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New Day

U.S. Capitol Police Warns of Threat Today, House Cancels Sessions; Fauci Says, Ill-Advised and Risky to End Mask Mandates Now; Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) Apologizes after Sexual Harassment Claims, Won't Resign. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sort of thing.

[07:00:01]

And the palace, they had -- they learned lessons from that, but some people would say they haven't.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: Max, thank you very much for all of the reporting. It doesn't seem that it's going away.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: We're going to have a lot to talk about on Monday, and maybe different points of view.

CAMEROTA: And New Day continues right now.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is New Day.

I want to show you live pictures of the U.S. Capitol, where House business has been canceled for the day. Security is on high alert because of a new threat of a potential attack on the Capitol. This threat inspired by QAnon madness that today marks the former president's return to power.

It's a conspiracy, by the way, that's only enhanced by the continued lies about the election from the former president, some Republicans in Congress, and now the former vice president.

Also developing, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard tells Congress why he believes it took over three hours to get his troops deployed to the Capitol on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL, D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: The word that I was -- I kept hearing was the optics of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He also revealed that the day before the attack, he received this Pentagon memo that changed the rules for how he could respond to the mob. Now, mark this, a new set of rules for a mob they knew was full of Trump supporters.

CAMEROTA: A top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee is pleading with the former president to tell his supporters to stand down. So far, Mr. Trump has not done that.

And former Vice President Mike Pence, who you'll remember, the domestic terrorists wanted to hang on January 6th, is now helping to spread the lie that nearly got him killed. The Capitol insurrectionists were fueled by misinformation. So what does Mike Pence do the day before this new threat? Well, he adds more disinformation to this fire.

Let's begin with Shimon Prokupecz with the latest on the threat at the U.S. Capitol. What's happening there at this hour, Shimon?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yes, Alisyn, good morning. Fencing, right? We've seen this fencing. It continues to surround the Capitol, the high fencing with the razor wiring, all across the Capitol grounds. But I want to show you out here also, out here on the street, cars that come through here. This is a checkpoint. You can see the Capitol Police here with a -- with one of their bomb-sniffing dogs. So that when buses and other vehicles pull up here, they have to be checked by the bomb-sniffing dogs. And then you have the National Guard. They're still here surrounding the Capitol.

All of this, of course, because of this threat, this chatter that a militia wants to come here, perhaps explode some bombs, try and get inside the Capitol, attack Democrats, attack Republicans who have spoken out against the former president. All of this, as you guys have been mentioning, being fueled by the big lie, the idea that somehow Joe Biden is not the president.

So much that the FBI has said that in an intelligence bulletin. They say the continued perception of election fraud and other conspiracy theories is driving some of the concern across the country.

Mostly here right now, this is how security is. It's expected to be like this for the next few days. And as you said, this threat is so concerning that House members today decided they're not going to come in. They're not going to be in session today. They're staying home. They voted last night on a bill that they were going to vote on today, but they decided because of this security concern to vote on it last night.

And this is what we're going to see her pretty much for the next few days, this stepped up security out here.

BERMAN: All right, I'll take it. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much. Please keep us posted.

Joining us now is CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, he's the former deputy director of the FBI.

And, Andy, this warning, says the U.S. Capitol Police, we've obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol, and identified a militia group on Thursday, March 4th, that's today. This is based on this really convoluted theory, and there are a few different theories within the QAnon world that has to do with returning the president to power. But as Alisyn noted from talking to people, they believe this, right?

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. This is more than just a few pockets. This is big online chatter.

BERMAN: So what do you think, Andy, then of the measures being taken today?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: I think it's the responsible course. I think what we're seeing is the law enforcement community in and around the Capitol responding to this sort of chatter in a very different way than they did before January 6th. We've even heard from some of the leadership involved that the level of chatter about this crazy theory that's supposed to take place today is not even the same as the level of chatter that they were getting before January 6th.

[07:05:03]

Nevertheless, they are not taking any chances. That's why you see those National Guard troops, 5,000 strong, still deployed to the Capitol. And, of course, the House declined to do business today, in an overabundance of caution. I think that's the way to go.

I think what we're seeing here is a very responsible recalibration of the way that law enforcement intel folks think about this threat.

CAMEROTA: Andy, I feel like we got so many questions answered yesterday when Major General William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, spoke. He described this memo that he got a day before January 6th that changed the rules of engagement. And so it wasn't about, it doesn't sound like, just the optics after how badly the Lafayette Square Park thing went when President Trump had his photo op, this was, they knew that Trump supporters, a huge mob of Trump supporters were coming, and they changed the rules.

