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109 Still Missing in Kentucky; Andrew Cuomo Ordered to Return Book Profits; Rising Omicron Threat; New January 6 E-Mails Revealed. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 14, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:13]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: And welcome to NEWSROOM. Good to have you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Any moment now, the House will begin to debate and later vote on whether to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress. The former Trump White House chief of staff failed to appear for a deposition with lawmakers investigating the January 6 insurrection.

The full House will decide if he should be referred to the Department of Justice on criminal charges. He would be the first White House chief of staff to face criminal charges since Watergate.

BLACKWELL: Now, the select committee laid out why they want to speak with Meadows. They released text messages that were sent to him during and after the attack on the Capitol.

The texts included distressed, frantic pleas from FOX TV hosts, Trump's son Don Jr. and some lawmakers. Their names have not yet been released.

Congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles is live on Capitol Hill.

So, Ryan, the House of vote in favor of Steve Bannon's contempt charge, we saw that vote with just a couple of Republicans on board. What are we expecting for Meadows today?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it should play out very -- in a very similar fashion, Victor.

House Republicans are recommending to their members not to vote in favor of this criminal content peripheral. They're not officially whipping it. But that's the leadership's message to their members. But we do expect at least two Republicans, right, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who are members of the House select committee investigating the January 6 interaction, to vote in favor of this contempt resolution.

And it shouldn't -- or it should pass relatively easily, because all Democrats will likely support it. And that's because the committee believes it is very important that Meadows come before them and answer questions specifically about all of this information that he has voluntarily handed over to the committee, 6,000 documents, 9,000 pages of information, including texts that Meadows received and sent on January 6.

Liz Cheney, a member of the committee, she read some of those texts this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Here are a few others from Republican members.

Quote: "It is really bad up here on the Hill."

Another one: "The president needs to stop this ASAP."

Another one: "Fix this now."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Now, the question, of course, is, now that they have taken this step, it makes it that much more difficult to get any of this information out of Mark Meadows, because it will now be in the hands of the Department of Justice.

Meadows has appeared on a few right-wing media outlets over the past 24 hours. He remains defiant, Victor and Alisyn, so there seems to be no opportunity or no hope that he will come forward at the last minute and agree to sit down and talk to the committee, meaning this contempt vote will move forward.

CAMEROTA: OK, so, in addition to all of that with the contempt vote, they're still doing their work. Who did they meet with today?

NOBLES: Yes, that's right, Alisyn.

The committee tries to downplay the fact that they have had three pretty prominent people that they have subpoenaed completely ignore or be somewhat defiant to their request of the subpoena, but they still have interviewed more than 300 people.

And we saw people coming through today who have key information about what happened on January 6, among them, Dustin Stockton. He was one of the key rally organizers. He's been cooperating with the committee.

And Keith Kellogg, this is a very important figure. This is former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser. Kellogg was in the White House on January 6. The committee believes that he has direct information about how the former president and his staff acted and responded to the events on January 6. He's behind closed doors with the committee right now.

So the committee believes, even if they don't get this information from people like Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon and others, they can get it in other places and still get to the bottom of what happened here on January 6 -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Really interesting.

Ryan Nobles, thank you for the update.

Here now to discuss all the implications, we have CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. He's a former assistant U.S. attorney. We also have CNN political director David Chalian and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh. He's the host of the "White Flag" podcast.

Great to have all of you here.

David, just give us the significance, I mean, historical as well as today, current day, of what we're seeing on Capitol Hill with Mark Meadows right now.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, let's remember, first and foremost, right, he's a former member of the body. I mean, he is a former member of Congress who his colleagues are going to vote today, a majority of them, to pass on and refer to the Justice Department that he's in contempt of the very body in which he served.

I mean, that's just a stunning, as you note, Alisyn, historical moment. But let's be clear about what was revealed last night, as Liz Cheney was reading those texts. I think what got exposed above all else is the total and complete fraud that Donald Trump, his allies in the White House, like Mark Meadows and others, and his allies in the media on FOX News, the fraud that they have perpetuated on their voters, on their audience.

[14:05:15]

This -- a huge swathe of the country is bought into Donald Trump's big lie. And what these text messages expose, I think, above all else, is they knew they were selling a lie. It's right there. They understood, because they understood the severity of what was going on and urging the president to stop it.

