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Biden Admin To Ship Vaccines Directly To Pharmacies To Speed Rollout; Court Sends Putin For Alexey Navalny To Jail For Two And A Half Years; Trump Legal Team: Impeachment Is Moot Because Trump No Longer In Office. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 02, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: And we started that last week with 10 million. We've moved that up to 10.5 million for the next three weeks. So it's really important that states know what's coming. And as production increases, we hope to increase those minimums across time. But always give the three week visibility so states can plan accordingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. And last we'll go Anne Flaherty with ABC.

ANNE FLAHERTY, ABC NEWS: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Jeff, do you have any sense of how the weather has impacted on the East Coast has impacted the rollout of these doses? And also on the FEMA run sites that the President wants to set up, there are some that are already in place in supporting vaccination sites? Are we going to expect to see more along with the pharmacy rollout, some FEMA run sites?

ZIENTS: Good questions, Anne, thank you. First on the weather, I talked to General Perna earlier this morning. All vaccine doses have been available to the states on schedule. Unfortunately, as you know, given how hard the storm has hit some locations, some vaccination sites have had to close or limit their hours.

So in terms of vaccine distribution to the States, that's all worked as planned, despite the challenges of the weather. In terms of individual vaccination sites in certain parts of the country that have been hard hit by snow, some of those sites are closed and people are being rescheduled for later in the week.

On FEMA, the President -- we have had a very active first couple of weeks with more than $1.7 billion going from FEMA to the states to support vaccination. Some of these sites were already started. And we've helped with technical assistance and resources to bring them to a higher level. There are other sites that are being set up that are going to be run by the federal government with the help a FEMA potentially military personnel, doctors, and nurses, et cetera.

So we're making a lot of progress, we will meet and likely exceed the President's goal of having 100 community vaccination sites up and running by the end of his first month in office. And at the same time, we're also using -- utilizing mobile vaccination units to make sure that we're reaching hard to reach communities, again, with equity being first and foremost as a foundational principle of our vaccination program.

So I think that brings us to the end, I want to thank everybody and really appreciate the interest and we're doing everything we can to effectively vaccinate individuals across the country. We really do need Congress to act and pass the American rescue plan to help us expedite our efforts and make them meet more effective and more efficient. Thank you.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: We've been listening to Jeff Zients there at the Biden White House. He is the COVID-19 relief, response relief coordinator. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us, CNN's Jeff Zeleny as well.

Sanjay, I want to start with you this more proof positive that the Biden White House understands and the Biden team understands their most important job for them is to accelerate the vaccine rollout, not only distribution, but getting shots into arms. Jeff Zients announcing that in addition to giving states an additional 10.5 million doses in the next couple of weeks, they're going to start a rollout program of 1 million doses starting next week at pharmacies around the country. How important would that 1 million doses are relatively modest amount to get started, but just the idea that they've gone into this new phase that they will start next week with doses going to community pharmacies around the country, how big of a difference might that make?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the idea will make a big difference. To your point, John, the number itself is obviously very modest, that number is going to have to be scaled up quickly. But I think there's a couple things that we've learned or been reminded of, I should say, over the last couple of months now, last several weeks, at least.

Pharmacies is where people often go. This is what people are familiar with, especially local neighborhood pharmacies. We saw evidence of just how well that has worked in West Virginia, for example. And we also know pharmacies can have incredible ability to scale up, according to some of the folks that I've talked to, if you look at the retail pharmacies and add in the local pharmacies, you know, potentially 100 million doses per month, these pharmacies could ultimately administer. So that's going to be really significant.

The other part of it is just having, as Jeff Zients was talking about, just having something you can count on, because I've talked to many of these centers around the country. The idea that they would make appointments, vaccines that they thought were coming, but then they didn't come. If this works and they can count on these vaccines, it's going to streamline that process and I think decrease frustration. Still got to go faster, John, it's not just the amount of vaccines, it's the speed at which these need to be administered, in part because we're in the middle of a pandemic, but also because, as you've heard so much about these variants. And the variants and the mutations increase in numbers, as the virus continues to spread longer and longer, so the amount and the speed both important.

[12:35:27]

KING: And it's complicated, obviously, you have 50 states. You have different health care systems within these states. Now you have adding pharmacies to the wrinkle. Jeff Zients was talking about they have some mass vaccination sites, you see people using stadiums, for example, convention centers around the country, you have mobile vaccination vans, is set going into communities, especially communities of color, or rural areas that are harder to reach or that might be more skeptical to vaccinations, community health care centers, which are already set up in many communities around the country.

