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Racial Disparity in Vaccinations; Gordon Humphrey is Interviewed about Impeachment; Expanding ACA Subsidies. Aired 9:30-10a ET.

Aired February 10, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And we're just moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures pointing higher again this morning after yesterday's losses broke a six-day winning streak. The markets boosted today by better than expected earnings from several major companies, such as Twitter and Lyft. Investors also monitoring any movement on the COVID-19 stimulus bill. They're betting it's going to happen. We're watching it all.

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[09:35:08]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: There is some really good news on the vaccine front. CDC data show this morning about one in 10 Americans have received their first dose. Nearly 10 million people in this country are fully vaccinated.

SCIUTTO: Yes, 43 million Americans, even more than 10 percent if you do the math. The said, the racial disparity is still prevalent in many places. In North Carolina, for instance, nearly 80 percent of those who have received their first dose are white.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

Elizabeth, as you know, the Biden administration is boosting weekly vaccine supplies but there are still supply challenges. I just wonder, are those challenges being overcome from where you're sitting, and do folks expect that number to rise more quickly?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, it's interesting, manufacturing issues are really kept -- well I'll just use the word secret. The companies that make these vaccines don't like to say, oh, this is going wrong or this went wrong or we're trying to fix it.

But I think as we see these numbers build and build, I think what it tells us is that whatever manufacturing issues there were, are to at least some extent getting resolved because these numbers are chugging along. I wouldn't say they're speeding along, but they are chugging along.

So let's take a look at a CNN analysis of the latest CDC data. And what it shows is that one in 10 Americans have received one dose. And one in 33 have received two doses. I think it's sort of getting to the point where we all know someone who has been vaccinated or certainly vaccinated or gotten at least one dose. So we're getting up to about 1.5 million doses per day.

So still people having difficulties finding the vaccine. I think we all know that. But, still, I do think that it's getting easier. I think, just anecdotally, we've all -- anecdotally, we've all heard of people who were struggling and struggling and finally did manage to find one.

HARLOW: Right. And on that front, Elizabeth, you have some news on educators, teachers, and the struggles they're facing to get vaccinated.

COHEN: That's right. There is such a big push, Poppy, to get children back in school, in person and with good reason. But, of course, we can all understand teachers being anxious about this. A lot of young people when they get COVID don't show any symptoms. How would you know if you were surrounded by infected children? You really might not.

So let's take a look at the vaccination status according to this survey of around 3,300 educators by the National Education Association. So what they found was that about 82 percent were not vaccinated. Eighty-two percent. That is a huge number. And 70 percent said that a vaccine would make them feel safer to go back to school in person.

Now, we were talking a little bit earlier about racial disparities. This is terrible. White educators are twice as likely to be vaccinated as black educators. That number, obviously, needs to change.

HARLOW: Yes. A lot needs to change on that front for them.

Elizabeth, thank you for the reporting.

Well, the Senate has now doubled down on the constitutionality of President Trump's second impeachment trial. How long can Republicans use questions about that to dodge accountability?

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[09:42:41]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

Well, just six Senate Republicans joined Democrats yesterday to vote to uphold the constitutionality of former President Trump's second impeachment trial. Louisiana Senator, Republican Bill Cassidy, says he was convinced by the Democrats' presentation of the facts, so much so that he changed his position on this. Three former Republican senators have just written a cnn.com opinion piece. The headline, Trump should not escape accountability on a technicality. Joining me now to talk about that, one of the former senators who

wrote the piece, former New Hampshire Senator Gordon Humphrey.

Good morning and thanks for being with me.

GORDON HUMPHREY (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Good morning, Poppy. Good morning, everyone.

HARLOW: So let's just begin with who you wrote this for. Who were you talking to?

HUMPHREY: To the United States senators mainly, appealing to their conscience and allegiance and true faith to the oath they took to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.

HARLOW: OK. So let's dig into the rule of law because the vote we saw yesterday with the six Republicans joining means that the majority of the jurors, the senators in this, believe that it is indeed constitutional to try a former president. So given that, what do you believe, Senator, their responsibility is?

HUMPHREY: Well, first of all, there are two important precedents that demonstrate that the Senate can and has tried federal officers after they have left office. One case was in 1897 of the secretary of war who resigned over a bribery scandal, and he was tried after he left office by the Senate. Another case in 1797 involving a United States senator who was -- who was ejected by the Senate from the Senate for treason. And after he was rejected and no longer in office, he was tried by the Senate.

So there are two very clear and important precedents, irrefutable in my mind, that demonstrate that it's totally -- it's within the Constitution to try an officer after he or she has left Congress.

[09:45:05]

I'd like to say one more thing on this point, if I may.

HARLOW: Just one -- just one moment, Senator. I promise I'll get to that. We'll talk about McConnell in a moment, too.

But let me -- I'm happy that I can tell you that on the phone we have your friend and former Senate colleague, former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler. We had a little technical difficulty on the video, but he's on the phone.

