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CDC: Nearly 37 Million Vaccine Doses Administered; Johnson & Johnson Asks FDA For Emergency Use Authorization Of Its COVID-19 Vaccine; U.S. Nears 27 Million Infections And 460,000 Deaths; Biden Signals He'll Move Forward With Or Without GOP Support Of COVID Relief Bill; House Managers And Trump Defense Prepare For Start Of Senate Impeachment Trial; About 190 People Have Been Charged For Breaching the Capitol; U.S. Economy Adds 49k Jobs in January. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 6, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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


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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Voice over): Nationwide, more than 9 million shots administered last week. That's 10 times the number of new cases added in the U.S..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Voice over): The NFL has pledged to make all 32 of their team stadiums available as mass vaccination sites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Voice over): I think overall things are definitely getting better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Voice over): The impeachment trial is taking shape. We are learning that House Democrats say they have enough evidence to make their case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is so much footage of what happened on that day. We see the images. We also clearly hear the President's words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Voice over): The $15 minimum wage is in the White House proposal. The expectation is it will likely have to be stripped out in order for Democrats to be able to pass the package on a simple majority vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, the White House is in a complicated political position.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Republicans have proposed it's either to do nothing or not enough.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Voice over): This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Starting off this morning with a look at New York City. Good morning to you and thanks so much for being with us. The U.S. is seeing some progress in the fight against COVID-19. Experts are encouraged, but they warn that now is not the time to let up.

So let's start with some good news. This morning, the number of people in hospitals with COVID19 is dropping, new cases are down by 15 percent last week, but the number of deaths in the U.S. is getting close to 460,000.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. You see that at the right-hand side of your screen. Now let's talk about the vaccines. The U.S. is administering an average of 1.3 million per day. That is up from 1.1 million last week and the National Guard now being deployed to states across the country to help get more shots into arms.

As for the debate about sending your kids back to school, the CDC says they're releasing new guidance on that next week. Several mass vaccination sites, though, opened across the country this week. That includes Fort Worth, Texas, Motor Speedway and Six Flags in Prince George's County, Maryland. CNN Polo Sandoval is outside Yankee Stadium right now. That's one of New York's mass vaccination sites. Polo, good to see you this morning. How are things going there?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christi, and good morning to you. New York City really ramping up its vaccination efforts, as you point out, opening up Yankee Stadium to serve as a mass vaccination site here in the Bronx. It is not all-access this morning, of course.

It has to be people who do fit that or fall within that eligible criteria. They also have to be residents of the Bronx. Why, you might ask. Well, it is the borough that's predominantly Black and Hispanic. Also, many residents low income here. These are communities that have been particularly hit hard by the pandemic.

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SANDOVAL (Voice over): COVID-19 vaccinations are up and infections are down as the first week of February comes to a close. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show just over 36 million vaccine doses have been administered with efforts moving forward at an average rate of about 1.3 million shots a day nationwide.

JAHQYAD AUSTIN, VACCINATED IN NEW YORK CITY: I work at a restaurant in Brooklyn and all of our team actually is coming, you know, this week within their time frame to get their vaccine. So that was why I was eligible.

SANDOVAL (Voice over): Supermarket chain Kroger promising to pay any of their employees $100 in store credit if they roll up their sleeves for a shot and take a look at the map showing how new infections are down about 18 percent this week over last. As for hospitalizations, those dipped below 90,000 for the first time since Thanksgiving, but will those trends hold? Epidemiologist Dr. Celine Gounder is cautiously optimistic.

CELINE GOUNDER, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: It really depends on how we abide by some of these mitigation measures over the next several months while people are getting vaccinated. Only about 2 percent of Americans have been vaccinated so far, so we are very far from achieving herd immunity.

SANDOVAL (Voice over): You can expect multiple promising developments. The U.S. government scheduled to ship 1 million moderna vaccines to U.S. pharmacies next week. With Sunday's Super bowl marking the end of the football season, the NFL is offering the government every one of the league's stadiums to serve as vaccination sites.

