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Debate Over Trump Acquittal Rages in Washington, D.C.; Trump Faces Multiple Legal Battles Despite Senate Acquittal; Lawmakers Debate Trump's Future Role in Republican Party; Protesters in Myanmar March Against Junta for 10th Straight Day; Researchers Identify COVID Mutations Circulating in U.S.; Brutal Winter Storms Across U.S. Bring Snow, Ice. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Washington is free to focus on the future after wrapping up Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. But the former president still faces major legal issues.

America's vaccination program is picking up with nearly 53 million doses in arms, but is it fast enough to stay ahead of the variants? We'll take a look.

And Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are expecting their second child. We will have a live report with reaction from the royal family.

Good to have you with us. Well there may be some in Washington, D.C., who are moving on from Donald Trump's second impeachment trial but debate over the former president's acquittal still rages on in some quarters. Specifically over House impeachment manager's decision against calling witnesses. However, they point out the Republican loyalty to Trump has remained largely unshakeable. That made conviction unlikely despite the evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD) HOUSE LEAD IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: We could have had 1,000 witnesses but that could not have overcome the kinds of silly arguments that people like McConnell and Crapo were hanging their hats on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEL. STACEY PLASKETT (D-VI) U.S. HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: Just so the American public is aware, witnesses in a Senate hearing do not come and stand before the Senators and make any statements. It's a deposition. It's videotaped and that is brought before the Senate. So I know that people are feeling a lot of angst and believe that maybe if we had this, the Senators would have done what we wanted, but listen, we didn't need more witnesses, we needed more Senators with spines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, President Joe Biden is focused on his agenda with a top priority getting support for his economic stimulus plan. He's also pushing for gun reform. On Sunday he called on Congress to pass laws that would ban assault weapons and end immunity for gun manufacturers. Sunday was the third anniversary of a deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Well Trump may have been acquitted but he is facing the possibility of legal action both civil and criminal in several state. CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz has more now on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Legal issues for the now former president only continue. The Attorney General in New York state conducting a civil investigation into some of the former president's finances and real estate dealings.

Also, the Manhattan DA's office conducting a criminal investigation into the former president's business dealings. Remember, they had asked for eight years of his taxes. They're waiting to get that information from the Supreme Court. That decision is pending from the Supreme Court.

Also the Attorney General here in Washington says they are going to be investigating the president for his comments, for his speech on the day of the insurrection. So that's still ongoing. But the Attorney General in D.C. also has been looking into the inauguration. Trump's inauguration, his daughter had to be deposed for that investigation.

And, of course, there are civil laws that are still pending against the president, mainly from two women who had accused him of defamation. So the legal problems for the former president certainly will continue. He can no longer claim that he is the president of the United States, that he can't be sued or that he can't face any kind of criminal investigation as a result of his position. So all these investigations and all these lawsuits are now expected to continue and perhaps we can see an escalation in some of these.

Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And Trump still commands the loyalty of many Republicans, but he has sharply divided his party. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan represents one view that Republicans must move past Trump for the good of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:00]

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): I think there are far more people that agree we've got to move on from Donald Trump, that agree he was part of inciting this mob at the Capitol, that, you know, they're disgusted by how he treated Mike Pence and -- as they're building gallows and talking about hanging Mike Pence. A lot of Republicans are outraged but they don't have the courage to stand up and vote that way. Because you know, they're afraid of being primaried or they're going to lose their careers. I think, you know, you got to look at what's good for the country and not worry about the next election or whether you're going to be elected to something or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But most Republicans hold views closer to Senator Lindsey Graham who say Trump holds the key to victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): To the Republican Party, if you want to win and stop a socialist agenda, we need to work with President Trump. We can't do it without him. And to you, President Trump, you need to build a Republican Party stronger. I'm into winning, and if you want to get something off your chest, fine, but I'm into winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So let's talk about this with CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen. He is also a former presidential advisor to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. Always great to have you with us.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Rosemary. Good to see you.

