Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20210125

And that is the idea of unity. If you could talk a little bit about what you see unity as being. There are some people who are defining it as being bipartisan. Others are saying it is what most of the people in the country define by some poll might believe or any number of perhaps its 50 plus 1 or 50 plus 2 or 75 . Given it is such a key part of your message and your promise, can you talk and reflect a little bit more about what is unity when you see it, as you define it . I think it makes several of the issues, points you made. One is unity requires you to take away eliminate the v vitriol. The other persons personality, lack of integrity, or theyre not decent legislators and the like. We have to get rid of that. I think thats already beginning to change, but god knows where things go, number one. Unity also is trying to reflect what the majority of the American People, democrat, republican, independent, think is within the fulcrum of what needs to be done to make their lives and the lives of americans better. For example, if you look at the data, and im not claiming the polling data to be exact. If you look at the data, i think its i hope im saying this you may correct me if i get the number one. I think its 57, 58 of the American People, including republicans, democrats and independents, think that we have to do something about the covid vaccine. We have to do something about making sure that people who are hurting badly, cant eat, dont have food, are in a position where theyre about to be thrown out of their apartments, et cetera, being able to have an opportunity to get a job. They all think we should be acting, we should be doing more. Unity also is trying to get, at a minimum if you pass a piece of legislation that breaks down on party lines but it gets passed, that doesnt mean there wasnt unity, it just means there wasnt bipartisan. I prefer these things to be bipartisan because im trying to generate some consensus and take the how can i say it . The vitriol out of all of this. Im confident, im confident from my discussions. There are a number of republicans who know we have to do something about Food Insecurity for people in this pandemic. Im confident they know we have to do something about figuring out how to get children back in school. Theres easy ways to deal with this. One, if youre antiunion, you can say its all because of teachers. If you want to make a case, though, that its complicated, you say, well, what do you have to do to make it safe to get in those schools . Well have arguments. For example, you know, i propose that we because it was bipartisan, i thought it would increase the prospects of passage, the additional 1,400 additional cash payment to folks. Theres legitimate reasons people say do you have the lines drawn the exact right way . Should it go to anybody making over x number of dollars . Im open to negotiate those things. I picked it because i thought it was rational, reasonable, and it had overwhelming bipartisan support in the house when it passed. This is all a bit of a moving target. In terms of precision with which this goes. 51 votes, bipartisan, et cetera. The other piece of this is that the one thing that gives me hope that were not only going to sort of stay away from the attacks on one another is that there is an overwhelming consensus among the major economists at home and in the world that at the way to avoid a deeper, deeper, deeper recession, moving in the direction of losing our competitive capacity, is to spend money now, from across the board. Every Major Institution has said if we dont invest now, were going to lose so much altitude in terms of our Employment Base and our economic growth. Its going to be harder to reestablish it. We can afford to do it now. Matter of fact, i think the response has been, we cant afford not to invest now. We cant afford to fail to invest now. I think theres a growing realization of that on the part of all but some very hardedge partisans, maybe on both sides. Whether we get it done exactly the way i want it remains to be seen. Im confident we can work our way through. We have to work our way through. There is no ability in a democracy for it to function without the ability to reach consensus. Otherwise, it just becomes executive fiat or battleground issues that get us virtually nowhere. I dont want to hold the my colleague may know, the Vice President , but i think there were very few debates on the senate floor whole last year on almost any issue. Well, that benefits no one. Doesnt inform anybody. Doesnt allow the public to make adjustments about whose they think is right or wrong. I am optimistic that it may take some time, but over the year, if we treat each other with respect were going to argue like hell. Im confident of that, believe me. I know that. Ive been there. I think we can do it in a way that we can get things done for the American People. One last question. They dont trust you with a mic. Its fine. I dont need it. Thank you, mr. President. Appreciate you taking the question. You mentioned you might know in a couple of weeks. Can i ask whether its more important for to you get something passed in a short timeframe like that, or would you be willing to wait longer to get more bipartisan support . Might i also ask that one of the pillars is the vaccine funding. When do you think any american who wants to get the shot will be able to get the shot . Well, ill try to answer the three parts of your question as i heard them. One, time is of the essence. Time is of the essence. And i must tell you, im reluctant to cherry pick and take out one or two items here, and then have to go through it again, because these are all kind of they go sort of hand in glove, each of these issues. Number one. Number two, we are optimistic that we will have enough vaccine, and in very short order. As we know, we came in Office Without knowledge how much vaccine was being held in advance or available. Weve been around a week or so. Now we have that. Weve gotten commitments from some of the producers that they will, in fact, produce more vaccine in a relatively short period of time and then continue that down the road. So im quite confident that we will be in a position within the next three weeks or so to be vaccinating people at the range of a million a day or in excess of that. That is my i promiseled we would get at least 100 million vaccinations. Thats not people. Sometimes you need more than one shot, the vaccination. 