Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Vaccine Racing with Daily Infections and Deaths; Tug of War Over COVID Vaccine; Healthcare Workers Exhausted by the Pandemic; Alexei Navalny Remains in Jail; Protesters Came Out to Support Navalny; Family Asking for Justice; U.S. Lawmakers Concerned About Security After Insurrection; Some Democrats Calling For Expulsion Of Greene From Congress; Trump Looms Large As Republicans Face Identity Crisis; WHO Team Investigating Virus Origin Leaves Quarantine; India Begins Vaccine Diplomacy; Robinhood Facing GameStop Backlash; Cicely Tyson, Who Played Strong Black Woman Has Died. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 29, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Congresswoman set to join the House education committee.
Health experts have been sounding the alarm about new more contagious variant of the coronavirus that could worsen the pandemic. Now a new forecast by the University of Washington says these new strains could mean an additional 85,000 Americans will die by May. And for the first time there are reports that the virus variant first detected in South Africa is here in the U.S. It's already circulating in at least 30 other countries.
And what's worrying scientists even more, the two Americans confirmed to have it don't know each other and haven't traveled about. We're also getting word that the variant may make at least one potential new vaccine less effective.
Drug maker Novavax released data on its vaccine in Canada Thursday. Results showed almost 90 percent effectiveness in stage three trials in the U.K. but phase two trials in South Africa showed only 60 percent effectiveness.
Meanwhile, European approval for the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine could come soon, but the rollout may be bumpy. German officials say the lack of data on those over 65 means people in that age group shouldn't take the vaccine. AstraZeneca disputes that claim, but the company has promised better coordination with European officials amid a quarrel over the number of doses it can provide.
So, for more on all this, let's bring in Melissa Bell. She's in Belgium in a plant where AstraZeneca's vaccine is made. Melissa, so it must come as a shock to millions of older Britons who've got the Oxford AstraZeneca shot that German scientists say they are not confident it will work. What's behind this?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kim. And I think that's why you've heard both from AstraZeneca since that German announcement, and from the U.K.'s regulatory body about the fact that they believe that the data is sufficient to show that the vaccine is effective for over 65.
Because bear in mind, that that vaccine has been available in the United Kingdom since early January. But you're right, the real problem now becomes one of supply. We now know that those initial doses that were given out in the U.K. had come from plants here on the continent. Europe's argument is now that the plants on the continent, but also the ones in the U.K. should be able to provide doses to the European Union.
It is that delay and the amount of doses that's extremely worrying to European officials and that's why they've taken its own seriously. Hence, the inspection here just a couple of days ago to make sure that AstraZeneca's claim that it was because of slow production was in fact the case.
And the announcement that we expect later today, detailing the mechanism by which the Europeans are now going to be monitoring vaccine exports in order to be able to stop them if there are questions of supplies here in Europe. And that really speaks, Kim, to how serious the situation is. Doses are running out in a number of different countries. The Spanish, in some parts have had to stop vaccinating.
In France, appointments aren't being pushed back. Germany said that it's going to have a snow rollout and delays over the next 10 weeks. And Europe needs to get, has said it wants 70 percent of its population vaccinated by this summer. At the moment, we're just over 2 percent. That tells you how serious the supply question is for European officials.
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Yes, very worrying indeed. All right, thank you so much, Melissa Bell in Brussels. Thanks. Well those new COVID variant of health experts worried because it can see they can spread more easily and that can complicate vaccination efforts which are lagging in most American states for a variety of reasons.
Here is Nick Watt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The more contagious variant first found in South Africa is here. Two cases just confirmed in different parts of South Carolina.
BRANNON TRAXLER, INTERIM DIRECTOR, SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL: There is no known travel history and there is no known connection between the two cases.
WATT: These first documented infections actually happened two weeks ago. All this means the mutation is spreading on American soil, and lab tests of this variant versus the vaccine? The vaccine is.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Diminished by multiple in its ability to cover it. It's still within the range of what you would predict to be protective, but I take no great comfort in that.
WATT: Still, fewer than 50 million vaccine doses distributed, a little over half of them actually in arms.
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: On the administration side there is some delay in reporting.
WATT: In these states, more than half their doses are still sitting in the freezer, maybe states holding back second doses?
WALENSKY: We need to or me to make sure that that's available for them when they return for their second shot. When you do all that math, you still end up with some millions of doses that are sitting on the shelves and have not yet been administered.
WATT: Twenty thousand National Guard already deployed to the effort FEMA now asking for more help. Up to 10,000 active duty could be deployed.
MAX ROSE, COVID SENIOR ADVISOR, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are actively considering support for the vaccine effort, and our prepared to certainly do so.
[03:05:05]
WATT: The various variants now circulating here also impact tests, says the FDA.
TIMOTHY STENZEL, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS AND RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH: There may be a performance difference going forward.
