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Study Identifies Seven New Virus Strains in the U.S.; Biden Pushes Congress to Act Quickly on $1.9 Trillion Relief Plan; Trump Still Faces Long List of Legal Issues. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga, in for Poppy and Jim.

Well, he dodged a conviction at his second impeachment trial, but he can't avoid a growing list of legal challenges.

This morning, former president Trump is facing multiple criminal investigations from business dealings in New York to inappropriate calls to Georgia election officials. He has some serious fights ahead.

Still the former president's grip on the party and its future seems to be as strong as it's ever been. He's not just vowing to take on any Republicans who broke with him during the impeachment trial. According to Senator Lindsey Graham, he's excited to get involved into the 2022 midterms.

We are following all of these headlines and this. President Biden ready to put impeachment behind Washington and focus on his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package including billions for vaccines. Critical as health experts are now warning new variants of the virus are spreading across the country.

So let's begin with CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen on these new homegrown variants that scientists are discovering.

Elizabeth, good morning to you. What more can you tell us about them?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, this is really interesting. We've heard so much about variants that were first spotted in the U.K. or in South Africa. And people have wondered, why aren't we hearing more about variants in the U.S.? There's just aren't any? And we all knew that that was not the answer. There is so much COVID in the United States that, of course, there are variants in this country. The problem is, surveillance in the United States is so bad that we weren't finding them.

Well, surveillance in the United States, thanks to the CDC, is getting better. We are doing a better job with it. And so now researchers at the University of New Mexico and at Louisiana State University have done a great job of trying to take a look and seeing what variants they can find.

So a couple of things I want to say before we go over that data. Number one, they have very cleverly named this data after birds. And, you know, the variants are named after birds. And you'll see that in a second. The reason they do that is because when you say the U.K. variant or the South African variant, there are concerns you could stigmatize those areas as if somehow they did something wrong. So instead they name them after birds so the only things we're insulting here are birds and hopefully the birds won't mind.

Secondly, I want to say that just because they are variants does not mean they are bad. There are always going to be variants. And I'll talk about that in a minute after we take a look at this list. So there are seven variants that they found in seven different parts of the United States. And so if we look at the larger ones, they called it Robin 1. They found it in 30 states, predominantly in the Midwest. Robin 2, 20 states, predominantly in the southeast, very similar to Robin 1. And then you can see pelicans, 13 states, plus Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and India.

And then there were four where they found far fewer cases but worth noting yellow hammer, mostly in the southeast. Blue bird mostly in the northeast. Quayle mostly in the southwest and northeast. And mockingbird mostly in South Central and the East Coast.

And so what does this mean? So let's start with this. There are three reasons that we worry about variants. One, are they more transmissible? And two, are they making people sicker? Let's deal with those two first. The answer, and I just got off the phone with a senior researcher, they say we have no reason to think these are more transmissible, that they are spreading faster. And we have no reason to think that they make anybody sicker than just regular coronavirus. So that's important.

They're still looking into it. That could change. But at the moment, we just don't know. But there is no reason to think at this point that they necessarily are more transmissible and make people sicker. But they're still researching that. The third one is super important, which is, are these variants outsmarting the vaccine? The answer is so far all indications is that they are not outsmarting the vaccine. So that is really good news -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Well, that is very reassuring, Elizabeth Cohen, and nothing against birds, but it is more palatable to name these after birds rather than countries, which is why we don't call it the China virus or the Wuhan virus as it had been labeled by the Trump administration.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

Well, Congress may be out of session for the week but stimulus talks are still under way, as House Democrats working to finalize their portion of President Biden's COVID relief proposal and pass it as soon as next week.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House for more on where negotiations stand. Jeremy, good morning to you. So President Biden is going to be making

a national push for his $1.9 trillion stimulus package tomorrow during a CNN town hall in Wisconsin. What more can we expect to hear from him?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what we can expect to hear from the president is what we've been hearing from him over the last couple of weeks. And that is to say stressing that this $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package is not only necessary to help address the coronavirus response itself, to help with vaccine distribution, increasing testing in the United States, but also to address the economic crisis that the faces as a result of that pandemic. And he's going to stress the urgency of this plan. Now we know over the last week, President Biden has been sounding that -- those notes.