100 million shots in peoples arms of the vaccine. I think with the grace of god, the goodwill of the neighbor and the creek not rising, as the saying goes, we may be able to get that to 150,000, 1. 5 million a day rather than 1 million a day. We have to meet that goal of a million a day. Everything points that were going to have, a, enough vaccine. B, enough syringes and all the paraphernalia needed to store, keep, inject, move into your arm the vaccine. Three, a number of vaccinators, people administering the vaccine, which is not an easy task. Of those who have those facilities, like the Nursing Homes and hospitals, they have people to do it, but they dont have the capacity to do everyone. So i think were going to have were leaning hard in areas where we produce more vaccinators. We feel confident we can do that. Thirdly, its really important that we have the place, the facility, the circumstance where people can show up, stand in line and get their vaccine without having to stand in line for eight hours. Being able to pick up the phone, call the pharmacy and get your name on the list, et cetera. All those mechanical things are really they sound simple but theyre all consequential when were trying to get out a minimum of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days and move in the direction where we are well beyond that in the next 100 days so we can get to the point where we reach herd immunity in a country of over 300 million people. Does that answer your question . My question was, roughly when do you think anyone who wants one would be able to get it . Is it summer, is it fall . I think it will be this spring. I think well be able to do that this spring. But its going to be a logistical challenge that exceeds anything weve ever tried in this country. But i think we can do that. I feel confident that by summer were going to be well on our way to heading toward herd immunity and increasing the access for people who arent on the first on the list, all the way going down to children and how we deal with that. But i feel good about where were going, and i think we can get it done. Thank you, guys. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I know he always asks me tough questions. And he always has an edge to them, but i like him anyway. So go ahead and ask the question. Thank you, mr. President. So you just said that you think three weeks or so, well be at the point where there are a million vaccines per day, but it seems like no, i think well get there before that. I misspoke. I hope well be able to increase to get to the 1. 5 million a day. Thats my hope. The followup to that would be, now that youre president and youre saying theres nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months, what happened to two months ago when you were talking declaretively im going to shut down the virus . I am going to shut down the virus. It took a long time to get here. Its going to take a long time to beat it. Millions have the virus. For the first day, correct me if im wrong, ive been doing other thing this is morning, speaking with foreign leaders. One of the things i think this is one of the first days that the numbers have actually come down, the number of deaths. And the number on a daily basis and the number of hospitalizations, et cetera. Its going to take time. Its going to take a heck of a lot of time. And we still have, as dr. Fauci constantly points out, its one thing when we have mass how can i say it politely . Mass disregard of the warnings about not Wearing Masks and Wearing Masks, and social distancing and failure to social distance, and people getting together on holidays and ways that werent recommended, et cetera. The first thing that happens is we see the number of infections go up. Then you see the hospitalizations go up. Then you see the deaths go up. And so were in this for a while. What are we now, 410,000 deaths . And theres going to be more. The prediction, as i said from the very beginning of getting here, after being sworn in, was the predictions were, were going to see somewhere between a total of 600,000 and 660,000 deaths before we begin to turn the corner in a major way. So and, again, remember, the vaccine most of the people taking the vaccine are significant number require two shots and theyre an average of three weeks apart. It takes time for it to be sure that you get to that 95 assurance rate. So its beginning to move, but im confident we will beat this. We will beat this. But were still going to be talking about this in the summer. Were still going to be dealing with this issue in the early fall. And last point ill make, and i know youre tired of hearing me saying it, particularly you may be tired of hearing me saying it. And that is if we wear masks between now and the end of april, experts tell us we can save 50,000 lives. 50,000 people otherwise who will die. Thank you so very much. And welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Youve been watching President Biden at the white house moments ago. He said hes confident that the administration will soon reach 1 million Coronavirus Vaccine shots a day, but that he may be able to reach, the administration, 1. 