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CNN Reality Check: The Big Lie Still Lives At CPAC; Johnson & Johnson Ships Vaccine Doses, Injections Begin Tomorrow; QAnon Followers Reveal Fringe Moment Is Far From Over. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 01, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT UNANEU, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GOYA FOODS: I think a great majority of the people in the United States voted for President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You could think whatever you want but the facts are that Joe Biden won the election with over seven million votes.

And there were three days and panels and speeches full of this stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The evidence still hasn't been heard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so tired of people saying this has been looked at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a big lie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one -- that's the big lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Man.

All right. Look, if 60 court loses by team Trump doesn't move you, remember the words of a Trump-appointed judge who wrote, "This court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations unsupported by the evidence."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason that people stormed the Capitol was because they felt hopeless because of a rigged election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Also, remember that some of the Capitol Hill rioters didn't even bother to vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I said I want to have a debate on election integrity. And what was the result of that? Oh, you know what the result was. I was called a traitor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: You're not a victim, Sen. Hawley. You tried to overturn an election even after an attack on our Capitol.

So don't believe the hype that this is about protecting elections or election integrity. It's a hyperpartisan temper tantrum.

The reason this matters is that at least 253 bills to restrict voting access have been moved in 43 states since the election. That's according to the Brennan Center for Justice. And a lot of them use the big lie as an excuse.

Now, that's also known as conspiracy bootstrapping, a propaganda technique that capitalizes on confusion about repeated false claims to justify new action.

In Georgia, this headline sums it up. "Strict absentee voting limits proposed after record Georgia turnout." Yes, the chair -- the Republican chair of the Gwinnett County Elections Board even gave up the ghost, saying the purpose of the bill was so that we at least have a shot at winning.

A similar bill has been passed along party lines in Iowa, a state where no claims of fraud were made, likely because Trump won there.

And get this. In Arizona, Republican state lawmakers are trying to give legislators the power to pick state electors, bypassing voters and election officials.

Look, we should be making election administration nonpartisan, not more partisan. We should be making it easier for every eligible citizen to vote, not harder. That's why there's a lot of urgency around bills that could help protect the right to vote.

For example, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore key elements of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The For the People Act would go further and institute automatic voter registration, expand early voting, and election security measures including back-up paper ballots.

Making it easier for Americans to vote shouldn't be a partisan issue. A vibrant democracy depends on citizen engagement. It also depends on a common commitment and having a fact-based debate.

And that's your reality check.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, John. Thank you very much for that. So, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speaking out in a new interview about the thinking behind leaving their royal duties.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:37:14]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The first shipments of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine are on the way. You're looking at live pictures right there on the side of your screen of vaccine doses being packaged for shipment across the country. Those doses could go into arms as soon as tomorrow.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging all Americans to get vaccinated regardless of which vaccine is available to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: If I were not vaccinated now and I had a choice of getting a J&J vaccine now or waiting for another vaccine, I would take whatever vaccine would be available to me as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen. She's the former Baltimore city health commissioner. Dr. Wen, great to see you.

Will Americans have a choice? How is this going to work? Once the J&J vaccine hits pharmacies, then when Americans go in to get their vaccine are you ever given a choice, or will this just go to some specific pharmacies and you won't be asked questions like that?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, FORMER BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER (via Skype): Well, think about the other vaccines that we get. If we go in to get the flu vaccine, I don't think anyone is asking what is the brand of this flu vaccine and what company manufactures it? That's not a question that we normally would be asking.

And I think in the immediate future, people are not going to be getting a choice when they go into a particular facility because that facility is only going to carry one type of vaccine. It may be that mass vaccination sites get the Pfizer vaccine because they have that kind of ultra-cold storage that's needed. Probably community pharmacies, local doctors' offices might have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And so, people are not going to have a choice when supply is in -- is the limiting factor.

And I really agree with what Dr. Fauci said and just want to remind everyone that right now, the key is to get immunity of some kind. Get whatever vaccine is first available to you. You can always get another vaccine or another booster shot later on when supply is not the issue but get immunity now to protect yourself. And that also helps us to reach the end of this pandemic faster as a community, as a society.

BERMAN: Get the shot -- whatever shot they're offering. Go get it as soon as you can.

Dr. Wen, Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director -- Dr. Walensky -- expressed some concern over the weekend that the daily case rate, which has been going down precipitously over the last six weeks or so -- has sort of stopped declining as quickly, and it may be stalled.

