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New Day Sunday

New Video Of Capitol Rioter In Aftermath Of Attack; Trump Faces Dem-Controlled Senate In Unprecedented Second Trial; Wyoming Republican Party Votes To Censure Representative Liz Cheney; Dr. Anthony Fauci Says Super Bowl Parties Could Become Super Spreader Events; Black Americans Received Disproportionate Share Of Vaccinations In All 23 States Reporting Racial Data; Emotional President Speaks Of Son's Addiction, Recovery; Countdown To Super Bowl LV. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 07, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:21]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are less than 72 hours from the second impeachment trial of former President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a trial about the conduct of the president of the United States which led, among other things, not to just death and destruction, it led to people coming to the Capitol trying to kill his vice president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an attack on the constitution of the United States itself. The man is accused, but it is the country that will suffer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: COVID-19 vaccinations are up and infections are down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I may be nine (ph) and a half and I don't want to die young.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Health officials are warning us not to let our guards down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the Super Bowl, not the stupid bowl. Don't bring multiple households together and create a super spreader event in your own home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And that is where the action will be this week on Capitol Hill. We're two days from the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump and this morning we are seeing new video from the Capitol Hill riots that the former president is charged with inciting. CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The video shows the moments after several of the rioters left the Senate chamber here and it underscores just how closely some insurrectionists were taking their cues, they say, from then-president Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACOB CHANSLEY, "QANON SHAMAN," CHARGED IN CAPITOL RIOT: How?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get out?

CHANSLEY: How did you get out of what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get out?

CHANSLEY: From the Senate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANSLEY: The cops walked out with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just let you go?

CHANSLEY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your message to everybody now? Like what are you yelling now?

CHANSLEY: Oh, Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said -- he just put out a tweet. It's a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think so?

CHANSLEY: Because we won the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) day. We (EXPLETIVE DELETED) won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did we win?

CHANSLEY: Well, we won by sending a message to the senators and the congressmen. We won by sending a message to Pence. OK? That if they don't do as they -- as their oath to do and they don't uphold the constitution, then we will remove them from office one way or another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is recording you. He's not on our side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

CHANSLEY: That's fine. I don't care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you (INAUDIBLE).

CHANSLEY: I'm fine with being recorded. All I can say is we won the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) day. Donald Trump is still our president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do have one more question. There's a lot of people that doubt that you were just able to just go in there and come out. Like what do you have to say to them that doubt you just walked out?

CHANSLEY: Well, a lot of people doubted a lot of prophets, saints and sages. A lot of people doubted Christ. You know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Let's go now to CNN's Daniella Diaz on Capitol Hill. Democrats think, Daniella, that a video like that is damning for the former president. And I'm sure we'll see more of that played on the Senate floor. What's the latest you are hearing about the trial?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, guys. There's a lot of unknowns heading into next week but here's what we do know, we know that the trial is going to begin on Tuesday and we know that there's pretrial briefs that will be filed on Monday kind of setting the stage for where both sides are going to argue heading into next week.

We also know that we are probably not going to hear from Trump. The impeachment managers actually sent him a letter asking him to testify under oath and his spokesperson quickly responded and said absolutely not and called it a public relations stunt. And the impeachment managers are signaling that they're not going to subpoena him.

But as you guys just played that video at the beginning of the show, there's countless videos like that that show a lot of these rioters were inspired by Trump's own words, and Democrats might not even need witnesses -- that's another thing we don't know about going into next week to testify against Trump when these videos exist.

Look, here's what Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said about this issue to our CNN -- to CNN's Pamela Brown last night on her show. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The facts are the facts here. They are pretty clear cut. Open and shut, that he summoned and implored that mob to come to Washington, then urged them to storm the Capitol with the goal of stopping the ballot count and potentially assassinating political leaders, including his own vice president. That is a punishable offense under possibly criminal law and certainly an impeachable offense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: So that's just one example of many that show that even if Democrats don't call witnesses, they have a lot of videos that show that these rioters were inspired by Trump's own words to storm the Capitol and incite violence.

[06:05:00]

And Democrats are preparing to show a lot of this evidence, a lot of these videos, social media tweets, et cetera, during the impeachment trial to show that Trump played a role in this insurrection -- Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right. Daniella Diaz, good to see you. Thank you.