So they understood what the lie had caused. And that, I think, is a new reading of that horrific day.

BLACKWELL: And, Congressman, let me bring that to you.

And the question is now, what is the consequence now that we all know that the hosts over on FOX were selling something that they did not believe? What consequence is there, because the people who by the big lie are watching FOX. And I have watched their reports several times on these text messages. They reveal what Don Jr. texted, but they didn't reveal what Kilmeade or Ingraham or Hannity texted.

FMR. REP. JOE WALSH (R-IL): Now, Victor, and that's the problem, right?

And this has always been the problem when it comes to the stolen election lie and what happened on January 6, when it comes to the truth about the vaccines. The people who need to hear the truth about these texts will never hear the truth.

And that's the problem. And it's a large number of people. The other big story, Victor, is the reminder today is, Donald Trump did nothing. I mean, it's fun to laugh at Hannity and Donald Trump Jr., everybody begging Meadows to get the former president to do something. But don't lose sight of the story.

Our government was under attack. Our democracy was under attack, and Donald Trump did nothing. That's the story.

CAMEROTA: I'm so glad you're bringing that up, Congressman. He was MIA. That's what these texts reveal.

WALSH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He was MIA, as we know. But he was MIA for hours. And every -- his family was trying to reach him. The FOX hosts were trying to reach him. His chief of staff apparently was trying to reach him.

He was MIA. And the reporting is that he was either, I guess, I don't know, cowardly hiding or enjoying watching it on television, Congressman, because that was the reporting.

WALSH: Alisyn, he loved it.

I think that we are going to find out -- and, again, what everybody learned last night is just the tip of the iceberg. The sad, ugly fact that we're going to find out is, the former president of the United States loved what happened that day.

But that is the story. And Elie is your legal expert. I don't know. It seems to me like maybe Liz Cheney and the committee maybe can make a case that that's a crime, that the president sat on his ass and did nothing, impeding the work of Congress.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's bring in Elie.

Elie, let's go through these text messages, the legal repercussions, what they show us about what was happening that day.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, so, first of all, the truth is coming out, and, somehow, it's even more damning than we already knew.

Now, why is the committee so focused on Mark Meadows in particular? Here's what the committee said in that resolution.

"Mark Randall Meadows is uniquely situated to provide critical information about the events of January 6. He was with or in the vicinity of Trump on January 6 as Mr. Trump learned about the attack on the U.S. Capitol."

Now, we have seen dozens of texts that the committee shared with us last night. You will notice there's a common theme, Alisyn, as you said, MIA. Let's look at some of the most damning texts here that were received by Mark Meadows. "We are under siege here at the Capitol. POTUS has to come out firmly

and tell protesters to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed. POTUS needs to calm this 'blank' down."

Even Donald Trump's most ardent loyalists came out on January 6, and told him, you have to do something here. His own son Donald Trump Jr. texted Mark Meadows: "He's got to condemn this 'blank' ASAP."

Laura Ingraham texted Mark Meadows: "Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy."

What that tells me, Alisyn and Victor, is that everyone around him realize, not only is Donald Trump MIA. He's the only person who could have realistically stopped this.

CAMEROTA: I agree. They knew at the time -- with this moment of clarity that these texts reveal, they knew it was dangerous. They knew there was a lack of leadership. There was a leadership vacuum during those hours.

They knew only he could stop it. And they knew he was MIA. I mean, it's just -- it's remarkable.

But I know, Elie, the you also heard something in what Liz Cheney said, the way she laid it out that, as a prosecutor, perked your interest.

HONIG: Yes, it was a fleeting moment of clarity. Liz Cheney did say something very interesting.

She said this: "Did Donald Trump through action or inaction corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress' proceedings?"

Now, I have spent enough time with the federal statute book that I thought, boy, that sounds like the way our federal criminal laws are written. Sure enough, she seems to attract almost word for word the federal criminal law against obstruction of Congress.

[14:10:05]

It is a crime to corruptly obstruct or impede the due and proper administration of the law by Congress.

Now, of course, only DOJ can bring a charge. But I think Representative Cheney may have been trying to send a message there to the Justice Department.

BLACKWELL: Do you think that message was received?

HONIG: We shall see. We shall see.

Look, this is a three-step process. Congress has to know its role here. Yesterday, we saw the first step, which is a vote by the committee itself. Today, any minute now, we are going to see a vote by the full House of Representatives. It takes a majority vote by the House.

