Lets say theyre in scranton just for the sake of argument, one is working as a nurse, the other is a teacher making 120,000 a year should get a check. Thats in his plan. And the plan presented by republicans, they would not get a check. His view is that at this point in our country, when one in seven American Families dont have enough food to eat, with he need to make sure people get the relief they need and are not left behind. As was also part of our readout last night, there was discussion of technical followup with opportunities to discuss things like Small Business and covid relief. Im not suggesting reduction, im suggesting how to do it effectively and those technical discussions at a staff level will be part of whats ongoing over the next couple of days. But the president s bottom line is that this is the package, the risk here as he said many times is not going too big, it is going too small. That continues to be his belief and thats why he supports the efforts by senator schumer, Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi to move this package forward. Can i ask a question on impeachment. The Impeachment Managers have now laid out their case. Trumps team is leaving open the door, it seems, to arguing Election Fraud in the trial, to repeating the fall claims that somehow trump won the election, those same claims that fueled the riot. Is this administration concerned that the former president s defense could incite further violence . Certainly watching reactions in the country, watching the potential for violence is something we will do closely from the white house. Across the country, no matter what prompts it. And thats something we will certainly keep an eye on. But i think in this case, as you know, there have been dozens and dozens and dozens of court cases that have been debunked. The president of the United States is sitting in the oval office, engaging and governing the country, and obviously, weve moved forward even more than we were prior to the inauguration in proceeding in delivering on what the American People decided on in november. On immigration, some reform advocates criticized the action for being reviews of certain programs like the remain in mexico program, rather than cancellation. Why review and not reverse some of these programs . Well, sure part of our effort, mary, is to assess the damage thats been done by the policies that were put in place by the Prior Administration. We want to act swiftly, we want to act promptly, but we also need to make sure were doing that through a Strategic Policy process. And the president s commitment to immigration is indicative in the fact that he announced an Immigration Bill his first day in office and that he has signed after this afternoon, a number of bills, to overturn the immoral actions of the Prior Administration. But we want to ensure that our team, led by the new hopefully newly confirmed soon, maybe right now secretary of Homeland Security has the ability to review the process and policies and make sure hes putting the right ones in place. Can you set the timing for these reviews, when the task force may put out their first one . We do. Its important there are markers to give updates to the American People on this and many other issues. So there will be a report issued within 120 days and then every 60 days thereafter, on the progress being made. As i think you all know from covering this issue, this is very difficult. It is emotional for a lot of people for understandable reasons. We need to find out first where all of these kids are and figure out where their parents are so. So were starting at square one here but our team wants to ensure were providing an update on what progress is being made, how its going to be approached and what the task force will be able to get done. On the same subject, jen, this is going to be big news across Latin America, especially the countries where people have come from. What is the Biden Administrations message to people who may see this in the news the next few days and think oh, theyre changing the policy . Now might be a good time to go north . Well, the message continues to be what it has been, and i appreciate you asking the question because it is confusing as we take a lot of these steps forward. One is that this is not the time we want to put in place an Immigration Process here that can that is humane, that is moral, that considers applications for refugees, applications for people to come into this country at the border in a way that treats people as human beings. Thats going to take some time. Its not going to happen overnight. Obviously, we have a bill that we are hoping we will be able to move through congress. But we also feel i dont think any parent can look at whats happened to those kids over the last couple of years and not feel that we should do everything in our power to get those kids back with their parents. So were trying to repair the damage and the horrific actions of the Prior Administration by trying to do everything we can to reunite these kids with their families. But it remains a dangerous trip. It remains a time. This is not the time to come to the United States. We need the time to put in place an Immigration Process so people can be treated humanely. One of the other things immigration groups have been talking about, some democrats as well, is action to shield Immigrant Workers who are considered essential workers from the from the threat of deportation. Is that being worked on . This will not be the end of our actions or efforts to work on that issue. I dont have anything on that Policy Question for you. That is my next question, since this is still being worked on, can you give us a sense of what would be coming . I would be getting ahead of a policy process, which i cant do from here, but this is a priority to the president to do everyone he can to obviously putting forward the bill and taking the executive actions he had in his power to take to overturp the immoral steps of the last administration. Thats why hes taking all of these steps in the first two weeks being inaugurated. The next question is similar but i want to ask it anyway, one of the things that was not addressed is the socalled title 42, cdc thing expelling migrants and Asylum Seekers will not process during the pandemic, the idea they can be sent back right away because of the pandemic. Is that up for review . And why was that not perhaps addressed right away, since its been a concern for a lot of advocates of immigrants . Certainly, i know it has been. The i would just say that continuing to take policy steps