Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Soon: House Voting on Removing GOP Rep. Greene from Committees; Trump Refusing to Testify Under Oath Next Week after Dems Ask Him to Appear at Impeachment Trial; Rep. Jason Crow (D) Colorado is Interviewed about Marjorie Taylor Greene; Source: Biden Admin Considering Sending Masks To All Americans; CDC Director: Teachers Don't Have To Be Vaccinated For Schools To Safely Reopen; 10 GOP Senators Underscore Deep Divide On COVID-19 Relief Package. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 04, 2021 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: He always had a smile. In 2017, Adam stood outside in the pouring rain to greet every single student on the first day of school. May his memory be a blessing.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @theleadcnn. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room. We're following breaking news.

The House of Representatives is about to begin voting on whether to strip Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments over extremist social media posts and spreading lots of conspiracy theories.

A short while ago, Greene actually took to the House floor in an 11th hour attempt to try to distance herself from the controversies admitting the school shootings and the 9/11 terror attacks are in fact real.

Also breaking, a lawyer for former President Trump saying he will not testify under oath at his impeachment trial on the Senate floor next week after a dramatic move by House Democratic impeachment managers calling them to take part in the proceeding.

Meanwhile, we just turned off President Biden make his first foreign policy address since taking office and declaring and I'm quoting him now, "America is back. Diplomacy is back," as he announced some major policy shifts and a review of his predecessor.

Let's turn our coverage this hour up on Capitol Hill. Our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is joining us right now.

Manu, we're standing by for an extraordinary vote to begin. Tell our viewers what's going on. MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, House Democrats are pushing forward a truly unprecedented measure to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene from two of her committee assignments, punishing her for views that she expressed before she was a member of Congress. This will have support from some Republicans on the House side. But a vast majority of Republicans oppose this measure.

The top Republicans in the House are urging their members to vote against this even though some top Senate Republicans are frustrated at the decision by Republican leaders in the House not to take and punish Marjorie Taylor Greene in any way. With one -- this number two Republican in the Senate, John Thune, telling me just earlier, "I think we have to be a party of ideas and policies and principles and get away from members dabbling in conspiracies. And Mitt Romney calling Kevin McCarthy's moved to allow her to stay on her committees a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RAJU (voice-over): For conspiracy theories caused an uproar. Wild claims like suggesting school massacres were staged, even questioning the events of 9/11. But today in the House, a partisan brawl erupted over Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who for the first time publicly distanced herself from fringe theories she expressed just two years ago.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): These were words of the past and these things do not represent me. They do not represent my district. And they do not represent my values.

RAJU: Democrats weren't buying it.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): I think giving Congressman Greene a megaphone on a standing committee would be a cancer on this entire Congress.

RAJU: The House moving to strip her from her assignments on the Education and Budget committees, a move that Republicans called a damaging precedent.

REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): Today's resolution raises serious questions for these institutions. The action the majority is proposing to take today is not only premature, but in fact unprecedented in the history of the House.

RAJU: But Democrats said her views are dangerous. With the House Speaker referencing revelations from CNN k file, that Greene repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019.

Today, Nancy Pelosi brushed back a question from CNN about the precedent being set.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried at all about the precedent that it would say --

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No, not at all. Not at all.

Any of our members threaten the safety of other members, we'd be the first ones to take them off of the committee. That's it.

RAJU: Today, Greene took to the House floor to appeal to her colleagues and insists she is not a conspiracy theorist.

GREENE: I never went said any of the things that I am being accused of today. During my campaign. I never said any of these things since I have been elected for Congress.

RAJU: Yet after she was elected, Greene defended QAnon believers in an interview with CNN.

GREENE: Regular American people that just are looking things up on the internet

RAJU: During the campaign last year, she said this about QAnon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say, "Q" as a patriot. Do you believe that? Is that what you believe?

GREENE: I've only ever seen patriotic sentiment coming out of that source and other sources.

RAJU: Yet on the floor today, she said she doesn't believe in the fringe theory.

GREENE: I stumbled across something and this is at the end of 2017 called QAnon and I got very interested in it. So, I posted about it on Facebook. I write about it. I talked about it. I asked quite about it.

[17:05:01]

I would ask questions about them and talk about them. And that is absolutely what I regret.

RAJU: Disavowing her past belief of conspiracies.

