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Impeachment Managers Remain Tight-Lipped About Case; WH Briefing as Biden Unveils More Executive Actions. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 16, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, this package is too big in terms of coronavirus relief, as she specifically called out the $1,400 checks saying, you know, people who make $300,000 shouldn't be getting those checks, they need to be more targeted.

So even with people like Susan Collins, who Biden has that close relationship with, she's not there yet. And she wants a smaller package. So again, it all comes back to that. But we were talking about before, is he going to go for a less ambitious package, the President? Or is he going to, you know, try to go for the bipartisanship that he wants.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Right. And as they try to figure that out, the impeachment trial will begin as they continue the negotiations. I want you to listen here. One of the questions is, how long will the trial be? How much evidence will the House managers try to bring into the Senate trial? Meaning how many witnesses will they call? How much video will they use? It's very hard right now to get an answer to that question, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Do you expect to present video footage during the trial or call witnesses? And if so, do you know who they would be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I hope you won't hear any of the impeachment managers talking about our trial strategy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will not be previewing the trial.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): I know it's frustrating for you not to hear what our strategy is. But I don't think, you know, it would be appropriate at this time to reveal that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So it's a bit of a mystery there. And on the one hand, Jeff Zeleny, you get it, right, the House Democrats don't want to reveal their cards so the President, the former President is hiring his lawyers, you want them -- eventually they'll figure it out, but you want to build your case. But there's also a question for Democrats to resolve amongst themselves. Chuck Schumer has said he wants us to go as quickly as possible. Is he on the same page as the House managers? Joe Biden making clear yesterday, the Senate has to do this. However, as you noted at the beginning of the conversation, he wants this done with as quickly as possible so they can get about his business.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, the impeachment managers have bosses, and they are speaker Nancy Pelosi, they are Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and President Joe Biden. So yes, they are going to present a fulsome case. But there's no question here. They do not have unlimited time to deal with this.

I mean, the President is, you know, his success depends on how quickly this goes. So yes, you know, there's likely to be witnesses. But these impeachment managers are not operating in a vacuum here. They are operating under this environment. And there is a limited tolerance, I think, for how long this will go. So we'll find out in the coming weeks. There is an interest on the Hill to limit this potentially to a week. It couldn't be any shorter than that, but not longer than a couple weeks. We'll see if they can do that.

KING: We'll see if it plays out. And before I say thanks, goodbye to everybody, I just want to show our viewers this then and now from the first impeachment trial to the current impeachment trial, some front pages around the country on the same day, if you will, when the articles was sent over. This is "The Dallas Morning News" January 16th, 2020 and today, that's "The Charlotte Observer" I'm sorry, up first.

There you see the case for impeachment trial up much higher back then. Now we can look at "The Dallas Morning News". I hope you have that one next for me, bring that one up. There we go, again, a much bigger deal for the first Trump impeachment trial, then for the second Trump impeachment trial. And the "Minneapolis StarTribune" are pretty much the same although you do see the picture of the managers. They're coming -- marching across in today's picture.

One of the questions I think is out in the country, out in the country for senators, is this getting as much play because of COVID because of the new administration because of the schools debate? It's interesting. Toluse, Rachael, Jeff, thanks for the reporting and the insights.

[12:33:12]

Up next for us, COVID variant concerns why one expert says activities once deemed to be safe, it might not be any more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're standing by for a White House briefing, the Press Secretary Jen Psaki and the Domestic Policy Adviser Susan Rice due in the briefing room any moment now to discuss a number of new executive actions from the new President Joe Biden dealing with racial equity and racial equality issues, new prison reforms, new police reforms, efforts to stem discrimination in housing, and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. We'll take you live there as soon as it happens.

In the meantime, I want to bring in our medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician at George Washington University and the former Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Wen, forgive me, I may have to interrupt you in the middle of this conversation. But I want to talk to you about this important moment because we can show you, we can show you right now the latest case numbers on the screen and show our viewers, it is at a horrific level. But the case numbers do seem to be trending down at a plateau.

We've had the longest stretch under 200,000 daily new infections since Thanksgiving, still a bad, you're still up way too high there. But somewhat more encouraging but Dr. Anthony Fauci, listen here, he says he's worried that could head back up again, if we don't get a better grasp of those new variants and how widespread they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER ON COVID-19 TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: The sobering news is what I think you were alluding to that as you get more and more replication, you can get more and more evolution of mutants, which means you've always got to be a step ahead of it. The best way you prevent the evolution of mutants is to suppress the amount of virus that's circulating in the population. And the best way to do that is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as you possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What else? The new President says he hopes to get up to 1.5 million vaccinations a day, if you can do that. But what else, more testing, what has to be done?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It has to be all of the above, John. So I do think that there is good news that we're finally, it looks like the number of infections, number of hospitalizations are finally trending down, although we're still plateauing at a very high level. We had five times --

KING: I'm sorry, Dr. Wen, my apologies. We need to go to the White House briefing.

