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Senate To Begin Trump Trial But Conviction Seems Unlikely; Tom Brady Dominates As Buccaneers Beat Chiefs In Super Bowl; Biden: I Think It's Time For Schools To Reopen Safely; At Least 14 Killed When Glacier Bursts In India; Hospitals In Malawi Face Lack Of Vaccines, Medical Supplies; Sarah Thomas Becomes First Female Super Bowl Official. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 08, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Trump on trial again. The Senate gears up for a historic second impeachment proceeding. But with Republicans backing the former president, conviction looks unlikely.

[00:00:41]

Tom Brady leaves no doubt that he's the greatest of all time, quarterbacking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl victory and landing a record seventh win for himself.

Plus protests sweep through Myanmar. People there rejecting the military coup and demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Live from New York, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Bianna Golodryga. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

This week Americans will be witnessing a first in presidential history when Donald Trump faces an impeachment trial for a second time. The Senate will have to decide whether he's guilty of inciting a mob of his supporters resulting in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol last month. But with Democrats holding only a slim majority, it seems very likely that Trump will be acquitted for the second time.

The trial begins Tuesday, but already, many Senate Republicans are dismissing it as a waste of time. CNN's Joe Johns has more from the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Some Republicans in the United States Senate say they are reserving judgment until all the evidence is in. Some compare themselves to members of a jury.

But for whatever reason, many Republicans over the weekend said they were reluctant to convict Donald Trump in this trial that is expected to begin on Tuesday.

They are well aware of all the support the former president has out in the country, even though some of the latest polling suggests quite the opposite. An ABC News poll says 56 percent of respondents believe the former president should be convicted and barred from holding office, while only 43 percent say he should not be.

But it's not up to the respondents of polling. It's up to the Senate. And here's what some of them said over the weekend.

SEN. 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.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Zero chance of conviction? Forty-five Republicans have said it's not even a legitimate proceeding. So it's really over before it starts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the outcome is predetermined?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): You know, everybody -- no I don't. I think it depends upon that which is presented. Let's face -- let's face it. The House did an incredibly poor job of building a case before their impeachment vote. If -- the president wasn't there. He wasn't allowed counsel. They didn't amass evidence.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): I think it's clearly constitutional to conduct a Senate trial with respect to an impeachment. In this case, the impeachment occurred prior to the president's leaving office. But you know, my job is going to be to listen to both sides of this, evaluate the arguments, and make a decision.

JOHNS: So the leadership watch continues here on Capitol Hill. All eyes on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to release the parameters of this upcoming trial: how long they expect it to last, whether there will be witnesses or not, how long the impeachment managers, as well as the former president's lawyers, will get to address the members of the United States Senate and make their cases.

Joe Johns, CNN, the Capitol.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

GOLODRYGA: And joining me now to discuss is CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig. Welcome both of you.

Elie, let's begin with you. The president's attorneys have been making the case in TV interviews that the president's words on the day of the riot are protected by the First Amendment, and they're arguing that it's unconstitutional to impeach a former president. What do you make of those arguments?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So Bianna, first of, all the First Amendment argument, it's important to note, that would apply in a criminal case. This is impeachment, however. This is a different thing altogether. And even if we were talking about First Amendment, are his words protected? What Trump's lawyers are trying to do is take isolated snippets of what he said and say, Well, looking at this in a vacuum, it's not necessarily over the line of inciting criminality.

But what I think House impeachment managers will say is you have to look at the whole picture here, from the effort to overturn the election weeks before, culminating on January 6. So I think that will be a point of contention.

On the argument that you cannot try a former official, we don't have a specific answer from the Supreme Court, for example, but that doesn't mean this is a 50/50 proposition. I think the great weight of the law is that you have to be able to try someone after they leave office. Otherwise, they could just do whatever they please in the last days and weeks in office with no consequence.

GOLODRYGA: And by the way, just today a top conservative lawyer wrote in the Wall Street journal that, in fact, you can indict a president and impeach a president on these offenses.

