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Powerful Winter Storm Blasts U.S. East Coast; Biden Meets with Senate Republican on COVID Relief; Trump Adds New Lawyers to His Defense Team; Democrats Pushing for Greene to Lose Committee Assignments; Officials Call for Ramping Up of Vaccination Efforts; Merkel: All Germans to be Offered Vaccine by September 21. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired February 02, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, two crises collide. Winter weather causes vaccine delays in some parts of the U.S. as a strong nor'easter is hitting the East during the pandemic.
Progress towards bipartisanship or just delays to economic relief. We have the latest from Washington on President Biden's negotiations with Senate Republicans.
And Alexey Navalny is in court this hour for a hearing that could save the Russian opposition figure jail for years. We will bring you any updates from Moscow as soon as we have them.
Thanks for joining us. Well pounded by snow, facing serious flooding, waking up to life threatening conditions and the white stuff is still falling across large parts of the Eastern U.S. Governors of states from New Jersey to Maine are warning of ongoing dangerous conditions, including more snowfall and the risk of serious flooding. New York's Central Park was hit by more than 15 inches of snow Monday with more to come today. That puts this storm in the top 20 biggest snowfalls the city has on record.
Amtrack will operate a revised service on its East Coast routes today.
[04:05:00]
The New York City subway is set to resume above-ground service this morning. Meanwhile, a number of state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites in New York and Connecticut will remain closed today. New York's governor says to take this storm seriously.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): This is a serious situation. It's nothing to be trifled with. Yes, we've had snowstorms before. Yes, we've been through it before. But this is a dangerous live threatening situation. And again, expect major closures.
On the vaccinations, those that were scheduled for today or tomorrow in state run facilities they're going to be postponed. I know how hard it is to get an appointment. I know people will say I had an appointment finally. Is it really going to get rescheduled? It's really going to get rescheduled.
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CHURCH: And those dangerous conditions became all too real for two people in Connecticut who had to be rescued from a submerged truck.
During blowing winds and blizzard conditions, rescue teams donned cold weather suits to save a man and woman from their four-door pickup. The truck had been hit by high winds, slippery conditions and rising water levels. Firefighters struggled to remove the man from inside the truck eventually pulling him free just as the vehicle slipped below the water. The man was transported to hospital.
And CNN's meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now. And Pedram, it is incredible to watch all of this play out. Of course, you forecast this yesterday. But just incredible situation. But how long do you see this being the case?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: But it looks like the last day, Rosemary. At least that's the good news here around the Northeast. We do see this system very slowly moving out of this region across northern New England by later tonight and out of here come Wednesday afternoon. So at least we know the conditions. The worst of it certainly behind us for much of the areas of the northeast, but parts of New England could still see as much as a foot of snow here on the forecast. But it's still 70 million Americans underneath these weather alerts.
Here are some of the totals. 30 plus inches across portions of northern New Jersey. Summit Station, just west of Allentown, PA coming in with 20 inches. And Rosemary, noted that 15 plus inches in Central Park is a top 20 event and records in Central Park have been going back since the 1860s. So we're talking about 150 years of recordkeeping and this is a top 20 snowstorms across this region of the United States.
But here's what's left of it. Generally getting light to moderate rain and snow showers mixed in yet at times right now, but still winter weather alerts in place, and still across the Green and White mountains, across the Adirondacks, around northern New England. We could still see as much as ten inches of snowfall throughout this afternoon and evening.
Rosemary, you talked about the flooding that has been taking place. Coastal flooding advisories is in effect. Some of these water levels are as high as we've seen them since superstorm Sandy back in 2012. So not an event you see every single day. Notice these tropical force winds at 30, 40, 50 miles an hour. Still in that forecast today, so anything on the ground here is going to be blown around. You can still see blizzard like conditions even with clear skies and sunny skies above. Because of course, all of that snow on the ground could be lifted up into the air and blown around. It is often what happens.
In parts of the Midwest and of course, with additional rounds of snow in the forecast through this afternoon, Rosemary. It's going to be a dangerous go around this area of the U.S.
CHURCH: All Right, thanks for the heads up on that. Appreciate it, Pedram.
Well President Biden has said he would like to pass a coronavirus relief bill that has bipartisan support, so he welcomed a group of Senate Republicans to the White House Monday to hear their relief proposal. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more now from Washington.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome back to the Senate.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden sitting down tonight with 10 Republican senators amid contentious negotiations over his sweeping coronavirus relief proposal.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): Thanks for the opportunity.
BIDEN: No, no, I'm anxious to -- I'm anxious to talk.
COLLINS (voice-over): Without taking any questions on the talks, Biden invited the GOP group, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, after they proposed a $600 billion counteroffer to his $1.9 trillion package. The White House downplayed expectations for the meeting, while noting the Republican proposal was less than a third of what Biden offered.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What this meeting is not, is a forum for the president to make or accept an offer. Clearly, he thinks the package size needs to be closer to what he proposed than smaller.
