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White House Press Briefing; Capitol Police Chief Apologizes for Security Failures in Attack; Soon, Senators to be Sworn in for Trump's 2nd Impeachment Trial; Senators to Vote this Afternoon on Constitutionality of Trump Impeachment; Biden Set to Sign New Executive Actions on Housing, Prison Reforms, and More. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 26, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He looks forward to continuing to consult with our European partners on this issue.

And if there's more to share from his conversation with Chancellor Merkel on it, we'll circle back to you on it more directly.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Jen.

This just following on from a question earlier. We had the president yesterday say that anyone who wanted to get a shot could get one by spring. We would be well away to herd immunity by summer.

I'm wondering how we can make those projections and we don't know what the stockpile is. When the CDC director says the supply is increasing or not. And we're having these enormous distribution problems in the different states.

PSAKI: Well, let me first start by saying, as I started the briefing, conveying the president will have more say on our vaccine supply and also assistance and cooperation that we will be doing with the states later this afternoon. So we'll have an update on that.

As I also noted, we do have a sense. There is Tiberius, my favorite world of the day, a Web site that has available information on not just the vaccine that is available in states but what has been distributed.

So what I was conveying, and what I think a number of our medical and health experts have been conveying is that we've been for now six days. At a certain point, I'll stop saying that. But less than a week is not that long of a period of time.

We are assessing every day where the holes are, where the gaps are, where the holdups are. It's not just supply. It is beyond that. It's also having the number of vaccinators we need, the number of vaccine distribution sites we need.

Those are all issues, if you talk to any governor, that they say are challenges to getting the vaccine in the arms of the American people.

And what the president's goal is, is ensuring that there's greater availability in the sprint. He will push his team. He pushes team on COVID and updates on it even when it's a meeting about other issues. This is his focus every single day.

But the fact is, every single Americans is not going to be eligible this spring. We're going to continue to increase the supply. That's part of it. And he has said many, many times that it's going to take months and months for a broad swath of the population to be vaccinated.

But he would, if he were standing here today -- he would be a lot taller than me -- but he would say there are -- he will defer to health and medical experts to give their assessments of when we can reach the point of herd immunity.

Peter, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There is a report out that the chief financial officer of Florida has sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee that Florida would like to host the Olympics if Japan, next year, is uncomfortable because of the pandemic.

Is a Florida Olympics in 2021 something you can see the White House supporting?

PSAKI: That's a lot of steps that need to take place.

And I don't know the entire process of the Olympics, but I would certainly think send you to the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee first on what their assessment of that offer is and what their assessment is of Japan's preparedness for the Olympics.

Go ahead right here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jen, on all contingencies, if these COVID vaccines need to be tweaked or changed because of these emerging variants, how is that going to complicate your rollout effort?

PSAKI: Well, Dr. Fauci spoke to this a little bit last week. And I expect this will be one of the lines of questioning with our health and medical experts when they have their first briefing tomorrow.

And they have spoken to both assessments that have been made about the efficacy of the vaccine, even with the new variants, and how they are evaluating, you know, what the efficacy will be moving forward.

This is something they will continue to look at through a medical and health lens. So I don't think I'm going to have a new update or assessment for you from here. But it's something they're looking closely at. And the president will

continue to encourage them to be as honest and straightforward with the American people as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An unrelated question. One of President Trump's last acts was to grant protective status to Venezuelans who are in the United States. I believe that still stands.

Can you give us a bit of your position on that?

PSAKI: Sure. Let me see.

Let's see. Well, the overriding goal of the United States is to support a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and fair elections.

He has long been clear, the president, that is, that his administration's approach to Venezuela will focus on addressing the humanitarian situation, providing support to the Venezuelan people.

And reinvigorating multilateral diplomacy to press for a Democratic outcome and pursue individuals involved in corruption and human race abuses, and pursue individuals involved with that.

I don't have any more for you on the status of temporary status. That was a mouthful.

