Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Senate To Begin Historic Second Impeachment Of Trump On Tuesday; More Contagious COVID Variant Spreading Rapidly In U.S.; Chicago Teachers Union Says No Deal On In-Person Learning Yet; Yellen Says, $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill Could Bring Full Employment In 2022; Detained Protesters Describe Abuse At Hands Of Police; Chiefs Assistant Coach Involved In Car Crash. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired February 07, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:54]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We start this hour with two breaking stories on COVID.

First, a new study reveals a variant first identified in the U.K., which is considered a more contagious strain, has already been rapidly spreading throughout the United States.

Plus, possible deals between two major American cities and their local teachers unions. It could mean students in San Francisco and Chicago may soon be heading back into the classroom. More on this.

But first, this week historic and unprecedented. A first in presidential history. Donald Trump will face an impeachment trial for a second time. With Democrats holding a slim majority, the U.S. Senate decides whether Trump should be convicted of incitement of insurrection for the deadly January 6 Capitol Hill riot.

Tomorrow lawyers for both sides must submit their final legal briefs in the case. Trial begins Tuesday.

Meantime, today new evidence emerging from rioters detailing Trump's influence. Just listen to what the so-called QAnon shaman said after he left the Capitol rotunda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is your message (ph) about it now? What you're yelling at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said, he just put out a tweet. It's a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.

O'SULLIVAN: Why do you think so?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we won the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Joe Johns is on Capitol Hill. So Joe, video like this will be front and center. What do we know about how the case against Trump is taking shape?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question. And speaking to senior Democratic aides this afternoon up here on Capitol Hill, one thing becomes clear. That is that the rules of this trial remain center stage. That means the Democratic and Republican leaders of the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, continue to try to work out the parameters and exactly how this trial is going to be conducted.

Some of the things that they need to decide or they need to tell everybody is whether there will be witnesses, how it will be decided which witnesses testify if that happens to be the case. And how much time each side gets to present their case before the United States Senate. So those are some of the key questions.

Now, one of the things we do know for sure is that at the very least, the trial will be halted on Friday evenings at sundown until possibly Sunday morning. That is because one of the attorneys for President Trump, who is an observant Jew, has said that he cannot work during the sabbath. So we know that much, at least.

Now, watching the interview shows today on television, it also became clear that there were some messages that are emerging. Democrats continue to argue that all Americans and the United States Senate need to see is the videotape of January 6th up here on Capitol Hill to know what to do in this trial.

On the other hand, Republicans indicating that regardless of whether you think the president's activities are something he ought to be convicted for after having been impeached in the United States Senate. Nonetheless, because he's out of office now, the Senate is not the appropriate forum and that a court of law could be. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): In the first trial, we didn't see what happened. The American public didn't have a window in the decisions that were being made behind closed doors to trade American influence in order for campaign help.

This time we saw what happened in real-time. President Trump sent that angry mob to the Capitol on live TV. So it's not as important that he have witnesses, but if the house managers want witnesses, we should allow them to be able to put them on.

[14:04:58]

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): If you believe he committed a crime, he can be prosecuted like any other citizen. Impeachment is a political process. We've never impeached a president once they're out of office. I think this is a very bad idea. 45-plus Republicans are going to vote early on that it's unconstitutional. The president's behavior, in my view, is not a crime, but he can be charged with one if people think he committed it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So this continues to be a tale of two Senates -- Democrats on one side, Republicans on another. That also is significant, because as you know, two-thirds majority of the United States Senate is needed to convict Donald Trump. That means 17 Republicans would have to go along if all Democrats voted in favor of the conviction. And it doesn't sound like they're going to get there in any case.

Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

So as former President Trump's trial gets underway, we're also learning more about some of the people who stormed the Capitol.

CNN's Whitney Wild is tracking the details for us. So Whitney, one of the people now charged, Kyle Fitzsimmons has a history of intimidating lawmakers and making racist comments?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. And we actually have the video to let our viewers see it for themselves. Kyle Fitzsimmons is facing a list of charges, one of which includes assaulting a police officer.