In South Dakota, dentists are now allowed to administer shots and vaccination doses could get a major booster if the Food and Drug Administration issues Johnson & Johnson emergency use authorization for its vaccine candidate. Some hospitals, like Louisiana's Baton Rouge Clinic, have been anxiously waiting for more vaccine allotments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a long way to go and the demand is exceptionally high.

SANDOVAL (Voice over): COVID-19 variants continue to worry health officials and are still expected to become the dominant form of the virus by next month, says Dr. Anthony Fauci. On the COVID treatment front, the FDA limited some use of convalescent plasma therapy.

[06:05:01] That's treatment using blood from recovered COVID-19 patients. This on the same week British researchers documented how that might be helping fuel the rise of viral variants.

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SANDOVAL: And back here in New York, authorities are giving frontline healthcare workers one more week to get that shot into the arm. They're actually asking hospital officials to reach out to their employees, tell them that now is the time to get that shot in the arm because starting in mid-February, that's when they plan to add people with underlying conditions to the list of people eligible to get that vaccine, Victor, Christi.

BLACKWELL: Polo Sandoval for us there in New York. Thanks so much. Let's bring in now public health specialist Dr. Saju Mathew. Doctor, good morning to you and I want to start with the good news because so often we do not have that opportunity.

The trajectory of new daily cases, let's put the chart up, also the number of hospitalizations down significantly from the peak about a month ago, the lowest number since November, fewer than 87,000 people in hospitals right now. Why is this happening and why aren't we seeing the same trajectory for deaths?

DR. SAJU MATHEW, PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST: Yes. Good morning, Victor. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about some good news. I think that there are a lot of factors. Number one, if you look at the right of our screen and we see 26 million COVID cases in the U.S., it's really more between 80 to 100 million of Americans that have actually had COVID because for every one patient that's diagnosed with COVID, there are about four to six that are undiagnosed. Remember, not everybody's getting tested.

So we do have some immunity from people naturally getting infected. We're also moving in the right direction, just as that reporter said, with vaccines. I think that's helping. Not quite seeing the effect with the vaccines when it comes to the overall cases and then of course with the Biden administration really mandating masks and sort of telling people that, listen, this is a crisis and we all need to act together also helps.

Now to answer your question about deaths, remember, deaths lag behind the cases and the infections. So if you're infected today, it could take four to six weeks before you actually check into a hospital, get into the ICU and die. So that's why I think that we're seeing the deaths still lag behind the cases and the hospitalizations, but it's good news overall. We're heading in the right direction.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Iowa. The governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, signed an order that ends mask mandates across the state, crowd size limits, social distance requirements for bars and restaurants and gyms effective tomorrow. Let's put up the Iowa chart to show that new daily cases are down, but are they down far enough, from your perspective, to relax these mitigation efforts now?

MATHEW: Not at all, Victor. You know, remember, even though we're seeing some hope, it's really just a glimmer of hope. We're still plateauing at a very, very high rate in terms of the number of cases and the number of hospitalizations and this is really not the time, as you had mentioned at the beginning of the piece, to let up.

In fact, now with these strains being so contagious, we have word that the U.K. strain could be as contagious as 40 to 70 percent, Victor, compared to the current strain and if we don't take care and where the masks, do the social distancing, the U.K. strain could be the main strain or the main viral strain in the U.S. by March or April.

So I think the exact opposite. We should be mandating masks, we should be asking that people actually double mask, especially for high-risk activities like grocery shopping or going into a restaurant.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The most pressing topic for a lot of families is what to do about getting kids back into schools. The CDC director said this week that there's research that shows that schools can reopen safely with precautions and mitigation methods without vaccinating all teachers. Some teachers say that they don't have the option of ventilation in some of their classrooms because it's cold, they don't have all the resources. What's your view? Can schools reopen, should schools reopen before teachers are vaccinated?

