building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. thne hi there, i'm kristen tze. we're asking questions to get answers for you in realtime. today we'll talk to oakland mayor libby schaaf about some covid-19 news coming out today and a new plan to get alerted with vaccines. of course, we're starting with the trial to impeach president donald trump. with us is daniel litman. daniel, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. the vote was 232 in favor over

197. that was the most bipartisan impeachment vote we've seen in history. was that stunning to you? >> it wasn't that surprising since you've already seen a ton of criticism from republicans, even from those who didn't vote to impeach in the house today. but if trump thinks that he can get away with this in the senate, he's due for a surprise since senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said that he is happy with what democrats are doing, and he's indicated that he is likely to support that, giving political cover to republicans to go for it as well. so that would remove trump from office, even though he will already have taken himself out next wednesday. >> right. so given that, let's talk about the timeline. democrats are saying they will not wait, they're not going to hold onto it, they're going to deliver it to the senate quickly, so how quickly will the next steps happen? >> so the senate is in recess until the 19th. and so the soonest that the

senate could take this up would be that day. and so -- and a whole trial is going to take several weeks. so that would push it into early february, then february, depending on how things go and so perhaps by valentine's day, trump would be the first president in american history to have been convicted as well. there is some legal debate in the constitution about whether senators are able to remove a president after he's already out of office, but they're going to try, anyway, and see what happens. >> so it's untested waters, we don't actually know if you can convict a president after he's already left office? we don't actually know? >> yeah, it's kind of the horse has already left the barn or the train has already left the station, whatever analogy or metaphor you want to use. but they are going to push, and they think it's important to hold the president accountable

since he didn't lead the mob himself, but he did almost give at that time is encouragement to them. even when they were there, he was saying just stay peaceful, he wasn't telling them to leave the capitol. >> that's what people who voted today are saying. i want to explore mitch mcconnell's reasoning a little more. he said, i'm not going to bring the senate back early, so the earliest it could happen is january 19th. of course, he could, if he wanted to, have an emergency session. he doesn't want to. clearly he is leaving this for the democrats. when the democrats take majority, they'll have to run the trial. they'll have two democratic senators, they'll have kamala harris to break the tie. but explain the strategy for mcconnell to say, you know, i'm going to wait for the dems to take care of this. >> he's already doing a lot by going against the political

party and saying i'm going to say yes in the senate. but mcconnell is a political party animal. he's all about what is good for the republican party. what is good now these days is to try to excise trump from any future in the party or try to limit it as much as possible. they need to rebuild their brand, they need to reach out to voters who were disgusted by last week's attack, and they need to start from scratch. the best way to do that is to get trump out of the picture as much as possible. we ha and leave no room for 2024. >> this rebranding thing is fascinating what we saw today. to me it seems like we saw three distinctive camps, those who say we just want revenge, those who it, and those who say ty but sa

no choice. what he did is impeachable and we must hold him accountable. looking at the dynamics today, who is going to win? >> i think it's kind of debatable, because this is a really tough debate. there is a lot of people who say he didn't actually incite them to go into the capitol. he had no idea that they would actually take his words literal literally, and going to the capitol is different than going into the capitol or going inside. but he gets warnings about his supporters getting rowdy. he would encourage them to be violent at his own rallies, so the streak of violence is heavy in trump's political career. and i think republicans are trying to figure out how to move forward. do they -- and i think whoever

becomes the 2024 nominee is going to play a big role defining that. is it going to be a ted cruz or gates or marco rubio, with marco rubio being one of the best three potential nominees. >> how extraordinary was it tha to impeach? now she's getting calls from some of her republican leaders to revine from hsign from her g because of how she voted. this comes in terms of her credentials, her father dick cheney. talk about that. >> it's a striking turnabout. she's been pretty loyal to trump, hasn't criticized him much over the years, but she's in the camp that enough is enough. we can't have a republican party if we're going to be dragged down by donald trump. and so trump is not going to be alive forever, and they will

have to, you know, find a new figurehead, and the longer that he is seen as an acceptable way or model where you would have people who are going to run in 2024 who try to tap into that trump base, the harder it gets. and so that's one reason for her concerns. the other is she just did not think he was good on many of the foreign policies in terms of withdrawing suddenly from syria and pulling troops out of afghanistan without properly thinking through the impact on our national security. so this is a long-running battle she's had. >> daniel, another really stunning thing, i think, is that mitch mcconnell has indicated today that he hasn't decided yet that he's not ruling out voting to convict in the senate trial. this is someone who was one of the president's biggest defenders. look how he responded and conducted his business during the first impeachment. this is a total turnaround. >> yeah, and a lot of people are

