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Democrats Wraps Their Case and Trump Lawyers Will Begin Defense; Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States; The Highly Contagious Variants are Putting Europe at Risk; A Closer Look at Denmark's Future Coronavirus Passports; Alexei Navalny is Back in Court; Alexey Navalny Back In Court In Defamation Case; Myanmar Coup: Protestors March For Seventh Straight Day; Hong Kong Celebrates Scaled Down Lunar New Year; Impeachment Manager Asks Senators To Convict Trump: "If We Let It Go Unanswered, Who's To Say It Won't Happen Again?" Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 12, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hello. Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I am Michael Holmes. And coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," President Trump's impeachment defense, now, just hours away. Why his lawyers might cut their presentation short. We are live at the U.S. Capitol for you.

Also, the U.K. COVID variant could -- quote -- "sweep the world." We will discuss what this means for vaccine protection. Also --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES (voice-over): Anti-coup protesters marched throughout Myanmar for a seventh consecutive day. Why there is increasing concern about what might come next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (on camera): Welcome, everyone. House managers have wrapped up their impeachment case against Donald Trump. A meticulous, often jarring account, of how, they say, the former president incited an angry mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. They say he repeatedly lied that the election was stolen then encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol in a siege that left five people dead.

Now, Trump's attorneys get their turn. They say their case will be much shorter, with claims that the trial is unconstitutional. And they plan to argue that Democrats are hypocrites, who say things just as bad as Trump.

Now, despite swearing an oath to be impartial jurors, three Republican senators (INAUDIBLE) met with Trump's attorneys late on Thursday. Not too impartial. Ted Cruz said it was to discuss the legal strategy and share their thoughts.

Even though Trump's conviction is unlikely, given the politics, Democrats say he is still a danger and must be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): I'm not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I am afraid he is going to run again and lose, because he can do this again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (on camera): And joining me now from Washington is CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Dean. Good to see you, Jessica. OK, what can we expect to be the strategy from Trump's lawyers then?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, we are learning some keepings (ph) as we head into this first and what will likely the the only day of Trump's defense team presenting to those 100 senators, turned jurors, in the second impeachment case.

So, a few things that we're learning, they're going to zero in on. Number one, they are going to argue that Democrats have glorified violence by laying out this meticulous timeline and going into great detail over the last six days about what happened here at the Capitol on January 6th, that deadly insurrection.

We also know that they are going to argue strongly for former President Trump's First Amendment right, that he has the right to say a lot of things without being directly linked to what happened here and inciting the violence that happened here.

And then finally, we know that they are going to argue that this is wholly unconstitutional. They are of the view that because he is now technically out of office, although he was impeached by the House while still in office, that this whole thing is unconstitutional.

Now, the Senate did settle that debate with a majority vote at the beginning of all of this, and they ruled that it is constitutional. So, lead House manager Jamie Raskin said earlier today when he was closing his arguments up, he said, look, we settle this, we need to move beyond the constitutional argument and look at the facts of the case.

We know that the defense team does not plan on doing that. They also don't plan on using -- remember, Michael, they've got 16 total hours to make their case. We are told they don't intend to use anything close to that amount of time, that it will likely only take through later today, they should be wrapped up by Friday afternoon.

HOLMES: Yeah, want get over and done with. Despite -- to that point, I mean, despite talk from the republican side of being impartial, I mean, it is fair to say that the writing would seem to be on the wall in terms of the result of this.

DEAN: Right. I mean, at this point, there is no indication that they have -- the Democrats have 17 Republicans that are willing to vote to convict. They did pick up an additional senator, Senator Bill Cassidy, on the constitutionality question. But again, there is still a far cry from the 17 that they are going to need.

[02:04:59]

DEAN: And even more to that point, you showed the video from earlier -- rather I should say late last night, of the senators going in to meet with President Trump's defense team.

You had Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Lindsay Graham going in, these are supposed to be impartial jurors, going in to meet with his defense team, to talk out legal strategy, according to Senator Cruz. That is what he told reporters when he came out, that they were just walking through everything.

Senator Graham not willing to really even talk much about that at all, just simply saying that he would see everybody tomorrow.

So, again, you know, the defense certainly wants to wrap this up quickly. A number of Senate republicans also want to wrap this up quickly, as well.

