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Trump Dangles Pardons for MOB That Stormed Capitol; Rafael Nadal Clinches Record-Breaking 21st Grand Slam; Bengals Punch Ticket to Super Bowl After Big Comeback; Tom Brady's Retirement Question Still in Limbo; Biden Expected to Announce Supreme Court Pick Next Month; Biden Expected to Announce SCOTUS Nomination Next Month; Spotify to Add Content Advisory to All Podcasts That Discuss COVID; Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Blasts FDA Over Monoclonal Antibody Decision. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 30, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:25]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington, the top stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We think it's highly likely that he is looking to invade Ukraine.

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BROWN: The U.S. and its allies tonight prepping for Putin's next move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ): We are committed, jointly, in a bipartisan way to defend Ukraine and to send Putin a message. It will be bloody and consequential.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Also ahead, Donald Trump dangling pardons for the mob that ransacked the Capitol. One of the January 6th investigators on Capitol Hill joins me live. And legendary guitarist Nils Lofgren just the latest musician putting Spotify on the spot for misinformation. The streaming giant tonight saying it has no business censoring its content.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, tonight a new measure of the escalating fears that Russia could soon invade Ukraine. A U.S. Senate aide tells CNN that senior administration officials will brief all senators on the Russia-Ukraine crisis Thursday and tomorrow the United Nations Security Council will take up the matter.

All of this unfolding as two senior American Defense officials tell CNN there are indications Russia has moved blood supplies to the border area as part of its military ramp-up. Today, Ukraine's foreign minister delivered a blunt message, "If Russia wants to avoid war, it must pull back its forces and continue diplomatic talks." And his British counterpart echoed that growing sense of urgency today.

Last hour I spoke to a retired U.S. Army brigadier general. He said the stakes are getting higher by the day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK (RET), U.S. ARMY: They have a chance now to back off, the world would breathe a sigh of relief. They could say they made their point, and there can be a negotiations, but the West is staying even with our words steadfast and maybe an unintended consequence, Pamela, is what Putin has done is that he has done the opposite of what his intent or one of them, is he has more focused NATO in the way it hasn't been focused since the end of the Cold War.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Also today, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it is highly likely that Russia will invade Ukraine.

And back in America, more than a year since that mob of Trump supporters violently attacked the U.S. Capitol. If you're still hoping to see a shred of remorse about it from the former president, well, today is still not your day. At a rally Saturday night in Texas, Donald Trump told supporters that if he runs and wins in 2024 he might pardon the people who smashed into the Capitol January 6th. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House.

Joe, what reaction to this are you seeing around Washington?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, I did get an opportunity to pose a question about that to the president of the United States just about an hour ago. He was out on the South Lawn heading over to the chopper with the first lady to fly over to George Washington's Mt. Vernon for the National Governor's Association Gala, threw a question to him. The president did not respond, he did not take the bait.

Not really surprising even though the fact of the matter is he's been highly critical of Donald Trump's involvement in January 6th. And, of course, around this city, there are many critics of this former president, including a lot of Democrats, who are essentially appalled about the latest comments by Donald Trump because first he stirred up the big lie, then he stirred up the riot, and now he's talking about pardoning the people who launched the assault on the United States Capitol.

Republicans, for their part, there have been a few who have weighed in on this issue, although their reactions have been somewhat muted. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it's inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. I want to deter people who did what they did on January the 6th and those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

[19:05:07]

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the president should have -- the President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: By comparison, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the senator who is president pro tem of the United States Senate compared Trump's words to the words of a dictator. Now just by way of reference, just to give you some idea about the numbers of people who are in the system, in the judicial system due to January 6th, 732 people charged, 200 have pleaded so far, 91 sentenced and 39 with jail or prison time.

Pamela, back to you.

BROWN: All right, Joe Johns, thank you.

Joining me now to discuss all of this CNN political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, and former chair of the DC Democratic Party, attorney A. Scott Bolden.

Hi, gentlemen. Great to see you both. I know it's a big football night so I appreciate you making time for us here on this show.