[12:40:00] JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good afternoon.

As part of our administration's efforts to increase transparency and introduce all of you to the policy experts who are leading the president's initiatives, we're joined today by Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, who will be talking about the racial equity executive order that the president will be signing this afternoon. She's kindly offered to stick around and take some questions. I will, as usual, play the role of bad cop when it's time for her to go.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Susan.

SUSAN E. RICE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL: Good afternoon, everyone. It's good to be back. Jen, thanks. The president has committed the whole of our government to advancing racial justice and equity for all Americans. I'm leading this effort out of the Domestic Policy Council. I've assembled a first-rate team to drive this agenda forward. We'll hold the federal government accountable for advancing equity for families across America. I have the support of every White House office and every agency in this work because, as President Biden has made clear, advancing equity is everybody's job.

Tackling these challenges, though, is personal for me. I'm the descendent of immigrants from Jamaica and enslaved Americans. My grandparents and my parents are beneficiaries of the American dream, and so am I. My family story is a remarkable one of the march towards greater equality and opportunity.

But for too many American families, systemic racism and inequality in our economy, laws and institutions still put the American dream far out of reach. Today, the average black family has just one tenth the wealth of the average white family, while the gap between the white and black -- between white and black in home ownership is now larger than it was in 1960.

These long-standing inequities are compounded by the converging crises we face as a nation. Americans of color are being infected by and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates. One in 10 black Americans and one in 11 Latino workers are currently unemployed. By some estimates, 40 percent of black-owned businesses have been forced to close for good during the COVID crisis. Black and Latino families with children are twice as likely to be experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic as white families, and black and Latino Americans are 2.8 times more likely to die of COVID-19. And for native communities across the country, the overlapping economic and health crises have devastated tribal economies and health care systems. These are desperate times for so many Americans, and all Americans need urgent federal action to meet this moment.

Today, President Biden will deliver a national address on his plans to advance racial justice and equity, starting with an equitable and inclusive recovery. President Biden will renew the federal government's commitment to making the American dream real for families across the nation by taking ambitious steps to redress inequality in our economy and expand opportunity for communities that have been left behind, including communities of color. His economic plans make historic -- make historic investments in underserved communities and put equity at the heart of our recovery. His ambitious agenda builds on a legacy of Americans forging opportunity out of crisis.

These aren't feel-good policies. The evidence is clear: Investing in equity is good for economic growth, and it creates jobs for all Americans. Economists have estimated that the U.S. economy has lost a staggering $16 trillion over the last 20 years because of discrimination against families of color. If we closed racial gaps in income and opportunity, these same economists have estimated we could add $5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next five years and add over 6 million new jobs for all Americans. So building a more equitable economy is essential if Americans are going to compete and thrive in the 21st century.

We've hit the ground running to embed equity throughout the administration.

[12:45:00]

On day one, the president signed an executive order directing an unprecedented whole-of-government initiative to embed racial equity across federal policies, programs and institutions. That starts with a review of policies and institutions to redress systemic racism where it exists, and to advance equity where we aren't doing enough. Every agency will place equity at the core of their public engagement, their policy design and program delivery to ensure that government resources are reaching Americans of color, and all marginalized communities -- rural, urban, disabled, LGBTQ-plus, religious minorities and so many others.

The president has put equity at the center of his response to the COVID-19 and economic crises. His executive orders signed last week deliver rent relief, student debt reprieve and emergency food assistance to families across the country, helping all Americans, including black and brown families who we know are being hit hardest by this crisis. And he took steps to make our broken immigration system more humane and secure. He restored the integrity of the census so that our constitutionally-mandated accounting of every person in the United States is fair and inclusive.

And even before taking office, President Biden released his American Rescue Plan that will make historic investments in advancing equity. Independent economists estimate that his plan will cut child poverty in half -- cut child poverty in half for all Americans, and reduce overall poverty by 30 percent. Black American families this year will face a poverty rate of 20 percent if Congress does not act on the American Rescue Plan, but if enacted, the poverty rate would fall by over one third, and it'd fall by 40 percent for Latino families, and by one fifth for American -- for Asian-American and Pacific Islander families.