COLLINS (voice-over): No congressional Republicans have signed on to Biden's plan, but the White House touted West Virginia's Republican governor's support for a bigger package.
GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): With what we have got going on in this country, if we actually throw away some money right now, so what?
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We have really got to move and get people taken care of.
COLLINS (voice-over): The question of whether Biden will go big or go bipartisan has loomed over Washington as Democrats appear ready to go it alone. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): The question is not bipartisanship. The question is addressing the unprecedented crises that we face right now. If Republicans want to work with us, they have better ideas on how to address those crises, that's great. But to be honest with you, I have not yet heard that.
COLLINS (voice-over): Democrats hold the majority, but only by a thread, causing the White House to move quickly after an interview by the vice president antagonized one of the Senate's most moderate Democrats.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I saw it. I couldn't believe it. No one called me. We're going to try to find a bipartisan pathway forward. I think we need to. But we need to work together. That's not a way of working together, what was done.
COLLINS (voice-over): West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin complained after Vice President Kamala Harris went on local news in his state to sell the package, which he saw as an attempt to pressure him.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people deserve their leaders to step up and stand up for them.
COLLINS (voice-over): The White House reached out to Manchin afterward, but didn't say who called him.
PSAKI: We've been in touch with Senator Manchin. Not only is he a key partner, and -- to the president and to the White House on this package, but on his agenda.
COLLINS: Now after that meeting ended Republicans sounded upbeat but noted they did not have a deal in hand. And then we got the White House's version of that meeting. Where they said President Biden will not settle for a package that does not meet the moment right now. And they said they believed the plan he crafted was carefully crafted to do so. And so the question is whether they're going to go it alone, move forward with this reconciliation process where they would not need Republican votes. The White House did mention that in their statement as a means to an end.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Former U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have finally nailed down a legal team to defend him in next week's Senate impeachment trial. He parted ways with five of his attorneys last week. A source tells CNN the new team's defense strategy will focus heavily on the constitutionality of the trial and not on Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger has more on Trump's strategy that will be presented in a pre-trial brief later today.
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GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I have some information from a source who's familiar with their brief, and he said to me that the focus is going to be on what he called the unconstitutional nature of the Democrat's impeachment witch hunt. So he said there will be four to five major themes. The unconstitutional nature will be the biggest, but when I asked about the rigged election and where that's going to be on there, the response was that will not be the, quote, focal point.
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CHURCH: Well, CNN's Jim Acosta reports on some of the attorneys Trump has hired for his impeachment trial.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With little more than one week before his second impeachment trial, this time for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol, former President Donald Trump is still working out the kinks on his defense team. bringing on two new attorneys, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, to replace the five lawyers who bailed on him last week.
It's likely Trump has seen his new impeachment attorneys in action television. Schoen defended longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, whose sentence in the Russia investigation was commuted by the former president.
DAVID SCHOEN, ATTORNEY FOR ROGER STONE: This commutation is a great tribute to President Trump.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Castor, a former prosecutor, made headlines for declining to charge actor Bill Cosby for sex crimes.
Adding to the coming impeachment spectacle, Trump is expected to resurrect his big lie that the election was stolen from him.
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): To me, that just says it's really important that, as a country, we come face to face with the facts and the truth.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Democrats will steer their case to Trump's role in the Capitol siege, noting, even some of the rioters, like the so- called QAnon Shaman, believe the former president is responsible.
ALBERT WATKINS, ATTORNEY FOR JACOB CHANSLEY: He regrets very, very much having not just been duped by the president, but by being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position of making decisions that he should not have made.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Another problem for Trump, his ties to GOP lawmakers who are still lying about the election, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted over the weekend.
I had a great call with my all-time favorite POTUS, President Trump. House Republicans are still deciding whether to punish the controversial lawmaker, who's under pressure from Democrats, insisting she be stripped of her committee assignments. Even some in the GOP agree the party needs to take a stand.
SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): I think Republican leaders ought to stand up and say it is totally unacceptable, what she has said.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The post-Trump era is getting even more messy for Republicans, as others in the party would rather go after Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach the ex-president.
[04:15:00]
Over at the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the new administration isn't paying much attention to the lingering Trump drama.
PSAKI: We don't spend a lot of time talking about or thinking about President Trump here, former President Trump, to be very clear. I can't say we miss him on Twitter.
ACOSTA: And a Trump adviser said more attorneys could be added to the ex-president's impeachment team in the coming days. A separate adviser said the ex-president remains obsessed with the false conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from him.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: The top Senate Republican has made it clear where he stands on Marjorie Taylor Greene. On Monday minority leader Mitch McConnell slammed Greene for spreading wild conspiracy theories saying in a statement, and I'm quoting directly.
Looney lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. Somebody who suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre- staged and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.