All right, so, Scott Bolden, let's kick it off with you. Should President Biden have condemned Trump's offer of a pardon for the rioters? You just heard Joe say he lobbed a question at him, asked him about this and he didn't answer. We saw a few weeks ago, President Biden was not afraid to call out Trump, though he didn't by name exactly, but should he be more forceful now?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, DC DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think he will be more forceful going forward. Just because he was getting into a helicopter doesn't mean he's not going to, but he's made it clear what he thinks about Donald Trump and the Republicans in regard to January 6th. Listen, it was irresponsible and reckless for Donald Trump to talk

about pardons but it was even more treasonous in my opinion to sit back and watch this occur on January 6th. Over 700 people have been arrested, at least 50 people for sedition in this country, as well as 50 others or rather 100 police officers have been killed. Now he's pardoned a lot of different people who have been convicted of crimes including his friends but this quite frankly is beyond the pale and he ought to have turned down the rhetoric on this because I don't see any pardons coming forward, I don't see any election whereby Donald Trump would win again.

BROWN: All right. Let's take it over to you, Scott Jennings. You heard Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham criticizing Trump's comments. They were not exactly forceful about it. Susan Collins went on to say she's very unlikely to endorse Trump if he runs for president.

So what do you think? Do you think that more Republicans need to come out and more strongly condemn some of these statements from the former president?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, this was an easy call. We -- I thought Lindsey Graham's statement was correct by saying these things out loud, you're encouraging this behavior in the future, of course I guess we shouldn't be surprised since Trump encouraged this kind of behavior in the past, but you do not want to give people the idea that they can riot and attack our democracy in the United States of America and have some hope of getting away with it because it makes it more likely that it will happen in the future.

So I agree with Senator Graham, I think you're going to see other Republicans echo what he has to say, and I think it's noteworthy that he said it because obviously he's been publicly identified as being a close ally of Donald Trump, but this is an easy call. If you're a Republican out there, don't encourage this behavior of January 6th and don't encourage this talk of pardons.

BROWN: It certainly is notable because he condemned January 6th right after it happened, and then cozied up to Donald Trump again so the fact that he was coming out saying that certainly is notable.

Scott Bolden, I want to play another clip from last night of Trump talking about the multiple investigations into his conduct after the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere, because our country and our elections are corrupt.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. I think we lost Scott Bolden so I'm going to ask you this, Scott Jennings. Look, this is not rhetoric coming from someone who, like, cares deeply about democracy and the American experiment. I mean, what he had to say there was not reflective of that. What does it say about the Republican Party that this is their de facto leader?

JENNINGS: Well, he is certainly calling into question the rule of law. He's calling into question whether we're going to be a law-and-order political party and of course, as you know, he has deeply held beliefs about what happened on election day and those believes have spilled over into all of his supporters and most Republicans agree with him that the election has been stolen.

[19:10:07]

Of course, it was not stolen. Even if you believe the rule shouldn't have been changed, even if you believe there was some fraud, the election was not stolen, Joe Biden won the election. This is clearly going to be his platform and this is what is so limiting about the possibility of Donald Trump being the nominee of the Republican Party again, which, by the way, I admit is highly likely.

This will be the limiting principle of him running in 2024 because all the same people who didn't vote for him in 2020, including a lot of Republicans, are not going to want to vote for this kind of a platform or this sort of single issue campaign again because of the disgust they feel about what happened on January the 6th, so it's very troubling to hear this kind of rhetoric but you have to admit if you look at the polling and look at what people are saying out there, there's obviously an audience for it, unfortunately.

BROWN: Unfortunately, yes, and Newsmax ratings went up a lot during Trump's rally, I mean that tells you a lot.

Gentlemen, don't go anywhere, good to see you again, Scott Bolden. I need you both to weigh in later on in this hour on President Biden's potential Supreme Court pick. So please stand by.

And coming up next hour, I'm going to talk to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren from the January 6th committee and get her reaction to Trump's dangling of pardons for Capitol rioters.

Coming right up, an epic comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: A super human effort as Rafael Nadal makes history.

And last year, Cincinnati Bengals were the worst in their division. This year, they are going to the Super Bowl, folks, after another playoff nailbiter.

Also ahead, Bruce Springsteen guitarist, Nils Lofgren, just the latest musician calling out Spotify for misinformation.

