Transcripts For CNN Anderson Cooper 360 20240711

Honor, ra a reminder of the insurrection that caused his death on the 6th of january. The United States senators whose lives and staffers lives he died protecting is being asked to show bravery, as well. House Impeachment Managers and the ex president s legal team today presented their briefs in next weeks Impeachment Trial and the insurrection at the heart of that trial is not ancient history. They will be weighing decisions with the seat of American Democracy and their workplace still showing the scars from an attack unlike any weve seen in our lives. The managers case is straightforward. They plan to use video of the president s rally leading up to this and comments by his violent supporters to show he instigated the attack and plan to rebut the notion a president cannot be tried after leaving office. As for the defense, well, their brief begins with a mistake, a pretty sloppy one at the top of page one as you see there, the lawyers misspelled United States. Those are the expresident s lawyers. From there they argue that in expresident cannot be convicted on constitutional grounds. In addition, though they make a claim thats easily disproved, reading from their brief quote it is admitted that after the november election, the 45th President exercised his First Amendment right under the constitution to express his belief that the Election Results were suspect. The brief goes on to say quote insufficient evidence exists upon which a jurist could conclude that the 45th President s statements were accurate or not and thereafter denies they were false. Insufficient evidence . A reasonable jurist . Keep in mind more than 60 reasonable jurists decided otherwise already. They were elected judges and appointed judges and republican judges and trump appointees and they sit on the United States Supreme Court. The claims made by the president s motley mob of attorneys in the weeks after the election were without merit. They all decided the Election Results were not suspect. The State Of Georgia recounted their ballot three times. Is that somehow insufficient evidence . In fact, when the expresident asked this at his rally, he already had the answer. By the way, does anybody believe that joe had 80 million votes . Does anybody believe that . Yeah, 80 Million People at least do. Every single Secretary Of State, also, democrat and republican believed it. Every single Secretary Of State in every state. Is that insufficient evidence . Is it insufficient evidence that one even told the former president directly just a few days before the rally Georgia Republican and supporter of the former president , prachbz brad raffensperger, here is a portion of their phone call. We have won this election in georgia based on this and there is nothing wrong with saying that, brad. The people in georgia are angry and the people in the country are angry and there is nothing wrong with saying, you know, that youve recalculated. Mr. President , the challenge that you have, the data you have is wrong. The data you have is wrong. Is that insufficient evidence . Again, thats the guy who voted for the former president who wanted him to win. He just didnt want to lie and cheat for him and here is his deputy, also republican back in december warning the former president about the violent consequences of lying about Election Fraud. Mr. President , you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. Someones going to get hurt. Someones going to get shot. Someones going to get killed. That was more than a month before the attack. Four days later, armed Trump Supporters descended on the home of michigan Secretary Of State stoked by the defeated president s false claims about Election Fraud there. A week later, socalled stop the steal rallies across the country turned violent. You see it there. Four people are stabbed in washington. That same morning at 8 05, the president tweets quote i won the election in a landslide. House Impeachment Managers plan to show precisely this incite ment and effect. From what the president says to what his violent supporters do. Not all his supporters are violent, far from it. But were talking about the summary judgments. Blaeb this video compiled by the organization shows the former president s remarks on the 16th Of January Synchronized from videos posted mainly on social media. Here is a portion. Were going to walk town to the capitol. [ cheers ] were going to walk down to the capitol. [ cheers ] and were not going to be cheering too much for some of them. They will never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength yes. [ cheers ] invade the capitol building. Do the right thing. Take the capitol take the capitol take the capitol take the capitol right now so thats how the former president s words were received by a number of people who have been fed a diet month after month of lies by the former president. Weve been told they had been told not to believe the officials, the judges, the Supreme Court judges, not to believe the electors. Theyve been told both that both day and night, day after day, that they had every right to be angry. Yet somehow his attorneys in their filing today said, quote, if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore had anything to do with the action at the capitol as it was clearly about the need to fight for Election Security in general. It sure doesnt seem like a lot of the folks who attacked the capitol were just doing it for Election Security in general. That didnt seem to be the rallying cry. Some of them were overly choreography this overtly comparing this to a new American Revolution and chanting about hanging mike pence. Thats what were doing, fighting back. Whats the point . Whats the end game . Whats the point . Yeah. Were losing our freedom. What do you mean whats the point . Describe it to me. You not even knowing i will