5 million a day, if not more. President biden also signed an executive order aimed at strengthening American Manufacturing and announcing he plai plans to replace the entire fleet of federal vehicles with ame americanmade, electric cars. Biden saying its part of his plan to rebuild americans b backbone. He just said a lot. A lot to chew over. Lets start with cnns phil mattingly. Start with the relief package. Its going to be the first major test of bidens pledge to be bipartisan and also whether or not he can pass anything. Reporter yeah. Its the cornerstone legislative proposal of his first year in office, the one his administration has made very clear is the focal point of all of their efforts related to covid relief, on the economic side or the Public Health side. And its a proposal thats been received by republicans in some mix of cool to ice cold over the course of the last several days. Here is what the takeaway was from there. President biden is not done trying to negotiate with congressional republicans. Thats a different spot than you hear from those in the house and senate that would just require democratic votes because they believe thats the only pathway forward. Biden making clear, and citing his past work, both when he was president obamas Vice President , when he was a senator for 36 years, that there are options and opportunities to negotiate, including bringing up one of the issues republicans have mentioned as potentially problematic, 1,400 increase in direct payments. Republicans have raised concerns about the cutoff thresholds for that. Biden said hes open to negotiating that. Couple of pieces, moving in a partisan basis will be up to house and senate leaders. He also noted he is not keen on breaking apart his proposal. He wants to keep it together. The reason for that is because many of the piece in the Public Health and economic side are really closely intertwined and are designed to Work Together in kind of a quilt as you try to address the outstanding concerns. He also made very clear that unity, as he defined it, does not necessarily mean that republicans and democrats are all voting for something. Instead its something that the public supports. And this is something ive heard from both Administration Officials and democrats on capitol hill, that they believe on a lot of these issues, whether its more money for vaccines, more money for testing, morme money on unemployment insurance, or direct payments, they believe they hold the upper hand in terms of public sentiment there. Keep the eye on that as well. Last thing he made very clear, he wants to continue negotiating with republicans. He put a timeline on it, said it will probably be a couple of weeks. Couple of weeks for those negotiations to start to bloom at this point, jake. He may have to choose, or i suspect he will have to choose whether he wants it to be big, 1. 9 trillion or bipartisan. Unlikely he will be able to get both. Phil mattingly, thank you very much. I want to bring in cnn contributor elizabeth cohen. Elizabeth, biden was asked when will every american who wants a shot be able to get a shot . And he couldnt say. What are the complications in making this happen . Shouldnt he be able to say at this point . I realize he hasnt even been president for a week yet but still, shouldnt they have an idea of when they think they can project that every american who wants one can get a shot, even if its july or august . Reporter you know, jake, a lot of the experts im talking to say they think hes pretty smart not to be making that kind of projection. We saw what happened when the Trump Administration said last fall and the end of last year, 20 million shots in arms by the end of the year, and they didnt even get close to that. Its very difficult to predict the future. And so he may be taking a wise road there. The first is that no one has never mass produced an rna vaccine. Thats what pfizer and modernas vaccines are. It is tricky. It is a tricky thing. It is not a chemical its a biological entity theyre trying to produce, and making these vaccines is tricky. You have a shortage of one ingredient or something goes a little bit wrong in your production line and all of a sudden you can be having real output issues. Secondly, as weve seen, even once those doses are made, we have not been great at getting those distributed in an organized way, like they have in some other countries. So, those are the two challenges that sit before the Biden Administration. Biden didnt really answer a question about teachers in chicago and whether they should return to class, as the Chicago Public School System wants them to. The Teachers Union in chicago voted against it. Theyre not going to follow the orders of the Chicago Public School System, arguing there is a lack of vaccination for educators. It seems like biden is refusing to acknowledge the fact that there is increasingly a conflict between School Districts that are trying to make schools safe so kids can get back to class, inclass learning, with ppe and better ventilation and more, and Teachers Unions who are concerned about their teachers getting covid and are basically just refusing what the Health Officials say they should be doing. Jake, youre absolutely right. The president really punted on that question. When asked about this, he said we should have safe schools so the students are safe and the teachers are safe. Thats not really saying anything. Obviously, the School System thinks its safe or they wouldnt be asking them back, and obviously the teachers dont think its safe because theyre refusing to go. It will