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Biden Proclaims 'America is Back, Diplomacy is Back'; U.S. House Ousts Rep. Greene from Committee Assignments; J&J Asks FDA to Authorize One-Dose Vaccine; White House Considers Mailing Face Masks to Every American; Protests Object to Military Coup in Myanmar; Russian Doctor Who Treated Navalny's Poisoning Has Died; London's Influence in Financial Sector Unclear Post Brexit; Anti-Vaxxers Use Pro-Trump 'Stop the Steal' Crusade to Advance Conspiracy Theories. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 05, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm John Vause. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.
[00:00:50]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America cannot afford to be absent any longer on the world stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: "America first" no more. President Joe Biden reaffirms U.S. commitment to friends and allies, puts rivals Russia and China on notice.
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny expected back in court in the coming hours as details emerge about the death of the Russian doctor who treated Navalny for poisoning.
And why vaccines are crucial in stopping those COVID mutations.
It's Joe Biden's world now, and on Thursday, during a major policy speech, he reassured old allies and friends, put rivals on notice, and told the men and women of America's diplomatic corps that they matter and he cares.
But most of all, the U.S. president made it clear the days of "America first" were done. It would be back to the future with a commitment to diplomacy, coalition building, as well as support for global institutions.
But can Joe Biden undo the damage of the past four years? CNN's Phil Mattingly begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: America is back. America is back. Diplomacy is back. PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Today President Joe Biden laying out the central organizing principles of his foreign policy.
BIDEN: We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home; working with our allies and partners; renewing our role in international institutions; and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority.
MATTINGLY: The president's first visit to the State Department underscoring a stark shift from his predecessor.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will always put America first.
MATTINGLY: Biden laying out an indictment of the Trump administration's work across the globe, signaling a new approach on Russia.
BIDEN: The days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over. We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interest in our people.
MATTINGLY: Aligning with allies to push back on the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny.
BIDEN: He's been targeted, targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.
MATTINGLY: With Biden providing glimpses of the administration's stance on China, pushing strength.
BIDEN: We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive course of action to push back on China's attack on human rights and intellectual property and global governance.
MATTINGLY: But with a willingness to talk.
BIDEN: But we are ready to work with Beijing, when it's in America's interest to do so.
MATTINGLY: And on the press.
BIDEN: We believe a free press isn't an adversary. Rather, it's essential.
MATTINGLY: Biden moving to end U.S. support for offensive actions in Yemen, while halting the drawdown of U.S. troops in Germany, amid a global force posture review.
And signing an executive order to boost refugee numbers, even as he acknowledged the dramatically reduced levels will take time to rebuild.
BIDEN: It's going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged. But that's precisely what we're going to do.
MATTINGLY: All serving as a baseline for a dramatic shift in U.S. posture.
BIDEN: We've taken steps to acknowledge and address systemic racism and the scourge of white supremacy in our own country.
MATTINGLY: As the U.S. grapples with its own deep divides.
BIDEN: Many of these values, have come under intense pressure in recent years, even pushed to the brink in the last few weeks. The American people are going to emerge from this moment stronger, more determined, and better equipped to unite the world in fighting to defend democracy. Because we have fought for it ourselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[00:05:00]
VAUSE: Our thanks to Phil Mattingly there for that report from the White House.
Well, for more on Biden's foreign policy speech, CNN's Steven Jiang is live now for us in Beijing.
Steven, during his address, Biden described China as the most serious competitor to the U.S. He promised to confront Beijing on human rights, intellectual property, economic policy. But on Wednesday, though, we also had the guided missile destroyer, the USS McCain, passing through the Taiwan Straits.
The U.S. Navy saying that this demonstrates the U.S. commitment for a free and open Indo-Pacific. It also shows the U.S. commitment to defending Taiwan. An act, in and of itself, seen as a provocation.
All this, though, is not surprising coming from a Biden administration.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: John, you're right. Not surprising because Mr. Biden and his team have been making some, if not all, of these points throughout the campaign and then after they took office.
Now, Mr. Biden, as you heard from Phil Mattingly, only spoke of China generally, but a lot of these overall themes in that speech are also talking about China. You know, he talked about the U.S. need to confront, to counter advancing authoritarianism, with the help of allies and the partners, and also values-led engagements.
So all these are obviously targeting China, as well, without mentioning its name. But this is something we have seen coming. Because they -- Mr. Biden's team have been making it clear they are not going to reverse or change some of Mr. Trump's toughest China policy measures anytime soon.
You mentioned them sending a warship through Taiwan Strait. They're also -- it looks like they're going to keep the genocide designation in terms of China's policy in the Muslim region of Xinjiang.
So the Chinese government has seen this coming, as well.
