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President Biden Making COVID a Priority; Cases Rise, Hospitalizations Decline in California; Returning to Wuhan One Year after World's First Lockdown; U.S. Lawmakers Brace for Trump's Second Impeachment Trial; Sen. Elizabeth Warren is Interviewed about Impeachment Trial; Biden Wastes No Time Affirming His Climate Change Goals; COVID Taking Disproportionate Toll on Native Americans; Major World Leaders to Address Economic Forum Virtually. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 25, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

[00:00:28]

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, getting tough on COVID. The Biden administration is putting new international travel restrictions in place.

Also, the process for Donald Trump's historic second impeachment begins in just hours from now. And a dramatic shift. This White House makes clear the U.S. is serious about climate change.

Welcome, everyone. The U.S. president, Joe Biden, going full steam ahead. In his first full week in office, he's planning a new wave of executive orders to dismantle even more of Donald Trump's policies.

But fighting coronavirus pandemic tops the new president's agenda. A White House official telling CNN he plans to reinstate international travel restrictions that Trump had planned to lift. The White House also trying to get bipartisan support for a nearly $2 trillion COVID relief package.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER BECERRA, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY NOMINEE: I believe President Biden has made it quite 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, and so we will.

And the president has put forward not just a plan. It's a rescue plan that should be followed by a recovery plan. But first, you've got to rescue the people. You've got to rescue the economy. And that's why the president has put forward a bold plan, with specifics, and he's going to bring everyone into the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: CNN's Arlette Saenz now with more on President Biden's plans to tackle the coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is trying to drum up bipartisan support for President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

And over the weekend, the president dispatched his top economic adviser, Brian Deese, to speak with a group of 16 senators -- eight Republicans and eight Democrats -- as they're looking to get more bipartisan sign-on onto this bill.

Now, some Republicans have expressed unease about the size of this package, and Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, who was part of that call, said that she thinks it's too premature to be talking about a $2 trillion package, and that she believes that partisan group of senators could find a more targeted approach.

Now, one item that was deemed a priority on that call was money for COVID vaccinations. But many of these senators wanted to see more details and find ways to ensure than Americans who needed the money most would be the ones receiving it.

Now Biden has been clear. He wants this to be tackled in a bipartisan manner, but some Democrats are pushing for him to pass the measure through reconciliation, which would only require a simple majority.

Now this was just one of many meetings the White House is having on this topic. As they made it clear, this is a top-ticket item for them in the early days of the administration.

Now, on Monday, President Biden will reinstate some COVID travel restrictions on non-U.S. citizens coming from brazil. The U.K., Ireland, and other European countries. And he will also extend those restrictions to those who have recently traveled from South Africa.

This is just the latest attempt from the Biden administration to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which they have said is a top priority.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, just barely a year after recording its first case of COVID-19, the U.S. is now past 25 million infections. It is, by far, the highest total in the world, of course, and it accounts for more than a quarter of all global cases.

But the good news is, some states are starting to see a dip in the infection rate and experts say they can keep the numbers going lower, if they move quickly on vaccinations.

But the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says she's worried about the country's vaccine supply, noting that some states have run out of doses.

Even so, at this rate, vaccines are still expected to save thousands of lives in the months ahead, and experts say they will likely protect against new variants of the virus. However, they also warned the strain first found in the U.K. could be more deadly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We need to assume now that what has been circulating dominantly in the U.K. does have a certain degree of increase in what we call virulence. Namely, the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:13]

HOLMES: That, of course, was Dr. Anthony Fauci, who also spoke about the personal struggles that he has faced during this crisis, telling "The New York Times" he and his family have received death threats since the spring.

And he revealed the previous administration sometimes tried to discredit him whenever he contradicted the president.

Now, California is the biggest hot spot in the U.S. They've been seeing some success in trying to fight it, but there's still far more bad news than good.

Paul Vercammen brings us the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest release of COVID-19 numbers out of California, mixed. There are a lot of new cases, more than 24,000 of them. The deaths, still up, though, 429, but the hospitalizations have dipped below 18,000. Perhaps a very good sign.

But with all of these deaths, there's just extreme pressure on mortuaries throughout the state. In Boyle Heights, the Bagues Mortuary. Here, for 90 years, a pillar of the community. Jennifer, the funeral director, telling us that she has had to hire more employees, put in a 24-hour answering service, mandate that all viewings are outside. It is daily stress.

