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Johnson & Johnson Doses Shipped, Injections Begin Tomorrow; Biden's $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Bill Reaches Senate; Trump Resurfaces At CPAC: "We Are Going To Unite And Be Stronger." Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 01, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:31]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the first of March -- a new month here, folks. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.
And to start the month, a major new weapon in the fight against coronavirus. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine ships out to health centers nationwide right now. Shots in arms as soon as tomorrow. It's a single shot but no specific recommendations yet for who has priority at this point.
It's a real opportunity for the U.S. The country now has fewer than 50,000 hospitalizations for the first time since early November.
CNN is covering the pandemic coast-to-coast.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER (on camera): I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta.
Now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is authorized here in the United States and the CDC recommends it, the official rollout begins. Here's what the rollout looks like. Johnson & Johnson says it has 3.9 million doses ready to go. Those doses will be allocated to states, retail pharmacies, federally qualified health centers, and community vaccine centers.
Now, the vaccine can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures for three months and it requires only one dose.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): I'm Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles County.
And when it comes to vaccines, a game-changer here. Many more people are now eligible to receive their COVID-19 shots. They've expanded this to food and agriculture workers, education and childcare workers, first responders, and emergency services workers.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, saying that this is going to speed up the recovery and it's going to save lives. But, Garcetti, like mayors throughout California, is saying we have the capacity to vaccinate many more, we just need more supply.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Alexandra Field.
COVID-related restrictions are being eased in the state of Massachusetts, which takes its next step forward today. Indoor performance venues can reopen with limits on capacity. The same goes for arenas, ballparks, and stadiums.
Capacity limits on restaurants are being lifted but parties will be limited to no more than six people. There will also be a 90-minute time limit.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (on camera): I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.
Two states, Connecticut and Mississippi, will be offering vaccines for teachers beginning today. Among those eligible in Mississippi include employees at both public and private schools, daycares, preschools, and district board staff. College and university staff are not yet eligible.
In Connecticut, roughly 160,000 teachers, school staff, and childcare workers of all ages are eligible. Governor Ned Lamont said in a news conference that he expects to have everyone who works in schools vaccinated in less than a month.
There are now 30 states and the District of Columbia where teachers are eligible to be vaccinated.
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Evan McMorris-Santoro.
Officials in Philadelphia opened that city's third mass vaccination site this weekend. The purpose of the mass vaccination sites is to increase access to the vaccine in that city's underserved communities and hopefully, improve the pace of vaccinations in Philadelphia overall.
And officials say that if vaccines continue to be administered at the pace they are now the entire city of Philadelphia will be vaccinated by mid-summer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates.
[05:35:00]
Well, President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill heads to the Senate this week after passing in the House early Saturday morning. People are in need of help but not a single Republican voted for it in the House.
Here's what the CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Republican until the mob stormed the Capitol, told CNN's Matt Egan.
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JAY TIMMONS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS: It is fantastic to have a partner in the White House. We felt like we were fighting this fight, frankly, alone for the last year.
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JARRETT: Jasmine Wright joins us, back again from the White House.
Jasmine, the minimum wage provision that we've talked so much about is going to be pulled out of the Senate bill. And overnight, Democrats decided not to pursue another avenue on the minimum wage, at least for now. What more are you learning?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Laura.
So, Democrats will drop a provision that penalizes companies that do not pay their workers $15.00 an hour. CNN learned that Democrats found it difficult to craft that bill, specifically at how quickly they want this thing to pass.
So now they will look for other avenues to put a rate hike within this bill. If that doesn't work there's a possibility they could do it for -- in another bill. But again, this highlights the difficulty in which getting a rate hike for Americans is going to be in this Congress as Democrats hold slim majorities in both parties.
Now again, as I said, we know that Democrats want this thing done quickly, as does President Biden -- on his desk before those expanded benefits -- unemployment benefits run out this month. That's happening in two weeks, so this thing needs to happen soon.
That's how -- CNN has now learned that this bill could come up on the floor for debate as quickly as Wednesday. So really, Democrats know that they have no time to lose and want to get this thing going -- Laura.