And don't forget, Senate Democrats also have President Biden's agenda that they want to get through, namely the massive COVID relief bill. So they know they've got a lot of work on the horizon.

So, it could be that this trial is done by this weekend. Michael?

HOLMES: All right. Good to see you, Jessica, thanks, there in Washington for us, Jessica Dean.

CNN's legal analyst and Supreme Court biographer Joan Biskupic joins me now from Washington, D.C. Great to see you, Joan. What, first of all, is your take on the persuasiveness of the democrat cases presented so far?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL AND U.S. SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Thanks for having me, Michael. It was a very compelling case. They really hit all the buttons in terms of the violence that day, the danger to members of Congress, the danger to workers there, the danger to the police.

The House managers cast this story from so many different points of view, interspersing it with Donald Trump's chants and telling the crowd to fight, fight, to try to prove how much he truly did incite this insurrection.

HOLMES: Mm-hmm.

BISKUPIC: I have to say, I watched everything in real time back on January 6th, but then, Michael, to see it all recreated with all different kinds of video from so many different angles, including surveillance video that hadn't been shown before, it was bone- chilling.

HOLMES: Yeah. BISKUPIC: What they did to make the connection, in terms of the persuasiveness you just asked about, is to show the rioters themselves responding to the president, responding to his chants of fight and stop the steal.

HOLMES: You know, I guess -- you know, the reality is that these proceedings are, of course, and you made this point yourself, they're political, they're not strictly legal. To that point, we pretty much know the outcome, but how different are the burdens of proof between impeachment and, say, a courtroom proceeding?

BISKUPIC: Very different that it is political, Michael, and it is all entirely in the hands of senators themselves. The senators run their own show here. The Supreme Court that the -- the Senate has complete control over its impeachment trial. And, it is really up to each individual senator what he or she thinks about the burden here of proof.

And as you hinted when you said that we know the outcome, it will probably take a lot to convince some of the Republicans to even vote to convict despite all the evidence that was shown.

So, you know, in terms of the standards that whatever each senator will bring to it and it requires a two-third vote, so 67 members of this 100 member chamber have to vote to convict, if Donald Trump is going to be convicted.

HOLMES: When it comes to the impeachment process, one of the impeachment managers asked if the president's actions weren't impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. When you look at the Constitution and what has unfolded over the last few days, is that a fair comment? If this is not impeachable, nothing is?

BISKUPIC: I think it is. It is. You know, with the caveat that it's up to individual senators, but nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the United States. Never ever has the president of the United States caused such destruction, and on a symbol of democracy, the U.S. Capitol, with so many deaths and injuries.

You know, the U.S. House managers talked not just about the five people who died as a result of the insurrection that day, but the hundreds of officers who have been injured and still have very, very deep troubling moons. And then all the people throughout the country who are affected by this, they brought in --

HOLMES: Yeah.

BISKUPIC: -- comments about protests at state houses and elsewhere.

HOLMES: Yeah. We are almost out of time, but I want to ask you this because, I mean, you --

BISKUPIC: Sure.

HOLMES: -- do courts (ph) for us. I want you to speak to the whole notion of impartial jurors. [02:09:58]

HOLMES: I mean, many Republican senators publicly cheered on the types of behaviors and narratives now being cited as evidence in this impeachment. I mean, three senators who swore to be impartial met with Trump's lawyers. Is it sort of making a mockery of that notion?

BISKUPIC: Well, you are absolutely right that each individual senator swore an oath and then signed a book, swearing that they would do impartial justice. And it does seem to compromise that.

But in the past, senators of different parties have conferred a bit with the lawyers for the dueling sides. It's just that this was so blatant, what you are referring to, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Lindsey Graham, all Republicans, meeting on Thursday night with the Trump legal team. It really is just much more blatant than even in the past, Michael.

HOLMES: Yeah. Yeah, it is, isn't it? Joan Biskupic, always very glad when we can get you on. Thank you, Joan.

BISKUPIC: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: The U.S. president and his chief medical adviser delivered major updates on vaccines. How soon they could be available to the general public and when life might get back to normal or something like it.