MATHEW: Yes. So let me just put it out there. First of all, you know, my mom is a retired school teacher, so I understand how important it is for our students, for our kids to be in school, but if we're going to label teachers as essential workers, we need to treat them as such. I think that the teachers should be prioritized really in the first phase of people getting vaccines along with healthcare providers and nursing home patients because they are, on a daily basis, being exposed.

Now, we do have studies that show that the transmission within a school, if you follow the guidelines of distancing, wearing masks and, by the way, testing, you should be able to test a kid rapidly and multiple times to make sure that you catch the infection before it spreads.

[06:10:07]

So if you follow all those guidelines, Victor, yes, you possibly can open schools safely and I know our kids need to get back in school, but not every school is the same, not every school has the same resources. So under ideal situations, yes, but we cannot generalize a couple of studies to all schools in the U.S..

BLACKWELL: All right. The official guidance from the CDC on reopening schools will come out next week. We learned that from the White House. Dr. Saju Mathew, always good to have you. Thank you, sir.

MATHEW: Thank you.

PAUL: Now listen. If you're looking for information as to where to find a COVID-19 vaccination site in your area, be sure to check out the resources listed on CNN.com. You'll find phone numbers, website information listed by state as well as who is eligible for a vaccination in each jurisdiction. So hope that helps you clear some things up there.

BLACKWELL: President Biden has signaled that he is prepared to move forward with this coronavirus relief bill with or without Republican support, but he's conceded that one major campaign promise likely will not be included in the legislation.

PAUL: As of today, it was exactly one month ago that what you're seeing on the screen happened. These protesters storming the U.S. Capitol. Coming up, why none of the nearly 200 people arrested are facing the most serious charge of sedition.

BLACKWELL: And the major play by the NFL to speed up the efforts in getting everyone vaccinated.

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[06:15:00]

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BLACKWELL: President Biden is calling for quick passage of his $1.9 trillion American rescue plan with or without support from Republicans. Now the President, he pointed to an underwhelming jobs report as evidence that Americans are still suffering, but it's unclear right now what a final package would include.

PAUL: CNN's Jasmine Wright is live in Delaware for us. Jasmine, good morning to you. So we know that the President defended this huge price tag, saying a Republican plan would mean more pain for more people, that it would mean more pain for a longer period of time. What are you hearing about where he may be able to negotiate?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Biden made it clear in his most direct criticism of Republicans to-date showing really that he is ready to go forward with or without them. Now, Biden used those sluggish job numbers yesterday to really defend his both $1.9 trillion ask, the size of the package, but also the speed and urgency in which he is looking to get it passed.

And he said that he is not interested in getting tied up in lengthy negotiations with Republicans and that is despite that real talk of bipartisan support that we've heard from him.

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BIDEN: I've told both Republicans and Democrats that's my preference to work together, but if I have to choose between getting help right now to Americans who are hurting so badly and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill that's up to the crisis, that's an easy choice. I'm going to help the American people hurting now.

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WRIGHT: Now, Biden made it clear, drawing some real lines, saying that he wasn't going to come down from that $1,400 direct payment to Americans, but he did say that he's open to negotiating who exactly qualifies for that. Now, House Republicans -- excuse me -- House Democrats said that they are ready to move forward and get this bill passed before their self-imposed deadline of March.

They said that yesterday after meeting with President Biden in the White House, but it is still an open question of exactly how quickly they can attempt to get this thing done because, as we know, next week, the Senate does turn to the impeachment trial of former President Trump.

BLACKWELL: And of course, that will take up a lot of time and attention. Let me ask you about one element before we let you go, Jasmine, here. The increase in the minimum wage. We understand that the President made some news on that and his expectation of what will happen with that element of the bill.

WRIGHT: Well, Victor, it seems really unlikely at this point that they will get an increased minimum wage in this COVID relief bill. Biden said almost as much in his interview yesterday with "CBS News," really casting doubt, saying that he didn't know if it would be able to be included because of Senate rules, but also because of Democrats.

