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Connect the World
Today: Biden To Sign New Orders Aimed At Tackling Pandemic; Dr. Fauci Says U.S. Will Stay In The WHO; Dozens Killed, 100 Plus Injured In Baghdad Suicide Blasts; Beijing Sanctions 28 Former U.S. Officials & Advisers; The People's Inauguration Calls On Americans To Take Oath. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired January 21, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:00:17]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Clearly is the path forward.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is what President Joe Biden has called upon us to summon now the courage to see beyond
crisis, to do what is hard, to do what is good, to unite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seen Kamala Harris that is going to mean so much to so many millions of little girls and little boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They saw the 15 executive orders and agency actions that have already been signed by the President.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is watching this. And I think they're also saying to the world, this is actually the American that you believe in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, day one of a new American chapter. This hour, we are connecting you to the future, a future with Joe Biden as
President of the United States, and what that future holds not just for America and Americans, but for all of us wherever we live in the world. I'm
Becky Anderson. Hello and warm welcome to the program.
The new American President starting his first full day in office with a head on dive into America's most pressing challenge, the coronavirus
pandemic, Joe Biden making COVID-19 the first and top priority of his new administration, another 4,200 Americans dying of the disease in the past
day, total deaths in the country now topping 400,000.
Well, the President will outline his COVID action plan in the coming hours and signed at least 10 new executive orders. Sources tell CNN the previous
administration left him no vaccination distribution plan at all. On a nationwide mask mandate the first of 17 executive orders, President Biden
signed just hours after taking the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, the same building that just two weeks earlier under siege by mobs
aimed at overturning the election.
Well, Mr. Biden had a message for them and for all Americans minutes into his new presidency, have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: And the world of people has been heated. We've learned again, that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends,
democracy has prevailed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the President also promised truth and unity in his administration, vowing as he did after the election that he would work for
those who support and oppose him. But he got a boost from the three living ex-presidents who attended the inauguration, all of them offering support
in what was said televised special that follow the inauguration event.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I think if Americans would love their neighbor like they love -- they would like to be loved
themselves, a lot of the division in our society would end.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: That's what this means, it's a new beginning. And everybody needs to get off their high horse and reach
out to their friends and neighbors and try to make it possible.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: If in fact, as George said, we're looking for what binds us together. The American people are strong,
they're tough. They can get through hardship. And there's no problem they can't solve when we're working together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that's televised special featured a list of music performances ending with a light display for the agents, this is Katy Perry
sang her hit "Firework". The President, his wife, Jill, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, all watching the skies over
Washington Monument, light up, signifying hope and healing and unity and a new American chapter, a remarkable cutoff to what was an historic day.
Well, President Biden will push the unity theme inviting congressional leaders from both parties to the White House as early as tomorrow. But the
theme for today is COVID-19. Jeremy Diamond has more on the President's comprehensive plans to contain the disease.
[10:05:01]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Becky. President Biden today unveiling his national strategy to combat the
coronavirus and it will mark a stark departure from what we've seen from the Trump administration over the last year.
First of all, because it will be science based that is what Biden administration officials have stressed, you're taking politics out of the
equation. But more critically, it's also because what you're going to see is a federally coordinated strategy here, what the Trump administration did
so often was leave a lot of this up to the States, especially as it related to vaccine distribution.
And in fact, Biden administration officials have come in and what they have seen on the ground since coming into office, according to sources who have
spoken with CNN is that they are going to have to start from scratch, essentially, on this vaccine distribution plan.
And so what you're going to see President Biden do today is start off with more executive actions. He already signed 17 executive orders and actions
just yesterday. Today, we will see another 10 executive orders. All of them focus squarely on this pandemic, including directing federal agencies to
use the Defense Production Act when necessary to ramp up production and distribution of critical supplies, like testing kits and personal
protective equipment.
But one thing that is important to note here about these executive actions that Biden is taking much of this will require additional funding from
Congress. That is why we've seen President Biden unveiled his $1.9 trillion plan that he is asking Congress to pass, but whether or not he can actually
do that with very limited Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress is another question altogether, Becky?
ANDERSON: Well, that's Jeremy diamond reporting, of course. So what will this next chapter in American politics look like? Political analysts and
the mind behind CNN's Reality Check and a regular guest on this show, I'm pleased to say John Avlon in the house. So joining us now, it has been a
long 24 hours, John. Let's talk about what's going on.
