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Study Identifies Seven New Virus Strains in U.S.; Biden Pushing Congress to Act Quickly on $1.9 Trillion Relief Plan; WHO Investigators Discovers Signs of Wider Outbreak in Wuhan. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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

Acquitted by the Senate for a second time, former President Trump's legal problems are just getting started though. Key members of his own party, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are now suggesting that Trump could face criminal charges following the deadly siege on Capitol Hill, combined with ongoing criminal probes over his calls to Georgia election officials, and investigations over his business dealings in New York. It is a growing list.

And so is the former's president's list of Republican lawmakers now being targeted for their impeachment votes. More on that in just a moment.

Also this morning, the beginning of a critical week as Democratic lawmakers take next steps in pushing through President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

But, first, let's begin with CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Elizabeth, health experts are now warning of new homegrown variants that are spreading across the country. What more do we know about them.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, I want to be very clear before we get into this. The word variant scares people. It is possible that these so-called homegrown variants will not turn out to be a big deal. But it is possible that they may be more transmissible or that they might cause more severe disease.

So I'm going to go over what the variants are, but before I do, they have interesting names. They are named after birds. This is the first time that we've seen this. The reason is, Bianna, you and I have talked about the variant that was first spotted in the U.K. or the variant first spotted in South Africa. By identifying them with places, it can stigmatize those places. So these researchers at LSU and the University of New Mexico, they decided to name them after birds. So they're probably insulting birds, but that is okay, the birds don't know what is going on.

So let's take a look at these variants and where they have been found. So, variants called Robin 1 and Robin 2 have been found, as you can see, in many states, Robin 1 in 30, Robin 2, which is very similar, in 20 states and Pelican in 13 states. And Pelicans have been found in 14 states as well as four countries. And then there are four other variants that have been found in relatively small numbers, but still worth noting, and you could see here up on our screen the places that they've predominantly been found. Those are those are called Yellowhammer, Bluebird, Quail and Mockingbird.

So, the reason why we are interested in variants at all is because they may be more transmissible. I was speaking with the senior researcher on this study, he said these might be but they might not be. We need to do more research. Another reason to worry about variants is do they cause more severe disease? Same answer, they might, they might not, we're still looking into it.

But, Bianna, I have a piece of good news, which is I asked the researcher, are these variants, are they good at escaping the vaccine or at least alluding it to any extent, he said no. It appears, from what we know right now, the vaccines work just fine against the variants. So that is good news. Get the vaccine if you can.

GOLODRYGA: That is good news. And no disrespect for birds. We love birds. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Right.

GOLODRYGA: Well, it is a crucial week for Democrats if they plan to pass President Biden's stimulus package before emergency benefits expire in just 27 days. It is a tight timeline with Congress out of session this week. Still, House Democrats hope to be done crafting their final bill by Friday, with a vote on the legislation as soon as next week.

CNN's John Harwood is at the White House with more. And, John, President Biden is also heading to Wisconsin tomorrow to make a national push for his proposal during a CNN town hall. Could this event move the needle for any Democrats?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's in the selling phase for his bill. The poling has been fairly positive for the bill, so far. It is always difficult to poll legislation in a narrow sense because it depends on how the pollsters describe it to the respondents. But he's got -- there is support for a broad package and he is going to try to drive that as he tries to move with these narrow majorities in both the House and Senate, move this package through.

First in the House, and the committees assembled the legislation, began to assemble the legislation last week, and then in the senate, got to hold -- unless he gets ten Republicans to surmount a filibuster, they're going to use this reconciliation process, which requires him to keep all 50 Senate Democrats together. There is some controversy about things like the minimum wage, which a couple of more conservative members, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are not for.

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That is likely to get struck down by the parliamentarian in the Senate anyway.

So it looks like as if they are on track to pass this bill, as they intend to do, by the middle of March.

GOLODRYGA: And also the stimulus package could have some long-term impacts on income equality. We talk about so many Americans suffering with without enough food on the table and worried about whether they will be getting additional supplement payments from the government. Tell us more about this.