Plus, we will update you on how Europe is handling the coronavirus pandemic. With more contagious variants spreading, experts say the vaccines they have, so far, might not be enough to stop it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time. My predecessor, to be very blunt about it, did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (on camera): The U.S. president there taking a swipe at Donald Trump over the slow vaccine rollout that he inherited. But the U.S. is now picking up the pace.

Joe Biden says, by the end of July, there will be enough vaccines for 300 million Americans. His chief medical adviser adds the general public could start getting inoculated by April with most Americans vaccinated by the middle to end of the northern hemisphere.

Now, so far, more than 46 million doses have been administered and many more delivered. Months most states appear to have vaccinated around 10 percent of their population. Meanwhile, we are learning that when Trump contracted the coronavirus last year, his condition may have been much worse than the country was told at the time. According to a source, he said that doctors actually considered putting him on a ventilator.

Now, the U.S. surpassed 475,000 COVID deaths on Thursday, more than 27 million total infections. Yet, some states aren't easing up on restrictions. Nick Watt explains.

[02:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHEERING)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some fans soon back in the stands in New York State, masked, distanced, and tested fans.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): If you're negative, you are negative. So, the testing is the key. This is a -- hits the balance of safe reopening.

WATT (voice-over): More people can eat inside Chicago restaurants.

ROSA ESCARENO, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND CONSUMER PROTECTION: We are doing so cautiously and slowly with important regulations remaining in place.

WATT (voice-over): Montana's mask mandate expires tomorrow.

GOV. GREG GIANFORTE (R-MT): Since we are not out of the woods yet, I will continue to wear a mask and I encourage all Montanans to do the same.

WATT (voice-over): Note the caution in their optimism and reopening. And the CDC now says one mask is good, two can be even better.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: One mask, at least, but if you want to really be sure, get a tighter fit with the second.

WATT (voice-over): Yes, nationally, new case counts are falling right now. Just look at that line. That is the optimism. But no one really knows how many of those more contagious variant cases are out there or the potential impact. That is the caution.

Two cases of the variant first identified in South Africa, now confirmed in CZalifornia. More than 150 cases of the strain, first found in the U.K., have been confirmed in the state.

FAUCI: The uplifting news is that the vaccines that we now have, the Moderna and the Pfizer and very likely the ones that will be coming online soon, seem to do well against this U.K. variant.

WATT (voice-over): But here in Los Angeles, the massive vaccination site at Dodger Stadium will temporarily close.

UNKNOWN: The problem is, and here's the bad news, we don't have enough vaccines.

WATT (on camera): And good news on vaccines, the Biden administration confirms they have ordered an additional 200 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna. So, by the end of July, President Biden says they will have 600 million doses of those vaccines, enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (on camera): Much of Europe, too, is seeing a drop in new COVID cases, but health experts are worried regardless, and that is because, as we know, those more contagious variants of the virus are gaining ground.

The World Health Organization official says the variant first discovered in the U.K. has already made it to more than half of the countries in Europe. There is concern that current lockdown measures won't be enough to keep it under control if it becomes dominant.

New COVID strains have Germany on edge. It is one of the main reasons the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is extending the country's lockdown until at least March 7th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): The English variant is the most widespread here. Experts tell us it is only a matter of time until these variants become dominant and oust the original virus. We have to prepare for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (on camera): Ravina Kullar is an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist. She joins us now live from Los Angeles. Good to see you, doctor.

The numbers are dropping. That is obviously great news. But the reality check is the overall situation is still bad. The virus is spreading rapidly in the U.S., so variants. More than two and a half thousand Americans are still dying every day and then you've got those contagious variants. How do you view the landscape given all of that?

RAVINA KULLAR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT AND EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Great to see you, Michael. The great news is, as you stated, that cases are dropping. Hospitalizations have decreased, as well. But we are averaging 2,500 deaths per day here in the United States.

My concern is these emerging variants where we have the B117 U.K. variant, which is 70 percent more transmissible, and recent data just showed that this variant also leads to 35 percent increased risk of death, as well. The two variants, which I am also concerned about, are the South African and the Brazilian variants because they have the potential to outwit our immune system. So, what it has been shown is that our antibodies, which are developed after one develops an infection and after one gets vaccinated, that the antibodies are not able to neutralize the virus, which is very concerning.