Of course, our national security team is doing a review of all the positions put in place by the Trump administration and we'll provide an update when we have one.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ambassador Rice outlined all the disparities when it comes to Americans of color, being infected and dying of COVID at higher rates.

Does the White House blame the prior administration for creating those disparities we're seeing?

[13:35:07]

PSAKI: Well, health disparities in communities of color existed long before the Trump administration took office. I think that's a statement of fact.

But what didn't happen was actions put in to ensure greater accessibility to communities of color, for health care, greater communications and a public campaign on how communities of color could gain access to health care and treatments.

And certainly, the actions taken by the prior administration to, for all intents and purposes, destroy the Affordable Care Act didn't help any American and certainly it didn't help communities of color.

The vaccine, as you all know, we did not have the scientific and medical breakthrough until late last year.

And now it's incumbent upon this administration, the Biden-Harris administration, to ensure that we are taking steps to increase access.

But also to communicate more effectively with communities of color about the vaccine and the efficacy of it. And that certainly is a primary focus.

That's one of the reasons why Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith is leading the task force and is a pivotal part of the COVID team.

And I will say, from being in the transition, she was not a person who was, aside from by reputation, but she wasn't known by President Biden previously.

But he was so impressed with her as a member of the COVID Advisory Task Force that certainly it was important to have her as a member of the team to discuss exactly this issue.

OK, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes.

PSAKI: Last one, says Jonathan.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you very much.

If I could ask a follow-up, I would appreciate it.

The Trump administration granted waivers to Arkansas and other states to require work for some Medicaid recipients. That was challenged in the court. The court struck it down. The Trump administration pushed it in the Supreme Court and it ended there.

Does President Biden support these waivers, oppose them? Are they going to argue for it or against it? What's the position of the administration?

PSAKI: I would send you to the Department of Justice, my Department of Justice colleagues to speak to anything related to a legal case.

I would say that President Biden does not believe, as a principle, it should be difficult for people to gain access to health care.

And he's not been supportive in the past and is not today of putting additional restrictions in place. And he's spoken about that publicly, too.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then if I could follow up, yesterday former President Trump endorsed Sarah Huckabee Sanders for governor of Arkansas in 2022.

Where did President Biden stand on that particular race? And how high is this on his list of priorities?

PSAKI: How high is the Arkansas Republican gubernatorial primary on the president's list of priorities? Not high.

I can confirm for you, I'm not running for governor of Connecticut in the future. So I'm here to confirm that for you as well.

I don't expect he will get involved in this race. But also politics is not front and center for his mind at this point in time. He's focused on getting the pandemic under control.

OK --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

PSAKI: I'm sorry? What --

(CROSSTALK)

Who is leading the governors' call today?

PSAKI: Who is leading the governors'

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president won't be on it. Who is leading it?

PSAKI: Jeff Zients will be one of the health officials, or one of the, I should say, policy officials, who is on the call today. There may be others but he's one of the primary leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

PSAKI: I believe so. Yes, exactly.

OK, last one.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Since President Biden has spoken to President Putin, can you give us an update on the nature of their call?

PSAKI: Well, the call -- I can confirm for you the call was scheduled. The call has happened, I believe, since I've come out here. So we will, of course, be putting a readout of the call out.

But since you gave me the opportunity, I will just convey to you that he called him -- called President Putin this afternoon with the intention of discussing our willingness to extend a New START for five years.

And also to reaffirm our strong support for Ukraine sovereignty in the face of Russia's ongoing aggression.

And also to raise matters of concern, including the SolarWinds hack, Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and treatment of peaceful protestors by Russian security forces.

His intention was also to make clear that the United States would affirm the defense our national interests in response to the line actions by Russia.

But we'll have a readout for you, I assume, sometime early this afternoon.

Thanks, everyone.

[13:40:00]

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, we just got a big development there at the end, but just a few headlines first to dispense with.

The White House is still not putting out a number on how many vaccines are available.

