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New Day
Capitol Hill Riot Testimony; Vaccinated People and Gathering; Former Olympics Gymnastics Coach Dies by Suicide; Prince Harry Opens Up about Leaving Duties. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 26, 2021 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
ELIZABETH NEUMANN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: That we're hearing from members -- or from the Capitol Police chiefs and the sergeant at arms that, well, the intelligence didn't tell us that it was going to be that violent. And you're like, well, intelligence is never that predictive. It's always about having a -- one small puzzle piece and you don't even know what the full picture is. Of course not. You're always over prepared. You're always anticipating that -- that something might go worse than you think it might.
So same problem set here. We don't know who is the individual that's going to take that step to mobilize to violence. We don't know where they're going to be, which is why everybody across the country needs to be prepared.
You know, I think there are lots of targets of opportunity for these groups. And we've known that they target and talk about targeting infrastructure. They would love to target a mass gathering in particular if you're a more sophisticated extremist group that tends to get a lot of attention.
So everybody needs to be on their guard and don't assume just because you don't have that magic piece of intelligence that something isn't being planned. That's not how intelligence works.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth, you talked about the role that the former president plays as the inspirational leader. And, truly, the inspirational leader for these people. What happens then when people like Mitch McConnell, who had been on the record saying that the former president was directly responsible, a dereliction of duty, you know, will never live it down, liable for criminal charges, what happens when last night he goes on television and says this.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: If the president was the party's nominee, would you support him?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Oh, the nominee of the party? Absolutely. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: What?
NEUMANN: I don't even know what to say anymore. I -- poor Mitch. I feel like -- I don't -- I don't even -- I don't even know how to rationalize that. It's irresponsible. I'm grateful for people like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse who are trying to -- they've chosen a position, they've stayed with that position and they -- and they're trying to mark out a distinction. It's -- funny enough, it's not a policy distinction, it's just a distinction of, we stand for truth, we stand for character, we stand for being honest with our constituents.
I mean, I will go back, I've been saying this for it feels like four months now, by participating in Donald Trump's big lie, by brushing aside what happened post-election leading up to January 6th, which is kind of what Mitch McConnell seems to be saying, like, oh, OK, that mistake that led to an insurrection, I guess I can put that aside and support him if he ends up the nominee. By doing that, it just keeps feeding the large percentage of Republicans that believe that the election was stolen and that some small percentage of them will believe that it is then justified to carry out an act of violence, because they believe that the government is illegitimate. It's not illogical. If you think your government is illegitimate --
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
NEUMANN: We come from a country based on a revolution. That the idea of pushing back against illegitimate authority. So if you keep feeding that, if you keep stoking that, we're going to see more violence. So them standing up and saying, the election was not stolen and what Donald Trump did leading up to January 6th was abhorrent and he can never serve again, that just -- that just keeps the fuel going for more violence to come from. And it's just so disheartening. I need these -- I need these folks to start living up to their oath of office.
BERMAN: Elizabeth Neumann, thank you very much.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Elizabeth.
NEUMANN: Thank you.
BERMAN: So one of the questions everyone asking with the vaccinations speeding up, can you start to see loved ones if you have been vaccinated? Dr. Fauci has a new answer, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:59]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What we're seeing right now, even though it isn't backed by data, it's backed by common sense, that if you have two vaccinated people and they want to get together, be they family members or friends that you know that are vaccinated, you can start getting, as individual people, even though the risk is not zero, the risk becomes extremely low when you have both parties vaccinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: That was Dr. Anthony Fauci, finally answering the often- asked question of when, oh, when, might we be able to get together with our loved ones, if they've been vaccinated and if we've been vaccinated.
Joining us now is William Haseltine. He's the president of Access Health International and former professor at Harvard Medical School.