to address the plight of immigrant migrant families to do so in a humane and moral way is a priority of this administration. We obviously are going to continue to work on the Immigration Bill we proposed to congress. These executive actions are just part of our strategy. And if theres more to report to you on that, im happy to get to you directly. Go ahead. My followup on the immigration question, the Executive Orders have been described so far dont actually change or raise the refugee cap, which as you know President Trump reduced substantially and also orders the Immediate Release of children from i. C. E. Detention. The president said thats something that should be done immediately. Why didnt he do it today . I think were going to have more again soon in the coming days and weeks on more steps and actions that the president is interested in taking. Im just not going to get ahead of that now. Youre saying he might still do it immediately . Im saying there are additional steps the president will take, our Policy Experts will take to address immigration in a humane and moral way. There are also a number of steps under the purview of the department of Homeland Security and secretary mayorkas, who as you know, his confirmation was a bit delayed. Some of those, going to be under his purview, and so i point you to them to also engage with on some of those questions. But theres more the president will have to share on refugees and other issues. May i ask whether the president has made a decision on keeping or keeping the scope of the space force . Wow, space force. Its the plane of today. Its an entire thing. It is an interesting question. Im happy to check with our Space Force Point of contact. Im not sure who that is and find out and see if we have any update on that. Go ahead. A couple on covid relief, the senator mentioned voting for the Budget Proposal but made clear his final vote is very targeted. Hes opposed to the 15 minute m minimum wage. Is the 15 minimum wage a must have in the covid package . Phil, i should have brought you up here to talk about how bill becomes a law. Is that the 17part reconciliation question. Great. Ill tune in for it. Phil, i think there are a lot of points of view as should not be a surprise to anyone of different members of congress. We respect all of them. Were happy to hear them, hence the president met with ten republican senators last night, but were not going to negotiate from here or, frankly, in public about what is going to be in and out of the package. We want that to work through the legislative process that is ongoing now. And on the meeting with the republican senators, you said the word reiterate i think in a Statement Last night had the word reiterate three separate times. You like that word . Its a good, solid word. It underscores your position is firm. So i guess my question is talking about staff talks on technical details, is that basically the ball game right now in eterms of the bipartisan talks . They can improve things on the technical side but broadly this is what it is and its moving . Well, i think the president s commitment is to urgently deliver relief to the American People. Thats what he conveyed in every meeting hes had or engagement hes had with democrats and republicans. As we just talked about, theres a process that is just in the early stages thats beginning on capitol hill to do exactly that. But there are also steps that can be taken or changes that can be made through negotiations that also through the legislative process have to happen between the house and senate. There are amendments that can be voted on and proposed. We will see and allow that process to go through. As thats happening, the president will continue to be engaged, he will continue to have more discussions with a variety of members of congress from both parties to see if there are places to come to consensus and agreement how to approach some of the issues and challenges the American People are facing. Last one, you guys made very clear 130 billion is crucial for reopening schools. Something along the lines of 60 billion to 65 billion in past proposals that have been obligated but mostly unspent right now on the Public School front. What are you doing to ensure that gets out the door, given the priority it is in your package. Sure, my understanding in talking to our Economic Team is the funding that was in the 900 billion package, if thats what youre referring to, will be spent in the next couple of weeks. So what were trying to look ahead to is what are the needs as were looking to Public Schools across the country that many of them need funding, many of them need ppe, many of them need testing, many of them need better ventilation in their schools to ensure we have Adequate Funding needed to open the majority of schools within 100 days, which remains the president s goal. Go ahead. Today there was new data on the sputnik v vaccine showing its quite effective. And im wondering if the administration is concerned at all that russia could use it its vaccine to observe political power for nations in need, perhaps in Latin America . Thats not a concern ive discussed with our National Security team. Obviously, our focus is on our own fda approval process here and ensuring that we make as much of the vaccine available to the american public. We just rejoined, as you know, the World Health Organization because we believe that the more people who are vaccinated around the world, the safer we all are. But im happy to speak with him about it and see if thats a concern they have. One other question on the Covid Travel Ban thats in place. Is that a temporary thing while the cdc and the Biden Administration figure out a safe way for International Travel to occur or is that seen as more long term, especially given the variants are already here . Well, these were steps taken, as you know, by our team in order to increase the safety of the american public. Certainly, we dont want them to be forever because we want to get the pandemic under control. But they will be in place as long as our health and medical experts believe theyre necessary or essential in order to keep the public safe. So the impact of variants, which is a very good question, is something that they assess and i would certainly encourage you to ask them that question on our next covid call. There have been calls for some kind of boycott of chinas 2022 olympics. Given the administrations support of the genocide designation there, does President Biden support those calls and will that gain other allies . I have seen some reports of that, and while