Of course, Democrats have the majority. We expect to see that recommendation, recommendation of contempt go through to the Justice Department. Then it will be up to Merrick Garland whether he's going to bring that indictment.

A little -- a quick word about the law we're talking about here. We are talking about criminal contempt of Congress. Now, that is a misdemeanor. That means the maximum punishment here is one year in prison. The minimum punishment is one month. So, no matter what happens, if Mark Meadows is charged and convicted, if Jeffrey Clark is charged and convicted, if Steve Bannon is convicted, they go to prison for at least one month or jail.

The other thing that's really important, this does not compel testimony. This is meant to punish and deter.

CAMEROTA: David Chalian, it will be interesting to see how lawmakers vote today with this contempt of Congress vote, because, with Steve Bannon, more than two Republicans crossed the aisle to vote to hold Steve Bannon in contempt. Why wouldn't they do the same with Mark Meadows?

CHALIAN: Well, because he is a former member. Perhaps there are some relationships there that may prevent folks from deciding to go that way.

But you're right. It will be totally intriguing to see how many Republicans join with the Democrats on this vote. But, Alisyn, when we say that Trump was MIA, it feels like too favorable of a term to the president, because I feel he wasn't MIA. He had taken months to sow this lie into the country.

And he was watching the fruits of his labor. He wasn't MIA. He was observing and, reportedly, enthusiastic about seeing the very results of his work for months trying to convince half the country or a little less than half the country perhaps that the election was fraudulently -- fraudulently stolen by Joe Biden.

So he wasn't missing an action at all. He was actually -- I mean, yes, he was a total dereliction in duty of what he should have been doing, but he was actually there, obviously, and not reachable to even his son in that moment to come back from that leader of the lie.

And here's the thing, guys. It's not just, oh, it's so clear that the FOX News hosts and Donald Trump Jr. understood the whole thing was a lie they were selling. That's clear. What is the problem is that the lie is so bought in, convinced for all of these folks across the country, that you're now seeing elections officials, people running for office, big lie supporters running for office, getting appointed in some of these key states to oversee elections in 2022 and 2024.

That's the real danger going forward of what we see started just a year ago.

BLACKWELL: Yes, important point. The lie is the center of what and through polling we see that people believe it means to be a Republican. We will talk later about the president talking about the mortal wound that the vice president, he believes, suffered by following his constitutional duty.

David Chalian, Congressman Joe Walsh, and Elie Honig, thank you all.

CHALIAN: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Anthony Fauci says Omicron will become dominant in the U.S. New studies reveal how well current vaccines work with the variant.

And Pfizer has announced the results of its study on their pill to treat COVID. A potential breakthrough in the pandemic is ahead.

CAMEROTA: And the struggle to pick up the pieces continues in Kentucky. We are on the ground with the latest on the recovery there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:31]

CAMEROTA: It's been exactly one year since the first vaccine was administered in the U.S.

And since then, more than 200 million Americans have gotten fully vaccinated. But, tragically, almost 800,000 Americans have died from COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.

BLACKWELL: Now, there's a new study out of South Africa that gives us new insight into Omicron. And Pfizer is working on a new pill to treat COVID-19 that Dr. Fauci calls a lifesaver.

Here's CNN's Alexandra Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: It is going to be dominant in the United States, given its doubling time.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Fauci competent now the more transmissible Omicron variant will become dominant. A new study out of South Africa shows the Pfizer vaccine is only about 33 percent effective against infection with the Omicron variant, but infections do appear less severe.

FAUCI: The vaccines that we use, the regular two-dose mRNA, don't do very well against infection itself. But, with hospitalization, particularly if you get the boost, it's pretty good.

FIELD: A year to the day after the U.S. saw some of the first shots in arms, Pfizer announcing another leap forward in the fight against COVID.

DR. ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: With this pill, we are expecting that, instead of 10 people going to hospital, only one will go, and, actually, no one is dying.

FIELD: It's still pending authorization, but Pfizer says their antiviral pill could be available in the U.S. later this month, and that it appears to be effective in treating Omicron infections, which account for just 3 percent of cases sequenced in the U.S. today, according to the CDC, and Delta, which is still ravaging parts of the country.