Not all Democrats are on board -- on board with this increase and again, Democrats cannot lose a single vote to get this passed because of their slim majority. Now, Biden did say that he is open to negotiating an increased minimum wage down the line in a different bill because he says that it needs to happen, guys.

PAUL: All right. Jasmine Wright, good to see you this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: President Biden also says that he doesn't think that former President Trump should receive classified intelligence briefings now that he's no longer president. It's been a tradition that former presidents are allowed to request and receive intel briefings, but Biden says that the president -- former president's, quote, "erratic behavior" should disqualify him from receiving them.

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NORAH O'DONNELL, ANCHOR, CBS EVENING NEWS: I mean, you've called him an existential threat, you've called him dangerous, you've called him reckless.

BIDEN: Yes, I have and I believe it.

O'DONNELL: What's your worst fear if he continues to get these intelligence briefings?

BIDEN: I'd rather not speculate out loud. I just think that there is no need for him to have that intelligence briefing. What value is giving him an intelligent briefing? What impact does he have at all other than the fact he might slip and say something?

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BLACKWELL: Well, beyond receiving it, the Biden administration says the former president has not submitted any requests at this point.

[06:20:00] Former President Trump was not known to fully or regularly read the presidential daily briefing while he was in office.

PAUL: The second impeachment trial of former President Trump, it's starting next week on Tuesday and time's running out for both sides here to really lock in their legal strategies.

BLACKWELL: Yes. One of the outstanding questions is how will House impeachment managers present their case against the former president, including whether they'll call witnesses and how long the trial will last. CNN's Daniella Diaz is on Capitol Hill. Where do things stand on what we know about the trial now?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, Victor and Christi. Look, heading into next week, we have a lot of unknowns. We don't know exactly how things are going to work out, but here's what we do know. We know that Monday, there are pre-trial briefs due that will provide us some insight into what each side is going to argue, including the impeachment managers that will argue against Donald Trump and his legal team.

We also know that the trial begins on Tuesday. We know that Trump is likely not to appear. We're not going to hear from him. The impeachment managers actually sent a note to Donald Trump asking him to testify under oath and Jason Miller, Donald Trump's former campaign manager and spokesman, responded very quickly and said this is a public relationship (ph), that we're not going to do this. So unless he's subpoenaed, we're not going to see Trump.

And the other thing we know is that this trial will be swift. There will -- there are likely not to -- it's likely only going to be a few days, unlike last year when the trial last -- Donald Trump's first impeachment trial lasted three weeks. So we know that sources tell us that behind the scenes, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell are speaking to lay out some ground rules on how this is going to look.

Until then, we're not entirely sure how this is going to play out. So like I said, we don't know if there's going to be witnesses. There's a lot of unknowns heading into next week, so we'll wait to see how that plays out.

PAUL: All righty. I want to ask you real quickly about the fracture that we've seen in the GOP over the last several weeks. What do we know about how GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is going to navigate that in the next week or so?

DIAZ: Christi, Kevin McCarthy had probably one of the hardest weeks ever of his leadership. He had two issues very plainly in front of him. He was dealing with the backlash that Liz Cheney had from her impeachment vote for Donald Trump and as well as Marjorie Taylor Greene and the backlash she faced for her previous comments before she entered office and from establishment Republicans.

So look, there was a huge family meeting on Wednesday. The entire Republican conference met. It was a five-hour meeting. They aired out all their grievances. This was organized by McCarthy to try to unite the party and even though it was five hours, everyone walked out feeling really great.

I spoke to corners from all part of the Republican party and the members told me from all the corners that they were -- they expressed renewed confidence in McCarthy. They felt good with how he handled this week.

They had renewed confidence in their leader, but let me be clear. McCarthy is doing this because he has his eye set on one thing -- winning back seats in the 2020 midterms and the speaker's gavel. That's what he's working toward and that's what his goals are, guys.

BLACKWELL: Daniella Diaz from Capitol Hill, thank you.