JARRETT: Certainly, time is of the essence here.
Jasmine, while we have you, the president also has a virtual bilateral meeting with the president of Mexico today. The president, of course, recently survived a bout of COVID himself, and that's a big topic of discussion today. Tell us why.
WRIGHT: Look, the -- Mexico's President Obrador is going to ask a big thing of President Biden. He's going to ask for -- to share some of the U.S.'s COVID vaccines to give to the country of Mexico. That is something that CNN has learned.
Now, administration officials previewed President Biden's second bilateral that will happen today with the Mexico president, saying that they will talk about migration. That's as more children are coming into this country illegally. They will talk about the economy and all issues that really -- that they come together as allies on.
JARRETT: Jasmine Wright live at the White House for us. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: All right.
After five weeks with no Twitter megaphone, former President Trump -- he resurfaced Sunday at CPAC in Florida.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have the Republican Party. It's going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party.
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ROMANS: Not starting a new party -- the Conservative Political Action Committee his stage there. He repeatedly attacked President Biden and he showed no remorse for that, providing the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. His supporters also in denial.
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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Do you think it's important for Trump today to come out and to condemn the January sixth insurrection?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ask anything on --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not convinced that was started by -- you see how peaceful we are. I'm not convinced yet because there's been no actual investigation done yet.
O'SULLIVAN: You don't trust the election officials.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
O'SULLIVAN: You don't trust the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
O'SULLIVAN: You don't trust the courts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nope.
O'SULLIVAN: Who do you trust?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump and his supporters.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: Not all Republicans, however, are supporting the former president. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, says if the GOP idolizes one person, it will lose.
Here is Jim Acosta in Orlando.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Christine and Laura, Donald Trump wrapped up this year's CPAC with a speech that was filled with one lie after another. There was no falsehood, though, that was bigger than the big lie that he told and that he has been telling since the 2020 election, insisting that he won that election and then it was stolen from him.
During his remarks he went on to scold the Supreme Court, saying that they did not do anything to overturn the election results. And he called out Republican lawmakers one by one -- those lawmakers who voted to impeach him for the insurrection at the Capitol on January sixth.
Here's more of what Trump had to say.
TRUMP: I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we begun together -- we went through a journey like nobody else. There's never been a journey like it. There's never been a journey so successful. We began it together four years ago and it is far from being over.
[05:40:01]
ACOSTA (on camera): Trump also teased the possibility that he may run again in 2024, but it will not be with another party or a party that he may start on his own, saying he's going to remain inside the Republican Party -- Christine and Laura.
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ROMANS: All right, Jim Acosta.
Laura, it's fascinating to me what kind of existential crisis this must be for the Republican Party. You didn't see people like Nikki Haley or vice president -- former vice president Mike Pence on that stage at CPAC.
Instead, you have the man who lost the popular vote twice. Lost the Senate most recently, which has huge consequences for this new president and his power and what he can get to -- through, in terms of landmark legislation.
I mean, what must the Republican Party be thinking about -- its constellation of supporters that is narrowing and narrowing now to this very robust pro-Trump conspiracy theory core?
JARRETT: But it needs to confront some of the more nefarious undercurrents that we saw in that mob. The white supremacy, the anti- Semitism, the racism -- all of that needs to be confronted.
And so many of the people at CPAC talking about the liberals and cancel culture. People, themselves --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- who went to Ivy League schools. I just -- it's confounding to me.
ROMANS: It is.
JARRETT: Well, there is new support for Republicans willing to stand up to the former president. Allies of Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger launching a Super PAC to support GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach or convict the former president. The group is called Americans Keeping Country First. It will serve as the sister non-profit to Kinzinger's own PAC which launched last month to build grass -- a grassroots army.
We'll be right back.
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[05:45:51]
JARRETT: All right, 45 minutes past the hour.
CNN has learned that three people tied to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had their names quietly scrubbed from the U.S. intelligence report shortly after it was released. The big question this morning, why? The U.S. concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for the killing of "The Washington Post" writer.
ROMANS: That's right. Growing questions now for President Biden about why he didn't punish the crown prince. During the campaign, he promised he would. Still, there are other ways the U.S. and other countries can punish the kingdom.