How much of a concern is that, and do you have any reason for why that might be?

WEN: I think it's a major concern, John, and it's because we've seen this playbook before. We've seen what happens when there is a major surge. That what happens is that restrictions are placed. People change their behaviors when they see hospitalizations climb and hospitals getting overwhelmed. And then you see that peak come down.

[07:40:00]

But every time we have plateaued at an ever-higher level -- and we're actually at about the same level that we were prior to that awful surge around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. So if we started to plateau now and then the variants come along -- and more contagious variants -- we could see a fourth surge that is, again, pretty catastrophic.

So I think that there is a way for us to prevent that from happening the same as before, which is most importantly, don't get rid of mask mandates. The governors that are doing this -- I think it's super counterproductive. Because if we want to be keeping our schools open, if we want businesses to come back, we should see masks as the way that allows us to do that. And so, don't remove common-sense, science- based restrictions like mask mandates.

CAMEROTA: Well, it's happening. I mean, I hear you, Dr. Wen, but it's happening. You know, indoor dining is coming back, movie theaters are opening.

And so, do you think -- if we are plateauing at 68,000 new cases a day, which is where we roughly are right now, do you think that the vaccines will be able to outrun the variants in the next month?

WEN: I don't think that any of us can possibly know that. I think we should be humbled to say that we don't know which way it's going to go because we have two directions. We have the optimistic direction, which is we get a lot of vaccines out, but there is a lot of immunity in the community already and the weather's getting warmer. Maybe we could beat this next surge.

But we don't know whether these more contagious variants could outpace the speed of the vaccine rollout. And we also don't know -- I mean, there are vaccines -- or there are variants, rather, that may render the vaccines less effective and we don't know the extent to which that may occur. And so, I think as it has been throughout the rest of the pandemic, we should say let's be humble about what we know and we don't know, but also take matters into our own hands as much as possible, which includes continuing to avoid indoor gatherings, continue to mask. But also, make common-sense decisions.

I think the CDC needs to provide much better guidance to people about what they can do once people are fully-vaccinated. It's just not realistic to tell people you have to do exactly the same thing that you did pre-vaccine. That's going to dissuade people from actually getting the vaccine and frankly, it's not correct. People are less likely to be carriers after they get vaccinated.

So we should start telling people here are the benefits of getting the vaccine. You can help everyone, but also it helps you to restore a sense of normality. You can see your family, for example, again.

BERMAN: You've been passionate about that -- the idea that the CDC and the government -- someone's got to be more direct about telling you exactly what you can and can't do once you're vaccinated.

So, in 30 seconds, what can you start doing once you're vaccinated --

WEN: You should --

BERMAN: -- as far as you're concerned?

WEN: Well, I think you should definitely be able to do the things that you were putting off before that are actually essential. So if you were putting off your colonoscopy or your mammogram or elective surgeries, do that now.

I also think that two fully-vaccinated couples, for example, can see one another indoors without masks, and hug one another.

And I also think that grandparents should now be able to plan their trips once the grandparents themselves are fully vaccinated. Yes, there's still a small chance that they could be carriers to the rest of their family but if they're careful during the travel and continue to wear masks, there are families that can be reunited together. And I think that will go a long way to restore some sense of normality in our everyday lives.

BERMAN: Dr. Leana Wen, thanks so much for being with us this morning. We really appreciate your input.

WEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, Tiger Woods making his first public comments after being seriously injured in a rollover crash. Woods thanked his fellow golfers for their support, honoring him by wearing his signature red and black that he wears on the last day of a tournament.

The golf great wrote on Twitter, quote, "It's 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."

On Friday, Woods was moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for follow- up surgery on the serious leg injuries he suffered in the crash near Los Angeles. A spokesman says the procedures were successful. He's now recovering and in good spirits.

CAMEROTA: Prince Harry and Meghan telling their story for the first time as a couple since stepping down as working members of the royal family. This comes in a wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Meghan speaks about stepping into life as a royal, her marriage, and motherhood, and handling intense public pressure.

Prince Harry reveals he moved his family to Los Angeles because he feared history repeating itself. He compares his unbelievably tough split from the royal family to the experience of his mother, Princess Diana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY: You know, for me, I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side. Because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us. But at least we have each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:45:04]

CAMEROTA: That's poignant.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, I really can't wait to see this. I think it's going to be fascinating.