And rock on the block. The mysterious black diamond going up for auction.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it. It's Rafa's greatest rally. And Nadal stands alone. Major title 21.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Imagine that feeling. Man, the moment history was made, Rafael Nadal winning his record-breaking 21st grand slam and he did it in dramatic fashion, rallying from two sets down to clinch the men's singles title.

CNN sports anchor Patrick Snell joins me now. So, Patrick, how epic was this comeback?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It truly was. It was incredible but it was vintage Rafa. It's what he is all about, this man does not know the meaning of the word defeat, and when you consider everything he's been through, it's just incredible. Not only is he going to be turning 36 years of age a little later on this year, but he didn't even know, Pamela, if he was going to be competing, even continuing in the sport, returning to the men's tour.

He had foot surgery in the build-up to the Australia Open. His participation was very much in doubt. Then he had his battle with COVID-19 as well. There was huge uncertainty over his form but, you know, this is Rafael Nadal we are talking about, and now it's a historic number, 21, and now it's the other icons of the sport that have to play catch-up with him, namely the Swiss legend Roger Federer and of course the aforementioned Novak Djokovic.

Rafa Nadal is just a walking piece of history right now. This is what he's all about. He wants this, he's hungry for more, he said in his victory speech afterwards, look, I may well now even be back next year. That wasn't certain, and look, he is the king of play.

What is the next grand slam tournament on the calendar year? It is Roland-Garros and the French Open. Does number 22 now start to loom large?

BROWN: And we shall see. Let's talk about the NFL today. Remind me, 22, Tom Brady, 22 seasons. We just had a big win, the Cincinnati Bengals with a big upset win. They are heading to the Super Bowl. Tell us about that.

SNELL: Yes. They most certainly are. It's a wonderful sporting Sunday, isn't it? History has been made, yes, their first Super Bowl since 1989, within the last few minutes, an amazing story line everywhere you look when you consider they're led by their second-year quarterback Joe Burrow defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime. What does that do? It ends the Chiefs' chance to play in the Super Bowl for what would have been an incredible third straight year.

The Chiefs in this one, I'll tell you what, they appeared to be in total control. At one point they led 21 points to 3 towards the end of the second quarter, but the Chiefs would go on, as so happens in sports, right, they blow that lead. The Bengals ultimately tying it all up, but then, this AFC title game, the third in NFL history to go into overtime. The Chiefs winning the coin toss in the aforementioned overtime, but Patrick Mahomes would be intercepted on his team's first possession and that is absolutely crucial because it set up the Bengals' field goal to win the game, and book their date with destiny.

Now it's all eyes on the Rams and the 49ers. I tell you, this superb sporting Sunday continues. And we're following it every step of the way.

BROWN: I'm wearing orange today, maybe I should cheer on the Bengals for the Super Bowl.

SNELL: Perfect color.

BROWN: Exactly. All right, Patrick Snell, thank you.

And now, for more, in the NFL it is the biggest story of the week, I mentioned earlier. Tom Brady. And he's not the Super Bowl contenders. It's all about Brady.

[19:20:00]

We're still waiting to see if he is actually going to retire. ESPN and the NFL Network are standing by. They're reporting that he is stepping away from the game but Brady's camp insists no decision has been finalized.

John Romano is here with me now. He is a sports columnist for the "Tampa Bay Times."

Hi, John. So what do you think?

JOHN ROMANO, SPORTS COLUMNIST, TAMPA BAY TIMES: Hi, Pamela.

BROWN: Do you think this is really it for Brady?

ROMANO: All indications are that he is ready to retire. Yesterday became sort of this whacky day with all these different reports about he is ready to retire right now, it's going to be imminent, and then the Buccaneers saying that they didn't know anything about it. And finally Brady getting word to the Bucs that he still hadn't fully made up his mind. But the suspicion is that Brady has made up his mind, that he is ready to retire, that somebody in his camp just leaked word out a little before he was ready to, and that sometime in the next week, at least the next few weeks he will announce his retirement.

BROWN: So the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they have the lowest all-time winning percentage in the NFL. Then Brady comes in, delivers a Super Bowl immediately. What did that mean to the city?