Michael Zeldin is with us now. He's a former federal prosecutor and was ones Robert Mueller special assistant at the Department of Justice. We want to point out he also hosts a new podcast here, "That Said with Michael Zeldin." Michael, congratulations on the podcast. Thank you for being here.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

PAUL: So, we are two days away from this trial starting. And Daniella just mentioned the pretrial brief, the House's replication to answer documents due tomorrow. What do you think we will learn from that? Will we get any clarity tomorrow on what to except on Tuesday?

ZELDIN: So, on the House managers' side we had a pretty extensive brief, 80 pages long, with a layout that the president can be impeached even though he is no longer in office, that the Senate has jurisdiction, that the First Amendment doesn't apply, that he engaged in a months-long insurrection.

The House case is pretty clear. The Trump defense was really pretty, you know, haphazard. They only had two days within which to create their brief. So I think we will get more elaboration.

But principally, I think what they are saying is, one, the Senate lacks jurisdiction to try this case because the president is no longer in office. And, two, even if they do, the First Amendment protects the president from these charges because he has a right to say whatever he said.

PAUL: So what are you -- I want to break those down and get your opinion on both of those because specifically the first one you talked about, the argument that the constitution prohibits him from being convicted or from impeachment itself because he is a former president, this is one of the most debated elements of this thus far. What is your take on it?

ZELDIN: So a couple of things about this are clear. First is that he was impeached while in office. So the notion that you can't impeach a former official is not what happened here. He was impeached while in office. There was no trial because Mitch McConnell didn't bring the Senate back to hold the trial.

So I don't think you can manipulate the system that way and then argue that there is no jurisdiction. But even if you did have a trial after the Senate was convened in the new Congress, I think that the law is clear that you can have a trial of a former official. It occurred many times in our history, and so I think that argument is without merit.

PAUL: OK. You had said that there was something specific, particularly of interest to you, regarding the way that the former president's attorneys had responded to the request that he testify. What struck you about that, and why is it important?

ZELDIN: Well, every president who has been accused of wrongdoing, whether it be Iran-Contra or Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, they all testified and they've all, you know, asserted their innocence, if you will, in testimony.

Trump has refused to do that now twice, in his first impeachment and his second impeachment. So he screams about how he has been denied his rights. But when he's given the opportunity to defend himself, if you will, he has chosen not to. And it strikes me a bit cynical for them to argue about a lack of due process when he doesn't come forward and offer his explanation for what he did.

PAUL: So with that said, Senator Blumenthal we heard yesterday saying, he said the president should only be subpoenaed to testify if it's absolutely necessary. Do you see any indication, any scenario that would warrant the president doing so, and can he be forced to testify?

ZELDIN: Well, I think that maybe he can be forced to testify as a private citizen now, but I don't think that the House managers are going to go down that route. The last thing they want is a protracted court battle over whether or not the president can be subpoenaed or not.

I think the House managers want to present their case, listen to the defense, respond to the defense, and then ask for the Senate to convict him. I don't think they really want to be sent in this collateral matter into the courts. So I don't think that will happen.

PAUL: So, you have also said, and we touched on this in the beginning, regarding the First Amendment argument, that President Trump makes it -- you say it's not clear the First Amendment argument, that the president, the former president makes, is technically relevant in the impeachment. What's blurry about that to you?

ZELDIN: So, the First Amendment as a defense says you can't convict me of a crime because what I said is First Amendment protected speech.

[06:10:02]

So the First Amendment protects from the government making unlawful what you say. In this case, there is no accusation that the president did anything unlawful, necessarily. There is not a criminal charge here like you would have in a court.

They said he violated the oath of his office by inciting a riot and that there is no, therefore, criminal penalty connected with this. There is a removal from office and a disqualification from office, but that's not the criminal law. That's not what the First Amendment was designed to protect against. So I think it's an inappropriate argument to make as a defense to an impeachment argument versus a criminal court challenge, which is where most of these cases arise.

PAUL: All right. Michael Zeldin, sorry we've ran out of time. It's so good to have you with us. Congratulations again on the podcast, "That Said with Michael Zeldin." ZELDIN: Thank you, Christi.

PAUL: All right.