i dont have any update for you or preview or change of our approach to the beijing olympics, no. President biden has promised to make the visitors public, to the except youre not having any visitors. Is there talk of a virtual visitor lot or how those Virtual Meetings are being disclosed to the public . Our pledge is venture to be or hope to be the most ethical ethically stringent government in history and weve put in place hes put in place a number of steps and policies to deliver on exactly that. Youre right, that there are not currently many visitors. At some point hopefully will will be and we will be returning to the release of the visitor logs. That was not the case during the Prior Administration. At this point theres not a discussion of making Virtual Meetings a part of whats released. Go ahead. I actually have more visitor log questions. Okay. First one, has anybody in the administration looked at the logs from weeks before leading up to the January 6th Riot to see if anyone was connected to the riot . You are not the first person to ask this question. Its a very interesting one or newsworthy one, i guess i should say. I have not had a chance to talk to our team whether we even have access to those logs. We obviously know what information is put in from visits, people who come from visit and we have the ability to release that over the coming months. Im not aware of an assessment of that but i will also ask our team if we have access to them or if theres a plan to look at them. When you get back to releasing them, i know under obama it came out on a monthly basis a few days after the 5th. If its process, would you release them from the Prior Administration because there were a lot of people coming in and out that they got pictures . Im not even sure thats technically possible. That feels like the first question. Let me talk to our technical gurus and see what i can find out. The first impeachment there was a lot with the president of ukraine, is that system still intact whether theres notes intact with foreign leaders or is anybody looking at those . From the Prior Administration . Yes, phone calls by the president. Im not aware of the assessment of those, jeff. I think our focus is on foreign leader calls the current president of the United States is making to Global Leaders in an effort to rebuild our place in the world and work on some diplomacy. Katie . I just have another question on immigration. On the Family Reunification Task force, i know you said youre at square one, but can you talk a little bit about the work ahead in finding some of these kids . I think the current number higher, is it 600 or so . And i also wonder if you will talk about how officials will evaluate cases to determine whether the families will be reunited in their home countries or if they will be allowed to stay here . Great question, katie. Some of that is what secretary majorcas newly confirmed secretary majorca and the new task force will have to assess. And it will be case by case. There are estimates between 600 and 700 kids. Part of what we need to do in the early stages, or what the tachk force needs to do, is term what the accurate number is and where these kids are and determine case by case what the best process and approach is for reuniting them with their family members. So theres a great deal of work ahead. Theres time that is very committed to that work and part of what im sure will be in the report around 120 days is what progress theyve made on that effort. Go ahead. Does the president think cutting off aid from myanmars government goes far enough or are you looking at additional steps, and what might those be . Well, i think the State Department may have put a statement out, if im correct here, on the assessment made in the legal review that is calling the events in burma a coup. So as you also know, we talked it a little bit yesterday, but there was a releasing of some there were some sanctions released over the last several years because of steps the government had taken towards democracy. Theres been a rollback of those. Obviously looking at sanctions is a big tool that will certainly be assessed and i would focus on at this time. We have not seen a readout of the president talking to president xi and i wonder if that was scheduled or when it might be . Less than two weeks actually. It may seem longer to you. Our approach to china, and our approach to our relationship in china with china, you know, is strategic, obviously. And we are working to ensure that we are approaching that relationship from a position of strength. And that includes engagement with our allies and partners. A lot of those calls have happened over the last ten weeks ten days. That was a little freudian there, ten weeks. Ten days. They will continue. And also engagements with democrats and republicans in congress about the path forward. I dont have any call to predict for you at this point in time. Obviously with Secretary Of State tony blinken now confirmed, there are additional layers to engage with the chinese, but well let you know when a call is happening and certainly have a readout for all of you as well. That sounds a lot like the strategy not to talk to him at this time because youre talking about speaking to allies and ca. Have they requested a call . I dont have anything more for you. I think i dont appreciate putting words in my mouth. That wasnt what my effort was. What i was conveying is our strategy here from the United States which is to work with our partners and allies and determine what the right time is. Of course the relationship with china is going to be multilayered. Well deal with climate. Well deal with the economy. Well deal with security. And that is, of course, a priority to President Biden. Hes spoken about it during the transition. Hes spoken about it obviously hes had engagements with his National Security teams about a range of issue, including china. Weve been here less than two weeks and when we have a call to readou readout, im make sure you know. I wanted to follow up on a question phil asked you. You acknowledged the gap between the administration and republicans is why but the talk last night was constructive. After the discussion in the Oval Office Last night, is the number from the white house still 1. 