ROMANO: He completely changed the reputation of this franchise. The Buccaneers, as you said, lowest winning percentage in all of professional sports. They had gone a dozen seasons without making the playoffs. They had gone almost 20 seasons without winning a playoff game. They get Tom Brady here and within 10 months they win a Super Bowl.

He changed not just the culture of the team but the outlook on the town that, you know, Tampa Bay has had a reputation of not being a great sports town. We've had some problems with attendance in other sports as well. Suddenly, people were talking about Tampa Bay as the place to be. Brady is here, the Tampa Bay Lightnings win a Stanley Cup. The Tampa Bay Rays make it to the World Series.

But he was the fulcrum. He was the guy that everybody was talking about. And Tampa Bay should forever be grateful for what he did for this market.

BROWN: You know, so many people also love to hate Tom Brady. Why do you think that is?

ROMANO: Well, I think it was that he had so much success in New England. I mean it's -- that's going to make people jealous when you're beating their teams year after year, but I also think it was part of that, sort of the aura around the Patriots, that they were this robotic kind of organization. And I think as much as Tom Brady helped Tampa Bay in terms of their reputation, I think Tampa Bay helped Tom Brady.

He came here and I think people suddenly saw him in a new light. He had a head coach, Bruce Arians, who is much more carefree than Bill Belichick is in New England. Brady was allowed to sort of be himself. You know, he very famously had a little too much to drink on --

BROWN: Yes, I was going to say.

ROMANO: On the boat parade in the Super Bowl last year. You know, I think he just --

BROWN: He threw the --

ROMANO: Right, he threw the Lombardi trophy from one boat to another, and thankfully the tight end Cameron Brate caught it, but yes, I think people just saw Tom as more of a real person in his two years in Tampa Bay. And I think that's going a long way toward making his legacy a little bit better.

BROWN: All right, John Romano, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much.

As President Biden considers who to nominate to the Supreme Court, a Republican senator is a big fan of one woman who may be on the president's short list. Suzanne Malveaux joins me live to explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:28:00]

BROWN: President Biden promising to name by end of February his choice to fill the soon vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. South Carolina District Course Judge J. Michelle Childs is the only person confirmed to be on the president's short list after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed her hearing for the D.C. Court of Appeals.

So let's bring in CNN's Suzanne Malveaux live from Capitol Hill. All right, Suzanne, we are all settling in for a month of speculation here but what do we know now?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, it is going to be a month of speculation but I tell you Senate Democrats are quite confident that the nominee will get through the Senate process. We heard from Senator Dick Durbin of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the chair there, who said they will be ready with their staff as well as with the records, so when Biden gives them that name, they believe at the end of February, it will be March and April that they'll hold those hearings.

It will be a quick orderly fashion but they have the unified support of the Democrats and the independents to make this happen. They would like some Republicans, perhaps Senator Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski, as well as Lindsey Graham. And Pam, it was interesting, Lindsey Graham today made news and that is because he really kind of separated himself from the pack, if you will, from some of his Republican colleagues on the Senate side.

Senator Roger Wicker and some others who really threw out this offensive suggestion that whoever the nominee would be, would be a beneficiary of some sort of affirmative action program, a thinly veiled suggestion that these nominees would not be qualified for the position. Well, today, we heard from Graham who categorically rejected that. He said that Judge Childs is his person, she is also from South Carolina, and that she is imminently qualified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: I can't think of a better person for President Biden to consider for the Supreme Court than Michelle Childs. She has wide support in our state. She's considered to be a fair-minded, highly gifted jurist. She's one of the most decent people I've ever met.

[19:30:04]

She's highly qualified. She's a good character. And we'll see how she does if she's nominated. Highly qualified, of good character, and we'll see how she does if she's nominated but I cannot say anything bad about Michelle Childs. She is an awesome person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And House Majority Whip James Clyburn also from South Carolina, as you know, has also been pushing for her and has been really working in the last two years on Biden to choose and select a black female judge, as a Supreme Court nominee. He says Childs really brings something else to the table being from the south and not having an Ivy League background.

But Pam, I don't want to get ahead of the whole process here, this is just one of a slate of names and there are some that widely reported the frontrunners here you can see them, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Judge Leondra Kruger and U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, all of them also being floated, there will be interviews that will take place this month and, of course, we will all be doing that parlor guessing game, it will all come out in the next couple of weeks. Pam?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN NEWSROOM: One of the most fun games in Washington, right? Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much.