Walk through the complexity, and when you do your reporting there, you know, there is, and again, we've been through this and testing for months now we're going through it in the vaccine rollout with 50 states, and sometimes even within states different rules. It gets confusing. One of the challenges of the Biden team is to try to get people on the same page and how they're doing this.

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, just even from the beginning, I mean, you know, you looked at the first group of people who were going to be vaccinated, the healthcare workers and people in long term care facilities. Well, there's some states that have much more of people in long term care facilities than other states. So you would be earlier in line in one state and later in line in another state.

So you know, it felt a little disjointed or uneven in terms of the vaccine process -- rollout process. But also, you know, I think the idea now of trying to figure out, really, the vaccines keep people from getting sick, that's really, when we say they're 95 percent protective or 85 percent protective as the case of Johnson and Johnson, what does that mean? That means it's that protective in terms of actually someone developing symptoms and illness of COVID.

So who are those people who are most at risk, and are those people, you know, getting vaccinated in the numbers they should be earlier in the process? Each state's going to be different, the demographics are different, the rollout is going to be different. But the idea that they can figure that out and have the vaccine to count on, that seems to be one of the biggest problems so far, they just simply didn't know for sure whether the vaccine was going to come. Sometimes it came, sometimes it didn't, sometimes more came than they thought was going to come.

It won't solve all the complexities that you you're discussing, John, but I think it'll help a lot. And by the way, we could be at this a little bit. You know, you've heard that the vaccines may need to be retooled in response to these variants. Is this going to be more like a flu shot where we needed periodically? And if so, what are the lessons learned now that we can apply later on down the road?

KING: Right, we're going to have to follow this one through. But again, an important announcement from the Biden White House, they believe they can get at least an additional 1 million vaccines spread around the country using pharmacies starting next week. Dr. Gupta, appreciate that we have to move on and have some very important breaking international news playing out today.

A judge in Moscow has just handed down a verdict against the Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. Let's bring in CNN's Fred pleitgen and CNN's Clarissa Ward. Fred, let me start with you. In Moscow, Alexey Navalny came back to Russia was immediately imprisoned and now put on trial, and he's being sent back to prison.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's being sent back to prison. He's being sent to prison, John, for two and a half years. That's the verdict that the court has just handed down. And essentially what happened is that in 2014, he was handed a suspended jail sentence of 3.5 years. And what the court is saying is they essentially he violated his probation after he was poisoned by the chemical nerve agent, Novichok, of course, had to get treatment in Germany.

They are saying that because he wasn't here that he violated his probation and that now they are turning the suspended jail sentence into a real jail sentence. Now, they are saying that because he already served a little bit under a year in home detention that they are going to give him that and that's why he is now going to be sent to jail for two and a half years.

And John, I've been covering this obviously the entire day here in front of the court in Moscow. This verdict is certainly something that was expected by many people. It's still of course, it's going to be quite a disappointment to Alexey Navalny's followers. They tried to protest here in front of the prison earlier today. There is a massive police presence, riot cops. You can see them here behind me. They've been here throughout the entire day.

And many, many people were detained. The latest number that we have is 350 just at this courthouse alone. And certainly we do expect that protests are going to continue But for now, Alexey Navalny, who as you said was detained immediately upon arrival here in Moscow when he came back from Germany after getting that treatment now being sent to jail for two and a half years. But of course, the folks around Alexey Navalny have already said that his actions will continue, John.

KING: Fred standby. And I want to bring in our chief international correspondent Clarissa ward. Clarissa it's a remarkable story playing out here in the sense that Navalny in court said Putin the poisoner. This is obviously the highest profile critic of the longtime Russian leader being sent back to jail. His supporters obviously say it's a rigged system, and he's being sent back to jail because he is so outspoken in his criticism. It's a major test and defiance by Mr. Putin, but also a test for governments around the world now as to how they stand up to this.

[12:40:23]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. I mean, the onus is really now on the U.S. Will the White House step up to the plate and levy some sanctions? So far under the Trump administration, we didn't really see any movement in terms of condemning Vladimir Putin for poisoning, Alexey Navalny, you know.

