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Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Is Interviewed About Bipartisan Senate Effort To Censure Trump; 16 States Have Administered Less Than 50 Percent Of Their Total Vaccine Doses; Pelosi On Security Concerns: "The Enemy Is Within The House Of Representatives". Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 28, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:06]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: A fresh reminder of the coronavirus economic crunch this morning, more than 800,000 Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week. Now the White House says that is more proof there needs to be a big relief package and soon the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says today the bad economic numbers tell him to get the process rolling even though so far, Republicans are united in calling the Biden plan too expensive.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The Senate as early as next week will begin the process of considering a very strong COVID relief bill. We have a responsibility to help the American people fast, particularly given these new economic numbers. The Senate will begin that work next week.

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KING: Joining me now the Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming.

Senator, thank you for your time today, I'm grateful. I know it's a busy time up on the Hill. Answer the argument that Democrats are making that Joe Biden won the election by 7 million votes, 306 electoral votes, he ran on this very premise. If I'm elected, I will have a bigger economic stimulus package also more money for vaccines right out of the box. Why wouldn't Senate Republicans say, OK, you did win, we'll give you the votes to bring it to the floor, even though we all may vote against it in the end. What's wrong with that?

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, he ran on a campaign for a year of uniting the country bringing us all together. And I thought he gave a great inaugural speech. But I'd like to see one thing he's actually done to try to unite the country. If you take a look at "The New York Times" lead editorial today, it was at ease up on the executive orders. "The Washington Post" said specifically with regard to this relief package, they said the best path forward is a bipartisan path.

So yes, he won the presidency. But I will tell you, we have a 50-50 Senate, we have a house that is very narrowly divided at this point. You know, that should really be a mandate for moving to the middle. But that's not what we have going on now with this large proposal with the executive orders which have targeted American energy, the jobs for my state, getting rid of the Keystone XL pipeline, the getting rid of oil and gas and coal on public lands. And now the call for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

John, the small business owners I've been talking to in Wyoming are saying, if that happens, I'm out of business. We can't afford this. That's another 1.3 million jobs that will be lost. So we do have people that want to work together in a bipartisan way to do targeted relief. But that's not what we're seeing coming from the Democrats in this proposal, which is to send checks to people making up to $300,000 a year.

KING: Well, help me if we can. I don't want to spend too much time on this. It's pretty clear to me that there's not going to be a lot of Republican support. But the new President says he wants 1.9 trillion. What would it take? What would it take for you to say, we'll give you the votes to bring it to the floor even though some of us might vote against it in the end, 1.5, can you go for that or is that too big?

BARRASSO: Well, it's not just the price. The issue is the policy and what's included in it. And a $15 an hour minimum wage shouldn't be included in this piece. I think if you take a look at that with "The Washington Post" said in their editorial today about things that ought to be left out, so that the same amount of money, we wanted to make sure people can get back to school, that the virus can be sent out, that people can actually get the shot, get the vaccine. Those are critical issues that we need to address, I agree with that but not a lot of the extraneous things that are going to hurt the economy.

KING: One of the things that's going to happen here is they're going to -- Senator Schumer says the Democrats will start the process next week, then we will have in two weeks, a little less than that now, the Trump impeachment trial, which will pretty much shut the Senate down until it is over. We don't know whether that'll be a week, whether it be two weeks or more. We'll see as that plays out. But then one of the questions is if and we saw from the test vote the other day, most unlikely President Trump, former President Trump would be convicted in the Senate. So Susan Collins, one of your Republican colleagues and Tim Kaine, a Democrat, are working on alternative proposal. Listen to Senator Kaine here.

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SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): If we want accountability, how do we want this to end? Do we want it to end with Trump acquitted again, or do we want to have it end with Senate input -- finds that in censure, President Trump finds that it was an insurrection and possibly bars him from holding office.

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KING: Now Senator Schumer says they're having a trial. But if there was any way, any way to stop a trial, would Republicans join in a big vote to censure the former President?