JENNIFER, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: But it's been really hard turning people away, and just -- you know, especially when they're upset. And you have to tell them that, you know, I can put you on a waitlist, and -- and, you know, we'll get to you, you know, when your number comes up, which is, I don't think -- that's unheard in our -- in our history. I've been doing it 25 years, and I've never had that -- this happen.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): All of California, still trying to ramp up and get more shots into people's arms. More of those COVID-19 vaccines. Dodger Stadium, closed down today by design, but they're hoping for a

much better week as California is lagging way behind when it comes to getting those vaccinations for the people of the state.

Reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you -- Michael.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now in Los Angeles is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jorge Rodriguez.

Good to see you, Doctor. We were seeing some dipping of numbers around, certainly, the U.S. and parts of Europe, which is good news, very encouraging, but the numbers themselves are still frighteningly high. What is your read on where things stand as vaccines start to roll out?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, as vaccines start to roll out, I think people need to realize that vaccines are not the end-all and be-all. They are definitely going to help us decrease transmission, but we're not going to see their full effect for two to three months.

And in the interim, we really still need to do what we've always done, which is wear the masks, the social distancing. That triumvirate is not going to change. You know, and washing our hands.

So it's a great start, but boy, we have a long way to go.

HOLMES: Yes. I guess -- Do you see the number drop? Do you think that it's just the end of the holiday surge, and we're going back to what has become, you know, quote unquote, "normal" numbers, which of course, is still devastating? Or do you see this as, hopefully, a sustainable trend?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think it is a trend. I think it is the end of the holiday surge, that we're now seeing a dip.

My concern is that we get too complacent with even a little bit of success. We're all so yearning to get out, right, into the fresh air, or to visit folks, that even a little bit of success should not be taken as an excuse.

I was reading something by Justin Trudeau right now that says stay home. Don't make plans for spring break. Cancel any vacations, because we're still so high in the number of cases that we really need to see this out through April and May before we can start breathing comfortably.

HOLMES: And when we talk about variants, too, which is a worry, more contagious, which can mean more deaths in the long term. And I guess one thing that's striking is the U.S. lags the world in genomic sequencing, which shows the prevalence of variants in a community. I think the U.S. is 33rd, behind places like Senegal and Sierra Leone, with far fewer resources. So is it fair to say we don't know how widespread the variants are in

the U.S.?

RODRIGUEZ: We don't know. And those statistics are actually embarrassing for my country. And we taught ourselves as being the leader. We really need to step this up, because one of the ways of controlling the virus is knowing where it is going, knowing how it has changed, and how it's going to affect it.

So, you know, they've stepped it up a little bit, but we need to be leading the world, along with other countries, you know, like the U.K. and Germany that are really on top of all of this.

[00:10:12]

HOLMES: Yes, yes, yes. They are leading the sequencing world.

You know, it was interesting. Listening to Dr. Fauci and reading his comments also in "The New York Times" interview about the hurdles that he faced in the previous administration, I mean, it does make you wonder just how different the U.S. death toll and infection rates might have been if things had been done differently. Do you look back at it that way?

RODRIGUEZ: I do look back at it that way. I mean, from the beginning I've been saying that, you know, the problem was leadership. The problem -- problem is obfuscation of real data.

And as much as I admire, right, and I've been working in long distance with Doctor Fauci, you know, I think there had been a time where I would have wished he had stepped up and said, You know what? This is not true. You know, this is not so.

But who knows? Because he could have been replaced with someone, you know, that was much of a Trump loyalist, and things could have been worse.

So these people are doing a great job. And it just shows that from the top down is how this starts. So just Biden came out, and right out of the gate, he says, We're going to beat this. You know, we're going to speak honestly about it. We're going to do tough things in the next hundred years -- I mean, hundred days. And that, in and of itself, was leagues ahead of what we have.

HOLMES: Yes. There's one thing we've learned is that politics plays -- has no business being in the realm of science.

Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, got to leave it there. Always good to see you. Thank you so much.

RODRIGUEZ: Likewise, Michael.

HOLMES: Now, as cases rise, countries around the world are considering new restrictions to keep those new mutations of the virus at bay. The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announced on Twitter that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. The president says he has mild symptoms. He's optimistic about moving forward with treatment.

The U.K. health minister says England's case rate is still incredibly high, and the country is a long way from easing restrictions. But he adds there is early evidence the lockdown is making a difference.

