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Cuomo Apologizes Amid New Allegations of Harassment; Senate to Drop $15 Minimum Wage; Drop in COVID Cases Stalls; Names Removed from Khashoggi Intel Report; Johnson & Johnson Ships Vaccine Doses. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 01, 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]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Joke. The accused cannot appoint the investigator. Period. And then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman, extremely serious and painful to read.

And so the governor is now calling for an independent investigation, but it took him a while to work his way to that.

JESSE MCKINLEY, ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF, "NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, that was a little tortured yesterday. He initially, after we came to him on Friday and Saturday with our story, he did give us a statement and then went wide with the statement saying, oh, I want an investigation, but then promptly he tried to appoint someone who had direct ties to a longtime aide of his. That did not fly. He then had to backtrack and basically ask Tish James and another appointee of his to step in. That also did not fly. So then he basically gave Tish James, the attorney general, the right to set up this investigation. And that, as I said, will probably launch this week.

But, as you point out, Alisyn, the condemnation of these remarks has been bipartisan. Democrats are very upset. Republicans were upset even before this with the nursing home scandal. So Governor Cuomo is in a very precarious, political position at this hour.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I guess that's my point, Jesse, because the facts that are out there are what they are, the texts and the statements from her that are not, as far as we know, in dispute. So this investigation, what more could it find, right? What -- how could it in any way exonerate him per se or make it better? It could only make it worse, I would imagine.

MCKINLEY: Well, I think, John, you know, the -- I think you -- you hit on it. I think the interesting thing that may be going on here is the governor may be trying to thread the needle and basically try to give an investigation that looks at the state's response rather than at his behavior so much.

You know, he has said the investigation, the scope could be as much as, you know, not only these allegations, but also Lindsey Boylan's allegations. But the -- you know, his counsel has basically said, look, we handled this properly, we spoke to Charlotte, we got her a new job, she said she didn't want to pursue an investigation. So I think that is something that they will hopefully, inside the Cuomo administration, they would hope that that would be a focus of the investigation, rather than his behavior in so much.

BERMAN: Jesse McKinley, we thank you for your time this morning. Again, terrific, really in-depth, clean reporting. Appreciate it.

MCKINLEY: Of course.

BERMAN: Developing overnight, Senate Democrats abandoning a plan to try to increase the minimum wage as the chamber began to tackle the $1.9 trillion relief bill, or does so this week.

CNN's Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill with the latest.

Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

That's right, the House passed their version of this bill early on Saturday morning. The Senate will now move this week to try and make their bill happen.

Now, there are going to be some differences. If you remember, the $15 minimum wage increase is not going to be in that Senate bill. That's because the Senate parliamentarian ruled it wasn't allowed.

Over the weekend, Democrats run into some differences among Democrats in their caucus over a, quote, plan b. This was Senator Ron Wyden, the finance chairman's plan to try to penalize some businesses, the biggest corporations, who did not increase the minimum wage on their payrolls on their own. That plan has now also been abandoned according to multiple Senate aides that told CNN.

Now, one thing to remember about all of this is that the Senate could move as soon as the end of this week. That is because they are trying to make sure that they do not miss a self-imposed March 14th deadline to pass this bill and get it signed into law. They want to pass it at the end of this week to give states some time because unemployment insurance benefits begin to run out on March 14th.

So that is where we stand right now. It is going to be a fast-moving week on Capitol Hill.

John.

BERMAN: Watching it very closely and their goal to get this all passed by the end of next week.

Lauren, thanks very much.

So the CDC director warns that recent declines in coronavirus cases appear to be stalling. Why? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:08]

BERMAN: This morning, nearly 4 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine heading to state across the United States. This is now the third approved vaccine in this country. Injections could begin as early as tomorrow.

Joining us now, Dr. Carlos Del Rio. He's the executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine's Grady Health Systems.

Dr. Del Rio, great to have you with us.

Great news about Johnson & Johnson and any vaccine added to the market will be helpful.

There is other news, though, today, pointed out by the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, that the daily case rate has stopped dropping. If you look at the graph right now, it has stalled out, the number of new daily cases.

I wonder why you think that is and how concerned you are?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT GRADY HEATH SYSTEM: Well, John, I don't think we quite know why that is, but it's pretty concerning to see that because it's stalling at a pretty high number. If we had stalled at, you know, 10,000 to 20,000 new infections per day, we would be pretty pleased. But we're stalling at about 55,000 to 60,000 new infections per day. And that's a pretty high number.

And, you know, the concern is, you know, there's COVID fatigue. People are starting to go out, you know, take -- go back to normal. And we vaccinate about 7 percent of the U.S. population, but we still have a way to go.