We heard a tone from Joe Biden yesterday which couldn't have been more different. And you could argue, more important than ever at this point.
Before we talk about what the future holds for him, just explain or let's discuss why it is that this sense of unity should be so restorative at this
point?
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Because it's the thing we have least of in our politics. I mean, Joe Biden took the oath of office and
gave his inaugural two weeks to the day after an insurrection attempt attack the Capitol, bolstered by the outgoing President's big lie.
And you know, there's a theory of presidential succession in America that says each president is sort of a corrective for the excesses of the other
and there could not be a clear contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, a man who served in the Senate for over 30 years, who ran for President
first 30 years ago, somebody who really believes in the knowledge of the institutions of U.S. government, but the ability to work across the aisle.
And his message of unity would be unremarkable in many ways, except in this moment, because Donald Trump did not try to unite. He tried to divide for
political gain, and he got pretty far doing it. But this message of unity comes at a much more critical moment where our divisions are much more
intensely felt than perhaps any time since the Civil War, Washington in lockdown, troops guarding the streets, concerns about violent attempts on
the President-elect now President which didn't occur.
So this speech, which hit all the classic inaugural themes of unity, optimism, confronting the challenges at the moment was regulatory because
of the contrast, the wreckage really, that Donald Trump left in his way.
ANDERSON: Right, let's talk about what happens next, because Joe Biden inherits a failing economy at this point, a broken federal pandemic
response, and tens of millions of voters who believe the election was rigged and indeed may still be questioning his legitimacy rebuilding
America right now is a tall order, John. Just how crucial are these first few weeks and these early policy decisions?
AVLON: You can't overstate it because this is sometimes said you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And Biden campaign to someone
who could unite, promised he would govern as an American President, reached out to people who voted against him as well as representing those who voted
for him.
And while his first actions yesterday, 17 executive orders overturning things Donald Trump had done, when he gets to the legislative portion, when
he talks about dealing with COVID today, and we find out even more the depths of the mismanagement and incompetence behind America's unfortunately
world leading total of deaths in cases, that's going to require working with members of Congress.
[10:10:03]
And he wants to have a very ambitious dollar amount, but he's going to have to cobble together bipartisan support. So showing Trump supporters that he
cares, that he gets it, that he wants to help them as well, the people who feel left out, forgotten, and left behind can help heal the breach.
We're dealing with a huge disinformation ecosystem. It's not going to go away. But it's that attempt that Biden said in his inaugural to say, let's
go what's in my heart, look at what I do, give me a chance, hear me out, we won't always agree. But we need to find a way to unite as America and this
will be a proving ground, a testing time.
ANDERSON: And you have made a really good point. He needs to ensure he gets bipartisan support for what he is identified as the number one priority,
which is this pandemic recovery effort. Will he, get it?
AVLON: I think he will, assuming that Republicans are consistent with what they said they wanted during the Trump years. You know, one of the dangers
is you got a lot of situational ethics in the Senate. And Donald Trump all of a sudden sort of blew up the last COVID relief bill at the last moment
or stalled at least by saying he wanted $2,000 direct relief checks, not 1,600.
Now, Biden's coming in saying let's make up that gap 1,400. Will the Republican senators who backed Trump for that higher dollar amount not
typically something Republicans are known for backing, will they be consistent and supported under Joe Biden? Those are the key questions. But
Biden's interpersonal style, his deep relationships coming to the office with more legislative experience in any one since Lyndon Baines Johnson,
this becomes a real test of getting that ball down the field but it will be key.
But Republicans are going to have to meet them halfway. And we've seen basically instinctive reflects of bad faith in the partisan divide to date.
That's going to take a really reaching out on both sides for it to work.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Look, you and I will talk in the days and weeks to come and this first 100 days is going to be absolutely crucial. I just
want to close out and I can't let you go without just alluding to Bernie Sanders. In true Bernie style, he attended inauguration, opting for comfort
over fashion. He wore a parka and his signature Vermont wool mittens, this has become, John, an internet sensation BuzzFeed, political reporter Ruby
Cramer tweeting the backstory of his mittens.
Other tweets like this one from comedian Marie Faustin went viral poking fun at the manila folder he was holding, which made it seem like he was
stopping by the inauguration on his way to run some errands. Look, I mean, it is such fun looking at what the internet has been doing with this image.