And to Israel, where a temporary ban on flights from all non-Israeli airlines into the Ben Gurion Airport is going into effect. It's going to last until the end of the month.

And it has now been a year since Wuhan, China, saw the first of many coronavirus lockdowns around the world. Since then, nearly a hundred million people have been infected with COVID-19.

Now David Culver reports now from the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a city whose name evokes agony. Allegations of cover-up and agony. Wuhan, China.

CNN returning to this, the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. On January 23, 2020, this metropolis of more than 11 million residents locked down. We left hours before, beginning a two-week quarantine in Beijing.

For 76 days, Wuhan remained sealed off.

(on camera): And here we are again, back one year later. The Huanan seafood market. This at one point was believed to have been, by Chinese authorities, the ground zero of this outbreak.

(voice-over): This time last year, security had ushered us away within minutes of reporting.

(on camera): Now, January 2021, no security here. We've been walking around for several minutes. They don't seem to care.

(voice-over): That was until we started looking inside. We noticed some people working behind the gate. Suddenly, a seemingly random passerby on a bike shouted at us, saying, Don't be sneaky. He later identified himself vaguely as working for the government. He told us to walk around and try the entrance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can go in.

CULVER: We can go in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can go in.

CULVER: He said apparently we can go in. So let's see if we can actually get inside the market.

We're going to ask this guy: can you go in? You can't go inside? Tell him we have a COVID test, a negative COVID test. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just can't -- don't take the pictures.

CULVER: OK, no pictures. So clearly, a bit sensitive. Perhaps it's because we're foreigners, or because we're journalists.

(voice-over): The virus's origin has become highly politicized: U.S. officials accusing China of covering up and allowing the virus to spread, China defensive, saying the Trump administration was deflecting blame for its own mishandling.

A team from the WHO is now in Wuhan, tasked with trying to find out the truth.

And yet, geopolitics aside, the human suffering, it is universal. Yung Min (ph) spoke with us knowing she could face pressures from officials. But a mother who's lost her only daughter has no more to you lose.

(on camera): When I sat down, you thanked me for getting the truth out. What is the truth as you know it?

[00:15:00]

"The local officials did not tell us about the pandemic," she said. "If measures were taken, I would not have sent my child to the hospital, which was the source of the infection."

Last January, Yung's 24-year-old daughter had been receiving treatment for cancer. She contracted COVID-19 and died in early February.

"When I speak about this, some parts of my heart still ache," she said.

Amidst the deep pain, we also encountered moments of hope in our return. In the eve of the lockdown last year, we visited this fruit market. This woman selling sugarcane told me at the time that she was terrified. She stayed, fearing the financial burden.

Twelve months later, we met again. "At that time, I was crying all the time," she told me. "We were suffering and scared." Above her face mask, the pain still visible in her eyes, she says the people of Huanan are resilient, likening them to heroes.

(on camera): I'm so glad to see you in person and to know that you made it through the lockdown and you're healthy.

(voice-over): The market mood remarkably different from last year. Business bustling, people much more at ease.

(on camera): Would you say Wuhan is back open and on the path to recovery?

"It's not just starting from now," he says. "It started very early, to be honest. In my opinion, Wuhan had already begun to recover since mid- to late March."

Delivery driver Lao Jie (ph) has become well-known on Chinese social media as he chronicled life during the lockdown. The then and now are striking. A city desolate amidst the lockdown, followed by a summer with packed pool party images that shocked a socially-distanced world outside of China. I

And a new year celebration that brought Wuhan residents shoulder to shoulder.

Though with new cluster outbreaks in the north of China, many here in Wuhan once again wearing face masks, cautious of the lingering unknowns and still surrounded by the haunting memories of a lockdown that kept millions of residents, along with their grief, sealed inside. For some, only now, 12 months later, it is just beginning to surface.

David Culver, CNN, Wuhan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: U.S. lawmakers are bracing for the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

When we come back, we'll have details on the big move House leaders are set to make in just a few hours. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:21:12]

HOLMES: In the coming hours, the U.S. House of Representatives will set into motion the second Senate impeachment trial of former president, Donald Trump.

On Monday evening, the House is expected to deliver the article of impeachment to the Senate. That article, charging Mr. Trump with incitement of insurrection, in connection, of course, with the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly three weeks ago.