CAMEROTA: Me, too. Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan airs -- mark it down -- Sunday.

BERMAN: I'm there.

CAMEROTA: Put that on your calendar.

BERMAN: All right.

The two French bulldogs that were stolen from Lady Gaga's dog walker last week have been found safe. Los Angeles police say an anonymous woman met the pop singer's staff and detectives with the animals over the weekend. They say she does not appear to be involved with the assault.

The attackers who shot Lady Gaga's dog walker before escaping with the dogs have not been apprehended.

The singer offered a $500,000 reward for the safe return of her dogs. It's not clear if the woman will receive the reward. Thankfully, the dog walker is expected to survive.

CAMEROTA: What a crazy story and still so many questions there.

All right. Coming up, an eye-opening look inside QAnon. We have former believers and family members of current followers. They tell us how they fell into the rabbit hole and what they see coming for this week.

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JORDAN HALLSTROM, FAMILY MEMBERS ARE QANON SUPPORTERS: It's just so ludicrous -- you know, to put it bluntly. I mean, just -- I have, still, family members that don't even believe that Joe Biden is president.

ASHLEY VANDERBILT, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: He was like Joe Biden's not even real. Like, that's why he's wearing a mask all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:37]

CAMEROTA: In the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January sixth, investigators are trying to figure out what happened and how they missed the signs. But one group of Americans did not miss the signs -- they saw it coming. And they see another violent battle brewing today.

You're about to meet a group of three former QAnon followers and three people whose loved ones are still in the grip of QAnon's conspiracy theories. All of them tell us that the next alarming date comes this week -- Thursday, March fourth, to be exact. QAnon has a new plan for violence and destruction and they don't let reality get in their way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Does anybody understand what is supposed to be happening on March fourth?

VANDERBILT: Um -- well, so March fourth, they're thinking that Donald Trump is going to come back and he's going to be the president. Apparently, what they said is way back when -- it was like 1871 -- inauguration day used to happen on March fourth. And then, Donald Trump will be back and he'll be inaugurated as either the 19th president of the United States republic or the first president of some new something.

BREE BRANTLEY, FAMILY MEMBERS ARE QANON SUPPORTERS: They also think that there's going to be this great financial reset, both in our country and around the world, where debts are just going to be forgiven. Where if you have a mortgage, you don't owe on it anymore.

HALLSTROM: It's just so ludicrous -- you know, to put it bluntly. I mean, just -- I have, still, family members that don't even believe that Joe Biden is president.

CAMEROTA: Charlotte, is it true that one of your sisters does not, today, believe that Joe Biden is president?

CHARLOTTE ROZICH, FAMILY MEMBERS ARE QANON SUPPORTERS: Yes, she -- she now -- she tells her daughter that she thinks that the White House is a set and that Biden isn't actually president.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

ROZICH: Yes, it is mind-boggling.

VANDERBILT: Well, the person that I started talking to anyways that had initially got me into QAnon, he was like you know, Joe Biden's not even real. Like, that's why he's wearing a mask all the time because --

MELISSA REIN LIVELY, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: Oh, well.

VANDERBILT: -- the fake face that he's wearing, the mouth doesn't move correctly when he talks. Yes, so they really believe that Joe Biden is -- it's not even Joe Biden.

CAMEROTA: OK. So for those of you on the top row who did, for a while, fall into QAnon, did you ever understand who was running it? Did you ever know who Q was?

LIVELY: No.

VANDERBILT: Huh-uh.

CAMEROTA: Jay -- I mean, did you understand who was feeding this information and like, who the ringleader of it was?

JAY GILLEY, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: No.

VANDERBILT: I didn't know that I was in a QAnon group until I got out of it. Like, I had no idea that the information I got was QAnon information.

CAMEROTA: So do you guys think that there are particular media types -- media personalities who also are a gateway to conspiracy theories and QAnon?

HALLSTROM: Oh, well, Newsmax, which is a TV station, definitely. They're just -- their reporting's are really off the wall.

BRANTLEY: I can remember when Glenn Beck joined Fox News. It was when my mom became very susceptible to conspiracy theories. She hung on his every word. And then in the more recent years, it's been people like Tucker Carlson.

GILLEY: Definitely stuff like Fox News, One America News, OAN. Stuff like this is the easiest way to get into the stuff now.

