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Emerging Strains of Coronavirus Pose Reinfection Risk; Video Surfaces of Marjorie Taylor Greene Harassing Parkland Survivor; Emmy and Oscar-Winning Actress Cloris Leachman Dead at 94. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 28, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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


DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: May not work as well against the variants and that increases the chances of reinfection.

[07:30:07]

We're not seeing a lot of re-infection yet, so we're not quite sure to make of these studies, but when you think about the variants, you think the virus is changing. That could affect all sorts of things. It could affect the way you test for it. Do we need to retool our testing so we can catch these variants?

It could affect the way the vaccines work. Do we need to retool the vaccines against these variants? And then your own antibodies that you've made that have previously been infected, will they work well against the variants? These are all the questions that right now need to be answered and pretty quickly.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the questions that need to be answered, because as John alluded to, you were part of this conversation last night on CNN, with the new Biden task force, coronavirus task force.

Did they answer your questions sufficiently?

GUPTA: You know, it was interesting. There were a few points. One of the things that comes up quite a bit is masks and the N95 masks and there have been these people who have said, look, if we -- those are the best masks.

We are in an environment now where we clearly have these very transmissible variants, like the U.K. variant that people are talking about, meaning that even what you may have gotten away with in terms of encounters with people, you're less likely to get away with.

So wouldn't better masks be important? That was a conversation topic that came up. And specifically N95 masks for everyone when you go out and you're around people.

Dr. Walensky sort of said, no, not now. They're too uncomfortable to wear. I'm not sure people would really do it. That's sort of the CDC's posture on it. They say they're going to

continue to study it. But I think this is one of those things where we want to make sure we're not repeating any of the same mistakes that we've made in the past. We don't want to be behind the curve on things like masks.

Why didn't we get N95s to everybody? That was a discussion that came up beginning of last year or sort of spring of last year. Is now the time to be doing that? I think that was an important point.

I think there was one other question that came up and this was with Dr. Nunez-Smith, and that is just the question of vaccine prioritization. We know people of color are much more likely to be hospitalized. They're much more likely to die. The question now I think within some of these vaccine priority discussions is should race be a factor when it comes to vaccine prioritization?

And we didn't get a clear answer on that. Maybe the answer is "no," but it is a topic that is being discussed and will continue to be discussed as more and more vaccines are rolled out.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sanjay, you also pressed for answers on, where are the vaccines? How do you know where the vaccines are? What can you tell us about how many there are and the tracking? What have you learned?

GUPTA: It's still -- it's still a little bit confusing. It's a little bit muddled. I think what -- there's two things. First of all, more vaccines are coming, so where did they come from? That was the first question. What Dr. Fauci sort of said to that is they have forced efficiencies, essentially, in production.

Most of the vaccines that are going to make up the additional doses are coming from Moderna and it's because they were able to extract commitments to Moderna, to say, you've got to guarantee we're going to have "X" number of doses every week. And by the way, I talked to Andy Slavitt as well about that yesterday. And he sort of said the same thing.

There wasn't new doses that were just sort of sitting somewhere. It's that they forced Moderna, extracted commitments saying, you have to make sure that you can deliver this many doses. We want to do 10 million a week for the next three weeks.

As far as where the short gap is, we see 47 million doses out there, you know, half of those, roughly, have been administered. Some states are holding them back, because they say, we want to be guaranteed, we have the second dose for people. Florida's holding them back, Minnesota's holding them back.

But they don't really still know where all of these doses are. Dr. Walensky said, sometimes there's a lag in terms of actually reporting the information. So, the information we're seeing at any given time may be from a few days or a week behind. So, that could be accounting for some of the shortfall. Clearly, they've got to be on top of this, that I have got to be able

to track all of these doses. The previous system was set up to track the doses to the point they've got from the states and states sort of took it from there. That's why it's been sort of hard to follow.

BERMAN: Sanjay, thank you very much. We'll talk to you again in a little bit.

We want to remember some of the more than 429,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Seventy-eight-year-old Joe Sills (ph) was a high school band director in five cities across Tennessee and Kentucky. He led one school to victory in the marching band's national championships back in 1977. Sill's family says he was a surrogate father to hundreds of musicians. The family is hoping to raise money for band scholarship in his name.

Leslie Haganmorgan was a well-known community activist running a youth center in South Los Angeles. He ran unsuccessfully for California state assembly in 2018. His family describes him as a guy who always put others first.

[07:35:02]

He was just 38 years old.

