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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Budget Director Nomination Hanging By A Slim Thread; FDA: J&J Vaccine Gives Strong Protection Against Severe COVID; Top Secret Saudi Documents Show Khashoggi Assassins Used Jet Company Seized by Crown Prince; SUV in Tiger Woods Crash Had 10 Airbags. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 25, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:31]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, February 25th. It is 5:00 a.m. in New York.

And the White House facing some hard choices this morning. Mainly, how long and how hard to fight with Republicans and some Democrats, frankly, for a cabinet nominee whose chances are shrinking by the minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: If Neera Tanden is not confirmed, she will not become the budget director. We will find places for her to serve that doesn't require Senate confirmation. But let me be clear, we're going to get Neera Tanden confirmed. That's what we're working for. And she will be -- she will prove her critics wrong as an outstanding budget director that works with people on both sides of the aisle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Tanden's nomination as White House budget director in limbo, senators say, because of harsh tweets she wrote when she was head of a progressive group. Still, of course, at the very same time when harsh tweets were the de rigueur from the leader of the Republican Party.

JARRETT: Still, the Biden administration pinning its last hope on Senator Lisa Murkowski. But overnight, she voiced her own concern, saying this: It seems that in a world we've kind of gotten numb to derogatory tweets. I don't think that that's the model that we want to set for anybody, whether it's a nominee, whether it's a president, or whether it's a senator. So, I'd like us all to cool that.

CNN's Daniella Diaz live for us on Capitol Hill this morning.

Daniella, it seems to me, this just -- it isn't just about Republican obstructionism. It isn't just about her tweets. Part of the story here seems to be that Tanden just didn't have full-throated support even among all Democrats. There was a question mark about her experience, whether she was right for this job, and the White House just got caught flat-footed it seems.

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's exactly right. Look, the Biden White House has their backs against the wall right now on Neera Tanden's confirmation and nomination to be the office -- the lead of the Office of Management and Budget.

This comes after even just Democrats have said that they don't know if they will support her nomination, not even Republicans. Joe Manchin says he's not going to support Tanden. He's come out and said that. And we're keeping an eye on Kyrsten Sinema, another moderate. She's from Arizona, and she has not said where she lands on this nomination for Tanden to lead the OMB.

But this points to a larger issue that Biden needs every single Democratic senator to support his proposals, his goals, so that they have can pass through Congress, because of this 50/50 split in the Senate. He is not voicing any opposition toward his own party. He has not come out and blamed them for this issue.

Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't so much blame it on the Senate. I blame it on the failure to have a transition that was ration and he will. As you know, previous administrations had a significant number of their cabinet confirmed before they were even sworn in. That is the tradition. But we're doing fine. I think we're going to be in good shape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: So, he expressed optimism there. He is hopeful that Tanden's nomination can get through the Senate despite the criticism of her past tweets. And they were hoping that Lisa Murkowski would sign on to support him, or to support Tanden for this nomination. But as you pointed out, that she is not looking like she will support Tanden in this nomination. So we'll have to wait and see where Kyrsten Sinema lands on this issue and what the Biden administration decides to do on this nomination.

JARRETT: Daniella, it also seems that there is a broader pattern at play here. The White House just simple any can't get cooperation from anywhere. The House will vote tomorrow, of course, on that first big bill of the Biden presidency, the coronavirus relief bill. The public overwhelmingly supports this, but not a single Republican in Congress is publicly on board with it.

Congressman Tom Reed, a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus says that the popularity of the bill is going to wear off.

Tell that to somebody whose unemployment benefits are about to run out. But you are up there every day, what are your sources saying about what it will take to get Republicans on board with this bill and anything else for that matter?

DIAZ: I really want to be clear. Democrats don't need any Republicans to sign on to support this package. And Republican leaders are urging their members not to support this legislation, as you point out, because they feel that it is riddled with proposals that have nothing to do with COVID-19 and that it is very expensive legislation that shouldn't be passed right now after several stimulus packages were passed last year.

[05:05:07]

But again, this is still an issue. Democrats have within their own party to try to pass this legislation. Again, we're keeping an eye on Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin because those two senators who are Democrats have nothing to do with Republican Party have not said whether they would support this legislation with a $15 minimum wage increase.

In fact, Joe Manchin wants to propose an $11 minimum wage increase if it turns out that this legislation can't pass budget reconciliation with this $15 minimum wage increase, which, of course, you know, we've talked about a lot on CNN needs to be approved by the Senate parliamentarian who decides what can be passed in the Senate using budget reconciliation. Which also, of course, means that this passes as a simple majority in the Senate, so the White House only needs 50 Democratic or 51 Democratic -- or Senate votes for this to pass in the Senate.

So, this is an important thing that we're keeping an eye on even within the Democratic Party on this issue.