CHURCH: You, too. So despite overwhelming evidence presented by House impeachment managers, 43 Republican Senators still voted to acquit Donald Trump, including Senator Mitch McConnell who then went on to say that Trump's conduct was a disgraceful dereliction of duty and holding him practically and morally responsible for provoking the riot on January 6th. But he wasn't courageous enough to actually hold him responsible, was he? He's leaving that up to the judiciary. What is your reaction to all of this?

GERGEN: Oh well, it's been a distasteful several weeks. I think the worst transition we've ever had in American history, one that we're glad is over and maybe we can start talking about the future instead of the past.

Look, nobody is packed with pride on this. I think what Senator McConnell, who's very clever as you well know. But you know first, he held up the paperwork so that -- this trial could have started when Donald Trump was president. By holding things up, Donald Trump, you know, left the presidency, he was replaced and then Senator McConnell who had held things up says, well, we can no longer convict him because he's no longer president and that means it would be unconstitutional to do that. And so McConnell trying to have it both ways.

CHURCH: So Senator Lindsey Graham and other Republicans who lined up behind Trump think he is the man to lead them and yet Trump lost his own election and was the reason why red states turned blue and why tens of thousands of Republicans are leaving the party. So why do they still think Trump is the man to lead the Republican Party? Because a lot of polls are indicating that's not the case.

GERGEN: They don't think he should be leading the party, they're just too darn afraid of him to say so. You know, your cowardice is contagious. And trump still is the dominant player in the Republican Party. He has been battered by this. His reputation within the party, especially outside the party, has hurt him badly. But even so, he remains the most powerful person and who can mobilize his base and the off year election is in two years. And he can get involved in the election in 2024.

Now if he's still around, if he's healthy, he can run for president again, but I think this episode has tarnished the Republican Party. We know now Donald Trump will go down in history as one of the worst if not the worst American president we've ever had. The Republican Party will go down in history as the most radicalized party since the 19th century. And all of that is going to mean that our politics is -- no longer sets the example for the world and our democracy is under heavy, heavy pressure. We may suffer further blows to our democracy and come to regret this episode really badly.

CHURCH: CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

GERGEN: Thank you. It's good to see you.

CHURCH: You, too.

Well, now to an increasingly tense situation in Myanmar where the military chief has just amended the country's penal code appearing to target protestors, journalists and critics of the coup. The country is on edge since the military seized power two weeks ago. Protests continue for a tenth straight day despite a heavy military presence.

Internet services have now been restored after an eight hour blackout. Attention was on full display Sunday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO SHOWING MYANMAR SECURITY FORCES FIRING ON PROTESTORS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:00]

CHURCH: That video shared showing Myanmar security forces firing several rounds to disperse protestors in Kachin State. And our Paula Hancocks is following the protests from her vantage point in Seoul. Many thanks for talking with us. So Paula, what is the latest on the military's intentions on the streets of Myanmar? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, it's certainly clear

that over the weekend, Sunday night we saw that the level of force the military is willing to use to try and disperse protesters is escalating. That video you referenced there showing that they did open fire on protesters to try and disperse them. We don't know for sure whether they were live rounds or rubber bullets. And we're also trying to see if there's any official word on whether there were any injuries.

But you can clearly see and hear people fleeing the area, people panicking. The water cannons also being used. And there is a real concern that this level of force being used could continue to escalate. Because up until this point it's not making any difference to tens of thousands of people who are still coming out onto the street, calling for the military leadership to step down and reinstate the democratically elected government -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our Paula Hancocks joining us there from Seoul.

