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January 6th Hearing Details Trump's Refusal to Act During Capitol Riot; U.S. President Joe Biden Tests Positive for COVID-19; Northern Hemisphere Swelters Through Summer of Severe Heat, 19 Chinese Cities Under Red Alerts. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 22, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:31]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina MacFarlane in for Max Foster here in London. Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Donald Trump knows that millions of Americans who supported him would stand up and defend our nation were it threatened.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results. I don't want to say the election is over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The members of VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hey, folks. Guess you heard this morning I tested positive for COVID. But I've been double vaccinated and double boosted, symptoms are mild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: It's Friday, July 22nd, 9:00 a.m. in the morning here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington where the January 6th Committee has just provided its most revealing look yet into the Trump White House as the Capitol riot took place. Former aides testified that Trump watched the riot on TV but ignored all pleas from his family and top advisers to intervene. And while Vice President Mike Pence was whisked to a secure location inside the Capitol, the committee presented chilling testimony that Pence's security detail feared they might not make it out alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives. There were a lot of -- there was a lot of yelling, a lot of -- a lot of very personal calls over the radio. So it was disturbing. I don't like talking about it. But there were calls to say good-bye to family members, so on and so forth. It was getting -- for whatever the reason was on the ground, the VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you hear that over the radio?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What was the response by the agents, Secret Service agents who were there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody kept saying, you know, at that point it was just reassurances, or I think there were discussions of reinforcements coming. But again, it was just chaos. They were just yelling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously you've conveyed that's disturbing, but what prompted you to put it into an entry as it states there, Service at the Capitol?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they were running out of options and they were getting nervous, it sounds like that we came very close to either Service having to use lethal options or worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Other evidence presented on Thursday included outtakes of Trump struggling to make a videotaped speech after the insurrection failed. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results.

I don't want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, White House staffers were frantically trying to get Trump to issue a statement or go on TV to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol. One former aide testified about what was happening inside the West Wing as she was with a colleague after Trump finally sent a tweet. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE AIDE: When she got back, she told me that a tweet had been sent out, and I told her that I thought the tweet did not go far enough, that I thought there needed to be a call to action and he needed to condemn the violence. And we were in a room full of people, but people weren't paying attention and so she looked directly at me and in a hushed tone shared with me that the president did not want to include any sort of mention of peace in that tweet, and that it took some convincing on their part, those who were in the room.

And she said that there was a back and forth going over different phrases to find something that he was comfortable with. And it wasn't until Ivanka Trump suggested the phrase stay peaceful that he finally agreed to include it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles is following all the latest revelations from Thursday night's hearing and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There was a lot that we learned and saw for the first time in this Thursday night hearing of the January 6th Select Committee that they pushed to primetime because they believed it was some of the most important information that they had to share with the American people.

[04:05:05]

There was the outtakes from Donald Trump's speech on January 6th and January 7th where he seemed to have a difficult time saying that the election was settled and it was time to move on. There was also amazing radio traffic from members of the Secret Service that were protecting the Vice President Mike Pence on that day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): As rioters were entering the building, the Secret Service held Vice President Pence in his office right off the Senate chamber for 13 minutes as they worked to clear a safe path to a secure location. Now listen to some of that radio traffic and see what they were seeing as the protesters got just feet away from where the vice president was holding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold. They've entered the building. Hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harden the door up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we're moving, we need to move now. If we lose any more time we may have to -- we may lose the ability to leave. So if we're going to leave we need to do it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: The committee showing testimony in call logs from members of the Secret Service that actually had to reach out to members of their family on that day because they feared they may not make it out alive.

Just one example of the committee showing just how dangerous things were here and then juxtaposing that against the inaction of Donald Trump who his aides showed was sitting in a dining room for a good portion of the time watching the whole thing on television and being more angry with the fact that his vice president Mike Pence did not stand in the way of decertifying the election results, and instead of being upset with the violent mob that was attacking the Capitol and trying to stand in the way of the peaceful transfer of power. Now, while this at one time was thought to be the end of the

committee's public hearings, they made it clear tonight they are not done and said they told the American people to be prepared for a series of hearings to take place in September. One of the key areas of focus could be the Secret Service. The committee just now starting to look into the role that they played in and around January 6th.

They are obviously concerned about a set of deleted text messages but there could be much more connected to the Secret Service's role that could be a big part of what we see as their investigation continues on.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, earlier I spoke with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein about Thursday's hearing and Trump's conscious decision not to stop the violence. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Congresswoman Elaine Luria, the congresswoman from Virginia, in the final minutes really crystallized it when she said what we saw from Donald Trump over those 187 minutes was not inaction, it was an action. He was consciously choosing not to intervene. It was an action as she said that was the culmination of all of his earlier actions, all of his earlier attempts through pressuring the states, pressuring the Justice Department, and other measures to overturn the election.