HARWOOD: Well the highest profile element of the legislation, Bianna, as you know, are these $1,400 checks. There has been some controversy about that. Are those checks that size justified? But that track was pretty much set by President Trump calling for those checks in December and then the Democrats and Joe Biden committed to that as they were campaigning in the Georgia runoffs.

But separate from those checks, you've got the issue of child tax credits, childcare tax credits, the earned income tax credit, subsidies for the purchase of Obamacare. All of these are wears in which the legislation would spend substantial amounts of money, $125 billion in 2022, to try to provide benefits for people on the lower end of the income scale. They're temporary benefits but Democrats are hoping to extend them. And, again, that is part of what unified the Democratic Party at this moment, is the attempt to do something about the long-term trend toward income inequality. This bill would take a step in that direction.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And economists are also pointing to data showing that at least for lower income Americans, once they get the added stimulus, the first thing they do is they spend it and bring it back into the economy. John Harwood, thank you, as always. We appreciate it.

And a programming note, President Joe Biden will join Anderson Cooper live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in an exclusive presidential town hall starting tomorrow at 9:00 Eastern.

Well, former President Trump's second impeachment trial is done but legal issues continue to haunt him. Let's go to CNN White House Correspondent Boris Sanchez in West Palm Beach. And, Boris, talk about the challenges, there are many, that lie ahead for the former president right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna, no shortage of legal hurdles for former President Trump to jump before he can focus on his political future, as he foreshadowed this weekend in a statement talking about 2022 and potentially his eyes are even on 2024. He has expressed privately to advisers and allies that he's concerned about facing criminal charges and there is a slew of potential legal issues facing the former president, including his involvement in the insurrection on January 6th. Federal investigators have made clear to CNN that they are looking at everyone who is involved in the violence that we saw on Capitol Hill, including Donald Trump. On top of that, the attorney general in Washington, D.C. has made clear that his office is looking at potentially filing charges against the former president at a local level.

Beyond that, there are two investigations in Georgia right now and inquiry and a full blown criminal investigation in Fulton County over Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State and his thinly veiled threats to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger.

Add to that the criminal and civil investigations that are ongoing in New York regarding Trump businesses. There are accusations that the Trump organization has committed tax and insurance fraud.

And beyond that, Trump is facing several defamation lawsuits, including from two women that alleged that Trump sexually assaulted them. To be clear, Trump has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and the Trump organization maintains that all of their business practices have been done in compliance with the law. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: No doubt, the president will have to lawyer up. Interesting, in the last hour, we spoke with one of his former White House counsel's who said that he would not serve as his personal attorney. Maybe that is a warning to others as well. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

While the former president ponders his future, Republicans are fighting over the future of the party. CNN's Jessica Dean joins me now. And, Jessica, time will tell how voters are going to feel, but for now, the Republican senators who voted to convict former President Trump are really facing swift backlash at home. Talk about these censures.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, Bianna. In fact, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, the North Carolina GOP will vote later today on whether or not to censure him, one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in last week's trial. And he's just one of several who are facing this type of backlash in their home states or home districts over the votes to impeach former President Trump.

Now, Senator Burr is not up for re-election. He also said that believes former President Trump bears responsibility for the deadly insurrection that happened here on January 6th. But here is what Senator Lindsey Graham had to say about Senator Burr and the state of North Carolina.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The biggest winner, I think, of this whole impeachment trial is Lara Trump. My dear friend, Richard Burr, who I like and have been friends with a long time, just made Lara Trump almost a certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs and I'll certainly will be behind her because I think she represents the future of the Republican Party.

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DEAN: And Senator Graham saying over the weekend that he believes former President Trump remains the most potent force within the Republican Party.

Now, to show you, Bianna, the dichotomy that really exists in the Republican Party right now, this internal struggle back and forth, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who did vote to impeach former President Trump, said that he believes that former Donald Trump's power will wane over time. And there certainly is this incredibly push and pull in this party to see what is the way forward as both the House and the Senate, as leadership in both chambers look to win back majorities in 2022.

But the fact remains, Bianna, that there are likely more censure votes to come and there are certainly many that we've already seen, again, between both House members, Liz Cheney notably in Wyoming, and also members of the Senate voted to impeach President Trump.