HOLMES: Yeah. In the U.K, the scientists there were saying that the variant could sweep the country and it is going to sweep the world in all probability. And then a member of the U.K. scientific advisory group has said that the Bristol variant may -- quote -- "infect people who were previously infected or have been vaccinated."

[02:19:58]

HOLMES: Now, how concerning is that in the context of vaccine protection?

KULLAR: That is extremely concerning. I mean, looking at the Bristol variant, the Bristol variant is a variant of the U.K. B117 variant. So, these variants that have been circulating around are mutating themselves.

And the fact that they're able to re-infect those individuals who have already gotten an infection means that these viruses have outwitted, outsmarted our immune system and they are able to bypass our antibodies, our immune system, and are able to bypass the effect of vaccines.

We've already seen that the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines have a decreased efficacy with the South African, with the Brazilian variant, and also the Bristol variant, as well, which is very similar to the South African variant. The two new vaccines, which are in the pipeline, have shown the same effect, as well, decreased efficacy.

HOLMES: Right. It's interesting. What we are learning about there shows the importance of genomic sequencing where the scientists will look at it and they will see where the variant is at. The U.S. still lacks the world in sequencing. That means the U.S. does not actually know how widespread the variants are. Is that right?

KULLAR: That's correct, Michael. I mean, the U.S. lags drastically behind the U.K., which is top-notch in terms of sequencing their strains. We lag -- we are one of the worst countries in being able to sequence these strains.

We really just don't know how many of these variants are circulating around. The numbers which are projected to us by the CDC is likely an underestimate.

HOLMES: And I guess, you know, we take the encouraging news and we take hope in that as we should. But, you know, when you're looking at the reality of variants, the more people who get infected, the more mutations will happen.

And so we are going to have to have social distancing measures and face masks for a long time to stop the virus spreading from person to person and mutating, correct?

KULLAR: That's correct. I mean, it's concerning seeing that some states are loosening the restrictions. They are letting go of their face mask mandate. They are letting go of the physical distancing. They are opening indoor restaurants. With these variants circulating around, it is extremely concerning.

These variants are highly transmissible, 70 percent transmissible, and they have the ability to mutate themselves. So, I highly encourage even though their states are opening up, still wear those masks, still physically distance, and take (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES: Yeah. Absolutely. Great advice. Dr. Ravina Kullar in Los Angeles, it is always good to see you. Thank you.

KULLAR: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: Denmark is about to become the first country to roll out a coronavirus passport in the coming weeks. But as CNN's Nina Dos Santos explains, the project is already coming under fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Denmark, it has been a long winter. Many are feeling it is high time life gets back to normal. So, could this be the answer? An electronic COVID-19 passport, easing restrictions for those who have their inoculations.

The kingdom plans to offer all of its 5.8 million citizens a jab (ph) by June. To solve that, it could be one of the first places in the world to unveil (INAUDIBLE) vaccinated, perhaps as early as the end of this month.

It is all part of the plan to open up business travel first with a push for hospitality and entertainment to be part of the solution after that.

LARS RAMME, HEAD OF TOURISM, DANISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: If we do not start them now, then when? COVID-19 has (INAUDIBLE) then it will be too late. So with this project, with close cooperation between the government and business operations of Denmark, we are positive that we will have a summer, a summer of joy, of football, of music.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): COVID passports are not new. The idea has been around since the start of the pandemic. But finding a way to access data easily, while storing it securely, will be a key to the take up.

MARTIN LENNARDS, DANISH PUBLIC SECTOR INDUSTRY LEADER, IBM: So I want to on board my plane, I'm going to trigger my coronavirus pass.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Two strategies are in the running. One that uses the Cloud and other based on blockchain like IBM's digital health pass, which its developers in Copenhagen have already created and adapted to store information on new variants.

LENNARDS: It is proving that I am vaccinated and tested negative, so no corona. I am good to go.

CARSTEN STORNER, ACCOUNT PARTNER, IBM: We have opened up the corona passport to store all relevant data to COVID-19.

[02:24:58]

STORNER: So, it is the testing results, it can be the antigen results, it can be vaccines, and it can be any kind of vaccine related to the mutations that we see from the virus.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): That may sound simple enough, but some restaurateurs have reservations.

