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Outrage over Navalny's Conviction; Biden Administration Reversing Trump Immigration Policies; Jeff Bezos Steps Down as Amazon CEO; U.S. COVID-19 Cases in Decline. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 03, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, 2.5 years in a gulag-like prison for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Russia's most prominent prisoner plans to appeal as supporters hold more widespread demonstrations.
The executive orders just keep coming from the Biden White House, the latest aimed at undoing the cruelty of the Trump era immigration policies and a promise of no more kids in cages.
If you're going to go, go out on top. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos steps away from the day-to-day operations to pursue other interests, like "The Washington Post" and saving the planet.
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VAUSE: We begin this hour in Russia, where supporters of Alexei Navalny are planning more nationwide protests after a Moscow court ordered the Kremlin critic to serve more than 2.5 years in prison.
Russia has seen huge demonstrations for the past 2 weekends, and crowds of demonstrators were back in the streets of Moscow and other cities Tuesday. Many were beaten by riot police armed with the times before being herded onto buses.
One monitoring group says more than 1,000 protesters were detained on Tuesday. The court ruled that Navalny violated parole when he left Germany to be treated for Novichok poisoning allegedly at the hands of Russian secret agents.
Navalny ridiculed the court's rationale, lashing out against Putin, calling him Putin the poisoner.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anger is pouring out onto the streets of the Russian capital, protesters furious at the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, making their voices heard.
"Let him go," they chant.
Earlier, outside the Moscow port, police detained hundreds to make sure this hearing passed off undisturbed. The real drama unfolded inside. Alexei Navalny glanced towards his wife in the gallery, drawing a heart on the pane of his glass cage, as the judge read out the decision. Russia's most prominent Putin critic was being sent to jail.
"Somebody doesn't want me to set foot in Russia," he told the court earlier.
"The reason for this is the hatred and fear of one person who is hiding in a bunker. I've offended him so deeply by the fact that I survived," he said.
Outside, his lawyers told CNN Navalny took the court's decision bravely as usual but they said they will definitely appeal.
It was these images of the opposition leader groaning in agony after being poisoned by a suspected nerve agent in Siberia last year that shocked the world. His recovery and defined return to arrest in Russia has also struck a chord.
Last week, slamming his detention as blatantly illegal, telling the judge in his latest hearing that he was being persecuted because he survived assassination and that President Putin himself was behind it, something that Kremlin has denied.
"His main grievance against me," he told the court, "is that he'll go down in history as Putin the poisoner."
For the past two weeks, this country has been rocked by some of the biggest anti-Kremlin protests it's ever seen. Tens of thousands of turned out, demanding change and for Navalny to be set free. Critics say a heavy-handed response, with thousands detained nationwide, underlines how threatened the Kremlin really feels.
But the Kremlin tells CNN President Putin himself isn't even following the trials of his biggest critic. Instead, the Russian president was shown greeting teachers of the future generation.
But it's the generation of Russians now protesting on the streets outside inspired by Alexei Navalny that may yet prove Putin's most dangerous challenge.
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CHANCE: Well, John, right now, supporters of Alexei Navalny have urged the protesters to disperse and to go home. But they say a government that kills opponents and imprisons innocent people won't be tolerated.
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CHANCE: They're vowing to be back on the streets again soon -- back to you, John.
VAUSE: Matthew, thank, you.
Joining me now from Tucson, Arizona, CNN national security analyst Steve Hall, he is also the former CIA chief of Russia and Ukraine operations.
Steve, thanks for being with us.
STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure, my pleasure, John.
VAUSE: Russia has a unique prison system, embraces all the nostalgia of the Soviet era gulags. Begins with a journey to a prison camp in a windowless railroad carriage in which prisoners in groups of 10 are transported in compartments, measuring 3.4 square meters, about 10 square feet.
Neither the convicts or the families know their destinations, the prisons hold up to 50 prisoners in one cell. The infrastructure dates back to 1970. It's difficult to maintain basic hygiene. All this leading to regular outbreaks of epidemics, for years one of the major problems in Russian prisons has been prisoners developing AIDS and tuberculosis, according to data from the federal penitentiary service, up to a third of deaths in prison are caused by AIDS.
You can imagine the impact now with COVID-19. Navalny has never really done a period of hard time before. He's been under house arrest. This sounds like he's in for a very rough, difficult time.