saying this is kind of too little too late. mcconnell has gotten the judges he's wanted, he's gotten the conservative policies legislation rollbacks, and only now after he basically got attacked violently, or at least an attempted attack on him and his members of both houses of congress, then that's -- then he draws the line. and so a lot of people are saying it's a little too much, but they understand why he's doing it. he understands he doesn't need trump anymore, and they can worry about their problems with their base in a couple years. >> so when the senate trial does begin, democrats are going to need 17 republicans, i think, if my math is correct, to get to that two-thirds point. how likely does it look that they'll reach that? >> the "new york times" did a count of public statements and them reaching out to the offices, and they found 20 republicans in the senate who

are leaning towards impeachment or conviction. so that is kind of the death knell for trump. he's going to try to reverse some of those numbers, but there haven't been top firm commitments. they have to kind of weigh the evidence. this is going to be a longer trial than it was in the house, which was just a day. but it definitely seems like he has kind of thrown in the towel and he's not going to mount a big effort to keep himself in office. >> so even if they can continue or start the trial after he's no longer president, right, some people are saying, hey, what good is it to impeach him, then, if he's already out? is it just to bar him from holding ofls fice in the futures it to hold his benefits as ex-president? even if they vote to remove, he's already out, but to prohibit, it wouldn't necessarily prohibit those things from still happening. can you talk about that? >> yeah, this is all new

territory that is making us all kind of constitutional scholars. so i need to kind of look at the constitution myself and talk to an expert before i can weigh in on whether it actually, you know, would prevent trump from running again. i don't think he would win any republican primary since a lot of americans are unhappy with what happened last week. but it's more of a scarlet letter in that even if he, theoretical theoretically, could run again in 2024, it's going to be mp ha -- much hard e much harder for him to capture the magic he had in 2016 in 2024. we'll tak

. welcome back. you probably heard today, governor newsom expanded eligibility of the covid vaccine to anyone over 65 years old. that came out as oakland mayor libby schaaf told me in an interview earlier today vaccines for cities to give out. a newied when your turn for the vaccine comes up. we also talked impeachment, homelessness and help for small businesses. >> obviously we have to begin with the impeachment today. where do you stand on this? >> boy, we have heard some emotional testimony and cries for unity. i believe the best way to reunify this country is for us all to agree that sedition is not partisan.

that this president has committed historic crimes and wrongs against our very american democracy, and that if we want to heal this nation, move forward together, that impeaching this president and prohibiting him from running for office again is the appropriate act for all americans to take, regardless of their party. >> well, democrats will take control of the senate after the historic races in georgia. those seats will come in a couple of weeks, and the biden administration will take over. that should breathe new life into stimulus money to cities from the federal government. do you think this can actually happen? >> absolutely. i woke up wednesday morning full of hope, full of hope that the voters in georgia just saved jobs in oakland. now, we don't have immediate information, but certainly the chances of aid for local

governments has just improved tremendously. and we've heard democrats prioritize this aid. we've heard our president-elect biden say that cities need this very important aid from our federal government, the only level of government that can give aid during emergencies like this. i know that that is what i am praying for. it cannot come soon enough as we have had to make devastating cuts to city services. >> you know, another big piece of news is that the governor has announced that anyone over the age of 65 is now eligible to get the covid vaccine. what do you think about that? >> i think it is so important. we've got to accelerate the distribution of vaccines in california. it is embarrassing that we are, relative to other states, not getting this lifesaving vaccine out there quickly enough. and, kristen, you will be the

first to know that i am joining with mayors across this country to call on president-elect biden to also distribute vaccines to america's biggest cities. we believe that we can help speed the distribution by complementing the very valiant efforts from our county public health officials to also use our first responders who are skilled in administering injections to amplify this distribution effort. >> is san francisco a part of this effort with you? >> they are. san francisco, san jose, the bay area big cities are united. i think you'll see most of the big cities of california signing on to this effort which has been initiated by los angeles mayor eric garcetti. >> my question is also, would it be for only people who don't have insurance in your cities, or do you see this also serving people who have health

insurance? >> you know, cities know where our most vulnerable populations are, and that is our priority, is equity, is getting to people who have been hurt the most by this pandemic and ensuring that they get vaccinated. that's where i think cities can uniquely contribute. now, we will be guided by the federal and state guidelines as far as the prioritization. you in alameda county can actually register to get a notification when it is time for you to get this vaccine. if you go to covid-19.acgov.org, you can actually register. you fill out some information about your job, your age, and you can actually get a notification when you are eligible to go in and get a vaccine yourself. i just did last night.

>> well, mayor, i've been urging the state to do something like that on a statewide basis, so it sounds like the counties are taking the lead on this. >> that's right. you as an individual can register for the notification, or if you're an employer, you can register to find out when your business is eligible to send its employees to get vaccinated. obviously, our county public health system has been stretched to its limit dealing with this surge. and that's why, as a city, we are ready and willing to step forward and assist with the distribution of vaccinations. everyone should get this lifesaving vaccine as soon as it is available to you. >> so to that end, have you been involved in alameda county's plan perhaps to use the coliseum as a mass evacuation site, or are you setting up some other city sites? tell us about that.