A few years ago, there is video showing him making these racist comments in a public hearing, in a public setting. And what he said was that immigrants -- he referred to immigrants as replacements -- and it echoes this white nationalist rhetoric that immigrants are coming to the United States to replace white people.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE FITZIMMONS: (INAUDIBLE) -- all of you are sitting elected officials during the opioid crisis is affecting me and killing us all. You're killing off Yankee New England culture. You're doing nothing -- you do nothing about it.

No, you're bringing in the new third world. You're bringing in the replacements. I see what's going on. It's black and white.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: we reached out to his attorney who simply said no comment, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then Whitney, this morning Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts made an impassioned plea to end white supremacist thinking. Exactly what did she say? WILD: Well, she was answering the question of what is the point of all

of this. Shouldn't we just move on and she was making this very direct point that the reason the riot happened at the Capitol at all is because America for too long has been too eater to simply turn the page instead of actually addressing the violence and the reality surrounding white supremacy.

She went on to say that the images of that day, the terror of that day hit her on an ancestral level. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): One of the images that I'm haunted by is the black custodial staff cleaning up the mess left by that violent white supremacist mob.

That is a metaphor for America. We have been cleaning up after violent white supremacist mobs for generations, and it must end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: She also said that if this really is the moment, if this really is the moment to eradicate white supremacy, to condemn it on the highest level, you have to take it to the finish line. You have to hold everyone into account, and that includes convicting former President Trump, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Whitney Wild, thanks so much in Washington.

Let's talk more about this and bring in my legal experts to discuss the upcoming impeachment trial.

Kim Wehle is a former U.S. assistant attorney and a law professor at the University of Baltimore. She is also author of the book, "How to Read the Constitution and Why". Elliot Williams is a CNN legal analyst and a former federal prosecutor. Good to see both of you.

All right. So Kim, you first. You know, Democrats are making it clear. They plan on using these videos of rioters talking about taking cues from the president on the day of the riot to make their case for convicting Donald Trump at his impeachment trial.

Here's a reminder. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): That video is among the very damning piece of evidence that the House managers are going to introduce, and their main task, frankly, is to choose among all of the very damning videos and present the ones that, in effect, make their case most powerful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Kim, do these videos strengthen Democrats' arguments that Donald Trump incited the insurrection on January 6, and perhaps without even witnesses being called?

KIM WEHLE, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY: Yes. So there's two aspects of the charge that need to be proven. One is that his remarks actually were likely to incite some kind of violent pushback. And I think the videos do establish that.

[14:09:50]

WEHLE: The first part under the Supreme Court's first Amendment jurisprudence requires a showing of an intention to incite. I think it's a little harder to do that with video to climb into Donald Trump's mind and his comments both before, during and after, I think, are more relevant to that.

But I should say I do think given that the last round, impeachment number 1, the Senate Republicans managed to stop any witnesses or actual testimony. I think for the sake of impeachment itself and the legitimacy of a trial, an impeachment trial, with witnesses and documents, I hope to see some actual witnesses so Americans can see what impeachment really means, and it remains a legitimate lever of accountability for the White House going forward.

WHITFIELD: So, Elliot, among those who's actually volunteering themselves to actually be a witness called, a QAnon shaman riot suspect, he's offered to testify. Do Democrats need to call witnesses to make their case, and will they take him up on that offer?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. So to back up on Kim's point, look, they don't need witnesses because some of the most compelling evidence that is already in the public record is this video evidence.

Look, you have -- and more than that, you have the tweets, you have the statements from the president, and you have the video of the president's speech, you have video -- graphic video of the events of that day.

Look, I wish I, when I was a prosecutor, had that kind of video evidence at my disposal. And you could get by without witnesses.

Now, this said, some of the more, I guess, heart-wrenching and more powerful evidence to come up would necessarily be from witnesses. So for instance, officer Michael Fanon being put on the stand. This is the officer who heard -- he was being crushed in the door and heard protester -- terrorists saying shoot and take his own gun and shoot him with it. Putting some of the people who were there on the stand -- any of these officers, and frankly making senators sit there and listen to these officers give their accounts of the day and still vote against this.