But what they have done and what they are about to do is -- is the key question so far. All signs pointing to them -- pointing to them sticking to their hotline positions and the policies.
And the -- the latest sign, and that is the speech given by Xi Jinping's most senior foreign policy aide, Yang Jiechi (ph), just a few days ago to a U.S.-based NGO. What did he say? He reiterated, basically, the reason U.S.-China relations plunging to its lowest point in decades was because of the misguided policies from the U.S., particularly from the Trump White House.
So he -- you know, he's throwing some of the buzzwords about cold war mentality, attempts of decoupling, denouncing them, but then, of course, mentioning again the way forward is mutual respect and winning cooperation.
We have heard all that before, but Mr. Yang's underlying message was it's all the fault of the U.S., and China is waiting for the new White House, the new Biden team, to correct the course, to correct the mistakes made by Mr. Trump so this relationship could progress.
So if that's the mentality, John, then a lot of people have said that speech misfired in its timing, in its tone and in its content. And even with a different occupant in the White House, this relationship is still going to have a lot of rocky, you know, periods ahead -- John.
VAUSE: Yes, well, that is always a given, I would imagine. On the other side of the ledger, though, there are U.S. allies. Biden has promised to return to the days of old, but how hard will that be to sort of build back that trust after Trump's erratic behavior? South Korea and Japan were left contemplating life without U.S. defense policy, had to to go on building their own policy without U.S. support. How do you go back from there?
JIANG: That is a big question, because you know, one thing, when it comes to this region, and especially in terms of China, Biden has said that he's going to form a united front against China, with its U.S. allies and partners, obviously South Korea and Japan, are two very important, you know, factors in this -- in this approach.
And that, of course, is also the most -- the most important difference between Mr. Biden's approach and Mr. Trump's approach, because obviously, the former president just wanted to go it alone.
But here's the thing, Mr. Biden said he wants to restore Americans' moral standing, and to revive these traditional alliances, to counter these threats he mentioned, including China. And that is, you know, something we need to see whether he can succeed. Because if he does, that's going to make life very difficult for the Beijing leadership.
But on the other hand, of course, the Beijing leadership has been getting good at dividing and conquering. You have seen them citing that investment deal with the E.U. right before Mr. Biden took office. And also increasingly sanctioning, punishing American allies to send a message to the U.S. government.
You know, you've seen what they've done to Australia, Canada, and increasing lightly to the U.K. You know, in this approach probably could be called, in that, you know, despite what they're trying to say is killing a chicken to scare the monkeys -- John.
VAUSE: Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang, live for us in Beijing.
CNN global affairs analyst and "Washington Post" columnist Max Boot is with us now to talk more about this, I guess, new direction in American foreign policy.
Good to see you, Max. Thanks for taking the time.
MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you for having.
VAUSE: So the message from Biden, especially to U.S. allies, sort of was along the lines of Trump is gone. Normal is back. Can we still be friends? Here is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Reforming habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscle of democratic alliances that have atrophied over the past few years of neglect and, I would argue, abuse. American alliances are our greatest asset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Maybe throw in "I'm sorry," as well. What Biden did not touch on was how he will repair those alliances which were damaged by Trump.
MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think he gave a general overview, but I think it is significant, first of all, that he does recognize the importance of rebuilding that trust with U.S. allies, and he knows that it can't be taken for granted. I thought it was actually pretty significant where he said, that trust has to be earned back. The relationships have to be repaired.
Because he understands that the damage that Trump has done to American standing in the world and to American alliances, it's not all suddenly going to evaporate simply because Trump is out of office. That damage will linger.
Because people around the world are also going to be asking themselves, can they trust America? Or is Trump's America the real America, and therefore, should they be worried about the future?
And so, you know, I think Biden understands what a massive job he has in ensuring the world that America is once again interested in multilateralism and in tackling transnational issues like global warming and the coronavirus. But I think he certainly said the right things, and set the right tone in this message to the State Department. VAUSE: Yes and for the last, you know, four years, foreign policy
under Donald Trump had, you know, the nuance and sophistication of right-wing talk radio. Biden used part of the speech to remind the American people, which is important, about the value of diplomacy. Again, here's the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Investing in our diplomacy isn't something we do just because it's the right thing to do for the world. We do it in order to live in peace, security and prosperity. We do it because it is in our own naked self-interest. When we strengthen our alliances, we amplify our power, as well as our ability to disrupt threats before they can reach our shores.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And yes, that seems to me to be a which has sort of been missing an action for the last couple of years.
BOOT: Yes, exactly. I think, like, a lot of the stuff that Biden said at the State Department, a lot of it is, on one level, just platitudes. It's truisms. It's things that we have heard a million times before from previous American presidents. For example, about the importance of diplomacy or human rights, or working with our allies. It's very easy to go, Ho hum, you know, nothing new here.