JARRETT: All right. Daniella Diaz, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right. To the coronavirus jobs crisis now where women are bearing the brunt of the job losses. Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell says better options in child care may help women get back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Our peers, our competitors, advanced economy democracies have a more built up function for child care and they wind up having substantially higher labor force participation among women. We used to lead the world in female labor force participation a quarter century ago and we no longer do, and it may just be that those policies have put us behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Women are more likely to stay home to take care of kids in the pandemic and older family members are more likely to work in the first place in customer-facing jobs that have been slammed by layoffs.

Women are down 5.3 million jobs during the pandemic, 2.5 million have simply dropped out of the workforce all together. They have lost a job in the pandemic and they aren't even looking now because they have responsibilities at home or there is not a job they feel comfortable going back to.

Powell says the real unemployment rate, by the way, is closer to 10 percent if you count those people who dropped out of the labor force and noted that all jobs will come back. Not all of them are coming back. New data shows the pandemic has allowed some sectors to thrive and others to fall.

This is a projection from the government to the year 2029. It expects host jobs at a restaurant are likely to fall by 24 percent by 2029, the 24 percent where they would have been without a pandemic. Jobs in the travel sector, down 17 percent.

JARRETT: That's stark, that's a stark chart.

ROMANS: Yeah.

JARRETT: Well, the Republican Party's post-Trump dilemma spilled out in one very telling moment. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and third ranking Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney both asked whether it is a good thing that the former president is speaking this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you believe President Trump should be speaking -- or former President Trump should be speaking at CPAC this weekend?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Yes, he should.

REPORTER: Congresswoman Cheney?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): That's up to CPAC. I've been clear on my views about President Trump and the extent to which following January 6th, I don't -- I don't believe think he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.

MCCARTHY: On that high note, thank you all very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The former president has taken direct aim at the handful of Republicans who voted to impeach him, including Liz Cheney.

ROMANS: All right. Good news on the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, folks. A day before the FDA considers emergency authorization, an FDA analysis found the vaccine provides strong protection against severe COVID-19 and may reduce the spread of the virus by people who don't have symptoms.

The FDA also found the J&J vaccine may better protect against the South African COVID variant than original thought. Experts now are laser-focused on all these variants emerging, including a new variant found in New York City, carrying mutations that may make vaccines less effective. Variants are the most serious stumbling blocks that could reverse much of the progress being made.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER, COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM: I think that we spent a lot of time and wishful thinking over the last year. We can all wish for this to be the last wave. But we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we weren't actively focused on containment measures for the variants. If we weren't actively focused on how might therapeutics help to minimize the effect of the variants, how might we make sure that if we do have another wave, it feels different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The Johnson & Johnson is a single shot, so demand will be high. But manufacturing got off to something of a slow start here. The company will only release 3 million to 4 million doses next week if the FDA gives the green light. Unclear whether the government will target shipments to those areas in most need.

[05:10:00]

Meanwhile, Moderna plans to test a booster shot targeting the South African variant. Unclear if Pfizer does the same.

And the Biden administration says that it will send more than 25 million masks to community health centers, food pantries and soup kitchens across the country to reach some of America's most vulnerable population.

ROMANS: Yeah, sorely needed there.

All right. Two years after a "Washington Post" reporter was murdered in Turkey, an unclassified report about what happened could be revealed today. Why the timing matters for a critical relationship in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: Welcome back

Is there a smoking gun that ties the Saudi crown prince to the gruesome murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi? The answer could come in just a matter of hours when the U.S. intelligence community releases a long awaited report with new details about the killing.

CNN's Alex Marquardt reports for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura and Christine.

Multiple sources tell me that the report from the director of national intelligence is as expected as early as Thursday.

[05:15:03]

We've been waiting for this report for a long time, which actually passed into law in 2019. But the Trump administration then chose to ignore it. It's an unclassified report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is required to lay out what the intelligence community has found about what Saudi officials knew and what they did.

Back in 2018, after Khashoggi's murder, the CIA assessed with high confidence that the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, himself, ordered the brutal killing of Khashoggi. The prince, of course, denies it.

And we're learning about yet another link between MBS as he's known and the murder of Khashoggi in Istanbul. We've obtained document from the a Canadian court case which revealed that the two private jets that carried the Saudi hit team were operated by a company that the crown prince had taken control of less than a year before the grisly murder. He had ordered that this aviation company be transferred into the country's investment fund which he, MBS, controls.