Rose Giroux Kalinski was a beloved physical therapist in Norman, Oklahoma. Her husband says she was known for her big holiday parties and University of Oklahoma Tailgaters. He says she was a caretaker and healer to just about everyone she knew. She was just 49 years old.

Coming up, David Hogg, the Parkland massacre survivor who was harassed by Marjorie Taylor Greene. His first interview since we've all seen that video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she doesn't believe the 2020 presidential election. She's challenged the, you know, fact that President Trump lost and she's promoted the big lie about election fraud. She's also endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers on Facebook, in 2018 and 2019.

She's also suggested that the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland were so-called "False Flag" operations. In order, fakes.

Greene has now been rewarded for all of that with a seat on the House Education and Labor Committee.

This morning, we are seeing this video before Greene was elected to Congress of her harassing Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg on his way to talk to lawmakers about gun reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): David, why are you supporting the red flag laws? If there had been -- if Scott Peterson, the resource officer at Parkland had done his job, then Nicholas Cruz wouldn't have killed anybody in your high school, or at least protected them. Why are you supporting red flag gun laws that protect our second amendment rights? And why are you using kid to get to -- as a barrier? Do you not know how to defend your stance?

He's walking (ph). He's got nothing to say. It's sad. He has nothing to say, because there really isn't anything to say, you guys. He has nothing to say, because he's paid to do this.

Guess what? I'm a gun owner. I'm an American citizen and I have nothing, but this guy with his George Soros funding and his major liberal funding has got everything.

I want you to think about that. That's where we are. And he's a coward. He can't say one word, because he can't defend his stance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is David Hogg. He is the co-founder of the March For Our Lives.

David, great to see you, as always. That was march of 2019. Do you remember that moment? Do you remember seeing her and what you were thinking?

DAVID HOGG, PARKLAND SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Yeah, I absolutely remember that. And I remember thinking, you know, I'm just going to keep a straight face and practice my mindfulness meditation that I've often done to help cope with my PTSD and, you now, my ADHD, as well.

And it was actually really helpful in that regard. You can see in that video, they're clearly trying to get a rise out of me. And tell the activists that I'm with by asking incredibly triggering questions, saying the name of the shooter at my high school and stuff like that. So, you know, sometimes it's just, you know, I was told growing up, it's just better not to respond to bullies and just walk away.

CAMEROTA: I don't know how you did it, David. I don't know how you did it. She was baiting you so much and she was relentless, and following you. She was heckling you. Obviously, you had survived the Parkland school shooting.

So she's bringing all of this up. She also said during that that she said, I have a concealed carry permit. I carry a gun, she said, for protection.

Did you -- how did you interpret that? Did you hear that as a threat when she was chasing you saying that?

HOGG: Oh, absolutely. But, you know, what I was saying to myself, Alison, is that, you know, if they shoot me, they prove my point. And the reality is, they can't kill a movement, because the reality with that as well, you know, it's funny when they say, we're paid off and stuff. And I can tell you that, there's no amount of money that you could

ever pay any of us to do this work, because that's none of us want to do to be doing it, but we have to, because sadly corrupted officials like Marjorie Taylor Greene is in Congress and would rather protect guns than children.

It's just a horrific reality. Can I just point out how ridiculous it is that it's on the survivors of gun violence to stand up to gun violence and be the ones to try end to it? Why do we have elected officials if that's the case? Why can't they do their jobs? And she talks as well about, you know, saying that she's an American citizen, almost as if -- implying I'm not just as American as she is or any of us aren't, simply for not wanting our friends to die anymore. That's horrific and disgusting.

CAMEROTA: There's a lot of absurdities of this and disgusting things, but also, she says, look at him, he gets to congress people, I have nothing. She doesn't mention that she and her husband had a multi- million-dollar construction company. I mean, she acts as though she has nothing. That's not true.

And the fact that you, at 18, were able to get in and speak to lawmakers and she with her crazy heckling couldn't -- I mean, I guess she's just very resentful about that.

HOGG: Yeah, I think it's actually kind of ironic, because she's self- owning herself by saying that an 18-year-old can do her job better than her with a group of mostly people under 20, like one of our lobbyists, who's setting up a lot of those meetings, you know, saying, basically a group of teenagers can do her job better than her, as someone who's now currently a sitting congresswoman. And that's partly the reason why, doing everything we can, we have some plans in the works, too, to figure out how we can help support efforts to elect people who are morally adjust leaders.