WATT: Testing never quite reached the numbers needed and now it's falling. Right now, average new case counts are falling all across the country. But still averaging over 160,000 new cases every day. And those faster spreading variants.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: Are now we're going to overlay on top of that very high baseline. So, what we can expect to see in the course of the next, I think, 6 to 14 weeks, it is something that we haven't even come close to experiencing yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (on camera): Now the superintendent of schools here in Los Angeles, the second biggest district in the nation said maybe schools can reopen here and across the country. More schools, sometime, later in the spring. The word maybe is doing a lot of work there. He wants to have all staff in this district vaccinated before the school's open and the infection rate here is going to have to drop dramatically before those schools can reopen.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles. BRUNHUBER: Four hundred million more doses of AstraZeneca's
coronavirus vaccine will be headed for Africa. The African union says it secured those doses as part of an effort to vaccinate a little more than half of the continent's population over three years. Now this is on top of the 270 billion doses it had already ordered, and the millions promised by the World Health Organization's COVAX program for poorer nations.
But with a population of 1.3 billion people, well, Africa will need a lot more. The WHO is warning that the COVID-19 vaccine divide between rich and poor nations is worsening by the day.
CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is with us from Hong Kong with more. Ivan, so all of these new variants which are springing up around the world, they prove how important the global approach to COVID really is, but it doesn't seem to be happening, at least not fast enough. Is that right?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Not fast enough, you are right, Kim. And while some countries like the U.S. already have a vaccine distribution plans and they are kind of struggling with hiccups and bottlenecks and shortages of supply, I might add, there are other -- they tend to be poorer countries that haven't even begun a vaccine distribution campaign.
There is, however, a global effort that is trying to address this, and setting some very ambitious goals at trying to bridge this growing vaccine divide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON (voice over): In western countries, the first coronavirus vaccines arrived with great fanfare, generating excitement and hope. But in most of the world's poor countries, like Pakistan, vaccine distribution hasn't even begun. This hospital in Karachi is so full there aren't enough beds for all the COVID-19 patients.
NASHWA AHMAD, COORDINATOR, COVID-19 SERVICES, SOUTH CITY HOSPITAL: We are full, we have patients waiting, we have families who are suffering. We have patients at home, sick patients at home, patients who are on oxygen who just don't have space in hospitals.
WATSON: Dr. Nashwa Ahmad said she's discouraged at the lack of available vaccines.
AHMAD: The vaccine is not here in this country for the foreseeable future. That means our healthcare workers still have to continue to do their jobs endless hours without the protection of the vaccine. It's very difficult.
WATSON: Help is on the way. The COVAX facility is a global initiative established after the start of the pandemic. It has the ambitious goal of distributing some two billion doses of the vaccine by the end of 2021.
AURELIA NGUYEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, COVAX: This is an unprecedented effort. We have never ruled out this number of vaccines in this short time.
WATSON: Most of the doses are to be given to the world's 92 poorest countries for free.
NGUYEN: The COVAX facility is really built around fair and equitable access, so that no country and no person who needs the vaccine is left behind, regardless of their economic status.
WATSON: COVAX is a partnership of several international organizations. It will distribute vaccines through UNICEF, which has considerable experience leading vaccination campaigns against other diseases in the developing world. But COVAX distribution isn't expected to start until February, in part due to the long wait for the World Health Organization to approve vaccines for emergency use.
BENJAMIN SCHREIBER, DEPUTY CHIEF, GLOBAL IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM, UNICEF: Countries are looking at COVAX and don't see yet vaccines arriving, while they see some countries are making bilateral deals, and that creates kind of a panic.
UNKNOWN: Nice and relax.
[03:10:03]
WATSON: Some wealthier countries have been scooping up limited supplies of COVID vaccine for themselves.
JEROME KIM, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL VACCINE INSTITUTE: Vaccine nationalism is the evil twin of COVAX. A lot of the countries that signed up for COVAX. The high-income countries in particular hedged their bets by putting in pre-orders for COVID-19 vaccines.
WATSON: The head of the WHO denounces this practice.
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I need to be blunt. The world is on the brink of a catastrophe, moral failure. And the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world's poorest countries.
WATSON: While it waits for COVAX, the Pakistani government expects to receive a welcome gift of half a million doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in coming days, a drop in the bucket for a population of more than 200 million. Even when the vaccine rolls out, convincing a skeptical public to take it may be an uphill battle.
UNKNOWN (through translator): Why would I get vaccinated? There's no such thing as corona, it's a lie.
WATSON: Defeating the virus will also fighting mistrust of government and the spread of disinformation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON (on camera): You know, Kim, the COVID pandemic itself, it's a global phenomenon, but it does seem that vaccine denialism is a global issue as well. And one that the people at COVAX and the various associated international institutions all say will need to be battled against in parallel with efforts to bring vaccines to the world's population. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. All right, thank you so much, senior international correspondent Ivan Watson for us in Hong Kong.