But in fact, it is very new, given what we've had for the last four years, the lunacy of the Trump administration and their "America first," go it alone foreign policy, which involved kicking our allies and kissing up to our enemies.
So what Biden is basically signaling is he is restoring rationality and sanity, and trying to recreate the traditional American foreign policy based on American ideals and working with American allies.
VAUSE: Yes, also with regards to the State Department, it was sort of on the receiving end of a lot of hostility under the Trump administration. Certainly was on the receiving end of a lot of budget cuts. Joe Biden offers some reassuring words that those days are over. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I want the people who work in this building and our embassies and consulates around the world, I want them to know I value your expertise, and I respect you. And I will have your back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So just logistically, I mean, the numbers in the State Department, they've been gutting. They say a lot of experienced people have left, attracting new people to an environment which was, at least under Trump, openly hostile. I mean, you don't go into government for the money. You go in there for the prestige and to do something for your country. It's very hard to attract people under, you know, the previous
administration. How hard will be to rebuild the State Department?
BOOT: It's not going to be easy, and it's going to take time, because we've really lost a generation of talent that was driven out. Some of the best and brightest were either fired or retired under Trump, because they just couldn't hack it. Because it was just so hard to work under -- under a president like Donald Trump.
And so it's going to take time. One of the good things that I think that Tony Blinken, the new secretary of state, is doing, is that he is putting back some very experienced diplomats, including folks who have retired. He is luring them back to senior positions in the State Department.
But there is no question it's going to take time to attract a new generation of young people, who are motivated by government service and see that as a higher calling. It's going to take time to pull people up from the ranks.
So it's going to be a real challenge, and I think the Biden folks understand what a massive undertaking they have to rebuild that institutional memory and the capability in the State Department that was devastated under Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo.
VAUSE: Max, thank you so much. We appreciate you being with us.
BOOT: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Republicans wouldn't do it, so the Democrat-controlled lower house did.
On Thursday, Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from her committee assignments. Eleven Republican lawmakers voted with Democrats, meaning 199 members of the GOP are on board with her calls to kill Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House. They're on board with her belief that school shootings are staged by gun control advocates. They're OK with Jewish space lasers starting wildfires, and there is no end to the crazy.
CNN's Ryan Nobles has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we have order in the House?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. House, voting today to remove freshman Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments.
REP. TED DEUTCH (D-FL): Conspiracy theories and hate are malignant. They do not fade away. We must stand up to them and say enough.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Never before in the history of this House has the majority abused its power in this way.
NOBLES: The debate, including a last-ditch effort by the Georgia congresswoman to save her spot on two House committees.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I was allowed to believe things that weren't true, and I would ask questions -- questions about them and talk about them. And that is absolutely what I regret.
NOBLES: In a more than ten-minute speech, amid a debate about her future, Greene attempted to put distance between herself and the vile conspiracy theories she said she once believed.
GREENE: School shootings are absolutely real, and every child that is lost, those families mourn it. I also want to tell you, 9/11 absolutely happened.
NOBLES: In the past, Greene has promoted conspiracies such as there not being evidence a plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11. And that the 2018 shooting at a Florida high school was fake or staged. She's also promoted the QAnon conspiracy.
GREENE: I never said any of these things since I have been elected for Congress. These were words of the past, and these things do not represent me.
NOBLES: But as recently as last December, Greene defended QAnon believers in an interview with CNN.
GREENE: I think it's unfair to criticize regular American people that just -- just are looking things up on the Internet.
NOBLES: During her remarks, Greene spent as much time attacking her detractors as she did trying to clean up her past comments. Democrats said Greene's remarks were too little, too late.
REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): I didn't hear anybody apologize or retract the antisemitic and Islamophobic remarks that have been made, that have been posted, over, and over, and over again.
NOBLES (on camera): And the final vote to remove Greene from the committee wasn't closed: 230 to 199. Eleven Republicans voting with the Democrats.
Now, Green is still going to be a member of Congress. She's not expected to go anywhere. She's already raised a lot of money around this controversy, and she's scheduled to hold a press conference on Capitol Hill on Friday.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, the U.S. is moving one step closer to a third coronavirus vaccine, while in Europe, more countries are warning the elderly to avoid the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Also, new restrictions on social media in Myanmar. How the military junta is cracking down. That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:20:15]
VAUSE: A growing number of European countries are advising anyone 65 or older to avoid the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. Denmark, Sweden, Norway are the latest to say there's just not enough data to recommend it.
Meantime, in the U.S., the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine could be available by March. The pharma super giant has applied for emergency use authorization. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee will hold a meeting on the vaccine in three weeks.
And a top U.S. infectious disease expert says anyone who has contracted the virus should still get fully vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci says vaccinations can be delayed, though, for up to 90 days after the initial infection, since reinfection is unlikely during that time.