The American Rescue Plan also provides critical relief to Native American communities and tribes. These investments will lift over 8 million black, Latino and Asian-Americans out of poverty and provide relief across sectors where families of color are most disproportionately-impacted by this crisis, in food and financial security, health care access and education and childcare.

RICE: Today, President Biden is continuing his commitment to embedding equity at the center of his agenda by signing an additional package of executive actions. The president will sign a memorandum directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to mitigate racial bias in housing and affirmatively advance our nation's fair housing laws.

He will also sign an executive order directing the Department of Justice not to renew any contracts with private prisons. Private prisons profiteer off of federal prisoners and are proven to be -- or found to be by the Department of Justice inspector general to be less safe for correctional officers and for prisoners. President Biden is committed to reducing mass incarceration while making our communities safer. That starts with ending the federal government's reliance on private prisons.

The president will also sign an executive order reinvigorating the commitment of all federal agencies to engage in regular, robust and meaningful consultation with tribal governments.

And the president will sign a memorandum directing all federal agencies to take steps to combat xenophobia and acts of violence against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders who have been targeted by political leaders in our nation's response to COVID-19.

Again, these are a continuation of our initial steps to advance racial justice and equity through early executive action. Beyond this, the president is committed to working with Congress to advance equity in our economy, our criminal justice systems, our health care systems and in our schools.

As I've said many times in my personal capacity -- and I'll say again, I believe we all rise or fall together. Advancing equity is a critical part of healing and of restoring unity in our nation. The president will have more to say about all of this later this afternoon, and I'm happy to take a few of your questions.

PSAKI (?): Peter (ph)?

QUESTION: Ambassador Rice, thank you.

You speak about communities of color right now that are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic of course, they're also less inclined to have faith in the federal government response, the vaccination process. So what specifically -- and I'll follow up with others, but what specifically is being done right now for communities of color to convince them it's OK to get this vaccine?

[12:50:00]

RICE: Well, Peter (ph), I will leave much of this to my colleague Jeff Zients who's leading our COVID response, but I think two important points.

One, we have established within our COVID Task Force an effort on equity, and that includes obviously racial equity, that will focus on health disparities, but also on the reality that there are Americans who -- and particularly Americans of color -- who, for very valid historical reasons, are skeptical and reluctant.

And a large part of what our colleagues on the COVID Task Force are doing -- this is the second part -- is reaching out directly through targeted campaigns to get to those very communities where the skepticism is highest.

And that's vitally important because as we -- as communities of color are suffering disproportionately and may have less access to information about the vaccine and the ability to easily go online, in some instances, and get an appointment? We have to take those additional steps to ensure that they are aware of its availability, they can get appointments and that they understand that the vaccine is safe.

QUESTION: (inaudible) have (ph) a couple things. One's (inaudible) -- another one, there's a lot of day one promises right now...

RICE: Jen does news of the day.

QUESTION: OK, fine. Let me ask you...

PSAKI: We'll do a whole thing after (ph) (inaudible).

QUESTION: On February 20th of last year, President Biden said, "My first day in office, I'm going to send a bill to the Congress repealing the liability protection for gun (ph) manufacturers, closing the background check loopholes and waiting period." So what happened to that day one promise?

RICE: Well, I think you've seen that we have rolled out an unprecedented number of early executive actions. And as you heard Jen say and many of my colleagues say, this is just the beginning. We have 1,454 more days left in President Biden's first term, and so give us a little something to do over the next few days.

PSAKI: (inaudible)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador. A housekeeping question, if I may, and then a follow-up.

Can you speak specifically to what this does as it relates to immigration and immigrants? Does this cover -- particularly the prisons and private prisons -- housing immigrants, undocumented immigrants, tens of thousands of whom are facing deportation in privately run prisons right now?

RICE: This order today applies to Department of Justice-run prisons. It is not, in this instance, applicable to those run by other agencies.

QUESTION: So not ICE, not anything like that, OK.

And then -- and then going back to January 6th and what we saw just a few weeks ago at the Capitol, when we saw people roaming that building carrying Confederate flags, wearing anti-Semitic shirts, we saw lawmakers in that group, we saw firefighters in that group, we saw military veterans in that group.

What are you doing to address this issue of white nationalism and how concerned are you about the threat of -- from some of these groups leading into this impeachment trial in two weeks?

RICE: Well, I think we have seen and it's been plain for all Americans on their television sets, just how serious a problem we face from nationalists and white supremacists who have demonstrated a willingness to resort to violence in some instances. And that is why the president has ordered the intelligence community to compile a comprehensive assessment of the nature of this threat and challenge and its origins and roots, and thus provide policymakers with inputs that will be very important to address this challenge.