[09:05:03]

But now he will be able to do that with the spotlight back on him, now that the impeachment trial of his predecessor is over, you can see President Biden will be eager to regain that spotlight and to focus it on the urgency of this relief. Over the last week, House Democrats have been working in the committees to really flesh out Biden's coronavirus relief proposal. We have seen them write into bills of law the $1400 stimulus check, the expanded child tax credit. Several bills have gone through committees.

This week, though, you'll see the House Budget Committee actually move forward with putting all of those bills into one piece of legislation. But they are working against this timeline. March 14th is when those federal unemployment benefits expire and House Democrats in the White House very much would like to see a bill passed and signed by President Biden by that date. That's just in 27 days -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Which is why they may very well pursue reconciliation if they can't get more Republicans on board here. But beyond just COVID relief, what else is the Biden White House looking into? You've got confirmation seats that we still need to see?

DIAMOND: That's right. That will be top of the list in terms of sense of urgency coming from the Biden White House beyond the coronavirus relief package. They need to get their Cabinet members and Cabinet- level officials confirmed. 23 total Cabinet-level officials need to be confirmed by the Senate. Seven have already been confirmed. 16 still need confirmation. Several of those have already begun moving through committee. But that will be a priority for this White House to see that come through.

We are also seeing this White House focus on infrastructure. Last week, President Biden meeting with a group of bipartisan lawmakers to talk about moving forward an infrastructure package. And just yesterday, on the third anniversary of that horrific Parkland shooting, President Biden putting forward proposals to address gun reform legislation. He says that it's time for Congress to address these things. He's pushing forward for requiring background checks on all gun sales,

banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and eliminating that immunity that gun manufacturers do indeed currently have. All of those of course would require congressional action and likely 10 Republicans to join all Democrats in that narrowest of narrow majorities that Democrats have in the Senate to get any of this legislation through -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: No doubt, a packed agenda ahead for the president. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

And as we mentioned, be sure to watch as President Joe Biden joins Anderson Cooper live from Milwaukee in an exclusive presidential town hall. It all starts tomorrow at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

Well, impeachment may be in the rear view mirror, but former president Trump's legal worries certainly are not. CNN White House correspondent Boris Sanchez is in West Palm Beach this morning.

And Boris, new investigations adding to a laundry list of legal issues facing the former president.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Bianna. Former president Trump expressing relief over the weekend at being acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial. Privately, those sources close to Trump say that he is concerned about potentially facing criminal charges. And it appears there is cause for that concern.

For one, federal investigators have made clear to CNN that they're looking at everyone and anyone involved in the violence that we saw on Capitol Hill on January 6th. And the DA, the attorney general I should say in Washington, D.C. has acknowledged that that office is looking at potentially charging former president Trump for his involvement in the insurrection.

On top of that, investigators at several levels in New York are looking at Trump businesses, both potentially for criminal and civil litigation as well. There are allegations that the Trump Organization committed tax and insurance fraud.

And beyond that Trump could potentially be indicted in Georgia for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State. There is one inquiry there. There's also a criminal investigation looking into Trump's calls to the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. And beyond that, Trump is facing a number of defamation lawsuits, including from two women that allege that Trump sexually assaulted them.

We should be clear, Trump has denied any wrongdoing in all of these cases and the Trump Organization does maintain that all of its business practices are done in compliance with the law -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: No doubt. The former president is facing some serious legal exposure. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

And for more on this, let's bring in Jim Schultz, a former lawyer in the Trump White House.

Jim, great to have you on this morning. So after voting to acquit the former president, Minority Leader McConnell said that the way forward would be through the courts. And even Trump's defense attorney seems to suggest that, unprompted by the way, that a better avenue to deal with any potential crime would be with the legal system. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE CASTOR, FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: After he's out of office, you go and arrest him. So there is no opportunity where the president of the United States can run rampant in January at the end of his term and just go away Scott free.

[09:10:05]

The Department of Justice does know what to do with such people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So it's no surprise that the president was not happy with that performance from Bruce Castor. But is this an open invitation for the Justice Department to now step in and bring charges?

JIM SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: I don't think the Justice Department needed an open invitation. They can certainly launch any investigation they like as it relates to incitement. And it appears that they are seriously looking at the incitement issue through the D.C. U.S. attorney's office and the federal prosecutors in DOJ. More troubling is the issues going on for the president is the issues going on I imagine in New York with the district attorney's office and the AG's office looking at business practices.