Now, on Sunday, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said that he expects the trial will be fair but move relatively quickly.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is on Capitol Hill with more on how the trial might play out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's history in the making, once again, as Capitol Hill prepares for the second Donald Trump impeachment trial. A bit different from the first. He is now out of office. He's out of town, and he's off Twitter. Very different from last time.

Nonetheless, there are still some similarities. For example, once again, the House impeachment managers will take a long walk across the United States Capitol to deliver the one article of impeachment to the United States Senate and read the article before the United States Senate.

Normally, after such things occur, the impeachment trial is supposed to start, in earnest, at 1 p.m. the next afternoon. But the United States Senate has bought itself some time. In fact, they're going to stay out two weeks before they begin the trial in earnest, coming back on February 9.

There's been a lot of suggestion that this trial will be quicker than the last one, but that's not clear, simply because Republicans are all over the place on what to do.

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.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I think it's a moot point, because I think, right now, Donald Trump is no longer the president. He is a former president. The Constitution, and I think -- and I know that there are other people out there that may disagree with me, but Article I, sections, I think, it's 3 -- or 6 and 7, specifically point out that you can impeach the president, and it does not indicate that you can impeach someone who is not in office.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The preponderance of the 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 -- pretty clear that the effort is constitutional.

JOHNS: The United States Senate is divided, 50/50, between Democrats and Republicans. A two-thirds majority is required to convict. That means if all Democrats vote to convict the former president, 17 Republicans will also have to vote with them.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Our thanks to Joe Johns.

Now, as you just heard, many Republicans are against this impeachment. Abby Phillip, CNN senior political correspondent, and new anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY," spoke with Senate Democrat, Elizabeth Warren, about Republican pushback. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): I can't imagine how Republican opposition to insurrection would fade over the space of a couple of weeks.

We are talking about a president who stood in front of a mob and told them to go to the Capitol and invade. Told them to go to the Capitol and stop the lawful business of government so that he could try to stay in the White House. That is so fundamentally wrong.

I just -- we have to think about what's at issue here here. You know, Donald Trump, for years, has broken so many norms, has had people say, over and over, that they are shocked by what he does.

[00:25:08]

But this one, insurrection. This is the first time since the Civil War that we have seen someone, a politician, encourage people to take up arms against the United States government and its lawful actions.

We need accountability. Accountability for Donald Trump, and accountability for everyone who participated in that insurrection.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: You know, now, Republicans are talking about -- about unity. That was also a very big theme of President Biden's inauguration address.

They also seem to think that unity means compromising, specifically on policy. How do you see it?

WARREN: Well, let me start with, how about if we're unified against insurrection? How about if we're unified for accountability? Unity starts with accountability. And then, unity is about doing the work that the American people want done. It's not about ideology. It's not about helping just the richest Americans or some interest group. Unity is about doing things that the American people want to see us do.

Like a $15 an hour minimum wage, like canceling student loan debt, like expanding Social Security, like giving us more universal child care, and universal pre-k. Things that are popular cross country, things that are needed across this country.

We want to have unity? Then get on board with the things the American people want to see us do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Donald Trump's former press secretary is expected to return to politics as a candidate, a source saying that Sarah Sanders will announce she's running for governor of Arkansas.

Her father, Mike Huckabee, was the governor of that state between 1996 and 2007. A number of Republicans have already announced their bids, but she is actually seen as an early favorite.

Sanders was Trump's second press secretary. She left the White House in 2019.

Less than a week into the job, U.S. President Joe Biden moving quickly on a major campaign promise to tackle climate change. We'll talk to one expert about some of the president's ambitious plans, and whether rejoining the Paris agreement will be enough to help.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:53]

HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, it certainly hasn't taken long for Joe Biden to emphasize his commitment to tackling climate change. In his first phone call as president, with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the leaders said they're hopeful the U.S. return to the Paris climate accord will lead to a new phase of action.

Now you'll remember President Biden signed an executive order to rejoin that agreement on Wednesday, his first day in office. He's also revoked the Keystone Pipeline permit and put a temporary moratorium on Arctic oil and gas leasing.

Compare that to the Trump administration, which in four years rolled back about 175 actions related to climate change. That's according to researchers at Columbia University.

Now, clearly, the international community is happy to hear Biden's commitment to the environment, with European Union reps tweeting, quote, "A net zero pledge by the U.S. would mean more than half the world's emissions would be accounted for."

