Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
Joe Biden: Ending All U.S. Support For Offensive Operations In Yemen, Including Relevant Arms Sales; U.N. Secretary-General Speaks With CNN; Guterres: We Need One Economy, One Internet, One Set Of Rules; Trump Refuses To Testify In Next Week's Senate Trial; How The NFL Managed The Coronavirus Pandemic; Tournament Moves Ahead Despite Positive COVID Test. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired February 05, 2021 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN, Abu Dhabi. This is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: America's global vision or at least a couple of bullet points. That is what we will be connecting you to this hour. America
is back, and those three words the key line of Joe Biden's foreign policy message to the world the American President laying out the vision for what
is ahead at the State Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America is back, and diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy. America and alliances are
greatest assets in leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies and key partners once again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Leading with diplomacy which are sure to be music to the ears of America's allies and career diplomats at the U.S. State Department, but
what exactly what these words mean is not certain. Today we've been giving you a deep dive into the complex foreign policy issues facing the Biden
Administration. One thing is clear that the president is going to be looking towards America's traditional alliances for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Reforming habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscle of democratic alliances that have atrophied over the past few years of
negligent, and I would argue abuse. American alliances are our greatest asset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: There is a lot of work ahead especially right here in Middle East, the region with many problems that many an American President has
tried to fail to resolve Mr. Biden immediately turning his attention to Yemen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: This war has to end. And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen,
including relevant arm sales.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Offensive operations relevant arm sales, words surely aimed at Saudi Arabia and on the arm sales front, you might add the country from
where I am broadcasting tonight, the UAE. The president did in fact did commit to helping Saudi Arabia protest its sovereignty after calling
Kingdom in the past a pariah state.
That was certainly his line on the campaign trail, but it is not just about what the president did say in this speech, it is also what he didn't say.
No mention last night of the Iran Nuclear Deal, that didn't come nor did the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
He did though offer a more nuanced path to relations with the China as an even more bullish approach to Russia starts playing out, and new
commitments on climate and health. The later coming with particular urgency of course in the race to vaccinate the world as new Coronavirus variants
spread.
Well, my next guest says President Biden's visit to the State Department which is where he made this speech last night is a powerful signal of his
support for the United States building up its capacity in diplomacy which we did not see under four years of Donald Trump.
Those are the words of the Former Ambassador Nicolas Burns who served as Joe Biden's Foreign Policy Adviser during the campaign Ambassador Burns
joining me now via Skype from Massachusetts. It's good to have you with us tonight.
Let's start with the conflict in Yemen, and this war has to end, Joe Biden said, and to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support
for offensive operations in the war in Yemen including the relevant arm sales.
He went on to say that the U.S. though would continue to provide defensive support to Saudi against missile and drone attacks from what he called
Iranian-backed forces. So that is what he laid out last night. Ambassador Burns, what is the Biden strategy here?
NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, Becky, I think that the strategy is to make sure that the United States is not contributing in
the case of Yemen to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today would be to think about the famine, if you think about the breakout of disease.
[11:05:00]
BURNS: And if you think about all the innocent citizens killed there has been a lot of pressure in the Democratic Party by leading Senators like
Senator Chris Murphy and the formulation to end American military assistance in this score of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia and I think
this is the right decision of the United States.
The Middle East has been in war for full two decades after 9/11 and of course the United States the author of one to wars in our invasion of Iraq
in 2003 and there is a great, I think, depth of sentiment in both of our political parties that we need to be leading with diplomacy, and we need to
pay attention to the humanitarian issues.
And in this case, I think this decision is going to have a lot of support in the United States and in our Congress. And as you know, there is a full
review by the Biden Administration about this issue of arm sales to both the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia.
ANDERSON: You make a good point, because if Joe Biden were looking for a quick win back home, the Yemen conflict has been decried across the board
in Congress hasn't it? There is a - there will be a bipartisan support for this position that Joe Biden has taken.
What he didn't talk about was the Iran Nuclear Deal. And there certainly is not a bipartisan sort of, you know, moment in time when it comes to the
Iran deal. My sense is, and experts I am sure agree at this point, but certainly we see a Biden Administration looking for a reengagement with
Iran more diplomacy on the Iran file. Which means what though going forward?
BURNS: Well, this was as I understand it, this speech yesterday, and this powerful speech yesterday at the State Department was not meant to be a
speech on letting - putting forth a comprehensive assessment of all of our major issues, and so some issues were not mentioned.