And what they said is it defies logic to suggest that the Senate is prohibited from trying and convicting former officeholders, so this is something that clearly you'll see Democrats embrace.

But Ron, one of the only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump is speaking out after being censured by party leaders in her own state of Wyoming. Of course, we're talking about Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the third ranking Republican in the House. Here's what she said about the backlash against her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): People in the party are mistaken. They -- they believe that BLM and antifa were behind what happened here at the Capitol. That's just simply not the case. It's not true.

And we're going to have a lot of work we have to do. People have been lied to. The -- the extent to which the president, President Trump, for months leading up to January 6, spread the notion that the election had been stolen or that the election was rigged, was a lie; and people need to understand that. We need to make sure that we as Republicans are the party of truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So there's nothing in her tone, nothing in her words that have changed from what she said after that insurrection January 6. Let's contrast that with House Minority Leader McCarthy, because Axios is reporting that he tried to actually get Cheney to apologize for how she handled her vote to impeach former President Trump.

What does that say about where things stand inside the GOP right now?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. It -- look, it really underscores the way in which McCarthy has finessed a short-term problem and ceded much longer-term difficulties for the Republican Party. Because essentially, what he has done, by asking Liz Cheney to apologize and by arguing that she should not be sanctioned, and then paralleling that with asking Marjorie Taylor Greene to apologize and say she should not be sanctioned by the -- by the caucus, he's establishing a moral equivalence between someone who voted to hold the president accountable for what he did on January 6 and someone who has sprouted the most vile conspiracy theories.

And, you know, in effect, I mean it is striking at this point that Liz Cheney and Ben Sasse are being --

GOLODRYGA: Censured.

BROWNSTEIN: -- are being censured by their parties. But not Marjorie -- state parties, but not Marjorie Taylor Greene.

So I think what McCarthy is doing is, in effect, saying, Well, we're a big enough tent that we can include both Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene. But in the end, I think what he's doing is legitimizing a place for that kind of extremism in the Republican Party.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Marjorie Taylor Greene got a standing ovation, a round of applause, and Kevin McCarthy seemed to convince nobody when he played as if he didn't know what QAnon was.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Clearly, as Liz Cheney said, there is no room for crazy and conspiracy theory inside the Republican Party.

Elie, new evidence is emerging from rioters, detailing President Trump's influence leading up to the instruction. Just listen to what the so-called QAnon Shaman -- remember him? Here's what he said after he left the Capitol Rotunda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your message to everybody now? Like, what are you yelling out?

JACOB CHANSLEY, SELF-PROCLAIMED "QANON SHAMAN": Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said it. He just put out a tweet. It's a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think so?

CHANSLEY: Because we won the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: I mean, Elie, he says it right there: Trump told us to leave and so we left, we went home. We saw in the president's tweets, after he had been pressured to do something to stop the insurrection. Do these videos strengthen the Democrats' argument that he incited the insurrection? HONIG: Yes, they do, Bianna. And by the way, I think these videos are

a perfect example of why it's a bit premature for some of the members of Congress you saw in the beginning of this segment to say it's over. It's a foregone conclusion. The more this evidence comes out -- and there's plenty more videos of these people at the rally, in the Capitol, saying, "Fight for Trump. Storm the Capitol," responding directly to Donald Trump's words that day.

That strengthens the argument that, whatever Donald Trump's intent -- and I think that there's a good argument his intent was for them to do exactly what they did. I mean, he applauded what they did after. But whatever his intent, this was certainly the impact of his words.

[00:10:04]

His words drove those people down Pennsylvania Avenue into the Capitol and to rip the place apart. So I think that kind of evidence is really powerful and persuasive in the trial this week.

GOLODRYGA: Ron, I'm curious what role Mitch McConnell plays in all of this. In the days and hours after the insurrection, you could feel the visceral anger from him directed towards President Trump. He did believe that this was an impeachable offense.