And part of is asking people to text resign to 954954, that's again, resign to 954954 in order to get involved.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that, OK, because that at the time she was chasing after you, heckling you, she was not an elected leader. She them won a seat from Georgia this past November to go become a congresswoman. She has just been assigned a plum assignment to be on the education, the House Education and Labor Committee.

What is your message to Leader Kevin McCarthy about whether or not that woman is equipped to have a committee position like that?

[07:45:08]

HOGG: My message to Kevin McCarthy is take all of her committee assignments away, along with that also, don't support her when she runs for re-election again. And try to get her primaried. If you say, this is not your party, actually call it out and hold her accountable, because Republicans always act as if they're the party of decency and respect. But would the party of decency and respect question whether or not school shootings happened? Would they harass the survivors of these shootings for having different opinions? I don't think so.

And I think if Kevin McCarthy doesn't think so either, he need to stand up and do something about this congresswoman.

CAMEROTA: You know, David, I don't know if you remember this, but I saw you right after that happened. We came down, our CNN crew, to interview you right -- I think it was a day after, maybe two days after, for our champions for change special and we featured you, and you didn't mention that, of course, because I think it's so commonplace for you.

How often --

HOGG: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: -- how often do you encounter a crazy person who tries to tell you that Parkland didn't happen?

HOGG: Honestly, for a while, it was almost a daily occurrence before I went to school. There were people that would film me at events screaming that, you know, I'm some kind of paid actor that, you know, was never there or the shooting didn't happen or that I'm lying and paid off by George Soros.

And I want to say as well, Alisyn, I don't know where the millions of dollars is that I've been quote/unquote paid by George Soros, but I would wish that someone would tell me so I could have all of college and hopefully law or grad school if I'm lucky enough to get in, to be paid for and be set, and get my parents a nice place. But sadly, that money doesn't exist at all, but yeah.

CAMEROTA: And, David, and listen -- I mean, we feel -- we can't believe you have to endure all of this. But now that there's a new administration, can we just end on this note. Are you seeing any progress? Are you hopeful or where are you with your mission?

HOGG: Yeah, I'm glad that you asked that. And you know, I think that the Biden administration, honestly, needs to do a bit of a better job talking about gun violence in the first place. There are a lot of challenges that we understand that they've had to deal, such as the pandemic, the major recession, the climate crisis and others.

But we also need to realize that we have an American epidemic on our hands that is killing nearly 40,000 Americans annually and was at a record level last year. In some demographics, the number of individuals affected going up nearly 40 percent in the past year.

We need to confront this head-on. And I really hope that the administration listens to us and actually acts on creating a national director of gun violence prevention. And also, I want to let them know, if any of them are watching, call me. That signed a letter demanding that, you know, essentially that you make good on your promise. That you had during the campaign to take this on and do that.

We understand there were challenges, but we need to confront this, as well. And as Kamala Harris said in an NPR interview right after they were elected, you know, we can multitask. It's not just about doing one thing, we can do many things.

CAMEROTA: David Hogg, great to talk to you. We hope that whenever you encounter those dangerous, poisonous people, you feel the support of sane people surrounding you. Thank you very much for being on NEW DAY and we'll talk again soon.

HOGG: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Three weeks after the capitol siege, we are learning that more members of the law enforcement and the military took part in these deadly riots. We have a CNN reality check for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:50]

BERMAN: This morning, we're learning new details about the backgrounds of the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol.

John Avlon with a "Reality Check."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The new warning from the DHS about the danger from violent extremists is a reminder about why we can't just forget about the Capitol attack and move on from impeachment, as Republicans like Ted Cruz have suggested.

This is a clear and present danger rooted in right wing disinformation and nationalist conspiracy theories. As more indictments are issued by the Justice Department, we're getting a clear look at what we're confronting.

For example, nearly 1 in 5 of the rioters charged have military backgrounds, according to analysis last week by NPR, including a reservist with a secret level security clearance who is an avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer, according to court documents. We've also seen members of law enforcement arrested including cops from Virginia and Houston. Those entering the military take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

And what's really twisted is that some of those charged apparently believed they were upholding that oath by attacking our Capitol and trying to stop the constitutional transfer of power. They were incited not just by President Donald Trump by an extremist subculture that plays to the paranoid style of American politics and encourages an armed version of aggressive defensiveness. Many call themselves patriots but they should be known as hateriots.