PHILIP HELGSTRAND, RESTAURANT OWNER: I don't know how it will work because we will have to see the passport all the time. It should not be the restaurant's job to check if they have the corona passport. I don't think that all the shops and restaurants can handle to check a corona passport.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): And what about health discrimination? Chelina Hansen has launched a petition with parliament to block the passport rollout. Here's why.

CHELINA HANSEN, AUTHOR, CITIZEN PROPOSAL AGAINST COVID-19 PASSPORT: I think it will split the population in sort of A and B class. It will make it hard for people who don't want the vaccine to navigate into society.

JEPPE KOFOD, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: It has to be done in a way that respects privacy and also the safety and security of data. We have very digitalized society and the public sector is the most digitalized in the world. So therefore we can do that. We have the systems to safeguard also the security of the individual's information.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Denmark isn't the first country to consider this type of technology, especially in the E.U., where freedom of movement is crucial to the (INAUDIBLE).

Back in September, before vaccines are available, Hungary introduced what was dubbed an immunity passport. Now, Greece, Sweden, and Poland are reportedly planning their own digital COVID documents.

Whoever rolls that out first may give cover for others to soon follow suit.

Nina Dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (on camera): Coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is back in court. We will have a live report from Moscow.

Also, Myanmar's military marking a national holiday as thousands of protesters demand they hand power back to civilian leaders.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I am Michael Holmes. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." You're very welcome. Thank you for being with us.

Now, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is due back in court this hour. He is facing a libel charge for allegedly defaming a World War II veteran, a charge, he says, is politically-motivated. And pressure continues to mount from world leaders calling on Russia to release him.

Let's get right to CNN's Matthew Chance, who is in Moscow. What is likely to happen with this hearing, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michael. That's right. I'm here at the (INAUDIBLE) Court in Northern Moscow.

[02:30:00]

CHANCE: You can see there is some security outside, preventing people from going right inside the court building, because inside there, Alexei Navalny is on trial yet again.

This time it's for a defamation hearing, a slander case that the authorities have brought against him, accusing him of calling a World War II veteran in this country a traitor.

The - if he's found guilty of that slander, that he could face a very serious fine, he could face community service. But, our understanding of the law at the moment in this country is that he won't face further jail time. But, I expect that will be at the discretion of the - of the court. But as you know, Alexey Navalny is inside there right now.

He says this is a trumped up case against him. The allegation is that this is to undermine his credibility, to discredit him in the face of the Russian public. This idea, this allegation that he disrespected an elderly World War II veteran is something that his supporters say is being used to discredit him. And certainly, there's a lot of media attention locally here in Russia with this case. As I say, it's not necessarily going to affect his, the amount of time he spends behind bars. But it does further add to what critics say is the persecution of Alexey Navalny in Russia. Michael?

HOLMES: So, when - Matthew, when it comes to his supporters, I mean, do you know what are the plans in terms of more protests?

CHANCE: Yes, well, I mean, after the two initial protests, the initial planned protests after he returned, Alexey Navalny from Germany, having recovered from that dreadful poisoning that he suffered, there's a sense in which the supporters of Alexey Navalny is the team around him have decided to pull back on the - on the street protests that wrecks the entire nation, I think it's fair to say, for two consecutive weeks. They're not planning any street protests yet. There is a sort of a show of defiance being planned for this weekend. They're asking people to come out of their apartment buildings and their houses and hold up their mobile phones in a show of solidarity for Alexey Navalny. We'll see how much pick up there is for that nationwide. We think it's going to be a 15 minute protest. And it's not going to see - we're not going to be seeing the same dramatic scenes of tens of thousands of people around the country protesting against the government, protesting for the - the release of Alexey Navalny that we witnessed in this country over the past month or so.