Although pandemic is piling enormous amounts of pressure on healthcare professionals and some of them are using really frank language to describe the conditions they and their patients are facing. They say some people are making matters worse.
So here to tell us about this is Dr. Katie Sanderson in London and she is with the Doctors Association U.K. Doctor, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. With this latest wave you, know, facing this new variant, that's spreading so quickly, what's it like for you on the frontlines? What's the biggest challenge for you?
KATIE SANDERSON, MEMBER, DOCTORS ASSOCIATION U.K.: Well I think in the U.K. it's just -- it's just sheer numbers. So, we are much better looking after patients with COVID than we were in you, know, March and April. We know much more about it. We have more treatment. But it still makes people desperately, desperately unwell.
They need a hospital bed. They need oxygen and some of them need to be looked after in intensive care. We now have more than 36,000 patients in hospital with COVID. Yesterday, another 3,000 were admitted and we have nearly 4,000 patients on ventilators. And some of them will need to be on ventilators for some time in intensive care units. And infection numbers are just starting to come down.
Yesterday there were, you know, nearly 30,000 new cases. There comes a point where the sheer volume is just overwhelming. And there just aren't enough staff to look after people, and I suppose that's what we are concerned about, and we have a situation where large numbers of NHS staff are off work either with COVID or isolating. Approaching 50,000 people are off work and so staffing is stretched really, really thinly.
BRUNHUBER: Is that what's causing the horrible conditions that you've spoken about?
SANDERSON: I think that's how major factor. But also, this variant is more transmissible, and there is some evidence that it's more lethal. And I think that is also a factor. And I think it's just -- it is heartbreaking, it is so sad, when -- I saw somebody last weekend who was dying and was talking to his wife and she said, I just don't know how this happened, we've been so careful.
And you know, we have people getting us in supermarkets, you know, in just situations where if, you know, we're safe, they're wearing a mask, you know, it is really, really, really infectious. And people just need to be so careful.
BRUNHUBER: It is heartbreaking, absolutely. And the job for doctors like you on the frontlines, I mean it's hard enough, but now it's made even harder by these you, know, COVID denials and those who are getting more angry about the lockdowns.
They've been confronting healthcare workers in person and online. We saw crowds of people, you know, chanting COVID is a hoax outside hospitals. Have you experienced the backlash from COVID deniers and what effect is that having?
[03:14:59]
SANDERSON: It is so upsetting and demoralizing. And I think we need to be very, very careful about these two separate issues. So, it's completely legitimate to have a debate about how to manage COVID in the midst of society from a public health perspective, what measures should be in place. What degree of lockdown we should have?
I think that's a totally legitimate debate. That is completely different to denying something, which is a fact, which is that COVID does exist, it is very infectious, it makes a proportion to people that infects extremely ill, and it will make some of them die, even with the very best medical care. And I think it's really important to differentiate between those two things.
And the reason it is so upsetting, people saying COVID is a hoax is because you know that it will cause some people to behave in a way where they take risks they wouldn't otherwise have taken, they get COVID, and they potentially become very, very unwell. And that's preventable, and I think when you are in hospital, absolutely doing your best to look after people, to get them through it, it's just horrifying. The idea that people are getting this infection needlessly when they could not have done.
And I suppose that's why we feel so, so strongly about this. You know, people are entitled to hold whatever views they want, but I don't think we should be tolerant of views that endanger other people's lives.
BRUNHUBER: It's often those in power aren't helping either. In the U.K. we've seen, you know, something we see here, you know, medical populism, basically government led anti-science views. In the most recent case in the U.K. there are member of parliament reportedly endorsed his conspiracy theories, that COVID numbers are being manipulated to exaggerate the scale of the pandemic, which sounds very familiar to those of us here. So how is that made the situation worse and harder for you to deal with?
SANDERSON: It's appalling. And I think what we need to be realistic about is this is the situation we are in the U.K. with a radical lockdown, which is that we have nearly 4,000 patients on ventilators, we have hospitals where 70 or 80 percent of the beds are taken up with patients with COVID in hospitals which would normally be full of patients with other illnesses at this time of year.
We have huge amounts of elective surgery which is being cancelled. With thigs like knee replacements, hip replacements, cancer operations, which have a massive impact on people's lives. And this is a situation with a radical lockdown, and sometimes you just have to ask yourself, what would convince these people? Desmond Swayne who you are referring to, said that this was a
manageable risk, and it was being over exaggerated. You know, this is the situation we're in with these measures and you just sometimes wonder, what do these people want? So, they want people to be dying in a hospital car park? Dying in streets, dying in corridors before they will accept that this is -- this is serious?