That would be far more powerful. But no, they don't need it. It would be incredibly valuable to have live testimony, but it's all there in a way that you very rarely see in any type of legal proceeding.

WHITFIELD: So, Kim, you know, attorneys for the former president actually rejected the Democrats' request to have Trump testify in this trial. I mean should Democrats subpoena him at this juncture? Can they make the case without his testimony?

WEHLE: Well, I agree with Elliot, not necessary. and I think it would be difficult to go through that process we'd end up in court. It could go all the way to the Supreme Court, drag things down.

I again, also think the first round, Democrats should have subpoenaed witnesses. We're in a moment in American history where the impeachment process has been watered down to almost meaninglessness, and that's a problem given that DOJ also won't indict sitting presidents.

The question going forward regardless of the political party is, is there any pushback? Isn't there any mechanism for holding presidents accountable for severe wrongdoing in office.

But I would like to see frankly this week some information about why there was such a spectacular meltdown in law enforcement and intelligence leading up to and in the moment. I mean the impeachment article also mentions Donald Trump's alleged failure to faithfully execute the laws.

If he sat there and as some believe didn't actually authorize law enforcement support to protect the legislative branch, I think that is very important to get out to the American public and I hope the impeachment managers push on that as well.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like it would be a mistake in your view then if they were not to call upon -- whether it be Capitol police, perhaps even National Guard or even Metro Police?

WEHLE: Yes, I think it would play into this myth that this is somehow purely a political reaction to Democrats -- by Democrats who dislike this particular man, the president.

I mean what we saw on January 6, as Elliot indicates, was absolute horror. I mean AOC mentioned in her -- or talked in her Instagram Live about, you know, how scared she was, cowering. We saw these members of our elected body, legislative body, fighting for their lives, calling governors, saying, listen, please send us some reinforcement.

I think that whole story needs to come out. And I agree with Elliot. Hearing it all, it's going to be harder for those 17 senators in the Republican caucus to shrug the entire thing off as pure politics.

WHITFIELD: And especially since, Elliot will probably be reminded, you know, to people there that the president was reportedly watching it all unfold. So he certainly knew what was happening minute by minute.

Elliot, you also -- you worked as judiciary counsel to now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This impeachment trial is, you know, after all a political trial, but do you see anyway the Democrats can get 17 Republican senators to join them and ultimately convict the former president?

[14:14:53]

WILLIAMS: So the question for Republicans is, do you believe in the rule of law or do you believe in the rule of Donald Trump? And the simple fact is maybe they don't get the 17 Republicans, but each of these Republicans is going to -- ought to have this hanging over their heads for the rest of their career.

Marco Rubio, who is running for office in a tight race and clearly tacking to the right now, is going to have to cast a vote and ought to be reminded of this vote for the rest of his career.

Ben Sasse and, you know, Josh Hawley -- all of these people, you know, in different ways need to be put on the record, and they will. So yes, the important thing to do, the legally and constitutionally sound thing to do here would be to connect and disqualify -- to convict and disqualify the president from future office.

But ultimately now if that's not going to be the case, what needs to happen is all these senators just need to be reminded of the fact that they chose Donald Trump over the sanctity of the American union. And that's a big deal. And we shouldn't forget it.

WHITFIELD: That's a very big deal. That is at the root of all of it, isn't it?

WILLIAMS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Elliot Williams and Kim Wehle, thanks to both of you. We really appreciate it.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. And this breaking news on the coronavirus pandemic, a new study finds a more contagious variant first identified in the U.K., it's spreading rapidly throughout the United States. The authors of this study urging the U.S. government to take urgent action. So how should health officials respond?

Also breaking right now, the mayor of Chicago says a tentative agreement has been reached between the city and teachers, but the union is saying, not so fast. Details straight ahead.