Professor, I understand the bind that Dr. Fauci is in. He doesn't want to get ahead of the CDC. He can't be making policy on cable news. He's waiting for the science to confirm these things. But, I mean, as he said, common sense tells us that if you're vaccinated and it's a 95 percent, you know, safety -- efficacy rate, you can get together.
WILLIAM HASELTINE, PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: Well, that would seem like common sense. But, you know, in this struggle, we're fighting an adversary which isn't static. I'll just give you an example.
In the last month, the virus has changed. It's affecting people in my city, in New York City. At the beginning of the month, maybe 5 percent of the viruses that were out there, that were infecting people, were the standard virus. Today, it's about 25 percent of a variant that resists vaccines, which means, if you've been vaccinated, you might not be protected at the same level. So I think that is part of why Tony is -- or Dr. Fauci is being more cautious.
This virus is a very wily opponent. And the variants that are popping up are not only just evading our immune response, they look like they're going to be more dangerous than the original strain.
[06:40:03]
So there are unknowns out there that he has to be aware of and other people should be aware of, too.
The other thing that I think that is in everybody's mind is that what looked like a very rapid fall in cases has slowed. And in many countries, including our own, there's an uptick. Just this week about 15 percent in many countries around the world, ranging from France to the United States to 40 percent uptick week over week in Italy. So this is not over.
BERMAN: Let's just throw that up on the screen so people can see it because Mr. Haseltine is absolutely right, there has been an uptick in cases. Cases have started to rise again. You can't see it great in this graph. At the very end of the graph, what had been dropping expeditiously has stopped dropping and gone up a little bit. Hospitalizations still are dropping, which is a very good sign. HASELTINE: Right.
BERMAN: And let's hope they continue to drop.
Professor, the vaccination battle, which may have an impact on this, it will be joined soon by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The FDA panel is meeting today. We're going to hear all kinds of questions about it. But we can imagine they'll grant emergency use authorization for it. Millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccines will hit the market over the next few weeks and months.
We're starting to see the impact maybe on what the vaccinations have had. And if we could throw up on the screen the graphic that you guys just showed me during the break here, this is the percent of people who have received at least one shot, 50 percent of people over 65, 60 percent over 75, and among long-term care facilities, 75 percent.
Why is that significant, Professor?
HASELTINE: Well, it's really very good news, especially in long-term care facilities. You know, about 90 percent of Americans who have died have died in long-term care facilities. And today you can see that number plummeting. The number of the fraction of deaths that have occurred in long-term care facilities has dropped very dramatically. And that's very likely due to the vaccines that are out there. That's extremely good news. And let's hope that's good news for the rest of us who are getting vaccinated too.
CAMEROTA: Professor Haseltine, great to talk to you, as always. Thank you very much.
HASELTINE: You're welcome. Thank you.
CAMEROTA: There is this new surveillance video that captures the horrible shooting of Lady Gaga's dog walker. We have the latest on the manhunt for the gunman and the search for the pop star's dogs and just what happened here. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:21]
BERMAN: Major questions this morning after the coach of the 2012 women's Olympics team was found dead by suicide hours after he was charged with 24 felonies in connection with the abuse of young gymnasts.
CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now.
This was a stunning series of events, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So stunning. And can you imagine if you were a victim because so many young girls, they trained under John Geddert and now they are women and they have longed for justice for so long. And in a matter of hours, full justice, they are not able to achieve. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ (voice over): Former USA Gymnastics coach John Geddert died by suicide Thursday officials said, just hours after being charged with two dozen felonies in connection to the abuse of young gymnasts.
DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: These allegations focus around multiple acts of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse perpetrated by the defendant against multiple victims.
CASAREZ: Michigan state troopers discovered Geddert's body at a rest area on Interstate 96 Thursday afternoon. The Michigan attorney general had charged him with 20 counts of human trafficking and forced labor, two counts of criminal sexual conduct, one count of continuing criminal enterprise, and one charge of lying to a police officer.
