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U.S. Capitol Police Warns of Threat Today, House Cancels Session; Biden Slams States Lifting Mask Mandates as 'Neanderthal Thinking'; Biden Limits Eligibility for Stimulus Checks in Senate Relief Bill. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are real concerns about security at the Capitol today.

[05:59:23]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testimony revealing it took more than three hours to authorize the deployment of the National Guard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Army senior leaders did not think that it looked good, it would be a good optic.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president blasting officials in Texas, Mississippi, and other states that are lifting all COVID-19 restrictions.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These masks make a difference.

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): The fact of the matter is, we have seen significant drops.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (voice-over): From a public health standpoint, it is ill-advised.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, March 4, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And this morning, the U.S. Capitol is on high alert. Federal authorities bracing for the possibility of another attack after officials shared intelligence about a potential plot by a militia group.

So the House of Representatives has canceled their session today. The threat appears to be inspired by the QAnon conspiracy that claims

Donald Trump will somehow be reinstalled into the White House today. This idea has taken hold in the bowels of social media. If you saw our "Pulse of the People," you heard them talk about it.

A top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee is pleading with former President Trump to stay away.

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REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): President Trump has a responsibility to tell them to stand down. This threat is credible, and it's real. It's a right-wing militia group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, so far, not a word from Mr. Trump.

Remember how terrorists tried to target Vice President Mike Pence on January 6?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, apparently, the former vice president has gotten over that and is now spreading the lie that nearly got him killed that day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the lie that has consequences. Remember, the Capitol insurrectionists were fueled by misinformation.

So what does Mike Pence do the day before a new threatening moment? He heaps more disinformation.

Also, curious, intriguing, disturbing testimony from the head of the D.C. National Guard. He said it took three hours for him to receive approval for the Guard to assist on January 6. Three hours.

But even more than that, he says the Defense Department changed the rules on him for how and whether to deploy, and they did it the day before the attack.

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MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL, D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: The secretary of the Army's January 5 letter to me withheld that authority for me to employ a quick reaction force.

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BERMAN: Again, the Defense Department created new rules for a mob that was expected to be full of Trump supporters.

Let's begin, though, with this day and the threat faced by the House today. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz live near the U.S. Capitol.

Shimon, tell us what you're seeing.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, John, you'd have to think that, for someone to think that they could come and just break through here at the Capitol, attack the Capitol, you'd have to be pretty crazy and pretty brazen, when you consider all of the fencing. Much of the Capitol, the entire area, continues to be surrounded by this fencing.

And then I want to show you something else here, John. There's Capitol Police. They've been out here, you know, for now months, basically, protecting the grounds of the Capitol.

But there's also National Guard troops. They continue to be out here. You can see them here behind the fencing, with heavily armed weapons.

So you'd think this plot that the Capitol Police is talking about, involves militia groups coming in here, storming the Capitol, either through explosions or some kind of an attack, it would be pretty difficult to pull off at this point.

Because the Capitol police, the National Guard, the FBI authorities here in Washington, D.C., not taking any chances after what happened on January 6. And as you've said, this plot all has to do with chatter that the FBI and other intelligence officials have been picking up.

Some officials say that this is more aspirational, not so much operational. There's no indication that the FBI is hunting anyone down, trying to break up a group of people.

But there is so much concern because of what has been going on the last several months, really, concerning the election. In fact, the FBI saying, in this bulletin that they've released, that they believe that there's this continued perception of election fraud and other conspiracy theories concerning the election, concerning the presidential transition.

That is what's fueling a lot of the concern over this domestic terrorism that continues to threaten our country. And this is why we're seeing the security here continue, and it is expected to go on for quite some time -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Shimon, thank you very much for being on the ground for us there.

Joining us now to talk about it is Elizabeth Neumann. She's the former assistant secretary of homeland security under the Trump administration and the director of the Republican Accountability Project. Also with us, CNN political commentator, Errol Louis. He is the political anchor at Spectrum News. Great to see both of us.

Elizabeth, this is real. You know, earlier this week, we sat down with a group of former QAnon followers who had clawed their way out of the conspiracy theory after falling way down the rabbit hole, and they all know about this. This is online chatter. This isn't just, you know, some fringe militia group. They all know that March 4 is the date that is circled in red on the calendar. This is the day that, you know, QAnon believes that Donald Trump will be inaugurated, and so this is a day of celebration for them.

I don't know how many people will be going to the Capitol, if any. But if nothing -- if he isn't, what they told us is that if he isn't today, re-inaugurated, that's when the trouble will really start.