And the White House says that Joe Biden intends to make the case for COVID relief in private.

A lot of executive actions as well that are focused on racial equality.

But as I bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and our senior legal analyst, Laura Coates, and our chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, that was some interesting news at the end that, while Jen Psaki was briefing, President Biden has spoken with Vladimir Putin.

And, I mean, what a priority list of things he talked with, extending the treaty to New START, supporting Ukraine obviously with the Russian invasion there.

And also talking about these bounties that Russia placed on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, which is something the Trump administration had not done.

Also, Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, dealing with his arrest, and the treatment of peaceful protesters in Russia.

What a call, Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's basically everything the last White House and President Trump refused to discuss.

Remember, when it was first reported about those Russian bounties paid by the Taliban, the White House disputed the numbers multiple times, even though it did exist. We confirmed that. They said it wasn't unanimous consent over whether that intelligence was true.

Often times, we know the president gets briefed on things that are not concrete intelligence. But back then, the White House would not even talk about that when we asked if the president was going to confront President Putin over that.

Now, Jen Psaki said during this call -- she said it happened while she came out to do this briefing, but that President Biden had the intention of bringing that up with him.

Also bringing up that SolarWinds hack. That was the hack we saw that was so pervasive of not only the federal government but private companies as well, that a private company actually had to alert the government about.

That raised a ton of concerns because intelligence experts said it was going to take months to understand just how deep into the system they had gotten.

But also this poisoning of Navalny, which, of course, the last White House had been kind of reluctant to put out a statement from President Trump on that. We saw ones from the State Department and others.

So what a different nature of a phone call than what we would have seen in the last White House just a few weeks ago.

And, of course, the story of four years was President Trump's friendly overtures to President Putin. This seems to be a very different agenda for this call with the Russian leader.

We haven't gotten the actual readout from the National Security Council. That's who lets us know what goes on with these calls with foreign leaders as President Biden has been handling those since he took office.

We'll wait to see what was brought up. Because sometimes the intentions of what you bring up, and maybe they don't hit every single target, but we'll wait to see what that is.

But the intentions of what they had for Biden to speak with Putin about are completely different than what we saw with President Trump when he was in office.

KEILAR: What a 180, Gloria.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: A total 180. To be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

After congratulations, Mr. President, from Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, who has a previous relationship with Putin, you should know, and it hasn't been a pretty one -- will launch into his list of everything that he needs to get settled and wants to talk about with Putin and lay some threats out, I would presume.

KEILAR: Yes. No, definitely.

And then, until we got to that Putin part, it really seemed like the vaccinations were very much the headline there.

Kaitlan, it's worth pointing out that the White House still is not revealing what they know about how many vaccines are available. We're going to start seeing these briefings here tomorrow, right?

Aren't they, at some point, going to have to answer this question?

COLLINS: Yes, they will. And the idea they just got into office is going to be something that really is something they can say for not much longer, given they are now running the federal government and the White House.

Jen Psaki seemed to indicate we may get an update from President Biden on that when he speaks this afternoon.

We should tell viewers, the White House added remarks from him on the pandemic this morning. It wasn't on the schedule last night. They added it today.

They talked about a call that Jeff Zients, his COVID coordinator, has with governors today. I expect they'll get an update before he makes it publicly available.

But you're right, they have not been able to say what exactly is in the stockpile. That's been a big question, given if they're making these plans for vaccinations and where they will be, it would be helpful to know what's exactly in there. Maybe they're not just telling us yet.

So we'll wait to see if we actually get that this afternoon.

One other thing that is notable is, yesterday, when we were in that press conference with President Biden, he said he hoped that by this spring every American who wanted a vaccine could get one.

[13:45:03]

Of course, that would be by the end of June, would be that marker, which is pretty ambitious. And it's something we had heard from Trump officials.

And Jen Psaki said every American will not be eligible to get a vaccine based on what they're seeing right now by the spring. That's something that needs to be reconciled, is when exactly is that expectation, what's it based on.