GREENE: I also want to tell you 9/11 absolutely happened. School shootings are absolutely real. And every child that has lost those families mourn it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RAJU: And Wolf, House Democrats are preparing for another dramatic showdown. This with the former President Donald Trump. Democratic impeachment managers preparing for a Senate trial next week. Sent a letter to Donald Trump asking him to come to the Senate and testify in his own defense saying that they wanted to hear why he disputes key facts in this case.

But Wolf, just moments ago, the -- an adviser to Donald Trump sent a response back making it very clear that he would not testify in this case. It was his attorneys saying that this is just all a publicity stunt. The question ahead of next week, Wolf, will the Democrats press forward potentially subpoena the former president? Will that -- will Senate Democrats vote to subpoena him? And what would the President do then? Wolf.

BLITZER: Those are good questions, and we'll find out fairly soon. Thanks very much Manu for that.

Let's discuss all these late breaking developments. The CNN SENIOR Commentator, former Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich is with us. CNN Political Commentator Van Jones is with us. And our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is here as well.

You know, Gloria, we're just minutes away from this vote. What message will it send if Congresswoman Greene is in fact removed from these committees?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, she should be removed from these committees. The Republican Party should have done it from the outset.

And the message that this sent is that the Republican Party and its leadership, Kevin McCarthy, could not outright divorce itself from the lunacy of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Not only the lunacy, but the danger that she represents.

And what the leader should have done right away is said, we can't live with this. You cannot be on the Education Committee, you cannot be on the Budget Committee, but instead, he abdicated his leadership. And now the Democrats have said, OK, we're going to take her off of the committee.

So, Republicans have to cast a tough vote. McCarthy says this is an abuse of power. He just said that minutes ago on the floor. But in fact, what the Democrats are doing is what the Republicans should have done from the outset and said, you know, what, we're more interested in policy than in lunacy and we can't live with this.

BLITZER: You know, Governor Kasich, this is about a lot more than one congresswoman and her conspiratorial comments and her lies. It's about what the Republican Party is willing, in fact, to accept.

What is the party willing to accept? Because many of them, many of those Republican members gave her a standing ovation behind closed doors last night?

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I would say to Gloria that when she said they have a tough vote, it's not a tough vote. It's a pretty simple vote.

BORGER: Yes.

KASICH: She should be removed from these -- she should be removed from these committees. I mean, we think in Washington about all the issues of tough vote or I need to look strong or we can win, and it obscures the purpose of being an elected official. For Republicans, you know, fortunately, you got Mitt Romney, you got people in the Senate, John Thune beginning to speak out against this saying they want to be a party of ideas. In the House, I tell you what I think's going on, I think they're trying to play both sides. They don't want to aggravate those people who sort of sign up to QAnon and these conspiracy theories, they don't want to aggravate them, but they also want to win the majority. And it's all a fight for power.

And a power to do what? I wish somebody would ask these folks, what exactly is your agenda? What exactly do you want to do about health care? What do you want to do about community and police? What do you want to do about the gap between the rich and the poor?

I don't want to hear you bashing somebody else. I'd like to know what you believe, at least in the Senate, when they have objected to Joe Biden's 1.9 trillion, at least they came up with their own plan. I have no clue what those in the House are doing, except they're hungry to get power. And power to me without purpose is bankrupt.

BLITZER: You know, Van, this 11th hour speech that this Congresswoman gave on the House floor today, she had years to walk back these comments, many of them made 2018 2019, she never did. She didn't -- she couldn't even bring herself today to formally apologize, ask for forgiveness for the outrageous comments that she made. What does that say to you?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, too little too late with regard to her speech.

You know, Kevin McCarthy has a point, this is unprecedented. It does set a quote unquote bad precedent. But what precedent do we choose? We now have two precedents we have to choose.

[17:10:02]

It's unprecedented for us to have a violent assault on the Capitol and have cheerleaders for it sitting in the building. It's unprecedented for us to have somebody in the building, who was winked and nodded at killing people in the building. So that's unprecedented.

And then the House stepping forward, it does set a precedent when you do something you've never done. But if you don't want this precedent, then you got to deal with the first one. And so she should have never, ever, ever, ever been given those committee assignments.

That is his fault. That is on him. And he dared the country to put up with it.