And I think that is the biggest contribution of this committee has been to really reframe the events of that day from kind of a willful expression of anger and (INAUDIBLE) by President Trump in sort of directing this mob at the Capitol to viewing it really as the capstone to a multi-month, multi-faceted effort to overturn an American election and American democracy itself.

MACFARLANE: Yes, if nothing else, it was extremely thorough. I thought Liz Cheney made an important point in summing up, Ron, that it was Donald Trump's plan all along to declare victory in 2020 no matter what the facts were. And that it was in fact premeditated. So what consequences could this have now for Trump if prosecutors bring a criminal case against him which many believe they will? How likely is that to happen?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, we still don't know. Certainly the committee has laid out an exhaustive bill of particulars that could be the basis of various criminal charges against the president particularly conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, a congressional proceeding, and the commentary that you cited, the tape of Steve Bannon his former top adviser saying before the election that they intended -- that the former president intended to declare victory no matter what, is just another piece of corroborating evidence of his intent.

And we saw in the earlier hearings him being told over and over again that he did not win and he -- you know, by people around him, by people who worked for him, and he chose to continue spreading these lies and exerting this pressure all throughout government and into the states. The Justice Department is really on the spot here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: As we mentioned earlier, the select committee's investigation continues with more hearings planned for September.

[04:10:04]

U.S. President Joe Biden says he is doing well after testing positive for COVID-19. The 79-year-old president is now isolating inside the White House for the next few days and taking the COVID antiviral drug Paxlovid. He released a video saying his symptoms were mild.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Hey, folks, guess you heard this morning I tested positive for COVID. But I've been double vaccinated and double boosted, symptoms are mild. And I really appreciate your concerns. I'm doing well. Getting a lot of work done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Physicians will be keeping a close eye on the president's health in the coming days.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on his treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We know the president tested positive Thursday morning. He did have some symptoms in terms of a cough and not feeling well. He last tested negative on Tuesday. So really Wednesday was the one day we're not exactly sure what his status was. But at this point, he is someone who is vaccinated, who's received both boosters. He's also taking an antiviral medication known as Paxlovid.

The biggest risk factor really is his age. He is 79 years old, going to turn 80 in November. I think it's really important to point out people often ask just how much of an impact do these vaccines make. And you can look at this over time, you can look at this in terms of vaccinated versus unvaccinated. So if you look, for example, in May of 2022 and ask how much more protection against death, for example, do the vaccines provide, you can see 29 times protected, more protected if you have been vaccinated and boosted.

One of the points that the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator said today, I think this may be a good way to think about your own boosting, if you are over the age of 50 and you have not received a shot this year in 2022, you should go ahead and get one.

One of the other things that President Biden is doing is also taking Paxlovid which is an antiviral medication and this has been out there for some time, but back again in the spring when Israel sort of released a study of 109,000 people. They found for people over the age of 65, it reduced hospitalizations by around 67 percent, 81 percent reduction in mortality in that same population.

So, look, the president is 79 years old. And that again is the biggest risk factor. I think they're going to be monitoring him closely, keeping an eye, does he develop fever, does he develop shortness of breath, is his oxygenation dropping at all. These are all the sorts of things that they're going to be looking for. Also with regard to Paxlovid, just under 10 percent of people who receive this, they do seem to have something known as rebound, which is that after someone tests negative and they feel better, a few days later they may start to develop symptoms again and test positive again.

So right now the plan for President Biden is that he will be in isolation for at least five days. And won't come out of isolation until he tests negative. Obviously if we hear anymore developments, we'll certainly bring them to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, last hour I spoke with COVID expert Dr. Scott Miscovich and asked him what kind of risks the president faces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, COVID EXPERT: If you look at the history of COVID regardless of the variant, the older you are the more significant your risk is. Now, here is the president's positive. Per what they tell us, and what we have known and has been disclosed, he has a very, very good health history. He doesn't have any chronic conditions and that is very important. So if you would throw in diabetes or throw in some other types of lung disease, his risk would go up significantly at 79.

And then the other thing that's a positive for him is his weight. Being overweight is a very significant risk factor. So -- and then let's not underestimate the fact these two extra boosters and then he started on Paxlovid. All positive.

MACFARLANE: Yes. What are the chances, though, that he develops long COVID? Because we know that can be debilitating and last for months. And you mentioned the antiviral medicine he is taking there. Will that help to prevent any of those symptoms?