And yet he told his caucus to vote with their conscience, right? He could have said a lot more.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And we haven't heard a lot from him since. What do you think his objective is going into this week?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think his objective immediately after was clear. He saw this as the moment to sever the party from Trump's dominance.

And in fact, it is the best chance Republicans have, elected Republicans, to diminish his influence over them. By going along with his unfounded claims that the election was stolen, and by failing to really hold him to account for what he did, they are signing themselves up for years more of his influence, you know, over them and cementing his position in the party.

To me it's striking. You know, it is going to be hard to get 17 Republicans to convict him, obviously, but the trial could have the same effect of, in effect, making it very difficult for Donald Trump to ever again hold public office.

If Democrats and Republicans are willing to fully examine the evidence, and if the evidence shows the kind of complicity that seems likely from, you know, not only Trump during -- in the advance and what he said, but in the hours after and what he did and did not do, it's going to be very difficult for him, I think, to come back from that and be a serious candidate for president in 2024.

So the stakes in this, I think, are very high regardless of whether there are 17 Republican votes to -- to convict him. Because the evidence that comes out is going to have a lot to do with whether he has any political future beyond kind of, you know, cheering and jeering from the peanut gallery.

GOLODRYGA: Yet again, another unprecedented week before us. Ron Brownstein and Elie Honig, thank you so much for your time. Ron, have a good night. Elie, I will see you in the next hour. Thank you so much.

HONIG: See you later. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, you can catch our special live coverage of Donald Trump's second impeachment trial throughout the day on Tuesday right here on CNN.

Well, America's premier sporting event has wrapped up, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 31 to nine in the Super Bowl.

Quarterback Tom Brady clinched his seventh championship overall and his first with Tampa Bay. He threw three touchdown passes and was named Super Bowl MVP.

And now because of the pandemic, the game was played in front of a limited crowd with only about 25,000 spectators in attendance. All of them were given masks, even those who had already been vaccinated.

But outside of the stadium, an entirely different scene. Streets have been packed with thousands of fans. Very few masks. Almost no social distancing.

CNN's Andy Scholes is live in Atlanta with more.

Andy, let's start with the game. It was billed as one of the best Super Bowl matchups of all time. I will stand by my word. I don't think Tom Brady broke a sweat tonight. He made this look so easy. Did this game live up to the hype?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Bianna, the game definitely did not live up to the hype. You know, this was not a close game in the second half. We didn't get that epic finish between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes that we were hoping for.

But you know, we did get to see history. Tom Brady going down to Florida, winning his seventh Super Bowl title. The 43-year-old now has more Super Bowl titles than any other team in NFL history. And Brady just proving, you know what? He can win anywhere.

He convinced his old buddy, Rob Gronkowski, you know, to come out of retirement, go join him down there in Tampa. They put on a show in this Super Bowl, Brady finding Gronk for two touchdowns in the first half. They've now hooked up for more touchdowns than any other duo in postseason history.

The Bucs had a lead, 21-6, at halftime. And defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and that Bucs team (ph) was just relentless all game long. Nearly played a perfect game. They pressured Patrick Mahomes more times than any quarterback in Super Bowl history.

This was the first time in Mahomes' amazing career that the Chiefs failed to score a touchdown. Brady ended up with three touchdown passes in the game. Named MVP of the Super Bowl for a fifth time in his career. The Bucs winning this game easily over the Chiefs, 31 to 9.

GOLODRYGA: It seemed as though he was just not gelling there and getting the support he needed from the offensive line. And each time, you know, you see a sack coming and your heart just starts palpitating for the guy, even though he's 25. He's got a beautiful career ahead of him. He is a superstar right now. And I'm excited to see what's going to happen to him in the years to come.

[00:15:12]

But we talk about Tom Brady at the age of 43. Let's talk about their coach, as well. Bruce Arians, 68 years old, the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl. His 95-year-old mother was in the stands. This was really a memorable night and a memorable season for Tampa Bay.

