longer in office. And then their other argument is, well, this is a time when the country needs to be united and not divided and why would we divide the country even further by voting to convict. So those are their two arguments. And they're going to sort of push aside the crux of the matter which is, did the president incite this violence.

KEILAR: And, David, some big news that Republican Senator Rob Portman is not going to run for re-election in 2022. He blamed partisan gridlock as a big reason that he's walking away. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): Our country is polarized right now. It's kind of shirts and skins, isn't it? And that makes it more difficult to find that common ground, because elected officials aren't rewarded for that. What they're rewarded for is throwing out the red meat on the talk show, and that isn't conducive to solving the serious problems we face as a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Some of Senator Portman's, I guess, positions somewhat recently certainly raise the idea that he knew he was coming to be in cycle and that he was being pretty careful, David, but he's made this decision now, and I wonder what you think about it.

CHALIAN: Yes. I think Rob Portman is like sort of the perfect example of what has been sort of tearing at the Republican Party throughout the last ten years in the lead-up to Donald Trump but certainly accelerated under the Trump presidency. We saw Rob Portman in a mainstream sort of conservative Republican from the establishment align himself time and again with President Trump in fear of offending the base of voters that were as energetic as all get-out with President Trump as their leader inside the Republican Party.

And so, you saw somebody who tried to straddle all of the different factions and interests at play there. And I just think what you see in Portman's departure is now open season for that fight in a place like Ohio to play out. Let's see how the Republican primary field forms in Ohio.

Does someone like Jim Jordan, a total Trump loyalist, go up against a more mainstream or moderate or establishment kind of Republican to battle for the heart and soul of the party, and then, of course, which one is better positioned to defeat a Democrat in the general election in a state that has been a battleground state but trended red.

Remember, Donald Trump, won Ohio in 2016 and 2020 each time by 8 percentage points. So this is a state Republican should hold but we're now going to see the party work itself out in this process.

[13:15:02]

KEILAR: It's a moment I think for, you know, Republicans as they're trying to sort out what it means to be Republican, where the party is. And, Gloria, it's apparent when you look at the Arizona Republican Party, the lesson that they have taken out of this election. They've kicked out -- they've censured the McCains, Romneys -- Mitt Romney, they have censured Cindy McCain.

They have censured -- at least in Arizona, they have censured the Republican governor for putting in place some measures for coronavirus. I mean, what do you think about this, this decision to basically say, no, these folks are not part of the Republican Party and instead to be in favor of Trump and like QAnon?

BORGER: Well, you know and the irony here is, of course, that the Republican governor, Ducey, was a Trump supporter. I mean this is -- you know, this is you are 100 percent with Donald Trump and what Donald Trump told you to do or you're out. I mean, yes, Cindy McCain endorsed Joe Biden, we get that. Jeff Flake left but opened his mouth about Donald Trump. So they're all in. They're all on -- with Donald Trump, and they've made that decision.

And I think what they want to do is they wanted to inhibit anybody else from going against anything that Trump would want. They are making a bet in that Republican Party that Donald Trump will be an enduring political figure for the next four years, at least. There are a lot of people who may disagree with him but to openly oust these people is quite remarkable. And what they are doing is paying homage to Donald Trump. There is no other way to look at it.

KEILAR: And I wonder, David, just from a purely political calculation, is that a wise move?

CHALIAN: Well, let's look at the electoral evidence in Arizona, just as an example, Brianna. In the Trump years, both U.S. Senate seats went from Republican to Democratic and the state flipped in the presidential contest to Joe Biden from Donald Trump. So it doesn't seem to serve --

KEILAR: We're going to pause. I'm so sorry, you guys, let's pause and listen to Jen Psaki at the White House.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon. Happy Monday to everyone. A couple announcements at the top. First, as a part of this administration's accessibility and inclusion efforts, starting today, we will have an ASL, an American sign language interpreter for our daily press briefings. Today's interpreter, Heather, is joining us virtually. The president is committed to building an America that is more inclusive, more just and more accessible for every American, including Americans with disabilities and their families.

Next, I wanted to share a few updates from the COVID response team. First today, the president will sign a presidential proclamation to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through travel, especially as we see faster spreading variants emerging across the world. This proclamation is part of the Biden administration's whole and decisive and science- driven response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of particular note on advice of our administration's medical and COVID team, President Biden has decided to maintain the restrictions previously in place for the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Brazil. With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this isn't the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel. And in light of the contagious variant, B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list.