BLACKWELL: The Wyoming Republican Party has voted to censure Representative Liz Cheney for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump. Now she's the third highest ranking Republican in the House. The state party is urging her to resign. She is one of just 10 Republicans who voted for the second impeachment. And as CNN's Jessica Dean reports, she is just the latest to face the angry party back home.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, the Wyoming Republican Party voted on Saturday to censure Congresswoman Liz Cheney for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An extremely vocal majority of Wyoming Republicans recognize there is significant irregularities in the election process in several states across the country. Ample video evidence suggests the riot at the Capitol was instigated by Antifa and BLM radicals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Of course, those statements are simply not true. For her part, Congresswoman Cheney did release a statement that read in part -- quote -- she was compelled by the oath she swore to the constitution when she took that vote to impeach the former president. Now the censure vote comes after Congresswoman Cheney was overwhelmingly supported in a secret vote here at the U.S. Capitol among House Republicans to retain her leadership position earlier this week -- Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right, Jessica. Thank you so much.

You don't need me to tell you that today is Super Bowl Sunday. But I can tell you what health experts are saying this year. The message they have to everyone as the country now, the U.S. here records another 100,000 coronavirus cases.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the threats of violence and unsanitary conditions that Russian activists say they faced after protesting in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:49]

BLACKWELL: Well it's Super Bowl Sunday and health experts are warning you to stay away from large groups, even really small groups. Dr. Anthony Fauci says Super Bowl parties could become super spreader events.

PAUL: Yes. The U.S. has seen the good news here, a drop in cases, a drop in hospitalizations, but there were 2,600 people, more than that, that died yesterday alone, and 140 of them of those people that died were in Florida. And Florida has 7,400 cases they reported as of just yesterday as well. And of course, that is where the Super Bowl will be there in Tampa.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Polo Sandoval for us in New York this morning. So there is some good news that more people are getting vaccinated. And Christi just talked about some of the positive signs.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dr. Paul Offit from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Victor and Christi, said overall, things are definitely getting better, but this despite, obviously, the threat from these more transmissible COVID variants and then also that other point you just made, the possibilities that Super Bowl parties could become the next super spreader events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: It's been 20 days since the U.S. topped 200,000 new daily COVID-19 infections. Hospitalizations also on the decline. As these numbers decrease, some cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are announcing restaurants can reopen indoor dining with capacity restrictions. Dr. Jonathan Reiner says, now is not the time to let our guard down.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Who slows down once you break into the lead? It makes zero sense. Look, there is a lot of worry about variants that might become ascendant of the next few months, and just because we see fewer hospitalizations, you know, we still have over 3,000 people a day dying.

SANDOVAL: Filling fears of a potential super spreader today's big game. Health authorities insist the safest way to watch the Super Bowl is at home and only with members of your own household. In Los Angeles big screens and outdoor dining areas have to stay off. An effort to keep the cheering crowds away. And this weekend Disney announced their annual Super Bowl victory parade is canceled due to the pandemic.

By now more than 20 U.S. states report COVID-19 vaccination data by race and ethnicity, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. It founds Black and Hispanic people continue receiving a disproportionately low share of COVID-19 vaccinations compared to the total population and vaccine supplies.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Actually, I think that vaccine hesitancy is so often used as an excuse when the problem of this disproportionate vaccine availability is actually about access. And so having data is important, but the next step is that we have to then address the bottlenecks and the barriers.

SANDOVAL: Like setting up vaccination centers in affected areas says Dr. Leana Wen. New York has done just that, opening the legendary Yankees Stadium to Bronx residents eligible to get a shot with appointments. Not only is the Bronx, the New York City borough, with the highest infection rate, it's predominantly Black and Hispanic communities have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. Yesterday it was Maricela Mora's turn to roll up her sleeve.

[06:20:00]

MARICELA MORA, BRONX VACCINATED RESIDENT: It was fast. It was good. I feel great.

SANDOVAL: Mora, an employee at a local grocery store became eligible for a vaccination last month when New York City expanded eligibility to include essential workers like her.

MORA: We made it a point for people to try to get here and feel that we have an extra protection just to go back to work.

SANDOVAL: Levi's Stadium, home of the Francisco 49ers, next to be converted into a massive vaccination site. The biggest in California and is expected to administer 15,000 shots a day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Variant surges are certainly at least possible, but not inevitable. That's according to the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci who said this weekend that the best way to try to prevent the spreading of this variants are just keep it simple here.

Go back to the advice that we've been following for the last year which is obviously to keep that mask on and to avoid groups. But then also secondly as soon as you are eligible to receive that vaccine get it. Dr. Anthony Fauci saying those two things combined would limit the possibility that these variants would jump from one person to another.