What do you make of all of this?
AVLON: I mean, look, this is a distraction. But you see the power of memes in our era to communicate things. And here you have this sort of
disgruntled Bernie. I guess I would never play piano and these mittens moment. And it takes off I will say Ruby Cramer instinctly is the daughter
of Richard Ben Cramer, one of the great political writers of our time, who wrote a book about what it takes, about the 88 campaign that has extensive
and invaluable chapters about Joe Biden.
So there's a certain circularity to history even as we deal with the sort of absurd new ways of communicating and Bernie Sanders instant classic meme
of a disgruntled guy, his former rivals inauguration.
ANDERSON: Fantastic, good stuff, John, always pleasure. Thank you for gracing us with your presence. I know you've been going for some time and
we look forward to speaking to you, as I say in the days and weeks to come. John Avlon in the house, some view.
Well, Mr. Biden's to do list, rejoining the international community sounds like an odd phrase, doesn't it, rejoining the international community but I
mean it, including the World Health Organization, his administration's Chief Medical adviser, a face that you will know announced renewed White
House support for the WHO a short time ago. Have a listen.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIR., U.S. NATL. INST. OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the
World Health Organization. Yesterday, President Biden signed the letters retracting the previous administration's announcement to withdraw from the
Organization.
In addition to retracting the notification of withdrawal, and retaining membership in the WHO, the United States will cease the drawdown of United
States staff, seconded to the WHO, and will resume regularly engagement of U.S. government personnel with the WHO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is a move that has been welcomed by the World Health Organization as you can see from today's front pages around the world,
there seems to be a collective sigh of relief as America sets a new course with headlines showcasing Mr. Biden's calls for unity and for truth.
[10:15:18]
Connecting us to the global stage and its early take on the new U.S. administration is our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, live
from London. Joe Biden, talking in his inauguration speech about reestablishing alliances, reestablishing the U.S.'s position in the
international community, reestablishing ties, as it were, and not everyone around the world will be applauding this new administration. But it has to
be said, there seems to be a palpable sense of relief from most Capitols, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Sighs of relief, I mean, look at the headlines in some of the British newspapers, for example,
there's a lot of sympathy and support there really endearing picture on the front page of "The Times" newspaper saying time for unity.
I mean, look, the international press of countries who are allies of the United States are really going to give President Biden, you know, a big
honeymoon by the looks of it, some of those other headlines that were really capturing some of the thoughts that he bought up in that speech
about ending the uncivil war and trying to sort of reunite the nation. You know, democracy has prevailed a very important message for the
international community there.
"El Mundo" newspaper pointing out that yes, this is all good. But there are a lot of divisions within the United States still. But I think, you know,
looking at some of the tweets we're hearing the response is there from the leaders as well, Emmanuel Macron, the French President, you know, saying
that we are stronger together with the United States and thanking President Biden for rejoining the climate change agreement, the Paris Climate Change
Agreement.
Then you have Micheal Martin, the Irish Prime Minister, of course, has deep ties, you know, ancestral ties Biden has with Ireland saying, yes, we'll be
stronger together. But there are, you know, you pick up in these tweets as well, some of the problems that are coming for Biden, in the future. China
is going to be one of those issues. Modi, the Prime Minister there in India, saying that, you know, this is an important moment to strengthen
their strategic alliance between India and the United States,
Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister in Australia as well also that feels the heat of Chinese displeasure at times, saying that this was a very important
moment, you know, for the United States under Joe Biden to come back on the international stage, a lot of it is there. Bolsonaro in Brazil, less
welcoming, of course, he was an ally of Trump, saying his words were great, rather than congratulations.
So, you know, there's warmth. But we can see the troubles ahead for Biden in it as well, Becky.
ANDERSON: I was struck by just one phrase that he used in his inauguration speech. And it is the end of this part, let's just have a listen.
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BIDEN: The world is watching, watching all of us today. So here's my message to those beyond our borders, America has been tested, and we've
come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges but today's and
tomorrow's challenges. And we'll lead not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Nic, will lead not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. Now I have heard Joe Biden use that phrase before,
but given the U.S.'s use of its military power in so much of the world, but particularly here where we are in the Middle East. How important is it? And
what does he mean by that phrase when he speaks to the wider global audience?