SCHOLES: It certainly was, all the way around. You know, Tom Brady goes down there. Bruce Arians convinced him to go to Tampa to join the Bucs. And it was kind of just -- it snowballed from there. Because then Brady got Gronk to come out of retirement and join him in Tampa. Then Leonard Fournette, the running back that scored a touchdown in this game. He played amazing. Brady convinced him to join the team after he was cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And then Antonio Brown, who also scored a touchdown in this game for the Bucs. Brady was the one who encouraged the Buccaneers to go out and sign him.

So Bianna, it really all comes down to Tom Brady. If he wouldn't have gone to Tampa, the Buccaneers would not be Super Bowl champions. And it's just incredible that a 43-year-old can still be out there doing when he's doing. And he said after the end, Bianna, he's coming back for sure. No doubt about that.

GOLODRYGA: I have no doubt about that at all, especially from what we saw tonight. And I like that exchange at the end between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, where Tom Brady said, Stay in touch. And maybe that's code for, We'll see you next year, as well.

Andy Scholes, thank you so much for joining us. Great to see you.

SCHOLES: All right.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the new coronavirus variant is spreading quickly in the United States, and it could soon become the dominant strain. So what can be done about it? An expert weighs in, straight ahead.

And the president's push to reopen schools in the United States. The agreements reached in two major cities. We'll tell you more coming up after the break.

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[00:20:38]

GOLODRYGA: South Africa has paused its roll-out of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. It comes after a study showed it offered minimal protection against mild and moderate infections from the variant first detected in the country.

Officials say the rollout will be suspended temporarily while they figure out the best way forward.

Meantime, in the U.S., another variant first detected in the U.K. appears to be spreading quickly. The new study suggests overall cases of the strain are still low, but they've been doubling every week and a half. Experts are demanding action to slow the spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It is 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, B117, that is more contagious, that it could be the dominant strain here in the U.S.

And just to remind everyone that 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 have 50 percent more infections. You'll have much more.

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

And 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: President Biden, meantime, has promised to reopen most schools in the first hundred days of his administration. In an interview with CBS News, the president acknowledged the urgency of getting students back to in-person learning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: About 20 million American children have not been in the classroom for nearly a year. There's a mental health crisis happening.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It really is.

O'DONNELL: Women are dropping out of the workforce. Is this a national emergency?

BIDEN: It is a national emergency. It genuinely is a national emergency.

O'DONNELL: Do you think it's time for schools to reopen?

BIDEN: I think it's time for schools to reopen safely. Safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The Centers for Disease Control is expected to issue school reopening guidelines this week, as Chicago's mayor says the city has reached a tentative agreement with the teachers' union to return to in-person learning. The union has not yet ratified the deal.

And a tentative union agreement on school reopening in San Francisco outlines health and safety standards along with vaccine access.

Kyla Johnson-Trammell is a superintendent at the Oakland Unified School District, and she joins us now from Oakland, California. Thank you so much for coming on with us.

So this is a potentially big breakthrough for you. Some 49,000 public school students in Oakland may finally be returning to the classroom. I know that, in the past, you criticized the state's proposals for reopening schools. What's different this time?

KYLA JOHNSON-TRAMMELL, SUPERINTENDENT, OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: I think -- well, first of all, thank you so much for having me this evening. I think what is really different really is what has been the issue along, and that is just the urgency of trying to get our students back in the classroom as safely as possible.

GOLODRYGA: I've been covering education in COVID since May, and I have to tell you what I know you know and those families in your community know, as well. This is not only an academic setback. You have emotional and psychological. You have food resources not being available for students that need it. Parents not being able to go back to work.

In terms of getting the schools up to speed with preventing and mitigating strategies, what has that been like for you, and do you have the supplies that you need? Do you have the funding and resources that you need to get schools open safely right now?

JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: So the work to get schools safely reopened has been work that actually has started since the shutdown, given the complexities.