Now I want to bring in Tracy Raczek. She's a former climate adviser to the U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

It's good to see you. Given the Trump administration's disdain of climate action, how much damage was done? How much time was lost in this fight?

TRACY RACZEK, FORMER CLIMATE ADVISOR TO U.K. SECRETARY GENERAL: Thank you so much, Michael. Thank you for having me.

A really good question. I think it's excellent that the Biden-Harris administration has, of course, placed climate change as one of its top four priorities.

But you're absolutely right that the administration has catch up and confidence building to do. So time has indeed been lost the -- in this very, very important issue.

HOLMES: So often the measures needed to curb emissions and environmental impacts, they're seen as some sort of economic burden. Well, it's put that way by those with interest in saying so. But isn't the fact that solar, wind and other renewables are growth industries, they're their job creators, aren't they?

RACZEK: Absolutely. Many, many think tanks have proven that there's loads of opportunity to be had with renewables, with a smart grid, with infrastructure, rebuilding, retrofitting buildings, et cetera, with this, with really, green transition. That's not only needed, but it's inevitable at this point. So -- so there's loads of opportunities. In fact, it's that fastest growth -- fast-growth sector, and there's shortages in many of these labor -- labor opportunities.

So engineering, electricians. Many of the skills that are needed are -- there's shortages in those fields, so -- so anybody who's really thinking ahead recognizes that there's opportunities, both in the skills sector and training, but also, of course, investment.

HOLMES: Yes. Solar -- solar panel installers are in short supply. I mean, it's interesting. When it's an economic benefit and it's no- brainer for the environment, as well.

Rejoining the Paris accords, rolling back these changes to environmental regulations is a start, but what more needs to be done? This -- this is now getting to the point of no return if stuff doesn't change immediately.

RACZEK: Yes. Yes, there -- there's -- you know, it's no small feat. There's a lot to be done. And I think the Biden-Harris administration has, again, catch-up and confidence building to be -- to be done.

And they're going to be very welcome when they return to the table in Glasgow at the end of this year. And they've done a lot of smart maneuvers by Kerry as the climate envoy is a very respected states person, and Gina McCarthy, head of the -- former head of the EPA, as well. Very welcome and intelligent people in this space.

So they're doing all the right moves by reaching out to the -- to the various leaders in this -- in this space right out of the gate.

However, I think, you know, they're -- they'll be welcomed, but soon afterwards, there's going to be high expectations for them to be delivering on a mission.

HOLMES: Right.

RACZEK: So currently, the -- the last Obama administration's plans, which are nationally determined contributions that are expected to be ramped up in Glasgow, that plan was not -- was only halfway being met. It was ramped up. Sorry, the expectation was 28 percent of reductions of emissions on 2005 levels by 2028. The United States has not delivered to that.

[00:35:23]

HOLMES: Yes, yes.

RACZEK: And the expectation is for them to do much more. So they're going to -- they're going to be welcomed. But there's going to be an expectation, welcome back, but we expect you to do much more.

HOLMES: Time -- time is short and so is our time. So real quick, there's still a lot of big money and political power that fights climate action. How strong is that lobby, even as the evidence mounts of damage done? RACZEK: Well, there's, of course, a lot of -- a lot of entrenched

interests in the United States and around the world on infrastructure and interests in -- in old -- in old ways of things that have been done.

So I think it's going to take -- the Biden Harris administration's going to be have to be very transparent in how they do business and who they do business with. They've -- Kerry has said they're going to go forward with humility and with transparency. That's going to be -- that's going to need to be front and center for them to -- to be trusted actors in this space.

HOLMES: Yes. Powerful forces. Tracy Raczek, good look at it there. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

RACZEK: Absolutely. Thank you.

HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, economic recovery from the pandemic is going to take years for many. But for the world's billionaires, not so much. It was a nine-month blip in their hip pocket. The growing divide between rich and poor when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: At least two people in the state of Washington were sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after a police officer drove through a crowd.

[00:40:04]

And a warning. This video of that incident is disturbing.

And you'll see here the car running over at least one person. And it seems to strike several others. You can see it there going through the crowd. There will be another angle, too.

That officer was responding to reports that a large group had gathered to watch street racing. Police say that the officer drove through the crowd after the crowd surrounded the vehicle and began hitting its windows.

And you can see when the police car pulls away, rolling over one of those people.

The incident under investigation. The officer is being placed on administrative leave.