Afghanistan was not mentioned and China only briefly, but in the case of Iran I think the Biden team, and the president himself his National
Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Tony Blinken have been very clear they believe it is the American interest to try to go back
to the negotiations with Iran. Now who is on our side of the table?
Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China go back to their grouping. But to ask Iran to stand down on its current nuclear effort because Iran has
been enriching uranium, low enriched uranium. It does have the capacity to enrich uranium to a higher level and produce nuclear weapons, and this is
not in anybody's interest.
So, I think you will see them attempt to do that, but frankly to be onus in my judgment has to be on Iran. They have to go back to the restrictions
that they agreed to in 2015. And there are two other issues Becky, I think they're going to make this a very difficult negotiation.
One is the concern in the Middle East in Europe and the U.S. about Iran's ballistic missiles. And secondly the real concern globally about Iran
funding terrorist activities in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza you know punching a big hole in the Sunni world.
And here in the Biden speech yesterday I certainly heard support for those Sunni regimes that have to worry about Iranian aggression in the Middle
East. So this is a complicated picture. I don't think it is going to be easy to put these negotiations back into play, but it is worth it to try.
ANDERSON: I am really fascinated to hear from you, and thank you for that, that this wasn't meant to be the kind of the catch-all when it comes to
foreign policy vision, because if it were, that would have been worrying, because as you point out the Iran Nuclear Deal wasn't sort of, you know, it
was not mentioned last night.
Nor was the Israeli/Palestinian issue for example, there were lots of things that were not talked about. Syria, Iraq for example, so, you know,
despite the fact that the White House was touting this speech as a big deal, it is important perhaps that we point out that this wasn't the kind
of, you know, the sort of the A to Z of what the foreign file and its mission will look like going forward. Let's talk about China. Have a listen
to what the president did have to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We'll confront China's economic abuses, and counter its aggressive coercive action to push back on China's attack on human rights,
intellectual property and global governance, but we are ready to work with Beijing when it is in America's interests to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: He called out Beijing. He also said that he wanted to work with them when it makes sense. We sort of got a similar narrative on Russia; I
have to say from Joe Biden as well.
[11:10:00]
ANDERSON: Look, the U.S. and China do need to cooperate on many global issues not least that of climate. Where do you see this relationship with
Beijing going under Biden's leadership?
BURNS: You know, Becky, I think it is the most important and most challenging relationship that the United States has in the world today,
because China has a near peer competitor with us. And we are in a very competitive mode in the U.S./China relationship, things have really changed
quite dramatically over the last four or five years.
And interestingly enough, in my country, which is very divided politically, most Democrats and most Republicans agree that we have got to compete. We
don't want to give up our military primacy in the Indo-Pacific that we have really held since the end of the Second World War to China, a very
aggressive China.
We certainly want to protect the American companies from the kind of mistreatment by the Chinese government on subsidies, on dumping, on patent
law, on intellectual property, and there I think the really smart play by the United States would be could we combine forces with the European Union
and Japan?
Together where we are about 60 percent of to global GDP to go together to the Chinese to say you to play by the rules on trade, and if you don't,
there are going to be penalties to you. This is the kind of the leverage that I think the president is talking about in terms of alliances.
We want to work through our friend, Japan, South Korea and Australia and the NATO allies and Canada and the European allies in Canada and NATO, it
makes us so much stronger. And I think we are also competing with China really on the battle of ideas that Chinese are asserting through Xi Jinping
that the authoritarian state model should be the predominant model.
We live through democracies. We very much disagree with that, and so Biden, President Biden, he is a strong proponent of democracy. He is confident
about our alliances. What he said yesterday was a major change from the foreign policy of Donald Trump and a big vote of confidence in our
diplomats.
I'm a Former Member of the American Foreign Service, and a vote for the diplomacy really should be the first instrument of American foreign policy,
so as a consequential speech, it just did not touch all of the different issues.
ANDERSON: Yes, no, let's be quite clear that Biden has arrived at the White House at a time when China and its economy are on the ascendency as it
were. And this last sort of period of time of global instability and economic instability of what with COVID, this will be a much more nuanced
effort I'm sure by Washington going forward when it comes to this stronger and more emergent Beijing.
Very briefly, on Russia how tough will things be for Biden going forward? I mean, we - I've heard your words on Navalny for example suggesting that he
is the most serious competitor that we have seen in 20 years for the authoritarian rule of Vladimir Putin. Where does Joe Biden stand with
regard to the Kremlin at this point?