And back with me now, is Scott Jennings and A. Scott Bolden. All right, so here we go, Scott Jennings, one woman so far confirmed to be on the president's short list. She's clearly got a big fan in South Carolina. Do you see others on that list getting such a warm endorsement in the Senate?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, not yet, and, obviously, Lindsey Graham has personal regard for and maybe a relationship with the judge from South Carolina. So, that would bode well if the Biden White House wanted to try to get at least a Republican vote, that would be a good one to get given his position on the judiciary committee.

So, I think the rest of them, I don't hear that kind of support for yet, but the process is early. You know, ultimately, I know this is a relative scale, I think if the Biden White House wanted to be smart about this, they would put up someone who tilted towards the more moderate end of the scale and not the more liberal end of it but he's going to get a lot of pressure from his left flank to get somebody as young and as liberal as possible.

So, it would be interesting to see how it plays out. But having Graham's endorsement of one of the candidates would catch my attention if I were in the middle of a confirmation team at the White House.

BROWN: Scott, I want to replay what Suzanne just played a few minutes ago from Senator Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: I can't think of a better person for President Biden to consider for the Supreme Court than Michelle Childs. She has wide support in our state. She's considered to be of fair-minded, highly gifted jurist. She's one of the most decent people I've ever met.

She's highly qualified, she's a good character, and we'll see how she does if she's nominated. But I cannot say anything about Michelle Childs. She is an awesome person.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: I mean that is unequivocal. Does the fact a Republican is publicly endorsing her give Michelle Childs a leg up, you think, Scott Bolden?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, D.C. DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, it certainly sounds like it. You don't get better than that from Lindsey Graham and I think she has more P.R. than the other justices and they're going to cast a wide net. I mean, we've got some very dynamic jurists, dynamic lawyers who are qualified and outstanding and, by the way, happen to be black women.

I draw that distinction because I wish Biden had come out and said, I want to get the most outstanding, most qualified jurist, and they happen to be a black woman, because we've never had a black woman appointed to the Supreme Court. The idea that somehow affirmative action means they get to the Supreme Court is ludicrous, in my opinion, because I've been in big law for 30 years, 25 of them as a partner. And I must tell you, I compete against everyone. These jurists that they are under consideration, compete against everyone. And so it really is a qualifying remark to say a black jurist, as if they are not qualified, they are qualified, they are outstanding, they just happen to be black and happen to be a woman.

BROWN: And you're, I'm assuming, talking about the comment from Senator Wicker of Mississippi about this. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the same time, hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WICKER: -- and while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Scott Jennings, your reaction to that?

JENNINGS: Well, I agree with Professor Turley, who had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, and I think what Scott Bolden was saying just a moment ago, that I think the way Biden backed into this is actually a disservice to the person that he ends up nominating.

[19:35:05]

As you look at this list, they're all highly qualified, they're all highly experienced, they have excellent academic and credentials. I mean, any of these people would meet, you know, all of those metrics. And so for him to back into it the way he has I think is no reflection on them but it's a reflection on sometimes Joe Biden not handling things correctly.

I think the Republicans ought to vigorously contend this. I think they ought question the person's record, and judgment and values, just as Democrats would question a Republican's judgment and values, I think they ought to treat the process more seriously than I think Democrats treated Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett or Neil Gorsuch.

But, ultimately, there's really no mystery what's going to happen here. They're going to get their person, the Democrats are going to vote them in and it will be a win for Joe Biden that I think has a short-term impact on the political impact but not much of a long-term implication for the midterm or his presidency, frankly.

BROWN: By the way, I see what you did there Scott Jennings, didn't quite answer the question I asked about your reaction to Senator Wicker, put it on Biden. Really quick though, Scott Bolden, I'm going to ask you something else --

BOLDEN: There's another point to this that hasn't come up a lot and is that our Supreme Court ought to look like America. The Supreme Court right now doesn't necessarily look like America and it never has, because it doesn't have a highly qualified jurist that happens to be an African-American woman. And so that's very, very important.