HOLMES: Absolutely. Good to have you there on the spot for us, Matthew Chance in Moscow. Now, protesters continue in Myanmar now. It's the seventh day of protests there, tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding the military return power to the civilian government. Large gatherings are expected at the US, Chinese and UK embassies in Yangon. Paula Hancocks, who is following all of this from Seoul, what's the latest, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Michael, we're already seeing 1000s of people on the streets in a number of different places across Myanmar, and we could see many more today. Today's a national holiday. So certainly, we could be seeing even greater crowds. The fact that some protesters have been injured by police retaliation is not putting anyone off at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): Thousands of protesters are on the streets of Myanmar during the day. During the night, the military is still detaining members of the National League for Democracy, raiding the offices of what was until the February 1 coup, the ruling party in a democratically elected government.

SITHU MAUNG, NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY PARTY MEMBER (voice over): The NLD won 82 percent of the vote in the 2020 election. The problem is not between the military and the politicians, it's between the military leaders and every single civilian.

HANCOCKS (voice over): The military leadership is proposing a new cyber security bill. More than 150 civil groups Thursday strongly rejected it. Images circulating online purporting to be the bill say the military could block or remove text and media that it felt disrupted stability.

THINZAR SHUNLEI YI, ACTIVIST: Many of them are especially to limit our freedom, to shut down, to legitimate the shutdown of the internet. So, they are basically trying to legitimize what they are doing.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Do you have concerns that the military could shut down the communication completely with the outside world?

SHUNLEI YI: I'm deeply concerned about it because this is the only access to the war right now that we could go - we couldn't travel under the COVID restriction that there are no flights available for us to travel out the country in fear of violence or arrest. We are completely locked out.

HANCOCKS (voice over): The United States is imposing new sanctions for those behind the coup, including keeping some $1 billion of Burmese government funds held in the US out of the General's hands.

[02:35:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are freezing US assets that benefit the Burmese Government while maintaining our support for healthcare, civil society groups and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly.

HANCOCKS (voice over): Myanmar was heavily sanctioned for much of its almost 50-year military rule and survived. The question is, would a reintroduction of sanctions now have much impact?

MONTSE FERRER, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: International investment, we believe to be quite important for the military regime. It is a way for them to enrich themselves, but also to allow to diversify its reliance on - historically on China, for example.

HANCOCKS (voice over): A 2019 United Nations report find military leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, controlled many businesses within the country. Japan's Kirin Holdings pulled out of an alliance with a military-controlled company last week. Activists are calling for all foreign companies to do the same, to cut ties and to stop the funds that help the military hunter stay in power.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

HANCOCKS: And the military leader Min Aung Hlaing has also been making statements calling on civil servants to go back to work, saying that they have been harassed by unscrupulous people and stopped working. The reality is many of these civil servants are on the streets right now because they want to protest against what they call the military dictatorship. Michael?

HOLMES: Before I let you go, the international condemnation of the military for what's happened has been pretty widespread. We heard more today. But, doesn't it mean anything? This is a regime used to being dissented (ph) by the world. Is it going to make any difference?

HANCOCKS: Well, certainly, the condemnation would not make a huge amount of difference. I mean, this is a regime that's currently being accused of genocide in the International Court of Justice. So certainly, condemnation of countries is not going to concern them too much. The sanctions may have an impact, but as I said earlier, they have been heavily sanctioned in the past.

But, we are hearing from the US side that these will be targeted sanctions. They will target these specific leaders who were behind this coup, their business interests, their family members, as well. So, that could have more of an impact. And this is what the activist was - that I spoke to was telling me as well, calling on all foreign companies, all foreign countries, to start boycotting the military government, making sure that they weren't going to be tacitly working with them behind the scenes.

She also did say that she really appreciated and many people appreciated New Zealand's as the Prime Minister there decided to cut ties with the military government saying that - that really that is the main way that they are going to try and cut the funds to the military leaders to keep them in power. But of course, they have been sanctioned before and they did survive. Michael?

HOLMES: Yes, yes, for a long time. Good to have you there, Paula. Thank you, Paula Hancocks in Seoul. The Lunar New Year is here, but the festivities are largely not because of the pandemic, of course. How that's hurting local businesses that rely on those celebrations? We'll have that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

HOLMES: Now, Friday marks the start of the Lunar New Year but the pandemic of course has drastically scaled down festivities across Asia, and that is hurting businesses that rely on income from people celebrating. Kristie Lu Stout now looks at how those businesses are ringing in the year of the ox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's usually a time of raucous strolley (ph) in Hong Kong.