So we do have the PPE. We're working on, and we have plans in place to have our facilities properly ventilated. We have been -- we've been operating learning hubs, so just small, in-person opportunities for our most vulnerable students: special education and housed foster youth. So we've been able to try out, refine our staff testing and tracing mechanisms.

[00:25:08]

But even with all of that, we know because of the learning loss, we know because of what we're seeing with our students in terms of the pressing need around mental health support, that we are going to continue to need a lot of funding to meet the academic challenges and socio-emotional learning challenges of our students and families.

GOLODRYGA: I guess my question to you, if you've been working on this since the shutdown last March -- and look, I have come to realize what I've known and that is that teachers are a godsend and should be treated that way. Parents cannot do what teachers do and cannot replicate that.

But that aside, there is this narrative that its teachers' hesitation to return to the classroom, despite you having the resources that you need to properly mitigate the schools, despite health experts and even the CDC suggesting that schools can reopen, even without vaccinations.

Is this something that -- that worries you? I mean, what is it that's going to take teachers to feel at least somewhat comfortable? Nobody can be during a pandemic, fully comfortable, but comfortable enough to return to get our students back to where they need to be?

JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: It's going to take continued urgency, conversation, continued planning, and two-way conversation just around the safety measures that our school district has in place; many school districts have in place across the country.

And I believe, even though it has been very challenging in many different districts, that it's the right thing to do, to really press forward to have our schools reopened, as long as the conditions are safe.

And I think in terms of safety, vaccination absolutely plays a critical aspect in the equation. But we're going to have to continue to invest in testing. We're going to have to continue to invest in campaigning and education around the importance of masks and social distancing.

It's going to be all of those things together that are going to create the safe conditions for our students to be able to return to school safely.

GOLODRYGA: So my final question is when do you think you will have schools reopen for students and teachers to come back, and is that solely dependent on vaccines? Because that could still be weeks, if not months.

JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: I think it can't just be dependent on vaccines. Again, we have to continue to look at the distribution of vaccinations and having the masks, the social distancing, and regular testing available for our students and our staff.

We are hoping that we can -- we'd love to be able to give a date. That I cannot do. We are working to be able to have in-person available for our students sometime this year.

We're watching the numbers. We're selling a slight dip in the case rates where we are, in California. And we'll continue to plan and be in negotiations with our labor partners.

GOLODRYGA: Well, seeing that slight dip is a bit of good news.

Look, we all have the same goal. We want our kids back in the classroom. That's where they belong. We want everyone to be healthy and safe, as well.

Kyla Johnson-Trammell, great to have you on. Thank you so much.

JOHNSON-TRAMMELL: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a frantic search is now underway in the Himalayas. They're looking for survivors after a glacier broke apart and triggered deadly floods. We have a live report from India coming up right after the break.

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[00:32:29]

GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Iran is still enriching uranium and challenging Joe Biden to make the first move toward cooperation. The U.S. president is saying no. In an interview with CBS News, President Biden said the U.S. will not leave sanctions on Iran, particularly while Tehran enriches more uranium than it was allowed in the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran argues that former President Trump violated the deal by leaving it, and so it's up to the U.S. to rejoin it and lift sanctions.

U.S. officials are currently in talks with European allies to figure out their next steps.

And China is taking a hardline stance with the U.S. The Biden administration says it will continue to promote human rights and democratic values in the region. President Biden has described China as America's most serious competitor. He plans to confront what he calls Beijing's attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We need not have a conflict. But there's going to be extreme competition. And I'm not going to do the way that -- he knows this, because he's sending signals, as well -- that I'm not going to do it the way that Trump did. We're going to focus on international rules of the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So major sources of tension between the two countries include the autonomy of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet; the persecution of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups. And the U.S. wants Beijing to condemn the coup in Myanmar. Well, thousands of people across Myanmar are raising their voices in

pro-democracy protests. Crowds of protesters are marching for the third straight day. They're denouncing the military junta that seized power from the country's elected government one week ago.

Activists are calling for more people to join the demonstrations and more shows of civil disobedience.