The new variants can be easily stopped, it seems, without vaccines, just by wearing a mask. The White House chief of staff is now considering sending out a mask to every single American.
CNN's Erica Hill reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Masks for everyone? CNN learning that the Biden administration is considering a plan to send them to all Americans.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are a range of options on the table to help protect more Americans from the coronavirus and encourage people to mask up. But no decision has been made to do that.
HILL: Whether the government sends them or not, masks are still a must.
DR. RICARDO FRANCO, CENTER FOR AIDS RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: We tied the game at half-time, and we need to keep pushing and not give this virus a chance to play well the second half.
HILL: Fast-spreading variants now identified in more than 30 states.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: We are really good at pumping the brakes after we wrap the car around the tree. What we need to do is anticipate this is coming.
HILL: The most common, first documented in the U.K., especially concerning, on track to become dominant in Florida and California. And --
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, U.S. CDC DIRECTOR: There is increasing data that suggests that some of the variants, the B-117 variant, may actually be increased or lead to increased mortality. HILL: On Wednesday, the U.S. surpassed 450,000 COVID deaths. For
nearly a month, daily reports have been stuck at, or above, 3,000.
Cases and hospitalizations, however, are improving, including a dramatic shift in California, where new cases have dropped nearly 60 percent in the last month.
This hospital finally dismantling its COVID overflow tents.
SISTER TERRY MAHER, MISSION INTEGRATION MANAGER, ST. MARY MEDICAL CENTER: We honor the sacred stories it will now forever hold, as we pack it up.
HILL: Vaccinations, slowly improving. The U.S. now averaging 1.3 million shots a day. But equitable distribution still needs a lot of work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need them to be even more accessible, mobile vaccination centers, in schools, and community centers.
HILL: New York City launching dozens of pop-up sites this week. Opening day at Yankee Stadium now set for tomorrow, with 15,000 appointments available in the first week.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: Having this Yankee Stadium site up will be a game-changer.
HILL: Vaccinations at the center of a standoff in Chicago over a return to in-person learning.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: We need our kids back in school. We need our parents to have that option.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: If se, as a society, want to prioritize students returning for in-person instruction, the least we can do is to prioritize the health and safety of our teachers.
HILL: Teachers in Chicago also requesting testing. While overall transmission and schools remains low, a new study suggests it could be cut in half with weekly rapid testing.
(on camera): Johnson & Johnson officially asking the FDA for emergency use authorization on Thursday. The single-dose vaccine does not require the ultra-low temperatures for storage, as Pfizer's does, and of course, it is only one dose. It's shown an efficacy of about 72 percent in U.S. trials.
In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN medical analyst Dr. Jorge Rodriguez joins us now from Los Angeles.
It's good to see you again.
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: You too, John.
VAUSE: OK. The White House medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, says it's possible the new variant could become dominant in the United States. But he goes on to say it's not yet a done deal. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The best way to prevent viruses from mutating and developing the kinds of mutations that make them more efficient, or more dangerous, is to prevent them from spreading from person to person. Because viruses will not mutate if they don't replicate. So if you put the lid on them and prevent them from going from person to person, you will blunt their capability of mutating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Essentially saying if we all do the right thing, if we mask up, if we practice social distancing, you know, this virus doesn't necessarily -- or the variant doesn't necessarily have to take over or become dominant.
In theory, he's absolutely right. But in reality, it seems to be a different story. We're not very good at following that advice.
[00:25:04]
RODRIGUEZ: No, we're not. And I think the first thing is, people really need to wrap their head around what happens.
A virus cannot make more viruses just floating around the atmosphere. It actually has to get into a human, use that human as its host, and use our genetic material to make more viruses.
The virus only replicate in people that are infected. And people get infected when they don't wear masks, when they don't follow social distancing.
So it's a big myth that just because someone is young and had a mild case, that they're not contributing to everything that's going on. They are. Because they could, very likely, be the cause of a mutation that then spreads into the general community.
VAUSE: Yes. And these new variants we're seeing now, which never had to develop, if we had been more effective in the earlier stages of trying to control this pandemic. But nonetheless, we are here now. And they are more contagious, which by extrapolation, means more people will die, because more will be infected.
The variant itself is potentially more deadly. This is coming just as new infections, new hospitalizations, the death rate was starting to fall. How long do we have until those numbers start going up again? And what should we be doing in that time?
RODRIGUEZ: Yes, yes. Some of the predictions are that, by early March, middle of March, the variants are going to be the predominant virus, at least in California and Florida. And if that's -- if that happens, then seriously, all other states are going to follow like dominoes.
So we have probably two to four weeks to really step it up and do the right thing.