PAUL: CNN legal analyst Elie Honig with us now, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and CNN political commentator Errol Louis, host of the "You Decide" podcast. Gentlemen, so good to have you with us. I want to jump off that point Daniella was just talking about real quickly before we head into impeachment.

So we have Marjorie Taylor Greene being stripped of her committee assignments here this week. She said earlier this week that Republican voters support President Trump still. She said, quote, "The party is his. It doesn't belong to anybody else." Meanwhile, you've got 11 Republicans who voted with Democrats to revoke her assignments there, you've got this conference to keep Representative Liz Cheney.

Help me, Errol, understand, reconcile the words from Marjorie Taylor Greene and what we've seen happen within Republican chambers just this week alone. ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Marjorie Taylor Greene is correct. The party is Donald Trump's. There are a number of representatives here and there who seem to want to exercise a little bit of independence, but by and large, the rest of them are afraid of him. More importantly, they're afraid of their own voters, they're afraid of the Republican base. The Republican base, any way you look at the numbers, is overwhelmingly loyal to Donald Trump and what he stands for and stood for.

Donald Trump knows this. He has made clear that he intends to be a player. He's got a fair amount of money. At some point when the impeachment trial is over, he's probably going to re-emerge on the political stage and so Marjorie Taylor Greene is exactly right. There are a lot of people who got elected by pledging unswerving loyalty to Donald Trump and she is one of those people and those folks are not going away any time soon.

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PAUL: So let's look ahead, Elie, to the impeachment here because if I understand it correctly, intention may be at the core of the case here. Is it not? I mean, what President Trump said, what did he mean in that rally on January 6th prior to the attack on the Capitol is going to be coming into question. So do his words in that speech on January 6th, do they give, in your opinion, clear intention of what he meant? How is that going to be argued?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They do to me, Christi. So intent would absolutely be central in a criminal case. If he was charged, for example, with inciting sedition, inciting a riot, we would have to figure out intent. Now, at an impeachment, it's still relevant, but it's not necessary to establish that.

Now, what Donald Trump's lawyers have been doing is taking his statements sort of individually, one statement at a time and saying, well, pulled out of context just individually, a statement like, "Fight like hell," which he said, they say, well, you would say that at a football game.

That doesn't necessarily mean go commit violence, but I think the response we're going to see from the House impeachment managers is you have to look at the whole picture, you have to look at all the things Donald Trump said leading up to that crowd, you have to look at what that crowd was like on January 6th, you have to look at the entire meaning of what he said and, importantly, look at what Donald Trump said after the attack, when he praised that crowd, called them great patriots. To me, that is the strongest evidence of his intent.

PAUL: So we had -- we heard from Trump's impeachment attorney, Bruce Castor, last night, Errol. He said that it had crossed his mind whether the legal team would even show up because they see this entire impeachment as being illegitimate as it is, but he said that the case had to be made by House Democrats. That case could not be -- it couldn't go unanswered.

It obviously gives us insight into where his defense team is coming from, but what is the strongest evidence they have to hold on to this case and to prove President Trump did not incite insurrection?

LOUIS: Well, they're going to try and keep it at the procedural level, just as you suggest. You know, there's interesting evidence out there that they keep referring to him in some of their papers as the 45th president, they don't even call him the ex-president, they don't even want to concede that he lost the election. There's some basic threshold questions of reality that are going to be in dispute here.

By trying to cling solely to the constitutional question, which is the slim and I think sort of somewhat fictitious avenue that they want to offer, the Republican senators to try and acquit Donald Trump, by clinging only to that and never trying -- you know, trying at all costs to avoid talking about the substance of it, they're going to try and make it seem as if the entire procedure is just a foregone political exercise rather than a fact-finding expedition and an effort to hold Donald Trump accountable.

That's their only slim read and I think it's going to get very repetitious during the trial, I must tell you, Christi, because there's only so many times you can say over and over again this shouldn't be happening. Well, you know what? It is happening.