describe it to you. Explain it to me what are we supposed to do . Okay . Tell me. The Supreme Court isnt helping us. No one is helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it. Lets go what are you going to do . Whatever we have to do. What do you think 1776 was . What do you think 1776 was . That guys name is bardon shilvel. Hes been charged with aiding and abetting, forcibly assaulting or interfering with a federal officer and violent entry. The president s team of attorneys will be arguing that he was just at the Capitol Fighting Metaphorically for Election Security in general. Looking at the capitol tonight, hard not to think of everything that happened there not even a month ago and the seven lives lost in the wake of it, lives taken, not lost. And shortly tonight, one of the fallen returns home to it. The question now is how will he be honored by the men and women he protected and the democracy he died to save. Perspective from benjamin ginsburg, and pete bharara, former u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. So ben, the filing from the former president s legal team alleging his claims of voter fraud cannot be proven false, what do you make of their filing . They had a simple task to keep the 45 republican senators that voted with them on the constitutionality provision happy, and they opened up a couple of doors that are going to cause great nervousness for that secrete jury. One of them is the First Amendment part that he was using protected speech, even though it led to the incitement of a riot and the notion that there was not sufficient proof to show that he was wrong in his remarks is nonsense. There were all the court cases that you referred to before, the certificates by the individual states, that their votes were correct. And what are you saying about the election has never received any evidence at all and thats going to make the republican senators quite nervous. Pete, do you agree with that . What ben is saying, essentially, is just the argument alone of its unconstitutional, you cannot put a former president you cannot impeach a former president , you cant put him on trial for impeachment for when he was in office if they had just stuck to that, that would give cover to a lot of senators to say, yeah, well, i agree with that. We dont need to go to the merits of the charges because just unconstitutional. Look, i mean, these jurors are not traditional jurors and that you see in a criminal or civil trial in federal or state jurisdictions, and they can choose to base their vote on anything they want and choose to base their vote on a constitutional argument that by the way, is not only wrong if you talk to the overwhelming majority of legal experts but also as failed with respect to a particular vote in the senate. We already have that vote. 5545. Including five republicans said it is okay and constitutional and proper and legal to proceed. You can, in fact, have a senate trial of impeachment with respect to a former president so in some ways, that question is settled and i dont know that senators at either party have much pause when it comes to what their strong believes are and on the republican side, what they want to avoid saying or doing. Ben, is that settled . I mean, the argument that a former president can be impeached . I dont think its settled. Theres not any sort of court ruling about it. The congress is a judge of their own procedures, and theres nothing to stop the 45 republican senators from voting not to convict because theyre wrong about the constitutionality argument. There is no consequence against that, which is way the democrats need to present and have indicated theyre going to present sort of a strong visual, emotional case to try and get the republicans nervous. And again, that brief filed today is helpful to the democrats, actually. Helpful to the democrats because it raises uncomfortable questions that challenge republicans . Yes, precisely. I mean, the notion that donald trump was right about Election Fraud is an argument that republican senators dont have to make. Remember, even when they were challenging the state certifications on january 6th, they never argued that there was fraud involved. Now Donald Trumps lawyers have brought that Subject Back Up in that portion of their answer that you just read. Preet, when you look at what was filed by the president s attorneys, they misspelled the United States in their filing right off the top. They did. How does Something Like that just fall through the cracks . I mean, is it just theyre rushing to get it to kinkos to print . Look, its not a brilliant piece of legal writing, but to give them some credit and to forgive them somewhat, they dont have a lot to work with. I think the arguments that the president is making and the arguments they must have had to make with their client, the president , given the reporting about a raft of lawyers resigning from the case a few days ago, its a very challenging thing apparently, both financially because he doesnt like to pay his bills apparently and substantively to represent the president this president , former president of the United States, so they dont have a lot to work with. Theyre being dictated things probably literally probably sentences being dictated by donald trump. They were in a rush because they were only retained recently and this is the product you get. By contrast, you have a very carefully thought out i mean, just trying to be objective about it, you have a wellwritten 80page submission with democrats in favor of the conviction of the article of impeachment that lays out i think a very clear narrative, marshalls the evidence and makes legal arguments that make sense and to my quick eye no glaring typos on page one. So preet, as a former prosecutor, how do you think the house managers should go about presenting their case . There was a reference earlier that