Senator, really good to have you here.

You know, you wrote a book not that many years ago, five years ago, and the title was "An Independent Mission to Save our Democracy." And now you've penned this op-ed. I wonder what you think a second acquittal of Trump means for American democracy.

LARRY PRESSLER (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR (via telephone): Well, I don't think it means much one way or the other. And we've got to get past all of this lying and horsing around. The Republican Party has got to have reform and we've got to step up to the plate and take responsibility and show the people some leadership. All of this saying that elections didn't work and so forth, we just got to -- we've just got to stop that and reform the Republican Party.

And I've got to go right now.

Bye-bye.

HARLOW: OK. Senator Pressler, thank you very much for joining us.

I think I should note also, Senator Humphrey, for our viewers, that -- it's sad news to report, but Senator Pressler has been really battling pancreatic cancer and has had a very difficult time. But, of course, in the middle of all this felt it was important enough to put -- put that piece out with you.

HUMPHREY: Yes.

HARLOW: So to the point you wanted -- to the point you wanted to make about McConnell.

HUMPHREY: It was great for Senator Pressler to call in. He and I were classmates who were elected the same year. So we're good friends. And we're all rooting for you, Larry.

HARLOW: Yes, we are.

HUMPHREY: I've forgotten your question, Poppy. What was the question?

HARLOW: It was -- it was the point that you wanted to make about Mitch McConnell and sort of where he's been on this.

HUMPHREY: Yes, well, he's apparently said yesterday that it's a matter of conscience for senators. And indeed it is. We can hope they will consult their consciences and their better angels, as did Senator Cassidy, that they will remember their oath of office to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution.

This is -- the Senate has ruled by majority vote yesterday, same process by which laws are enacted, to which all of us are bound, which all of us are bound to obey by the same process yesterday, the Senate, majority vote, decided the issue that it is constitutional to try to -- to try the president. And it is no longer a matter of politics or a point of order. It is now a matter of the weight of the evidence, a matter of the oath of office.

HARLOW: Former Senator Humphrey, thank you for being with me this morning. I'd encourage everyone to go to cnn.com. They can read your piece. And, of course, our thanks to Senator Pressler for calling in, too. We are all thinking about him.

HUMPHREY: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you.

Well, as the impeachment trial moves forward, President Biden is staying focused on battling COVID and trying to get his stimulus bill passed. More on those both ahead.

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[09:52:56]

HARLOW: There is a new bill in the House, a COVID relief bill, that could, if passed, fulfill President Biden's campaign promise to expand eligibility for Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, subsidies.

SCIUTTO: So the legislation, it's part of President Biden's $1.9 trillion overall COVID relief plan, would make the federal premium subsidy more generous and would eliminate the maximum income gap -- income cap, rather, expanding eligibility in effect.

CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond is on the North Lawn.

Jeremy, what exactly is in this bill that relates to the ACA, and is that part of that $1.9 trillion price tag?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. It is part of the overall coronavirus relief package that House Democrats are busy writing this week. We know that President Biden had made these overarching proposals with specific categories of funding that he'd like to see. But now House Democrats are actually working through the business of writing this -- these proposals into law.

And what they are doing here is actually helping to fulfill one of Biden's key campaign promises if indeed it moves through. At least on a temporary basis, this is looking to make those health care subsidies available under Obamacare, make them more generous and make them available to more Americans.

It would allow enrollees to pay no more than 8.5 percent of their income towards coverage, down from 10 percent, and that it also eliminates this current income cap of 400 percent above the poverty level, which is actually just $51,000 a year for an individual. This would all be on a temporary basis for two years unless, of course, it was eventually made permanent.

But this is just one of the things that we are starting to see as House Democrats unveil the different bills that are going to make up this package, at least on their proposal. We know that they also unveiled this $1,400 stimulus checks, rejecting a proposal by Senate Republicans, those 10 Senate Republicans, to really lower that amount to $1,000 and also lower the income threshold to actually be able to get those checks.

And then, of course, there is also this idea of expanding the child care tax credit. That is also something that House Democrats have drafted.

But, remember, all of this needs to also then be approved by the Senate eventually and then by both houses of Congress to wrap this all up.

[09:55:07] So there is still a lot to do here.

And as this impeachment trial is still going on, what we're seeing from the president and from the White House is an attempt to show that they are focused on the business of governing.

Yesterday we saw President Biden talking once again about the urgency of passing this relief measure. He was meeting with business leaders, trying to drum up support for this $1.9 trillion piece of legislation. Today we will also see him continue to focus on things other than impeachment. He will be heading to the Pentagon to meet with the first black secretary of defense to tout the -- make a special tribute to the contribution of black service members in the military and to note the history that Secretary Lloyd Austin is making.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: We'll be looking for that visit to the Pentagon. Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you.

Well, the impeachment managers begin presenting their overall case today, looking to convince skeptical Republicans that former President Trump incited the deadly riot on Capitol Hill. We have new details on what they will argue.

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