HALL: Absolutely he, is the tuberculosis and all the diseases and, of course, the Russian system just doesn't care. I think one of the things that we forget about in the West is really how competent the Russian government is at repressing its own people.
The conditions that you're describing is a good example of. That it's horrific but in addition to that the Russian secret services are working very hard right now to undermine not just Navalny but his organization.
They are very well-organized to do precisely that, so that is one of the things I think they will really be focused on, over the next few weeks.
VAUSE: So with Navalny now locked out, on his way to being locked up, there is this question is who is running day-to-day operations for the opposition movement. And an agent of Navalny, Leonid Volkov, said they will continue to organize protests, investigations into corruption will not stop and they will keep supporting critics of the Kremlin. Here's more from him.
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LEONID VOLKOV, NAVALNY'S CHIEF OF STAFF: Some things we anticipated, some things we are ready for. And that's something for which we have a plan that we discussed with him in Berlin before he came back to Russia. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So they've got a plan but how realistic is this?
Can Navalny remain in contact with his opposition group, can he maintain regular input into the big decisions?
HALL: It's going to be very difficult for him once he's inside the system to do that. That said, it's really been interesting and Volkov knows that they've been planning things since Berlin.
I would argue that they probably been doing that well before then. For a relatively small organization, Navalny's organization has really done a good job of pushing back against what I was just describing, as a really significant secret, repressive service, that the Russian government has.
So, yes, it's going to be harder for them, because how do you basically press forward when your leader is behind bars?
This is part of the dictator's dilemma, you take them off the streets and all of a sudden everybody's focused on the fact that he's in jail and he's somewhat of -- not a martyr he's not dead -- but there's a martyr-like quality to him when he's in jail, which I think will make his organizations operations and a groundswell of support from inside and outside of Russia a little easier.
VAUSE: That's my next question, the big picture right now is the sentencing is basically fueling support for the opposition movement.
Question is how long does that?
Last 2.5 years away from the political spotlight, it's a long time. It's a calculation Putin is making, get him away from the cameras and Russia and Putin will just move on.
HALL: It is a real chess game, I think Navalny made a calculation, had he gone the route of somebody like Mikhail Khodorkovsky who decided after his prison term to spend the rest of his time outside of Russia. I think Navalny made the assessment that can not be as effective as if he were inside of Russia, knowing he stood a very good chance of being incarcerated again.
Yet nevertheless having this amplifying effect, even though he's in jail. So Putin is betting that people will forget, they go back to their normal lives and he has to look next door to Belarus, to see that the protests there continue.
Nevertheless, he can afford to be patient and hope that the Russian people will not keep doing and keep protesting as they are now. We'll see who plays the better chess match.
VAUSE: Good point to finish on, Steve, thank you very much, with some very good insights and thank you.
HALL: Sure. VAUSE: The undoing continues with U.S. President Joe Biden focusing
on Trump era immigration policies, he signed 3 executive orders on Tuesday.
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VAUSE: Dealing with the causes of migration from Central America, also reviewing a Trump era policy requiring non-Mexican migrants to remain in Mexico until their court date in the U.S.
It would also review the naturalization process to streamline it and make it more acceptable. A task force will work to reunify families that were separated at the U.S. border during the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to work on undoing the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally, not figuratively, ripped children from the arms of their families, their mothers and fathers at the border. And with no plan, none whatsoever, to reunify the children, who are still in custody, and their parents.
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VAUSE: Joining me now from Phoenix, Arizona, is Erica Andiola, from RAICES, a nonprofit organization, offering legal help to immigrants.
Erica, thanks for being with. Us
ERICA ANDIOLA, CHIEF ADVOCACY OFFICER, RAICES: Thanks so much for having me.
VAUSE: One of worst outrages of the Trump administration was the policy of family separation on the southern border, the kids in the cages. Biden announced a task force to try and reunite 545 children still separated from their parents.
That does seem to fall short, in rectifying what was essentially human rights violation.
Were you expecting a lot more?
ANDIOLA: We were definitely expecting a lot more, listen it's a first good step it's always good to ensure that there is a task force that is working on this.
We immediately get to work to ensure that we are undoing a lot of this harm that was done to thousands of families, who were really seeking asylum in this country. I think for us what is very important is that we're not only focusing the task force on reuniting the families, which needs to be done. There is more than 600 families right now that we know, of that have not been able to be reunited.