BURNS: I thought it was one of the most significant parts of the speech yesterday President Biden signaled very strongly that we're not going to
stand by and allow Russia to engineer a major hack, the biggest in cyber history against our companies and our government.
And you have seen Joe Biden speaking out on the human rights abuses of the Russian government particularly on the Navalny case. Donald Trump never did
that. He never defended the United States in his conversations, in his public pronouncements on Russia.
And President Biden said yesterday those days are over. We're going to disagree with Vladimir Putin where we have to disagree. And frankly, I
think that from the European perspective and NATO and from the American perspective, that is exactly where we should be.
ANDERSON: Nick Burns, it is always a pleasure and come back we will do more of this.
BURNS: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you, sir. And we will hear from President Biden, himself, this hour. He will talk about the U.S. economy and jobs as Congress
crucially works towards another huge COVID stimulus package for America. That is coming up in about 30 minutes from now. Well, ahead on show, global
moral failings as countries vaccinate their citizens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: And so, the only way for us all to be safe is to have a global vaccination campaign and not
themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: My interview with the United Nations Secretary-General is just ahead. And the people who pedaled Donald Trump's stolen election lie are
waking up to a new reality, and his lawyers now need their own lawyers' details on that coming up.
[11:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We have also reengaged with the World Health Organization that is where we can build better global preparedness to counter COVID-19 as well
as to protect and prevent future pandemics, because there will be more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: U.S. President Joe Biden laying out his foreign policy vision on several issues that we have been discussing over the past hour or so. The
war in Yemen, human rights violations in Russia, and indeed in Myanmar and of course, just how important is for nations to work together to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Well, last night, I caught up with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. I asked him about the treat and the hierocracy
of rich countries stockpiling vaccines while the virus tears through other parts of the world. We discussed that and other issues. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTERRES: Now it is clear that we have a virus that moves very quickly and that mutates easily. So if the rich countries of the world vaccinate their
own populations, but if the virus is left to spread like wildfire in the global or at least in large parts the global south, we will see the virus
multiplying.
We will see the virus mutating and eventually becoming as we are already witnessing more transmissible and eventually more deadly, and with the risk
of becoming more resistant to vaccines. So those who are vaccinated risk to face the return of a virus that is resistant to the vaccines that were
given.
And so the only way for us all to be safe is to have a global vaccination campaign north and south starting of course by the most vulnerable
population, the front line workers and others who are of course particularly threatened by the virus, but then reaching everybody
everywhere is the only way to protect. Even those that are in the richest part of the world can be vaccinated immediately or almost immediately.
ANDERSON: Mr. Guterres, you have joined the W.H.O. in suggesting that richer nations like the U.K. for example pause their vaccine programs. Once
their vulnerable populations have been vaccinated you say so that others can get a hold of some of these supplies. What's it going to take to get
countries to respond to these pleas?
GUTERRES: Well, it is also true that many countries, the U.K. also have supported the Covax initiative which is an initiative aiming at buying,
distributing and supporting the application of vaccines namely in the developing world.
But it is true that it would be better to vaccinate those who are in the front line and to vaccinate vulnerable ones, those who are in the higher
risk situations everywhere.
[11:20:00]
GUTERRES: First them to vaccinate first everybody in the north, and then everybody in the south or at least the most vulnerable in the south.
As I said, the virus can move, and the virus can mutate. So any program that is no really global and that does not treats in an equitable way
everybody, everywhere, is a problem that risks to fail and to have devastating impact not only in relation to global health but also in
relation to our global economy, because if we don't defeat the virus in the near future, we will be in huge difficulties to come out of the dramatic
economic and social impacts of the COVIDs.
ANDERSON: Let's talk Myanmar with just over five years of democracy, Myanmar back under military control. Tom Andrew is the U.N. Special Raptor
on the situation of human rights in Myanmar is calling for international sanctions. I spoke Monday to the Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Bill
Richardson who also said international sanctions need to come as soon as possible, and do you agree, sir?
GUTERRES: I think this is the moment to put all of the pressure in relation to Myanmar's army and to make sure that democracy is re-established, that
the election results are recognized. All people who were arrested are released, and that the military understand that it is unacceptable to have
a coup data and that they must create quickly the conditions for a return to the democratic process in Myanmar.
So my appeal is for the unity of the Security Council, and the unity of the Security Council being able to put all the pressure that is required in
order to make sure that indeed we can go back to democratic situation as soon as possible in Myanmar.