ROBERTSON: Let's take rejoining the WHO as an example. United States has been a leading figure within the WHO since its beginning in 1948. It's a
significant contributor of funds. The Director General said that he's glad the United States is back in that family of nations within the WHO. But
importantly, part of what the WHO is doing right now is fighting this global coronavirus pandemic and part of that involves making sure that
poorer nations get access to testing, to treatments, to vaccines.
[10:20:17]
United States being back in the World Health Organization and being actively engaged in that will send a message to poorer nations be they in
Africa or on other continents that the United States is back and it is looking out for them. Remember some of the things that former President
Trump had to say about Africa? Let's not repeat them here. But that left a bad taste for a lot of people. This Biden, this administration is going to
try to reset that and does seem to be starting on the right foot.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson, in the house for you, thank you, Nic, you add on the show.
China calls for a reboot in relations with Washington. We'll tell you how Beijing immediately sanctioned or who they sanctioned right after Mr. Biden
took office.
Two suicide bombers in Baghdad targeted a busy marketplace, killing dozens and wounding more than hundred. We'll have the quickly changing details on
the ground in the Iraqi Capitol for you just the head.
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ANDERSON: Plus for every American President, Joe Biden will face a region that entangles them but often defies solution. I'm talking about the Middle
East. Dozens of people were murdered and more than 100 wounded in a double suicide bombing in Baghdad, the first of its kind in nearly two years.
The conflict haunts many in the U.S. who originally supported the U.S.-led invasion, President Biden being one of them. Our senior international
correspondent Arwa Damon joins us with what we know so far, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky. Now, this is horrific for Iraqis on so many levels that extend beyond the death toll and
those who were injured itself, it's how this attack was carried out.
You had the first bomber who walked into this crowded marketplace and said that he was ill, that he needed help, people gathered around, explosives
went off. Then the second bomber waited on a motorcycle until people had flocked to the scene to try to help the wounded before driving in and
detonating.
This is so traumatic for the Iraqi population. Because this MO this modus operandi is exactly what they suffered in Iraq for years where there were
suicide bombings and explosions on a near daily basis, where oftentimes you would have these double bombings or triple bombings.
[10:25:07]
Now there has been no claim of responsibility at this stage for this particular attack. But we are hearing from senior members within the Iraqi
government who are demanding answers to questions like how was this able to take place? They want to look at the CCTV footage. They also some of them
at least are raising an issue of why was security so lax, was Iraq somehow lulled into a sense of security that the nation wasn't realistically at
just yet.
And speaking to that effect, Becky, it has been, as you mentioned, there almost two years since we have had to do this kind of report on this kind
of violence from Iraq. And so for the last few years, Iraqis have more or less been able to hope that maybe those horrific dark days where they
suffered unimaginable violence, we're finally behind them.
But hope is a very difficult beast, and very misleading at times. And many now will be wondering as to whether or not they were themselves lulled into
this false sense of security now that it has been shattered in such a brutal way.
ANDERSON: Absolutely horrific. Arwa, thank you for your reporting on that and we will get you folks more insight on what may be ahead in U.S.-Middle
East relations.
Next hour on Connect The World, we'll speak with James Jeffrey, he's a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey.
Well, Joe Biden hitting the ground running on his first full day as U.S. President, on Wednesday, he was sworn in and then signed 17 executive
orders from ramping up COVID-19 vaccines to economic relief, to the environment. But for his plan for the country to work, he says Americans
must work together.
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BIDEN: This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. And unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of
America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail. We have never ever, ever failed in America when we've acted together and started day at
this time in this place, let's start afresh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Beijing also calling for a reboot in relations with Washington after what has been a tumultuous few years. Hours before Mr.
Biden was sworn in, China announced sanctions against Mike Pompeo and more than two dozen other former advisors and officials.
Let's get you to our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, who joins us now from Hong Kong. Let's talk firstly about the sanctions out of
Beijing. Who they targeted at and how is China reacted?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a parting shot at the outgoing Trump administration from Beijing in what has been
increasingly heated war of words and sanctions between the two governments. So as Joe Biden was swearing, being sworn in as President, Beijing slapped
sanctions on 28 former Trump administration officials as you mentioned former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the former national security
advisors, people like John Bolton, O'Brien, Peter Navarro, Matthew Pottinger, the former health Secretary Alex Azar, Stephen Bannon, all of
these individuals, very outspoken critics of the Chinese government.