NESSEL: The victims suffer from disordered eating, including bulimia and anorexia, suicide attempts and self-harm, excessive physical conditioning, repeatedly being forced to perform even when injured, extreme emotional abuse, and physical abuse, including sexual assault.
CASAREZ: Geddert was the head coach of the gold-winning USA gymnastics team at the 2012 London Olympics and used to own a gymnastics club in Michigan, which was one of the places disgraced former physician Larry Nassar admitted he sexually abused young athletes. Nassar is now in prison. Geddert's case comes after Nassar's investigation. Some gymnasts speaking out about the coach during Nassar's sentencing in 2018.
IZZY HUTCHINS, LARRY NASSAR SURVIVOR: The dynamic duo, that is Larry Nassar and John Geddert, had lasting effects on me that go beyond physical ones.
MAKAYLA THRUSH, LARRY NASSAR SURVIVOR: There isn't one bone in my body that doesn't hate John Geddert for everything he has done to me and my career.
CASAREZ: Sara Klein, who identifies herself as Nassar's first known victim, calls Geddert's death, quote, an escape from justice and traumatizing beyond words.
And USA Gymnastics writing in a statement, quote, we share the feelings of shock and our thoughts are with the gymnastics community.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: Alisyn, when I was in the courtroom for Larry Nassar's sentencing, and how can we forget this, and I was talking to the young women and everyone involved, they just kept talking to me about John Geddert. And they said, there needs to be justice here. How many years ago was that? That was a few years ago.
And so CNN worked very hard to confirm that law enforcement was sort of gently looking at him at that point. It's taken up until now for these charges to occur and then, obviously, he wasn't taken into custody right away. He was allowed to turn himself in. And that gave him the time to do what he did yesterday.
CAMEROTA: Just horrible, Jean. Horrible on every single level.
CASAREZ: Yes.
CAMEROTA: And, of course, it does raise even more questions. Thank you for reporting on this for so long for us.
CASAREZ: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Now to another horrible story. A manhunt is underway this morning in southern California for the two men who shot Lady Gaga's dog walker and stole her two French bulldogs in the process.
[06:50:08]
Surveillance video captures this terrifying attack Wednesday night.
(VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: I mean he fought valiantly to try to keep the dogs and paid for it with his critical injuries. This morning, the dog walker is hospitalized, in critical condition. He has not been publicly identified. Lady Gaga is offering a $500,000 reward for the return of her two dogs and, I assume, the capture of the suspects. So we'll stay on that.
OK, coming up, a much lighter story. Prince Harry like you've never seen him before, riding in a tour bus in L.A. and opening up about why he stepped away from royal duties.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:55:09]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE HARRY: It was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw. We all know what the British press can be like. And it was destroying my mental health.
JAMES CORDEN: Really?
PRINCE HARRY: I was like, this is toxic.
CORDEN: Yes.
PRINCE HARRY: So I did what any husband and what any father would do is I -- I need to get my family out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: That was Prince Harry opening up about why he stepped away from his royal duties in a revealing new interview with funny man James Corden.
CNN's Max Foster is live in London with the highlights.
So tell us about this.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we got those very serious elements to it. But, actually, overall, it was this very charming video, I have to say, where you see a side of Harry, which has always been there but we've never really seen, I don't think, on TV before. So Corden did a great job of bringing that out. It's, obviously, I think part of the new brand, the new duchess and duke of Sussex as they are in Los Angeles, away from all the formality of the monarchy. We learned that Meghan calls him Has (ph). We see Corden picking him up on a double decker bus and having tea on the top deck and then the tea falls over Harry. So it's a great watch.
And also, for the first time, confirmation, Alisyn, that Harry has watched "The Crown."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CORDEN: And how do you feel about "The Crown"?
PRINCE HARRY: They don't pretend to be news. It's fictional. But it's loosely based on the truth.
CORDEN: Yes.
PRINCE HARRY: Of course, it's not strictly accurate, of course.
CORDEN: Of course it's not.