GOLODRYGA: Really telling that Senator Graham said that he would endorse Lara Trump and she has yet to announce that she's even running. Jessica Dean, thank you so much, talks about the friction within the party.

Well, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a coronavirus relief bill on President Biden's desk by March 14th, but is that timeline realistic and is there any hope for a minimum

wage increase?

Plus, health officials say the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, was much wider than previously thought. We'll have an exclusive report.

And coronavirus vaccination sites are temporarily shutting down because of supply shortages. What can be done to turn things around?

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GOLODRYGA: Now to a CNN exclusive report, investigators from the World Health Organization now believe that the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, was much larger than originally reported back in December of 2019.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh spoke with the lead investigator in an interview.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice over): The leader of the WHO Mission to China investigating the origins of the coronavirus has told CNN the virus was likely much wider spread in China in December 2019 than was thought. Peter Ben Embarek revealed the 174 positive cases found that first December likely severe cases meant there could actually have been an estimated thousand-plus total cases in and around the city of Wuhan that month.

PETER BEN EMBAREK, HEAD OF WHO MISSION TO CHINA: The virus was circulating widely in Wuhan in December, which I think is a new finding. And the hundred laboratories confirmed (ph) and the 74 clinically --

WALSH: About 174 would suggest a thousand or so plus even.

EMBAREK: Yes, probably likely, yes, because that is -- again, that would fit with all of the parameters that we have looked at.

WALSH: The team also established that in the first December, there were as many as 13 slight variations of the virus from samples of all or bits of its genetic code circulating in and around Wuhan where this seafood market is thought to have played a role.

EMBAREK: We have 13 strains covering individuals in December. Some of them are from the market, or into the markets, some of them are not related to the markets. This is something we found as part of our mission.

WALSH: That many variations so early on could suggest the virus had been circulating for some time, some analysts told CNN, although precise timing is still unclear. They're work scrutinized, tense and frustrating conditions.

EMBAREK: Here, remember, we had the entire pandemic on our shoulders 24 hours a day for months, which doesn't make the work among scientists easier, in a way, as

always with between scientists who you get heated discussion and argumentation about this and that.

WALSH: They hope to return to access biological samples they say China has yet to share, especially hundreds of thousands of blood bank samples from Wuhan dating back two years. China's pledged transparency with the investigation.

EMBAREK: There is about a 200,000 samples in -- available there that are now secured and could be used for new several studies.

WALSH: And you want to look at that urgently?

EMBAREK: Yes, that would be fantastic if we could move with that.

WALSH: Is it not amazing that they haven't already looked through those samples?

EMBAREK: You could say that, but we understand that these samples are extremely small samples and only used for notification purpose.

WALSH: So many more questions still to answer, first, if China would let them back in.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

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GOLODRYGA: I can't help but wonder how many deaths could have been prevented if China had been more transparent. Thanks to Nick for that reporting.

On the coronavirus, cases are drooping rapidly here in the U.S., but getting vaccinations into the arms of Americans does remain a struggle. New cases fell on Sunday to 64,000. That is the first time it's been that low since October. The daily average is down 70 percent since the peak in January. And the U.S. is attempting to ramp up vaccinations as well with over 52 million administered so far.

But amid new worries about the spreads of the virus, researchers say they have found a mutation that appears to make COVID-19 more transmissible in a small batch of samples in the United States.

Dr. Megan Ranney is an Emergency Physician at Brown University, Doctor, great to have you on. Let's talk about the state of vaccinations. So we're seeing some states continue to struggle to distribute vaccines, how could we turn that around as we're trying to race against the clock with these new variants?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So, the first and biggest thing is that we still face inadequate supply. We've heard reports over the last week about a number of mass vaccination clinics having to shut down or cancel appointments because they simply ran out of enough vaccines.

The second thing is that the states need to be able to count on the number of doses that they're going to be able to get in a given week. And I know the Biden administration is hard at work at getting states more accurate information about how many vaccines are out there, but it is got to be done real quickly because it is impossible for states to plan.