9 trillion . It is. On the issue of the minuimum wage, you had said the president believes that a nurse and teacher, a couple who makes 120,000 should get a check, so thats Clearly A Quote Unquote Red Line i dont know if you want to describe it as that something the president ones. Red line is an old term. Wooer not going to use it again. When you were asked about the minimum wage, you said youre not going to negotiate from here and you want to work through that. So it seems as if the president might be open to dropping the minu minimum wage from the bill . I know theres a lot of appetite what will be negotiated in the bill, i totally get it, this is a big topic of interest. But what i was conveying as an example is he suring the checks are in the hands of americans was in a top priority for the president. I wasnt taking in and out things in the bill. That will be a negotiation that will happen through democrats and republicans in congress, obviously the Reconciliation Process just started. There are many opportunities for republicans to offer amendments. Theres a whole negotiation thats going to take place and will the president the president will continue to be engaged with members of both parties through that process. On the issue of Senator Manchin and his statements, you talked about how he would like to see something targeted. He said let me be clear and those are the words i shared with President Biden, our focus must be targeted on the covid19 crisis and americans most affected by the pandemic, his quote. Does the president believe 1. 9 trillion is a targeted package . It was determined not for shock value but to address the crises were facing and that includes ensuring that millions of americans can put food on the table. One in seven American Families are concerned about Food Security right now. It ensures we have funding that we can reopen schools so that kids can go back to school, mothers and fathers cannot worry about their kids, so people can apply for unemployment insurance. The size of the package was determined in consultation with those on the hill and based on economists and health experts. Thats how we came up with that number. And the jobs report on friday, depending on how that jobs report looks, might that change how the white house views what needs to be in the package or not . Or do you kind of believe this is the best framework now and thats what youre going with . I mean, if there was a jobs report that there were 10 million jobs created, that would be great news. I dont suspect that will be the outcome of what the job numbers will be. So no, it will not change. As we saw from the cbo numbers, which projected that there would be growth this year, thats obviously positive. But were digging out of a massive hole and the challenge right now is its going to be take years to return to the pace of job growth Economic Growth the country needs to be at. So no, i wouldnt suspect it would change things. Yes, in the back. Thank you again. First a followup, Governor Hogan said that there have been two more cases of the South African variant in the Montgomery County in maryland. And people were coming back from abroad. I mean, are you worried, or will that eventually widen the Travel Restriction . Well, i think what our team, our health and medical teams do, so the cdc and others who are actual doctors is make assessments about what steps need to be taken, whether its masking as you know is now required on planes or Travel Restrictions from certain countries in order to keep the American People safe. Certainly, the it hasnt worked in maryland obviously. I dont know it hasnt worked because we also have prevented a number of people from coming into the country and tried to take steps to reduce the spread of covid and also the spread of some of these variants. But they will assess steps that need to be taken based on variants. Obviously, thats something they review on a daily basis. A followup question, correct me if im wrong, but the president hasnt spoken with Prime Minister netanyahu. Is that surprising . I dont know that its surprising less than two weeks into an administration. He hasnt called every foreign leader yet. He would certainly love to spend more times speaking with foreign leaders. His first love is Foreign Policy. But i expect he will continue to have additional engagements in the weeks ahead. Obviously, we have a long and abiding relationship with israel, important security relationship. Im sure they will discuss that and a range of issues when they do connect. Last question, jen, since the president made canada the first president , can we expect the same . That was a very creative way to ask the first foreign trip question. I dont have anything to preview for you in terms of where the president will travel on his first foreign trip. Im as eager as you all are. I love foreign travel. I will remind you that, you know, his first call was, of course, to the Prime Minister of canada. So that is certainly affirmation of the importance of the relationship. In the back. Thanks, jen. One on immigration and one on jobs if thats okay. Sure. The president s third Executive Order as im reading it, restoring faith in our Legal Immigration system and promoting integration of new americans, should visa applicants in the k1, Student Program take this as a sign they will be granted Travel Waivers to return to the United States . I know you were asked about that last week. Yeah, i was, and it is still under review. Obviously as we talked a little bit about last week i dont remember if you were here that day, but it was a question someone else asked and married couples as you know are able to travel. Theres a review of students and couples who were not married. That review hasnt concluded yet. And then on jobs, given that mayor, i guess now Secretary Buttigieg has been confirmed, when can we expect to see a detailed infrastructure plan given the potential for new job creation there . Were going to officially invite Secretary Buttigieg to come to this Briefing Room and talk to you all about it whenever he has that to discuss, or even before then. Hes been obviously working on getting confirmed but i know hes eager to get to work and well see when he has more specifics to lay out. The announcement today with respect to the vaccine, equity is a big part of that. Where is the International Equity factoring in . Right now the orders add, if they all up, if they come through, admittedly big if, more than the u. S. Would need, what would you do with all of that . Are you concerned you might be boxing out less wealthier countries from getting the vaccine . Thats obviously not our objective. The president s objective, as you said, there are a lot of factors here that can prevent this from happening as we plan it. Freezers can break, trucks can break, snowstorms as weve seen this week. Were fully aware of that. May our problem be we have