ben made to the possibility that theyre going to make an emotional case based on videos and arguments that appeal to passion. Ordinarily somebody might think that doesnt make the best possible case. You argue facts and rules, but think about what is being alleged here. Whats being alleged here is that the president of the United States incited on insurrection. The way you incite an insurrection is appealing to passion and causing people knowing they are able to be warning signs, including probably from his own Law Enforcement officials and certainly, as you pointed out, from the Election Official in georgia, that if you dont tone down the rhetoric, bad things are going to happen. People will be armed and killed. That turned out to be true. So the entire nature of the proceeding, because of the nature of the crime, the high crime or misdemeanor being charged, is very saturated with emotion. And so i think its an appropriate way for them to go about it to show the public that donald trump had every reason to foresee that violence would occur if he spoke the way he spoke and didnt calm people down. Yeah. And that he wanted to overturn the election. It wasnt just that he was promoting this idea of protest. He wanted a particular action. He wanted that action from the secretary of the State Of Georgia. He wanted that action from his own Vice President , mike pence, and when those things failed and a bunch of that i mentioned, he wanted those protesters, the context shows, to figure out a way by force to impede the counting of the votes and overturn the election. I think thats clear. Appreciate it. Thank you. Joining us is Hakim Jeffreys that served in the president s first trial. Thanks for being with us. What do you make of the trump teams legal argument that the trial is unconstitutional because donald trump is no longer president and his speech is protected because there is no proof that he was wrong about Election Fraud . Well, certainly a settled question that the trial can proceed even when a former executive branch, elected official or official has stepped down. The very nature of an insurrection, by definition, is it will come at the end of a president s term to halt the peaceful transfer of power. And so it would defy logic and accountability if someone could simply halt a trial because there was a failed coup attempt or failed attempt at sedition and insurrection, and, therefore, escape accountability. And so i think that that is an argument that is not compelling at all. And with respect to the alleged truthfulness of the president s remarks, every reasonable person in america knows that joe biden won the election. He won the election by more than 80 million votes. Hes governing now on behalf of people who voted for him and voted against him, working on tough challenges on behalf of the american people. And that it was donald trump who was the individual who refused to accept the results and radicalize millions of people which resulted in the violent attack on the capitol on january 6th. The idea the Defense Theme would include the false claims in the former response to congress and state insufficient evidence exists to make a determination on those claims, ben ginsburg was saying that its just ridiculous. I mean, those claims have been rejected and some 60 court cases. We have a client in the former president , the twiceimpeached president and a disgraced president who is directing his legal team to do his bid and go carry out this narrative fantasy of the presidency being stolen. The big lie continues to be perpetrated by donald trump. And thats why we are where we are. And the hope is there will be enough decent and fairminded Senate Republicans who are going to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the constitution, and let the chips fall where they may once the compelling evidence by the Impeachment Managers is presented and hold him accountable for the charge of inciting a violent insurrection. The rules of the trial are still being finalized. Senator Lindsey Graham on fox news yesterday said if democrats hold a lengthy trial, including calling witnesses, it could open quote a pandoras box. What do you make of that . Well, i think Lindsey Graham is divorced from reality at this particular point in time because hes no longer in charge of making these decisions on his side of the aisle and suppressing the ability of witnesses to be called or threatening to call irrelevant witnesses. That was the gain that the republican senators played during the last Impeachment Trial when they controlled the majority but there is a in new sheriff in town as it relates to whats going on in the senate, and fairness is going to dictate the witnesses that i believe will be called in this trial. And thats a good thing for truth, for justice, and for the american people. Congressman hakeem jeffries, appreciate your time. Breaking news on what happens to the freshman republican congresswoman who questioned if the Parkland Shooting was a false flag operation and doubted whether a plane really hit the Pentagon On 9 11. Not to mention her support of qanon beliefs. What the party will do or wont do and what it will say about the party. George conway joins us and the covid variance and how concerned we should about them. Well have a researcher and compare what lies ahead to a category 5 hurricane. Wanna build a Gaming Business that breaks the internet . That means working night and day. And delegating to an experienced live bookkeeper for Peace Of Mind. Your books are all set. So you can finally give john some attention. Trusted experts. Guaranteed accurate books. Intuit quickbooks live. Dad, im scared. Its only human to care for those we love. And also help light their way. Its why last year chevron invested billions of dollars to bring affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy to america. 