PAUL: All right. Polo Sandoval, great information. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Thank you.

PAUL: So we told you yesterday President Biden says he is prepared to push forward with his COVID relief plan, the stimulus plan, with or without Republicans. But he did say he is willing to negotiate on certain aspects. One of them is including lowering the income cutoff for people to receive those $1,400 stimulus checks.

And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate Budget Committee, by the way, has come out now against that, saying in a tweet, "I strongly oppose lowering income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to $50,000 for individuals and $150,000 to $100,000 for couples. In these difficult times, all working class people deserve the full $1,400.

Last I heard, someone making $55,000 a year is not rich." That topic is likely to be one of many that come up this morning when Jake Tapper is with us speaking with new treasury secretary Janet Yellen. Of course, Jake Tapper at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Russian protesters say that they were threatened with violence, food and water were withheld. They are going to detail what they say happened to them after they were arrested for supporting opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:33]

BLACKWELL: An independent monitoring group says that Russian police detained almost 10,000 people over the past couple of weekends after the mass protest in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And now a lot of those detainees are claiming that they were abused while in custody.

PAUL: They described unsanitary harsh living conditions, packed jail cells and spending 40 hours on prison buses with no food or water. CNN's Fred Pleitgen walks us through what he's hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The images of Russian riot cops cracking down on protesters have sparked outrage around the world. Thousands have been detained and some say they were mistreated by police while in custody.

ALENA KITAEVA, DETAINEE (through translator): I was alone in the room with these four policemen. And one said do you want a plastic bag over your head? On the shelf they already had a plastic bag as if it was prepared for this. So they put it over my head and started choking me a little bit. I tried to resist but he kept putting my head down and shacking me.

PLEITGEN: A Kremlin spokesperson said that if what she described really happened then she should have filed a lawsuit even though she's currently in jail. Moscow police did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Security forces detained so many people at recent demos, Moscow even ran out of space to keep them in. Images have emerged of people crammed into police buses waiting for hours and even days to be processed with no chance to physically distance during times of pandemic.

Alexander Golovach is a lawyer for opposition leader Alexei Navalny's organization, he was detained at a protest last weekend.

ALEXANDER GOLOVACH, LAWYER, ANTI-CORRUPTION FOUNDATION (through translator): I was taken to a police station with 25 other people. I spent there three days. And in the first day we had no food, no water, and they didn't let us use the toilet.

PLEITGEN: This is Sakharovo a former migrant camp now used as a detention center for those taken into custody at pro-Navalny rallies. People who are locked up here shared these videos with CNN, showing crammed cells and catastrophic sanitary facilities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Everything is really, really bad. There aren't even mattresses and people have been sitting like this for one and a half days. PLEITGEN: Among the detainees a prominent journalist jailed for re- tweeting a joke which the court said incited participation in an unauthorized rally. He says he is innocent.

SERGEY SMIRNOV, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MEDIAZONA: We spent many hours in a tiny cell. Twenty-eight people in a cell meant for eight. These are very harsh conditions.

PLEITGEN: While he says he has since been moved to a slightly better cell, others detained at Sakharovo claim little has changed for them.

Meanwhile, pro-Kremlin media is blaring out videos like this one of factory workers enthusiastically showing their support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. A group of people spelling out the words "our president" in the snow. Putin spokesmen acknowledged the overcrowded facilities but said the response of riot police to the mass protest was justified and claimed there were -- quote -- "no repressions in Russia."

Outside the makeshift jail, friends and relatives bring food, drinks and cigarettes for those detained inside. Some venting their anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are trying to intimidate people and our job here is to show the detainees they have support and that we are all together in this. That's the only way to build society and to consolidate.

PLEITGEN: Alexei Navalny's movement has refrained from calling for new protests for now, saying they want to regroup and give their supporters time to get out of jail.

[06:30:08]

Fred Pleitgen, CNN (INAUDIBLE) Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And President Biden is talking about his son Hunter's new book that talks about his battle with addiction. It's an emotional interview. We'll have that for you ahead. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: So, President Biden gets pretty emotional in his first network interview since the election. And this was because he was talking about his son Hunter's struggle with addiction and his recovery.