too many vaccines to put in the arms of the American People. That is not the current problem were tracking so thats what our first focus is going to be at this point in time. If that happens, will you distribute them to allies first on the need basis . I certainly hope thats our challenge and our problem and im sure we will be happy to discuss that if that is our issue, but as you know, weve also rejoined the World Health Organization. We want to have a seat at the table. Its important our Global Community is healthy, not just our community in the United States, but we will focus on first on ensuring the American People are vaccinated. Another vaccine question, you mentioned you ramped up 16 distribution last week and 5 , 70 million doses going out to the pharmacies as well. Jeff was talking about how this is a rampup of moderna and pfizer. What kind of visibility are you getting into whats coming . Like did you know the 15 or 16 last week was coming . Did you know how long in advance did you know . Did we know we can plan to announce announce things and kick them into gear . Yeah, were working on trying to be able to be have that ability and assessment. As governors im sure will tell you or have told many of you, thats also what theyre looking at. So were trying to get to a place where we know whats coming, so governors and local officials know whats coming to them and they can assess where to distribute it in their states. The process is at the early stages but our goal is certainly to have an understanding of when we will be able to ramp up distribution to states. On Something Like today, how many days ago did you know, okay, on tuesday we can announce that on February 11th weve got a million doses going out to pharmacies . Whats the turnaround on that . That particular announcement has a couple of components, right. Its, of course, engagement with states and governors and engaging with them is pivotal but also with pharmacies and ensuring theyre able to do it. If you log on to cvs to do an appointment to get a nflu shot, you want to know the system will work. There are a lot of steps in the process. Im not sure how many days in advance we knew it was full to go, not many. It takes a great deal of coordination to make sure governors feel comfortable with the announcements being made that were fully coordinating with them, that they can explain to their public that, of course, pharmacies are just a part of what were doing, right . Its not a million doses is a lot. It is not going to vaccine the entire country. Were going ramp it up. That creates onus on where other people can also get their vaccine. That is a key part of it, several components in this one. But we dont usually sit on these announcements so i dont think that long. Senator schumer just came out and said he had a, quote, really good lunch with the president and secretary yellen. He also said that the president told republicans last night that the 600 billion was way too small. Does that track with what he what was your understanding of what he it ulactually said last night . Yes, the president has been clear our risk is not having a package thats too big, its having a package thats too small. There have been public proposals, of course, by these senators and by others to split the package, to do a smaller package and his view is that there are key components and funding that would be needed in order to ensure millions and millions of people have checks, you know, in their hands. That we make and ensure people are getting those 1,400 checks, that we ensure that were properly funding schools to reopen, that people can were getting we have the funding needed to get shots into the arms of the American People. So that is not a cheap endeavor and one that those key components are all a priority to the president. Go ahead, anita. To followup on the meeting last night. In the readout and all that we heard is about the relief bill. Did any other issue come up . It was quite a lengthy meeting, a couple hours. I wondered if the president brought up anything or if the senators brought up Executive Orders or other policy issues or was it solely focused . It was focused on the American Rescue plan and they had a robust discussion about it. I dont have any more of a readout for you than what we provided last night. The lunch i think was happening i know its happening right now so i dont actually know but we will put out a readout of it afterwards. And the bill was just discussed obviously, people raised what they want to iz ra. Im sure Democratic Senators will share what they raised but the focus of it was to discuss the American Rescue plan, path forward and imperative of moving it ahead. Go ahead in the back. Im sorry, go ahead. Is there any plan for date set for the president to address a joint session of congress . And are you guys already working on his address . And is selling the American Rescue package a part of that, and in what way . Not yet and not yet to the first two questions. And it really depends on the timing. Of course, theres urgency, as you heard the president say, all of us say, moving this package forward and he also said in his primetime address when he announced the American Rescue plan, he also announced plans to build back better agenda. Our plans will be to do that once were at a point that can be the next priority. We really dont have a date yet. It depends on what that date is and what the focus will be. Were not working on it quite yet. So on the uae tariff announcement, i know the president said he wants to do a former review of former President Trumps tariffs before acting on any of those and the former president signed that out december 31st. Should we take this announcement as an indication that review is completed, or is this just a oneoff instance, specifically pertaining to uae . So as you said, for people who are not totally as familiar with this issue as you are, i know theres a lot going on in the news, shortly before the inauguration of President Biden the United States lifted a 10 existing tariff under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act On Aluminum Imports for the uae. His Campaign Promise included a commitment to carefully evaluating all steps taken by the Previous Administration on trade, as you also said, including the private deals and assurances that may have been made. As part of its campaign commitment, we are conducting an immediate review. So the review is under way of the Previous Administrations trade policy to determine what steps need to be taken. So that includes, you know, decisions on tariffs, and you know, the Previous Administrations decision to lift the existing tariff on the uae under section 230 at the last hour was made clearly in our view on the basis of Foreign Policy policies unrelated to trade. So its all part of the ongoing review. Thank you, jen. Thanks, everyone. See you tomorrow. All right, jen psaki there finishing up the White House Press briefing, as it is clear at this point in time that the white house is not bending, that President Biden is not bending on the large price tag that he wants on that covid relief package. I do want to bring in kaitlan collins, dana bash and our cnn espanol anchor Marie Santana to be with us. They appear to be proceeding, democrats do, without republicans on this, and despite meeting with republican senators, it is very clear that the white house says 1. 