But then we go beyond that and we make sure that they are being able to stay here in the United States, as they're reunited that they're not being deported and taken into the countries that they are fleeing from.
So it really needs to be expanded a lot more in terms of what the task force is supposed to be doing, also to ensuring that the people who are here in United States who were separated and then reunited here, that they are also having the ability to stay here and we are able to halter deportations, that we give them a path to be in this country, protected without being fearful of being deported again.
VAUSE: General criticism of all of these early actions taken by Joe Biden, while the words, the timing, the tone hit the mark, detail and substance is lacking, you can add to that, in the case of immigration, time is short.
There's thousands of asylum seekers, still living in dangerous and appalling border camps, waiting for their cases to be considered by officials in the U.S. Now they are being told, hurry up and wait just a little longer. That seems incredibly cruel.
ANDIOLA: It is, it is. Really as you mention, this is a humanitarian crisis. This isn't just a policy that can wait. This is human lives at stake. We've seen it firsthand, with our own organization, our own clients, our attorneys, who represent a lot of people who came to seek asylum and they were told to wait in Mexico, many times homeless, many times having to live in camps.
And with a pandemic, it's important that we have a new Secretary of DHS and it's important that he gets to work immediately on this, that we hear more from the administration on the details, what they're going to do to end the policies.
VAUSE: You know, all of these announcements on Tuesday, by executive action, Joe Biden has signed more than 40 since taking office, a point not lost on the president, here he is.
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BIDEN: I want to make it clear, there's a lot of talk, with good reason, about the number of executive orders that I have signed. I'm not making new law; I'm eliminating bad policy.
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VAUSE: But when it comes to making law, the White House will try and pass immigration reforms through Congress, President Obama and Bush both tried and failed.
What says it will be any different this time?
ANDIOLA: Yes, I mean look we have had a promise to change immigration policy and laws, to pass immigration reform for decades. Bush promised, Barack Obama promised and then Trump came in and we had a disaster. And he just did terrible things to the immigrant community.
Now we have another Democratic president, who promised that he was going to do something on immigration.
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ANDIOLA: And we hope that it's not just that, that it's not just the promise, we need to see actual action happening. And honestly, I am worried that we are not going to be able to get Republicans to agree with us on immigration.
We will do everything to try to get them aboard and get more enforcement and humane treatment of the immigrant community, because Republicans, that's what they have been wanting to do.
Right now, the message to Democrats is they can do it alone. There are tools, the ability to end the filibuster, so that Democrats have the ability to pass legislation on their own or the ability to pass some path to citizenship through the reconciliation bill that they are supposed to be passing soon.
There's many ways to do it without having to rely on Republicans.
VAUSE: They will not have that opportunity or ability for long, maybe two years or longer. Erica, thank you. I appreciate you being with us.
ANDIOLA: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: After changing the world, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wants more time for other interests. Just ahead, the man who created Amazon is handing over day-to-day operations.
Plus, more dangerous coronavirus mutations being detected. Details in the next hour.
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VAUSE: It started as an idea three decades ago and is now one of most valuable companies in the world. The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has announced he will step down as chief executive later this year.
Bezos will remain on the board as executive chair. Longtime employee Andy Jassy will take over as CEO. Selina Wang joins us live from Tokyo.
Why now?
The company was showing record profits last quarter. The stock price is up. Bezos is worth a gazillion.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's being seen as an inevitable move. It's also the end of an era. Jeff Bezos said 27 years ago when he started Amazon, it was just an idea. At the time, the most common question he was getting asked is what is the internet. How things have changed. Amazon is now the $1.7 trillion giant in retail, logistics,
entertainment, cloud computing, advertising and much more, upending traditional industries. Along the way, he has accumulated massive amounts of wealth.
As for the timing, he is ending on a relatively high note. The company surpassed $100 billion in sales in a single quarter.
At the same time, Andy Jassy will be inheriting a slew of problems, even though the pandemic has led to massive growth. It has led to supply chain issues, labor unrest on top of that.
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WANG: Amazon is dealing with growing scrutiny from lawmakers around the world, dealing with multiple federal investigations into competitive practices. Lawmakers have claimed Amazon exerts monopoly power over sellers.