Just ahead, we will have a live weather report on winter storms battering the U.S. and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well researchers say they have made a troubling discovery in the fight against COVID-19. They've identified a batch of similar mutations in coronavirus samples circulating in the U.S. that appear to make the virus more transmissible. Top health experts have been warning about the emergence of variants and the critical role of vaccines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: In South Africa there were people who got infected with the original virus, recovered, and then got reinfected with this new variant -- the South African variant -- which tells us that prior infection does not protect you against reinfection, at least with this particular variant. Somewhat good news is it looks like the vaccine is better than natural infection in preventing you from getting reinfected with the South African isolate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Despite improving coronavirus numbers, the spread of these variants has medical experts worried about what could happen over the next few months. CNN's Natasha Chen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fewer than 70,000 people in the U.S. are in the hospital with COVID-19, a level we haven't seen in about three months. But looking ahead at the next three months, another 130,000 people in the U.S. are projected to die of the coronavirus by June 1st, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. What could make things worse? Analysis of existing research in the U.K. suggests the variant first identified there makes the virus more severe.

FAUCI: It makes people more sick and it's more likely to lead to serious complications. The somewhat comforting news is that the vaccine that we are now currently distributing, the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine clearly work against this variant.

CHEN (voice-over): Some teachers are now among those receiving the more than 50 million vaccine doses administered across the country, including in Colorado where teachers became eligible this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very exciting and it's a step closer to what everyone wants which is schools about to open full time with teachers and students.

CHEN (voice-over): While CDC Director Rochelle Walensky says she's a strong advocate for teachers getting vaccinated, it's not a prerequisite for reopening schools. Instead the CDS suggests measures including universal masking, which isn't happing right now in some places.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds to me like you're asking for 100 percent mask compliance and a number of measures that we're never going to be able to achieve and that makes me feel like, boy, I don't know if the schools are ever going to reopen until everybody is vaccinated.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: There is literature out that suggests that if over 90 percent of people when they're masked you can have safe opening of schools. What I will say is this is directly related to how much disease is in the community. We have more flexibility in opening schools as our disease rates come down.

CHEN (voice-over): The effort to stop community spread includes preventing crowds. 40,000 people are at the Cheer Sport National Competition this weekend in Atlanta though events are staggered with cleaning and mask wearing protocols in place. Still it's the largest event hosted in Atlanta since the pandemic began.

In New Orleans, crowds on Bourbon Street more than a week ago prompted the city to shut down bars this weekend through Mardi Gras on Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's terrible. The worst part is they didn't announce that until everyone had already booked rooms.

CHEN (voice-over): It's a different kind of ghost town. But this haunted history tour guide supports the move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got to keep everybody safe for right now, so that we can actually celebrate Mardi Gras for years to come.

CHEN: While New Orleans keeps bars shut down through Mardi Gras, New York state as of Sunday night is extending the hours that restaurants, gyms and casinos can stay open. They can stay open until 11 p.m. The state says that's because of declining hospitalization and infection rates.

Natasha Chen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Omaha, Nebraska is Dr. Ali Khan. He is the dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Good to have you with us, doctor.

DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: Always a pleasure, Rosemary.

[04:20:00]

CHURCH: So we have just learned that researchers have identified new U.S. COVID mutations that appear to make the coronavirus more transmissible, which is what all the other variants appear to do as well. So how concerned are you that as the cases, hospitalizations and eventually deaths start to trend down, these various mutations will derail those positive trends if we can't speed up vaccinations?

KHAN: Absolutely. These variants really do risk our positive trends we've seen, for example, of 37 declining cases in the last two weeks in the United States. So these viruses are very sloppy when they copy themselves. So there's thousands of variants. However, and most of the variants usually are detrimental to the virus. A handful of these variants are detrimental to us as humans. And this is completely expected in countries that fail to get their disease under control. The virus had lots of time to mutate and become these variants of concern.

CHURCH: Yes, that's the frustrating part of this. Isn't it? Especially when we actually have the vaccine there. But Dr. Anthony Fauci says sobering data on the South Africa variant reveals that current vaccines are less effective against it than the U.K. variant or the original virus. What will need to be done to ensure all the available vaccines are able to fight the South African variant and any other stronger that comes along?