McConnell didn't mention Greene by name, but she got the message. The Congresswoman shot back on Twitter saying this --
The real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country -- she says.
Well U.S. House Democrats are now calling on the Republican leadership to strip Greene of her committee assignments. CNN's Ryan Nobles has more now from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: House and Senate will both be back in session on Tuesday and we're going to start to see this boiling tension between the Republicans come to a head as they meet to talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's that Congresswoman from Georgia who is the supporter of President Trump but who has also espoused a lot of conspiracy theories.
Suggesting that the Parkland shooting was a false flag. Even suggesting that some Democratic leaders like Speakers Pelosi be executed. The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, scheduled to meet with her on Tuesday. And this comes as Democrats are demanding that she be removed from the education and budget committees. At this point McCarthy has been reluctant to do that. But Democrats are saying if he doesn't, they will, and that process will begin with the rules committee meeting on Wednesday.
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CHURCH: Well still to come, an urgent message from the highest medical authorities. Viruses can't mutate if they don't replicate, so vaccinate. But in some places that is easier said than done. Back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible to stop more COVID mutations from emerging. This comes amid a push for more vaccines and news of a new way to get tested. CNN's Nick Watt has our report.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Production now ramping up on this, an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 test, roughly 95 percent accurate results in just 15 minutes.
ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR ADVISER TO WHITE HOUSE COVID RESPONSE TEAM: It can be used if you feel symptoms of COVID-19, and also for screening for people without symptoms, so they can safely go to work, to school and to events.
WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, in the still sluggish vaccine rollout --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is just ridiculous.
WATT (voice-over): There's at least one simple way to speed this up. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice gets it.
JUSTICE: If we have got vaccines that are sitting on a warehouse shelf, I mean, they need to be in somebody's arm.
WATT (voice-over): But just six states, including his, have so far injected more than 75 percent of the doses they've been given. Today, a forceful message from the feds. Do not hold back for second doses. SLAVITT: It does not need to happen and should not happen.
WATT (voice-over): Because, unlike team Trump, team Biden has pledged to give states three weeks' notice when more doses are coming and how many.
SLAVITT: They now have the predictability that the second dose will be there when the time comes.
WATT (voice-over): Fenway Park, Boston, now a vaccination site, but when baseball starts?
SAM KENNEDY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BOSTON RED SOX: We will figure it out. It's just too important. We got to get everybody vaccinated.
WATT (voice-over): Elsewhere in the Northeast, a massive winter storm is getting in the way. Closing many sites in New York
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It is very dangerous out there.
WATT (voice-over): Here's the hope. After nearly two months, there are finally fewer than 100,000 Americans in the hospital right now fighting COVID- 19. But --
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Variants remain a great concern. And we continue to detect them in the United States.
WATT (voice-over): That more contagious strain first found in the U.K. now spreading here fast.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: What we're likely to see regionalized epidemics with this new variant. And there's two places in the country right now that are the biggest hot spots are Southern California and Southern Florida.
WATT: And all across the United States from midnight Monday, you have to wear a mask on mass transit. But some localities are actually easing restrictions like here in Los Angeles. Outdoor dining is back with restrictions, but it's back.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: Well, the United Kingdom is taking steps to limit the spreads of a COVID variant first found in South Africa. It's already had more than 100 cases of the new variant. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government is surging extra testing in affected areas.
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MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: We've now identified 105 cases of this variant here. Eleven of those cases don't appear to have any links to international travel. There's currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard and we will. We've already made sure that all these cases are isolating and that we've done enhanced contact tracing of all of their close contacts.
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CHURCH: Meanwhile, in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is putting a very specific date on it. Promising everyone will be offered a vaccine by September 21st. Melissa Bell is following the latest on vaccinations across Europe and she is with us live from Paris. Good to see you, Melissa. So what is the latest on vaccination hopes and expectations from right across Europe?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well the real determination there from Angela Merkel after that meeting yesterday with big pharma representatives to take control of the situation. At least with regards to Germany. But it is a very ambitious target.
Let's be clear, for the time being Germany hasn't vaccinated 3 percent of its population. So that gives you an idea of the task ahead. Elsewhere other countries are doing slightly better. Italy, Spain, Poland have vaccinated a little more. But crucially and remarkably, Rosemary, no European country has vaccinated more than 5 percent of its population. That's how far they are behind compared to other countries.
Contracts that were delayed in terms of their signature, and of course, those fears over supplies in some parts of Europe as well. So clearly a determination to get things back on track. In of course, in good news for the European Union are those extra doses that have been agreed with both AstraZeneca and BioNTech.
CHURCH: All right, and many thanks to our Melissa Bell joining us live from Paris.
Up next, an update on the investigation into the Capitol Hill insurrection. One Congresswomen is taking to Instagram with details of her experience that day. Why the riot forced the Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez to think of past trauma.
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CHURCH: Well, Monday saw an emotional and dramatic reveal from a U.S. lawmaker. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