And you're right, we could start to get that when these COVID briefings start happening with health officials, which they say is starting tomorrow.

KEILAR: Gloria, the president is working behind the scenes talking about his COVID relief package.

BORGER: Oh, constantly.

I think there are two things. One is getting people vaccinated. The other is getting the stimulus package.

And they're not unrelated because he needs the money, as Jen Psaki kept saying today, for people who will do the vaccinations, for centers, to open up centers, large centers where people can be vaccinated. I think these are his two major concerns.

And I think she tried to clean up a little bit of a mess that he created when he talked to Kaitlan last night, when he was sort of counting votes in the Senate on impeachment and said they don't have the votes for it.

And she said, we will leave the vote counting to the leaders in the Senate from now on. Mr. President, you're not a member of the Senate anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: And, Laura Coates, here with your legal analysis. Because there are a lot of executive actions that are continuing. Talk to us about those.

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The real problem with the executive actions, of course, is the same that every other president has when they're reversed by the whim of the next signator.

So one of the causes for concern that many organizations have is that if you don't codify these sorts of actions on a legislative basis, having that bipartisan support, it cannot carry over to the next administration if they were to try to undo it.

So you have this idea of a system of laws where we want to have deterrent aspects, to have this sort of reliable and conduct our affairs accordingly.

But if you don't have the certainty following an executive order that you would if you otherwise have it codified, it can lead to some strange and absurd and unfortunate results.

But overwhelmingly, you have a body of executive orders here that are trying to undo not only the previous president's actions but also to set a really big example about what precisely he wanted to translate from the rhetoric of the campaign trail to now.

The question, of course, is whether he'll be able to do any of this with the help of Congress as well, as Gloria pointed out.

KEILAR: It's a lot of whiplash between one administration to the next, as you point out there.

Laura, thank you so much.

Gloria, Kaitlan, thank you to you as well.

We do have some breaking news. An apology just delivered to Congress from the acting capitol police chief. She's apologizing for security failures during the capitol riots on January 6, telling Congress that we, quote, "failed."

This acting chief, Yogananda Pittman, who is coming under fire for the office she commands.

I want to bring in CNN's Whitney Wild, who is with us.

What did the chief say?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In remarks before a congressional hearing, she listed out several answers to questions we've been asking from the beginning, which is: What did you know and when did you know it.

Today, admitting that they did know that there were some participants intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event.

This is a direct quote from her congressional remarks. "We also knew there was a strong propensity for violence and that Congress was a potential target. The department prepared in order to meet these challenges but did not do enough."

Again, that is the question we've been wondering: Where was the intelligence failure? Was it that they didn't know or they didn't act on what they did know?

She's offering some insight today. And it appears what she's admitting today, Brianna, is they simply didn't act on the information that they knew.

She said the department failed to meet the high standards of both Congress and the department -- Brianna?

KEILAR: And the pictures are stunning. They speak for themselves, Whitney.

Officers are not happy about this, as you're well aware, Whitney. Tell us about that. They are debating a no-confidence vote. Who would they have no confidence?

WILD: Absolutely. This is an action on a motion that we previously reported on. Officers telling our team at CNN they simply felt abandoned by U.S. C.P. leadership.

Now it appears they're considering acting on that emotion, considering a vote of no confidence that would specifically target Acting Chief Pittman and other chiefs who were on scene that day.

They said they had no faith in the leadership that was on scene that day -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Imagine being one of those officers. It was incredible.

Whitney Wild, thank you so much. Great report.

And minutes from now, we'll hear President Biden speaking about his racial equity agenda for the country.

Plus, we'll take you live to Capitol Hill as Senators are sworn in to preside over the historic second impeachment trial of former President Trump.

[13:50:05]

Stay with us for CNN's special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: -- of a truly historic moment in American history. For only the fourth time in the nation's history, the U.S. Senate will hold an impeachment trial for a United States president.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Former President Trump, who incited an insurrection at the capitol January 6th, that resulted in five deaths, including a Capitol Hill police officer.