It's sort of a beggar's belief. And I think people are saying the NHS isn't overwhelmed. We have intensive care units where one intensive care nurse is looking after two or three patients which is sort of unheard of previously. Intensive care is an environment where people have one to one nursing.
We are under so much pressure. And I think, you know, people need to be careful what they wish for, and none of us want to be living with these kinds of restrictions. But we also just want to make sure that life isn't lost, you know, preventively through getting into a situation where people who need medical care aren't unable to access it. And it is very, very upsetting to be going to work and then hearing these views from people which I think are basically ignorant.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, it is hard to believe. Well, listen, thank you so much for spending time with us. Dr. Katie Sanderson in London.
SANDERSON: Thanks, sir.
BRUNHUBER: We appreciate it.
SANDERSON: Bye.
BRUNHUBER: Well, we are following new developments the United Kingdom is launching a new visa plan this weekend which could allow tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents to apply to live, study, and work, in the U.K. Now it comes in the wake of the controversial national security law in Hong Kong by China which the U.K. has sharply criticized.
The government will offer a pathway to British citizenship for those holding British national overseas status and their eligible family members. It's thought that as many as three million people in Hong Kong could be eligible.
All right. Ahead, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will remain behind bars after losing an appeal. What a court in Moscow ruled. A live report from the Russian capital is next. Stay with us.
[03:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Protesters in Poland came out in force for a second night after the government impose a near total ban on abortion. Huge crowds on the capitol of Warsaw march against the new restrictions which limit abortion to cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life. A Polish court handed down that decision in October sparking massive
protests then. Well the law just went into effect this week and more demonstrations are planned Friday.
The U.S. is slamming Pakistan Supreme Court for ordering the release of four men convicted of the brutal killing of American journalist, Daniel Pearl. pearl was a Wall Street Journal reporter in 2002 when he was kidnapped and beheaded. The four men ordered released included a British national who was initially given the death penalty.
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken says that the U.S. is ready to prosecute him in the United States, something Daniel Pearl's father wants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDEA PEARL, DANIEL PEARL'S FATHER: We are asking that the State Department, as well as the Department of Justice will pursue vigorously a request for extraditing Omar Sheikh for this crime, as well as for other crimes that they have committed against U.S. citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will stay in a Moscow jail after he lost his appeal to be released. Yesterday a judge said his three-day detention is lawful and he waits another court date next month. Police grad Navalny last week as he returned from Germany where he spent months recovering from Novichok poisoning.
Nearly 4,000 protesters were arrested last weekend when Navalny urged his protesters to take to the streets.
Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen has the latest. And here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tonight, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny not backing down despite being kept in jail after a Russian court hearing that he called a sham.
"This is demonstrative lawlessness aimed at intimidating me and everyone else," he said. "And it's not even done by the judges because the judges here are just obedient slaves. It's done by people who have been stealing from our country for 20 years."
Navalny was detained immediately when he landed in Moscow after recovering from poisoning by the chemical weapon Novichok. Tens of thousands came out last weekend to demand his release despite a massive police response. Far from being intimidated, Navalny, who was only allowed to attend his own hearing via video link from the notorious Moscow jail where he is detained, called on Russians to keep protesting. "I support those who protest," he said. "They are the last barrier
preventing this country from slipping into complete degradation. They are the defenders of our country, and the true patriots. He won't be able to scare us. We have the majority."
[03:25:01]
Vladimir Putin recently took the unusual step of publicly denying ownership of a palatial Black Sea residence that Navalny's group alleges was funded by corruption. The opposition leader's lawyer tells me he believes the authorities are nervous, and looking to lock Navalny up for a long time.
VADIM KOBZEV, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S LAWYER (through translator): Today's decision is a clear signal that next week he will be essentially sent to prison.
(CROWD CHANTING)
PLEITGEN: Surprisingly, turnout at last weekend's pro-Navalny demo was high not only in Moscow but in many regions across all of Russia. Lawyer Elsa Nisanbekova helps those who get into trouble for protesting in Kazan, about 500 miles east of Moscow.
ELSA NISANBEKOVA, LAWYER (through translator): I was honestly surprised by how many people came out. We usually have small demos under 1,000 people. But this time, this was a massive event.
PLEITGEN: The Kremlin has ripped into what it calls, quote, "illegal protests." But despite remaining in detention, Alexei Navalny and his movement so far show no signs of slowing down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (on camera): And Kim, Alexei Navalny showed himself to be obviously very angry and disappointed when it was decided that he does have to remain in that administrative detention. The last thing that we heard on that video link that obviously came from the jail that he was in is him saying that I expected this before the court hearing even started.
What he did afterwards, though, is that his social media accounts published a letter from him to the folks who are coming out and protesting on his behalf. He says that he obviously supports them, and is once again calling for people to come out once again this next weekend on Sunday. His organization has called for mass protests not just here in Moscow, but of course in cities across Russia.