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Feel the cool rush of claritin cool mint chewables. Powerful 24hour, nondrowsy, allergy relief plus an immediate Cooling Sensation for your throat. Feel the clarity, and live claritin clear. Were waiting for word from a meeting happening now between the Top Republican in the house and freshman republican Marjorie Taylor greene, the Conspiracy Theory supporting republican from georgia whom the former president called a future star. Shes a qanon supporting among other things, facing possible disciplinary action from congress and perhaps her own party for remarks shes made in the past. Here she is in some newly uncovered video before a protest two years ago advocating her followers stormed the capitol. If we flood the capitol building, flood all the government buildings, go inside, these are public buildings. We own them. We own these buildings. Do you understand that . We own the buildings and pay all the people that work in the buildings. We asked the congresswomans office for comment on the video and got no reply. Shes still tweeting, including a retweet of a letter with unproven allegations of house members. Republican leaders showed signs of losing patience with her but they seem more willing to discipline members such as liz cheney. George conway, good to have you on the program again. So this new congress has been in session for almost a month. What does it say that republicans cant decide if theyre the party of liz cheney and mitt romney and donald trump and Marjorie Taylor greene . I think were watching, if it hasnt happened already, the moral collapse of the Republican Party. This is a product of four years of people who knew better being silent about donald trump, who himself was a conspiracy theorist who told 30,000 lies this office, who talked about ridiculous fake miracle cures like for covid who pretended like covid would go away and told the biggest lie of all that resulted in violence, the big election lie that he had actually won the election by a landslide but he was cheated out out of it. And in the last three months of his term, he tried to destroy, i mean, this is what the impeachment is about he tried to destroy constitutional democracy in the United States of america. And through all of that republicans were largely silent they didnt call him out on this. And the problem now is this Conspiracy Theoryism, the qanon insanity, all of this has metastasized. And a significant portion of it devoted to not just donald trump but insanity. I dont know how you have a Republican Party that can survive with the likes of liz cheney being attacked for standing up for the rule of law and meanwhile, this woman Marjorie Taylor greene propounding bizarre theories and saying that the speaker of the house should be assassinated and talking about jewish space lasers. I dont know how this party can survive like that. What do you make of the slew of republican senators criticizing Marjorie Taylor greene . Are they trying to get on the record, Al Bae Beit Belatedly for the sake of their reputations or do you give them more credit than that . Jim i think said to cameras before or said to cnn before he didnt think Kevin Mccarthy was going to take her off her Committee Assignments. Yeah, i think they are concerned, many of these senators about her. They should be. Its destroying the Republican Party to have, you know, the insurrection, to have this is scaring away middle class voters in the suburbs of swing states and elsewhere. They should be terrified you have Lindsey Graham today saying hes giving Marjorie Taylor greene the benefit of the doubt because he had a quote very pleasant time traveling with her and wants to know if her social media posts were manipulated. I mean yeah, thats their problem is theyre scared of this and what this is doing to the stature of the party in these suburban enclaves, but theyre terrified of the base, which has been saturated with these toxic lies. Theyre caught between these two elements and i dont know how its sustainable. It did seem like Lindsey Graham had a moment like the night of the insurrection where he said im done. You know, i hate that it ended this way. You know, he was a president of consequence which means, you know, thats praise that doesnt mean anything. But now it seems like he gets yelled at in the airport and all of a sudden, he just won a new term. Hes got six years. I dont understand what hes so scared about. I dont, either. Id rather if i were in the position of a Lindsey Graham, id rather go down fighting for truth and reasonableness and the rueful rule of law. Hes terrified of these people and thats the problem that we have created with the republicans are created by not standing up to donald trump for four years is a monster. They cant they are terrified of a base that is saturated with these lies where fox news isnt even good enough for them anymore. They have to go to other outlets like one America News Network to get their fill of what they want to believe even if it completely defies reality. So what happens . I dont know how you walk back from that brink. So what happens . I mean, where does what happens for the Republican Party . I dont know. I mean, i dont know how i think that the Republican Party, if it keeps going down this path, is going to start bleeding educated, suburban voters who are reasonable, maybe conservative, but not extreme, and who are reality based. Theyre going to continue to bleed those people. It may well be too late if even people stand up to Marjorie Taylor greene because there are so many people in the house who may not be quite as outspoken or bad in the sense that they say crazy things all the time, but they say crazy things some of the time and, you know, 140 or so members of the house bought on to the president s Big Lie Theory even after yes even after the insurrection. George, if you could stay there. Were getting