[14:16:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. This breaking news just in to CNN, a new study finds that the coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom is now spreading rapidly in the United States.

Researchers say significant community transmission of the more contagious strain may already be occurring. At least 600 cases have now been confirmed in 33 states.

Joining me right now to discuss is Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and a former Baltimore Health Commissioner.

Doctor, good to see you. So does this come as a surprise to you and what, if anything, can be done at this juncture? DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, Fred, it's sobering but I

don't think it should be surprising. Because the CDC already projected that by March, by next month, the U.K. variant, B-117, that is more contagious, that it could be the dominant strain here in the U.S.

And just to remind everyone, something that's more contagious doesn't spread in a linear fashion, it actually spreads explosively, exponentially. So if it's 50 percent more contagious, let's say, you're not going to 50 percent more infections, you'll have much more.

And this, in fact, is what happened in the U.K., in the Netherlands, in Denmark where these contagious variants really took over. Hospitals became very quickly overwhelmed and that could very well happen in the U.S.

So I think that should be a call to action for us, to really double down on the measures that we know to work, like masking and avoiding indoor gatherings.

WHITFIELD: And what does this mean for the millions who have already been vaccinated?

DR. WEN: Well, the good news is that this variant -- the U.K. variant, the vaccines do appear to be effective against this variant. And so there might be more concern with some of the other variants, like the variant that first was identified in South Africa and in Brazil.

But even in those cases, it should be that this is a call to action for us to increase the speed of vaccination, because the vaccines we have will still provide some good protection against these developing variants, too.

WHITFIELD: CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier in the week that the U.S. is ramping up its efforts to sequence virus samples and is on track to process at least 7 thousand samples per. Is that enough?

DR. WEN? Well, testing is an important component, but at this point the cat is out of the bag. I mean the variant is here. And so we need to be focusing on a lot more.

For example, what are we going to do once this variant becomes even more widespread? And these other countries, schools that have been reopened had to close and actually are closed for quite some time. And so we need to know that with the more contagious variants, the activities that we thought were once relatively safe are now riskier. And we need to think about those implications.

WHITFIELD: And then in your latest piece for "The Washington Post", you say that your best case scenario is, you know, we turn the coronavirus into an illness akin to the seasonal flu. So does the threat of emerging variants make that more likely?

DR. WEN: I think at this point the idea of eradicating COVID-19 is probably not going to happen. So the best thing we can hope for is with these vaccines is we can reduce the likelihood of severe illness because that's what we care about.

We don't care if somebody has the sniffles and a sore throat. We care if they end up at the hospital and they die. And so if we're able to turns coronavirus into a bad cold or the seasonal flu through vaccination, then we can get our economy open. Then we can get our kids back to school. Then we can see our families once again. And I think that is a real probability if not a likely possibility in the coming months.

WHITFIELD: And then similar to, you know, that annual flu vaccine, do you see that it is likely that people need to get into the frame of mind of a coronavirus vaccine annually?

DR. WEN: Maybe. Because we don't know how long immune protection from these vaccine will last. And so it may be that you need to get a booster shot for that reason. Also with emerging variants, it may be that just like with the flu, we have to constantly be adjusting the vaccine depending on what variants there are.

And so it's something we should prepare for, but I still think that if we're able to get coronavirus to be like the flu, that completely changes how we think about this very dangerous disease.

[14:24:50]

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Leana Wen, good to see you. Thanks so much.

DR. WEN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And more on our breaking news. As officials in Chicago publicly disagree on whether they have a deal to reopen schools for in-person learning, today Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the head of the city's Public Schools System said a tentative deal was in place but then the city's teachers' union disputed that.

Evan McMorris-Santoro is following this story for us. So where are we?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, as you say, this is the latest in a very nasty fight between teachers and the city of Chicago over whether or not classrooms should reopen to student. What we -- going into the weekend what we saw was the mayor saying she's going to require schools to reopen and the teachers union saying if you do that, we're not going to show up, we might go on strike.