VAUSE: So when you say step it up, we're talking about just trying to get as many people vaccinated, one shot, whatever, one and done, just try and get the vaccination to as many people as we possibly can. But what else can be done?
RODRIGUEZ: Well, I'm saying not only vaccinations. I don't people need to think that vaccinations are the holy grail. Harvard epidemiologists have said that if we all wear an N95 mask or double mask, and for a month, then we could stop the spread of this virus in the United States.
We cannot forget the most simple things that we can do, which is to mask up, to distance, and to wash our hands.
VAUSE: It's incredible to think that if everyone did it for a month, we'd be in so much better shape. But clearly, and sadly, that won't happen.
In the meantime, though, Johnson & Johnson has applied for emergency use authorization. What is striking about their findings is that the vaccine was 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease 28 days after a vaccination, in all adults 18 years and older. And the vaccine demonstrated complete protection against COVID-related hospitalization and death, 28 days postvaccination.
And keep in mind, part of the trials were done in South Africa, where that South African variant is dominant.
Here's the rub, though. The FDA advisory panel won't be meeting for another three weeks to consider this request. That seems a lifetime away.
RODRIGUEZ: It really is. There's no reason that they can't hold an emergency meeting. We are under emergency circumstances, and I think that is something that should be stepped up.
A one-dose vaccine could really be a game-changer that doesn't need to be refrigerated to those extreme temperatures. It really could change the whole complexion of what's going on.
VAUSE: Because if you go through the numbers here, you know, we just said two to four weeks before these -- this variant becomes dominant. Three weeks until they actually sit to actually consider whether to have this vaccine out there.
With vaccines, time is lives. Right? So by waiting three weeks, people will die.
RODRIGUEZ: Yes. It just doesn't make sense that, you know, we don't go and work weekends or work nights and have extra meetings just to make this happen. Seriously. We are at war. By the end of February, it is predicted that we're going to have half
a million Americans dead from this virus. That is astounding. And we need to put all thrusters on.
VAUSE: Yes, we don't have three weeks.
Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thank you so much. Good to see you.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Coming up on on CNN NEWSROOM, protesters in Myanmar ask for the government they elected, not the military junta to -- that took over this week. We'll hear what they have to say, next.
Also, a doctor who treated the Kremlin's most outspoken critic has died. Why Alexei's Navalny's aides are suspicious.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:31:47]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, arrest continue in Myanmar days after the military staged a coup and ousted the civilian government. The Reuters news agency is reporting one of Aung San Suu Kyi's aides is one of those who have been detained. Add that to the 147 government officials, legislators, and activists who've also been detained.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has the very latest for us now from Seoul.
And at first, there was sort of a very muted reaction on the streets of Myanmar, but now, it seems, those protests, at least in part, are getting underway.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right John. I mean, it does appear from the images that we are getting in, and from those that we're speaking to on the ground that these -- these protests are becoming bigger. Of course, it's very difficult to say for sure, unless you are physically there. But it certainly does appear as though more parts of society are joining in.
Now, we're seeing, mostly in the evenings, in Yangon, in particular, people coming out and banging pots and pans, calling for those who have been detained, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the president, Win Myint, to be released and for the military to pull back from their coup.
We've been seeing protests, as well, around different parts of the world. In neighboring Bangkok, for example, they were burning effigies of the general who took control and who -- who was really behind this coup.
But from what we've been hearing from those inside the country, it really does show that the NLD, the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and her herself, are extremely popular, still, and there are many against this coup.
Let's listen to what some of them had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIN THWIN, YANGON RESIDENT (through translator): The pot banging is conducted, by the majority of people in the whole country, to drive out the military coup who unlawfully seized power. We will keep driving out these evils, as long as the power is not returned to our government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: But of course, John, it's not the people that are in charge despite that election in November of last year, when the NLD won a landslide. It is the military that's in charge at this point.
We know that these arrests of those within the NLD party are continuing. You mentioned Win Htein. He's a leading pro-democracy figure in Myanmar. He's one of Aung San Suu Kyi's aides. And he been in and out of prison for years. More than 20 years, he spent behind bars. And once again, he has been arrested by the military -- John.
VAUSE: I guess the big concern is what happens now with what has essentially been a war of ethnic cleansing being waged on some of the minority groups within Myanmar by the military. I guess the question will be, is there any sign that that has resumed? Is there expectation that it will? And if it does, what can be done to stop it?
HANCOCKS: Well, that's -- that's one of the big questions, and the thing is, it really depends on, as well, how many people come out onto the streets, as to what the military's response will be.
Of course, the military has shut down Facebook and social media sites, trying to make it more difficult, clearly, for people in the streets to be able to communicate and to -- to coordinate any kind of coming out onto the street. But that appears to be happening anyway.