LU STOUT (on camera): This is the first night of the Lunar New Year here in Hong Kong.

LU STOUT (voice over): There's an annual night parade with dragon dancers and costume performers, fireworks over Victoria Harbour, and huge social gatherings. All these traditions are on hold as Hong Kong continues to battle a fourth wave of infection, which has brought parts of the city under lockdown for the first time in the pandemic. And orchids, a popular tradition for Lunar New York decorating and gifting have become harder to sell amid the pandemic.

YEUNG SIU-LUNG, ORCHID FARMER (voice over): There was no business at the florists, meaning distributors like us won't have business as well. 60 percent of our business has been impacted before the Lunar New Year.

LU STOUT (voice over): In his trade, Yeung is known as the orchid king. He says Lunar New Year fairs are usually the biggest source of income for flower farmers, but not this year.

LU STOUT (on camera): To minimize infection, the Hong Kong government canceled the fairs and then allowed them to run at a reduced scale. The U-turn caused confusion for flower vendors in Hong Kong, including Yeung, who expects to lose some $300,000.

LU STOUT (voice over): The viruses also dimmed the spark here, but a few rituals do go on, like the burning of incense and the shaking of fortune sticks at Wong Tai Sin Temple ahead of the Lunar New Year. This Lunar New Year the temple won't be hosting the annual first incense offering for throngs of worshipers. Instead, it plans to livestream a ceremony for the public to pray at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came here last New Year's eve as well. So that's why today we're here to show thanks for the blessings. If it's going to be live streamed--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we will pray at home then.

LU STOUT (voice over): Today at the temple, Jennifer and Shawn (ph) offer incense for good health and pray for the pandemic to end soon. Back in the north of Hong Kong, the orchid king surveys a strip of a 7000-square foot farm and considers the future.

SIU-LUNG (voice over): The longer the pandemic is, the more miserable we are. If we cannot do business at the markets, we will be really miserable.

LU STOUT (voice over): He hopes more people will go to him directly to buy his flowers. Otherwise, this symbol of abundance will be left unsold, hardly an auspicious start to a new year. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'll be back in about 15 minutes with another hour of CNN Newsroom. Meanwhile, World Sport coming your way next.

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[02:45:00]

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: --footnote in these court filings, they are investigating more people here. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Boys love their costumes. Jessica Schneider, thanks very much. So far, there have been more than 200 arrests in the wake of the insurrection, but with Senate acquittal for the former president named the extremists who believed so fervently in what he was telling them.

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COOPER: Before the break, we saw on Jessica Schneider's report just one small faction of the homegrown groups that have emerged around the country, some of whom prosecutors say took part in the capital attack, the so-called Oath Keepers, the so-called Proud Boys and others. In the face of a likely acquittal for the former president by the Senate, the question is, will these groups now feel emboldened to act even more?

Joining me now is former Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman and Mia Bloom, who studies extremism at Georgia State University. Mia, how do you think extremists are going to view any acquittal of the former president in this impeachment?

[02:50:00]

MIA BLOOM, EVIDENCE-BASED CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH GROUP, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: You're absolutely right. It's going to embolden them and encourage them perhaps to even do it again. Right now on many of the chat rooms on the encrypted Telegram application, the QAnon people are talking about March 4.

So if the president gets off scot free, then we don't know what's going to happen in March. But also, we don't know what's going to happen if he runs again, he loses again. So it's not just immediate, it's also a long term threat.

COOPER: What's up with March 4? Why is that suddenly now a date?

BLOOM: Well, so what happens is that a lot of QAnon people were absolutely positive that the storm was going to come on January 20. And if you were watching along some of the videos that they posted, they watched President Trump walk up the steps of Air Force One, and they were like, OK, any second now it's going to be martial law. And when he actually went inside the plane, they freaked out.

And so what they do very often, when the Q Oracle is wrong, is they push back a little bit, and they just change everything to a different date. So now the date for the storm is going to be in March.

COOPER: All right. Mia, I mean this Q Oracle, this whole cult of Q has been wrong every single time and it has predicted all this stuff that has never happened. And yet, it is this ever changing conspiracy cult and they just come up with a different explanation.