PRINCE: HARRY: But loosely --
CORDEN: But you do think, loosely, it does feel like --
PRINCE HARRY: It gives -- it gives -- it gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle and what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that.
I'm way more comfortable with "The Crown" than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife or myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Max, did he talk more about Meghan and Archie?
FOSTER: We saw Meghan, actually, on a phone call during the video. Corden just rings her up and she calls him Has. So that was an interesting moment. Obviously, a lot of this privacy issue was around Archie. They're so private about him. They wanted to protect him. So he very rarely speaks about Archie, but he did here.
So let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CORDEN: When did you know that Meghan was the one? PRINCE HARRY: The second date, I was starting to think, wow, this is
pretty special. It was just the fact -- the way that we -- we hit it off with each other and we were just so comfortable in each other's company.
CORDEN: How are you finding fatherhood?
PRINCE HARRY: My son is now just over a year and a half. He is hysterical. He's got the most amazing personality. He's already putting three, four words together. He's already sing songs.
CORDEN: What was his first words?
PRINCE HARRY: Crocodile.
CORDEN: Crocodile.
PRINCE HARRY: Three syllables.
CORDEN: That's a big word!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: So it was interesting just hearing a bit of that. They're clearly thriving as a family over there in Los Angeles, but they've got these very weighted issues, as well, in relation to how they left the royal family.
And we've got the Oprah interview coming up next Sunday, Alisyn. I think that's going to be very different. I expect it to be a sit-down, quite explosive, very serious. So that's going to be, you know, a big moment, I think, in their whole narrative as to how honest they can be about why they left the royal family, how they felt they weren't supported, not just about the media. It's going to be a big insight, I think, there. We're not giving -- be given much steer, but it's pretty clear it's a big deal for the couple.
CAMEROTA: Max, it's really fascinating. And you know the gauge for that, when John Berman is fascinated and stops what he's doing to listen.
BERMAN: Well, I had to -- he endorsed "The Crown." I mean that's not -- seriously.
CAMEROTA: That's not the big news of that interview.
BERMAN: It is. It's huge news. It's not insignificant at all when "The Crown" is this thing that's been seen as this massive hit on the royal family. Harry basically, you know, he didn't say it was 100 percent accurate, but didn't sit there saying, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, it's a big lie.
CAMEROTA: Oh, he said it's better than the tabloid coverage.
BERMAN: Yes. He said, this isn't a big lie. You've got to watch "The Crown." I mean that's a pretty big deal for a royal to say that. CAMEROTA: Uh-huh.
BERMAN: Also, Has, Max, that's what Meghan calls me is Has also.
CAMEROTA: Hasbend (ph) she calls you.
BERMAN: Oh, yes, right. (INAUDIBLE). That -- it means different things when she says that.
Look -- and, also, no one's first word is crocodile. I just want to throw that out there.
CAMEROTA: Come on.
BERMAN: One one's first word.
CAMEROTA: What were your boys? What were your boys?
BERMAN: Crocodile. It's like daa. You know, it's not crocodile.
CAMEROTA: No, those --
BERMAN: I mean I know they're erudite, but they're not that -- you know, it's -- not that much.
CAMEROTA: My daughter's first word was guacamole, so I believe it. Hers was guacamole. Guacamole.
BERMAN: Maybe you have royal blood.
CAMEROTA: I guess so.
Thank you very much.
Max just left. He didn't even wait for us to (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: He had enough. He had enough.
CAMEROTA: Yes. All right.
NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president has pushed for an increase in the minimum wage and the Senate rule keeper, she's determined that it was not allowed as part of this overall package.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obvious that this wasn't going to be included in budget reconciliation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the Democrats wasted a lot of time on this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is shameful that in the richest country on earth we have people who are working 40 hours a week and living in poverty.
[07:00:04]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A U.S. aircraft struck a site in Syria, a site they say was used as a weapons smuggling site