And so, if he wants to make sure that we don't have to have these kinds of tough votes, and they are tough votes in terms of you don't want the speaker to be able to do this stuff all the time, then he needs to do a better job taking care of this stuff. She should be banished from public life. But Kevin McCarthy should be ashamed of himself for having put her in that committee assignment in the first place.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, it's going to be an awkward vote for a lot of these Republican representatives coming up fairly soon.

BORGER: Well, you know, as the governor said, it shouldn't be an awkward vote. For some of them in districts where there may be some supporters of hers, maybe it'd be tough, but a good leader would have just done what a leader should do, which is make a decision and say, you know, what, we can't give her these committee assignments or not given them to her in the first place, as Van is saying.

The thing that really struck me about her speech today, which I found just graceful, is that while she was sort of trying to apologize, she made herself the victim here. You know, she's the victim of canceled culture. She's the victim of the media.

She said these things. She did these things. It's on tape.

It kind of reminds me of Donald Trump, who always portrayed himself as a victim said he never said such things. And then you go back to the videotape and there it was.

So she was kind of sort of saying, well, I don't believe that anymore. But anyway, I never really said that, which she did. She didn't need to -- she wasn't going to change anybody's mind on the floor today. And I think she did a disservice to the House of Representatives.

BLITZER: She harassed the -- a young teenager --

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: -- who is a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting. I mean, it was horrible what we saw.

I want to bring in Norman Eisen right now. He served as impeachment console for the House Democrats during the first Trump impeachment trial about a year or so ago. He's also now a CNN Legal Analyst.

Norman, House managers, the Democrats they're requesting that the former president actually testify under oath, in this impeachment trial, be subject to cross examination they say, at the same time. The President's attorney just released a statement saying that's not going to happen. They say this is just a public relations stunt on the part of the House impeachment managers. What do you make of this?

NORMAN EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, well, Wolf, thanks for having me back.

I think it is an important point that the House managers are making. The president filed an answer on paper this week, he repeated his big lie that the election results were suspect. He claimed farcically that his fighting words to his followers at the insurrection tailgate on January 6 were simply about election security in the future, when he said, if you don't fight for your democracy, you're going to lose it, told them to march on the Capitol.

So, if he's going to put these lies on paper, let him show up and subject himself to cross examination under oath. I think it's smart. Now, when he doesn't show as his lawyers are saying he will not, they can point to the empty chair and say, hey, the president won't stand by his words because they are false.

BLITZER: Could they subpoena him? Could they vote on the Senate floor to issue a subpoena?

EISEN: They could issue a subpoena for the President. He'll go to court, he'll tie that up in knots.

I think they've made their legal point today. The response by the president's lawyers that the rules -- essentially that the rules of evidence don't apply in an impeachment trial, Wolf, was just ridiculous. Under Senate rules, seven that we lived under in the last impeachment, all the rules of evidence come in.

So, I think that they've put themselves strategically in a good space. It was a surprise that got people's attention. Probably not the last surprise we're going to see from this very abled group of trial lawyers.

BLITZER: Yes. The Senate trial supposed to begin next Tuesday.

All right, everybody standby. We're watching truly extraordinary events unfolding right now up on Capitol Hill where lawmakers are about to vote on whether the strip Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene over committee assignments. We're going to talk about that and more with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow. There you see him. He's standing by live. We'll discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:47]

BLITZER: We're following multiple breaking stories here in the Situation Room including the House of Representatives now getting ready to vote on whether to actually remove, remove Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments. Let's discuss with Democratic Representative Jason Crow of Colorado.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

So what message are you and your fellow Democrats trying to send with this vote?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): The question before us, Wolf, is will this country allow hateful, violent rhetoric, incitement of violence, threats against our fellow Americans and members of Congress and engaging in lies and conspiracy theories, are we going to allow that to become a part of the mainstream?

Now because this has to do with Marjorie Taylor Greene, but it also has to do with a lot more than Marjorie Taylor Greene, because there have always been people that peddle in lies and falsehoods in our country. This is different, because this has to do with an entire political party, an entire Congress that has to stand up and say, are we going to allow this to become normal or are we going to push back on it?

BLITZER: The congresswoman that claims she went on the House floor today she said she regrets her comments which were made in 2018, 2019. She says that she never actually -- she never did actually formally apologize.

[17:20:06]

She spent much of the time deflecting blame. Do you think her speech on the House floor today changed any minds and I'm speaking specifically about mostly Republicans?