[06:05:14]

ELIZABETH NEUMANN, DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: Yes, you know, we've seen a number of these dates come and go, and there's always fracturing that occurs after it, because as we all know, he is not going to be re-inaugurated today.

So on the other side, you're right. There is concern that a disheartened QAnon adherent may decide to take matters into their own hands.

I tend to be less concerned that today is going to be a repeat of January 6. There are a number of reasons for that. You don't have Donald Trump, for example, rallying everybody to Washington, D.C., at a specific time, location, and setting the target.

You don't have the same type of chatter. There is chatter online about March 4, and there are people calling for violence. It's just not nearly as significant in terms of the volume that we saw in the weeks leading up to January 6.

But we are seeing a couple of violent extremist groups try to take advantage of March 4, trying to incite QAnon adherents to do something. So you do remain concerned that perhaps a small group would try something, or perhaps an individual might be inspired to go and attempt something.

So it was right for them to issue warnings. This is what they should have done in the lead-up to January 6. I think we're seeing recalibration here in terms of how we communicate with the public and how we communicate with potential targets. And so that all of that is very good.

At the same time, I don't expect us to see much. If we do, it's probably in the case of one or two individuals.

And quite frankly, if I'm in law enforcement across the country, I'd be more concerned that something happens elsewhere. That while we're all looking at the Capitol, somebody tries to pull something off elsewhere. That's what I would want to see, is everybody kind of just be vigilant today, see something, say something, and keep on your toes.

BERMAN: One other big difference is there's not a new set of rules being created just for a mob that was promised to be full of Trump supporters.

And one of the things we learned yesterday, Errol, at this hearing -- and it was remarkable -- from the head of the D.C. National Guard, William Walker. He basically said he was given a new set of rules for how we could respond to a violent mob that was expected to be full of the president's fans. Listen.

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WALKER: So the memo was unusual in that I was -- it required me to seek authorization from the secretary of the Army and the secretary of defense to, essentially, even protect -- protect my Guardsmen. So no -- no civil -- civil disturbance equipment could be authorized unless it waws -- came from the secretary of defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Errol, that's a big deal.

LOUIS: It's a very big deal. When you have what looks like a pretty clear evidence that the executive branch, or at least members of the executive branch, were specifically setting the grounds for the legislative branch to be undefended in the light of an imminent, violent threat.

It really raises a lot of important questions about whether or not Congress needs to have its own direct connection to places like the D.C. National Guard, for extreme emergencies like this.

But on this larger question, John, you know, I remember the -- the bombing of the Albert P. Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh back in the 1990s, and there's a straight line from that violence right up to what we're seeing today.

And, you know, one wonders how long we're going to continue to see these sort of, quote/unquote, "one-off attempts" to, you know, assassinate the governor of Michigan, or to, you know, attack and disrupt Congress while they're counting votes, or to hang the vice president of the United States. On and on and on.

We've got 35,000 members of the FBI. They've got a $9 plus billion budget. I would like to hear a lot more about how they intend to step up their surveillance, disrupt some of these networks, maybe pay a visit to some of the ring leaders and let them know that they are being watched and that this so-called chatter is going to be taken very seriously. I feel like we've been behind on this for an entire generation, and we're starting to see some of the effects of that.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, that moment that John just played, that -- the commanding general of the National Guard, doesn't that answer the question that we've all been wondering since January 6 of what happened? Why did this take so long? Why was it three-plus hours before the National Guard responded?

Now we know, he had a directive from the acting secretary of defense not to! That he had to go through all of these bureaucratic, you know, chains and go -- run it up the flagpole, and couldn't respond in a speedy fashion. And it had just come out the day before, on January 5, because they knew that this mob of Trump supporters was coming. I mean, don't we now have the answer?

[06:10:08]

NEUMANN: I think we have most of the answer, but I still would like to hear from some of the other political appointees that were in that chain, the acting secretary of defense and find out, were they directed by, perhaps, the White House to put additional restrictions on?

There's something -- there's something about that moment that could be explained as, you have a bunch of people with -- lacking experience and feeling very nervous about the politics of the moment and about the optics, which don't get me wrong, I think is an excuse. There was bad judgment made. But if it was that, then it's just that. It's bad judgment; it's not nefarious.

But there's also there this potential that there was something more nefarious, that it was intentionally delayed. And I think we need to get to the bottom of that. That's probably going to take a commission. I don't think that Congress is going to be able to get the answers through an open hearing.

BERMAN: Elizabeth, Errol thank you.