Additionally, beginning tomorrow, international travelers to the United States must provide proof a negative test within three days of travel to airlines prior to departure. The president is taking these steps on the advice of his COVID-19 and medical team.

And we're already working as a real partnership states to address their needs to vaccinate the public. This weekend, West Virginia asked the Biden administration for assistance on an understaffed vaccine distribution center. At the president's direction, FEMA was deployed to help support the vaccination site. This comes as part of the president order last week that directs FEMA to stand up vaccination centers and support states vaccination efforts. We look forward to continuing to being the partner of the states moving forward.

Last on the COVID -- last update on COVID, I wanted to briefly preview the first of our public health briefings, which will begin this Wednesday and will be done regularly for the foreseeable future. These will be science-led briefings featuring our public health officials and members of our COVID-19 response team. These briefings will typically happen three times a week to provide the American people with key updates on the virus and our government's response.

[13:20:02]

They are a reflection of our commitment to being transparent and honest with the public about the pandemic and the work our whole government team is doing every day. And you will all be able to participate within those, of course, as well.

Finally -- I think finally -- this morning, President Biden issued an executive order saying the policy that all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve. Today's action revokes the presidential memorandum of March 2013-2018 and also confirms the revocation of the presidential memorandum of August 25th of 2017.

Today's action fills another campaign promise. With this E.O., no one will be separated or discharged from the military or denied re- enlistment on the basis of gender identity. And for those transgender service members who were discharged or separated because of their gender identity, their cases will be re-examined.

President Biden believes gender identity should not be a bar to military service and that America's strength is found in its diversity. America is stronger at home and around the world when it is inclusive.

Last thing, sorry, I said it was the last, but a lot going on here. This afternoon, the president will sign an executive order that takes an important step to support American manufacturing. With this Buy American executive order, the president is already making good on his commitment to building a future that is made in America by all of America's workers.

Through the buy American executive order, the president will put to work the nearly $600 billion in taxpayer dollars that goes toward federal contracting in support of American manufacturing and good- paying jobs for America's workers. The E.O. directs agencies to close loopholes in how made in America products are measured so that we can close (ph) and ensure increase the amount of a product that must be made in the U.S. for it to qualify under Buy American law.

He will also appoint a senior White House official to oversee this policy to ensure it's actually enforced and that all agencies are seeking small and medium-sized American businesses to makes the products they need. The E.O. also tightened and make public the waiver process so that American workers and manufacturers can see how federal dollars are spent and where they are going.

So I will stop there, and, John, why don't you kick us off.

REPORTER: Thank you, Jen. We know you have to leave at 2:00 so we'll get started right now. Two topics for you, please, one foreign, and one domestic.

PSAKI: Sure.

REPORTER: Overseas first. Over the weekend, there were dozens of significant protests in Russian cities over the arrest of Alexei Navalny, which were put down harshly by police there. What sort of U.S. response is being considered? What sort of actions or sanctions could occur? And when does the president plan to speak to President Putin?

PSAKI: First, I'd like to point all of you to a statement that was released this weekend by the State Department strongly condemning the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists in cities throughout Russia. These continued efforts to suppress Russian's rights to peacefully protest and assemble and express their freedom of expression and the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on protest that follow are troubling indications of further restriction on Russian civil society.

So I'll just reiterate our call from here on Russians authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny. We also urge Russia to fully cooperate with the international community's investigation and to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon on its soil.

And last week, we announced that the president issued a tasking to the intelligence community for its full assessment of a range of activities, including, of course, the SolarWind cyber breach, Russian interference in the 2020 election, its use of chemical weapon against Alexei Navalny and the alleged bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, that is ongoing. That review is a 100-day review. So we'll have an update on that when it concludes. Actually, let me -- I apologize, I may have misstated that. It's not -- I don't have a timeline of the review, it's something ongoing there, it's a priority, of course.

REPORTER: Has a call been scheduled with President Putin?

PSAKI: I don't have any calls to predict for you at this point, but, obviously, the president is picking up the phone, engaging with a range of foreign leaders, European and others. There is more planned in the next couple days and we'll have readouts as those occur.

REPORTER: And one here at home. The president has repeatedly stressed the urgency of the COVID relief package, the need to get something done now. With that in mind, considering the action of Republican lawmakers to outreach that was done over the weekend, should there be more now focus on the virus and vaccine that could be done sooner?

And while we know that these White House officials have talked to the Hill, can you please speak to the president's personal involvement? Who has he spoken to?