CROW: I don't know whether it change other people's minds. I didn't hear what I needed to hear.

Now listen, I believe in second chances. I actually believe in redemption. I believe that people can change and can correct their mistakes. So, I think it would have been great.

If Marjorie Taylor Greene would have come up and said, I was wrong. What I said was wrong. It was a mistake, and I'm going to change it. But that is not what we heard.

And you also have to look at what's happening outside of that speech. You know, she has fundraising off of this over the last couple of days. She's attacking people on Twitter. She got a standing ovation in the GOP caucus last night for fighting back.

This is not a repentant individual. This is somebody who has not learned her lesson. And that's why we're having to take the action that we're taking.

BLITZER: While I have you, Congressman, let's talk about the impeachment trial coming up next week and on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The former president there just rejected an invitation from Democrats to testify at the upcoming trial.

You served as a House manager during the first Trump impeachment a year or so ago. You think Democrats should subpoena the former president and actually try to force him to testify under oath, including cross examination?

CROW: Well, what I know is that you have in Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, somebody who's a constitutional scholar, and a lawyer without equal in this Congress. So, he's going to take a look at all the facts, take a look at the needs.

You know, I know that I'm not in that room anymore. I don't know what conversations they're having with President Trump's lawyers. So, I know that Jamie Raskin and that team will make the decision that's right for the country, and right for the Congress to get to the truth and to hold the president accountable.

BLITZER: The trial starts next Tuesday.

All right, Congressman Crow, thank you so much for joining us. CROW: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. There's more breaking news we're following. As we await the House vote on whether to strip this Republican congresswoman of her committee posts.

And is the Biden ministration. Planning to send masks, face masks to every American. We have details on all the late breaking developments in the pandemic when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:21:46]

BLITZER: Tonight, the U.S. coronavirus death toll has top 454,000 people with more than 26.6 million confirmed cases here in the United States. And although new infections are declining nationwide, the number of daily deaths remains alarmingly high. CNN's Lucy Kafanov has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As fears grow of another looming COVID-19 surge sources familiar with the Biden administration's coronavirus response, say the White House may be looking at coordinating masks shipments directly to Americans.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No decision has been made to do that. So I don't have a cost assessment. Obviously, it would depend on how many people would be sent the mask.

KAFANOV: Curbing the spread is a race against the clock. With new questions about the faster spreading variant first identified in the UK. Is it more deadly?

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: There's increasing data that suggests that some of the variants the B117 variant may actually be increase -- lead to increased mortality. And the jury's still out with regard to how these vaccines are going to work with regard -- against these variants.

KAFANOV: And could it become the dominant variant in hotspots like Florida and California? Now is not the time to ditch your mask.

DR. RICARDO FRANCO, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM: I think this game is a halftime. We got off of the deficit. We tie the game at halftime, and we need to keep pushing and not give this virus a chance to play well the second half.

KAFANOV: After months of darkness finally a glimmer of light. New cases continuing to decline across the nation, 41 states showing downward trends, eight holding steady.

The pace of vaccinations on the rise since mid-January. The U.S. now administering an average of 1.32 million vaccine doses a day. But that still might not be fast enough. DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, DIRECTOR, DUKE-MARGOLIS CENTER: We do need to make it go faster though to stay ahead of those variant strains and to really help contain the pandemic.

KAFANOV: The pandemic remains as deadly as ever. The U.S. averaging more than 3,000 deaths a day. The CDC predicting more than half a million could die of COVID-19 by the end of the month, that would amount to one death for every minute of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the fight over reopening schools continues.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): What we believe is exactly what the CDC, Dr. Fauci, what the Biden administration believes that we can safely reopen schools.

KAFANOV: California is governor pushing for students to return to in person learning before all teachers are vaccinated.

The city of San Francisco suing its school district and board to force schools to reopen.

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-IL) CHICAGO: The ball is in the sea to use court.

KAFANOV: Chicago force to delay reopening again as the school district and teachers union failed to meet a deadline for a deal.

LIGHTFOOT: We do not have a deal to report this morning. But we will remain at the table in an effort to get a deal done.