Jeff Bezos was called to testify in front of Congress last year. The E.U. just charged Amazon with antitrust violations. So Andy Jassy will be inheriting the massive behemoth that Amazon is today, as well as all the baggage it comes with.
VAUSE: What do we know about Andy Jassy?
He has been a loyal deputy.
Will he bring a unique style of leadership to Amazon?
How does he fill Jeff Bezos' shoes?
WANG: He has been a very close lieutenant of Bezos for decades. He has been there for more than two decades. He's been the leader of Amazon Web Services since its inception. This is the cloud computing business that has become a powerhouse within the company. It's a key driver of the profit, a market leader in crowd computing. It is still growing significantly. He is seen as the natural and obvious choice.
I also want to bring up the quote that Jeff Bezos had in email to employees that gives a bit more context around why he is leaving and what it means.
He said, "As much as I still tap dance into the office, I'm excited about this transition as executive chairman. I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Being CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility and it's consuming. I've never had that much energy and this isn't about retiring."
The reason I bring that up is because Bezos is still going to be involved in key Amazon projects. He is still Amazon's biggest shareholder. With this move to executive chair, it frees up more time for Bezos to pursue his moonshot project, innovations like space travel as well as causes like climate change and spend more time on "The Washington Post," which Bezos owns, stepping back but not stepping away -- John. VAUSE: Selina, thank you.
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VAUSE: The World Health Organization says COVID-19 cases worldwide is down 10 percent, the third straight week of declining infections. Health experts warn the trend may not continue as contagious variants spread quickly.
Officials insist vaccinations remain the best defense against COVID and now a new study by Oxford suggests the vaccine may limit the transmission of the virus rather than reduce the severity of the disease.
The Biden administration has announced new plans to make vaccines more accessible nationwide. The federal government will provide more doses to states and also ship those doses directly to retail pharmacies across the country starting next week. Erica Hill has details.
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Local pharmacies now next in line to administer vaccines.
JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities and it is an important component to delivering vaccines equitably.
HILL (voice-over): The Biden administration will begin shipping directly to pharmacies next week, part of a long-promised plan to expand access. CVS says it's ready in 11 states, Walgreens announcing plans for 14 states and cities and Puerto Rico. Those doses part of a 20 percent boost in production, which also means more for states.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): The demand is very, very much there, which is what we knew it would be.
HILL (voice-over): While the pace is getting better, nearly two- thirds of distributed doses are now in arms, supply remains a hurdle. This site in Phoenix can accommodate 10,000 to 12,000 shots a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just trying to do my part.
HILL: But for now, there is only enough vaccine for 500 a day.
DR. DARA CHRIST, ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES: What we're hearing is that we're going to be at about this same level for the next few weeks.
HILL (voice-over): Sixteen lanes up and running at the Texas Motor Speedway...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very impressive.
HILL (voice-over): -- the state's largest drive-through vaccination site, where officials say they can process 1,000 people an hour. MATT RICHARDSON, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, DENTON COUNTY, TEXAS: We do know that we have several thousand second doses that are coming due. And so we will be allocating those second doses.
HILL (voice-over): Moderna asking the FDA for permission to increase the number of doses in each vial from 10 to 15.
A new study suggests just one dose may be enough for people who already had the virus, but ...
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Previous infection does not seem to protect you against re-infection, at least with the South African variant.
HILL (voice-over): -- prompting new urgency.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: We have to deliver 500 million immunizations between now and late spring, early summer, to get ahead of these variants and it's going to be tough.
HILL (voice-over): A drop in new cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates prompting some areas to loosen restrictions on indoor dining...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels good. It's nice to be out.
HILL (voice-over): -- even extending bar hours...
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JOSHUA PEMBERTON, NASHVILLE UNDERGROUND: What it allows us to do is hire more people and bring more of our employees back to work.
HILL (voice-over): -- though experts warn this reprieve may not last.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: The variants are here. They're circulating and they are going to cause a large spike in cases.
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VAUSE: That spike is already happening in the U.K. A government adviser says the cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus identified in the U.K. are just the tip of the iceberg. They may have underestimated the number of those cases in the country.
What's even more alarming is the mutation that's emerging. Experts say it could allow the virus to escape the immune protection of vaccines.