So, there's also the variants. The variants are coming. And they're growing. They're increasingly in importance. And we (INAUDIBLE) some of them likely the U.K. variant being more transmissible. So there's a lot of reasons to be concerned that the number of cases are stalling because it can easily start turning back up.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, I think that it actually is a tad worse than you were thinking, Dr. Del Rio, it's -- 67,000 was the average seven- day rolling average of cases. So that's a very, very high number, as you point out. And the J&J vaccine, which, again, is good news, but they're only going to distribute 3.9 million, so basically 4 million doses to be distributed immediately. That's not going to make a dent.

[06:40:02]

DEL RIO: No, it really isn't.

CAMEROTA: And so -- I mean so what do you think the next month is going to look like here?

DEL RIO: Well, you know, the good news is we're vaccinating close to -- I mean a couple of days ago it was like 2 million people day. So we're vaccinating over 1.5 million people.

It's really a race right now between vaccination and variants, right? And hopefully, as we're vaccinating more and more people over the age of 60, hospitalizations should continue to drop and mortality should continue to drop.

But I tell you, we know that in this country the epidemic is being primarily sustained by people between the age of 29 and 40 that are responsible for about 65 percent of new infections.

BERMAN: I will tell you, I mean there's a race for the vaccines and the variants, but there's also a race to reopen, which is happening in some states across the country, where movie theaters will be open in New York state soon. In-person dining is opening up again. You're going to be able to go to in-person arenas. This is all happening and it's a decision that's being made despite the fact that we don't know which direction this will continue to go with the daily cases.

Dr. Del Rio, there's another interesting thing happening just today, which is that President Biden will speak to the president of Mexico today and have a conversation. And we understand that Mexico is going to ask for vaccine doses from the United States. Why? What's the situation and why should this be of concern to Americans on this side of the border?

DEL RIO: Well, Mexico has been pretty slow in their vaccination rollout. They only vaccinated about 2.5 million people. So what we vaccinate basically in one day is what they're vaccinating in the entire country. And I think they really need help with the vaccination program. They need the help with vaccines.

And we, as Americans, particularly people living on the border, but really every American should be concerned. Mexico has one of the worst epidemics. And, as we know, borders do nothing to this virus. So we should work with Mexico. We should be really working with Mexico to get them vaccinated, because in the best interest of Americans to have a healthy Mexico, not only from a health standpoint, but actually from an economic standpoint. It's one of our major trading partners.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Carlos Del Rio, thank you very much, as always, for all the information.

BERMAN: So the fiance of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi calling on the United States to punish Saudi Arabia's crown prince. So far, the Biden administration isn't doing it. Will it take stronger action? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:12]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, CNN has learned that three people tied to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a U.S. intelligence report had their names removed from the document moments after it was released. The question is why.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is live in Washington with more.

So what's happening here, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, this is a very strange development around a report that was so highly anticipated, which, as you know, concluded that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, did, in fact, approve the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

But when this report came out on Friday afternoon, it also said with high confidence that 21 other men were also complicit. But then the link to this report on the website of the Office of Director of National Intelligence died and the report was replaced with another version of the report in which three of those names were removed.

Now, this went largely unnoticed and the ODNI did not offer any sort of explanation as to why those names were removed until we asked them about it yesterday. And in a statement a spokesperson told me that, we put a revised document on the website because the original one erroneously contained three names which should not have been included.

Now, ODNI did not tell me why they shouldn't have been included. They did not say why those three men were on that list or who they were.

Now, one of them, we now know, is a senior Saudi counterterrorism official. His brother is the head of the powerful state security in Saudi Arabia. It's not clear who those other two names are and what role, as I said, those three played, if any, in the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

Now, instead, the focus has been on the Biden administration and why, if they are saying in black and white, that MBS, as he's known, is responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, why he is not being punished.

Now you'll remember that during the campaign then candidate Joe Biden said that Saudi Arabia must be held accountable. The White House is now saying that punishment is not necessary.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (November 21, 2019): And I would make it very clear, we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them. We were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the -- they have to be held accountable.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY (February 28, 2021): We believe there is more effective ways to make sure this doesn't happen again. And to also be able to leave room to work with the Saudis on areas where there is mutual agreement, where there is interest, national interest, for the United States. That is what diplomacy looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: So the Trump administration had already sanctioned 17 people. On Friday, the Biden administration added one more, as well as the group that provides protection to Crown Prince MBS.

Now, they have also imposed a visa restrictions on 76 people who have not been named. They are calling it the Khashoggi ban.

We are expecting more details from the Biden administration today about those sanctions and about that ban. But the fact remains, John, that even though the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has found to have approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, he is not being directly punished.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this is not what was promised by candidate Biden and there is a questions about this morning about whether this serves as any kind of deterrent to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whom U.S. intelligence say was responsible for that attack.