And so I think there's a real sense of pressure now coming from not just Navalny, but hundreds of thousands of Russians across the country that they want to see the international community come together in concert and offer some kind of a tough response. And certainly President Putin will been aware of this. He knows that by sending Navalny back to prison, he risked turning him into a martyr. He risks another wave of protests. He risks sanctions from Western countries.

But it's clear that he and those around him view Navalny as enough of a threat whereby he felt that this was the only course of action that would be appropriate for him to take.

KING: Clarissa Ward, very important insights there. We'll stay on top of the story, Fred Pleitgen as well. And what could be a dicey evening in Moscow. Appreciate the breaking news reporting. We'll stay on top of this story as it plays out today and in the days ahead.

And up next for us, back to some other breaking news here in the United States, the former President's legal team, the Trump legal team, now responding with its brief, its defense brief as we prepare for the Senate impeachment trial.

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[12:45:48]

KING: Now the big breaking news story this hour, a major impeachment update. The former President's legal team has just issued its legal response to the Democrats preview of the impeachment case against Donald J. Trump that will play out next week in the Senate impeachment trial. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is still with me, CNN's Manu Raju joins me from Capitol Hill, Jennifer Rodgers, our legal analyst also joins the conversation.

Counsel, let me start with you. This is the 14-page brief filed by the President's lawyers. It says number one, this is unconstitutional because he is a former President. It says number two that he has a First Amendment right to speak and therefore he said things at a rally and people attack the Capitol, you can't hold him accountable.

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, those are wrong. And they're well countered by the very long brief the House filed earlier today. I mean, you don't have a First Amendment right to lie. You don't have a First Amendment right to put people in danger. And he did both of those things.

And of course, we know the jurisdictional arguments were covered in about 40 pages of the House's brief as well. So, you know, it's not surprising that in only 36 hours with what are clearly not his A listers of defense lawyers, they weren't able to come up with compelling arguments. But it also highlights that there really aren't any compelling defense arguments here at all.

So, you know, the brief was mostly what was to be expected. There was one thing actually that did surprise me, which is that he claims that because you can't definitively prove whether or not the election results were valid, that he denies lying about them. So that was a little bit of a surprise, you can definitely prove that. And that has been done, but other than that, no real surprises here and not a particularly good job.

KING: All right. That is the lawyers writing for the client who is insisted that they continue to push his big election lie. Manu, as Jennifer notes, she's raising some legal arguments about this brief, legal questions about the complexity and the thoroughness of this brief. But it's also a reminder that this is a political proceeding as much as it is a legal proceeding. And the goal for the Trump lawyers is to make sure they don't lose republicans plain and simple.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And to give the Republicans something to point to and they want them to point to the constitutionality, the belief that this is not a legitimate process to go after a former President, that precedent that it would said some Republican senators, including very influential ones in the Republican leadership believe it would create a dangerous precedent.

Those are what they want the Trump team to argue. And they do point those make those arguments in this brief. What they don't want to hear is those allegations that the election was stolen, the false claims, the big lie that President Donald Trump pushed in before he left office. They don't want to hear that. In fact, Lindsey Graham, one of the former President's closest allies, just told her colleague Ted Barrett, that he should -- that Trump should not focus on that argument about this being a stolen election.

And John Cornyn, who's in the Republican leadership told me yesterday, it would be a quote, disservice for Trump's team to make that argument on the Senate floor. And just what Jennifer was saying, the quote here that stuck out was they say insufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude that the 45th President statement were accurate or not. And he therefore denies they were false.

So he's saying there isn't the evidence to prove his lie that the election was stolen. So that is a convoluted argument. But I can tell you in talking to Republican senators, they don't want to hear that emphasize on the Senate floor next week.

KING: Convoluted is one way to put it. It's just Georgia recounted the votes three times, audited and recounted the votes three times. There were at least 60 court cases in which judges including Trump appointees said, bring me evidence, please. If you're going to come into my courtroom and alleged fraud, I'd like to see some evidence you have none.

So, Jeff, that's to the point, you know, it says in here that, you know, the President exercises First Amendment right under the Constitution to express his belief that the election results were suspect. OK, on day one, OK, on day two. But after two months, after recounts, after court cases, after calling your supporters to Washington on that day to continue to lie, 70 days plus.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And that's why so many of the lawyers would not touch this case at all because they did not walk into a courtroom and alleged fraud, nor can they walk onto the floor of the U.S. Senate and alleged fraud because that is a legal proceeding and you cannot openly argue something that is not true.