KAFANOV: While the new study found that weekly rapid tests for teachers, students and staff could cut infection rates by 50 percent.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It doesn't matter how much the data suggests that they can be made safe. They don't feel safe. We have the ability to vaccinate them. So let's just vaccinate them.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[17:30:00]

KAFANOV: And in the rush to vaccinate as many people as possible, especially before these more contagious spreads -- variants of COVID- 19 became more widespread, there was some hope, based on preliminary research that those who have already had the coronavirus could maybe get away with taking just one dose of the vaccine. Well Dr. Anthony Fauci dispelling that notion today tweeting that those who have had COVID-19 should stick to the FDA guidance getting two doses, two shots, either 21 or 28 days apart. Wolf?

BLITZER: Well, better to be safe than sorry. Lucy, thank you very, very much.

Let's get some more in all of these, Michael Osterholm is joining us. He is the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Professor, thanks so much for joining us. Let me get your thoughts on this --

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

BLITZER: -- potential plan out there at least to start shipping mass to every American. Do you think sending mass directly to American households will make people more likely to actually wear them?

OSTERHOLM: I think it very well could. It does two things. One, it makes it available, where someone who might not know where to go get one now has one. The second thing is that now that you have it in your hand, when you find that it's not some kind of awkward instrument to have to wear, you very well may wear it. So right now, I think anything we can do like that to decrease the potential for transmission is a good thing.

BLITZER: New cases of hospitalizations, as you just heard in Lucy's report are declining, but it's this new, highly contagious viral variant is also more deadly. Do you worry it's only a matter of time before we, God forbid, see another big surge?

OSTERHOLM: You know, it's inevitable from where I sit right now. We are going to continue to see these ups and downs. Don't forget that, you know, we were at 32,000 cases in April and that was as high as it could get. Then we got into July, we got 70,000 cases, that's as high as it could get. Then we got into 200,000 cases November as high as it could get. And then we hit 300,000 cases in January.

I think this next surge with this new variant from the United Kingdom could very well far surpass 300,000 cases a day. So as much as we all want to feel better about what's happening, we just have to understand that we have some very, very dark days ahead.

BLITZER: Which is so sad to hear. Let's talk about the fight over school reopening, schools across the country, many states are actually pushing for kids do return to the classroom before teachers are vaccinated. Is that the right call?

OSTERHOLM: In the data we have today shows particularly in younger kids, that the risk of transmission in the schools is exceedingly low. And to kind of put that into perspective, if you look at the last eight years here in Minnesota, we've had 31 children who have died from influenza while attending school, much of the transmission occurred in schools. And no one called for the stopping of education or closing schools. But now today where we've not had a single child at school aged die from COVID-19 in this state, there's a reluctance.

And I understand these teachers, it's a fearful kind of event. But we have to help educate them that, in fact, they can work in those environments quite safely. And so, from that perspective, I believe that, particularly for younger children, this is a good thing to do. At the same time, please let's get our teachers vaccinated as quickly as we can.

BLITZER: I agree, get them vaccinated and get those kids back in the classroom. It is so critically important. Mike Osterholm, thanks so much for joining us. OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up --

OSTERHOLM: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: -- President Biden resets U.S. international policy, declaring the days of, at his words, rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions. The President says those days are over. And we're watching for the key vote in the House of Representatives on removing Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments. We'll update you on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:53]

BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE) dramatic developments in the House of Representatives now, they're getting ready to vote on removing Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments. We'll watch that. Also breaking this afternoon, President Biden in his first international policy speech as President forcefully declaring America is back and diplomacy is back announcing major, major changes in U.S. policy. CNN's Phil Mattingly has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America is back. America is back. Diplomacy is back.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, President Joe Biden laying out the central organizing principles of his foreign policy.

BIDEN: We will compete from a position of strength by building back better at home, working with our allies and partners, renewing our role in international institutions and reclaiming our credibility and moral authority.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): President's first visit to the State Department underscoring a stark shift from his predecessor.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will always put America first.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Biden laying out an indictment of the Trump administration's work across the globe, signaling a new approach on Russia.

BIDEN: Today, the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poison its citizens are over. We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interest in our people.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Aligning with allies to push back on the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny. BIDEN: He's been targeted, targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): With Biden providing glimpses of the administration's stance on China, pushing strength.

BIDEN: We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive course of action to pushback on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But with a willingness to talk.

BIDEN: But we are ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so.

[17:40:01]

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And on the press.