Now, clearly, the military that we know today in Myanmar is different to what we saw back in the late Eighties, when there were bloody crackdowns on protesters, thousands believed to have been killed in that particular push towards democracy that was squashed by the military.
[00:35:17]
There has been a generational change, but still, this military has staged a coup. So there are concerns from outside of Myanmar as to what the reaction could be. Which is why we're seeing such strong international response.
We had a response just hours ago from the U.S. president, Joe Biden, pointing out that there's bipartisan support for more sanctions, for example, within the United States. The U.N. has condemned this. The Security Council calling on all those detained to be released and for democracy to be allowed to return to Myanmar. Albeit, even over the past five years, that democracy was certainly
fledgling -- John.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks there with the very latest. Appreciate it.
Well, Russia's opposition leader will be back in court in just a few hours. Alexei Navalny is facing one charge of slander. Meantime, his supporters, western leaders, and human rights activists, are demanding his release from jail.
Tuesday, he was sentenced to nearly three years behind bars, accused of violating parole while he was in Germany, recovering after being poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent.
Meantime, one of the doctors who first treated Navalny has died. CNN's Matthew Chance has that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a potentially disturbing development, because a senior doctor, at a hospital in Siberia, where opposition leader Alexei Navalny was first treated after being poisoned with a nerve agent, has died, suddenly, according to a statement issued by local health officials.
Sergey Maximishin, who was 55 years old, was a deputy chief physician at Omsk Emergency Hospital, No. 1. And, according to Navalny aides, was in charge of the treatment of Navalny, specifically the medically- induced coma that was used to stabilize him.
Navalny was later evacuated to Germany, of course, where he recovered. He was then arrested and jailed when he returned to Russia last month.
Speaking to CNN, Navalny's chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, has said that foul play could not be ruled out and that the doctor knew more than anyone else about the actual condition of the opposition figure early on.
Well, there's been no course of death given by any official statements so far. But of course, any link with the suspected nerve agent poisoning of Russia's most prominent opposition leader is being closely scrutinized.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, Brexit has come and gone, but the future of London's financial influence remains uncertain. When we come back, we'll take a look at what's next for Britain's financial hub.
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VAUSE: It's only been a few weeks since the U.K. and the E.U. divorced, and the impact of Brexit, though, is now being felt in London. While the U.K. managed to strike a trade deal with Brussels, it pretty much left out financial services, and that's putting the city's position as a global finance center into question.
Here's CNN's Anna Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The city of London has been a ghost town for much of the pandemic. Lockdown after lockdown means many office workers are now home workers.
There are fears that Europe's unofficial capital of finance could remain quieter beyond the pandemic, due to Brexit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clock is no longer ticking.
STEWART: The E.U. and the U.K. finally reached a trade agreement last year in the 11th hour of negotiations. But it barely mentioned financial services, which accounts for nearly 7 percent of the U.K. economy.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: There's some good language about equivalence for financial services, perhaps not as much as we would have liked.
STEWART: Leaving a single market means financial services firms in the U.K. have lost easy access to their European clients, known as passporting.
EMMA REYNOLDS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, THECITYUK: Passporting, in simple terms, meant that a U.K.-based bank or other financial services provider could provide their services across the E.U., while only having a base in the U.K. We have lost that -- that advantage, and that was very much part of the European single market.
So that is why you're seeing banks and other financial services firms, set up subsidiaries in other member states so they can serve E.U. clients in most subsidiaries.
STEWART: Setting up subsidiaries in Europe is why some financial jobs have already shifted from the city of London to other European cities. Consultancy firm EUI put that number at around 7,500 jobs as of late September, although that's a fraction of the U.K.'s 1.1 million financial workforce.
(on camera): It's not just jobs that have gone. So has E.U. jurisdiction. And that means the U.K. can make its own financial rules and regulations. One key reason: the U.K. has only granted the U.K. limited market access. Equivalence only in some areas.
SIMON GLEESON, PARTNER, CLIFFORD CHANCE: So the root (ph) they've gotten down is basically to use European regulation as a sort of trade war tool with the aim of trying to force as much business as possible out of London and into Europe.
STEWART (voice-over): What emerges from ongoing talks between the E.U. and the U.K. is uncertain. One thing is for sure: Brexit will linger here for years to come.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, with many cultural events around the world postponed or canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, one film festival is trying to carry on in an unusual way.
Sweden's Goteborg Film Festival is calling this year's event the Isolated Cinema. Nurse Lisa Enroth is the lucky attendee. Yes, attendee, as in the only one. No one else, just her.
Selected from 12,000 applicants, the frontline worker is enjoying seven days of solitude. She has 60 film premiers to choose from, watching them in a lighthouse on an island by herself. Sign me up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA ENROTH, NURSE: I feel privileged to be able to do this and to be able to watch all these amazing movies in an isolated cinema experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Bless. The Goteborg Film Festival usually sells about 160,000 tickets. The festival is also streaming films online.