Once again, as well, as this is increasingly also becoming of course an issue for the Russian president, for Vladimir Putin, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. So then on that, how do you think the government will handle that? We saw extensive arrests last time, lots of crackdowns. Obviously, we are expecting similar things coming up.
PLEITGEN: Well, took, there is a really several prominent approach, if you look at what the government has been doing this in all this. On the one hand, you did have a pretty strong police presence at all of those rallies that were going on across Russia the last week, but then you also of course have Russian state-run media who are essentially describing the folks who are going to those protests as radicals.
Describing the younger ones as people who are naive, who have been essentially led on the wrong path by social media apps like, for instance, TikTok. So far, that approach that the government is taking is not really having very much of an effect. As we saw last weekend, many people came out.
But really, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens this weekend whether the government will crack down even harder. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: yes. And obviously, blaming the U.S. for inciting part of this is part of the playbook as well. Thank you so much, Fred. Senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen in Moscow.
A fringe voice on the extreme right, offering no apologies as she takes her place in the U.S. Congress. We'll explain why people like Marjorie Taylor Greene could become the new standard bearers of the Republican Party. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): And welcome back to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I am Kim Brunhuber, and you are watching CNN Newsroom.
The deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, on January 6th, has many lawmakers deeply concerned about their own safety. The acting chief of the Capitol police has proposed bringing the iconic landmark with a permanent fence, but it's not popular idea with lawmakers on both parties. They don't want the People's House to become a fortress and House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi says, the security threat isn't just outside the Capitol, she says it is also coming from other lawmakers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: The enemy is within the House of Representatives.
UNKNOWN: What exactly did you mean when you say that the enemy is within? What exactly that mean?
PELOSI: It means you have members of Congress who want to bring guns on to the floor, and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): And one Republican, accused of advocating for violence against other lawmakers is newly elected Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
A CNN investigation found that, prior to her elections, her social media postings appear to advocate the assassination of Democratic leaders. Now, there are calls for her to be expelled, but that is highly unlikely. And the controversy has only endeared her to her supporters.
CNN's Martin Savidge is outside the (inaudible) center in Georgia, where Greene held a town hall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We were not allowed inside of the Congress buildings town hall, we were told, explicitly by her office and by law enforcement that we have to remain in the parking lot. Even though this is actually public property, it is County airport, about 38 miles just outside of Atlanta.
One thing is very clear, the Congresswoman does not appear or seem to believe, that she has to back down in any way, as a result of the outrage and the anger that seems to be mounting against her, because of statements she has made or believes that she is (inaudible). The other thing is clear is that those who voted for her, they aren't changing their mind either.
They, in fact, seem to like her even more. Believing that her outspokenness is just a sign of how genuine she is. Things you should know about this area. It was an area that supported former President Trump, strong enough. It's an area where many still believe the election was stolen, even though, factually, we know it was not.
And, it is an area that believes many of the same conspiracy theories that the Congresswoman, herself, has supported at one time or another. These are just some of the people we spoke to.
She is under a lot of scrutiny right now, what do you think of that?
UNKNOWN: Well, I'll address the three issues that I'm aware of it. She under scrutiny for it. The first one being the oldest, was actually followed those Q conspiracy theories. Whether or not she did, whether or not she believed them, I mean, this is reading.
SAVIDGE: What brings you here?
UNKNOWN: Marjorie Greene.
SAVIDGE: What do you want to hear?
UNKNOWN: I want to hear that she will continue to be the woman we elected, and take the fight to the left while in Washington.
SAVIDGE: Is there anything she has said or done since taking office that has change your opinion?
UNKNOWN: Absolutely not. In fact, my 23 years in Georgia, and the years prior to that, she is the most serious candidate, and I would follow her more than any other Congressman or Senator, I've ever seen in office.
SAVIDGE: So, if you are looking for some sort of groundswell of outrage, and anger against Congresswoman Greene, so far, it is not happening here. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Former President Trump may have retired to Florida, but his influence within the Republican Party is as potent as ever. Despite the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, some Republicans still clinging to Trump as the key to their political futures.
We get more from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The American flag is proudly waving today at former President Trump's Mar- a-Lago resort. But the shining sun belies the storm brewing inside of the Republican Party. Kevin McCarthy, the House GOP leader, made a pilgrimage to Florida, hoping to get back into the former presidents good graces after angering Trump, following a deadly attack on the Capitol.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesdays attack on Congress by mob rioters.
ZELENY: McCarthy has been backpedaling ever since. Making clear, he still sees Trump as the leader of the Republican Party. Of you not shared by Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who hasn't spoken to Trump in more than a month.
[03:35:05]
The Mar-a-Lago meeting was focused on taking back the House in 2022. Trump aide said in a statement, adding, he's endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at anytime. With his looming impeachment trial, Trump remains front and center in the Republican Party, even as it faces an identity crisis.