[13:55:00]

Trump is the only president to be impeached twice in the history of the United States.

And moments from now, Senators will be officially sworn in after the House delivered the article of impeachment last night.

This all sets up a dramatic trial in the coming weeks, during which Democrats will lay out evidence of the president's action and words leading up to the attack, along with the actions of his ally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will walk down -- and I will be there with you. We will walk down --

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: We're going to walk down -- any one you want. But I think right here. But we're going to walk down to the capitol.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And we're going to cheer on our brave Senators, Congress men and women.

And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Those comments, among others, happened moments before the crowd marched to the capitol and attacked it.

For two months, of course, the president had been lying to the American people, telling his supporters that the election was stolen, saying it was fraudulent.

Arguing towards the end there that Vice President Mike Pence could overturn it during the official electoral vote count in Congress.

Trump and his allies, including the allies that organized that rally, promised that it would be wild.

Officials are still making arrests, charging insurrectionists as new evidence continues to come to light. That includes evidence of Trump's efforts behind the scenes in his failed attempt to overturn the election.

Let's go to CNN chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, for a preview of what we're about to see.

Manu, explain what is ahead for us.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Senators from both parties will be sworn in as jurors.

They are the ones who are going to hear evidence. They are the ones that will have to decide whether to vote to convict Donald Trump and whether to prevent him from ever holding office again.

But this is the beginning of that process. One by one, each Senator is assigned a jury book to essentially say they will listen to the evidence and they will make their decision to uphold their oath.

Then, afterwards, the president pro tem of the Senate, Patrick Leahy, who is a Democratic Senator, the most-senior member of the body, who will preside over this trial, not Chief Justice John Roberts, but Patrick Leahy.

He's expecting to indicate that the president and his attorneys are requested for a trial.

And at that point, things will go behind the scenes for a couple of weeks as each side will work on their paperwork, their briefing materials to make their arguments on each side.

One of the key things to watch this afternoon is a vote that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul plans to push this afternoon, a procedural vote aimed at calling to the constitutionality of the trial.

While this will not succeed, Democrats have the vote to reject it, it will put Republicans on the line. It will force them to make a decision to side with Donald Trump and Rand Paul or keep their minds open, the option open, on whether this trial is constitutional, and potentially even vote to convict Donald Trump.

Some top Republican Senators, including John Cornyn, John Barrasso, members of the Republican leadership, told me just moments ago they plan to side with Rand Paul.

But other Republican members of the leadership, including Roy Blunt, would not say which way he would lean.

It's still uncertain which way the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, will come down on that question. Because, as we know, Jake, a key part of the trial going forward will be whether or not this trial is constitutional. Republicans are leaning to the idea it is not.

They're sitting now behind closed doors and hearing from a constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, who is arguing to them that it is not constitutional.

Democrats say it absolutely is, to try a former president. That is something they plan to make a central part of their argument.

But a key test vote this afternoon, pushed by conservative Senators, to put Republicans on the line to choose between Donald Trump or suggesting that this trial can go forward -- Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju, thank you very much.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Thanks, Jake.

At any moment, we're expecting President Biden to talk about racial equity policies.

Following last year's police shootings of unarmed black men, the nation experienced the racial reckoning and a ground swell of protests.

The president is set to sign a new set of actions focusing in on housing, prison reforms, and more.

Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Phil Mattingly.

Phil, the president has already issued, what, 33 executive actions. What are we about to see today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, you're about to see four more. Quite the split screen for a White House, who made very clear they want their work to be about moving forward, not what's happening in the Senate or their predecessor.

Today, it will be thrusting the issue of racial equity into the forefront. It's something the president talked about throughout the campaign trail, particularly as the country was convulsed by racial strife over the course of 2020.

[14:00:02]

These executives orders today, as Susan Rice, the top domestic policy adviser, laid out, will put the issue at the center.