be interesting to see as things evolve, at some point will the president say, you know what . We totally understand the teachers, many of whom have underlying conditions, might be older, that they have understandable concerns about getting back in classrooms with children or young people who are often asymptomatic. They could be surrounded by young people who have covid and dont even know it. So, it will be interesting to see if he does sort of make a concession to that and say i understand why these teachers are so concerned zplt white house cant have a position of were going to go by the Health Experts except when it comes to Teachers Unions. Right. Either you listen to the Health Experts or you dont. Elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. Niamalika henderson, lets talk about the covid relief deal. President biden would not say if he would use reconciliation to get it passed. To explain for our viewers thats a process by which you only need 51 votes as opposed to 60vote threshold is normally how you do it. Theres a way to weasle your way around it. Hes making no promises. One of his key campaign selling points is that he would be able to Work Together with republicans. And this will be a big test. Of course, there were conversations this past weekend with some republicans who you would think would be on board with this. People like susan collins, mitt romney. Their concerns are about the size of the package. They sent 900 billion. Not all of that money has been dispersed. Asking republicans to get on board for this 1. 9 trillion package, at this point, is a heavy lift. Theyre expressing concerns about that. But you do also have democrats who went through the obama years, including biden, and saw how long it took to negotiate obamacare, with obama trying to get republicans on board. That, of course, never ended up happening. So youve got some progressives saying, listen, democrats now have the senate by a slim majority, with biden providing or with harris providing that 51st vote, and there is been broad support among americans for some sort of relief. And so would that be enough to essentially just go forward, or is that kind of already scuttling this big promise that biden has made, which is that he can work across the aisle and get these sort of negotiated deals and get some support from the gop . Philip, let me ask you about this schools thing. I really think that the Biden Administration is going to have to face facts here, that there is a conflict between Health Experts and Teachers Unions throughout the country. Now there are exceptions, places like cobb county where theyre not providing safe schools for the teachers to go back to. On the other hand theres virginia. Virginia teachers said they wanted to be bumped up and get vaccinations ahead of other people. They were. Still in fairfax county, virginia, Teachers Unions are saying even though teachers are getting these vaccinations, they are not ready to commit to go back to school in the fall. At some point, arent they going to have to make side with the Health Experts or the Teachers Unions directly . Yeah. I mean, theres a great report in the times and schools and young people there that have been out of contact with their peers for so long. Youre exactly right. This administration is less than a week old. This is the part you actually have to start leading and say im president , im going to resolve these issues. Its easier on the campaign trail when you have 1,000 things going at once to make these kind of claims, ill deal with this, ill deal with that. Its much harder to do that in the oval office itself. That said, it is the case that the Biden Administration came in and sort of established itself as, look, we are going to cut through the noise, follow the science on this, and we are going to be the ones who sort of move forward on whats happening with this pandemic. Now, thats the issue of schools is related to actually addressing the pan demic itself but this is very much the sort of place where voters should have expected a President Joe Biden would be able to say, okay, we can figure out how to manage the middle between these two sides here. Again, were, what, five days into this administration . Probably give them a couple more days than that. That said, this is absolutely the sort of thing that voters were expecting biden would be able to resolve. Unless, of course, hes in the pocket of the Teachers Unions. Fauci and others have been very outspoken for months and months and months, that kids going back to inperson education is a top priority and as long as teachers are wearing ppe, and students, too, and theres ventilation improvements, the risk is minimal. Its safer than in the population at large. Niamalika henderson, philip bump, to be continued. Article of impeachment to be sent to the senate. As we learn new information about an alleged plot of President Trump to help turn over the election. Well talk to the lawyer behind a massive lawsuit against former President Trumps attorney. Stay with us. Ivelihood. So when my windshield cracked. The experts at Safelite Autoglass came right to me. With service i could trust. Right, girl . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. We made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. When a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. Usaa. 