ANDERSON: Would that be Aung San Suu Kyi in position, because you ripped this coup and questions about Aung San Suu Kyi's failure to challenge the
military?
GUTERRES: Well, indeed, if we can blame Aung San Suu Kyi for anything, it is not for having mistreated military or threatened the military or being a
risk to the military. On the contrary, she has protected the military and she has defended the military publicly and even in international courts.
So I mean it is absolutely inconceivable that after this, the military arrest her and that the military put into question the democratic process
in Myanmar. It is, as I said, absolutely unacceptable, and it must be reversed.
ANDERSON: You used your speech at Davos to warn of the danger that the world will face if China and America enter into a new cold war, and some
would say that that sounds alarmist. Is this a distant warning or do you believe we are closer to this great fracture than people realize?
GUTERRES: I think the risk is there. It is obvious in relation to what has happened in the recent past. My appeal for the countries to be able to
separate things, and there are areas where inevitably they are completely different perspectives where the two countries will oppose, human rights is
an example of that.
But there are areas where I believe the two countries have clearly common interests, and to a large extent, a compatible strategy, and the climate
change is the most clear example of this, and the cooperation between China and climate change was vital to have the Paris Agreement, and vital now if
we want to make really a global coalition for net zero in the middle of the century.
And then there are the areas in which you might have cooperation or you might have confrontation linked to trade to intellectual property, to the
questions of technology, Cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and those are the questions in which I believe that serious negotiation need to take
place between namely China and the United States and other western countries in order to be able to overcome their differences.
And to understand that indeed, we need one global economy, one internet, one set of rules based on international law, and that we can with that
creative conditions for the world to be able to come out of this COVID-19 pandemic economic impact, and for humanity to be able to defeat climate
change and to have a more equitable global economy in which less inequality prevails and in which more cooperation will be possible.
[11:25:00]
GUTERRES: It is a complex negotiation. It's a difficult negotiation. There is a lot of mistrust that needs to be overcome, but I think it is a
necessary negotiation that needs to be done.
ANDERSON: Is John Kerry the right man for this new job under the Biden Administration as Envoy on the Climate Change?
GUTERRES: John Kerry was absolutely central in the Paris Agreement negotiations. He played an extremely important role for moving ahead with
the climate agenda in all its dimensions. So, we have an enormous hope in relation to the impact of his leadership and not only in the west, but in
the country version of the west for a global strategy that will be able.
I strongly believe that we can do it, but we need to do it, and we will be able to guarantee that the temperatures are not rising by 1.5 degrees, and
that will be carbon neutral in 2050.
ANDERSON: Climate change needs global cooperation. Sir, in the absence of sustained multi-lateral action, you have started calling on big business to
step in. Just imagine this situation for us what would that look like?
GUTERRES: Well, as a matter of fact, I see an enormous dynamism in relation to the private sector at the present moment. We have an alliance, global
alliance for net zero of asset managers representing trillions of assets that are managed and committed to carbon neutrality.
We have another global alliance sustainable development involving some of the most important companies in the world. We have one third of the World
Banks that have subscribed to all our principles of the sustainable development goals.
And we can see more and more companies, banks; funds telling governments that they need to adopt the measures that facilitate the transition to a
green economy that governments need to stop subsidies to fossil fuels and now governments need to put the price on carbon.
Governments need to do the things that are needed to make sure that the present distortions of the market that they disappear, and that we are able
to reflect all of the costs that exist if we don't move into climate action in the way markets work in order to make sure that we really are able to
achieve net zero.
That we really are able to move - to have a transformational movement in relation to energy, in relation to industry, in relation to agriculture to
transportation, and to all of the other sectors. I see the private sector moving ahead sometimes, governments lagging behind, and I hope that you
will see the dynamism of private sectors will help us build this global coalition for net zero that is absolutely essential at the present moment.
ANDERSON: Secretary-General, is the world a safer place without Donald Trump?
GUTERRES: Well, I think that the world needs international cooperation. The world needs a multi-lateral approach with less global challenges, and I am
hopeful that the present U.S. Administration will move us in this direction.
ANDERSON: So yes?
GUTERRES: As I said, I hope that the present administration will help us move in this direction that is essential for the world to be safer and for
the world to be better.
ANDERSON: The Secretary-General of the United States, thank you for joining us.