And they're now banned from travel to any Chinese territory from any business with China as well as the Chinese government, accusing them of
violating China's sovereignty. Meanwhile, you had Chinese officials having much softer, more hopeful messages to the incoming Biden administration
with the Chinese ambassador, for example, to Washington tweeting a congratulations to the Biden administration, with the inauguration and
hoping that there could be room for cooperation in the future in areas like climate change and public health crises.
But it's interesting to note that the spokesperson for the new Biden National Security Council has basically criticized these last minute
sanctions, calling them a Chinese quote, attempt to play to partisan divides, calling this an unproductive and cynical move, and saying that
Americans of both parties should criticize this. Becky?
[10:29:59]
ANDERSON: It's fascinating to hear the response out of Beijing. Also and thank you, Ivan, just I think worth noting that the nominee for Secretary
of State Antony Blinken, under this Biden administration has had this to say about the U.S.-China relationship going to forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: To say that, I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to
China. I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas. But the basic principle was the right one. And I think that's
actually helpful to our foreign policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And we will discover what that foreign policy with regard Beijing is in the weeks ahead.
Still ahead this hour, the people's inauguration kicks off today. It's a movement that calls on Americans to take an oath and commit to rebuild the
nation. We speak to the campaign's creator up next.
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ANDERSON: Well, President Joe Biden is at the White House as we speak. He is watching the inaugural press service, a virtual event hosted by the
Washington National Cathedral, such as the way of COVID protocol these days. President Biden and his wife, Jill, watching from the White House
along with Vice President Harris and her husband and President Biden's son also there with his wife and some of the Biden kids, the Biden inauguration
had a handful of wow moments may be the biggest coming from America's youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANDA GORMAN, U.S. NATIONAL YOUTH POET LAUREATE: One day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never ending shade? The loss we
carry a sea, we must wait. We've braved the belly of the beast. We've learned that quiet isn't always peace in the norms and notions of what just
is, isn't always just is.
And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply
unfinished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, our next guest echoes these calls that we are hearing from the Biden administration for unity.
[10:35:03]
Valarie Kaur, is the founder of the People's Inauguration last night she tweeted it will take all of us to heal, reimagine, and rebuild America.
Join us tomorrow, she said for the hashtag People's Inauguration, an outpouring of music, poetry, stories, and visions for America plus a
people's oath.
And Valerie joining me now, she also took part in today's prayer service in Washington, which we just saw the Biden's watching. Valerie joining us from
Los Angeles, thank you. If anyone embodied this sense of hope and these calls for unity, it was Amanda Gorman in what was a truly fantastic poem
that she read at the inauguration. I'm sure that you will echo or join me in congratulating her for that. Just how important are her words and the
words that we heard from the now President of the U.S., Joe Biden?
VALARIE KAUR, CREATOR, THE PEOPLE'S INAUGURATION: Oh, let love be our legacy and change the birthright we leave our children. I mean, I was
watching those words, with my six-year-old son in my arms. And when my son asked me, Mommy, what would it what is she doing, Kamala Harris, right?
What is she doing? And what is he doing?
And I said, oh, my love, they're making a promise. And, you know what, now it's going to be our turn. We're going to make a promise too. It's going to
take every single one of us to make love, our legacy. It's going to take every single one of us to commit to the labor of healing and reimagining
and rebuilding America. That's what the people's inauguration is about, and it kicks off today.
ANDERSON: Tell us about it.
KAUR: Well, it really began with a question I had asked myself four years ago, when I had just become a new mother and hate violence was skyrocketing
against my community, sick American, and I fought on the frontlines for civil rights in this country for almost 20 years now.
And in that moment, when I felt like my son is growing up in a nation more dangerous for him than it was for me, I asked myself a question I've been
asking myself every day, the future is dark. But is this darkness, the darkness of the tomb or the darkness of the womb? Is our America not dead,
but a country is still waiting to be born.
And you know, Becky, in the last few years, I have felt both like there have been days that have been so dark, so traumatic, I felt ash in my
mouth. And there have been days like what we saw yesterday, where we have seen people come together around healing and justice and hope and renewal
and say, no, we are going to rise up to birth the America that must be, that all of us have a role in that labor in birthing the America that we
dream.
So, we, the people have always played a role in pushing justice and equality and dignity in this country. But we don't have a dedicated moment
to reflect on our role, to invite us to ask ourselves, what are we ready to commit to, what is our partner in it? So the idea behind the people's
inauguration is to give us that moment, to inaugurate ourselves into that labor.