news from capitol hill on this. Cnn ryan nobles at the capitol now. Late word on the congresswoman. Ryan, whats the word . Reporter thats right, anderson. Were told that the Republican House leader Kevin Mccarthy has called members of the Steering Committee into a private meeting. Now, this is significant because the Steering Committee is the body thats responsible for deciding who sits on house committees, who represents the Republican Party at these house committees. Now, as far as we can tell, the meeting between empathy and Marjorie Taylor greene is ongoing. Weve seen both greene and Mccarthy Come In And Out of his office, go onto the house floor to cast votes and then go back Behind Closed Doors to continue their conversation. But the fact that mccarthy would now take the step bringing the Steering Committee into the room would indicate there could be movement as it relates to her future on these committees. Now, we dont know what is happening in this conversation right now. It is Behind Closed Doors and it is ongoing, but it is a Significant Development that the Steering Committee members have been brought into the conversation. Interesting. Well keep checking with you. George conway is back with us. George, you know, its always a danger to read tea leaves but the question is does she keep her Committee Assignments . Shes on the Education Committee and the Budget Committee as well. Obviously we dont know what that whats going to result from tonights meetings. Its possible they do the right thing and strip her of these Committee Assignments. The fact of the matter is, it may be for the Republican Party too little too late. Shes still going to be a member of the house. The same forces that elected her elected people like this woman in colorado and western colorado, lauren boebert. There are other people, not quite as bad, but pretty bad, who are basically donald trump cultists or almost qanon types. Theyre still part of the party going forward. Thats exemplified by the fact these people are still there. I think the best thing they can do that could be done for the Republican Party would be for republican senators to get on the stick and realize how they got where we are today instead of focussing on just criticizing one member of congress who is a whacko from focusing on the fact that a president of the United States attempted to end constitutional democracy in the United States and there should be a punishment for that. And congress should exercise power under impeachment clauses. To mete out that punishment. It does seem this is the moment for them to rid themselves for trump as a future, you know, rid them shelves of the former president hanging over their heads and then having to pay fealty to him for the next four years and Living In Fear hes going to run again. Right. I mean, i think politically their best chance at survival as a party is to lance the boil. I mean, hes the problem. Hes not the only problem, but hes the principle problem. Hes the reason why it all got worse. You know, he went out the other day and threw his support in favor of this congresswoman. And so you know, if they really want to try to save the party and bring it somewhere where it can function and bring it somewhere where it has a chance of reaching out to moderately conservative realitybased voters, they need to do something about donald trump, and they need its their duty to do it. George, if you hold on one more second. I want to bring ryan nobles back in. Is this the only template we have for this recently steve king, republicans taking him out of his committees. Is this how that come about . Did they bring a Steering Committee in . Can we read anything into that . Reporter youre right. Steve king is a good example of how this process can play itself out. King, of course, the former congressman from iowa, was very controversial and said a number of incendiary things, particularly racist comments that led to a firestorm around the republican conference. That led mccarthy to begin the process of pulling him off the committees that he was assigned to, and it was the Steering Committee that made this decision. It somewhat inoculates the House Minority leader or Majority Leader depending on the case were dealing with from having to make the decision all by himself. So the fact that the Steering Committee was brought into this process, we have a precedent for this. Steve king is the precedent. Now, we dont know whats happening behind the closed doors. You know, is greene herself perhaps talking to the Steering Committee and making a case for why she should stay on . That we dont know, but youre absolutely right that in the past when he wanted to take someone off the committee, it was done through the Steering Committee. Ryan nobles, appreciate it. George conway, really appreciate it. Thanks for sticking around. Well be watching this closely. Thanks, george. Ahead, new research on how long antibodies may protect people from the coronavirus after they were infected and a separate report involving a new strain of the virus and protection from vaccines. Really important information. That when we come back. Incompn makes it beautiful. State of the art technology, makes it brilliant. The visionary lexus nx. Lease the 2021 nx 300 for 359 a month for thirty six months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Your next celebrity cruise is ready for takeoff, with our biggest air offer ever. Save on every flight, from every gateway, on every sailing. And, with drinks, wifi and tips always included for everyone, you have everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. Celebrity cruises. Sail beyond. When you switch to xfinity mobile, youre choosing to get connected to the most Reliable Network nationwide, now with 5g included. Discover how to save up to 300 a year with shared data starting at 