[06:35:10]

BLACKWELL: The President told CBS's Norah O'Donnell that reading Hunter Biden's upcoming book made him feel like he got his son back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I bet there's not a family you know that doesn't have somebody in the family that had a drug problem or an alcohol problem. But the honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem and the hope that -- it gave me help reading it. I mean, it was like, my boys is back, you know what I mean? He's -- anyway, I'm sorry it gets so personal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN Chief Media Correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter is with us now. Stelter, this is the President's first network interviews since the election. He made a lot of news. We talked about some of that already. But also, he's getting pretty personal here.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think this is a really important clip. It tells us a lot about the Biden family and about the expectations for Hunter Biden's book. You know, the President has read it. Some other writers have read it and praised it. But this book is going to be coming out for the general public in April. And it's going to be a pretty significant book launch.

There have been some buzz in the book world that maybe there's a seven-figure advance for this book. Meaning, Hunter was paid more than $1 million to write it. It is a memoir about addiction. And you know, I don't like to talk about, you know, people's lives as if they're just narratives.

But think about what the narrative of Hunter Biden has been in right- wing media. It's been about Ukraine and about shady business dealings. It's been a very nasty, negative sort of story that's been told about Hunter Biden.

Well, now he's going to tell his own story. And now he's going to do that in book form. And he obviously has the support of his father. It is remarkable to see the president tearing up talking about that, and in some ways, looking forward to Hunter being able to talk openly about his struggles and coming through it on the other side.

And as you mentioned, this is -- this a big network interview. It's going to be airing -- the rest of the interview airing in the Super Bowl pregame show later today. This is one of the few American media traditions that Trump and Biden continued. You know, we've seen Biden dismiss many of Trump's anti-media tactics, etcetera. But Trump did most years given interview during the Super Bowl, and Biden is doing the same this time on CBS.

PAUL: So, let me ask you, Brian, because you mentioned there was so much controversy around Hunter Biden for so long before this. And it takes somebody who's very brave to come out and talk about this. There's no doubt about it. And hopefully, his book is really going to help some people.

Does anybody get the sense that maybe he could have waited a little bit longer before he came out, like, have his dad do his thing in and get settled in the White House and maybe let some of that controversy that had been swirling around him, as you mentioned maybe just died down a little bit? STELTER: Oh, that's interesting. This book was written kind of in

secret. In other words, people didn't know that it was going to be coming out in April. And then, a few days ago, it was announced to great fanfare that Simon Schuster is going to be publishing this book in April.

So, you're right, the timing does coincide with Biden's first 100 days. And in April, I think that this book will get a lot of attention. But maybe that's a question for him when the book tour rolls out. Why now? Why not a year ago, or why not a year from now? But the book is called Beautiful Things. And I think it's going to try to, as I said, reframe a conversation about Hunter Biden.

PAUL: Yes. And about addiction itself, because he's right, there are families all over the country who are dealing with that. Stelter, Brian Stelter, always good to have you here.

STELTER: Thank you.

PAUL: Thanks, Brian. And you can watch more of him of course on "RELIABLE SOURCES." It airs at 11:00 Eastern today.

BLACKWELL: It's been more than two weeks since the CEO of Goya Foods has appeared on television. Here's why that's relevant. Because he was last seen pushing baseless election conspiracy theory support and former President Trump and in an Inauguration Day interview on Fox Business.

PAUL: Correspondent Jason Carroll reports that Goya's board has put a stop to their top executives talking about politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT" it's this TV appearance that may have been the final straw for Goya's CEO Robert Unanue. Two weeks after the Capitol insurrection, Unanue spoke of a coming war and made false claims about the election.

ROBERT UNANUE, CEO, GOYA: Mission accomplished by the conglomerate of social media, big tech, big media and government ushering in the dawn of a new world order with an unverified election.

CARROLL: Now, Goya's board has essentially silence their CEO, voting to censure him. A person familiar with the board's actions called Unanue's comments insulting and dangerous. Unanue can no longer speak to the media without the board's permission. The source also tells CNN Unanue has heard Goya's bottom line, imperiling the future of the company.

Unanue and Goya did not respond to several attempts by CNN to reach for comment. But Unanue spoke to the New York Post saying, "Independently, I've made the decision to lower the temperature and walk away from speaking about politics and religion." Welcome news to this consumer who said he had stopped buying Goya products given the CEO's past politically charged comment.

[06:40:33]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When certain corporate leaders support an ex- president who basically greenlighted white nationalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, then they should expect to pay the consequences.