BIDEN: We believe a free press isn't an adversary rather it's essential.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Biden moving to end us support for offensive actions in Yemen, while halting the drawdown of U.S. troops in Germany amid a global force Posture Review and signing an executive order to boost refugee numbers. Even he acknowledged the dramatically reduced levels will take time to rebuild.

BIDEN: It's going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged. But that's precisely what we're going to do.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): All serving as a baseline for a dramatic shift in U.S. posture.

BIDEN: We've taken steps to acknowledge and address systemic racism and the scourge of white supremacy in our own country.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): As the U.S. grapples with its own deep divides.

BIDEN: Many of these values have come under intense pressure in recent years, even pushed to the brink. In the last few weeks, the American people are going to emerge from this moment stronger, more determined, and better equipped to unite the world in fighting to defend democracy. Because we have fought for it ourselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, Wolf, while the President was focused on foreign policy today, the White House still urgently pressing for action on its cornerstone legislative proposal, that $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package right now engage in a little bit of a back and forth as they continue to push for bipartisan support. You'll remember, Wolf, on Monday night, 10 Senate Republicans meeting for nearly two hours with President Biden shortly after that by 11:00 a.m. the next morning at President Biden's request, White House staff sending detailed policy memos. Two of those Republicans laying out justifications for their proposal that Republicans disagree with on the scope and scale.

We'll just a short while ago, Republicans responding to those memos laying out in detail their objections to several of those proposals in some, Wolf, really underscoring a divide and how both sides are approaching this. Republicans making clear, they want targeted action. The Biden administration repeatedly saying from President Biden on down, they want to act big. The danger is going too small, not too big, all underscoring that a bipartisan solution, a bipartisan agreement seems very far off right now as Democrats on Capitol Hill move forward in this process. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happens in the days ahead. Thanks very much, Phil Mattingly over at the White House.

An important programming note for our viewers, be sure to join me on Monday when the new Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, will give us an interview here on CNN. Tony Blinken, the new Secretary of State joins me live on Monday. We'll discuss all the late breaking international developments.

Meanwhile, let's discuss what's going on with the Senator from Delaware, Senator Chris Coons, he's a key member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Thanks so much, Senator, for joining us. You heard President Biden's foreign policy speech today, it's coming into shape. We also heard the stark warning that he, in his words, will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia for what he describes as its malign activities. But what do you think that cost will actually look like?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, Wolf, that forceful response to Russia's actions both the poisoning and arrest of Navalny, an opposition leader and the way in which through their cyber hack of American national security systems, and their assault on our 2016 election, the ways in which Russia has tested and tested the United States, our leadership in the world, our commitment to democracy, a forceful response, such as we heard from President Biden today was long overdue. There are ways that we can target through sanctions, the closest supporters of Vladimir Putin, and make it more expensive for the senior leadership of Russia, that corrupt inner core that sustains Putin's hold on Russia, for them to continue their aggressive actions in the region in the world.

BLITZER: The President has made some veiled references to the damage done during the Trump administration saying the United States will have to, quote, earn back our leadership position. That's a direct quote on the global stage. How does the President earn that back?

COONS: Well, Wolf, one of the things I talked with President Biden about yesterday, is the urgency, the importance of our vaccinating all of the United States so that we can get out of this pandemic, but also working in partnership with the World Health Organization, with COVAX, with other leading Western nations to make sure that scientifically sound affordable and effective vaccines are available for the world. The Russians are promoting their so-called Sputnik vaccine, which wasn't subject to rigorous testing isn't clearly safe. But both China and Russia are offering their vaccines to billions of people in the developing world. I think the United States has an opportunity here to earn back some of our global leadership in public health.

[17:45:02]

Wolf, I also think we need to lock arms with some of our closest and most trusted allies. The folks who have long stood shoulder to shoulder with us in NATO, for example, who stood alongside us in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere. President Trump really rattled the cage of our close allies, both by pushing them relentlessly to increase their contributions. And by testing them with tariffs, national security-based tariffs that impose costs on close allies like Canada, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, at a time when we need to pull them closer in our global contest with China.

BLITZER: I want to get your thoughts while I have you on this COVID emergency relief bill the administration is putting for $1.9 trillion. These 10 Republican senators who met with President Biden in the Oval Office earlier in the week have now sent him a letter outlining their concerns. They say they have significant questions about the price tag considering the amount of money unspent so far from the previous COVID emergency packages. How do you address those concerns?