Now billionaires around the globe have already recovered from the economic impact of this pandemic, while the world's poor are looking at years of struggle, of catch-up, Oxfam International reported billionaires' wealth grew by $3.9 trillion between mid-March and the end of December. Yes, throughout a pandemic.

But the number of people living in poverty, well, that might have increased by up to 500 million last year. Oxfam's report said for the first time ever, the pandemic could

increase economic inequality in nearly every country at once. We'll have more on that in the hours ahead.

I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, WORLD SPORT is up next. For everyone else here in the United States, the news continues. I'll be back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:30]

HOLMES: Welcome back. The coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. is taking a disproportionate toll on Native Americans in both cases and in deaths. A CDC analysis in December found that Native Americans in 14 states died at twice the rate of white Americans.

Homes in some reservations lack basic infrastructure like electricity or running water, making it harder to combat the virus.

Not all tribal lands are rural. Take the Muskogee Creek jurisdiction in Oklahoma, which includes the city of Tulsa. Not everyone who lives there is Native American, but there have been more than 101,000 cases so far, about 13 percent of the population.

Now, as Native Americans lose their lives to COVID, tribes are losing irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Jason Salsman is the press secretary for the Muskogee Nation. He joins me now. And thanks for doing so.

Tell us how COVID has affected your community. I mean, we hear about lack of hospital beds and ventilators. Many in your community in remote locations. How tough has it been?

JASON SALSMAN, PRESS SECRETARY, MUSKOGEE NATION: First of all, Michael, thanks so much for having me. It's been devastating for us because of a two-sided loss. When we have people that are contracting this virus and the demographic that it's hitting, we're seeing it be a lot of our elderly population.

And when you talking about Muskogee Creek elders, you talk about traditional knowledge, ceremonial information that you can't find anywhere in the world but inside of that person. We're talking about oral traditions and histories passed down for years and years and years. And that goes away with them, as well.

And each of these people are specific to each ceremonial ground that they attend. So there's a lot of different specific information that is, you know, inherent to those places and those people; and it's just an incredible loss.

HOLMES: Yes, as you say, it's -- I mean, it's a tragic loss of life for a start, but you're talking about cultural loss, as well. I've read that some tribes are putting fluent indigenous language speakers to the front of vaccination lines. I mean, that's just one thing.

But just try to give people who don't know the Native American culture a sense of how important it is when you lose things like that.

SALSMAN: Well, Michael, I think what a general audience that wouldn't be privy to native culture wouldn't understand mostly is that Muskogee language, Muskogee custom and tradition, the religion handed from us from the creator, not taught to us from a missionary or anything like that, those very archaic principles and histories are what make us Muskogee.

If you go anywhere in the world, you can hear the English language being spoken. Not true of the Muskogee language. It's in a specific place where there are Muskogee people that know it. And that's what makes us who we are. Sort of that identifying uniqueness is the thing that we cannot lose, because if we don't have a language, if we don't have the customs that separate us from just other people, then the culture is dissolved; and the culture is everything.

HOLMES: Yes. Absolutely. What steps are being taken to, you know, sort of both mitigate the loss of life but also to preserve the culture and the community? I know there's a history of mistrust of the government, in some cases of vaccinations.

SALSMAN: yes.

HOLMES: But what is being done to mitigate and preserve?

SALSMAN: Yes. Thank you, Michael. Because that gives me a chance to talk about all of the good news that we've had since the vaccination has been made available.

We've already vaccinated over 6,000 citizens, and in that -- as you mentioned, in that tier group, that first tier group, we're talking about language speakers, cultural knowledge, whether it be in storytelling, songs, histories, things like that, our traditional elders, but also our first responders, the people that are charged with taking care of those folks and that are on the front lines of this.

We have two community hospitals that serve all people, not just natives. We serve our entire communities that are in those community hospitals, as well as our Indian health services clinics. In all of those clinics, we're vaccinating those workers. We're vaccinating educators. We're vaccinating teachers, specifically of the language, as well.

[00:50:21]

So what we're doing is we're taking that tier one group, that's our most vulnerable, that has our elders, that has our people with pre- existing, longstanding medical conditions. Also that, like I said, that ceremonial knowledge. We're bringing all that together in that first tier. And that's the first batch of vaccinations.