In a private call with House Republicans this week, McCarthy admonished his members to stop the infighting, CNN has learned, bluntly saying, to cut that crap out with no more attacks on one another. But he has done little to actually stop it. With Florida Congressman, Matt Gaetz, a loyal Trump ally, traveling to my Wyoming today to try taking down Liz Cheney, the number three House Republican, who voted for Trump's impeachment.
REP. MATT GAETZ, (R-FL): If you want to prove that you have the power, defeat Liz Cheney in this upcoming election, and Wyoming will bring Washington to its knees.
ZELENY: The GOP turmoil is playing out as a series of sideshows. None louder than Georgia Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who deleted her social media posts after CNN reported she harassed victims of the Parkland School shooting, and endorsed violence against Democratic lawmakers.
UNKNOWN: Enough is enough, enough is enough.
UNKNOWN: What happened? People will still do mass shootings? They are being used by the left because you are young.
ZELENY: The Congresswoman, who is promoted QAnon conspiracy theories was given a plump seat on the House education and labor committee. Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 House Republicans to support Trump's impeachment, said the party is in a dangerous crossroads.
Let's be clear, she is not a Republican. I personally don't think she should have any committees.
ZELENY: A fear of reigning infringe Republican elements has created an opening for Democrats, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seized on today.
PELOSI: Assigning her to the education committee when she has marked the killing of middle children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. When she has marked the killing of teenagers in a high school at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School? What could they be thinking?
ZELENY: David Hogg, the Parkland students, who is the subject of Taylor Greene's harassment, telling CNN, he had a message for leader McCarthy.
DAVID HOGG, PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: If you say this is not your party, actually call it out and hold her accountable.
ZELENY (on camera): So, just a week after Donald Trump left office, clearly and disgrace facing a second impeachment, many Republican said it was time to turn the page. But House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, made one thing clear, the GOP is still the Party of Donald Trump.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): CNN politics White House reporter, Stephen Collinson, joins me now from Washington. Stephen, after the election, I spoke to plenty of experts, I'm sure you did as well, who thought that, you know, this was it. Donald Trump's incitement of the insurrection would give them the cover they needed to distance themselves from them and make the Republican Party more than just the Party of Trump.
A few high-profile Republicans seem to have taken some hesitant steps, then came scurrying back. So, of all the ways, Republican showed their fealty to Trump in the past, you know, week or so, what surprised you the most?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I think what surprised me the most, Kim, is that nine days into the Biden administration, the fight for democracy that took place during the last few weeks and months of the Trump administration isn't over. In fact, it may be just beginning. The forces in the Republican Party that supported and lifted, and were exploited by Donald Trump are very much alive.
And far from learning the lessons of his defeat, at the loss of the House, and the loss of the Senate over his four-year term, those radical extremist voices in the Republican Party are doubling down. They have decided, I think, that the future of their party lies with Trump and Trump voters.
Nothing more underlines that fact than the fact that the leading House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, flew down to Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump's home in exile in Florida today, and made up with the president, three weeks after condemning his role in the insurrection.
McCarthy believes that he can win back the House in the midterm elections next year, and he believes that the way to do that is to still allow Donald Trump to effectively define the Republican Party. And given what happened on January the 6th, that's extraordinary.
BRUNHUBER: But -- OK, so going down on that, you asked the question rhetorically in your excellent piece there, the question is, is yet another doubling down on grassroots fury and the Trump base, the best way to win back Americans. Especially those in suburban areas who rejected the ex-president, lost the House, the Senate, and the White House, in a single four term year.
[03:40:05]
So, the answer seems to be, yes and no, depending on whether you're talking about the House, or the Senate. Explain the contrast here, because as you say, I mean, they lost everything. So, why would you double down on that?
COLLINSON: That's right. Now, one of the reasons why the House and Senate are different is because a lot of the districts in the House have been gerrymandered. They've been drawn by the parties in such a way that is very difficult for them to lose. You get, you know, bunches of Republican voters put in one district. Bunches of Democratic voters put in another district.
What that really means is in the House, which is elected every two years, you have to have a massive base turnout from your more enthusiastic activists that you can win seats that way. So, you know, we are talking about probably, 40, 50 competitive seats in the House. So a massive turnout either way can swing it. And that's why you really need your engaged base.
In the Senate, of course, there are two Senators in each state. So, it is a more broad electorate. It's more like a national electorate. So, you need more than just your base voters. You have to win over the middle. So, what McCarthy has decided is, and I think it is probably a reasonable strategy given the Republican Party is the Trump Party, is that he's allotting himself with a former president and those voters.
BRUNHUBER: It seems like such an easy win to sanction the extreme of the extreme, like Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, instead of promotion, and you know, a stern talking to. What is the calculus there? Because it's not as if she wields enormous influence and power.