BARRASSO: No, 45 Republicans voted that it is unconstitutional to try a president, a former president, a citizen for impeachment at this point. There's not going to be a conviction. You can read the writing on the wall on that. But that's what we --

[12:34:59]

KING: And so forgive me for interrupting, forgive me for interrupting. So then, so you believe I'm not, OK, that's the position is it's not constitutional. So this former President, there should be no accountability. You don't think Republicans should go on the record to condemn what he did and said at that rally that led to the attack on your building, the Capitol building?

BARRASSO: No, there's plenty of accountability. There's this President is the only President in the history of the nation to be impeached twice. Now that's going to be in the history books forever. In terms of what Senator Kaine is proposing, Chuck Schumer, Senator Kaine said, let's do this, instead of a trial. Senator Schumer, the Majority Leader has said we're going to trial. That's what's going to happen in the United States Senate.

They're saying that is even higher priority than focusing on getting people back to work, getting kids back to school, getting relief out there. They're saying it's a higher priority than allowing President Biden to put his Cabinet in place. This is the Democrat priority. This is a partisan crusade. It is revenge. It's vindictive. And my prediction is that President Trump will not be found guilty when the final vote is taken.

KING: I think a lot of people in the country would like to see some accountability. I'm not going to get into the big argument about it. But I do want to know before we lose our time, ask you about another question, a very serious question. You have a number of House Democrats today and Republicans voicing concerns about their security. There's been a lot of talk that especially Republicans like yourself, who did not support the President's lies about the elections, who were willing to have the Electoral College process move forward. What are you being told about the continuing threat? There were no incidents at the Biden inaugural, we're all grateful for that. But there was a very high security presence. What are you being told about continued threats and is it personal? Are you receiving threats or are any of your colleagues that you know of?

BARRASSO: Yes. I think members have been receiving threats. We now have 5,000 National Guard members still stationed around the Capitol Building. You've been up here, John. You can see that the razor wire is still up, the fences are still up. And I think going into an impeachment trial, which is what Chuck Schumer said he is going to do and is the priority of the Democrats today, that's going to pour more gasoline on the fire. I think it's a mistake.

KING: They argue they're doing their constitutional duty, but that is the conversation we're going to have in the town clearly for at least several more weeks. Senator Barrasso, grateful for your time today Sir.

BARRASSO: Thank you, John.

KING: Thank you.

Up next for us, the new Biden team nudges states to be more aggressive and offering COVID vaccines.

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[12:42:01]

KING: Some troubling coronavirus news today, South Carolina says it has detected the first cases here in the United States that mutated coronavirus strain that was first identified in South Africa. This variant is more contagious. That bad news or troubling news comes at a time there is some encouraging news, somewhat encouraging anyway, when you take a look at the numbers. Let's walk through some of the numbers.

First, you look at the state case map. Here, you're looking at a lot of green, that's good. Now we're coming down from a high level, but you have 37 states now reporting fewer new infections right now compared to a week ago, so trending in the right direction, trending from a bad spot but trending in the right direction. No states reporting more new infections now compared to last week right now. That's important.

However, we do know that the deaths are lagging indicator. Cases are down a bit, hospitalizations down a bit. We still have in 20 states, more deaths reported this week compared to last week. So you have some encouraging numbers and other still troubling numbers when you look at this map here. Let's walk through how this plays out.

The case timeline is improving, again, improving from a horrific place up here. But you see Wednesday 152,478 cases and you see the seven day moving average, that's the red line trending down. That is encouraging, still at a high place, still around 150,000. You want to get much lower than that. But if you see up around 300, that's heading in the right direction, hospitalizations also heading down. And this is encouraging. The peak back on January 6th, the 132,000 plus, down 107,000 yesterday and you see the trend line is starting to come down again, that is an encouraging trend from a high place but going in the right direction.