GUTERRES: It was a pleasure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: What is the price for telling lies about the U.S. election? How about $2.7 billion and we will tell you who is being sued for that amount
in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Words have consequences. That is a lesson being learned today by many of the leading proponents of the baseless conspiracy theory that the
U.S. election was stolen from Donald Trump. Smartmatic the Voting Technology Company that was dragged into the stolen election narrative has
filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against some of the people who spread those lies.
Well, Smartmatic is suing Trump Attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani as well as Fox News and several Fox Anchors. The lawsuit starts with these
words. The earth is round, two plus two equals four, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election. The election was not stolen, rigged or fixed.
These are the facts.
Let's talk about it all with CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig. Fox News already suffering a ratings slump while staff has begun to threat about a post-
Trump future. Just walk us through this case. And how serious a threat is this going to pose to the network do, think?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes Becky, this is a legitimate threat to Fox News. So, this is a fairly standard defamation lawsuit in the United
States. Yes, there is big money involved, and yes, there are big names involved.
The plaintiff Smartmatic the company that is suing here really has to prove two things, one that the statements made by Fox and the other defendants
were false that should be fairly easy to do it with FBI and Homeland Security dozens of courts have already said there were no evidence of any
election fraud or tampering.
And number two that the defendants made those statements knowingly knowing they were false or recklessly, so it is not enough to just say, well, Maria
Bartiromo for example she believed it. No, if you're reckless, if you turn a blind eye to what's obvious that also can trigger liability under our
laws.
ANDERSON: Have a listen to how Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell both being sued as well of course had to say about all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: The Chairman of Smartmatic is very, very close to none other than Mr. Soros, so how do you think they are going
to cheat? They are going to cheat democratic and they're going to cheat left wing and they're going to cheat radical.
SIDNEY POWELL, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: We know that $400 million of money came into Smartmatic from China only a few weeks before the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Thoughts, Elie?
HONIG: So, that is a perfect example of statements that will be at issue in this trial, because it is very easy to prove. Yes/no, did that money that
Sidney Powell talked about actually come across? Was there actually funding from George Soros?
I'm fairly confident to hazard and educate a guess that Smartmatic knows no such financial transactions ever occurred so they will fairly easily be
able to prove those were false statements. So that is really sort of defamation law 101 and that's a reason this is such a concern for Fox News
and the other defendants.
ANDERSON: We'll see where this goes? And we'll see what sort of impact it might have on the network? I suggest that already in a ratings slump as we
speak. And let me just switch gears a little bit, because I want to get your sense on this impeachment trial which is coming up next week.
The Democrats handling Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate say they want the ex-president to testify. Trump's answer to that is no way; a
spokesman for the former president says he will not testify, because the impeachment is unconstitutional.
Now Impeachment Managers could still try a subpoena as I understand it but even Democratic Senators think that would be a bad idea, one calling a
terrible idea, and another saying it would just turn into a dog and pony show.
[11:35:00]
ANDERSON: This trial of course is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. What are your thoughts on all of that?
HONIG: Yes Becky, so the question here is, are the House Impeachment Managers willing to play hardball? If they want to serve a subpoena, they
first have to go to the Senate, and the Senate has to sign off on it. Now the Senate is 50/50 Democrat and Republican right now, so if there is and
one or more Democrat who does not want to issue a subpoena, it won't issue.
But if the House does seek subpoena and the Senate agrees to issue it that puts Donald Trump in a really tricky spot. His only options are to testify
which is extremely risky for him to go down into Senate and swear an oath and testify and be cross-examined.
To take the Fifth Amendment meaning, the right to remain silent which he is entitled to do but it really looks bad or third to challenge it in court,
but I think he would almost certainly lose in court. So, there is an interesting tactical calculation being made right now by the Democrats.
ANDERSON: How long is this trial likely to last?
HONIG: Well, if I were advising the House Impeachment Managers, I would they you have one week to get this case in. It needs to be crisp and
concise, and it needs to be visceral. You need to hit the American public in the gut, because this is only going to have a chance of conviction, if,
I know they are trying the case directly to the Senators they are technically the jurors, but they react to the American public.
And to whatever the polling is and the will of the American public, I think that will be reflected, so my advice to the House Impeachment Managers is
keep it short, keep it tight and keep it powerful.
ANDERSON: Can I just ask a really obvious question here is it just how strong at this point, given everything that we have learned, and everything
we know to have happened in the run-up to January 6th and then beyond with the regards conspiracy theories and the proliferation of information across
social media.