COLLINSON: The extreme of the extreme is becoming the mainstream of the Republican Party. It is much more right-wing than it was, even four or eight years ago. I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is not an outlier, in terms of the way that she is viewed by the base of the party.
And she may actually be a herald of more extreme radical conservative conspiratorial candidates that are coming up. You know, Kevin McCarthy, he's made his bed with Trump. He cannot now start sanctioning people who are endorsed by the former president and who support the former president.
BRUNHUBER: We have to leave it there, thank you so much Stephen Collinson, we appreciate it.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
BRUNHUBER: A team of international experts was cleared, quarantine in Wuhan, and can now start speaking to people in the city where COVID-19 was first detected. We will have details on that, after a short break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The scientific team tasked with investigating COVID-19's origins in Wuhan is getting underway with the job after finishing its two week quarantine.
[03:45:06]
The World Health Organization group again, meeting with Chinese scientists today. Investigators planned a visit labs, markets and hospitals in the city. As well as meet with early responders and the first COVID-19 patients. They are trying to uncover how the virus have brought much of the world to a halt first emerge.
Now that China's scrutiny of the teams work will be immense, CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing, with a preview of the task ahead. So, Steven the WHO experts met with their Chinese counterparts for the first time, masks to mask as they put it. So, how is it going so far?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): What can these media are now over the expert, and now actually visiting a local hospital in Wuhan. The choice of that places interesting. Because that is the hospital where a Chinese doctor, apparently, first detected this then known COVID virus, and then reported to the authorities who then responded promptly. That is the official narrative, very much disputed by many critics who say that the local authorities, at least initially, mishandled the crisis, and tried to cover up information.
The other places, these experts are expected to visit do include a lot of high-profile locations, such as the Wuhan institute virology, that houses a bio safety level for lab. And they conduct a lot of research on different types of coronaviruses there. And also, they are going to visit this now closed seafood market, long believed to be the origin of the outbreak in the city, as well as the Wuhan city laboratory next door.
But as we were saying yesterday, it's been a year since the city was placed under a strict lockdown, repeatedly disinfected since then. And so probably swift clean of any traces of the virus. So, what kind of firsthand evidence they can collect very much in doubt. That makes the kind of people they'll be talking to even more critical.
And you mentioned they are being promised to have early access to responders and former patients, but obviously these people are, you know, carefully selected by the government. So, how freely they will be able to speak to the experts, remains to be seen.
Now, one interesting notice the named we have not seen on the list is the Wuhan central hospital where the whistleblower doctor, Dr. Li Wenliang worked and died of the very disease he was trying to sound an early alarm about.
So, it really illustrating how sensitive, and controversial this whole trip, this whole investigation is. As much as these experts try to say they are scientist and trying to focus, (inaudible) on science, seems they can even keep politics out of the selection of the locations they are visiting. Kim?
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Yes. Not surprising. Alright. Thank you so much, CNN's Steven Jiang, in Beijing, I appreciate it.
India's drive to vaccinate more than a billion of its people is well underway. The nation has seen a substantial dropped in the new COVID cases, and deaths, since peeking in the fall.
Now, it is easing some restrictions outside of a couple of hot spot regions. It is also extending a hand to its neighbors, sending millions of vaccine doses to other south Asian countries. And, while it is certainly a friendly gesture, it is also a (inaudible) to the region's political rivalries.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (voice over): As a nation scramble to get their own citizens vaccinated, at least one country is stepping up to help some of its neighbors, India. India is the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer. Now, it's using that strength for something a little out of the ordinary, vaccine diplomacy.
It has been less than two weeks since India launched, what it hopes, will be the largest vaccination drive in the world, as it goes about inoculating its own citizens. Now, the country is pledging to donate millions of doses to at least nine nearby countries.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (TRANSLATIOR): Today, the country has prepared, in such a way that vaccine doses are reaching every nook, and corner of the country very rapidly. Today, India is completely self reliant in the matter of this biggest need of the world right now. Not just self dependent, India is also helping other countries.
BRUNHUBER: The country Serum institute is producing the vaccine developed in the U.K., by AstraZeneca, for domestic use and exports. India also developed its own vaccine by (inaudible) BioTech, which it eventually plans to export.
One by one, health care workers in Nepal began receiving their first doses. As the country launched one of its largest immunization campaigns, Nepal's Prime Minister says he is grateful to India for donating 1 million doses.
K.P. SHARMA OLI, NEPALESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We got an early chance to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. So, for this, I extend my thankful remarks and gratitude to our neighboring nations. India's government, the people of India, and especially to the honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They sent the vaccine to us.
BRUNHUBER: Prime Minister Oli announced that he's in talks with India to buy even more. Myanmar mar, also began its vaccination program Wednesday, after receiving 1.5 million vaccine doses from India. Health care workers there showed off their bandages for a photo.