U.K. researchers are leading the way in understanding how the coronavirus mutates and what it means for our ability to fight it. Scott McLean went inside the country's massive variant detection operation and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If there is a secret weapon in the global fight against the mutating coronavirus, you might find it here. A cluster of buildings just off the highway near Cambridge.
Every day vans arrive at the Sanger Institute carrying thousands of COVID swabs from across the country. They are stored in industrial freezers.
MCLEAN: It's all just waiting to be sequenced?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a mixture of (INAUDIBLE) to propose at some place at the moment.
MCLEAN (voice-over): A robot picks up the positive samples from the negative ones and puts them on a separate tray which is sealed. In another lab, hundreds of samples get mixed into a single vial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, in this single sequencing room there'll be over 700 SARS COVID-2 samples.
MCLEAN: You guys are pretty efficient?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an industrial sequencing, yes.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Special chemicals are added, the tubes are shaken up, pressed between two pieces of glass and then put into giant computers to be genetically sequenced. Fifteen hours later, they spit out so much genetic data, entire server farms have been built to house it.
After that, scientists on site and at a network of universities across the U.K. start searching through the data.
EWAN HARRISON, PROJECT MANAGER, COVID-19 GENOMICS CONSORTIUM: We're looking for mutations that may allow the virus to either be more transmissible or to cause more severe disease and for mutations that we think might affect the ability of the vaccines to protect people.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Less than two months ago, that data was used to identify a faster spreading variant of the virus called B117.
That variant was first spotted in an unlikely place. Here in Kent in Southeast England, famous for its white cliffs, rolling countryside and a lot of people who make the daily commute to London, it wasn't long before the variant was detected in the capital and eventually throughout the four nations of the U.K. and in dozens of other countries. The CDC says it could become the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S. by March.
RAVINDRA GUPTA, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE: That is the U.K. variant, B117.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Professor Ravi Gupta had been studying an immunocompromised person who couldn't shake the virus for more than three months, giving new mutations time to multiply inside the body that couldn't fight back.
When Gupta checked that sequencing database, he found a COVID-19 variant that shared a key mutation with the one his patient was fighting.
MCLEAN: How likely is it that patient zero was immunocompromised person?
GUPTA: I think it's very, very likely. We found very few, virtually no sequences, that are highly related, to the other variant. In other words, it popped out of nowhere.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Gupta's ongoing research has so far found that vaccines are still largely affective, even on the new variant but maybe not for long.
GUPTA: The viruses are already on their way to becoming more resistant to the immune system and to vaccines.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Variants have been found in Brazil and South Africa where scientists have the tools to sequence the virus' genome. Many other countries don't. So now the British government is volunteering to do it for them.
MCLEAN: How likely is it that there are dangerous variants of the virus in other countries that we don't even know about?
GUPTA: It is very likely there are undetected variants out there.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Scott McLean, CNN, Southeast England.
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VAUSE: Just ahead, Donald Trump's legal team submits the impeachment defense. Turns out the legal brief is lacking one very crucial element, a reason to acquit.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: While the U.S. president has been talking bipartisanship, congressional Democrats are making plans to pass their almost $2 trillion COVID relief bill without Republican support.
President Biden told Senate Republicans their $600 billion counter offer fell way short.
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JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's bottom line is that this is a package. The risk here, as he has said many times, is not going too big, it is going too small.
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VAUSE: Republicans are suddenly concerned about budget deficits and the national debt, and believe the relief package is too costly. Democrats are now laying the groundwork to fast-track the bill by
using a legislative shortcut called budget reconciliation. That requires just a simple majority to pass. Republicans cannot use the filibuster.
Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial is less than a week away, and we're getting our first look at the arguments from both sides. House Democrats claim Trump is singularly responsible for the Capitol insurrection that left five people dead.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on the former president's defense.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's impeachment lawyers are trying to build a wall of their own, separating the bloody siege at the Capitol on January 6 and the then- president's words before the riot.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will stop the steal.
ACOSTA: In its response to the impeachment allegations brought by House Democrats, the Trump defense team writes, "It is denied that the 45th president engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States," adding, "The 45th president exercised his First Amendment right under the Constitution to express his belief that the election results were suspect."
DAVID SCHOEN, TRUMP IMPEACHMENT ATTORNEY: This is a very, very dangerous road to take with respect to the First Amendment, putting at risk any passionate political speaker, which is really against everything we believe in, in this country.