15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. Come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. You can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. Stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with Peace Of Mind at your local xfinity store. Confirmation from those british study that those infected by the Coronavirus Keep Antibodies for at least six months. The data did not indicate if it could provide protection from new variants, however, a separate study shows the new variant circulating there has acquired a concerning mutation, which weve seen among strains in south africa and brazil that could make it resistant to vaccines or lead to reinfection. Want perspective from our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta and dr. Michael osterholm director of the center for infectious disease, research and policy at the university of of minnesota and medical adviser during president joe bidens transition. I want to ask you about the report. Does that mean one of the variants we know could be more transmissible, could be somewhat resistant to the vaccines . Up until now that particular strain youre talking about b 117 or the u. K. Strain has only had the ability and i say only because its still significant to cause more infection and likely more severe disease. Now for the first time british officials found it also acquired the mutation weve been talking about with the south african strain and the brazilian strain that could possibly help it avoid the immune protection that we get from vaccines or natural disease. Obviously, this is not a Good Development as this b 117 has shown how well it is able to be transmitted around the world. So sanjay, i find this a little confusing because fauci said with these variants that, you know, its not great news, obviously. Its very concerning, particularly the South Africa One and the brazilian one. But that a booster shot could be developed for each of these variants because theyre kind of in the same family of the virus. Is that still the case, or is this just saying that there is basically more and more variants that is number of variants is growing . Some of the variants like the one in the u. K. Are acquiring more mutations or mutations that weve seen in other variants, so thats part of the problem. So wait. Its not so the u. K. Variant or the south african, brazilian variant, theyre not just one variant . Theyre now mutations of those variants . Yeah, the way to think about it is a variant is an umbrella term. A variant basically means that the virus that we have thought about, the one thats circulating, acquires certain mutations. Based on those mutations, you know, we know that theres three main mutations, for example, around the spike protein in the variant thats emanating from south africa. The u. K. One had one main mutation making it the variant, and as Professor Osterholm said, it now has a different mutation, one we see in the south african variant. It will get confusing. The viruses mutate all the time. A lot of the mutations that occur are, frankly, inconsequential but sometimes these viruses mutate in a way that makes them as Professor Osterholm said more transmissible which is the way they go. But to answer your question, you could make retool the vaccines, and thats something thats sort of special, i think, or specific to these mrna vaccines or do it something similar to today, you think of vaccines taking four to six years to make to retool one of these vaccines, you could do it in four to six weeks. It still needs to go through some trials but there is bridging trials that could make the process go pretty quickly. We may be getting to that point. That could be the booster. Dr. Fauci said its one of two. Either youre giving another booster of the same vaccine just basically trying to increase your antibody levels, or you give a booster thats more specific to the variant. The virus that has these mutations. Professor, for Everyone Listening and myself included, which i tend to get concerned about the variants and mutations, the bottom line is still, we all need to be vaccinated. We need to get the vaccines that we can get. We need to have vaccines that need two doses, we need the two doses, and that needs to happen as quickly as possible for as many people as possible. Thats still the basic truth, right . Thats absolutely the case and just remember a vaccine can prevent a Virus Infection from happening, if if you dont have a virus, you dont get mutations. So this, in part, is how were going to address the issue with the mutation situation. So again, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine. We cant say that enough times or loud enough. Right. The more people who get vaccinated and as quickly as possible, that will limit the continued spread of new variants and more mutations . Right. I think the other note to make here is that as much as were concerned about these variants that may compromise the immune response, when you actually look at the studies that were done by the j j vaccine in south africa, it looked like what happened there was, yes, people did get infected with the variant strain even though they had the vaccine but it was much less severe and that we didnt see the big increase in hospitalizations or deaths. That by itself isnt the perfect end point. Wed like to prevent disease, but if we can prevent severe disease, hospitalization or deaths, thats a big Victory Belen Blens against the variants. Sanjay, we mentioned a u. K. Study that found people that previously had covid19 retained antibodies for at least six months. If you had antibodies against an old variant, how helpful would they be against a new variant . . Its a really good question. I think they would be helpful. I spent time today digging into that question. I think they would be helpful in terms of as Professor Osterholm you dont want the virus. Dont get me wrong. I dont think people want to get infected fwlchlt what is but what is it we really are hoping for . People dont get sick and dont get hospitalized and dont die. If we can show the j j numbers, since you brought that up, its important when you look at the vaccine how well it works, it doesnt work for mild to moderate disease against variants, as well but if you look at the bottom line on the right. 