CNN's John Defterios live for us this Monday morning in Abu Dhabi. And John, the U.S. may not touch MBS -- but in a way, he damages himself anyway, doesn't he?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Oh, he certainly does. I would say he's guilty of self-harm -- there's no doubt about that, Christine.
And also, I would say the U.S.-Saudi narrative has changed under Joe Biden, but many are saying do more, do more.
You know, Donald Trump almost gave a bear hug to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, as Saudi Arabia dangled $100 billion worth of military hardware contracts in front of him.
Joe Biden says he wants to end the war in Yemen; only speak to King Salman, the father of MBS; and also reopen relations with Iran going forward.
And when it comes to business right now, you have to take a look at 2017 and the roundup of the Saudi businessmen at the Ritz Carlton Hotel -- about 300 of them. Many were partners with the U.S., European, and Asian companies. They pulled back $100 billion -- didn't use the Saudi courts. Not a lot of transparency.
And then in 2018, the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi shocked the world. There's no doubt about that.
And this is reflected, Christine, in foreign direct investment. To go back to 2017, the year after MBS came into power, foreign direct investment plummeted to $1.4 billion. Then it recovered between $4 billion and $4.5 billion.
But that's half the normal rate, usually, going into Saudi Arabia. In fact, it peaked at $12 billion some years ago.
And this has forced him to spend his foreign exchange reserves -- the oil exports earned by Saudi Arabia. If you look here, before he came to power, 2105 peaked at $730 billion and a staircase lower, all the way down to just over $450 billion.
You've heard about the NEOM project, tourism development, revamping Riyadh as a capital city and doubling the population in 10 years. That's very difficult if you don't have investment coming in.
And he was embraced in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Washington, Wall Street, but not today. Money talks, Christine.
ROMANS: Absolutely -- follow the money there. That foreign direct investment, I think is a really important number to watch there. That really is the scorecard if you're MBS.
All right, John, nice to see you. Thank you -- Laura.
JARRETT: Well, an ambulance worker placed on administrative leave has now been charged with arson after police say he set four fires across Connecticut. Authorities say 37-year-old Richard White set fires at a firehouse and a private home in Roxbury and threw Molotov cocktails at ambulance buildings in two other cities.
White fled and was later captured in Pennsylvania. This all started hours after he was in a fistfight with a co-worker following a disciplinary hearing.
ROMANS: All right.
The reconstructed wreckage of TWA 800 will be decommissioned and destroyed this summer after decades of use as a training aid. The NTSB says new technologies like 3D scanning and drone imagery means such largescale reproductions and reconstructions are no longer needed.
More than 95 percent of flight 800 was recovered. The jetliner exploded minutes after takeoff from New York in 1996, killing all 230 people aboard. JARRETT: The world of videoconferencing has taken another bizarre turn. Take a look at Dr. Scott Green, a Northern California plastic surgeon, showing up for virtual traffic court while performing an operation.
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GARY LINK, SACRAMENTO COURT COMMISSIONER: Unless I'm mistaken, I'm seeing a defendant that's in the middle of an operating room, appearing to be actively engaged in providing services to a patient. Is that correct, Mr. Green?
DR. SCOTT GREEN, PERFORMING SURGERY WHILE ATTEND VIRTUAL TRAFFIC COURT: Yes, sir. I have another surgeon right here who is doing the surgery with me, so I can stand here and allow him to do the surgery also.
[05:50:04]
LINK: Not at all. I don't think so. I don't think that's appropriate.
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JARRETT: The judge went on to tell Dr. Green he was concerned about the welfare of the patient on the table there and rescheduled the case. Dr. Green apologized. The medical board of California says it is now investigating.
ROMANS: All right.
NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover enjoyed a Sunday spacewalk 250 miles above earth. The two performed maintenance work, assembling and installing modification kits needed for some upcoming solar array upgrades. The task took seven hours.
This is the third spacewalk for both astronauts and one giant leap for Glover, who made history becoming the first African-American to fly a long-term mission on the Space Station. Very cool. Just a day at the office for them.
Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Looking at markets around the world, Asian markets closed higher. A nice bounce, really, across the board for Asia to start the new trading month. And Europe has opened solidly higher as well.
On Wall Street, futures also up here -- more than one percentage point here for the Dow futures. There's that split-screen again in the American economy. Stellar gains for investors while the jobs market suffers. Stocks climbed in February. Look at this -- the Nasdaq is up 54 percent over the past year.
Now, more experts are talking about inflation on the horizon being a potential problem, but the Fed chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly shaken off those inflation fears.
Investors are also watching oil prices. Prices rebounded after the House passed that $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Investors betting that stimulus and getting this virus under control will unleash pent-up demand for travel.
Prices at the pump, though, also starting to rise. When oil prices rise, you eventually feel it in your pocketbook. The national average for a gallon of gas hit $2.71 over the weekend, Laura.
JARRETT: Tiger Woods says he's touched by a colorful tribute from his fellow golfers. Carolyn Manno has the morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Carolyn.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Laura.
Well, you can imagine what this gesture must have meant to the 15-time Major winner as he continues to recover from that devastating crash last Tuesday, being showered with support from players that span generations and that span the tours. Everybody really showing that they are behind Tiger Woods.
Take a look at this. Rory McIlroy and Tony Finau among those who paid tribute to Woods on Sunday by wearing his signature Sunday red shirt and black pants at the World Golf Championship in Florida. Tiger's longtime rival and friend, Phil Mickelson, also wore the colors at the Tour Champions event in Arizona.
Other finding creative ways to honor the man who forever changed the sport. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau playing with a ball stamped "Tiger" along with a red line.
Woods was really moved by this, tweeting "It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the TV and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time."
Collin Morikawa wasn't able to get a red shirt in time but he did turn in a Tiger-like performance at the World Golf Championship. The 24- year-old joining Woods as the only player to have won a Major championship and a World Golf Championship event before the age of 25.
And after the win, the young star delivered a heartfelt message to Woods.
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COLLIN MORIKAWA, WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP-WORKDAY CHAMPION: Tiger means everything to me. And yes, he had the crash and thankfully, he's alright. And hopefully, he has a quick and great recovery.
But I don't think we say thank you enough so I want to say thank you to Tiger because sometimes you lose people too early... Kobe, I lost my grandpa about a month ago and you don't get to say thank you enough. So, thank you, guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: And a really touching scene on the first day of spring training. A standing ovation from the small crowd that was on hand for the Orioles' Trey Mancini and his first game back from stage-three colon cancer. True to form, the 28-year-old first baseman lining a single to center in his first at-bat.
Sunday marking almost a year to the day since he has last played in a game, Christine. You know, he missed the entire 2020 season while he had surgery and did a little bit of chemo to beat cancer.
ROMANS: Wow.
MANNO: But he is now cancer-free.
ROMANS: Twenty-eight-years old. We wish him the best. Great to see him back out there.
Carolyn, nice to see you.
MANNO: You, too.
ROMANS: Happy March -- first day of March.
All right.
A Florida resident picking up his Chinese food got a fortune cookie that changed his life. Ernesto Sorzana -- he used the lucky numbers from that fortune cookie to purchase a lottery ticket. It turns out that was a good investment because he ended up winning $500,000. Sorzana says it's a dream come true. He says he will use the money to buy a home.
JARRETT: I've got to start paying more attention to those fortune cookies.
ROMANS: Don't you?
JARRETT: Forget anniversaries, birthdays. Just go with that.
ROMANS: You've got to use them. You've got inspiration and it worked for him. Best of luck to him.
JARRETT: (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:59:32]
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ACOSTA: President Donald Trump closed out this year's CPAC with a speech that was filled with one lie after another.
TRUMP: We have a very sick and corrupt electoral process that must be fixed immediately. This election was rigged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's clearly the boss of the Republican Party. They listen to what he says even when he says things that aren't true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The House passed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill on Friday and now it moves on to the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Johnson & Johnson says it has 3.9 million doses ready to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to compare them side-by-side because they were tested at different times.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's got greater than 85 percent efficacy. This is a good vaccine.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