The National Security Council has set up a capacity within the NSC to focus on domestic violent extremism and to ensure that we are within the White House and within the interagency, coordinating efforts to craft and implement policies that will address this. So we're taking it quite seriously.

QUESTION: And why doesn't this address the ICE private detention?

RICE: It addresses the Department of Justice prisons in the first instance, it's not -- it's silent on what may or may not transpire with ICE facilities. There was a Department of Justice inspector general report in 2016 that underscored that private prisons in the -- funded by DOJ were less safe, less secure and arguably less humane.

This was the Obama-Biden administration took steps to end renewing of contracts for private prisons; Trump administration reversed that and we are re-establishing it.

PSAKI: Go ahead.

And I know (ph) we met (ph) this morning, but tell us your name again.

QUESTION: Mario Parker, Bloomberg News.

[12:55:00]

Thank you, Ambassador Rice. Two questions. The first, what will the administration do to address the relationship between communities of color and police, particularly as part of the mass incarceration component?

And then second question, Republican legislatures have signaled that they're going to look to roll back some of the voting procedures from the last election. We know that that centered in some of those swing states in largely black and brown communities. What's the administration going to do about that as well?

RICE: Well, with respect to a prison's policing, the entire basket of -- of very important criminal justice reform issues. This is something that we are committed to addressing, and we will have more to say on criminal justice in the coming weeks, including on matters related to policing, so please stay tuned for that.

With respect to efforts to roll back the access to the ballot, this is something that I expect that the president will address in his remarks today. It's a -- a matter of -- of real concern, because we ought to be in the business of encouraging and enabling all Americans who are eligible to vote, to be able to vote. And that's why, you know, we will continue to work with Congress on its various efforts to advance democratic reforms. There's legislation on the Hill that would move us in that direction, including restoring and revitalizing the Voting Rights Act.

PSAKI: Jonathan, you'll have to be the last point. But Susan will come back, I'm sure.

RICE: You going to let -- I'll come back?

PSAKI: We'll welcome you back. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador. These measures here are executive actions which, of course, could be overturned and reversed by a future president. Can you talk about what steps could be taken to codify these to -- to make -- to make them permanent, whether it's private prisons or other measures so they could not be undone by a future president?

RICE: Yeah, well, Jonathan, as you know, to codify something and -- and make it lasting in law requires that Congress -- both houses of Congress pass it and the president sign it. And for this, as well as many other things, there will be areas where legislative actions are the -- the best and -- and most durable approach. There'll be some instances where in advance of legislation or efforts to achieve legislation, it's wise to take executive action. So I don't think we should assume that by doing something by executive action at -- where it may also be appropriate to sleek -- seek legislation, that we wouldn't do it. At -- we have a very full legislative agenda. The president's first priority is enacting the American Rescue Plan, as well as getting our nominees confirmed, and we'll be focused in the next few weeks on that.

PSAKI: Thank you, Ambassador Rice.

RICE: Thank you, Jen. Thank you, everybody.

PSAKI: OK. Just a couple more things at the top, and then I'd be happy to take your questions.

The president and his team have been working around the clock over the past six days to make meaningful progress on vaccinating as many people as possible. As we've talked about in this room before, increasing the vaccine supply and building increased cooperation between the federal government and state and local leaders on the ground is key to getting that done. The president will speak later today on those efforts and provide an update on his team's work to bolster the vaccine supply available so that we can, in turn, get more shots into Americans' arms as quickly as possible.

And I'll also add, as -- as many of you have reported, there are some call this afternoon with governors to brief them on these plans and give them an update on how we will continue to work -- work together even more efficiently.

A couple other things: Earlier today, the first female vice president swore in the first female secretary of the treasury. What's that (ph) for history? -- Dr. Janet Yellen. Today, of course, it's a pretty historic day. And this afternoon, the vice president will make her first visit to a federal agency, the National Institutes of Health, where she will -- she and the cycle -- second gentleman -- excuse me -- will receive their second dose of the Moderna vaccine. The vice president will thank Director Collins, Dr. Fauci and the staff of the NIH for their work to develop the vaccine and efforts to keep Americans safe.

She will also make the case that Congress needs to immediately pass the American Rescue Plan, which includes $20 billion to invest in local community vaccine distribution centers in the hardest-hit areas. Her remarks and the vaccination at NIH will be live streams on the White House YouTube channel, so you can all turn in -- tune in for all of that.

OK, Jonathan, kick us off.

QUESTION: Thank you, Jen. First, on the response to the pandemic, two matters there. First, could you -- could you give us -- provide us a little more details as to how much more of the vaccine is getting distributed, and how quickly to these states?

[13:00:00]