Where does yesterday's indictments of three members of the Oath Keepers, which the DOJ described as a paramilitary organization focused on recruitment of current and former military law enforcement and first responder personnel. Donovan Ray Crowl, Jessica Marie Watkins and Thomas Edward Caldwell were military veterans drawn in by the anti-government, pro-Trump self-styled militia group. And the indictments indicate they've been doing military training in advance of the attack, closely related are 3 percenters who've had at least two members arrested, including a Texas man who allegedly threatened to shoot his children for treason if they talked to the cops.

It's jarring stuff, but these groups have been growing for more than a decade, as I chronicled in my book "Wingnuts". The founder of the Three Percenters, Mike Vanderboegh, had a quote at the top of his blog I'll never forget -- all politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war.

[07:55:10]

Back in 2010, these groups were rising in reaction to the election of Barack Obama. But with Donald Trump, they suddenly saw an avatar in the Oval Office. They switched from warning about presidential tyranny under Obama to supporting a would-be tyrant under Trump by trying to help him overturn an election based on a lie.

The hatred virus has mutated many times in our history. Over the past four years, we've seen it surface in Charlottesville, El Paso and now in the U.S. Capitol where one rioter summed it up by beating a police officer with an American flag.

For a crowd that claims to love America, they sure seem to hate any of their fellow Americans. And for a crowd that claims to defend the Constitution, many of them had no problem assaulting it.

And that's why we can't turn away. Why we need to confront this crazed strain of hate before it's too late.

And that's your "Reality Check."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Our thanks to John Avlon.

Now sad news. Award-winning actress Cloris Leachman has died at the age of 94. Her one of a kind comedic flare made her a legendary figure in film and TV for seven decades.

CNN's Richard Roth remembers her incredible career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Cloris Leachman entered a scene, you knew it. She will be remembered as Phyllis Lindstrom, the neurotic landlady in the acclaimed "Mary Tyler Moore Show".

CLORIS LEACHMAN, ACTRESS: Mary, will you listen to me! Your dearest friend is spilling her guts.

ROTH: Even her audition entrance was memorable.

LEACHMAN: I had come in and said something like, who makes the decisions here? Who is the big guy? And they pointed to a man. I apparently went over and sat on his lap. I do remember doing that.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: Phyllis was married to the never seen dermatologist who had an affair with the happy homemaker played by Betty White.

LEACHMAN: I'm here to talk about you, and Mary is here to see that I don't rip your face off.

I thought of her as being what they say, the sure firm touch on the wrong note.

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: Was that a fun show to do?

LEACHMAN: Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

ROTH: Leachman was then the lead in a spinoff called "Phyllis." Leachman's career hit the high notes, a finalist as Miss Chicago in the Miss America contest, pregnant during her first major film, "Kiss Me Deadly" in 1955.

LEACHMAN: Running down the streets, that everybody had parkas on and it was freezing cold. And I was really all but naked under there.

ROTH: She was nominated for best supporting actress in 1971's "The Last Picture Show", a neglected high school teacher's wife having an affair.

LEACHMAN: Three months I've been apologizing to you without you even being here. I haven't done anything wrong. Why can't I quit apologizing?

ROTH: When Oscar called her name, the actress said the world stopped.

LEACHMAN: They say she clutched the Oscar. You don't clutch it. You take it and go like that. It weighs 50 pounds. It's the heaviest thing you can imagine.

ROTH: She played a prostitute opposite Paul Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Leachman went for laughs in three films directed by Mel Brooks including "Young Frankenstein".

LEACHMAN: I am Frau Blucher.

KING: Did you love that right away?

LEACHMAN: Beyond belief. What fun. How privileged.

ROTH: And nurse Diesel in "High Anxiety."

LEACHMAN: Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup.

ROTH: A nine-time Emmy winner, Leachman's TV credit list is endless. "Lassie," "The Twilight Zone," "The Facts of Life", "Malcolm in the Middle", "Raising Hope".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dancing salsa, Cloris Leachman.

ROTH: And at 82, the oldest contestant on "Dancing with the Stars." She acted into her 90s.

LEACHMAN: Lots of times, my character will do things that I could never in my own life do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cloris Leachman, Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

LEACHMAN: I am really, really grateful. I want it on my tombstone, which will never happen, but it says, she was grateful. Really, honestly and truly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to be prepared for all threats across a multitude of venues across this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The concern is that January 6th was not the end but really the beginning of a domestic terrorist threat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They feel emboldened. There is the continued view that the threat lingers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're absolutely in a race against time. We're in a race against these variants becoming dominant in the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything we can do to increase the vaccine supply is on the table.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to get an awful lot of people.