Here is how he explains why it took three-plus hours to actually deploy the National Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: At 1:49 P.M., I received a frantic call from then chief of the United States Capitol Police, Steven Sund, where he informed me that the security perimeter of the United States Capitol had been breached by hostile rioters. Chief Sund, his voice cracking with emotion, indicated that there was a dire emergency at the Capitol. The approval for Chief Sund's request would eventually come from the acting secretary of defense and be relayed to me by army senior leaders at 5:08 P.M., about three hours and 19 minutes later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Not only that, Andy, there were other things that suddenly, as of January 5th, the National Guard was not allowed to do. In this memo, it spelled out that they were not authorized to issue weapons, ammunition, bayonets, batons, ballistic protection equipment, such as helmets or body armor. They were not allowed to physically interact with protesters, except when necessary in self-defense or defense of others. They weren't allowed to employ any riot control agents or share their equipment with law enforcement agencies. This was all a new directive. I mean, doesn't this answer so many questions?

MCCABE: It really does, Alisyn, and it's really concerning. I mean, let's step back for one second. If you are the commander of the D.C. Guard, that phone call that he described from Chief Sund, that's the call that you've been preparing your entire career to get. And you have things like a quick reaction force, appropriately named, for that purpose, so that you can surge a reaction force into where there is a crisis.

To find out that his authority, the commander's authority to deploy that force had been removed the day before, and I should add, said like that sort of authorization wouldn't be given without a submitted concept of operation, which is a very detailed plan that has to be prepared in advance, you've essentially declawed the National Guard's ability to respond to this sort of crisis that we had on January 6th. And we saw what the result was of that.

BERMAN: And they knew it was going to be a pro-Trump mob. It didn't happen in a vacuum. I mean, they changed the rules when they already knew the nature of the threat at hand.

Andy, one other thing that's developed over the last day, Jake Tapper had a really interesting conversation with Texas Republican Congressman Mike McCaul, who said, the former president needs to come out today and tell these QAnon people to back off. I mean, stop thinking that I'm going to come back to power today. He obviously hasn't done that.

Not only that, he spoke to CPAC over the weekend and continued the election lie, continued to suggest he won the election. Not only that, Mike Pence, who, you know, could have died, if the mobsters had got their way on January 6th, he's now out spreading the same lie with an op-ed that appeared overnight that said, after an election marked by significant voting irregularities -- no, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. William Barr says it wasn't. FBI Director Christopher Wray says it wasn't. They are out there continuing this lie as there is a new threat even today.

MCCABE: John, we know that conspiracy theorists, they put their theory out there and they look for validation, right? They typically have to kind of point to tea leaves and all kinds of other crazy things to essentially prove their lies. In this case, they are getting that sort of validation and authentication from some of our country's foremost leaders, from the former president himself.

So with that sort of, you know, constantly adding a new log to this fire of insanity, this theory is not ever going to recede back into the backwaters of the internet. It is going to stay vital. They will continue to point to statements like President Pence as proof of what they're saying and that's going to keep this threat around. [07:10:00]

So, for everyone who's hoping to see these fences come down around the Capitol, you can bet that they're going to be around a while longer, as long as these sort of theories persist.

CAMEROTA: Andy, I only have a few seconds, but now that you've heard from the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard and that he had to prepare all of this paperwork for the acting secretary of defense, who do you think is responsible for if not a stand down order, certainly not a let's get into action order?

MCCABE: Well, I would love to be able to answer that for you, Alisyn, but we're not going to know the answer to that question until we have a very serious probing investigation, not Senate hearings or House hearings, but actually investigators with subpoena power to go into these agencies and ask those tough questions.

CAMEROTA: Andrew McCabe, thank you very much.

MCCABE: Thank you. Thanks.

CAMEROTA: President Biden likening the decision by governors to end mask mandates to, quote, Neanderthal thinking. Why Dr. Fauci says now is not the time to relax those rules.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

CAMEROTA: Dr. Anthony Fauci is criticizing the decision that Texas and Mississippi governors have made to end mask mandates and lift some other restrictions that were aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't know why they're doing it, but it's certainly from a public health standpoint is ill-advised.

It just is inexplicable why you would want to pull back now.

I understand the need to want to get back to normality, but you're only going to set yourself back if you just completely pull -- push aside the public health guidelines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Dr. Chris Pernell. She is a public health physician and a fellow at American College of Preventative Medicine. Dr. Pernell, great to see you.

So the governor's rationale is, it's time to reopen businesses, it's time to allow people to resume their livelihoods. I'm unclear on how masks prevent either of those things? I don't understand how just wearing a mask prevents you from opening your business.

DR. CHRIS PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: I don't either. Look, public health is not the enemy of economic recovery. And too often, we've had political actors make a decision where one was at odds with the other, when actually it's public health that allows us to guide and direct safe recovery, whether that's economic recovery, whether that's social or even cultural recovery. Public health is that baseline principle that we need to follow in order to get ourselves out of this pandemic.