I'm John Vause. Thanks for watching, everyone. I will be back in about 15 minutes. We're here for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is next.
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[00:44:16]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead, another vaccine maker now seeks an emergency use authorization from the FDA. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us next with details.
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[00:48:34]
COOPER: Breaking news to report. Johnson & Johnson has asked the FDA for emergency authorization for its single-shot vaccine. Meaning if the vaccine follows the path of the previous two, we could be weeks away from a third vaccine. So that's one very positive development tonight.
Another, states taking advantage of declining cases and hospitalization numbers. Today Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that youth sports practices and competitions would be allowed.
Unfortunately, these encouraging signs come as health officials warn that new, more transmissible variants of the virus could send cases and hospitalization numbers back up.
And tonight a key model for coronavirus projects 631,000 total deaths by June. The IHME model, which we have cited throughout this entire pandemic, also says the vaccines should help death rates decrease even with the spread of the new variants. But with the country opening up, it says tens of thousands more could die.
So for a status check of where we are right now, I want to bring in our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
So Sanjay, Johnson & Johnson asking for the FDA to authorize their vaccine. Novavax has started the rolling out process of getting their vaccine approved. What kind of impact will all this have in the U.S. in terms of getting shots?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think this will have a pretty significant impact. I mean, you know, this is pretty extraordinary, you know, to think about the fact that we may have now three authorized vaccines within this time period.
And I think, you know, it's worth noting that that -- if this -- if this Johnson & Johnson vaccine gets authorized, it's a single-shot vaccine. So 100 million doses, as you point out by June, means 100 million people, which is obviously significant.
[00:50:05]
A lot of people pay attention to the numbers in terms of how well this works. Let me just show you quickly. You know, when you look at the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a lot of people have been asking this question. Is this as effective as the other vaccines? What do these numbers really mean?
I don't know if we have them. But basically -- yes, there we go. The bottom line is that the number on the right, 85 percent protective against severe disease.
You know, Anderson, I think this is really just a fundamental point. The things that we hope that a vaccine will do -- protect us from getting really sick. No hospitalizations or deaths in the people who got the vaccine. Those are the sorts of things right now that, of people who are concerned, they're worried, they're at risk, if they can look at that and have some comfort, I think it goes a long way.
We've obviously got to vaccinate more and more people. But this is a significant -- significant development.
COOPER: Cases going down across the country. But then the -- we've also been sounding the alarm about these new variants. How effective -- I mean, how will they affect the overall numbers? I mean, is that the biggest threat right now?
GUPTA: I think that is. I mean, you know, I think we were running into this position where, you know, the vaccines were coming out. We were starting to see the numbers come down. And the variants out there are muddying the waters a bit. You're right. First of all, cases are down 15 percent as compared to last week.
Overall hospitalizations down 12 percent as compared to last week. These are significant drops. Death rates around 3,000. That sort of plateaued. But as you know, that's a bit of a lagging indicator.
It's going to be the question of these variants in terms of overall numbers.
Anderson, we looked at Denmark just as an example, because this is a country that sequences a lot of viruses. You get a positive test, it almost always gets sequenced. If we can show the graph there. Like in the United States, Denmark started peaking in mid-December. And then they've -- you know, they've been coming down.
What the red is is the variants. And you can see it started off as a small sliver of cases, but it roughly doubles every week or so. Roughly. And after a while, because it's more transmissible, it essentially crowds out the currently circulating coronavirus, and it becomes the predominant coronavirus.
But Anderson, what it means is we've got to vaccinate, and we've got to still use the mitigation measures. Masks still really work in terms of protecting you, whether it's a variant or not.
COOPER: And taken as a whole, I mean, we've been talking about COVID on this program for a year now. In your mind, are we at a point where the news is more hopeful than not?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting. You talk to someone like Michael Osterholm, I know you talked to him, and he says we're still in the second or third inning here. Others I've talked to say we're sort of more in the seventh inning stretch. It's hard to know.
What I would say is, you know, I think we're past the halfway point, it seems, in so many ways. With the warmer weather, with more vaccines things are going to get better.
It is a little bit of a race with these vaccines against the variants. Do the variants escape the current vaccination? Because there's too much virus still spreading. It mutates more and more, and the vaccines don't work as well.
So it's a race. If we end up with a tie game at the end of this, we may go into extra innings, I guess. But right now, you know, when we get into the fall, late summer, I think we have a good chance of -- not saying normal, because I think that's a whole different term nowadays.
COOPER: Right.
GUPTA: But I think in a much, much better position.
COOPER: The key, as far as the variants, to me, the headline is you've got to get the vaccine as quickly as you possibly can. That seems to be the only way to stop, to really do anything about it.