The lagging indicator is deaths when cases come down, hospitalizations come down sometimes it takes a couple weeks. The death counts still at a very troubling points here over 23,000 U.S. deaths confirmed just this week, in the past week as we go. And you see the blue line still trending up a little bit there. Let's hope that this one comes down. One of the ways to get it down is to get the vaccination rollout at a quicker pace.

You're looking here at 16 states that have administered fewer than 50 percent of the doses they have on hand, meaning doses are delivered. And you see 47 million distributed so far nationally, 24.6 million actually shots in arms. You see these 16 states that have administered less than 50 percent of the doses they have on hand. One of the big priorities for team Biden, the new team, urging states speed it up.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I don't want to imply that the people are sitting -- the states are sitting on doses for weeks and weeks. There is some period of time, a grace period, between -- in that 21 days or that 28 days where people are coming in expecting to get that second shot. And we believe that we should be following the FDA authorization for both of these vaccines. And we need to make sure that that vaccine is available when those people come in. And so we are ensuring that that vaccine is available for the second shots of both Pfizer and Moderna.

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KING: Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes who's been covering this issue for us. Kristen, the new CDC director there, Dr. Walensky, essentially trying to tell states trust us, trust us, put those shots that you have on the shelves, put them in people's arms so we will get you, we will get you in time that second dose, some of the states don't trust that.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that's absolutely right. And they have reason not to trust that. They have spent the last several months since the vaccine rollout started, not knowing when the next dose shipment was coming and how many doses there would be. So this has really been the biggest question that we've had since the beginning of the rollout, why is there such a discrepancy between the doses administered and the doses distributed?

Now, I want to pull up that most recent number here, because you can see just how wide that gap is, 47 million, as you said, distributed, meaning they've left the federal government. They're in the state's hands, but only about half of them have actually been administered. And some officials have given us a litany of reasons. They talked about how they didn't have enough people to administer those shots.

But now we're learning that they were actually holding on at least some states were holding on to these doses, second doses, to make sure that people actually got them. Now, White House official saying, we don't want any states to hold on to any doses. But the more and more officials I speak to says, we are very happy with what the Biden team has laid out, that increase in doses that we are expecting to see next week.

But we have been promised things before. And we don't want a situation in which our residents of our state can't get that second vaccine. And if that happens, we think that they -- it's not going to be effective. So they're trying to do what's best for the people who live in their state. And we're going to be keeping a close eye on this to see if the Biden team does deliver on those increase of doses next week. KING: Interesting to watch. Kristen Holmes, appreciate you're keeping track of this, a critically important debate not only here in Washington, but as you know in 50 states all the people, millions waiting to get their vaccine. Appreciate that reporting.

And up next for us, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressing new security concerns from lawmakers not just about Washington, but also about when they're at home.

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KING: Speaker Nancy Pelosi is meeting today with General Russel Honore, who is leading a review now of Capitol security following the deadly insurrection earlier this month. The Capitol itself is still under heavy guard but there are new concerns being raised about potential threats to members of Congress when they are back home. More than two dozen House members writing a letter to Pelosi and the Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, asking for help. Earlier today, the House Speaker responded.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: We will probably need a supplemental for more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives, a threat that members are concerned about in addition to what is happening outside.

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KING: CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz joins us now. And Shimon, you hear the Speaker's concerns there. And we do know that officials believe Homeland Security officials even though the Biden inauguration went off without any major security issues, they believe the threat persists.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: And it's going to persist, John, for some time. This is not going away anytime soon. And that's what has law enforcement officials so concerned, the chatter, right? We keep hearing about the chatter being off the charts. There is a continued effort throughout sort of the social media world to try and energize some of the people who believe a lot of these false hoods.

And the concern is as this continues, and doesn't really end, that many of the lawmakers' when they go back to their homes, back to their home states outside of the security bubble that they're really offered here in Washington, D.C. that they face unprecedented threats.

You know, for most of us, when we see our local lawmakers, they're able to mingle with crowds. They're able to hold events, be with the constituents. That is likely going to change. And it's going to fall on local law enforcement, whether it's in New York City, like the NYPD or in L.A. in Los Angeles Police Department, they're going to have to start worrying about lawmakers as they return home when they start having events, when they start going out and being with constituents because of this persistent threat.