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The lincoln family of luxury suvs. Today, we are learning more about the lengths to which former President Trump went to use his office or attempt to, to overturn joe bidens legitimate, clean win. Through Justice Department machinations, we learned. Cnns rienl nobles reports now. Internal watchdog at the Justice Department will investigate whether any Department Officials acted improperly to try to reverse the results of the election. Reporter in just a few hours for the second time, articles of impeachment against former President Donald Trump will arrive in the senate, starting the clock on trumps trial. First of all, i think the trial is stupid. I think its counterproductive. Reporter tonight the articles will be put on display. Tuesday, senators will be sworn in, and the summens will be issued. Sources tell cnn that Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy is expected to preside over the trial not chief justice john roberts, not constitutionally bound to do so since trump isnt in office. Then truch will have until next tuesday, february 2nd to file his answer to the impeachment. The schedule gives trumps legal team time to prepare as new details emerge about his time in office, including his reported efforts to pressure the Justice Department to look into baseless claims of voter fraud and weighing a plan to fire the acting attorney general during his final weeks in office. Details which are now being investigated by the Justice Departments inspector general. For the president to try to get an attorney general, who will just totally lie about the results of the election and cause chaos in america. Reporter the impeachment trial is also likely to highlight the growing rift in the Republican Party. I believe what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is . This trial is beyond our constitutional authority. Amid the debate about the path forward for the gop, ohio senator rob portman today announcing he will not seek reelection in 2022. Its shirts and skins, isnt it . And that makes it more difficult to find that common ground, because elected officials arent rewarded for that. Reporter the impeachment also becoming a flash point among house republicans, with floridas matt gase, loyal trump supporter, planning a trip to wyoming to target liz cheney after the third ranking republican in the house voted to impeach trump. Cheneys office responding by poking fun at gase for wearing makeup during interviews, a source telling cnn in wyoming, men dont wear makeup. Reporter responding to that criticism about cheneys office, saying issues with cheney arent personal, its about the future of the Republican Party and is very different from liz chains and that could be in the backs of the minds of republican senators, as they dlib rate whether or not to convict President Trump in this impeachment trial, many believe President Trump will have very passionate support among the partys base and its unlikely 17 of them will Cross Party Lines and vote to convict. Jake . I remember when matt gase brought a holocaust denier to the house. A real leader. Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell. Congressman, the path to convict trump in the senate is rather unlikely. You would need 17 republicans to join all 50 democrats. What makes you think youre going to be successful, convicting him . I dont like what our country would look like if we didnt do this for the sake of accountability. I think of black americans whose votes this president incited a crowd to go to the capitol and disenfranchise, deterrence. It would only be in the final days of a presidency where you try to pull off a coup. We have to show well hold a president accountable all the way up till the last moments, and disqualification. This president has such a disdain for Public Safety and the constitution that we dont ever want to see him in office again because he would do this again. We have to try it. We have the evidence and well make the best case. As ryan just reported, we keep learning more information. For example, it was just uncovered that President Trump was discussing with a different Justice Department official replacing his acting attorney general, rosen, with this other individual who would go along with his false claims of election fraud. A, do you plan to incorporate any of this new information in your case against the president . And, b, might there be some wisdom in waiting a few months just for the investigation into what happened to bear more facts . So, jake, a, i cant reveal trial tactics. And, b, i hear you on that but were ready to go and the senate is ready to receive them. The evidence you referred to is powerful motive evidence he was willing to stay in office at any means necessary. That this was not a january 6th heat of passion crime, where he just got worked up in the moment and let the statements that he made about fighting and not showing weakness, and calling the crowd a calvary, that it wasnt just spontaneous. That for months he wanted to hold on to power and he knew he could invite those supporters, inflame them, and incite them to go to the capitol. Republican minority leader Kevin Mccarthy said he spoke to President Trump during the capitol siege. Do you plan to call Kevin Mccarthy as a witness . Were still waiting to see if the senate will allow witnesses. Senators themselves are witnesses, and ben sasse has given public statements about he called the white house and was told during the siege that the president was taking great delight in what was happening. So, this is an extraordinarily unique situation where the jurors are witnesses and victims, and the crime scene also is the courtroom. So you might call ben sasse . No, no, im not saying that. Were waiting to see what the rules will be around that. Again, were not going to reveal any tactics this early until we know what the rules are. But just to underline, youre not ruling out mccarthy, or ruling in . Ill leave that to our team to decide. Well be ready. Were ready to go right now. Again, these senators, unlike most trials, they were witnesses to the crime. You dont have to tell