And many of these judges that are under consideration right now, because they're outstanding jurists have real life, down-to-earth experiences with what the case is that they're going to be looking at, whether it's family members or their own life story. And so I think that will be very important with when you start to value diversity on the Supreme Court as well as those who went to public universities versus the Ivy League.

BROWN: Right. And, you know, we were talking earlier about Lindsey Graham and once the news broke that Justice Breyer would be stepping down, he released a statement saying, look, elections matter, and now Biden is going to be giving his pick, and elections do matter. Fair and free elections are the cornerstone of democracy.

And with that in mind, we have this new statement out from the former president, Donald Trump, and he says a lot of different things. But at the very end, he says, actually, what they are saying is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome. They now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power. He could have overturned the election. He could have overturned the election. Scott Jennings?

JENNINGS: Yes, I read this statement that came out during your show here just a few minutes ago. What Donald Trump is commenting on is this bipartisan movement to reform the Electoral Count Act, which is the act that allows a single senator and a single congressperson to, essentially, if you can get one in each chamber, to upend at least for a moment the counting of Electoral College votes into Congress.

This Electoral Count Act has been used from Democrats against Republicans, it was used by Republicans against Joe Biden and there's an effort, and I think a real bipartisan chance to reform this and to raise the threshold in the Senate, perhaps maybe needing 20 percent of the Senate before you could up end this entire count. Donald Trump's statement is ludicrous. The vice president of the United States cannot unilaterally change the outcome of an election. I know that this is his position. I know he wants to continue to attack Mike Pence for it. Mike Pence did the right thing. The Electoral Count Act ought to be reformed. And of all the voting issues on the table in the Congress right now, this is the one, in my opinion, that has bipartisan support and an actual chance to pass and Congress ought to do it sooner rather than later. BROWN: A. Scott Bolden, your thoughts?

BOLDEN: Well, I think Scott Jennings is absolutely right. Constitutionally, Mike Pence couldn't have anything but process what was being reported already. The big difference in this past election was that there was absolutely no evidence of corruption or that there was a miscount or that there was fraud in this election. And that's really the most powerful piece.

We can reform the law, if you will, but I'd much rather our elected officials spend time on the Voting Rights Act, if you will, or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, so that all people, all Americans have an equal right to vote in this country. That needs congressional attention more than anything.

BROWN: Scott Jennings, A. Scott Bolden, thank you both.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

JENNINGS: Thanks, Pam.

BROWN: As another artist pulls his music from Spotify, the CEO is changing how the streaming company handles questionable COVID content. CNN's Natasha Chen breaks it down for us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:00]

BROWN: Spotify trying a new approach tonight in the ongoing controversy over COVID-19 misinformation. The streaming services says it will now add a content advisory to all podcasts that mention the coronavirus, this as more musicians and podcasters are pulling their content in protest over falsehoods being spread on the flat platform, particularly by host Joe Rogan.

Nils Lofgren is the latest artist to pull his music. He is a guitarist who also plays with Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, and he is urging all his fellow musicians to do the same.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins me now with more. Natasha, so a content advisory, so what does that mean exactly? What kind of impact is it likely to have?

[19:45:00]

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something a lot of folks have probably seen before, if you've been on Facebook or Instagram, anytime there's a post related to COVID-19, there's a banner across the bottom. And if you tap on that, it brings you to a resource hub. Same idea here, the CEO of Spotify put out a letter today on its website saying that they would have such an advisory that would bring people to a COVID-19 hub where they have access to data- driven facts and resources from trusted sources.

This letter that he wrote also made an interesting point here, I want to read this quote to you. He says, it is important to me that we don't take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.

This is also the first time he's saying that they're being a bit more transparent in publishing Spotify's longtime platform rules that have been in place for years but now it's open for everyone to see. And here are some examples of what they do not allow, when it comes to medical information. They don't allow, for example, people to say that COVID-19 is a hoax. They don't allow people promoting the consumption of bleach. They don't allow people suggesting that vaccines are designed to cause death and they certainly don't allow people getting together to purposely get COVID-19, like having a coronavirus party.