Then today we saw the mayor come to the microphones and say, we have a deal. And then she said that that deal was based around safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: I am confident -- confident that the measures that we have and will put in place will make our schools even safer than they already are and will be a model for other systems in Illinois and throughout the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That was just a couple of hours ago that Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that. Right after she finished saying it, the teachers union in Chicago tweeted that in fact, despite her saying there is a deal, there isn't yet a deal. It has to go through a lengthy approval process inside that teachers union and that could involve some more meetings next week. It could go on and on.

But the basic gist is we don't have actually an answer in Chicago yet despite the fact that we are seeing signs that these two sides are finally coming together.

That's something we're seeing on the other side of the country as in San Francisco, another city that was in a very pitched battle with its teachers' union, actually sued its school district to force them to reopen.

They announced today that they do have a deal with the teachers' union. That essentially breaks down to in schools where the virus is at a higher level of transmission, those teachers will be given access to the vaccine and then schools will reopen; and in schools where the transmission rate is lower, the schools will reopen their classrooms and teachers will go back.

Now that deal does seem to be more formal but the school board is going to have to vote on it and that's something we're not expecting to see for about ten days.

So in both San Francisco and Chicago, signs that these things are finally coming together, everyone is on the same page, but still no real formal finality to these ongoing battles, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Some signs but still contrasts remain.

All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thanks so much.

All right. Up next, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defends the size of President Biden's coronavirus relief bill.

Plus $3,000 per child -- Democrats about to introduce a new proposal to help struggling families.

[14:27:39]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

WHITFIELD: President Biden's COVID relief package is a complicated mix of policies and proposals, but much of the debate still revolves around that top line number, $1.9 trillion. The White House, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, says a big bill makes for big improvement. Here she was on State of the Union with Jake Tapper this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: The Congressional Budget Office issued an analysis recently, and it showed that if we don't provide additional support, the unemployment rate is going to stay elevated for years to come. It would take until 2025 in order to get the unemployment rate down to 4 percent again.

I would expect that if this package is passed, that we would get back to full employment next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Diane Swonk is Chief Economist at Grant Thornton. She joins us now from Chicago. Good to see you, Diane.

So, we all so the January jobs report, very little to celebrate there. Is Secretary Yellen, however, right to say that full employment could be obtainable as early as next year?

DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GRANT THORNTON: It could be, and that's what's so stunning about the size of the package is one aspect of it, but also the idea that could somehow be able to reopen the economy even if we can't eradicate the outbreaks that we're getting but we can live with them , as you saw in your earlier episode talking about using vaccines, masking, testing and tracing to make it more manageable, and make this not as a high mortality rate with it, that's very important.

So, 1.5 trillion, by our analysis, which is a little lower than what the president is currently asking and closer to what we think the compromise will be, will get us close to not only recouping what we've lost but also getting jobs back that would have been. Remember, we're almost 2 million jobs in the hole right now from the jobs that weren't generated because of the crisis. So that goes on top of the 10 million jobs that we've lost.

And I think that's what people lose sight of. When the Congressional Budget Office, as Janet accurately quoted -- I'm sorry, Treasury Secretary Yellen accurately quoted, that we couldn't get into those full employment to well into 2025 or later, the idea of getting even back to pre-pandemic levels of employment in the Congressional Budget Office is not until 2024. And then you've got to recoup what we've lost on top of that, and that takes a lot more than where we're at.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's a long haul, all of that. So let's talk about this coming proposal from senior Democrats after a similar proposal from Republican Senator Mitt Romney for child benefit payments, at least $3,000 a year for every child in America whose parents make less than a certain salary level, 75,000 for singles, 150,000 for couples.

[14:35:06]

What do you think that impact might be? And what do you make of this seemingly bipartisan interest in pursuing it?

SWONK: Well, I think many people have lost sight of the actual damage to well-being to children that we have seen and how generational the COVID crisis could be because of the fact that children haven't seemed to have gotten COVID as much and we haven't had as many deaths related to COVID among children, people forget the loss that they've suffered in terms of economic losses.