PSAKI: The president has been personally engaging, and engaging with Democrats and Republicans. We're not going to read out all those calls for you because those are private conversations. And we feel that's the most effective way to get this package moving forward.

[13:25:01]

As you note, there was a call that occurred yesterday that we did a brief readout on from that call, part of our ongoing engagement to talk with Democrat and Republicans. And I'll convey you that this is how in the president's view, and we talked about this this morning, this process should work. He puts his policy forward, his vision forward and then Democrats and Republicans can engage and give their input and feedback on what they think is going to work and how to move this package forward. So in our view, this is working exactly as it should work.

REPORTER: And in the terms of the -- is there concern Democrats themselves, Senator Sanders, an independent, of course, and Speaker Pelosi had suggested the reconciliation should be considered now, that time is wasting there, there isn't time for this sort of that legislative back and forth.

PSAKI: Well, the president himself has conveyed the urgency of moving this package forward and that's certainly something he has also conveyed privately to Democrats and Republicans. And it's not just attempt. There is an urgency to the American people for this package to move forward because we are going to hit a cliff, an unemployment cliff -- unemployment insurance cliff, I should say, in March where millions of people won't be able to have access to unemployment insurance. We're going to hit a point where we won't have enough funding for vaccine distribution. Nobody wants to have the conversation. No member of Congress in May or June when we don't have the funding to reopen schools, I should say. So there is an urgency he has conveyed. I will say, as it relates to reconciliation, just to take a step back, everybody watching is not as in the weeds on the Senate process as all of you. So let me just take a moment to explain. Reconciliation is a means of getting a bill passed. There are a number of means of getting bills passed. That does not mean regardless of how the bill is passed that Democrats and Republicans cannot both vote for it. So the president obviously wants to make this bipartisan, hence, he's engaging with members of both parties and he remains committed to that moving forward.

Go ahead, Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE CORRESPONDENT: Just real quick, you were talking about the cliff in March. Does he think it will get passed by March?

PSAKI: Well, there is an urgency to moving forward and he certainly believes there needs to be progress in the next couple weeks.

COLLINS: So he thinks by March, it could get passed?

PSAKI: Well, I don't want to give it a deadline on it, Kaitlan, but I think we are all mindful and looking at that timeline in March as to when we will hit the unemployment cliff. And it's vital to get things done quickly and rapidly as quickly as possible.

COLLINS: So you said last week he wants it to be bipartisan. Of course, we've already seen the Republicans pushing back on the price tag, the $15 minimum wage and who is qualifying for these stimulus checks. So is he willing to come down on any of that?

PSAKI: Well, I'm not going to negotiate from here, not that you're expecting me necessarily to do that. But, again, the president feels this is working as it should. He proposed his package, he is getting feedback, we're having conversations, we don't expect the final bill to look exactly the same as the first bill he proposed.

I will remind you though that the bipartisan package that passed in December had the same thresholds for the checks, $150,000, about approximately that amount for families, about $75,000 for individuals in terms of who would have access to those checks.

And each component of this package is vital to get us through this period of time. So that's how the president looks at the package, that each of them are essential, not just vaccine distribution money but funding to ensure that people can make sure they are putting food on the table, that their kids are eating, that they can get -- that they have the bridge needed to get to the other side of the pandemic.

COLLINS: Okay. And then just quickly, yesterday, the CDC director said she could not say how much vaccine there was left to go out. I know it's complicated what's being shipped and distributed and actually injected, but is there at least a ballpark amount that officials are aware of how much vaccine there is?

PSAKI: Well, our team is working right now. We've been here five days to evaluate the supply so that we can release the maximum amount while also ensuring that everyone can get the second dose on the FDA- recommended schedule.

So the confusion around this issue, which we acknowledge there is some confusion, speaks to a larger problem, which is what we're inheriting from the prior administration, which is much worse than we could have imagined. So we are assessing now what we have access to and ensuring that we have more of a rapid engagement with states so that they have more of a heads-up on what to expect in the weeks ahead.

COLLINS: Just to button this up, Gus Perna still works here, right, and he's in charge of the logistics. So could he say how much vaccine there is? Is there a charge of where it's going?

PSAKI: Well, again, there is a new CDC director in chargewho spoke to this, and I think what we are trying to do now is fully assess what we've access to, what the status of the vaccine supply looks like and ensure that we're communicating that accurately and effectively with the public.

Go ahead.

REPORTER: Acknowledging the confusion around the lack of clarity about the vaccine availability, give us a sense of just how stunning that revelation is?

[13:30:08]