KHAN: So the first to remember is that these variants are still susceptible to good public health practices. Right? So masking, hand washing, social distancing, contact tracing, those measures still work. And then, yes, we believe that currently getting vaccinated decreases disease in our community. Decreases the chance of these variants spreading. But over time there is likelihood that just like influenza we may need to have a yearly vaccine booster with whatever new variant is out there in the community.

CHURCH: Right, and of course, the good news in the midst of all of this is word from the CDC that 53 million COVID doses have been administered so far, two million in just one day. That is exactly the direction we need this to be going. How much faith does that give you, that all of those Americans who want a vaccine will get one in the next few months? KHAN: So the vaccination news is absolutely excellent. So vaccinating

over 1.65 million people a day. The goal was 1.5 currently so we're beating that goal. States are vaccinating approximately 75 percent of the doses they have are being administered. So good efficiency going on at the local and state health department. And it looks like come April there'll be more than enough vaccine for everybody. Even by the end of March we're expected to have about 200 million doses of vaccine available.

CHURCH: Dr. Ali Khan, thank you so much for joining us and for all that you do.

KHAN: You're welcome. Mask on, America.

CHURCH: Good message. Thank you.

KHAN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, more than half a million customers across the U.S. are without power as brutal winter weather blasts the country from coast to coast. From Washington state to Washington, D.C., nearly half of all-Americans are under a winter weather advisory. President Joe Biden has even declared a federal emergency in Texas.

So for more on that, I want to turn to meteorologist Tyler Mauldin. Good to see you Tyler. So how bad will this likely get and for how long?

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's going to be pretty rough pretty much all week. We have this arctic air plunging down and it's really engulfed the entire plains, from the northern plains all the way to the southern plains, where it is currently minus 37 degrees in International Falls. And it is 22 degrees right now in Houston, Texas.

This entire area is under a wind chill warning, and you can see why. We have had wind chills already reported in the 30s and the 40s. That's what it feels like on your exposed skin. So those wind chill warnings they are stretched from the Canada border all the way down to the border of Mexico. We could see some areas see wind chills all the way down to minus 50. And it is certainly going to be well below average. And we're going to see our temperatures be about 50 degrees below average in some spots Monday going into Tuesday.

Is this record-breaking territory? Absolutely it is and over the next 48 hours we could see more than 250 temperatures be broken. That's through Tuesday and we could see even more than that as we go into mid-week.

It's not all about the temperatures though. We also have some precipitation to deal with. And we have thunder snow and thunder ice currently occurring in Houston, Texas. And we have heavy snow in Dallas, and we have the rainfall and the snow and some ice across portions of the lower Mississippi Valley. This is where we have winter storm warnings in effect, too.

Those warnings stretch from the southern plains all the way to New England as the system pushes to the northeast.

[04:25:00]

Heavy snow, the bitterly cold temperatures and ice will accompany this. This is impactful. We're going to see travel disrupted. We're also seeing power outages currently. And those power outages are just going to grow in number over the next 48 hours. Heavy snow is certainly possible. And we're going to see a swath of about 12 inches of snow across the Ohio River Valley and some heavier amounts right off the lakes.

In addition, we are going to see just some detrimental ice accumulation, especially in portions of Alabama and Tennessee where we could see up to half an inch of ice. That is certainly enough to take out some power lines -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Unbelievable. Hopefully if people can stay inside and stay safe. Tyler Maudlin, thank you so very much.

And still to come here on CNN, the U.K. reaches a significant milestone in its battle against COVID-19. What can the rest of the world learn from this? A live report from London. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well there is a renewed push to pass U.S. President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. Mr. Biden is also focused on getting more cabinet nominees confirmed by the Senate now that Donald Trump's impeachment trial is over. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the Senate impeachment trial in the rear-view mirror, President Biden can now push his agenda up on Capitol Hill with their full attention. That includes trying to get his nominees confirmed as well as passing that $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The House is expected to continue its markup of that legislation later this week. And the president will also be holding hearings here at the White House on that COVID relief package.