[14:20:11]

DR. CHRIS PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: It's still Delta that's nothing out lives, with more than 1,000 deaths daily and more than 100,000 cases. That's where we have got to put the brunt of the focus in how to get unvaccinated folks vaccinated and how to get those who are vaccinated boosted.

FIELD: Nearly a quarter of eligible Americans still haven't gotten a shot. New COVID cases are up nearly 50 percent from a month ago. Hospitalizations are up more than 40 percent in the same time.

AUDREY WENDT, E.R. NURSE: My beloved uncle John (ph), yes, he was -- he died yesterday. And he was a really great person.

Our last conversation we had, one of the last ones, we were playing cards. And I was telling him that what I have seen in my E.R. right now is so horrible and tragic, and to believe me and to get the vaccine.

FIELD: He never did.

WENDT: He was thinking about it. But, two weeks later, he had contact with someone who was also not vaccinated, and then he got sick, and he did die yesterday.

FIELD: Michigan's hospitalizations are at their highest since the pandemic started. Health care workers in Minnesota are pleading with the public to get vaccinated, in a newspaper ad saying: "We're heartbroken. We're overwhelmed."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And a rapid rise in cases on Cornell University's campus has prompted the school to shut down early for the semester, and the school saying they have detected nearly 500 cases on campus. They say a significant number of those cases appear to be cases of Omicron -- Alisyn, Victor.

CAMEROTA: Oh, that is really striking news. Alexandra Field, thank you.

OK, now to this. More fallout four former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He's being ordered to return the profits from a book that he wrote about the COVID outbreak.

BLACKWELL: CNN's M.J. Lee is with us now.

So, M.J., what are you learning about this?

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, what we are learning is that the former New York governor is being ordered to return some $5 million in money that he made from his pandemic book.

This is coming from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. This is a New York-based ethics commission that voted today on a resolution. And this resolution says two things, one, that the money should be given back to the New York attorney general's office, and, two, that Cuomo needs to return this money within 30 days.

An attorney for Cuomo is already basically saying they plan to fight this, saying in a statement that these actions today are unconstitutional, exceed its own authority and appear to be driven by political interests, rather than the facts and the law, and essentially saying they plan to fight this in court.

Now, we already knew that issues around the book were causing headaches for the former governor. Remember, just last month, the New York Assembly had said in its investigation that they saw real problems with the way that Cuomo and his administration had conducted themselves around this book, that senior aides had worked on this book, they had used state resources essentially to boost personal profits for the former governor.

We, of course, also know that the New York A.G.'s office is also looking into this. A really interesting question, guys, is going to be, does he actually have that money, if he does need to return the money? We already know, for example, that $500,000 had been given to charity.

So we don't know if this is even going to be feasible for the former governor.

CAMEROTA: Yes, it will be interesting to see what his lawyers come up with in terms of if this is fair.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

M.J. Lee, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, M.J.

BLACKWELL: President Biden is scheduled to tour the damage of Kentucky after the tornado outbreak. The state's governor says they are still in search-and-recovery mode. We will have a live update on these efforts.

Plus, what we're learning about those frantic messages sent during the Capitol riot, FOX TV hosts begging Donald Trump and Mark Meadows to rein in these violent supporters, but, hours later, those same hosts peddled a very different story for their viewers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:51] CAMEROTA: The death toll in Kentucky is now at 74, with more than 100 people still unaccounted for.

Flags in the state are at half-staff. And President Biden will visit there tomorrow.In Mayfield, street after street show homes and businesses torn apart.

CNN's Brian Todd is in Mayfield.

So, Brian, 100 people still unaccounted for? Is the thinking that there are still people trapped in those buildings, in that wreckage?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, they think there really could be. With 100 and some people still missing, this is still a very dynamic search-and-rescue situation here.

And I'm going to give you a multidimensional look here at just how difficult that is. Behind me, you can see block upon block, pile upon pile of rubble. And we can show you some aerial shots of this as well.

On an average pile of rubble like the one I'm standing on here and trying to navigate, this is kind of what search-and-rescuers have to go through. And even people coming back to their homes and businesses to try to find some things have to go through.

The footing is very unstable just to walk a couple of feet here, very unstable and dangerous. It's difficult. It's complicated. You have got pieces of wood, nails, shards of glass all over the place. If you step in the wrong place, you could really get hurt here.

And so it is just an incredibly complicated operation. Again, 3.5 days now after these tornadoes struck, there is still some