Their well-being has been hurt by everything from hunger. The losses they've suffered have meant they're not attending school. Low-income children are failing at an alarming rate, much higher than higher- income children who they have more support for being able to stay in school, get access to Wi-Fi, be able to be online instead of in- person. Mass scores have suffered.

So, the idea of helping children even more given the generational nature of the wounds that COVID inflicted, I think, are very important and we should be thinking about that, otherwise we're going to have a lot more pain longer term than many people expect.

WHITFIELD: Children hit hard and women hit hard. I mean, you just talked about the 10 million jobs lost and half of which are women. So what do you foresee, the kinds of sacrifices that a lot of women have had to leave the job force willingly because of their families at home or have simply lost a lot of those jobs as a result of the pandemic?

SWONK: Well, it really is multifaceted in terms of the blow not only to the gender pay gap, their current earnings, their ability. We know that women pay a higher price than men do even for taking parental leave and having to take care for younger children.

The women dropped in the labor force with youngest children are the greatest hit, and we also know black and Hispanic women have been harder hit. And in black households, women often account for a much larger share of what children, sometimes there are single parents in their low-income households. They account for what they earn, so the collateral damage to children there is there as well.

But this is really important, because the reasons they're leaving is because of the shift to online schooling, their inability to get childcare, unaffordable child care, all those issues in addition to hurdles to women in the labor force, more broadly, undermine equality. They add to inefficiencies in the economy you just don't want. You do better when everybody is doing better and being able to contribute more to the well-being of their children and to their future to earn there and their earning potential. All of those things matter.

And I think those are the things we're worried about now are scarring. Janet Yellen talked about scarring in the labor force. Long-term unemployment, particularly among women, has also gone up, and we know after six months, there is a tipping point where we start to see mental and health problems, like what we -- in addition to the pandemic. You also see family structures disintegrate and, again, there it goes back on children paying the biggest price.

WHITFIELD: Yes, so much on the line. Diane Swonk, thank you so much. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: George Schultz, the former secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, has died. He was 100 years old. In the 1980s, he was known for pursuing a stronger relationship with the Soviet Union, which helped laid the groundwork for the end of the cold war.

Schultz also held cabinet positions under Richard President Nixon where he was a key economic adviser. And after his years of secretary of state, Schultz retired to teach and was affiliated with Stanford University until his death.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. An independent monitoring group says Russian police nearly 10,000 people over the past two weekends following mass protests in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And now, many of those detainees are talking about the abuses they say they faced while in custody. They described unsanitary and harsh living conditions, packed jail cells and spending 40 hours on prison buses with no food or water.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The images of Russian riot cops cracking down on protesters have sparked outrage around the world. Thousands have been detained and some say they were mistreated by police while in custody.

ALLENA KITAEVA, DETAINEE: I was alone in the room with these four policemen, and one said, what, do you want a plastic bag over your head? On the shelf, they already had a plastic bag, as if it was prepared for this. So they put it over my head and started choking me a little bit. I tried to resist, but he kept putting my head down and shaking me.

PLEITGEN: A Kremlin spokesperson said that if what she described really happened, then she should have filed a lawsuit even though she's currently in jail. Moscow police did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Security forces detained so many people at recent demos, Moscow even ran out of space to keep them in. Images have emerged of people crammed into police buses waiting for hours and even days to be processed with no chance to physically distance during times of pandemic.

Alexander Golovach is a lawyer for opposition leader Alexei Navalny's organization. He was detained at a protest last weekend.

ALEXANDER GOLOVACH, LAWYER, ANTI-CORRUPTION FOUNDATION: I was taken to a police station with 25 other people. I spent there three days. But in the first day, we had no food, no water and they didn't let us use the toilet.

PLEITGEN: This is Sakharovo, a former migrant camp now used as a detention center for those taken into custody at pro-Navalny rallies. People who were locked up here shared these videos with CNN, showing cramped cells and catastrophic sanitary facilities.

[14:45:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is really, really bad. There aren't even mattresses and people have been sitting like this for one and a half days.