ACOSTA: As for Trump's instructions to the crowd, to quote, "fight like hell" --
TRUMP: And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
ACOSTA: His lawyer stated, "It is denied that the phrase 'if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore' had anything to do with the action at the Capitol, as it was clearly about the need to fight for election security in general."
In their filing, which misspells "United States" on the first page, Trump's attorneys insist he never tried to subvert the certification of the election results, but that's not true, as he pressured state election officials --
TRUMP (via phone): So what are you going to do here? I only need 11,000 votes, fellows. I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.
ACOSTA: -- even his vice president to do his bidding.
TRUMP: And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. ACOSTA: House Democrats plan to use clips of Trump's speech --
TRUMP: You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.
ACOSTA: -- as well as comments made by his violent supporters --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand down. You're outnumbered. There's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) million of us out there. And we are listening to Trump, your boss.
ACOSTA: -- to prove the former president instigated the riot, writing, "If provoking an insurrectionary riot against a joint session of Congress, after losing an election, is not an impeachable offense, it is hard to imagine what would be."
As for the claim made by Trump's lawyers that he can't be tried after leaving office, the Democrats counter, "There is no January exception to impeachment or any provision of the Constitution."
Still, some Democrats worry this Trump trial will end like the last one.
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): I'm very worried about going through this trial and having the punchline at the end being Trump acquitted again.
ACOSTA (on camera): Trump clearly won the battle with his own lawyers over whether to include the ex-president's bogus claims that the election was stolen from him. Trump advisors say the former president remains obsessed with that big lie
Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: To Los Angeles now and Ron Brownstein, a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic."
Ron, it's good have you with us. Thank you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.
VAUSE: You know, it's never a good sign when your best legal defense, the argument that this trial in the Senate is unconstitutional is basically a total nonstarter, but that's what we have here with this legal brief filed by the Trump team, complete with front page typo, and then on the substance, nothing in this makes a case for acquittal.
So if this is an open-and-shut case, as it seems to be, and Republican senators have a choice to either condemn or condone the behavior of Donald Trump. And while Trump is the defendant are Republican senators really the ones who will be on trial?
BROWNSTEIN: Yet in many ways, it is -- it is the future of the Republican Party that we are seeing on trial here, because there was a moment, a minute, an hour after the January 6th attack where more Republicans, including the outgoing Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, appeared ready to grapple with the full implications of what Trump has done to their party over four years; the way he has essentially opened the door and erased any last distinctions between the Republican coalition and far-right white nationalist extremism, the way he has overrun the rule of law and so forth.
But, you know, over the course of the month, that has significantly eroded. And you have 45 Republican senators, essentially signaling that they will take the dodge of -- of, you know, hiding behind the fig leaf of what is clearly a very flimsy argument that you cannot hold a trial, impeachment trial for someone after they've left office. In fact, there's precedent for doing so in the 19th Century.
And above all, they want to avoid grappling with the substance of the charges that he faces.
VAUSE: They're talking about the future of the Republican Party, well the leader of the Republican minority in the lower house, he met with the crazy QAnon lady from Georgia on Tuesday night.
According to Republican officials, Kevin McCarthy gave no indication that Greene showed any remorse or contrition for her comments -- these are about, you know, the school shootings being red flags and, you know, hanging Nancy Pelosi.
Well, there's a belief among the GOP members that she should be off her two committees. There's a concern about punishing members for things they did before winning their elections.
And hence, we have the dilemma for Republicans. T he good folk of north Georgia overwhelmingly send her to Congress. They knew about all the crazy stuff that she believed, because they believe that crazy stuff, as well. She's a true representative of her district.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, right. And look, I mean, it is a reflection, at the most extreme end, of the way the Republican coalition has been evolving for years. But certainly under Trump, I mean, what we see is Republicans are more and more dependent on the voters who are the most alienated from the way America is changing, demographically, culturally, economically.
She is obviously an extreme version of that. The people who rioted at the Capitol are an extreme version of that. But we don't see the willingness within the leadership of the party, by and large, to draw a firm boundary between these kinds of extremist voices and kind of, you know, more mainstream conservatives.
You know, I've -- you look back in the early 1960s, Republicans were more willing then to separate from the John Birch Society than we see Republicans today being willing to separate from QAnon.