[03:50:04]
With a fragile health care system, Myanmar has relied heavily on medical volunteers to help in the pandemic. And it's not just about diplomacy. India is expected to begin delivering vaccines commercially to Brazil, and Morocco, by the end of the week.
One neighbor that won't beyond the receiving end of India's generosity is Pakistan. Officials there announced, they will be getting 500,000 doses from China. India's goodwill, could see some pushback from their regional rival, China. China promised to help Nepal in the pandemic, a country where China has major investments. But, it hasn't delivered, where as India has. As the two countries find themselves in competition for strategic influence in the region, it is India that's scoring some early wins this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): A no-fee trading app, dared to pump the brakes on GameStop wild run is now accused of market manipulation. And not just by millennials, but also by prominent Republicans and Democrats. Details next, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Senate banking committee is to meet over the turbulent state of the stock market. That is after a group of investors on the online platform, Reddit, banded together to stick it to the Wall Street establishment, and get rich quick. They drove up stocks and several companies, including GameStop, a struggling chain of video games stores. Well, so much so that the Robinhood trading app block trading for the company which spark outrage. So, here to make sense of it all is John Defterios, joining us live
from Abu Dhabi. John, this is one of the rest of stories that unites many Democrats and Republican, after all, you know, for nearly a month, these day traders could basically trade at will and now that's all change. So, tell us why.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR (on camera): Yes, it's amazing, Kim. Because it was almost like riding a tsunami, and thought it was a one-way back. And then the punchbowl has been pulled here by the trading platforms themselves, because they say, they are being regulated by the securities exchange commission and they have capital requirements. So, this has introduce a whole new wave here of volatility.
If you look at three key stocks that had been on the radar, one of them of course is GameStop and the other AMC Entertainment, the cinema chain, Bed Bath and Beyond, the retailer that has been struggling for years has been (inaudible) higher.
The CEO of Robinhood explain this to CNN. He said, he wasn't on the influence of a hedge fund, which was the rumor at Wall Street, putting pressure on a company in Silicon Valley to even the trade out right now. But they have to make sure that their clients are not overexposed as well. Let's take a listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLAD TENEV, CEO, AND CO-FOUNDER, ROBINHOOD: Robinhood, as a brokerage, has lots of financial requirements. SEC requirements, we have to put up money at clearing houses. The amount of money that we have to put up depends on market volatility and we are in a historic situation where there is a lot of activity and a lot of buying concentrated in a relatively small number of symbols that are going viral on social media. So, we haven't really seen anything like this before, and to prudently manage the risk and the deposit requirements, we had to restrict buying in these 13 stocks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:55:06]
DEFTERIOS (on camera): Many of client fell anyway though, Kim. Particularly have an unusual alliance on Capitol Hill with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or AOC and Ted Cruz. Very different political background, one is a progressive Democrat, the other one is a very conservative Senator from Texas. But they are trying to protect the small trader, they say.
They are going to an investigation, suggesting why did Robinhood and the others, blocked the inability to buy this stocks. Now, I think we have to clarify on Wall Street if the stocks go up, 10, 15, 20 percent or down the same level. There is a halt in trade, and then it resumes. That's the stabilized, but you don't block the ability of somebody to buy and that is why Capitol Hill is getting involve and also regulators in Washington at the same time.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, but there may be something, you know, a bit more sinister at play here that U.S. regulators might want to look in to.
DEFTERIOS: Well, that question is being asked already, and not by the current regulators but a former respected one, who ran the Security and Exchange Commissions, some one I've interviewed in the past, Arthur (inaudible), once seen as a protector of the individual investor, he was saying he believes there are parallels between the political influence of social media manipulating the election.
And perhaps, seeing the same with Reddit, and this Wall Street bets page that they have here recommending the stocks. It's not insider trading, but it is mob trading. And who's behind the mob trade here? It could redefine how you regulate them.
JPMorgan Chase was suggesting, this is making the market very vulnerable. If you look at U.S. futures right now, we are down quite sharply. We are off the lows for the day. But it's raising questions about the -- or unveiling the cracks in the financial system. They say that 45 other stocks, that there's mob group of traders is spotting right now, right. So you can have this wave after wave, Kim. That perhaps will need to touch of a regulator.
BRUNHUBER: Alright. Very interesting stuff, thank you so much for explaining it to us. CNN's John Defterios, reporting from Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you very much.
Well, before we go, a tribute to Cicely Tyson, who has died. Now a few actresses have played strong African American women the way she did. Whether on Broadway, the old homesick woman in a trip to bountiful or on TV as (inaudible) mother in Roots, or as the abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, to defined the roles.
Now, in her signature TV performance in the autobiography of Miss Jean Pitman, Tyson played a former slave, who ages more than 80 years. She finally dares to drink at the white's only fountain as police silently turn away. She won a Tony, two Emmys, and honorary Oscar, for her body of work. Cicely Tyson was 96.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