We're out of time. Yes.
GUPTA: The vaccine works well against the -- yes. And masks.
COOPER: Yes. And masks of course. Absolutely. Sanjay, thanks.
Despite the best efforts of public health officials, there is still a vocal minority of anti-vaxxers. As our senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, discovered, some prominent anti-vaxxers have direct links to the insurrection in Washington last month.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all for being here. This is great.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On January 6 on a separate stage yet very much part of the election protest, this micro rally had a different focus. These are the anti- vaxxers.
CHARLENE BOLLINGER, PLANNED JANUARY 6 "HEALTH FREEDOM" RALLY: The forced COVID vaccine, such a scam.
DEL BIGTREE, SPEAKER AT "HEALTH FREEDOM" RALLY: Innocent people are being lined up, walking to their potential death.
GRIFFIN: Their event, part pandemic denial, part "Stop the Steal," part prayer service. For those who were participating in the Capitol storm.
BOLLINGER: We pay for the patriots that are there now, inside. They're trying to get inside that Capitol. Lord, use these people to eradicate this evil. These swamp creatures, the cesspool of filth and waste.
GRIFFIN: A CNN review finds the people involved in this micro rally are locking the antigovernment "Stop the Steal" messaging to their anti-vaccine alternative health industry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roger Stone.
GRIFFIN: Some are directly connected to the disinformation network of Roger Stone. They namedrop "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander and are peddling the same type of conspiracy-linked health products as Alex Jones, essentially turning conspiracy into business.
[00:55:10]
BOLLINGER: This is war between good and evil.
GRIFFIN: Anti-vaccine advocate Charlene Bollinger, who planned the rally, along with her husband Ty, introduced speaker after speaker, stopping occasionally to gleefully report what was happening in the Capitol about a block away. Her husband left the rally to join in.
BOLLINGER: I asked him, are you at the Capitol? He said outside it. The Capitol has been swarmed by patriots. We're here for this reason. We are winning.
GRIFFIN: Also speaking, Mikki Willis, whose discredited video, "Plandemic," was viewed millions of times before being removed from YouTube.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is psychological warfare.
GRIFFIN: Invited to speak, Dr. Simone Gold, the anti-vaxxer who seeks donations to push her conspiracies. She became infamous with a stunt news conference at the Supreme Court last summer, appearing with other doctors, including one who's claimed alien DNA is being put in medicine.
This is what Gold said at a MAGA rally January 5.
DR. SIMONE GOLD, ANTI-VAXXER: If you don't want to take an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you must not allow yourself to be coerced.
GRIFFIN: The next day, Gold went inside the Capitol and was later arrested. Through her organization, Gold tells CNN she didn't participate in any violence or vandalism and rebukes such activity.
Conspiracism is the special sauce that links them all together, according to extremism expert Imran Ahmed, who co-wrote a study about the antivax movement and says making money is at the heart of it all.
IMRAN AHMED, CEO, CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE: These are snake- oil salesmen. They're the oldest kind of liar and seller of deceit, of misinformation.
GRIFFIN (on camera): And let's just be very clear, for the money. For the profit.
AHMED: A snake-oil salesman needscar to turn a profit.
GRIFFIN: That is apparent in the politics and business empire of rally organizers Ty and Charlene Bollinger.
BOLLINGER: Hello again. It's Ty and Charlene.
GRIFFIN: They have their own political action committee and run two businesses centered on conspiracies about cancer and vaccines. Their social media pages altogether have more than a million followers.
BOLLINGER: Have you all heard about the truth about cancer or the truth about vaccines?
GRIFFIN: The Bollingers live on 13 acres in this 7,600 square foot $1.5 million mansion in rural Tennessee, once featured on a realtor website.
Their cancer and vaccine websites are businesses, marketing their video series that costs up to $500; an air purifier that's more than $300; body cleanses and other unproven health products. Disclaimers warn, "Nothing presented is intended to diagnose, treat,
cure, or prevent any disease, and anything purchased through their sites means the Bollingers will be paid in some way."
While they're not camera shy --
BOLLINGER: This is Frankenstein, and we've got to stop it.
GRIFFIN: -- the Bollingers did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Drew joins us now. So it's seems tough to overstate the dangers of this conspiracy, what do you know about the impact it's having?
GRIFFIN: Yes, Monmouth University poll just put out said that 24 percent of Americans are going to avoid the vaccine. And Anderson, you've got to wonder just how many of those people who will not get the vaccine are being affected by these lies and conspiracy hucksters.
COOPER: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Anderson.
COOPER: Drew Griffin, appreciate it.
Still to come tonight, the big lie that could potentially cost FOX News, several of its anchors, Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell billions. The details when we return.
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