85 protection against severe disease. In these trials, five trials, 75,000 patients, nobody that got the vaccine in the trials died, which i think is really important. Yeah, no, that is hugely important. Sanjay, thank you. I feel a little better. Professor michael osterholm, appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Tonight as the capitol is to honor officer Brian Sicknick, you see the rotunda where he will lie in honor. The officer died as a result of juries suffered in the attack last month. Well tell you about the Supermarket Heir Recess that paid for much of that. All that when we continue. Quit cold turkey. Kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette Heir Reces S Heiress bottom line is, moms love that land o Frost Premium sliced meats have no byproducts. his voice baloney automated voice has joined the call. voice from phone hey, baloney here. I thought this was a no byproducts call . Land o Frost Premium. Fresh look. Same great taste. I thought this was a no byproducts call . My body is truly powerful. I have the power to lower my a1c. Because my body can still make its own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it, lowering my blood sugar from the first dose. Onceweekly trulicity responds when my body needs it, 24 7. Trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. It isnt for people with type 1 diabetes. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. Side effects include indigestion, fatigue, belly pain, decreased appetite, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting which can lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. I have it within me to lower my a1c. Ask your doctor about trulicity. As we mentioned at the top of the program, the remains of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick will lie in the rotunda tonight for a tribute tomorrow. The ceremony is a rare one reserved for political leaders. Because of the pandemic it will be closed to the public. Later in the day officer sicknicks remains will be buried at Arlington National cemetery. His loved ones wrote, knowing our evan perez reports investigators are struggling to build a murder case in the wake of his death. To sicknick, who was a 13year veteran of the Capitol Police force died a day of the riot. With each passing day it seems were learning more about those that took part in the attack. For many, the underpinning was the rally just before. Who paid for it . Ranke kay looks into who footed the bill. A donor paid for 80 of it. Reporter thats conspiracy theorist alex jones talking about a key donor that help fund if bulk of the rally in washington, d. C. That donor, according to the Wall Street Journal is Julie Jenkins fancelli, the heiress of the multibillion dollar publix super market. 300,000. According to to the journal. Shes worth nearly 9 billion. She didnt respond to cnns request for comment but did issue a statement to the Wall Street Journal saying i am a proud conservative and have real concerned associates with election integrity. And i would never support any violence, particularly the tragic and horrific events that unfolded on january 6th. Floridabased publix has more than 100 store in the southeast and 800 here in florida alone. The backlash against the chain that be swift with the boycott publix on twitter. One user tweeted, wont be shopping with this dictatorship wannabe organization. Another user tweeted called for a Boycott Writing Profits from this Supermarket Chain were used to fund trumps illegal and seditious efforts. At stealing lt election. And over throwing democracy. Despite that, publixs spokesperson toll us we shes not an employee. Is neither involved in Business Operations or represent the company in any way. We cannot comment on her actions. They do not represent the values, work or opinion of our supermarket. Cannot comment on misfanclis actions. This isnt the first time fancelli and publix have been in the spotlight because of donations. In 2019 she donated 2,000 to floridas republican governor and in december last year, publix donated 100,000 to his pact, friends of ron desantis. So great to be here at publix. Reporter that was a month before desantis announced a partnership with publixs pharmacies to carry the vaccine in florida. Im delighted to be here to make an exciting announcement regarding covid19 vaccinations for our senior citizens. The timing of it all raised eyebrows. The Governors Office denies the vaccine deal with publix was any quid pro quo, telling us those claims were baseless and ridiculous. Some on social media need convincing, one twitter user write, desantis has to go. He gave publics the Vaccine Distribution after they gave him money. Randy, how many pharmacies are offering vaccines in florida . Just tonight the governor said hes increasing the amount that will be offering it now. A total of 325 publix pharmacies. The problem is, publix isnt everywhere, is people who live there dont have access. Its not in low income communities. The state is certainly trying to help. They have these mobile units going out. They have Vaccination Events taking place at churches. But a lot of folks asking, why not expand it to other Pharmacy Chains in the state . But now for the time being, if youre going to a pharmacy it is only available at publix because of the deal with the state. Randy, thank you very much from florida. Well be right back. You can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. 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