And I spoke with a law for Khashoggi's former fiancee who calls the revelation of these documents extremely important and that it show as direct line to MBS killing Jamal Khashoggi. We did ask Saudi officials for a response and we did not get one.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden says he has read the declassified report. He hasn't offered any details. He just said that he will be speaking with the Saudi King Salman which he still hasn't done and which is notable because he has been in office for more than a month -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Let's bring in diplomatic -- international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

You have, Nic, reported extensively on the U.S./Saudi relationship. How does this unclassified report potentially change the political calculus for the Biden administration here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The more damning the evidence that comes into the public domain that links Mohammed bin Salman more deeply perhaps or puts flesh on the bones of the CIA's analysis that in all probability he ordered the killing, that's the sort of working assumption, the more evidence that there is to back that up, the harder it will be for President Biden to have a relationship with the kingdom, a relationship that doesn't curtail weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, for example.

Quite simply, the king is getting old. Quite possibly during President Biden's leadership the crown prince will become king. That's the expectation. Concerns in Saudi Arabia is that the report won't have a smoking gun that won't link directly the crown prince to the killing of Khashoggi, but they do suspect and fear that they there could be leaks from those that want the United States to put in someplace in sort of sanctions that would curtail weapon sales.

So, what's the political cost in that for President Biden? Well, Saudi Arabia is the most powerful and significant ally of the United States right now in the Gulf. It's a huge player in the region and likely to only become more so.

Moving away from supporting Saudi Arabia, President Biden has gone out of his way for say that he will support Saudi Arabia in defense of Saudi Arabia from attacks, but moving away from Saudi Arabia really throws open the possibility that Saudis, and this is what I'm hearing from Saudi sources, that they'll look -- they can look more to China and Russia for military and other sorts of support.

And in a global environment where China is becoming an ever- increasingly dominant player challenging the U.S. role if you will around the world, that's a very -- that is a very difficult environment for President Biden to navigate.

ROMANS: Yeah, condemning Saudi Arabia has consequences. Not condemning Saudi Arabia has con consequences. That's a tough position to be in.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that.

Laura?

JARRETT: All right. A new clue could explain how Tiger Woods survived that horrifying car crash. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:31]

JARRETT: All right. Twenty-three minutes past the hour.

Tiger Woods' SUV was equipped with a new safety platform that included ten air bags when the golf legend's car flipped off the road in California this week. Woods was also wearing his seat belt. Investigators are in the process of retrieving data from the car's black box to find out what led up to the crash.

A safety review has been ordered for that road where Tiger's car crashed. That stretch has seen 13 crashes over the past 13 months.

ROMANS: All right. Golf superstar Rory McIlroy says Tiger Wood's health is the priority right now, not his return to the game.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report".

You got to imagine the world of golf is really rattled by what happened to Tiger.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, Christine. Good morning.

And you know the game of golf is just different when Tiger Woods is not around. You know, there is so much energy and excitement at tournaments he is in because you never know when you will get to see history when the greatest of all time is competing. And Rory McIlroy right now says that Tiger certainly is going to be missed on tour while he recovers.

But the four time major winner said now is not the time to think about whether Tiger can make yet another comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY MCILROY, 4-TIME MAJOR WINNER: He is not Superman. You know what I mean? He is a human being at the end of the day. And he has already been through so much.

So, at this stage, I think everyone should just be grateful that he's here, that he's alive, that his kids haven't lost their dad.

[05:25:03]

That's the most important thing. Golf is so far from the equation right now. It is not even on the map at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And check out this tribute to Tiger at Scotland's famed St. Andrews golf course. A caddie made this sand art offering thoughts and prayers to the three-time British Open champ.

All right. In the meantime, golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is going to make her first LPGA start in more than a dozen years, when she tees it up in Orlando later today. Sorenstam who retired in 2008 says she's decided to play as part of her preparations for the U.S. Senior Women's Open in July. The 50-year-old says she has no plans to make a permanent comeback.

All right. And Brisbane, Australia, has been named the preferred host for the 2032 Summer Olympics. IOC President Thomas Bach says Australia's third largest city was chosen in part because 80 or 90 percent of the venues and infrastructure for the games will be temporary or is already in place. It would be the third time Australia has hosted an Olympics. Despite the announcement, that city's bid must still be approved by IOC.

Now, before Australia, the Summer Olympics is going to take place in Paris in 2024, then Los Angeles in 2028.

Tokyo Games still on for this summer. And the torch relay set to begin one month from today, March 25th, starting in Fukushima, the site of the devastating earthquake in 2011. Around 10,000 people are going to carry the torch on its journey. Officials say that there will be pandemic precautions in place for torch bearers and fans.

The Tokyo Games scheduled to begin July 23. And, you know, the torch last summer -- or last spring I should say made its way from Greece to Tokyo, but they never got to start the relay there. Here is hoping that it goes without a hitch this time around. JARRETT: That's for sure, Andy. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Even with control of the White House, the House and the Senate, Democrats aren't acting like it. They don't seem to stay united and it's posing a problem for President Biden with big implications for his cabinet nominees and four years of critical plans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)