And I think overhanging any decision they make about Marjorie Taylor Greene is the fear of offending Trump, who has not only welcomed her, but described as we go back to Charlottesville, you know, kind of the neo-Nazis marching there as "very fine people," and who may take it as a personal affront if the GOP tries to withdraw from the kind of extreme elements to which he has provided so much oxygen over the last four years.
VAUSE: Yes, and on the other side of the aisle, Democrats on Tuesday took the first steps towards a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation. That would allow Congress to approve this pandemic relief bill with a simple majority, as opposed to the two-thirds to prevent a filibuster. He's the Senate leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Joe Biden is totally on board with using reconciliation. I've been talking to him every day. Our staff have been talking multiple times a day. We are not going to dilute this so it doesn't help the American people get out of this crisis quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, he said not -- there will be no diluting, no dithering, no delay.
If history is prologue, it would seem chances are that Democrats will have to go with the reconciliation route to pass this bill, right?
BROWNSTEIN: Right, well there's some real relevant history here, as you know. In 2009, when Barack Obama came in with another enormous economic crisis, Democrats bargained away several hundred million dollars in spending in their stimulus bill that they had then; shifted some of the spending towards tax cuts, all in the name of winning three Republican votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster.
And to this day, there is a substantial portion of Democrats who believe that, because they shrunk the size of the package, it did not have the impact economically that they expected, and it contributed to their historic losses in the 2010 midterms.
They just -- there's just very little stomach for repeating that, particularly after all of the part of the bruising partisan warfare of the Trump years.
You know, this is really prologue. There's only so much that you can do with reconciliation, the special tools that allows you to do this, with 51 votes. They can do this. They can be one more package with reconciliation.
But the bulk of their agenda, everything from immigration to voting rights and criminal justice reform, will still be subject to that 60- vote limit in the Senate, unless they are willing to end the filibuster.
So, you know, the fact that they have this alternative here gives them and out, but sooner or later, they are going to have to confront that underlying structural issue that gives the Republican Party, that now represents, I believe, 44 percent of the country in the Senate, a veto over what the majority wants to do.
VAUSE: Right. Ron, a good point to finish, thank you. Ron Brownstein there in Los Angeles. Appreciated it. Thanks. BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us. I'll be back in about 15 minutes with a lot more world news. But in the meantime, WORLD SPORT is up next. See you soon.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: -- the continued spread of new variants and more mutations.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Right, and I think the other note to make here is that, as much as we're concerned about these variants that may compromise the immune response. When you actually look at the studies that were done by the J&J vaccine in South Africa, it looked like what had happened there was, yes, people did get infected with the variant strain even though they had the vaccine, but it was much less severe, and that we didn't see the big increase in hospitalizations or deaths.
That by itself isn't the perfect end point. We'd like to prevent disease, but if we can prevent severe disease, hospitalizations or deaths, that by itself is still a big victory against the variants.
COOPER: And Sanjay, we mentioned this intro -- in the intro this U.K. study finding people who previously had COVID-19 likely retained antibodies for at least six months. So if you have antibodies against an old variant, how helpful would they be against a new variant?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's a really good question. I think that they would be helpful. And I spent some time today digging into that exact question.
So I think they would still be helpful in terms of, as doctor -- as Professor Osterholm was saying, in terms of preventing severe disease.
You know, this is the thing. Are you trying to prevent infection? You don't want the virus. Don't get me wrong. I don't think people want to get infected. But what is it that we're really hoping for? That people don't get sick, they don't get hospitalized, and they don't die, obviously.
And if we can just show the J&J numbers, since you brought that up, I mean, I think it's important when you look at the -- the vaccine how well it works, it doesn't work for mild to moderate disease against the variants, as well.
But if you look at that bottom line on the right. Eighty-five percent protection against severe disease. In these trials, five trials, 75,000 patients, nobody who got the vaccine in those trials died.
COOPER: Right. That's good.
GUPTA: Which I think is -- is really important.
COOPER: Yes, no, that is hugely important.
Sanjay, thank you. I feel a little better. Professor Michael Osterholm, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.
OSTERHOLM: Thank you.
COOPER: Tonight, as Congress prepares to honor Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, you're seeing the Rotunda there where he will lie in honor. The officer died as a result of injuries suffered in the attack last month.