PLEITGEN: Among the detainees, a prominent journalist jailed for re- tweeting a joke, which the court said incited participation in an authorized rally. He says he's innocent.

SERGEY SMIRNOV, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MEDIAZONA: I spent many hours in a tiny cell, 28 people in a cell meant for eight. These are very harsh conditions.

PLEITGEN: While he says he since been moved to a slightly better cell, others detained at Sakharovo claim little has changed for them.

Meanwhile, pro-Kremlin media is blaring out videos like this one, factory workers enthusiastically showing their support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. A group of people spelling out the words, our president in the snow.

A Putin spokesman acknowledged the overcrowded facilities that said the response of riot police to the mass protest was justified and claimed there were, quote, no repressions in Russia.

Outside the makeshift jail, friends and relatives bring food, drinks and cigarettes for those detained inside, some venting their anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are trying to intimidate people. And our job here is to show the detainees they have support and we are all together in this. That's the only way to build society and to consolidate.

PLEITGEN: Alexei Navalny's movement has refrained from calling for new protests for now, saying they want to regroup and give their supporters time to get out of jail.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Sakharovo, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, in this country, Super Bowl, it's just hours away. And it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a group of health workers. We're live in Tampa, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:00]

WHITFIELD: Kansas City, Missouri Police say a five-year-old remains in critical condition as of Saturday night following a multi-vehicle crash Thursday night involving Kansas City Chief's Assistant Coach Brit Reid, son of Head Coach Andy Reid.

Police say a car had broken down on an interstate highway ramp, and that vehicle, along with another car which came to help, were both stopped on the ramp when they were hit by a pickup truck driven by Assistant Coach Reid, according to police. The details of a search warrant revealed that Reid told the responding officer that he had consumed two or three drinks after the officer observed an odor of alcohol emanating from Reid.

The Kansas City Chiefs released a statement on the incident saying this. The organization has been made aware of a multi-vehicle accident involving line backers Coach Britt Reid. we are in the process of gathering information and we will have no further comment at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.

And now, with that, just hours away from the Super Bowl game itself, football's biggest stage is set for the Buccaneers and the Chiefs, a game that is going to look a little different, let's say a lot different because of the pandemic.

Among the fans in attendance are 76 health care workers from New England who were flown down on the Patriots each team plane. They are among more than 7,000 health care workers who were invited to the game.

CNN's Coy Wire is in Tampa.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Fred. I must say this city has really picked up here in the last 24 hours or so. The music you may hear is about a football field away where Miley Cyrus is going to perform a tailgate for only those vaccinated health care workers you mentioned attending the game. The city last night starting to feel more like a Super Bowl city, the downtown flooded with restaurants and bars offering Super Bowl specials to many people here.

Now, as for the game itself, a very controlled environment, 30,000 cardboard fans in the stands acting as social distancing barriers celebrating pods of real fans. Huge LED boards around the lower bowl instead of the usual tarps. About 7,000 of the 25,000 fans allowed inside will be those vaccinated health care workers on all expenses paid trip by the league as a thank you.

I spoke to Belinda Spahn, a critical care nurse manager at Advent Health North Pinellas, and asked what went through her mind when she found out she was going to the Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELINDA SPAHN, ICU NURSE ATTENDING SUPER BOWL: The moment when you see, okay, this is awesome, and it is, it's like a dream come true to go to Super Bowl, and yet it never would have happened if this monster hadn't descended upon us. And I would sit in my living room cheering the Bucs on if we could back up time and not have this pandemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WIRE: Now, Fred, Belinda leads about 30 to 40 nurses and her team is tough as any that will be on that field tonight. She says that they have huddles every day, they go over their game plan, she's learned so much about the human spirit and about how much we can accomplish when we all work together. She said that their team mantra, their battle cry is mission possible. Fred back to you.

WHITFIELD: So nice. Health care workers from New England, from Florida there, all filling the stands, and that's a really nice treat, very special touch.

Coy Wire in Tampa, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)