And you are looking at dramatic video. The moment a flash flood roared through the canyon in northern India. It happened after a glacier in the Himalayas broke apart.

Search-and-rescue operations are currently underway.

Vedika Sud is following the story from Delhi. And Vedika, tell us about the search-and-rescue operation. I know it went on through the night last night. Obviously, that's impacted without daylight. What are we seeing this morning?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, dramatic visuals indeed. This incident, unfortunately, took place Sunday, 10 a.m. local time. And the rescue efforts were quick to get there. We're talking about the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force now. We're talking about all the rescue operations and personnel who could be at this spot. They've been there since Sunday.

[00:35:17]

Now, the latest, like you just pointed out, there was -- you know, the process was not as quick as it was during the day Sunday because of the dim light. But through the night, rescue efforts have been on. Unfortunately, the casualty figure now has hit 14. We do know that over 150 people are still missing.

Now, there were settlements along these rivers and embankments, as well. We've got to know that about 13 villages have been cut off due to this glacier burst that took place in the Himalayan region. And of course, when that glacier burst took place, there was a lot of debris and a gush of water going down, because of which, there was destruction on both sides of the water body.

So that's what we're hearing. Water levels did rise yesterday, as well, when it comes to other water bodies around the place. Adjoining states have been put on alert.

There are also two tunnels also that we got to know about, where people have been trapped. A lot of people have been pulled out. But rescue efforts are on to pull out more people trapped within those tunnels. We don't have a complete figure as of now. Hydro and hydro projects have been damaged, as well.

The prime minister and the home minister of the country have been keeping a close watch on the rescue efforts and the updates coming in from there at this point in time.

Like I said, this avalanche really destroyed a lot of property, as well. But it's too soon to ascertain how far and wide this damage is as I speak to you. More details will be coming in, perhaps, by this evening.

Also the head of state of Uttarakhand, where this incident has taken place, did address a press conference yesterday where he spoke about the damage and how rescue efforts are. We're hoping to hear from him again today.

But as of now, a very big situation. All efforts are being put in by every possible army personnel, ITBP people. These are all people who get together during rescue missions as big as this one.

Also, environmentalists have been very concerned about this area. Remember, this Himalayan patch that we're talking about is ecologically highly sensitive. There's been a lot of project work, construction work happening, because of which this area has also become quite fragile.

It's yet to ascertain the reason for this huge disaster that has taken place, but environmentalists have been raising the red flag over the constructions in the area for quite a while, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. We know why they were raising the red flag and fears of something like this. As you said, over 100 people still missing. I know you will continue to follow this story for us. Vedika Sud, thank you so much.

SUD: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And CNN NEWSROOM continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:41:34]

GOLODRYGA: As coronavirus vaccinations ramp up in the west, much of the world can't even get the basic medical supplies they need to fight the pandemic.

David McKenzie shows us how dire the situation is in some of Africa's hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here, too, COVID-19 is inflicting its most painful toll.

DR. TAMARA PHIRI, PHYSICIAN, QUEEN ELIZABETH CENTRAL HOSPITAL: They started treating it.

Your emotions are very blurred. You don't when to be the doctor that lost patients and that family member that lost people, and you're bereaved.

Quite direct. MCKENZIE: Dr. Tamara Phiri has a simple message for those who think COVID-19 is only severe in the northern hemisphere, or that vaccines are only urgently needed in Europe and the United States.

PHIRI: Now we've gone to the second wave, which is a lot harder. I think it's going to be a long year.

MCKENZIE: Follow her on a round in southern Malawi's largest hospital, where shifts are measured in days, not hours.

PHIRI: This tent here is used to disinfect the dead bodies. And I think that's one of the most traumatic things. We see people die all the time, but not like this. Like, not at this rate. Not -- not this many people who were well just a week or two ago. Yes, it can get quite brutal.

MCKENZIE: In the last available space outside, plastic tents are being erected to handle this and future waves. These are the few extra resources.