We'll also tell you about the supermarket heiress who paid for much of that fiery Washington rally that preceded the insurrection. All that when we continue.
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COOPER: As we mentioned at the top of the program, the remains of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick will lie in a place of honor inside the Capitol Rotunda tonight before a congressional tribute scheduled for tomorrow.
The ceremony is a rare one usually reserved for American political leaders or high-profile jurists, such as the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Because of the pandemic, the ceremonies will be closed to the public.
Later in the day Officer Sicknick's remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
His family released a statement, saying in part, "Knowing our personal tragedy and loss is shared by our nation brings hope for healing."
In the meantime, CNN's Evan Perez reports that investigators are struggling to build a murder case in the wake of his death. They have yet to pinpoint a precise moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries.
Sicknick, who was a 13-year veteran of the Capitol Police force, died one day after the riot. With each passing day, it seems we are learning more about those who took part in the attack and more about the investigation.
For many, the underpinning of the insurrection was the rally held just before people stormed the Capitol. But who paid for it?
Randi Kaye now with a look into the supermarket heiress who funded much of the bill.
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ALEX JONES, INFOWARS: Thank God a donor came in that paid for, like, 80 percent of it, because it cost close to as (ph) million dollars.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's conspiracy theorist and host of "Infowars" Alex Jones, talking about a key donor who helped fund the bulk of that January 6 rally in Washington, D.C. That donor, according to "The Wall Street Journal," is Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the heiress to the multi-billion dollar Publix supermarket chain.
How much did she give? Three hundred thousand dollars, according to to "The Journal."
According to "Forbes," Fancelli is the heiress to a family fortune worth nearly $9 billion.
Fancelli didn't respond to CNN's request for comment but did issue a statement to "The Wall Street Journal," saying, "I am a proud conservative and have real concerns associated with election integrity. Yet, I would never support any violence, particularly the tragic and horrific events that unfolded on January 6."
Florida-based Publix has more than 1,200 stores in the southeast and more than 800 here in Florida alone. The backlash against the chain has been swift, with the hashtag "#boycottPublix" trending on Twitter.
One user tweeted, "Company heir bankrolled thousands to traitors who want to overturn our government. Won't be shopping with this dictatorship wannabe organization."
Another tweeted, calling for a boycott, saying, "Profits from this supermarket chain were used to fund Trump's illegal and seditiousness efforts at stealing the election and overthrowing our constitutional democracy."
Despite that, Publix's communications director told me via e-mail, "Mrs. Fancelli is not an employee of Publix Super Markets and is neither involved in our business operations, nor does she represent the company in any way. We cannot comment on Mrs. Fancelli's actions," adding, "The deplorable actions that occurred that day do not represent the values, work or opinion of our Publix Super Markets."
This isn't the first time Fancelli and Publix have been in the spotlight for their donations. In 2019, Fancelli donated $26,000 to Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
And in December last year, Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): So great to be here at Publix.
KAYE: That was just a month before DeSantis announced a state partnership with Publix pharmacies to distribute the vaccine in Florida.
[00:55:09]
DESANTIS: I'm delighted to be here in Marion County at Publix to make a really exciting announcement regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for our senior citizens.
KAYE: The timing of it all raised eyebrows. The governor's office denies the vaccine deal with Publix was any sort of quid pro quo, telling us those claims were "baseless and ridiculous."
But some on social media still need convincing. One Twitter user writing simply, "DeSantis has to go. He gave Publix the vaccine distribution after they gave him money."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So Randi, how many pharmacies in Florida are offering the vaccine now?
KAYE: Just tonight, Anderson, the governor said he's actually increasing the number off Publix pharmacies that will be offering it. Now, a total of 325 Publix pharmacies in 23 counties.
But the problem is, is that Publix isn't everywhere. It's not in a lot of these low-income, minority counties. So a lot of people who live there don't have access to the vaccine if they qualify and they're 65 or older. They might not have means of transportation or a car to get there.
The state is certainly trying to help. They have these mobile units going out. They have vaccination events taking place at churches. But a lot of the folks here asking, why not just expand it to other pharmacy chains in the state?
But now, Anderson, for the time being, if you're going to a pharmacy to get a vaccination, it is only available from Publix Pharmacies because of the deal with the state, Anderson.
COOPER: In Florida, Randi Kaye, thanks very much.
We'll be right back.
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