And we have heard Donald Trump's words, himself, you know, these were speeches made at gatherings, how strong will his defense be?
HONIG: His substantive defense I think is quite weak. He is making this constitutional argument that you cannot indict or you cannot try and
convict a former president. That simply cannot be the case I think logically and legally if you are looking at the president.
We have done it before in 1876 for a not a president a secretary of war. But also just logically, it would mean that the president could get away
with what the House Impeachment Mangers call a "January Exception" meaning anything the president does that last week or those last couple of weeks in
office there would really be no punishment for it.
And that simply cannot be our system. However, Senate Republicans seem like they are eager to embrace that theory, because it enables them to vote not
guilty and not have to endorse anything about what Donald Trump actually did on January 6th.
ANDERSON: Yes, this is fascinating. That trial of course starts next week. You will hear a lot of that on CNN and rightly so Elie, thank you.
Well, there are a lot of conspiracy theories circulating these days; some of them are bout the U.S. elections and some of them have to do with the
Coronavirus pandemic, and specifically about the COVID vaccine. CNN's Drew Griffin looks at how in this unique era that we are in, these messages of
times are dovetailing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Thank you all for being here. This is incredible.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On January 6th on a separate stage and yet very much part of the election
protest, this micro-rally had a different focus. These are the anti- vaxxers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The forced COVID vaccine such a scam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Innocent people are being lined up and walking to their potential death.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Their event part pandemic denial and part stop the steal, part prayer service for those who are participating in the Capitol
storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pray for the patriots inside that are there now inside, they're trying to get inside that Capitol. Lord, use these people
to eradicate this evil, and these swamp creatures and the cesspool of filth and waste.
GRIFFIN (voice over): A CNN review finds the people involved in this micro- rally are linking the anti-government stop the steal messaging to their anti-vaccine alternative health industry. Some are directly connected to
the disinformation network of Roger Stone.
They name drop "Stop the Steal" Organizer Ali Alexander and are pedaling this same type of conspiracy linked health products as Alex Jones
essentially turning conspiracy into business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a war between good and evil.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Anti-vaccine advocate Charlene Bollinger who planned the rally along with her husband Ty introduced speaker after speaker
stopping occasionally to gleefully report what was happening in the Capitol about a block away her husband left the rally to join in.
[11:40:00]
CHARLENE BOLLINGER, PLANNED ANTI-VACCINE RALLY ON JANUARY 6: I asked him are you at the Capitol? He said outside it, and the Capitol has been
stormed by patriots and we are here for this reason, and we are winning.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Also speaking is Mickey Willis whose discredited video Plandemic was viewed millions of times before being removed from
YouTube. Invited to speak is Dr. Simone Gold the anti-vaxxer who seeks donations to push her conspiracies.
She became infamous with a stunt news conference at the Supreme Court last summer, appearing with other doctors including one who has claimed alien
DNA is being put in medicine. This what Gold said at a Maga Rally January 5th?
DR. SIMONE GOLD, FOUNDER, AMERICA'S FRONTLINE DOCTORS: If you don't want to take an experiment or biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you
must not allow yourself to be coerced.
GRIFFIN (voice over): The next day Gold went inside the Capitol and was later arrested. Through her organization Gold tells CNN she did not
participate in any violence or vandalism and rebuked such activity.
Conspiracy is the special sauce that links them all together according to extremism expert Imran Ahmed who co-wrote a study about the anti-vax
movement and says making money is at the heart of it all.
IMRAN AHMED, CEO, CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE: These are snake oil salesmen that the oldest kind of lair and sellers of deceit of
misinformation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And let's just be very clear for the money for the profit?
AHMED: Well, snake oil salesmen need to turn a profit.
GRIFFIN (voice over): That is apparent in the politics and Business Empire of rally organizers Ty and Charlene Bollinger.
BOLLINGER: Hello again, it is Ty and Charlene.
GRIFFIN (voice over): They have their own political action committee and run two businesses centered on conspiracies about cancer and vaccines.
Their social media pages altogether have more than a million followers.
BOLLINGER: Have you all heard about the truth about cancer or the truth about vaccines?
GRIFFIN (voice over): The Bollingers live on 13 acres in this 7,600 square foot $1.4 million mansion in rural Tennessee once featured on a realtor
website. Their cancer and vaccine web sites are businesses, marketing their video series that cost up to $500, air purifiers that's more than $300,
body cleansers and other unproven health products.