them twice what happened. House republicans have called for you to step down from the House Intelligence Committee because of this situation. You were informed by the fbi that you had been targeted by an alleged chinese spy, who i guess is no longer in the country. Have you learned any more about this case since this broke in early december . And can you clarify how much contact you had with this chinese national, who goes by fang fang or Christine Fang . A meeting that i had as a volunteer in 2012 on the campaign. The fbi has said that i did nothing wrong. Dont take it from me. There was no wrongdoing. Ive learned nothing new. Speaker pelosi has said she is keeping me on the committee. By the way, jake, republicans were briefed on this conduct, that this individual was trying to do with me and many other members of congress, back in 2015. I think this is retaliation more than anything else. Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell of california, thank you very much. Thank you. Dominion voting systems is suing Rudy Giuliani for 1. 3 billion for spreading conspiracy theories in multiple appearances when he discussed dominion in the 2020 election, including georgia, one of the many states where President Trump refuses to accept that he lost fair and square. The attorney representing dominion, tom claret, joins me now. Thank you for joining us. You also sued trumps other attorney, sydney powell. Although i dont know if he acknowledges her anymore. When asked if you would sue former President Trump, you said youre not ruling anybody out. How are you determining who you sue . For example, trump, anchors at fox, they all pushed the lie quite a bit. They also have a lot of money to defend themselves. Does that factor into your decision . Were looking at everybody who trafficked in this misinformation campaign. Were taking the very evidencebased approach to it. Dominion is in this for the long haul to make sure it gets vindicated and the American People have confidence in the election that just took place and have confidence in dominions role in the election. Were looking carefully at each speaker, the evidence we have, and were going to be coming after each person or media outlet that played a role in portraying this disinformation campaign. We have not ruled anyone out. We have sued sydney powell, Rudy Giuliani thus far. And we expect there will be many, many more. Giuliani pushed these conspiracy theories. Weve been very clear from the very beginning, false, deranged, unhinged. He pushed them not just standing in his living room. Went on to oann, went on to fox, fox business. To you plan to sue those Media Outlets . Were looking at all of those outlets, jake. Were looking at, obviously, rudy and sydney powell could not have done this alone. They obviously made the statement and they continued to push, but they did it with a very, very loud megaphone provided to them by many others. Some youve mentioned and others that you havent. Were going to take a look at each one of them and the level of irresponsibility and recklessness by putting these folks on the air to spread this disinformation to the american public, and damage dominion in the process. Giuliani just said on his radio show that he has reports and analyses of dominion machines, and he can prove that they were, in fact, manipulated. He said he even got it on tape. Just for the record, Rudy Giuliani has been lying about this stuff for months. I dont believe it. Its crazy. That said, whats your response . Well, its exactly the reason why dominion needs to move this discussion into a courtroom, because its very easy to say you have evidence on your own radio show on our social media or on twitter but we want this in a courtroom where theres rules of evidence and you have to produce your evidence. You cant just talk about it. Thats why weve taken this step and were going to encourage mr. Giuliani to put his evidence forward in court where it will be evaluated by a judge and ultimately a jury to find out whether its true or not. Isnt donald trump the leal leading purveyor of this information . He had the biggest mega phone. What would be the reason to sue rudy and sydney powell but not the leading purveyor of this big lie . Were not going to rule anybody out. We will have access to discovery in these lawsuits, evaluate the roles of people behind the scenes. I expect as we wee get into discovery and we learn what peoples roles were, there will be additional lawsuits if we believe we can make a case, we will. Discovery works both ways, as you know. Giuliani today was saying he was excited because this lawsuit from your company will allow him to investigate your companys history and finances and practices fully and completely. He said hes going to, quote, have a lot of fun with the discovery process. Is there not a risk i understand what youre doing. You want to stop these lies that have hurt your company, not to mention hurt the country, but is there a risk that allowing giuliani and his flying monkeys of deranged conspiracy theories into your information that this could create even more conspiracy theories . Well, unfortunately, these crazy and false allegations left the company with no other choice but to take this step to protect itself and defend its reputation. But we have no concern. We obviously understand were going to be litigating in a public forum and the discovery goes two ways, and dominion is not backing way from that. We think its important for the American People to have it laid out in both directions so they can judge for themselves, and were prepared to conduct discovery in both directions. Because of letters you sent to fox, a number of their anchors, pirro, bartiromo and lou dobbs air this had odd video that provided facts