PAUL: Yes. You can't get away from it. They're going to be standing there in chambers talking about it. So if Democrats' ultimate goal, Elie, is to just solidify that President Trump cannot serve in office again, there may be, as some have pointed out, an option for that regardless of what happens in this impeachment hearing.

It's Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and it reads as this, "No person shall hold any office, civil or military, under the United States or under any state who, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same."

Now, I know there's no judicial test of this declaration about the last century, but give us a reality check on that. Is using the section of the 14th Amendment there, is it a viable option for lawmakers in this case?

HONIG: Well, it's option B, Christi. It's the fallback option, right? I think if Democratic House managers get their way, he'll be convicted by the Senate and then, under the Senate, you can vote separately to disqualify a person following an impeachment conviction. That only actually requires a majority of the Senate, the disqualification part, but yes, they have floated this idea of the 14th Amendment as a fallback. They actually mentioned the 14th Amendment in the articles of impeachment.

The problem with the 14th Amendment is it tells us the bottom line, which is if somebody has committed insurrection, they cannot hold office, but it doesn't tell us anything about how to get there. Do we need a finding from the Senate? Would that be by a majority vote or by a two-thirds vote? Does it need to go to a court? So I would look for the House impeachment managers to try to explore that if they don't get a conviction. Ultimately, if they do try to have some sort of vote in the Senate about the 14th Amendment, that'll end up in the courts. I'm pretty confident of that.

PAUL: So Errol, I want to listen to something that Lindsey Graham said earlier this week regarding witnesses.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): But if you open up that can of worms, we'll want the FBI to come in and tell us about how people actually pre-planned these attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:30:04]

PAUL: Do you get the sense that Capitol police and other law enforcement entities from January 6th are in some sense going to be on trial here as well, at least from a public standpoint?

LOUIS: From a public standpoint, to the extent that they start turning up all of this information, there are going to be a lot of questions asked about a lot of people. I mean, let's keep in mind, Capitol Hill remains a crime scene and there are hundreds of cases. There are -- I don't know, how many 302s that have been taken?

Statements from witnesses, all kinds of visual data. All kinds of tracking information about where people came from and how they knew where to go and so forth. All of that stuff that comes out is going to be immensely embarrassing to a whole lot of people, without regard to political affiliation. I think it's going to make the Republicans look a lot worse than they expect.

And I think that's what Lindsey Graham is warning against. They don't want to go down that road. And that's why, again, I think they're going to stick over and over again to the question of constitutionality and why are we even talking about this?

PAUL: Elie Honig and Errol Louis, we value so much your voices and your expertise here, thank you, gentlemen.

LOUIS: Thanks Christi --

HONIG: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, almost 200 people have been charged in the Capitol riots, none so far facing the most serious charge of sedition. We'll talk about that. Plus, the former chief of the Capitol police is talking about what he calls a delay in getting the help he needed to stop those rioters.

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[06:35:00] PAUL: Thirty-five minutes past the hour right now, good morning to

you. Do you realize today marks one month since the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol? And so far, around 190 people have been charged by the Justice Department. No higher-level charges at this point, such as sedition have been brought, though.

BLACKWELL: Investigators are still trying to build a murder case in the death of the Capitol police officer. CNN's Marshall Cohen is with us now from Washington. Talk to us about the latest of the investigation, Marshall.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, guys. Well, as you mentioned, it's exactly one month ago, and since then, the Justice Department has brought nearly 200 cases, still struggling in some places, but moving forward with other defendants. And I want to give you some updates on what's been progressing just in the last day.

The Proud Boys far right extremist group, they've had about ten of their members or supporters charged as part of this sprawling investigation. And just last night in a court filing, the Justice Department said that there's no reason to suspect that they would stop fomenting, quote, "rebellion", in this country. That's their words, not mine.

"Rebellion", so some pretty strong language there on the Proud Boys. Separately, here in Washington yesterday, a federal judge ordered the release of one of the alleged Capitol rioters, a county commissioner from New Mexico who has previously made all kinds of very disparaging and violent statements against Democrats.