>> you know, we are supporting our health heroes in alameda county public health. dr. moss andaas and i are going having another town hall on january 21st. put that in your calendar, kristen. you've been great about promoting our town halls. this one is only about vaccination efforts. the coliseum is one of several sites that is being evaluated. we certainly saw how our oakland a's helped facilitate flu shots during election season. certainly we know how to do it. we're going to do that type of thing again. everything we've learned about getting testing to our most impacted communities, those lessons are going to serve us well as we distribute this vaccine. >> all right. i want to switch to talking about the homelessness issue. you just announced legislation

to send $200 billion to end homelessness. tell us where you propose this money would go? >> kristen, i'm proud of oakland to be a sponsor of ab-71. we just made this historic announcement as this bill just got revised and is heading to its first committee vote. ab-71 is the most comprehensive at-scale, sustained effort to end homelessness in california that i have seen as an elected official. because it focuses on prevention, on getting our most vulnerable jobs, on building and creating an adequate supply of affordable housing as well as making sure that we have interim housing and shelter to get people off the streets immediately. and so this historic effort is moving forward. it would close some corporate tax loopholes, return higher

corporate taxes to previous levels from 1980. that is a great investment. we know that ending homelessness is not just a moral imperative, it actually makes sense for california's economy. >> mayor, we only have about 30 seconds left, but i wanted to give you the time to talk about this, because i know it's near and dear to your heart in terms of supporting small business owners and non-profits that are hurting because of the pandemic. are there new grant notices they should know about? >> today is the deadline for the california relief grant. get your application in before midnight. small businesses, proprietors and business owners can get this.

sign up right now. i see what happens with homelessness on the streets, and they don't want to sweep it somewhere else, they want to solve it. this is a moral imperative, and i believe that our business community is right there with us. >> mayor libby schaaf of oakland, thank you so much for your sitime. as always, great talking to you. >> thank you, kristeay well. >> you, too. when we come back, how you $9.95 at my age? $9.95? no way. $9.95? that's impossible. a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. okay, jonathan, i'm listening. tell me more. just $9.95 a month for colonial penn's number one most popular whole life insurance plan.

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coming back. and we're back. our abc7 blood drive is underway today. we're partnering with the american red cross so patients can get the help they need. oftentimes that involves blood donations. joining us to talk about is jennifer adrio, the ceo of the american red cross in the coastal region. she's live with the american red cross. hi, jennifer. >> hey, how are you?

>> i'm doing well.ngell today. how has covid affec aemand for experienced it as you can imagine, the blood donations dropped mostly because the places that we hold blood drives, like schools, universities, places of work, everything shut down, so we had to readjust and tried to find new locations for blood drives and new sponsors of blood drives and new ways to reach out. today is a great example of that. we've really turned our office on market street into a place where people can donate blood. >> i see people are busy down there. what is the process? you want people to call you or go on a website to make an appointment? >> yeah, we really need people to make appointments. there used to be, before covid, you could actually just kind of do walk-ins, but for safety precautions, we need people to make appointments. today we're fully booked. we hope to do over 100

donations, but go to redcrossblood.org and make an we hblood donor ap y a make youn call 1-800-redcross and make an appointment. you may not be able to get in today or tomorrow, but we need your blood in the weeks to come, so make an appointment, and more importantly, show up for that appointment. >> for folks who are interested, what sort of safety protocols do you have when they come in? >> right. we make sure they are social distancing, we've changed how we set up our beds, we've changed how we do our health histories. we take temperatures when people come in. again, the appointments really help us keep folks, the crowds from being on top of each other. we make sure our staff are healthy. we disinfect and we clean after everybody who donates. >> jennifer, we only have 15 seconds, but i want you to give

people the incentive you're offering if people donate this month. >> that's great. so we give free t-shirts while they last, and then on top of that, you can be registered to win two free tickets to next year's super bowl in los angeles, and if you don't win that, you65" tv with $500 to spend on some goodies where you could watch the super bowl at home. >> that's excellent. and, of course, the best win of all is helping your neighbors and the red cross' efforts. jennifer adrio, thank you so much. don't go away because we can continue to chat on facebook

their efforts go beyond today. sign up and perhaps you can win super bowl tickets ners day.

we broke down the house voting to impeach president trump. now it's up to the senate. we'll be here every weekday at tonight, president trump, the only president in american history to be impeached twice, charged with incitement of ins rex. the first comments from the president today, just in moments ago. one week to the day after rioters stormed the u.s. capitol after the president urged them to march to the capitol, to be strong, to fight like hell. tonight, house law makers have impeached the president.sidentee president a clear and present danger. and the moment today that top republican leader in the house saying president trump bears responsibility for the attack, though not supporting impeachment on this timetable. other republicans saying, with so tfew days left i