Just one more point about Mike Pence. I mean, remember, this warning about potential violence today includes the idea that it's being fueled by the misinformation that there was widespread fraud.

So what does the former vice president do? He writes an op-ed that stokes that very notion that says, after an election marked by significant voting irregularities, that's irresponsible. Right? I don't care how sincere or grim Mike Pence can look when he stands up on a stage somewhere, but he is stoking the type of violence that we saw on January 6, on a day where there's a new potential threat.

CAMEROTA: When somebody threatens my life, I usually don't forget about it within a couple of months, but that's me.

Thank you both very much.

President Joe Biden slamming the governors of Texas and Mississippi for ending their mask mandates as new cases and deaths remain alarmingly high in those states. The latest on the pandemic, next. Smooth driving pays off.

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[06:16:13]

BERMAN: The governors of Texas and Mississippi digging in after President Biden accused them of Neanderthal thinking for ending mask mandates.

CNN's Martin Savidge with the latest.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In less than a week, the state of Texas will stop requiring masks, and businesses can operate without any restrictions, going against the advice of health experts.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Now is not the time to release all restrictions. Every individual has -- is empowered to do the right thing here, regardless of what the states decide.

SAVIDGE: The rule changes frustrating some local leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: it's going to lead to a lot of chaos, confusion, and conflict.

SAVIDGE: And healthcare workers in Texas fearful of another dangerous surge.

DR. RICHINA BICETTE, ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BAYLOR ST. LUKE'S MEDICAL CENTER: To say that I'm petrified doesn't even really explain the gravity and the depth of my feelings.

SAVIDGE: From the Oval Office, President Joe Biden calling it a big mistake for states to lift restrictions.

BIDEN: The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine. Take off your mask. Forget it. It still matters.

SAVIDGE: Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office responding to Biden's criticism, writing in a statement, "It's clear from the recoveries, the vaccinations, the reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texans are using, that state mandates are no longer needed. We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans."

And Mississippi's governor also pushing back, just hours before the state's mask mandate and business capacity limits expired last night.

REEVES: Given how long ago Mr. Biden was elected to the U.S. Congress, he certainly should know how Neanderthals think. Mississippians can make their own decisions. They can assess their risk.

SAVIDGE: But according to Dr. Anthony Fauci --

FAUCI: From a public health standpoint, it's ill-advised. You're only going to set yourself back if you just completely pull -- push aside the public health guidelines.

SAVIDGE: And health experts say it's key to wait for more people to get vaccinated and have a lower number of new coronavirus cases before removing pandemic restrictions. A reality seemingly in reach, as the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine continues to arrive across the country. DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I would just plead with

people, just give it another month or two. Let us get as many people vaccinated. Let's control this new variant before we start to relax on mask wearing and these other measures.

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SAVIDGE: At the Mercedes Benz Stadium here in Atlanta, they'll be handing out more vaccinations today. And as more and more Americans become vaccinated, the CDC is providing new guidelines for what life should be like in a post-vaccination world.

It doesn't really change a whole lot. Small gatherings inside of your home only with people who, like yourself, have been fully vaccinated. In public, you should still wear a mask and still practice social distancing -- John.

BERMAN: Martin Savidge, thank you very much for that.

Joining us now, Dr. Peter Hotez. He's the co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and the author of the new book, "Preventing the Next Pandemic."

So you're in the middle of it. I mean, you are in Texas, Dr. Hotez. So how do you feel about the lifting of the mask mandate?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, CO-DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Yes, like Dr. Walensky said and others, Dr. Fauci has said, it's too soon. And the reason is, we're only now beginning to start vaccinating the American people.

And Texas has fallen behind, because we lost a week because of the power grid collapse. So we only have about 13 percent of the population that's received one dose of the vaccine. So we have a long ways to go.

You know, if we could hold off another month or two months, even, and really move towards fully vaccinating the people of Texas, that's going to be a game changer. Because now we're actually seeing slowing of virus transmission, asymptomatic transmission, from studies from Israel last week, published in "New England Journal of Medicine."

[06:20:02]

So there's a lot of good news ahead. We are going to be able to vaccinate our way out of this epidemic, towards the summer and fall. This is not a time for people to lose their lives. So if we could just hang on, it would make a huge difference.

So it's very disappointing that we're just going to rip off masks at this point. This is not the time to do it. Not with the U.K. variant starting to accelerate, which we know is so much more transmissible than -- than what we've seen before and likely more lethal, as well.