Alex, thanks very much.

The Biden administration says it is disappointed after Iran rejected an offer to have direct talks with the U.S. and other members of the 2015 nuclear deal. The setback signals how long and complicated the process aimed at salvaging the deal is expected to be. The Biden administration has previously says it wants to revise the deal, but that it will not suspend sanctions until Tehran is in compliance again. Tehran says it refuses to negotiate until U.S. sanctions are lifted.

CAMEROTA: This morning, defiant protesters in Myanmar returning to the streets one day after the most violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators since the military coup last month. At least 18 people were killed yesterday after security forces opened fire.

[06:50:00]

Overnight. Myanmar's ousted leader appeared in court for the first time via video conference. Her lawyer says she appeared in good health and was charged with an additional crime for publishing information that may, quote, cause fear or alarm. She is being detained in an undisclosed location.

So the late actor, Chadwick Bozeman, winning his first Golden Globe for a film he did not live to see. His widow's emotional acceptance speech, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, we have live pictures this morning of shipments of Johnson & Johnson's newly approved single-dose vaccine. You can see it right there. It's being packaged and will be sent to states across the country.

CNN's Pete Muntean is live outside a UPS facility in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be shipped through there. Pete, with the very latest.

What are you seeing?

[06:55:01]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the pressure is on now for carriers like UPS. This is its largest hub known as Worldport. And this is where the vaccine makes its first stop on the way to getting millions of doses to you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (voice over): An army of people and planes are standing by to deliver the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is the newest logistical challenge here at UPS Worldport in Louisville. Truck fulls of the vaccine will make their first stop here after leaving a McKesson warehouse a short drive away in Shepherdsville.

BRANDON FORTSON, UPS DAYSIDE RAMP DIVISION MANAGER: There's a lot of work that goes behind the scenes.

MUNTEAN: Brandon Fortson helps run the key facility where vaccine shipments are first sorted. Workers here unload containers by hand. Then machines scan and sort each package bound for delivery the next day or the day after.

And 3.9 million doses are in this first Johnson & Johnson wave. On Sunday, the majority were made available for state and local governments to order. The rest available to pharmacies, as well as federally qualified and community vaccine centers.

FORTSON: Everybody knows what's going through this facility and everybody understands the importance of it and what it means to everybody.

MUNTEAN (on camera): This is what UPS calls the primary matrix, the center of 150 miles of conveyer belt, long enough to go from D.C. to Philadelphia. This is where vaccine shipments are sorted automatically on their way to deliveries coast-to-coast.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The longest part of this journey is by air. Vaccines are loaded into UPS aircraft. Each individual box broadcasts its position in real time to the UPS Health Care Command Center, a critical feature when last month's massive snowstorm slowed vaccine deliveries and even shut down Worldport for a day for the first time ever.

ALYSE ADKINS, UPS 767 CAPTAIN: Every package is important.

MUNTEAN: Captain Alyse Adkins pilots some of the nearly 400 flights that operate from Worldport each day. UPS says it has already delivered tens of millions of Pfizer and Moderna doses. The 11,000 people who work here say they are ready for more.

ADKINS: Obviously, the vaccine, we are all thinking about it, it's just a shot in the arm, right, but it's not. It should be a shot of hope for everybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: Well, this operation really kicks into high gear as soon as those trucks arrive here from the distribution center. We're expecting that sometime in the next few hours. And the White House says deliveries of that Johnson & Johnson vaccine could begin as soon as tomorrow.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, keep us posted with all the developments. Pete Muntean, thank you very much.

So the Golden Globes Awards going on as planned last night, despite being marred by some technical glitches.

BERMAN: Like COVID? That's a technical glitch.

CAMEROTA: There was more.

But the late actor, Chadwick Bozeman, won best performance by an actor in a motion picture for his role in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Boseman's wife tearfully accepting the award in his honor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

: He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifice.

He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of all of us that tells you, you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you are meant to be doing at this moment in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Boseman died last August at age 43 after fighting a private battle with colon cancer.

So sad. So sad. I mean, she did him, you know, a beautiful honor because she said such beautiful words. But, gosh, what a loss.

BERMAN: It's still a shocking loss. Still shocking after all this time.

CAMEROTA: And NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump teased the possibility that he may run for president once again in 2024.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we idolize one person, we will lose. And that's kind of clear from the last election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The House passed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill on Friday and now it moves on to the Senate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Up to 4 million doses of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine ready to roll out immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The honest answer is, they can't be compared head- to-head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would take whatever vaccine would be available to me as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

And President Trump making a return to the spotlight at the CPAC convention, targeting Republicans who supported his impeachment and spreading more lies about his election loss.

[07:00:04]

Trump also pledging not to launch a third party and setting himself up.