MISCOVICH: We'll start with the antiviral medicine. You know, Paxlovid has been holding on quite strong. It's not as effective against BA-4 and BA-5 which is what we are expecting his genomic sequencing will show. It's likely BA-5 which is much more prominent now across the world. It is not quite as effective but as they did say around the use of it, it will still reduce your chances of death. It will still reduce the chances of hospitalization. So, you know, is it as effective as it was before? No.

[04:15:03]

But, you know, we're trying to keep him out of the hospital and keep him alive and it really will do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, Joe Biden is one of millions contracting COVID as cases rise across the U.S. and the rest of the world. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the BA-5 Omicron subvariant is now causing about 80 percent of new COVID infections in the U.S. and Los Angeles County Department of Health says the high level of community transmission there means a universal indoor masking mandate could be enacted as soon as next week.

Globally cases continue to spread as well. The World Health Organization says in the past six weeks COVID cases have tripled in the European region.

Now a violent attack on an American lawmaker caught on camera. An armed man mounted the stage and attempted to stab Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin as he was giving a speech on Thursday. Zeldin can be seen grabbing the attacker's wrist to stop him before others wrestled the man to the ground here. The congressman was unhurt, later returned to the stage to complete his speech. The assailant is in police custody according to the Zeldin campaign.

Zeldin is running for governor of New York this November against the incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul.

All right, heat emergencies are cropping up across the U.S. as record- breaking temperatures take hold. We'll look at the hot spots and how communities are coping -- Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And over 85 percent of the U.S. will be above 90 degrees within the next week. I'll show you where those hot spots are located, who will be the hottest and where we'll set records coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:41]

MACFARLANE: The brutal heatwave gripping much of the northern hemisphere isn't letting up. Millions of Americans will endure Fahrenheit temperatures from the mid to upper 90s and 100s today and through the weekend. That is around 32 to the mid-40s in Celsius. The extreme heat is hitting the northeast hard and absolutely scorching the southwest.

In places like Texas and Arizona, the demand for air-conditioning is skyrocketing which is putting a heavy strain on the power grid. Arizona's most populist county has already recorded 29 heat-related deaths since May.

And a short while ago the World Health Organization announced the current heatwave in Europe is responsible for more than 1700 deaths in Spain and Portugal. Those are just two of the countries in southern Europe that are struggling with drought-fueled wildfires. Slovenia is also facing one of the biggest fires in its history according to the E.U. Commission for Crisis Management.

Some 800 hectares have been burned in northern Tuscany, too, where at least a thousand people have been evacuated. And much of the European heat is shifting to the east. Serbia, Poland and Slovakia are among the countries now under red level 3 heat warnings.

And China is going from hot to hotter. Today at least 19 cities have issued red alerts, the highest heat warning there, as temperatures are expected to surpass 104 degrees Fahrenheit which is 40 in Celsius. More than 200 Chinese cities are under orange alerts, the next most severe warning. They're facing highs of 95 Fahrenheit or 35 degrees C. Most of the country is expected to enter the hottest period of the year on Saturday which according to the traditional Lunar calendar is called the Day of Great Heat.

Well, CNN's Selina Wang is standing by in Beijing. Elinda Labropoulou coming to us live from western Greece. But I want to begin with meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

Derek, a terrible picture across the U.S. Are temperatures expected to rise again this weekend?

VAN DAM: Yes, Christina, you know, it sounds like from what you're saying we're moving from Europe to Asia, now to North America with heatwaves. This is starting to sound like a broken record. And to answer your question, yes, we will be shattering more records this weekend from today right through Sunday for many of the most populated areas of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.

So you can see the potential high temperature records being broken over 50, and many of them plotted along the East Coast, New York, Boston, those areas. Right now over 70 million Americans under weather alerts. This fluctuate depending on the time of the day. But many of them located across the Central U.S., the southwestern parts of the U.S. under excessive heat warnings, and along the East Coast, as I mentioned before, Boston, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia.

They have heat advisories in effect, heat advisories that meaning the heat index as you step outside, this is what it will feel like on your skin, may reach 105 degrees. So the actual air temperature a little bit cooler than that but still very stifling, upper 90s for the end of the weekend for the Big Apple. And it's not just the Eastern Seaboard. Look at this, St. Louis to Memphis to Jackson, you can see the normal temperature underneath the forecast high today.

St. Louis will clock 101, the normal temperature of 90 degrees so we're talking 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit above where we should be for this time of year. More of the same for Texas, Oklahoma City, Dallas to San Antonio, are getting -- putting the strain on the electrical grid across that region. And then throughout the southwest, a much drier heat but still oppressive, temperatures in the upper 110s to 120 degrees depending on where you are located.