about dominion, despite the lies that they had all been providing themselves. Was that enough for you . Well, im not going to speak specifically about those because we havent yet pursued those sorts of claims. I can tell you none of the retractions or apologies that have been put forward thus far are really sufficient to really set the record straight. Its too little, too late. The damage has been done. This company has been destroyed. Its been labeled as radioactive. Its contracts have been put in jeopardy. Its employees are getting death threats. There will have to be more accountability than that. Giuliani mentioned dominion in his speech hours before the terrorist attack on capitol hill. He also said he talked about dominion numerous times on social media amid the breach. The insurrectionists bragged about defending the United States of america from dominion on social media. What concerns you the most about how willing and receptive some of trumps supporters and terrorists have been to these conspiracy theories . Well, i think what that really shows is that words have consequences in the world. People dont just listen to this crazy disinformation and tune it out and go about their business. It affects them. They internalize it. It affects their actions. It affects their willingness to act. In some instances it could motivate them to get on a plane and fly to the nations capitol and stand in the National Mall and listen to a speech. It creates an environment where real actions take place in the real world and there has to be accountability for that. There has to be accountability for having that effect on people that could be a danger to other private citizen entitled to their reputation, entitled to go to work every day and earn a living for their families. Its the reason one of the reasons why were bringing this claim. Tom clare, attorney representing dominion voting systems, stay in touch. It is important to stand up for facts and truth in this day and age, when both are in short supply in some quarters. And i believe your ceo of dominion will be on chris cuomos show later on tonight. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, jake. A new, scary warning about the uk variant of the coronavirus that is already here in the u. S. Thats next. Plus the gop turning on its own. Well go visit a swing state where trumps hold on the Republican Party is causing a war within the party. Stay with us. In our health lead today, moderna says its vaccine is expected to protect against new strains of coronavirus but is working on a booster shot that could be more effective against these new strains. Highly contagious and what appears more deadly uk variant is spreading in the u. S. And in 45 other countries. Dr. Fauci says hes more worried about a South African variant, as cnn aerica hill now reports. Reporter the virus variant first discovered in the uk is not just more transmissible. Scientists say it could also be more deadly. They became convinced it is, in fact, a bit more virulent, making it more difficult when you get to the point of serious disease and even death. So i believe their data. Reporter as the variant spreads here in the u. S. , the push is on to boost the pace of vaccinations. Moderna expects its vaccine will, to some degree, protect against the variant. Theres just one problem. I cant tell you how much vaccine we have. If i cant tell it to you, i cant tell it to the governors and i cant tell it to the state Health Officials. Reporter thats the new cdc director, and that problem is forcing scheduled appointments to be put on hold. New york city does not have enough doses. Reporter planned for mass vaccination sites, new yorks citi field was supposed to open today. Paused. The Biden Administration once again shifting its message. 100 million shots in first 100 days in office, thats a floor, not a ceiling. Reporter just over half of the 41 million doses distributed nationwide are now in arms. Amazon helping out with logistics. Average new cases down in every state the past week. There is now clear evidence that the peak has passed in the United States. Cases are dropping rapidly. Reporter covid hospitalizations also declining. California lifting regional stayathome orders for 90 of the state as icu availability increases. Massachusetts ending its curfew today, but not ohio. Unfortunately, its going to have to stay. Reporter deaths still far too high, nearing 420,000, including this ohio couple. Childhood sweethearts who died within minutes of one another, holding hands. They taught us all really what love is. Reporter mayor diblasio says in new york city, more vaccine is needed. He believes the city could administer as many as 500,000 doses a week this week theyre scheduled to receive 107,000. Obviously not enough. Thats why being slated to open today, the mass vaccination site behind me at citi field is still on hold. Erica hill, thank you so much. I want to bring in the dean of Brown University school of health. Dr. Jha, thanks. The South African strain, they said, had a sixfold reduction. How worried are you about the South African strain of coronavirus . Jake, first of all, thanks for having me on. I am not that worried yet. I want to use the word yet, for two reasons. First weve not seen the South African variant in the United States yet. Second, despite that reduction in kind of neuralizing antibodies, i still think theres good reason to believe that the vaccine will be effective. And we can also create a booster against the South African variant. I dont want to blow it off. Im not saying its irrelevant. Its not any reason to be substantially concerned. Moderna is testing a booster to help better protect against the variants. How long might it take to develop a booster . Yeah. Again, obviously, were