PHIRI: We have basics. We don't have fancy treatment. We can't ventilate our patients. We don't have the capacity to ventilate.

MCKENZIE: There's no one else to step into the wards. Just Dr. Phiri and her fellow Malawian doctors, who for months have battled the virus that now, because of a new South African variant, is only getting worse.

PHIRI: I don't remember feeling like this in the first wave.

And I'll just feel your pulse here.

MCKENZIE: Doctors Without Borders is fighting to get vaccines to Malawi and, at the very least, into the arms of healthcare workers like Phiri. One of just three remaining specialists covering four full COVID wards. The other five all are sick with the virus.

PHIRI: Literally, the country's bleeding, and people are dying. And, like, all the systems are like really strained with this particular wave.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Some countries have ordered many times the number of vaccines than the size of their population. What impact could that have?

MARION PECHAYRE, HEAD OF MISSION, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: The issue right now is more time issue that quantity issue. The health system falls apart. You know, it's not only people dying from COVID that we're going to have here. We're going to have excess mortality related to other diseases.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Hope is still being kept alive, if only because of Dr. Phiri and the nurses and the workers constantly delivering precious oxygen tanks to the wards. But Phiri says to survive as a doctor at Queens also means being a realist. PHIRI: We had to accept that our situation will be different. You have

to come in mentally prepared. And you have to tell yourself that I'm going to be well. And I'm going to look after myself. And we'll do with what we have, but we'll do our best.

MCKENZIE: After all, her skills as a doctor are honed by the years of never carrying a full arsenal of weapons.

[00:45:03]

(on camera): Twenty-year-olds in Europe might get vaccines before you get a vaccine.

PHIRI: Sure.

MCKENZIE: How does that make you feel?

PHIRI: It's -- it's brutal, but it's reality.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Why would this moment be any different?

David McKenzie, CNN, Blantyre, Malawi.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Among some of the fans lucky enough to be at Super Bowl LV were nearly 8,000 frontline healthcare workers who got free tickets from the NFL. That includes these nurses, who got to cheer on their home -- hometown team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell making the surprise invitation to the group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Throughout the last year, you've been America's real MVPs, the most valuable people. The reason that I want to get on this call for a minute to thank you all, is I wanted to tell you that we want your team to be there. So if you're able to swing it, I want to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Roger.

GOODELL: -- invite each member of your team, the 5 Waldermere unit, to be our guest at the Super Bowl. I don't know if that means -- I don't know if that means you accept or not?

[00:50:08]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! Yes! Yes! We accept! Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Kind of hard to hear the cheers on a Zoom call, but what a moment that was. Twenty-four heroes from Sarasota Memorial Hospital had some of the

best seats in the house, thanks to the NFL. And man, did they deserve it.

And of course, the icing on the cake was getting to see their team, the Bucs, win the championship.

Well, Sarah Thomas made U.S. sports history on Sunday as the first woman to officiate at the Super Bowl. Thomas served as the down judge on the eight-person officiating crew. But it's not the first time she's made headlines. In 2015, Thomas became the first permanent female National Football League official. And in 2019, the first woman to officiate an NFL playoff game.

For more, I'm joined by Christine Brennan, CNN sports analyst and sports columnist for "USA Today."

Christine, I'm so excited for this segment with you. Let's talk about the role of women in football and what we saw today on the sidelines as well. You have women coaching football. You have women officiating the games. How monumental is this change that we're seeing, and will we see more of it?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: It certainly was a first, Bianna, obviously, Sarah Thomas being the first woman to officiate an NFL Super Bowl game. And she was the first to be in the playoffs, and she was the first full-time referee back in 2015. And so that's fantastic.

And by the way, she did a great job. If a referee, an official is basically invisible and doesn't call any attention to themselves, they've done their job, and she did that.

And especially at that goal line call on -- early in the game in the second quarter. Again, the right call, when Kansas City was able to stop Tampa Bay. There she was, and she made the exact right call, as you would expect from someone who's 47 years old and has been doing this for a long time and is a real veteran.