And you're right. There is a lot of mistrust that we've had to combat with really sound messaging. We've had to show some of our elders getting their vaccine. We've had to show people going and saying, here's what's happening. Here's the side effects. Please, we cannot afford to lose anybody else.

I know there's mistrust. But if you won't trust the government, trust our people that are there taking it and saying --

HOLMES: Right.

SALSMAN: -- let's all get vaccinated, and let's be safe.

HOLMES: It's so important, and I really appreciate you coming on and talking about the challenges but also the successes. And wish you well. I mean, preservation of culture, it's -- couldn't be more important. Jason Salsman, thank you so much.

SALSMAN: Thank you, Michael. And in our language, we say "Hvtvm Cehecares." There is no "Good-bye." It's "We'll see you again." Thank you.

HOLMES: I appreciate that. And we'll see you again.

Now, the former coordinator for Donald Trump's White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx -- remember her? -- she said she always considered quitting the job, because her colleagues believed she'd become too political.

In an interview with CBS News, Birx also said she had no idea where Trump was getting some of his information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER COORDINATOR FOR TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: 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 --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who was doing that?

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Dr. Birx says contradicting statements from political leaders derailed her team's response to the virus, which is why she began traveling across the U.S. to spread accurate information without being censored.

Now, this year's World Economic Forum is meeting virtually. It's usually held, of course, in Davos, Switzerland, with a lot of fanfare and nice meals. We're still expecting to hear from the world's political and financial leaders, but of course, COVID changes everything.

Kristie Lu Stout is covering the forum from Hong Kong, not Davos. No gatherings. No Swiss ski resort for you this year. So what should we expect?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. No fondue this year at all. It's not happening in the Swiss town of Davos, but it is taking place.

The World Economic Forum this year is virtual. The World Economic Forum is showcasing a virtual Davos all this week, showcasing about 2,000 global political and business leaders who will be speaking, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, including Christine Lagarde, the ECV chief, as well as the Indian prime minister, the Japanese prime minister, and a headline speaker who will be speaking later tonight, Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.

They will all be speaking under the banner of the theme this week, which is, quote, "A crucial year to rebuild trust." And again, the keynote speaker is Chinese President Xi Jinping. He is due to speak tonight, local time, 8 p.m. Beijing time. That's about 6 hours from now.

He is set to address two topics: No. 1, China's success in reining in the coronavirus. No. 2, China's call for global cooperation in pandemic response and global health, as well as in climate change.

Now, this will be Xi Jinping's second Davos appearance after he made his debut in 2017, just days before the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. And in that speech, Xi Jinping hailed China as a leader of multilateralism. He hailed China as a leader of economic globalization, and he also issued a warning about a trade war. Take a listen to what he said back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Say no to protectionism. Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain are kept outside, so are light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Again, that was Xi Jinping speaking back in 2017.

Trade experts say that the trade war has caused collateral damage on both sides. All lies on what Xi Jinping will say in a few hours from now, believed to be an address given to the Biden administration, as he's giving these remarks just days after the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Back to you.

HOLMES: And to that point, where -- where does the U.S./China trade war stand now? What could come next on that front?

STOUT: Well, at the beginning of 2020, that so-called trade war truce was announced. Both sides, U.S. and China, announced an end to trade war tariffs, and China pledged that it would purchase hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of U.S. goods. That really hasn't panned out yet, and there are also plenty of loose

ends. You know, the trade war never really dealt with the issue of China's preference, its favoritism towards state-owned enterprises and also the lack of intellectual property rights inside the country.

We know that Joe Biden, when he was still president-elect back in December, said that he would allow the trade war tariffs to remain in place as his administration undergoes a review of its strategy in regards to China.

But given just the widespread popular support and bipartisan support in America for a tough-on-China trade policy, it's not expected for the war to end any time soon. Michael.

HOLMES: Yes. Absolutely. Good to see you, Kristie, covering it from there. No fondue for you and no snow boots. You're stuck at home. Kristie Lu Stout there.

All right. Now before we go, Super Bowl LV is now set. The Kansas City Chiefs will look to repeat as champs, and they'll face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers February 7 in Tampa.

That makes it the first time in NFL history that a team will play for the title in their home stadium. It will be Brady's tenth appearance in a Super Bowl. All the others, of course, came with the Patriots.

The NFL giving free tickets to the game to thousands of healthcare workers fighting the pandemic.

Never forgiven Tom Brady for beating the Atlanta Falcons.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Stay with us. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

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