[12:50:02]

And just reading through this brief, he also states that essentially the state to legislators and approving these Electoral College, sped through the process because of coronavirus that jumped out at me, and there was not adequate time to go through all this. The reality is the, you know, we didn't learn much new in here, except his lawyers are also a seizing on the President's words that we've seen again and again.

It says like this, it's denied the phrase, if you fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore. His lawyers say, we deny that that has anything to do with the action at the Capitol. He was talking simply about election security. Of course, if you watch that whole speech, he was inviting, in fact instructing people to go to the Capitol. But they pull out the President's own words in there as well and say, no, talking about election security.

KING: After he specifically mentioned his own Vice President was up to capitol that day and Congresswoman Liz Cheney and someone else who was named. Jennifer Rodgers back to you in the in the sense that so the President's lawyers in this document do raise not as specifically or defiantly as he might have liked, but they do raise the idea that the President has the right, the First Amendment right to say the election was suspect. It's in the document. I think my question going forward is Manu raised the politics questions earlier, Republicans don't want to do this, just because it's in the brief, doesn't mean they will talk about it on the floor when the proceedings play out, right?

RODGERS: I think that's right. But, you know, you can kind of see what these meetings must look like with the President and his new lawyers with him, pushing for them to go full in on the big lie and then pushing back and saying, no, it's going to be all about jurisdiction. So, you know, he did manage to get them to sneak in some of these arguments a little bit in this 14-page brief. It will be interesting, though, who wins that battle about what they say on the Senate floor.

KING: And Manu to that point that we do know, we have the briefs today, which set up the arguments for us. Tell us a little bit more now. This is next week. We know the house managers, the prosecution, if you will, plans to have some video evidence. Do we know just yet how long they expect this trial to go?

RAJU: That is still an open question. It's going to be quicker than the 2020 trial that lasted 21 days which was the quickest impeachment trial of the three that have happened. We expected to be not as long as 21 days, but it could take up to two weeks, I'm told. It's still a little bit uncertain. What is also unsettled, John, is whether they will actually bring in witnesses to come in and testify and in talking to Democratic senators who will essentially make that call because they can vote and decide on a majority basis to bring forward witnesses.

They said they don't know the answer to that question yet. The House impeachment managers, I'm told, have tried to find someone who could shed some new light into Donald Trump's thinking but who is that person? Would they be willing to testify? Those are still unsorted, unanswerable questions at this moment. And also, John, a lot of the -- everyone in this building witnessed what happened on January 6th. So the argument is, do we need witnesses when we all saw what happened before our very eyes, John.

KING: It's fascinating to watch as that plays out. Again, important procedural steps today with these briefs now we watch. We'll get more to it, the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump next week in the United States Senate. Jennifer Rodgers, Manu Raju, Jeff Zeleny, grateful for the hustle as we deal with the breaking news.

[12:53:07]

And up next for us, the State Department officially designates the military takeover in Myanmar, a coup.

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KING: Topping our political radar today, the U.S. State Department now formally calling the military takeover of Myanmar, a coup. That designation requires the U.S. government now to cut off its foreign assistance to Myanmar's government. The U.S. official noting the government and the military, they're already subject to a number of restrictions. But there will now be a review of all assistance programs, the United States calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the leaders detained by the military yesterday.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren demanding answers from the free trading app Robinhood over its decision last week to temporarily banned purchases of stocks touted by Reddit users. In a letter obtained by CNN, Senator Warren calls out Robinhood for quote, abruptly changing the rules. The Senator wants to know if the company has any conflicts of interest with large financial firms which she writes quote, maybe undermining its obligations to its customers.

Failing grades on the pandemic, a lack of credibility in the eyes of many voters, and crumbling support from key demographics cost Donald Trump reelection. That's the take of the President's lead campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio, who pieced together those findings even as the former President falsely pinned the blame on election fraud. The 27- page internal report was obtained by "The Washington Post" and by "POLITICO". It analyzed exit polling in 10 key states.

And this, a disturbing detailed account of the Capitol insurrection from Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who says she thought she was going to die. The Democratic describing on Instagram live a moment she says quote, didn't feel right with a Capitol police officer who did not identify himself. She also got deeply personal revealing, she's a sexual assault survivor, that she encouraged others not to fear, speaking out about trauma. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): These folks who tell us to move on that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers. And I'm a survivor of sexual assault. And I haven't told many people that in my life.

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