CAMEROTA: Governor Abbott's logic is upside-down. I mean, that he wants people to be able to get back to their livelihoods and businesses to be able to return to full steam. The reason you can do that is because you wear masks into businesses.

The reason that we've been able to have any semblance of our old life. I'm going shopping for my -- the kids' birthdays this week. I'm able to go to my hair salon. I know you think this is natural. And it's because I wear a mask into these places.

BERMAN: I know. This isn't natural, so I never -- I never make any assumptions about you.

CAMEROTA: We have been wearing masks into these places, and that's why they haven't been super spreaders. It's just -- his logic doesn't make sense. If you want to reopen businesses, keep the mask on.

HOTEZ: And -- yes, absolutely -- and actually, you know, here in Houston, in Texas, people like the fact that masks are required in many instances, because now they feel more comfortable going into stores, because we know they're safe places.

So to me, by taking the mask off, it now makes lots of business operations less safe.

You know, my wife's, Ann's -- the person who does Ann's hair, she -- she wears a mask. And now she's worried that customers are going to be coming in without masks, and that's going to increase transmission and put her at risk, as well. So this is not even in sync with what a lot of business owners feel.

BERMAN: So Professor, you've got a concern about spring break, particularly in Florida, where the B-117 variant is more prevalent, I think, than anywhere else in the United States.

The concern isn't for the beach. I mean, I think we now know that you can do things outside. I think the concern is more for the parties that may be indoors. People who are rubbing shoulders and more close together.

HOTEZ: Yes. No, I -- I'm terrified of what could happen now with the upcoming spring break. I mean, what a -- what a toxic mix. We've now, by some estimates, that U.K. variant, the B-117, accounts for 10 percent of the virus isolates in Florida, which is the highest in the country.

We know this is the virus from hell, right, in terms of its ability to spread much faster than what we've before and higher mortality, higher lethality.

Now you're going to bring in thousands and thousands of 20-year-old kids who are going to be in bars and mixing together. And guess where they're going to go after spring break? They're going to go all over the country again. So this is going to be a super-spreader event of a super-spreading virus.

And I don't know what we can do to slow this down or halt it, but, you know, again, we don't have the supply of vaccines we need right now in March, April, and May. So this is a cataclysmic meeting of forces right now that really terrifies me. CAMEROTA: Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you very much for the warning.

BERMAN: All right. With millions of Americans in need of relief, the president strikes a deal that limits who will be getting the next round of stimulus checks. What does this mean for you?

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[06:27:38]

CAMEROTA: The Senate poised to move forward on President Biden's $1.9 trillion relief bill after moderate Democrats got what they wanted.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill with the details. What do we know, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, Alisyn, this is breaking news, but the Senate taking a little longer than we expected to move forward with this proposal.

Now, you're right: Senate Democrats got a little piece of what they wanted in this bill. Essentially, what the bill would now do is it would lower those income thresholds for who was getting checks. So right now, the bill would allow for people making $75,000 or less to get the full amount of the check. But once you make $80,000 or above as an individual, you will no longer be available for those $1,400 stimulus checks. That takes the number down from $100,000, Alisyn.

But there are some procedural hurdles that we are now expecting in the Senate that could drag out the passage of this bill well into the weekend.

What we are learning as of last night is that Senator Ron Johnson is going to demand that this bill be read in full. This is a 600-page bill. That could take up to ten hours, leadership sources are telling us.

After the full reading of the bill, there will still be 20 hours of debate. And all of that will occur before senators will begin that so- called vote-a-rama. Of course, that can take any amount of time. It is as long as senators want to keep introducing amendments.

That process is meaning that every ten minutes or so, senators will have to take a vote. So that doesn't give them much time to leave the floor.

Last time we did this process just in February, it took from 2 p.m. in the afternoon until about 5 a.m. the next morning to get through this process. Republican senators saying they are willing to drag this out even longer than that, Alisyn.

It gives you a sense that things are going to take a long time to get to the very end of this COVID relief bill, even though Democrats are feeling confident they're ultimately going to have the votes to pass it -- Alisyn. CAMEROTA: So Lauren, tell us what happened last night. I know the

House had to go into overtime, basically, because of today's security concerns. So what did they do?

FOX: Well, that -- That's exactly right, Alisyn. So last night, they passed two pieces of legislation. One of them, HR-1, is essentially a broad anti-, you know, anti-corruption bill. And what that bill does is it essentially creates multiple legislative priorities for Democrats.

One of them is overturning Citizens United. It creates a constitutional amendment. Of course, that Citizens United decision from 2010 gave operations and unions unlimited spending power in our elections.