So a great win for her and for all women in terms of, as you were discussing, the idea of women getting a chance to play football, to referee football, to be in charge of football teams. We're just seeing the very beginnings, baby steps basically.

But if you think of Sarah Fuller, who kicked those extra points with Vanderbilt during the college football season. And as you mentioned, two women on the sidelines as assistant coaches in -- for the Tampa Bay Bucs. You see women with other teams. Washington football team now has a female assistant.

And this is, as I said, just the beginning, because women are the future of sports, not only in terms of playing and being in charge of sports teams but also the fan base, the untapped fan base for all of these leagues. And almost 50 percent of NFL fans are women. So it makes perfect sense that the NFL would be starting to make these steps at this time. GOLODRYGA: Yes. Should have been making these steps quite a few years

ago, in my opinion, but better late than never.

In terms of the game itself, it wasn't really a nail-biter, right? You had Kansas City behind the entire time. Nonetheless, history is made. Tom Brady at 43 years old, the oldest to win a Super Bowl. The second was Tom Brady at 41 years of age.

What do you make of his legacy now and his future in the NFL?

BRENNAN: You know, we throw around the term G.O.A.T., greatest of all time. In sports, we're always attaching it to someone as quickly as we can. Often, we might be a bit premature. Not in this case. Tom Brady certainly, Bianna, is the greatest NFL quarterback.

To do this, to come to Tampa Bay in that first year and win the Super Bowl, is extraordinary, and at 43, as you mentioned. He is doing what no one has ever done before. And he's obviously going from one dynasty, a fantastic franchise with the Patriots and leading them to all those Super Bowl wins, six of them, and then getting a seventh this time.

So I think it is a remarkable achievement. And when you sit there and you watch history -- I've been lucky enough to cover ten Super Bowls. I was not there this time. But when you watch history, the biggest game, they key moment, when that person rises to the occasion at the most important moment of their career, certainly at the most important moment of the season, as Tom Brady just did with the Tampa Bay Bucs, it's really something to -- to behold, and -- and it's remarkable.

And by the way, that's the most diverse coaching staff in the NFL that Bruce Arians has put together. You mentioned the two women, but also coaches of color. And look at what they've achieved. In this year of all lives, Black Lives Matter and such social unrest, I think it is a fitting achievement that it would be Tampa Bay, not only with Tom Brady but with all of these other factors mixed in.

[00:55:03]

GOLODRYGA: And Bruce Arians is also the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl. So you have the oldest MVP and now the oldest coach, as well. I love that his mother, his 95-year-old mother, was in the stands.

I want to ask you quickly about the role of COVID throughout this season and how the teams have addressed the pandemic and which teams got it right and which ones had a few missteps. Because I was really floored that the Seattle Seahawks did not have one case of COVID throughout this season. I want to get your take on what they did right and what other teams can replicate.

BRENNAN: You know, Anthony Fauci back in the summer, said he thought, Bianna, that the NFL -- for the NFL to have a full season, they'd have to have some kind of bubble, and we knew that they weren't really going to be able to have a bubble like the NBA or the WNBA.

And what Seattle was able to do, with no COVID tests, no positive tests, you know, COVID -- having no COVID, really, within the organization, was that they created a bubble for themselves. And they moved -- they had sensors on the players and all the staffers, so they were able to see how much time each was spending with someone else, moving them along. A chime went off in their offices every 12 minutes to encourage people to keep moving.

And I think those were some of the things that we saw, and that's why the NFL was able to pull it off and Seattle, in particular, was able to have such an exemplary record.

GOLODRYGA: There's never been a time that we've realized how much we appreciate sports, at least from my perspective, than living in a pandemic and looking forward to one of our favorite pastimes. So it was wonderful to see a Super Bowl come together. It's great to see teams manage around the pandemic, as well, and it was great to see so many of these players wearing masks.

Christine Brennan, always great to have you on. Thank you so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Bianna. My pleasure.

Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm be back in just a moment with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)