And so we will be seeing storytelling and poetry and music and song and us holding up our visions for the America that could be. And in the center of
it is an oath, I'm a trained lawyer. So I went back to the Constitution. And I looked at the words that the President recites. And I reimagined that
into a people's oath that let, we, the people commit ourselves to dignity and justice and joy. And let us do it with love.
ANDERSON: You use the word dignity. And I have heard so many commentators who watched Joe Biden's speech yesterday, suggests that it was nothing if
not dignified. I know you took part in the virtual inaugural prayer service this morning. I just want our viewers to hear a little of that. OK, we
don't have that. Just how did that make you feel?
KAUR: It was a tapestry of voices that represent all of America as a sick American it felt so like, monumental for us to be held up in the vision of
what America is and what America could be. And in my remarks, I called us to love, you know, the heart of my faith, the heart of so many faiths is
this idea that we can look up on the face of anyone and say you are a part of me, I do not yet know.
I will let your grief into my heart I will listen to you. I will harness my rage for nonviolent action in the world that kind of love, that kind of
muscular love have -- has been the anchor of nonviolent movements throughout the ages. And so what does it mean for us to harness that ethic
of love now? And I think that call on the lips of Guru Nanak, Na Ko Bairi Nahi Bigana, I see no stranger, I see no enemy.
[10:40:05]
That is what the people's inauguration and what my prayer this morning was calling us too that, even though America feels like it's fractured and
falling apart, and there are people we want to see, as enemies, we cannot become what we are fighting, we cannot dehumanize our opponents. So if we
lead with love, what I call a revolutionary kind of love, that is the only way we will cross the threshold and make America the multiracial democracy
that it must be.
ANDERSON: How do you and other Americans ensure that what you are describing today, the America that you hope will be the America of your
future, and so many millions are that is not just an aspirational dream?
KAUR: You know, on January 6th, the day of the insurrection, my brother-in- law was trapped in the Capitol Building. He reports for CNN. And so my family was terrified, I was shaking, I was sobbing, hoping that he would
make it out safe, make it out alive.
And when he left, when he was finally evacuated, I noticed the feeling in my body was terror. And that this terror is familiar. How many times as a
woman of color in the last 20 years have I seen my people in harm's way in this country in the face of white supremacist terror? White supremacist
terror is as old as this nation. So I know, I know what you're asking, Becky, how can you be sure that we can birth in America or someone like my
family, my brother-in-law could be seen as part of this country?
Well, when my brother-in-law was finally safe, I got a call from my teammate, my friend. And she said, Valerie, I'm so sorry. My parents were
also at the Capitol Building. But they were on the outside of the building. They were the ones breaking the doors or being part of the protest to get
in. And so here my brother-in-law was on the inside, and her parents were on the outside. And I thought, as much as I want to see those people as
monsters, as much as I want to hate them. I have to see them through the eyes of their daughter, not as monsters, but as wounded human beings, who
are afraid that this nation is changing.
It is becoming a multiracial nation, that all this white nationalist aggression is a symptom of unresolved grief. Somebody must tend to those
wounds. It's probably not going to be me. Everyone has a different role in the labor. But it might be her. So when I think about the labor that's
required to transition this country as a whole, I think of everyone as having a different role in it.
Revolutionary love is loving ourselves well enough. And for those of us who've gone through trauma, we got to let love in. Revolutionary love is
loving others, standing in solidarity with others who need you and revolutionary love is loving our opponents, figuring out who are the ones I
can reach out to, to invite them into a process of relationship and ultimately, transformation.
This transition that America is in is going to last 25 years. That's how long we have. Will we continue to teeter on the brink of civil war like
what we saw on January 6th, no matter who is in the White House? Or will we finally begin to birth the America that we dream, a nation that has never
been, Becky, never been, a nation made up of other nations, this multiracial democracy is a grand experiment.
And if we can model what it looks like, if we can make it, if we can show that it's possible that might that be a beacon for the world in a way that
make our -- makes our children proud and safe.
ANDERSON: I read that there are people around the world who, one, get what you're saying and, two, understand just how emotional this is for you. I do
hope that everybody watches this, watching this does understand that. And we wish you the best. Good luck with the event. And we'll talk again, thank
you.