Disclaimers warn nothing presented is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and anything purchased through their web sites means
that Bollingers will be paid in some way, while they are not camera shy.
BOLLINGER: This is Franken-science we've got to stop it.
GRIFFIN (voice over): The Bollingers did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: And all of the conspiracy theories can be dangerous but public health officials are especially concerned about the made-up conspiracies
about vaccines especially if it prevents people from getting potentially life-saving medicine at a time of a pandemic. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
ANDERSON: Well, a one-time proponent of far-right conspiracy theories the newly elected and recently rebuked Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor
Greene is lashing out. She has just wrapped up a defiant press conference blaming the media for how she is being portrayed.
One of Donald Trump's biggest supporters who questioned the 9/11 terror attacks and called for the assassination of prominent Democrats, she says
she does not respect what the U.S. government has become and she said now that she is being kicked off of her committees, she can talk a whole lot
more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Free speech matters. Free speech really matters and yesterday when the Democrats and 11 of my Republican colleagues
decided to strip me of my committee assignments, education and labor and the budget committee, you know what they did?
They actually stripped my district of their voice. They stripped my voters of having representation to work for them for the budget a successful
business owner that knows how to make a profit. Not a loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, on Thursday, only 11 Republicans broke ranks to stand with the Democrats and strip Greene of her committee assignments for extremist
comments that were made in the past. America's football's biggest weekend is coming up, as two teams prepared to face-off in the Super Bowl, we'll
take a look at how they got here during what is this pandemic? That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: As we have said time and time again, the pandemic has taken a toll on all aspects of life. I don't need to tell you that I'm sure. And
sports are not immune to that. This Sunday is America's biggest footballing event as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off against the Kansas City Chiefs
in the Super Bowl.
Whatever happens at Sunday's game, the NFL has a reason to celebrate. The league actually completed a full season in the middle of the pandemic in a
sport that relies on contact. CNN's Sanjay Gupta spoke with the Chief Medical Officer of the NFL and found out that the same basic rules we have
known since the beginning of the pandemic were those that kept this season going.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is a sport defined by close contact an environment ripe for transmission. There
are other people who say it is absolutely ludicrous to even try this. What do you say to them?
DR. ALLEN SILLS, NFL CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I feel like it is the right thing to do to try to learn to live with this virus. I really do.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Allen Sills is the Chief Medical Officer for the NFL. He was brought in as a neurosurgeon who thought he would be
dealing with concussions, and then the pandemic changed everything. I initially met up with him at the beginning of the season.
DR. SILLS: We just have to recognize we're dealing with an unpredictable pandemic and so we'll have to adjust along the way.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): On September 10th, the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off against the Houston Texans in the first game of the season at the time
there were more than 6 million confirmed Coronavirus cases in the United States.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): Now, right before the Super Bowl, how do things go?
DR. SILLS: I think that what we've tried to do at every step is to make the best and the safest decisions we can and we've tried to evolve and learn
along the way.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): While cases around the country exploded and now at more than 26 million confirmed, the NFL was relatively untouched with a
positivity rate of 0.8 percent.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): So what worked for the NFL? And what can we all learn from it?
DR. SLLS: We had an outbreak in Tennessee, and when we went in and really dug into that and tried to understand how did transmission occur despite
our protocols that's when we begin to realize it wasn't just six feet and 15 minutes.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Put simply Dr. Sills said it wasn't playing or the practices that were the largest concerns but these three things eating,
greeting and meeting.
DR. SILLS: Meeting inside even if you're than six feet apart, if you are in a poorly ventilated room for a long period of time, if someone is positive
there can be transmissions inside those rooms. Eating together very high risk activity, you know, most people don't have a mask on when they're
eating.
And then the greeting part is just the social interactions outside of the facilities, you know, when you interact in the community, if someone is
positive and you go and get a haircut or you have massage at your house.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): How did the NFL know? They tested daily and they contact traced and traced the movements of more than 11,000 players and
staff even alerting them if they were too close to one another.
DR. SILLS: If we move closer together than six feet, you'll start to see it blinking red.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Now keep in mind, the CDC defines close contact like this, being within six feet of an infected person for a cumulative
total of 15 minutes or more overt a 24-hour period.
[11:50:00]
DR. GUPTA (voice over): But the league's data found transmission was occurring with less time and more distance. These are considerations for
anyone anywhere to assess their risk. Ventilation, are you indoors or outdoors?