CARROLL: Unanue came under fire last July after he praised then- President Donald Trump during a White House event.

UNANUE: Were all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump.

CARROLL: Those comments prompted a backlash from buyers. Hashtags like Goya Away and Boycott Goya trended, while supporters of the president fought back with the so-called Buy-cott. Ivanka Trump even posting a picture with a can of beans.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among a number of Latino leaders critical of Unanue saying his words then and now have consequences.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO CORTEZ (D-NY): It's a great disappointment, whether you are immigrant, whether you are one or two generations from Puerto Rico, like my family is. To see that, it's just it's a great shame.

It's unclear if Unanue's comments have hurt sales. Goya, a privately owned company doesn't disclose earnings. But a competitor Brand of Puerto Rico says sales jumped thanks to Unanue's behavior.

ALAN TAVERAS, CO-FOUNDER, BRANDS OF PUERTO RICO: So far, sales skyrocketed. Suddenly people are doing activism with the products that we work with. So, for us, it has been great.

CARROLL: Hispanic consumers make up a significant chunk of buying power in the United States, $1.7 trillion in 2019. That's 11 percent of the country. The president of one of the oldest Latino civil rights organizations offered this advice to the censured CEO.

DOMINGO GARCIA NATIONAL PRESIDENT, LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS: I would say, Robert, you need to tone down the rhetoric. You're entitled to support wherever you want. We're not trying to stop that. But when you put out false information, when you put out lies to the community, there are consequences. And there are going to be ramifications for your product.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Pop star The Weeknd will solo headline today's Super Bowl halftime show. Next, the Rock Star who remembers his own performance and gives us a look at what it's like to take the world's biggest stage. That's ahead.

[06:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right, 12 hours in counting to Super Bowl 55. Victor, Are you going to be doing anything for it? Are you just at home, you know, having a drink and putting your feet up?

BLACKWELL: That's called Sunday. You all can play a football game or not play a football game. I'm putting my feet up. I'm having a drink.

PAUL: I know.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is with us for this morning's bleacher report. Andy, what's going on?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I don't know about you guys, but I am so excited for this Super Bowl. You know, you get pumped up for every Super Bowl, but this one it just feels special. Tom Brady versus Patrick Mahomes. I mean, this is like if Michael Jordan was taking on LeBron in the NBA Finals. I'm pumped for this game.

And this Super Bowl is certainly going to be unlike any we've seen before. The Chiefs just get to town yesterday afternoon. You know, normally they would have been in Tampa all week long. There's going to be about 30,000 cutout cardboard fans in the stands today to go along with 25,000 people.

Now, in that crowd will be 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers. They all got an all-expenses-paid trip courtesy of the NFL for all their hard work during the pandemic. And we caught up with Belinda Spahn, a critical care nurse in Tampa, and asked her what went through her mind when she found out she was going to the big game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELINDA SPAHN, ICU NURSE: The moment, you know, when you think, OK, this is awesome -- and it is. It's like a dream come true to go to a Super Bowl. And yet it never would have happened if this monster hadn't descended upon us. And I would -- I'd sit in my living room cheering the Bucs on if we could turn back time and not have this pandemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Hopefully, Belinda and the other heroes have a great time at the game today. And they should get to watch Tom Brady go for title number seven. No doubt, Brady is the greatest of all time, but standing in his way of another title is now the greatest right now. Patrick Mahomes, he'd be the youngest ever to win two Super Bowls. Both of these quarterbacks, well, they're big fans of one another.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: I really admire Patrick for the kind of player he is. He has great command of his team. I know his teammates love playing with him. He's got great charisma. And I think when I see Patrick, I see someone who, again, was -- you know, none of these moments are too big for him. PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: As I continued in my career, I trying to do whatever I can to watch the tape on him because he's doing it the right way. And you can tell by how many Super Bowl championships he has and the rings are on his fingers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: There will be no Super Bowl victory parade down Disney World's Main Street USA this year because of COVID-19 most of Disney's parks are currently open with restrictions in place. The resort still plans to air it's iconic I'm going to Disney World commercial featuring the games in MVP. That's a tradition dating back more than three decades.

And you know, Victor, you said your Sunday tradition is just put your feet up and having a drink. Super Bowl Sunday is a day where you need a plan because there's so much great food every Super Bowl Sunday. Jalapeno poppers, that's what we do in the Scholes household. I don't think I'm going to eat anything until about two hours before kickoff, and then just go at it.