Congressman Riggleman, I know you're disturbed by all this as well, more than 200 people from at least 40 states have been arrested for the attack on the Capitol. If the former president himself isn't held accountable, what kind of message do you think it sends?

DENVER RIGGLEMAN (R) FORMER US REPRESENTATIVE - VIRGINIA: I think it's really a danger to our republic if we don't hold people accountable, who seem to have this propensity to push disinformation out almost every day. And about March 4, I don't know if you know this Anderson, but they've jacked the hotel rates up at Trump Hotel for March 4. That was the original--

COOPER: Is that really true?

RIGGLEMAN: That is true, absolutely. And I would love to have a baseball hat and a fake beard and be there that night, I can tell you that. I'd love to get a room there. But the issue that you have with disinformation, and I want to talk about this, you see their proxies already putting out that, I think one of the plans of attack. Well, I will say one of the defenses that you're going to see tomorrow is that President Trump was involved in all the planning for the attack.

And I say it's pretty easy to prove that he was. When you look at disinformation attack, it's the deliberate dissemination of information that's false or malicious. And that's what you've seen for months and months with the President. So, again, it's going to be interesting to see tomorrow what happens, it's going to be interesting to see these individuals like the Proud Boys and other people that are immediately saying that they were following orders of President Trump.

But again, that just goes back to the month of disinformation, the maliciousness of it, but it's the weaponizing of that type of insanity that you saw on January 6. But again, March 4 is going to be an interesting day, especially around DC, and especially at Trump Hotel.

COOPER: Mia, what's interesting to me is, it is so now well documented that there were ton of - a lot of QAnon believers, true believers, at the Capitol, one of them was shot to death. These so called Proud Boys--

BLOOM: Actually--

COOPER: Oh 2 of them were.

BLOOM: And the other one died because she was crushed. Rosanne died as a result of being crushed on the second level.

COOPER: What's interesting is that a lot of them are now who are actually facing justice and court cases say they feel betrayed by President Trump, they were lied to by President Trump. But all the - but there's still plenty of other Q people who have seen their fellow Q cultists now facing charges and saying we were lied to, but that doesn't seem to influence anybody.

BLOOM: What's also very disconcerting is that there have been some surveys that came out today from AEI that Dan Cox ran. And so, we're actually seeing, even after the insurrection, an increase in the number of people that believe in QAnon, including 6 percent are Democrats.

So I understand the 29 percent are Republican. We are seeing an increase in QAnon and what they're saying is, trust the plan, it's coming, don't worry. We have to consider the fact that QAnon is becoming a massive problem, because it's not just one group. It's criss crossing the political spectrum from right to left, and it's starting to involve more and more evangelicals.

Congressman Riggleman, there have been warnings about right wing extremism by law enforcement personnel, not politicized warnings, but from actual law enforcement personnel for years. Do you think it is - law enforcement is taking this seriously now?

RIGGLEMAN: I think they're taking it seriously now if you see the barriers around the Capitol. And I had a discussion today with somebody, Anderson, and we were talking about doing - somebody was asking me, they said, who is the leader of Q, Denver? And I said, this is an interesting question. There's a lot of different people that have been sort of identified that way.

[02:55:00] But, Q like Mia was saying is a syncretic cult, it sort of takes everything in and it's almost like a conspiracy sticky bomb, and everything sort of sticks to it. And I think when you see what's happening now and you're seeing the morphing of these conspiracies, again Mia was referring to, now you see hashtags, Anderson, like I told last week. #COVID1984, which we mentioned on your program I think on February 4, #COVID1984 was trending on Breitbart yesterday, and that's the anti-vax conspiracy theory.

So this is concerning and I think we need to understand that this is not over.

COOPER: Yes.

RIGGLEMAN: You're still seeing a surge in these types of belief systems.

COOPER: And also just, you know, we are out of time, but just for any pretense that these are people who are supporting law enforcement and believe in law enforcement, when push comes to shove, and we're seeing plenty of shoving right now on this video from the Capitol, they were attacking law enforcement.

When law enforcement was actually standing up for law and order and doing their duty, they were attacking them and not only saying vile things to them, but assaulting them, and in one case, killing one officer there and two officers died later by suicide.

Congressman Riggleman, Mia Bloom, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much. We'll be right back.

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