KAUR: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: President Biden has emphasized the importance of family from the very start of his political life in Washington. His tragedy is well
documented. His first wife and young daughter were killed in a car crash. His two sons injured. Joe Biden as a single dad taking the oath to become a
senator, back in 1973 with one big condition attached. I want you to just have a look and listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I make this one promise that if in six months or so, there's a conflict between my being a good father and being a good senator, which I
hope will not occur, I thought it would but I hope it won't. I promise you that I will contact Governor-elect Tribbitt as I had earlier and tell him
that we can always get another senator but they can't get another father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:45:08]
ANDERSON: Well, from 1973 to right now we are moments away from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's weekly press briefing. She is expected to talk about
the new President and will likely face questions about the impeachment of the twice impeached, Donald Trump.
So far Pelosi has been tight lipped about when she will send over the article of impeachment to the Senate. Timing is key, of course, because
once the Senate gets it, they have to start the trial the next day. So we will monitor that press conference for you for key developments and you
will get them as soon as we do.
Nearly five decades on from the images that you just saw of the young Senator Joe Biden, his humanity giving hope to a chaotic time, as
highlighted by his Vice President Kamala Harris, on Wednesday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This is what President Joe Biden has called upon us to summon now, the courage to see beyond crisis to do what is hard, to do what is good, to
unite, to believe in ourselves, believe in our country, believe in what we can do together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: A few moments ago, we heard the words of 22-year-old Amanda Gorman. She is America's youth poet laureate. And she captivated her
country and the world with her poem "The Hill We Climb", offering a hopeful vision for what is a deeply divided country. She spoke at the inauguration
of Joe Biden on Wednesday. And I want you just to have another listen to part of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORMAN: The dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply
unfinished. We, the successors of a country and the time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of
becoming president only to find herself reciting for one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Amanda Gorman talked with my colleague Anderson Cooper last night. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Amanda Gorman, it is such a pleasure. First of all, how do you feel?
GORMAN: I feel just so overjoyed and so grateful and so humbled. You know, I came here to do the best with the poem that I could and to just see the
support that's been pouring out. I literally can't absorb it all. So I'll be processing it for a while.
[10:50:09]
COOPER: The -- can you just explain the -- why this message today? How did you go about crafting this?
GORMAN: Right. Well, you know, I did a lot of research ever since I found out in late December that I was going to do the inaugural poet. So that was
making sure I read all of the previous inaugural poems, I'm really doing a deep literature dive of other orders, who I look up to whether it be
Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and how they speak to a nation that can feel very divided.
And I was about halfway through that process and kind of that research when the January 6th insurrection happened at the Capitol. And I'm not going to
say that that completely, you know, derailed the poem because I was not surprised at what had happened. I had seen the signs and the symptoms for a
while. And I was not trying to turn a blind eye to that.
But what it did is energized me even more to believe that much more firmly in a message of hope, and unity, and healing. I felt like that was the type
of poem that I needed to write. And it was the type of poem that the country and the world needed to hear.
COOPER: Were there particular images from January 6th that, you know, that were that were kind of foremost in your mind or was it just the totality of
the horror of the insurrection?
GORMAN: I'm a poet. So often, I don't work in images, I work in words and texts. And so what I was actually doing is while keeping my mental sanity,
looking through the tweets and the messages and the articles and seeing what stood out. And there was a line in the poem that you might have heard,
which is, we've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
And I got that absolute from looking through a few tweets, and a lot of people being like, wow, this is what happens when people don't want to
share the country with the rest of us. And so I took that, it was often became a meme on Twitter, and I put that in the poem.
COOPER: It's so interesting to me that you, you're not thinking visually that you're not, it's not the images that motivate you, it's the text, the
words that you come across.
GORMAN: Right. To me words matter. And I think that's kind of what made this inauguration that much more sentimental and special. We've seen over
the past few years the ways in which the power of words has been violated and misappropriated. And what I wanted to do is to kind of reclaim poetry
as that site in which we can repurify, resanctify not only the Capitol Building, if you saw violated, but the power of words, and to invest that
in kind of the highest office of the land.
We will rebuild, reconciled, and recover. And every known nook of our nation in every corner called our country, our people diverse and
beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful when they come as we step out of the shade of flame, and I'm afraid the new dawn blooms as we free it,
for there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be in.
COOPER: I got shivers when you said that. I mean, that is what it takes, isn't it? It's bravery. It takes bravery to see it and to be that light.