[06:50:28]

BLACKWELL: Then it's just a mad dash after that.

SCHOLES: And that is just --

PAUL: I'm laughing at Victor because Victor does not need a plan.

BLACKWELL: No, I don't.

PAUL: Victor, he knows exactly what he's doing.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I peruse and graze and get through some things. Yes.

PAUL: Andy, have a good time with it tonight.

SCHOLES: All right, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Andy.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Pop superstar The Weeknd has announced he will be performing solo during today's Super Bowl halftime show.

PAUL: Yes, the show is set for one big moment from him just as it was for the many musicians who've played at Super Bowls in the past. CNN's Chloe Melas spoke with Lenny Kravitz about his 2015 performance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Good morning. Lenny Kravitz's Super Bowl halftime performance with Katy Perry and 2015 will go down as one of the greatest of all time. And he tells me there's something special about taking that stage. LENNY KRAVITZ, SINGER: The excitement of playing at the Super Bowl is that it's live, it's televised all over the world, and you know, it's extremely timed. You know, everything has to be ready at the exact second. And you know, when I did it, you know, there were lots of sets moving around, and people, and you know, it's quite a large production. So, it's all about precision.

MELAS: Although he won't be performing this year, Lenny will be in an ad for Stella Artois. And he says its message resonates now more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KRAVITZ: We're all born with 2.5 billion heartbeats. That makes me a billionaire. So, let's not waste the fortune within us. Invest it. Invest in each other and the moments we share because you're rich in life when you're a heartbeat billionaire. Invest your heartbeats in The Life Artois.

MELAS: Lenny is one of the many famous faces that you all are going to see in commercials during the game. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Chloe, thank you. So, it is dangerously cold this morning. I don't know if you've even tried to step outside, but there are places in this country with temperatures that feel like 40 below.

BLACKWELL: And for the second time in less than a week, people in the northeast, another big snowstorm is headed your way. We've got that forecast. And later this morning, be sure to watch an all-new "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" with Abby Phillip. It starts at 8:00 Eastern.

[06:55:00]

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BLACKWELL: There are winter storm alerts right now from North Georgia, extending all the way through Maine.

PAUL: Yes, parts of the Northeast, if you're there, you could get hit with another half a foot of snow. And I know that you're probably still digging out from the last nor'easter. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar has your forecast today. Good morning, Allison. How serious is this one?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Yes, good morning. I think the key thing is that, like you said, so many people still haven't even gotten rid of the snow from six days ago. And now, we've got another system coming back in. So, let's take a look.

Here's what we've got the rain and snow right now. And it is just that. It's a rain-snow mix. So, right now D.C. kind of getting a little bit of both just now starting to see some of that changeover across portions of Philadelphia. But even farther south, areas of Northern Georgia, North Carolina, and even Tennessee also getting some snow into the mix. That's why you have these winter weather alerts stretching all the way

from North Georgia all the way up to Maine. But this is a pretty fast- moving system, so it's going to slide through here. Really, by the time we get to say about 9:00 10:00 tonight, this thing is well offshore at that point. So, that's going to limit how much accumulation we can actually get.

But another factor too is how much is rain, how much is snow and the models are having a hard time with that. So, you have some discrepancies here. What they do agree on is widespread at least two to four inches, but some spots will get six, seven, even eight inches of snow. Behind that, you've got a lot of cold air, a lot of cold air, painful cold air.

And I emphasize that because take a look at the wind chill right now. In Duluth, Minnesota, minus 48. Literally, any exposed skin you have will feel painful when you step outside. It will be difficult to breathe in wind chills like that. Chicago not much better, minus 21. Minneapolis feels like minus 31 at the moment.

Now, the southern side of that system we talked about, this is where we have severe thunderstorms. And yes, that includes Tampa where the Super Bowl is taking place. You've got some scattered showers and thunderstorms, lots of lightning around the Tampa and even the Orlando vicinity right now.

But the good news, the very, very good news in all of this, Victor and Christie, is it should move out just in time for the game this evening.

BLACKWELL: Very good indeed. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. And stay with us for the next hour of NEW DAY. It starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're less than 72 hours from the second impeachment trial of former President Trump

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a trial about the conduct of the president of the United States which was led, among other things, not to just death and destruction, it led to people coming to the capitol trying to kill his vice president.