It just appears that the former president is going to be tied up in legal issues for some time to come and, in particular, I think that the Georgia issues, I think are something that are going to be on the front burner especially with the Fulton County DA.

GOLODRYGA: And let's talk about that because he's the subject of an investigation as you mentioned in Fulton County, Georgia, related to that call that he made with Georgia secretary of State asking specifically to find 11,780 votes to essentially overturn the results of the election. Now that the president is a private citizen, how can prosecutors go after any suburban Atlanta voter, right, for trying to rig one vote, but not someone accused of trying to overturn exactly the number of votes needed to make him the winner?

SCHULTZ: Well, the president doesn't have -- the former president doesn't have the protections he had when he was once president in terms of investigations and being immune from investigations while he's the sitting president. So certainly the Fulton County DA's office wanted to get involved in a grand jury investigation or start a grand jury investigation or conduct some type of criminal investigation. They certainly could. It looks like they're heading in that direction at least asking

questions. So that certainly they're entitled to do that. The door was opened with the comments that he made in connection with his -- the discussions he had with the Georgia head of the Department of the secretary of State. That was certainly not a wise decision on his part to have those conversations to begin with. It opened up the door to potential liability for himself.

GOLODRYGA: Look, and no offense to you, this is a person who has spent his lifetime in court and even bragged about it, right? So I think the number of attorneys who this president, the former president has gone through is sky high. That may make many Americans say, hey, we've heard of legal issues in the past for the president. Why is this any different? Is he facing more legal exposure now? Should he be more worried now?

SCHULTZ: The president has been used to civil litigation for his entire career as a businessman. You know, he was in court time and time again as a business person. And it's a little different this time because now you're looking at potential criminal investigations, which is strikingly different than the civil suits that he's been used to dealing with for years and years.

GOLODRYGA: You mentioned the civil and criminal investigations here in New York. The state's attorney general said that they will be pursuing that as well, and the Manhattan district attorney, they've been looking into alleged financial crimes going back for years. The president has called these and every investigation that he's faced a witch hunt.

How can all of these probes just realistically all be a witch hunt? At some point, there is justification for them. No?

SCHULTZ: Well, the thing about investigations is they either come to a conclusion or an indictment is brought so they're certainly going to overturn every stone, take a look and see what's there. They're going to bring in witnesses, they're going to interview witnesses. They're going to bring folks before the grand jury is where the grand jury is available to them.

And they're going to ask questions and certainly that's something that prosecutors do. And at the end of the day, someone has to make a determination as to whether indict or not or drop the investigation. And we'll see what happens.

GOLODRYGA: And someone needs to defend the president as he's entitled to. If he reached out to you again today, would you go back and work with him?

SCHULTZ: No, I have never been the private attorney for the president. I served in the White House Counsel's Office. I did not -- I have never served in a personal capacity as counsel to him.

GOLODRYGA: Would you?

SCHULTZ: I haven't been asked. And, quite frankly, I don't -- you know, I don't know that I would serve as his -- I know that I would not serve as his personal counsel.

GOLODRYGA: Why not?

SCHULTZ: Look, I just would not. I wouldn't take on that representation at this point in time for all the reasons we've seen. He tends to run over his personal attorneys and not take their advice when he gives it to him, and tries to strategize beyond what the lawyers are trying to do in court. So that's not something I would take on as a personal attorney.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jim Schultz, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And still to come, with seven new coronavirus variants detected in the U.S., will the pace of vaccinations be enough to catch up to the spread?

And the former president Donald Trump's impeachment trial now behind them, many Republicans are already turning to 2022. So what role will the former president play?

[09:15:00]

And more than 2 million people are currently without power, and nearly 170 million people are under winter weather advisories as a brutal winter storm slams much of the southern United States. A lot more on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Coronavirus cases are plummeting in the U.S., and that's leaving several states such as Montana, New York, New Mexico, and others to begin loosening restrictions, but with the disturbing trend of new variants and mutations on the rise, experts warn that we are far from out of the woods of this pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: If we relax these mitigation strategies with increasing transmissible variants out there we could be in a much more difficult spot.

[09:20:00]

So, what I would say is now is the time to not let up our guard. Now is the time to double down. Still with 100,000 cases a day, still with over two and half times the cases we had over the summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: And here with me now is Dr. Carlos del Rio, the Executive Dean of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Doctor, great to see you this morning. So, let's start with vaccinations.