The extended temperature outlook hot along the East Coast and the Pacific Northwest also starts to heat up well above average. Of course with all this heat, the potential for thunderstorms flares up this time across the Midwest and into New York as well as Pennsylvania.

I want you to see this because we are paying close attention to this particular region, Ohio -- rather, Iowa to Wisconsin to Minnesota for Saturday, the potential for straight line damaging winds, almost nature's engine here just kind of pumping out the thunderstorms thanks to the excessive heat that will be ongoing across this area. So Saturday big head's up Minneapolis to Chicago and Omaha -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: As you say, Derek, that humidity making everything worse.

I want to turn to Elinda in Greece.

[04:25:01]

Elinda, this has been one of the most difficult summers on record for Greece and we're hearing of wildfires encroaching even on the capital there of Athens. What you can tell us about the situation right now?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, right now the situation is a lot better than it was a few days ago when we had big fires on the outskirts of Athens that cost the life of one person and injured 34. At the moment there are dozens of smaller fires burning across the country and particularly there is one in the north that's burning very close to a reserve area which is home to a rare wildlife as well.

So this is where the focus is right now. But what is worth mentioning here is that Greece for the last four years, at least, have been experiencing many deadly fires. So this is starting to become a recurring theme. And I think (INAUDIBLE) Mediterranean. Now the discourse hasn't just moved on what do we do with just one individual fire, which is of course we do our best to try and put it out, but how can we have a more joint effort to combat the results of climate change which are becoming more and more apparent.

As it stands, this heatwave is moving east. Countries like Greece are expected to have temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend. Strong winds are expected in the area so the alert is still very, very high, you know, people have been advised to stay away from forested areas and difficult areas where they may not be able to get out of in case of a fire. But it's now becoming very much of a political issue, an economic issue, and an E.U. issue really about how the Mediterranean especially can come together to try and combat this phenomenon.

MACFARLANE: Yes, a collective effort certainly needed. Thanks, Elinda.

I want to turn to the Asia region now. And Selina, the hottest days of the year are yet to come in China, we've been reporting. And this as people are struggling with the surge in COVID cases as well.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christina, it's really a double whammy for the people here, for the economy here. You've got surging temperatures and surging COVID cases. So no relief for the heat in China. There are 19 cities in the eastern provinces in Zhejiang and Fujian that are issuing red alert warnings on Friday. That means temperatures are expected to surpass 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 24 hours.

You've also got more than 200 cities issuing orange alerts, meaning temperatures are expected to be around 95 degrees Fahrenheit over the next several days. And as you say, it's not even the worst yet. China's weather authorities are saying that most of the country is expecting to enter the hottest period of the year this Saturday because according to the Chinese Lunar calendar, this Saturday is the Day of Great Heat normally marking the most sweltering days in a year.

And for the past few weeks, this heatwave has been ferocious. Temperatures have been persistently high since June. And according to state media, by mid-July this heatwave was covering half the country impacting more than 60 percent of the population. Just last week dozens of cities logged record high temperatures, some reaching more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

All of this, Christina, is part of this global trend of more extreme weather driven by climate change and it's not just the heat hitting China but also flooding. The recent flooding in these past few months have displaced more than a million people and destroyed crops in central and southwest China.

Now according to a government report also incredibly concerning to Beijing is that temperatures in China are rising even faster than the global average, which can make these extreme weather events even more frequent and intense. That crop damage as well threatens to push up inflation putting more pressure on an economy already hit by the Zero COVID policy. We've also seen the heatwave push up electricity demand to extreme levels as people crank up that air-conditioning.

And all of this again as we see more snap lockdowns in China. At least 30 cities in full or partial lockdown and the mass testing not stopping even in this scorching weather. Also growing reports of COVID workers collapsing in the heat -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes. We saw those terrible pictures there yesterday. Day of Great Heat coming. It sounds pretty scary.

Anyway, Derek Van Dam, Elinda Labropoulou and Selina Wang, thank you all very much.

Now we've been following the shrinkage of the largest reservoir in the U.S. for years. Now we have new disturbing NASA satellite images of Lake Mead. The picture on the left is from July 2000. The one on the right was taken just weeks ago. The western U.S. where the lake is located is in a mega drought of water levels in the reservoir are at their lowest point since 1937. It supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands and northern Mexico.

Diplomats in Turkey are returning to the negotiating table to try and help millions put food on their tables. Next a possible deal to unlock millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and ease the global food short shortage.

Plus we'll have more on the Thursday night January 6th hearing and hear details about Trump's lack of action as the U.S. Capitol came under attack.

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