One time, he -- this guy even said the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat. But the Justice Department wanted to keep him in jail, a judge decided to release him. She said his comments were unpatriotic and disgusting, weren't -- you know, egregious enough to warrant his continued detention.

And guys, remember that flower shop owner from Texas who wanted to go on that vacation to Mexico, well, a judge weighed in on her request last night, she's going to be allowed to go -- it's a four-day work retreat near Cancun, and so she'll be able to have a little bit of a vacation before she comes back to D.C. to deal with her felony charges, guys.

PAUL: Interesting. So, let me ask you this because we are hearing now from the former chief of the Capitol Hill police regarding how this attack on the Capitol unfolded. We're seeing a timeline now of his requests that he made --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

PAUL: To get help. What are you hearing?

COHEN: It's not pretty. It's really -- it's scary. And this is a letter from the former police chief of the U.S. Capitol police that he sent to Congress because they've requested all kinds of information from him. He says, two things, the before and the during and the after, right? So, before, he said, no one told us that they were going to -- anyone was going to storm the Capitol.

He says the FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security, nobody said that there was a specific intelligence that anyone was going to storm the Capitol. Now, guys, a lot of people have said, all he had to do is go on social media. People were broadcasting their plans. So he's pointing the fingers. People are pointing the fingers at him, but it gets even worse.

And I want to just read a quote for you about his desperate pleas during the insurrection. He said that it took a long time, listen to this, he said, quote, "I still cannot fathom why in the midst of an armed insurrection which was broadcast worldwide on television, it took the department over -- Department of Defense over three hours to approve an urgent request for National Guard support."

Guys, he said that he was asking anyone who would listen, his bosses, congressional leadership, members of the D.C. police, high-ranking officials at the Pentagon, please send help. He said in this letter, it took more than three and a half hours to arrive. They weren't even able to deal with the rioters on the scene until like 5:40 p.m. which was hours after the initial breaches. Guys?

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's stunning. And I remember that evening watching some of the security, some of the law enforcement helping people down the stairs as they left on their own --

COHEN: Right --

BLACKWELL: Volition. Marshall Cohen, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Marshall --

COHEN: Thank you. You bet.

[06:40:00]

PAUL: So, let's talk about the pandemic that continues to drag here. People who work in the restaurant industry, the hospitality sectors, they're finding it so difficult to stay employed. Is there hope for some sort of Summer rebound? We'll talk about that, next.

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BLACKWELL: Friday's jobs report shows the U.S. labor market slightly, very slightly improved in January.

[06:45:00]

PAUL: It's clear America's economic recovery, it's still struggling. As the leisure and hospitality sectors specifically industries that were hit hardest by the pandemic are still shedding these workers. Here's CNN's Alison Kosik with more.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christi and Victor. The latest jobs report is more evidence that the recovery in the labor market is stalling out even though employers added 49,000 jobs in January. The nation is still down almost 10 million jobs since the pandemic began.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent. But even that's not great news. One of the main reasons it fell, a chunk of workers, 406,000 of them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, left the labor force, showing the workforce is not growing. It's a pattern that we've been seeing over the past three months.

Numbers for November and December were revised lower. That means even more jobs were lost than initially thought. And it's women who are bearing the brunt of this crisis. Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million women have left the workforce. That's according to government figures.

The disproportionate impact happening because of job losses in three sectors, education which remains a female-dominated industry. As do hospitality and retail, all which have been hammered by the pandemic. Care-giving responsibilities for children or families have also fallen on women's shoulders, and many have had to leave work because of it.

President Biden referred to the job data in making his case for a $1.9 trillion relief proposal, saying it's very clear our economy is still in trouble. But a relief bill is just one part of getting the economy back on its feet, an even bigger part, getting the virus under control.

BLACKWELL: Alison, thank you. All right, one more day now until we know if Tom Brady passes the torch to Patrick Mahomes or if he wins his seventh Super Bowl. We'll take a look ahead to the big game, next.