9 trillion it is. Yeah, they dont seem any closer to an agreement or what that republican package was, given it was less than a third of what biden had actually put forward. Because she said President Biden does stand by that 1. 9 trillion price tag of his bill. That compares to the one the ten republican senators brought him, which was a lot closer to 600 billion. Of course, thats a lot smaller, big gap between those two. Brianna, its not even just she stands by the price tag, its also whats included in bidens proposal which is federal minimum wage, Stimulus Checks some democrats, some centrist democrats have agreed with some republicans, are not targeted enough to certain families. She said he still believe certain families should be able to get that. Thats going to be a big question moving forward because were already seeing democrats start to move ahead on capitol hill with this process. And basically taking the steps, laying the groundwork to confirm this and get this package passed without republican support. So, yes, you did see those ten republican senators actually nine, one on the phone coming to the Oval Office Last night for about two hours. But they walked out of there without a deal. And it doesnt appear that President Biden is budging much on what his initial proposal was to come forward to what it was that they wanted to see. The question here will be for people like West Virginia senator joe manchin, who said earlier today he does not agree with raising the federal minute mum wage to 15. Thats something the question is whether or not thats a Sticking Point for him and if the white house relinquishes on that. Thats the answer we dont know yet. Of course, the ultimate test here is whether biden decides to pair this back to get some republicans on board with it right now. Based on what she said there, it sounds like theyre Standing Firm on the 1. 9 trillion package. Dana, certainly, that is the case. No question. I think what we will start to see now is a pivot or maybe just a real drilling down on negotiations among democrats. Kaitlan mentioned joe manchin. One of the things were going to be following in the coming weeks is how much the Biden Administration is going to tailor the package not to republicans but to moderate democrats that they need in order to pass this by the bear minimum 51 votes because they dont have a vote to spare in the u. S. Senate. Things line manchins call to move the 15 minimum wage to another package, not to do it through the covid relief plan, things like manchin saying these Stimulus Checks, which the biden plan is now 1,400, he said it must be much more targeted because people who didnt need it last time around got it, and there was a survey that said 70 of those havent even spent that money. Those are the negotiations that we will be following really, really closely. Brie, its like when you and i were Coverings Aca debate and all of the negotiations over obamacare on capitol hill, that was the dynamic. 60vote threshold because they had 60 democrats but it was an intra democratic negotiation and thats clearly where we are. And, maria, i wanted to ask you about the white house. The Press Secretary there being pressed often the policy of families at the border and what has and hasnt changed when it comes to family separation. What stood out to you . Well, i think that this is going to be one of the Biggest Challenges of the Biden Administration, when it comes to immigration, is trying to reunite these children that were separated by the Trump Administration at the border from their parents, trying to reunite them with those parents. I think jen psaki did a really good job trying to explain what the challenges are. The challenges is they have to first identify these children, where are they, who are they . How many are there . She mentioned between 600 and 700, the number we hear from advocates and lawyers in Nonprofit Organizations trying to do that work. There are about 611 children who still havent been able to be reunited with their parents. Then, of course, they have to identify the parents. Who are they . Where are they . Most likely they were already deported to their home countries without their children. People that have tried to search for these parents in these nonprofits say they have very Little Information to go on because there is no central database kept by the Trump Administration with these details. Its like the children went to hhs and parents went to i. C. E. , put in immigrations detention and those two systems never talked to each other once the children were separated. She also talked about what the task force can actually do. Those details we dont know yet. And she was asked a very good question, are these children going to be reunited with their parents here in the United States or their home country, and she said first we have to identify who they are and do that on a casebycase basis. Definitely this is going to be a challenge. And its one of those longlasting policies that that have longlasting effects from the Trump Administration that theyre going to have to deal with, brianna. Its really a heartbreaking remnant of the last administration and its not going away. As you said, a lot of Unanswered Questions we will be looking for. Maria, kaitlan, dana, thank you very much. The white house is weighing in on the Breaking News from russia, where opposition critic Alexei Navalny has just been sentenced to 2 1 2 years in jail. The judge saying he violated his Bail Conditions because he was treated outside of russia after being poisoned with a nerve agent last year. A cnn investigation showed that attack was likely carried out by russian agents. Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward is in london. She worked on that investigation. It was fantastic, clarissa. Navalnys team has called for more protests in moscow this evening. What are we expecting here . Are there going to be large crowds . You know, its always so difficult to gage, brianna. We certainly have seen Russia Special operatives fanning out in the square where they called for the protests. They will do their dammest to make sure the crowds dont turn out. And the judge even kept the proceedings going long so the reaction or verdict would come out in the evening, thereby hopefully containing protests. But obviously the question is in the coming days and in the coming weeks, are we going to see a lot of momentum behind the Opposition Movement . And i would say at the moment its really difficult to tell. While theres no question that we have seen significant protests across the country, these last couple of weekends, it remains to be seen how the russian people are going to respond to mr. Navalnys verdict. Many people will be outraged. Other people who weve seen out on the streets are maybe not so much interested in navalny himself but more upset with the current system, more upset about corruption, cronyism, souring on putin, certainly, according to many polls. But at the same time we also hear theyre not looking for an uprising. Theyre not looking for a revolution just yet. So its a little difficult to predict what were going to see on the streets in the coming weeks. So help us make sense of this if you can. Russian agents, it appears very much in your investigation sheds amazing light on this, are behind the poisoning of navalny. He goes to berlin to seek treatment and now hes in trouble because he left russia, which is thats who was targeting him. He left russia for treatment . Yes. I mean, lets be clear, its beggars belief. Its astonishing. On the one level, it was completely expected. The kremlin clearly sees Alexei Navalny a threat. They understand by putting him in prison, theyre creating several problems. Theyre turning him into a martyr. They risk western sanctions. But at the same time theyre willing to sort of Roll The Dice and do that because they need him off the streets. You heard the way he was speaking in the courtroom, brianna, just extraordinary lashing out that president Vladimir Putin will be remembered only as putin the poisoner, calling him at one stage an evil little man in his bunker. I mean, whatever your opinion is about Alexei Navalny, let it never be said that this man does not have courage. He was incredibly bold, incredibly brazen, and hes proven very popular with the younger generation, targeting younger people with these exposes of the kremlins corruption, putting them out on his youtube channel. His last one on putins palace, 100 million views. This is serious for the kremlin. This is something they do see as a threat. So despite the absurdity of sending him to serve jail time on a sentence that he had a suspended Jail Sentence that he was able to serve at home and then you will send him to jail because he was poisoned, navalny was in a coma in europe recovering in the hospital, obviously i. Its absurd. But at the same time its clear the kremlin does not see at this stage it has a lot of great options for dealing with Alexei Navalny. Clarissa, thank you so much for your continued coverage on this story and for joining us today. We do have some Breaking News in the second Impeachment Trial of the now former President Trump. The house Impeachment Managers and the trump team have both filed pretrial briefs. These spell out their arguments ahead of next weeks trial. The house Impeachment Managers called the formers president s role in the insurrection, quote, unmistakable. They write, quote, it is impossible to imagine the events of january 6th occurring without President Trump creating a powder keg, striking a match and then seeking personal advantage from the ensuing hankic. The president s team denies he started the insurrection and is focusing more on the constitutionality of the trial and the president s First Amendment right to free speech to question the election. They write, quote, i sufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude the 45th President s statements were accurate or not and he, therefore, denies they were false. Joining me now is chief political analyst Gloria Borger and philip lack zarya, the former council to the Watergate Special prosecutors. Gloria, to you first, theyre really arguing there was no way of knowing the president s bogus claims were bogus. And in fact theyre arguing that the president s claims were not bogus and theres one point in the preefbrief where they sa 45th President performed admirably in his role. This is where you see the president of the United States telling his lawyers in that brief, i want to talk about the fact that i won this election. So figure out how to put it in there. And so they did. So they didnt mention the 60 court cases they lost, including a Supreme Court decision. They didnt mention their own Justice Department said they could find no evidence of fraud. They didnt mention their own campaign autopsy, which we just seen today said the president really lost because he didnt get control of covid, et cetera. So this is where you see the influence of the president on his new attorneys saying, you do what i want you to do. And, philip, what was your biggest takeaway from these pretrial briefs . I think the democrat House Managers made a compelling case that both the president was guilty and the senate has jurisdiction to conduct the Impeachment Trial, which is another one of the lines of defense that the trump brief tries to sketch out, tying into what the senate voted last week to deal with, which was the 45 republicans who said at least theres an unwillingness to treat the jurisdiction of the senate as a clearly established constitutional principle. The other point i would make about the trump brief is, as gloria just mentioned, they keep referring to trump as the 45th President of the United States. They dont call him the former president. And im sure that was a soft to the president s unwillingness to view himself as the former president , although one of their main lines of defense, keying into the republican efforts to get out of this, is that the senate no longer has jurisdiction over him because hes not in office. Yes, thats a very good point. Philip, gloria, thank you so much to there is some serious crazy coming out of fox primetime these days but before we talk about it some context. Ever since President Trump soured on the election for reporting the outcome of the Election Ratings have taken a hit. Primetime