Are you in a car with the windows up or are you in a large open stadium, the more air circulation, the better? Masks and what kind are being use and
do they fit correctly? And finally, time and distance the longer and closer you are around someone, the increased risk for transmission.
DR. SILLS: If you are failing in two or more of those categories that is what we consider a high-risk close contact. But I think the biggest thing
we learned universal masking works, it's the most effective strategy that we have.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): How hard would it be to replicate what you were able to do at the NFL?
DR. SILLS: It wasn't the fact that we tested every single day. It wasn't the fact that everybody wore a fancy proximity tracking device everywhere
they went. What prevented transmission was mask usage and avoiding in- person meetings, and staying in open-air environments and not eating together, and prompt symptom reporting, isolation of anybody that's
exposed.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): The same basic rules we have known since the beginning of this pandemic. With more evidence than ever that they actually
work.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): So, who are you routing for?
DR. SILLS: We love all of our children.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): What is the deal with Tom Brady I mean, just as a sports medicine guy I mean, the Super Bowl again?
DR. SILLS: I think his career has been amazing and outstanding and he is an inspiration to all of us, and the close he is in age to me, I have thoughts
may be I still got have a run at it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: This just in to CNN. Yesterday we told you about the peace talks ongoing over Libya. We have just learned that the various factions in
Geneva have agreed on the leaders for an interim government. The U.N. has been mediating these talks that have come after years of course of a civil
war under the new guidelines; new permanent government would be elected in December. We will have a lot more on this of course as it develops.
Well, the Australian Open is set to start on Monday, but not before a major Coronavirus scare threatened to derail the entire tournament. One single
positive Coronavirus test from one hotel staff member forced more than 500 players, officials and staff into isolation at least until they received a
negative test result.
Luckily all of the results were negative and warm-up matches have now resumed. CNN's Will Ripley got a closer look at how the open is expected to
playout. And why Melbourne might just be the best place for a Grand Slam with fans?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At this year's Australian Open, huge crowds, unimaginable in places like the U.S., nearly 400,000
fans will pack Melbourne's Tennis Center over the next two weeks.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC, MEN'S WORLD NUMBER 1: I had goose bumps coming into the courts playing in front of the fans again.
RIPLEY (voice over): Australia won't even begin vaccinations until later this month. How are they packing stadiums in the middle of a pandemic?
[11:55:00]
RIPLEY (voice over): Every player arriving in Melbourne had to quarantine for two weeks in a state-monitored hotel. If anyone on their plane tested
positive, the rules got even tougher. Possible exposure meant 14-days stuck in a room, no fresh air, no outdoor practice for dozens of players.
CRAIG TILEY, CEO, TENNIS AUSTRALIA: We're in a pandemic. This is not going away tomorrow. In fact, I think we're going to doing this again next year
and potentially the year after and we're going to have to manage through it, and we have got to find ways to do it but we have to get going, and
this is the way to sure that we can do it.
RIPLEY (voice over): The uncertainty of the pandemic is forcing organizers to be nimble. A new case connected to a hotel hosting athlete's suspended
play on Thursday. More than 500 people had to get tested. Melbourne is a city that knows how to handle an outbreak.
As huge American crowds celebrated the 4th of July, Melbourne endured one of the world's toughest and longest lockdowns, 111 days. Masks were
mandatory for everyone. In phase one, a strict curfew at night, by day only essential travel within three miles of home. Breaking the rules meant hefty
fines, and the harsh lockdown worked. Cases dropped for more than 700 per day to zero.
PROFESSOR SHARON LEWIN, DIRECTOR, DOHERTY INSTITUTE FOR INFECTION AND IMMUNITY: I think we got to eradication by default. We always talked about
the aggressive suppression, but we actually got to eradication, and I can tell you living with eradication is pretty nice.
RIPLEY (voice over): Pretty nice may be an understatement for many around the world wondering when they can hug their families again, let alone pack
a stadium. Australian experts say other nations can do it, too, with the right mix of restrictions and now vaccines a possible test run for the
postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July.
TILEY: You can take the small sample we have here which will probably be about 12, 15 percent of what it is over there, and you can just replicate
it, and I believe if you do, it will be a success.
RIPLEY (voice over): Success in Melbourne meant short term pain for long- term gain and giving hope to others around the world waiting for life to get back to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Stay safe and do please stay well. Good night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, at any minute now, Joe Biden will give a major economic speech, laying out how he is going to steer the American economy back on.
END