PAUL: And listen, you can't actually get away, I know. But join us next Sunday night for an all-new CNN original series, "STANLEY TUCCI SEARCHING FOR ITALY", you can go with him in a sense. Award-winning actor and bestselling book author Stanley Tucci coming to CNN, bringing you along for one unforgettable journey to Italy. That is next Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

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[06:50:00]

PAUL: Well, defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs sitting coach Britt Reid under investigation after a car crash left the child with some life-threatening injuries.

BLACKWELL: A tragic start to the weekend. Andy Scholes has this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT", Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning Victor and Christi. So, police in Kansas City say that Britt Reid who is the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and the linebackers coach for the team was involved in a multi-vehicle car crash Thursday night near Arrowhead Stadium that did send two children to the hospital.

Police, they say a car was disabled on an on-ramp and the driver called family members for assistance. Family members arrived and parked south of that disabled car. Then a Dodge Ram truck struck both vehicles. A search warrant first obtained by CNN affiliate "KSHB", police identified Britt Reid as the driver of the Dodge Ram.

A responding officer noted that Reid smelled of alcohol and Reid told the officer he had consumed, quote, "two to three drinks". Reid has not been charged with any crime at this time. A four-year-old and five-year-old were hurt in the crash. Police described the 5-year- old's injuries as life-threatening, but the condition of the children is unknown at this time. In a statement, the Chiefs said the team was aware of the situation and said its thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved. It's unclear if Reid will travel with the team to Tampa later today.

All right, tomorrow is Super Bowl LV from Tampa, and it features the most exciting quarterback matchup in Super Bowl history. Tom Brady versus Patrick Mahomes. Forty-three-year-old, six-time champ going up against the 25-year-old phenom.

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ROB GRONKOWSKI, TIGHT END, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: We've got two unbelievable, greatest of all-time quarterbacks. And a quarterback that is just so young and just, you know, doing things that have never been seen before. That's what's just making this Super Bowl just so special.

CHRIS GODWIN, WIDE RECEIVER, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: Tom's a g.o.a.t., you know, but I think it's pretty clear that Patrick is going to be, you know, one of if not the leader of the new generation of quarterbacks.

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SCHOLES: All right, we'll have much more on the Chiefs and Bucs later today in our CNN BLEACHER REPORT special kickoff in Tampa Bay. Coy Wire and myself going to get ready for the big game. We'll be joined by two-time Super Bowl Champion Malcolm Jenkins, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and many more, that's this afternoon, 2:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

And as the NFL season draws to a close, the league is offering to make all of its stadiums available as max COVID vaccination sites. In a letter to President Biden, Commissioner Roger Goodell said all 30 stadiums could be used, citing they have already been used as testing centers. Seven clubs are already using their facilities as vaccine sites.

All right, finally, to show you a bizarre scene during last night's NBA game between the Nets and the Raptors. Kevin Durant, he was told during warm-ups that due to an associate having an inconclusive COVID test, he couldn't play. So, he left the floor, but he was going to play in the first quarter, he did.

But then in the third quarter, they found out that, that associate tested positive. And a Nets official ran on to the court to tell the Nets that Durant had to leave. Now, the NBA said afterwards that proper protocols were followed. Durant not happy about it, he was clearly frustrated, posted several tweets including "free me".

[06:55:00]

And guys, you know, as just NBA fans kind of watch this unfold, I mean, it's just bizarre, right? That we have these situations where tests can be coming in at any moment, and you could run on the floor to pull someone off. Kevin Durant, you know, he already actually had coronavirus over the Summer. So, obviously, he and his teammates were frustrated.

PAUL: Yes, it makes you wonder, how pulling him off in the third quarter when he's already played is going to make a difference. Although, we're all just trying to get through this thing. Andy --

SCHOLES: Yes --

PAUL: Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLACKWELL: All right, behind the lies and conspiracies, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan goes inside a gathering for QAnon followers two weeks before the election. We'll get a closer look at the movement and see why supporters believe the former president was on their side.

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