And then, of course, we have got to get people to trust it. I still hear so many people in my community waffling as to whether or not they will get a vaccine in this moment of political divisiveness. We need trusted community leaders to talk to folks to emphasize how important getting this vaccine is.

GOLODRYGA: That's right. 31 percent of adults say that they want to wait and see if the vaccine works. Obviously, we need more Americans willing to take the vaccine now rather than wait.

In terms of these variants, how alarming is it for you, or is it not, given that we're seeing more come up, but also that the United States has lagged in terms of genome sequencing? Should we be expecting to see this as sequencing does ramp up? RANNEY: That is exactly right. Anyone who thinks that these mutations from other countries are not already here in the United States, or who thinks that we haven't been having spontaneous mutations in the United States already, has their head in the sand. The only reason we didn't find them is because we weren't testing for them. And I'll tell you, it is those mutations that give me pause.

We do have a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines. These vaccines have been shown to be effective not just against the old traditional COVID but also against many of these new variants. But on the other side, there are these variants. The virus will keep mutating. And the longer we go without vaccinating 60, 70, 80 percent of Americans, the more mutations we're going to see.

I'm worried we are in this tension right now of which one is going to win and many of us on the frontlines are anticipating a bad March and April simply because the variants will likely temporarily win out over the speed of administration of vaccines.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. I have to tell you, I keep holding my breath every time we have a doctor who says that, yes, it does appear that vaccines do work against the variant because I'm so worried for the time where they say, it doesn't appear work against a variant here in the U.S.

It is great news that we're seeing cases go down in the U.S. But that does not hide the fact that there continue to be so many deaths and a key model projects that another 130,000 Americans will die in the next three months. We've already seen more than 42,000 deaths in the first 15 days of this month alone. What more can be done to slow down that death rate?

RANNEY: Well, first, I just want to take a moment and acknowledge those deaths. Those numbers are absolutely staggering and I think it is difficult for us to grasp that degree of devastation across the United States. Every one of those people is a mother, father, brother, sister of someone and that is a community who has lost them.

Right now, there are two huge things we have to do. The first is now is not the time to let up on mask wearing, physical distancing and avoiding indoor gatherings. I know a bunch of states are relaxing their restrictions. That makes me nervous. We're all exhausted. There are some safe ways to get together but now is not the time to give up on those basic precautions.

And then the second thing is the vaccines. We need a federal strategy. We need all 50 states to get vaccines in arms quickly. With those two together, we can decrease the death toll. But if we let up on either one of them, we'll see 600,000 or maybe more.

GOLODRYGA: You talk about federal strategies, and let me ask you about schools, because we finally heard guidelines from the CDC released Friday. Look, I have been covering this for a year for the network so I have been knee deep into what schools are open and what schools need. It does appear now that we are tiptoeing around an issue of making show that 100 percent of people feel safe about coming back to school given that science says if we do certain things to mitigate the spread, that then we can send our kids back to school.

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And, in fact, in many cities, schools are the safest place for students and yet we still seem to be going back to this argument that, well, there is some risk. Is that not just the world we live in? I know a get a lot of backlash from teachers. I'm the biggest fan of teachers. Nobody can replicate what they do. But we cannot overstate the damage that's being done to students as well.

RANNEY: Bianna, I agree with you completely. In addition to being a emergency physician, I do research on adolescent mental health. I've done surveys of kids where we're seeing dramatic increases in the amount of anxiety and depression. And I'm a parent myself. I have a middle schooler and an elementary school kid. And at time when they have been out of school have been so tough on them.

My state of Rhode Island has put kids back in school in person, in the public schools really since last October. We've seen minimal or no transmission in the schools. We know that it can be done safely.

Now, vaccinating teachers is critically important, but we can be safe before the teachers get vaccinated. It is not to take away the importance of vaccinating but to say, let's get kids back now and prioritize teachers because our kids need it. We are losing a generation by having them continue to stay home.

GOLODRYGA: And it is shameful. If we are the richest country in the world in 2021 and we can't provide enough masks and proper ventilation for our schools, because that does seem to be one argument as well, I know we could achieve that.

Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

RANNEY: Thank you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: We'll be right back.

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