And it doesn't appear, John, that it's going away anytime soon. And that's what has the FBI certainly concerned. They're monitoring a lot of these threats. And anytime something comes up, they informed the lawmakers because they need to start making some changes the lawmakers do with how to protect themselves and protect their families as well, John.

KING: Shimon Prokupecz, grateful that you're on top of this as we watch it play out in the days weeks and perhaps even months ahead. Appreciate the reporting there.

And still ahead for us, President Biden push to get more children back in the classroom facing resistance from teachers unions.

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[12:56:02]

KING: This important news just into CNN. Confirmation that a big Trump administration foreign policy item now under review, the new Secretary of State Tony Blinken told the Afghan President today, the administration is looking over the U.S. peace deal with the Taliban. The Biden administration now wants to assess if the Taliban are living up to their commitments to reduce violence. It is unclear how long this review will take or if the United States could ultimately decide to pull out of that agreement with the Taliban.

Returning home now, another big domestic issue, Chicago a major early test case for a key Biden administration initiative getting more children back in the classroom ASAP. The new administration says it is now clear schools can be safely opened and it's promising additional help with coronavirus testing and other safety concerns. But there is resistance, strong resistance from a traditional Democratic Party ally, teachers unions. Some Chicago teachers, for example, say they are willing to strike if told they must return to the classroom.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is live in Chicago tracking that story for us. And it's an interesting early test of the Biden ministration, Omar, running up against what is traditionally a Democratic Party ally.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is, John. I mean teachers find themselves in a position where they're preparing to strike if the school district retaliates against them continuing to teach remotely. And this isn't a uniquely Chicago situation. We're seeing this same dynamic play out in different places across the country. And for the Biden administration that means politically walking a tightrope of sorts where on one hand, they have said like teachers unions have said, they support getting teachers vaccinated and getting these teachers back into the classroom safely so that schools can reopen. And it's part of what Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has said as well.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: This is not an easy issue. And you've got to understand the concerns of teachers, because they obviously have a concern and understandable concern. Putting all that together, we need to try and get the children back to school. And that's the goal of President Biden that in the next 100 days to get the K to eighths back in school.

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JIMENEZ: Now President Biden is also says he supports the science of COVID-19, as Dr. Anthony Fauci has also said something along the lines of close the bars and keep the schools open. And so obviously, that puts a lot of these teachers in a precarious position when you consider the studies that have been done out of the CDC included showing that the risk for transmission in schools is relatively low when proper precautions are taken, at least lower than the community transmission rate.

And those are some of the issues playing out here in Chicago, as well as teachers union. And city schools are a stalemate of sorts. And the real pressure and the sense of urgency comes from the fact that over 60,000 kindergarten through eighth grade students are expected to return in person on Monday. It's just a smaller percentage of the total, but it's still more than 60,000.

And teachers want that mass vaccination. They want the testing. Schools saying that students are falling too far behind and the gaps we're seeing with remote learning are going to affect things in the long term. And you have what we have here, again, a similar standoff to what we're seeing in other parts of the country.

And by the way, I should mention that a little more than 60,000 K through eighths students, that's 10,000 less students than what was previously affected, suggesting that some are dropping off in the midst of this battle. John?

KING: Very important reporting on a giant, giant national issue. Omar Jimenez on the ground for us in Chicago, one of the test cases, appreciate that, keep in touch as we watch this play out in the coming days.

And before we go today, a little fun update to close the program, remember these viral photos of Senator Bernie Sanders and his mittens? Well, they've translated now into big bucks for charity. The Vermont Independent says sales of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and stickers with that now iconic image of him at the inauguration with his mittens have raised, get this, $1.8 million in just the last five days. That money goes to Meals on Wheels and other several other charities in the Senator's home state of Vermont, a good cause.

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Thanks for joining us in inside politics. Hope to see you back here this time tomorrow.