COONS: Wolf, well, first, Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary has said the risks of are going too small, are far greater than our risks of going too big. I do think President Biden will continue to engage in thorough and sincere outreach with Republicans in an effort to find a path towards a robust package that meets the real needs of American families all over our country. But we will be up very late tonight here in the Senate, ensuring that we have a pathway for that $1.9 trillion package to be passed, if we have to, with only Democratic votes by mid-March, which is when unemployment checks run out, when the eviction moratorium expires.

President Biden when I've spoken to him, when he has spoken to our caucus, is perfectly clear. He wants to deliver relief to the American people in a bipartisan way, if possible, and he is going to respond to concerns about how to target that, how to make it effective. But he is not going to spend months and months chasing negotiations if they don't go anywhere. So, we are doing what we have to in the Senate tonight to be prepared to support President Biden with or without Republican votes.

BLITZER: We'll see if you get all 50 Democrats on board. You need 50 Democrats plus the Vice President to break a tie, if that happens. We'll see if it does.

Senator Coons, thanks so much for joining us.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, how the anti-vaccine movement merged with Stop the Steal supporters of the former President on the day of the Capitol siege. We have new information. You'll want to see this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:23]

BLITZER: After former President Trump's defeat, some leaders of the anti-vaccine movement actually latched on to the so-called Stop the Steal movement, bringing together two conspiracy theories the day of the Capitol siege, CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin is working the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Thank you all for being in, this is incredible.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On January 6th on a separate stage yet very much part of the election protest, this micro rally had a different focus. These are the anti- vaxxers.

CHARLENE BOLLINGER, PLANNED JAN. 6 "HEALTH FREEDOM" RALLY: The forced COVID vaccine, such a scam.

DEL BIGTREE, SPEAKER AT "HEALTH FREEDOM" RALLY: Innocent people are being lined up, walking to their potential death.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Their event, heart pandemic denial, part Stop the Steal, part prayer service, for those who are participating in the Capitol storm.

BOLLINGER: We pray for the patriots that are there now inside, they're trying to get inside that Capitol. Lord, use these people to eradicate this evil, these swamp creatures, this cesspool of felt 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roger Stone.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Some are directly connected to the disinformation network of Roger Stone. They name drop Stop the Steal organizer, Ali Alexander, and are peddling the same type of conspiracy linked health products as Alex Jones essentially turning conspiracy into business.

BOLLINGER: This is more between good and evil.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Anti-vaccine advocates 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.

BOLLINGER: I asked him, are you the Capitol? He said, outside it. The Capitol has been stormed by patriots. We're here for this reason, we are winning.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Also speaking Mikki Willis, who is discredited video Plandemic was viewed millions of times before being removed from YouTube.

MIKKI WILLIS, DIRECTED VIDEO "PLANDEMIC": This is psychological warfare.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Invited to speak, 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's claimed alien DNA is being put in medicine. This is what Gold said at a mega rally January 5th.

DR. SIMONE GOLD, FOUNDER, AMERICA'S FRONTLINE DOCTORS: If you don't want to take an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you must know not allow yourself to be coerced.

[17:55:03]

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The next day, Gold went inside the Capitol and was later arrested. Through her organization, Gold tell CNN, she didn't participate in any violence or vandalism and rebuked such activity. Conspiracism 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 liar and seller of deceit of misinformation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And let's just be very clear for the money, for the profit.

AHMED: A snake oil salesmen need to turn a profit.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): That is apparent in the politics and business empire of rally organizers tide Charlene Bollinger.

BOLLINGER: Hello again, it's 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? Yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The Bollingers live on 13 acres in this 7,600 square foot $1.5 million mansion in rural Tennessee, once featured on a Realtor website. Their cancer and vaccine websites are businesses, marketing their video series that cost up to $500. An air purifier that's more than $300, body cleanses and other unproven health products. Disclaimers warn, nothing presented is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and anything purchased through their sites mean the Bollingers will be paid in some way.

While they're 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 VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Wolf, all these conspiracies are dangerous, but particularly dangerous are the ones that say don't take the vaccine, not just to people who potentially will not get a life-saving vaccine, but to the rest of us who are counting on as many people getting it so that we might achieve herd immunity. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Drew Griffin reporting for us, thank you.

Coming up, we're awaiting the extraordinary vote in the House of Representatives on whether to remove Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments. We're going live to Capitol Hill. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)