This is all in response after this week of really high profile artists pulling their content from the platform, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, like you mentioned, Berne Brown said she is going to pause the release of more episodes of her podcasts, even Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, who have a deal with Spotify for podcasts, they're going to create -- have said that they have been in discussion with Spotify since as early as last April, talking about his problem of misinformation. Pamela?

BROWN: Natsha Chen, thank you so much.

Well, COVID cases may be dropping in Florida but the governor is angry over a COVID treatment decision by the FDA. Up next, we're going to go to Miami and I'm going to ask a doctor about that decision and the governor's reaction, here in the CNN Newsroom.

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BROWN: Last week, the FDA limited the authorization of two monoclonal antibody treatments. It found they are not effective against the omicron variant, which the CDC says is 99 percent of new cases.

The decision set Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to the microphone Tuesday to rail against the Biden administration Tuesday calling it reckless to take this option away from patients.

Dr. Bernard Ashby is cardiologist from Miami. He leads Florida's committee to protect health care. Welcome, Dr. Ashby.

So, Governor DeSantis, who, at last check, is not a doctor, disagreed with the FDA's decision. But his pick for surgeon general is parroting the same talking points about this treatment. You say they're flat wrong. Why?

DR. BERNARD ASHBY, CARDIOLOGIST: Well, a pleasure to be here, and it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to call out the contradictions here. And so Ladapo, who is the currently appointed surgeon general, has a problem with following the science. And so it's quite clear that the monoclonal antibodies that were removed do not bind to the spike protein of the SARS-Corona-2 virus. That is obvious. That key doesn't fit that lock.

However, we have other therapies that are effective, like the other EUA-approved antibody Sotrovimab, and other therapies, such as Paxlovid, which was recently approved by EUA, and Remdesivir, which decreases hospitalizations by 87 percent. So, to me, it makes no sense and it's a contradiction that they're focusing on Regeneron and the Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody therapies, which do not work, as stated by the companies themselves, yet they're not using other therapies that are quite effective. So, this is an ongoing pattern of Ladapo not following the science and he was basically signed by -- I mean, brought on by DeSantis to validate his misinformation/disinformation.

BROWN: Yes, it is interesting that he was so indignant over this decision by the FDA but he has not shown that same kind of passion, if you will, for the vaccine, which is scientifically proven to keep people out of the hospital. Just look at the numbers, right? The data shows you that the vaccine, the COVID vaccine is what is keeping people, for the most part, out of the hospital.

It is nothing new to see Ron DeSantis stirring the pot over COVID-19. This week you and several other Florida physicians held a local media briefing. You called on him to drop the politics from the public health. Do you think the way he has politicized COVID is killing people?

ASHBY: 100 percent. And it's quite clear. And we're seeing it in real-time with their inability to focus on therapies that work. They're literally doing P.R. rounds about therapies that don't work over therapies that do work. So, irrespective of their views on the vaccine, which is quite disturbing by itself, the fact that they're ignoring therapies that work is troubling.

And what's even more troubling is Florida's inability to enforce the standards of medicine in our state. So, Dr. Ladapo got his license expedited and he was also recently recommended by the Senate Health Committee for approval of being surgeon general.

[19:55:11]

The problem with that is that Dr. Ladapo was caught in what seemed like a blatant lie, saying that he treated COVID-19 patients when, in fact, he did not, meaning that no one can validate he treated patients in UCLA, as he stated. And so they're going to go and approve this guy after knowing that he lied about his record fighting COVID-19.

And on top of that, the fact that the Congress or the legislature in the Senate is simply not even questioning him about this is ridiculous. If anybody said anything about my record treating COVID- 19, I'd pull out those CVS receipts, you know what I mean? So, he hasn't even responded. So, that's the issue.

BROWN: Yes, and we do want to note, he did have the hearing where he was asked many of these questions and he did not answer the questions from lawmakers. In fact, some Democrats walked out of that. Dr. Bernard Ashby, thank you so much.

ASHBY: My pleasure, you got me hot. I'm glad I got to speak.

BROWN: All right, thank you again.

You're in the CNN Newsroom. Up next, could this rock really be from outer space? Well the asking price is certainly astronomical. More on the black diamond auction when we come back.

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[20:00:00]

BROWN: A mysterious black diamond is up for auction next month. The Enigma's origin confounded many scientists.