ratings down 25 and fox viewers have headed over to altright Wing Networks like oan and newsmax and one is giving viewers exactly what they want. Boy did he deliver making a claim guaranteed to get some notice, like a toddler banging their head against a wall to get attention. As House Republicans try to think of what to do with a newcomer to the conspiracy congress, Tucker Carlson defended Marjorie Taylor greene. So how dangerous, just how dangerous is this threenamed congresswoman you probably have never heard of . So dangerous that In The Name Of democracy she must be expelled tonight from the congress. Thats what they are saying. In the New Democracy cnn gets the veto. If cable news doesnt like your views you have to leave congress. Thats the rule. The test is entirely id lodge camp you dont actually have to harm anyone to lose your job. This new member of congress has barely even voted. She just got there the other day, but cnn says she has bad opinions. Therefore, shes the greatest threat we face. Opinions. Thats what he calls the following games this rep Taylor Greene has claimed, that she pushed a satanic cult in government and hollywood, a 9 11 truth e and questioned the attack at the pentagon saying, quote, theres never any evidence showing for a plane, quote, going into it. Shes confronted a parkland survivor, a survivor of one of the biggest Mass School Shootings in u. S. History after questioning whether the attack was actually a false flag operation carried out to mobilize people against gun rights, a claim that she walked back last night in an interview. These are not red flag incidents. They are not fake and its terrible the loss that these families go through and their friends as welsh and it should never happen and it doesnt have to happen if we would protect our children properly. Before joining congress she appeared to endorse the execution of Speaker Pelosi and other democrats. She suggested that the 2018 midterms were the first two muslim women in coming were elected were part of, quote, an islamic invasion of our government. Shes called Jewish Democratic donor george soros a nazi. She falsely claimed former president barack obama is a muslim and she also suggested that obama and democrats were coordinating a war to overthrow trump. Now, those arent opinions, tucker. They are lies, unfounded and absurd conspiracy theories, and his claim that Marjorie Taylor greenes opinions havent harmed anyone. Tell that to the familiar lives victims killed in these School Shootings that the congresswoman has questioned, like linda boogial shulman, the mother of a teacher who was killed in the Parkland Shooting as he held open a door to help students escape the shooter, who spoke with us yesterday about confronting the congresswoman over her false claims about the shooting this past weekend. February 14th was a really hard day, so you know what. I do say to Marjorie Taylor greene, please, you know what, find your conscience. Youre a mother. Man up or woman up, whatever you want to say and tell the truth. Tell everybody what you told me. It is curious whose opinions Tucker Carlson chooses to defend. Rep Taylor Greenes are fine but when democratic congressman ilhan omar, one of the first muslim women elected to congress criticized the United States over its Immigration Policies he said had. Shes undisguised contempt for the United States and for its people. That should worry you and not just omar is now a sitting member of congress. Ilhan omar is living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country, a system designed to strengthen america is instead undermining it. Were importing people from places whose values are antithetical to ours. After Everything America has done for omar and her family she hates this country more than and when senator Tammy Duckworth, an asian american, purple heart recipient who lost her legs in iraq while copiloting a chopper said she was open to debate about removing statues honoring historical figures like George Washington because they enslaved black people he said this. But when duckworth does speak in public, youre remind what had a deeply silly and unimpressive person she is but to morons like Tammy Duckworth washington is white man that needs to be erased. Tammy duckworth is often described as a hero. Yet duckworth is too afraid to defend her own statements on a fox called it a victory for all defenders of the First Amendment. So lets just remember that as Tucker Carlson sets out on his latest sad quest for relevancy, even his own employer, the corporation that writes his checks, says hes full of it. Just a short time from now President Biden will be taking action on immigration Executive Orders. Well have details on what it means for those families who are separated at the border and remain separated and those who are still waiting to have their asylum cases heard. Plus congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez details the harrowing story of how she hid from attackers during the capitol riots and how she reveals for the first time how shes a past survivor of sexual assault. Well share her words. For m. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa loves me. Loves me not. New neutrogena® skin balancing 3 madeforyou formulas with 2 Pha Exfoliate and condition for soft, balanced skin. Find the one. Neutrogena® hi there. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke bald win. Thank for being with me. Several major developing stories right now. House Impeachment Managers have unveiled their strategy for convicting former president donald j. Trump ahead of his second Impeachment Trial next week. They say hes, quote, singularly responsible for inciting that insurrection at the cap tom last month. They are arguing that the senate should disqualify him from holding future office, ever, and, quote, make certain that he can never harm our country again. As for the former president , his legal team just filed its response. It is in a word defiant. They say the senate cannot convict him because its unconstitutional and that his call to, quote, fight like hell had nothing to do with the capitol insurrection. Also this Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell most of his colleagues will not, condemn firstterm congresswoman and Conspiracy Theorist Marjorie Taylor greene and called her a cancer for the republican party. Strong word, yes, but will the gop leadership actually take action against her . Thats a question were asking today, a critical meeting on that question could be hours away
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