in new territory. I think what im hearing is that its probably a four to sixweek process. And it will raise really important questions. How much testing would we need to do of that booster . We probably dont want to or need to run brand new Clinical Trials but would probably want to do some testing before we gave it out widely. Issues it to still sort out. Its going to be the order of weeks, not many, many months. When you go out, people in your family go out, do you with an wear one mask, n95 mask, two masks . Should we all be doubling up on masks . What do you think . Ill tell you what i do, jake. For most outdoor things that go for a walk with a friend, take my dog out for a walk, i wear a single mask. Cloth mask is fine. Surgical mask is fine. If im going to be indoors at all for any extended period of time, i do double mask. I wear a kf 94, readily available on Online Retail stores. N95s are resolved for health care workers. Kn95s are high quality you can get. Then i put a cloth or surgical mask on top of it. Those two layers really do offer protection in higherrisk situations. Dr. Jha, obviously, when it comes to opening schools we want the schools to be safe for especially for teachers since older people are more susceptible. But we keep seeing now these situations where schools and Health Experts say its time to open the schools. Theyre really Damaging Health impact on kids and as long as kids as long as everyone is wearing a mask, and we have improved the ventilation system in the school, this is what we should do. We keep seeing Teachers Union across the country saying no, were not going to do that. Were still worried about our teachers. Where do you come down on this . It seems like democrats, when they ran for the white house, said we support the science. We support the science. When it comes to this conflict between Health Officials and Teachers Unions theyre pretending there isnt a conflict. Yeah. First of all, i think President Biden has been clear. He wants to get schools open. I think thats the right thing to do. Weve got to get schools open. I think all of us are saying we have to get schools open safely. Mask wearing is a critical part of that. A lot of schools have not improved ventilation, jake. And the last point is ive argued back to september that we should have some level of testing. So, a combination of those three things allow us to open up schools safely. Thats the key part there. Obviously, people will disagree with that. Science on that is pretty clear. Okay. So you think as long as theres improved ventilation, testing and ppe, but those are important. You cant just short change it. Dr. Ashish jha, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Former President Trump left the who white house with the Republican Party in more turmoil than ever before. As kyung lah reports, its evidenced in the key battleground state of arizona. Keep arizona ready redd and to make America Great again. Reporter donald trump may have lost the 2020 election, but he has not lost the arizona Republican Party. However trump rolls is how the Republican Party is going to roll. Reporter this is the first gathering of the arizona Republican Party this weekend since trumps defeat. Good morning, arizona patriots reporter in just four years of trumps maga messaging, voters in this once reliably republican state voted to elect two Democratic Senators and a democratic president. But here, members punish their own for not being trump enough. Good afternoon, everyone. Reporter gopcensures doug ducey, the widow of the late john mccain, cindy mccain, and jeff flake. Covid cases spiked, flake and mccain for not backing trump. Did you vote for john mccain . I voted for john mccain. That was then say these lifelong arizona republicans. This is today. Are you concerned about the censure of cindy mccain . No. Im sorry. I voted for john mccain. Im here to increase the Republican Party by making it a maga party. I finally had to say no. I dont want to be associated with the arizona Republican Party. Reporter thats it, says cj deagle, married father of two hoped after this his party would move away from donald trump. They didnt. When you go down that path and thats how you gain your notoriety, when you abandon de decency, its hard to go back. Diegel changed his party registration, among the more than 9,000 republicans who the secretary of state says changed their affiliation since the insurrection at the capitol. We have a bankrupt party in the state and it needs to be rebuilt. Reporter and remade, away from the images of arizonas arrested at the capitol, two winning state wide elections. Obviously, i wear a different hat than the guy in the horns, you know, but its definitely time for a reset. Reporter is what the az gop doing turning the page . Absolutely not. I have no idea what theyre doing. Reporter the state party seems intent to stay on the path forged by trump, led by farright chairwoman kelly ward. We have to stop the steal. Reporter who played an audio message from trump at the state party meeting. I give my complete and total endorsement to kelly ward. Thank you very much. Reporter and was reelected. Just lost kyung lah. Our coverage continues right now. Ill see you tomorrow. Thanks so much. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were following breaking news. Less than two hours from now, the house of representatives will deliver to the u. S. Senate an article of impeachment against former President Trump, charging him with incitement of insurrection in connection with attack on the u. S. Capitol as lawmakers were certifying the Electoral College votes. Trump is the First American president ever to be impeached twice. Meanwhile, President Biden is pushing ahead with his agenda