More than 38 million Americans have no been given their first dose of vaccine, that is very good news. Just over 11 percent of the population. But is that pace enough to outpace the spread that we're seeing of these new variants?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE DEAN OF EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, I think you're absolutely right Bianna. We are in currently in a race between variants and vaccines.

And we are doing fairly well on vaccines, we're putting out close to 2 million doses per day and I think that we can keep that and even rank it up a little bit more, 2.5 to 3 million dose a day, I think we'll be in good shape to outpace the spread of the variance.

But I think to outpace the spread of the variants like the CDC Director stated we also need to hunker down on mitigation strategies. We need to continue to masking, to socially distance, to avoid crowded environments. And therefore, I'm very concerned about many states lifting restrictions because we're not out of the woods in this one.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, you talk about Montana, New York, New Mexico, some of these states are now not mandating, no longer mandating masks. You have restaurants in New York state allowed to open to 25 percent capacity. Is it too soon for that?

DEL RIO: I think it is. And I think it is primarily because of the curve ball that the variants represent. We cannot understate how significant this, you know, this U.K., this B117 variant is by increasing transmissibility 35 to 45 percent, we can really see a significant uptake in cases. We're seeing a lot of these variants in states like Florida, California and New York.

So, I would be very concerned and my advice is to continue to masking, to continue socially distance and to avoid crowded environments. I mean, we have a few months to go and we will be in a much better shape by this summer.

GOLODRYGA: You have some parts of the country continuing to not wear masks. You -- we saw what happened in Tampa after the Super Bowl last week as well.

But, let's turn to schools, because I may be a little biased here, but when I hear that indoor dining can be at 25 percent capacity, and look, I'm all for boosting the economy and restaurants.

But when people can go indoors and eat and yet we still don't have schools open for the majority of American students, what does that say to you? And do these new guidelines that came out on Friday help lead a pathway to opening schools?

DEL RIO: Well, I think, you know, we all have been very concerned that in many states we have had bars opened, gym opened and not schools. And I think our priorities need to be straightened. I think it's a priority for the U.S. should be to open schools like President Biden has said.

I really think in order to reactivate the economy you must open schools. The CDC guidelines are good, but at the center of these guidelines is this important caveat. You need to have a low community transmission. So, in order to open schools safely we really need to bring the numbers down.

So, I'm really glad the numbers coming down, let's continue that. And if we do that and implement mitigation in schools, I think we can open schools safely and we can do in a way that will be safe for the teachers, for the faculty, and the people that work at schools and the students.

GOLODRYGA: But let me ask you about that, because it does seem to be taking a step backwards, if you look at the communities that have higher spread, but that also have schools that have remained open with few cases.

Because if you follow these guidelines then those schools that have been open despite having higher and elevated community spread should then shut or at least go back to hybrid. And that to me appears to be a step backwards instead of looking at the data and saying there are still ways to mitigate spread despite it being in the community.

DEL RIO: I think there are ways to mitigate spread. You know, masking is clearly -- those schools I bet you are doing a lot of mitigation strategy. If you look at the evidence that we have from those schools, they're doing masking, they're doing socially distance, they're doing many things to mitigate.

Remember we've talked about the Swiss cheese approach, right? It's not one thing. It's a combination of things that you do that really reduces community transmission. So, one of those strategies has to be prioritizing vaccinating teachers. I'm all in favor of that.

But I really agree, you know, I agree with the CDC director. We don't need to have vaccination of teachers as a prerequisite to open schools precisely because of what you're saying.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it doesn't have to be a binary option, right? You can start vaccinating teachers and start reopening schools. Countries around the world are doing that as well and I think that this is a real harm that we're seeing impacted on our children throughout this process. Of course, we want teachers to be safe as well. Dr. Carlos del Rio, thank you so much as always for your expertise.

[09:25:00]

DEL RIO: Delighted to be with you.

GOLODRYGA: Well can the GOP move on now from Former President Donald Trump? All signs, they're pointing to no. State Republican Parties look to punish Senators who voted to convict in the second impeachment trial. We'll have more on this for you coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Today backlash and divisions growing inside the GOP. Soon the North Carolina Republican Party meets to vote on whether to censure Senator Richard Burr for his vote to convict Former President Trump.

It comes after the Louisiana Republican Party censured Senator Bill Cassidy over the weekend for his conviction vote.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill with more. And so, Lauren, look. You have Burr who's retiring who's not running for re-election.