GORMAN: And I'm so grateful you brought up the last slide. It's something that I've been seeing a lot of people repeat. And to be honest, I was
concerned of whether I should include that last line of be at all. I was kind of deliberating between see it, be it, free it, and then I said you
know what, we need all of these things at once. We need that to coffin and we need to realize that hope isn't something that we ask of others, it's
something that we have to demand from ourselves. And that's what I wanted to pointed out.
COOPER: I had a form of dyslexia as a child and a kind of a minor speech issue, slight, little stutter. And Joe Biden has talked about this, I read
that you had some form of a speech impediment or may still have, which is obviously something you would have in common with President Biden. He's
talked often about overcoming it. And I understand that you use writing to cope with it, to share your voice that way. Can you talk about that a
little bit?
GORMAN: Yes. I'm proud to be in the Speech Difficulty Club with you and President Biden and also my Angelou. You know, growing up I had a speech
impediment. And for me, it wasn't stutter. It was, you know, dropping a whole swath of letters in the alphabet. So for I want to say most of my
life up until two or maybe three years ago, I couldn't say the letter R. Even to this day, sometimes I struggle with it, which is difficult when you
have a poem and looks you say rise like five times.
COOPER: I understand you have a mantra that you say before every reading you give. Can you can you reveal what that is?
[10:55:01]
GORMAN: Certainly. I do whenever I perform and I definitely did it this time and I close my eyes and I say, I am the daughter of black writers. We
are descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.
COOPER: Hillary Clinton tweeted a picture of you too, from the inauguration today saying wasn't at the Amanda Gorman's poem just stunning. She's
promised to run for president in 2036. And I for one can't wait. President Gorman has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
GORMAN: Yes, it does. Madam President Gorman, I like the sound of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Her writing is so powerful, amazing, amazing to listen to her. Let's listen in to the U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who is now holding
her weekly news conference.
NANCY PELOSI, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: That was yesterday 400,000 people died. But today marks one year since our first knowledge of this pandemic. And
what did we learn this morning? We learned this morning that the Trump administration had no real plan for the production and distribution of the
vaccine, just another in a series of their terrible, ineffective approach to it from the start and denial, delay, distortion, calling it a hoax. And
now we find that they don't -- they didn't even have a plan.
As we go forward, though, we see immediately that Joe Biden, President Biden has put forth a plan to crush the coronavirus. You know what that is?
Yesterday, he talked about it in his executive actions when he talked about wearing masks, distancing, science based approaches. Today, he'll sign
further orders. My understanding is to use the Defense Production Act to speed up PPE delivery, to expand testing treatment and public health
workforce that we need and launch a vaccination campaign.
All of this to more safely open up schools and businesses and improve health equity, something that the Republicans will just erase from any
bill, addressing the disparity and treatment and their -- and testing and therefore the disparity and incidence of COVID-19 and communities of color.
As we salute these actions, we're getting ready for COVID relief package. We'll be working on that as we go. As you probably have seen Mr. Hoyer
announced that as we work on these issues, we won't be back in session until the beginning of February. Another week, February 1st is it or 2nd?
And but we'll be doing act -- we were doing our committee work all next week, so that we are completely ready to go to the floor when we come back.
And then again, these COVID proposals from the administration build on many of the initiatives that were in our packages all, all along. It's what the
people need, it's what the country needs to crush the virus, put money in the pockets of the American people and honor our heroes.
We're talking largely about executive actions, but I just mentioned that one bill, the COVID package, we also are pleased to see the President come
forward, the administration come forward with an immigration proposal, very pleased in the House. Linda Sanchez, will be taking the lead Senator
Menendez in the Senate. It has the basic principles that we've talked about all along and we'll see what the timetable is on that.
Today, we are in session to vote on the Austin waiver. It is a waiver so that General Lloyd Austin can serve as Secretary of Defense. I have said,
and Austin is a highly qualified and well respected leader with over 40 years of decorated service. He brings a great understanding of the
challenges facing our nation's defenses and the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and their families.
[10:59:41]
Once the waiver is approved, I feel confident that the Senate will confirm the General as Secretary of Defense. Civilian control the military is not
an issue for us, there's a value, there's a principle. And we are so pleased unlike the Trump administration, the Biden administration not only
allowed but encouraged the General to come and present his views.
END