LIVELY: You know, I found myself eliminating 98 percent of media so I could exclusively watch Fox News. And they tell you don't go anywhere else -- keep your attention here. Now, if you go to any of these other stations it's fake news. And that is a huge part of what's radicalizing people.

VANDERBILT: In my Telegram chats and in my groups, the only, like, outside media sources of getting information other than the group, that they ever said we could, I guess, trust would have been Newsmax or there is a right-side broadcasting network. I don't know if they're actually on TV. I know that they're on YouTube.

CAMEROTA: Show of hands. How many of you today think that we do have a domestic terrorism and/or white supremacy problem in this country? All of you.

[07:55:00]

HALLSTROM: Just everything that happened with Trump and just his view on the whole thing. And it just really ignites that fire of white supremacy and racism.

BRANTLEY: My concern is that a lot of the threads that weave a lot of these conspiracies together in the Q world are very thinly veiled supremacy, very thinly veiled anti-Semitism.

VANDERBILT: When I was in these groups I was like no, we're not racist. Like, I'm not sneaking out on Wednesday nights to KKK meetings, like -- so I thought I wasn't racist. Being out of it, I have taken it upon myself to have conversations and I've bought books and I'm reading and I am learning.

But as far as domestic terrorism, I think QAnon is a domestic terrorist group.

GILLEY: It just seems that what some of the people say, there's a lot of anger and a lot of confusion. I think it's going to get worse. I worry about a lot of violence.

VANDERBILT: The conversation that's been said in these groups is when March fourth happens, if Trump isn't back, they need to start planning. And they will switch how they talk and communicate, whether it's online or over the phone. They're going to switch the meaning of their words so nobody can pick up and flag it.

ROZICH: I have already picked up on that.

CAMEROTA: Do you have any examples of that?

ROZICH: Speaking of a certain group of people that they consider less desirable, they will use the term Canadians.

CAMEROTA: So they don't like a particular demographic here in America --

ROZICH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and they refer to them -- ROZICH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- as Canadians.

ROZICH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And is this a particular racial group?

ROZICH: Yes.

VANDERBILT: Yes, can I add to that?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

VANDERBILT: You have just this huge group of people that feel that their country is in danger, their children are in danger, their freedom is in danger. And so, they feel like they have to go to war and they have to fight to get things back right.

LIVELY: I think the biggest thing that we're looking at, especially coming out of the Capitol riots on January sixth, is that people are emboldened to take matters into their own hands.

VANDERBILT: I'm trying to warn everybody of what I see that's going to come. And if this group cannot be stopped, and when March fourth comes and goes, we're going to be hoping and praying that they push another date out there. Because if not, the insurrection is going to be a drop in the bucket compared to what's going to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: I've got to say that's the chilling part.

CAMEROTA: Very.

BERMAN: This idea -- the message -- the uniform message from all of them -- people who have been on the inside -- is they think it's going to get worse.

CAMEROTA: Because our hope was OK, people are being arrested. So after the insurrection at the Capitol, people are being arrested. Maybe without Trump goading them on, maybe it will die down.

These are people with their finger on the pulse and they don't think that it's dying down. And they don't hear in the chatrooms and from their relatives who are still in it that anything is dying down.

BERMAN: And look, the former president spoke to CPAC yesterday. His big coming-out party was filled with the election lie -- with the big lie -- and that will be heard.

CAMEROTA: So on tomorrow's Pulse of the People, you'll hear about how the top row of people that you just saw -- they were QAnon followers. They fell into the radical for a long time. So they'll talk about how they pulled themselves out of it. How they got out to see reality and the advice they have for anybody who is dealing with a loved one who is still in it.

BERMAN: Let me tell you also, they all think that white supremacy exists -- that white supremacy is on the rise there. There's another network whose primetime show -- you know, the anchor goes on and says white supremacists? Where, where? I don't see it.

CAMEROTA: They think that he is one of the people who is stoking these feelings of unreality.

BERMAN: Really?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: I can't wait to watch.

CAMEROTA: Yes, very good.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump closed out this year's CPAC with a speech that was filled with one lie after another.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.

FAUCI: It's got greater than 85 percent efficacy. This is a good vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Lies about the election, threats to those who don't support the lies, a new Republican enemies list. The former president spoke in public for the first time since leaving office and he made clear what he thinks the Republican Party is -- a party that he promised to stay in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have the Republican Party. It's going to be united and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)