I really just truly see this as sabotage, when these governors roll back restrictions or roll back mask mandates in particular. I don't have any other way to explain it.

BERMAN: Yes. Making masks the enemy is such a problem and it's something that's been a year in the making now and it's so unfortunate. It's been unfortunate for a long time here. What is your concern about the growth of the different variants, particularly the B-117 variant? This is a variant seen primarily in the United Kingdom, which is definitely more contagious, may be deadlier, and certainly growing in certain parts of the country.

We're going to speak to Professor Michael Osterholm in a little bit who thinks that it could be up to 50 percent of the cases in the United States in a few weeks. What difference would that make here?

PERNELL: So when we have these variants proliferating, what we know is that those variants, as you explained, are likely more transmissible, especially that U.K. variant. So if you have a variant that's more transmissible, you have more people at risk of being infected, and if you have more people at risk of being infected, then you can turn back the gains that we've experienced so far through the winter.

And that's just nonsensical. That's not rationale. Not when we see rays of hope, not when we have vaccines starting to get administered and out to the public in numbers that we need to be able to sustain, we don't just need to give the virus a leg up. We're in a battle.

I've written this, I've said this on many occasions, this is a battle that we all have to wage together and in the same direction.

CAMEROTA: I want to pull up where the U.K. variants are by state. Here are the ones where it is taking hold. Florida has almost 600 cases, Michigan 421, California, 212, Georgia, 137, New York, 136. And we've heard from other experts that basically we should expect these numbers to grow exponentially.

They're doubling, I think, every week. So -- but so are vaccines. I mean, they're not doubling every week with vaccines but we're doing better every day. And so can we have hopes that the vaccines will outrun the variant?

PERNELL: Sure, we can have hope, but this is a race, right? We've got to get ahead of the variants and outpace them as quickly as we can, and that's why efforts that slow us or efforts handicap us really don't make sense.

Look, we know that the vaccines do provide immunity and coverage against these variants. In certain cases, maybe the variants can evade the immunity somewhat, but we're going to be in the best position, if we can vaccinate as many people as possible.

And, again, I'll go back to the fact that that U.K. variant is anywhere from 35 to 45 percent more transmissible, meaning that it's easier for it to spread. So we cannot let up.

BERMAN: So we are expecting new CDC guidance as soon as tomorrow on what people who have been vaccinated can do, recommendations for how they can live their lives, and our understanding now is that it won't be that different. It will say, hey, you can have small gatherings at home with other people who have been vaccinated, but when you're out in public, wear masks. I'm not sure I have an issue with that so much. But I don't know that's going to have much guidance about how vaccinated grandparents can or should interact with unvaccinated grandchildren, for instance, which I think would be such a wonderful thing and so helpful.

And also, look, it's what a lot of people are doing it for.

[07:20:00]

People are going to get vaccinated so they can hug their grandchildren. Can't the CDC give some kind of body language there that helps people understand what they can do?

PERNELL: I think it can. And that's what Dr. Fauci and others have forecasted, that the CDC will say, look, inside of your home, in very, very small gatherings, with one or two other people who have been fully vaccinated -- I want to help the public to understand -- fully vaccinated for both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are both doses plus two weeks, okay? Fully vaccinated would be the one dose of the J&J and, again, the additional weeks for the body to build that very robust immune response.

If you have persons who are all fully vaccinated, most likely, it will be safe to be in an enclosed, small gathering. But we really just have to do things with deliberate caution. We don't want to have happen what happened this summer, right? We start to see progress in different areas of the country. And as soon as we see that progress, we either relax our personal restrictions or we relax the restrictions at the level of a city or a state. And that just sabotages -- that turns around the rays of hope that we do see on the horizon.

If we can just hold the line and wait through to the summer, at least, I could say, we're going to hopefully begin to see increasingly recommendations out of the CDC about what vaccinated folks can do. And I'm looking forward to it myself. I want to see my family. We haven't gathered through the holidays. We haven't gathered even in light of losing my dad. So we're all patiently and eagerly awaiting that opportunity.

BERMAN: Dr. Pernell, we love talking to you. Please come back. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

So, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo apologizing amid allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted advances. How the governor explains his behavior and his future, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional and I truly and deeply apologize for it.

I never touched anyone inappropriately. I never knew at the time that I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: After days of silence, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rejecting calls to resign amid the growing scandal around allegations of sexual misconduct.

Joining us now, CNN Political Director David Chalian. Also with us, CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, our friend, Chris Cillizza, points out what the governor is trying to do here is frame the discussion, frame the terms for his own salvation here. And you heard him say, I didn't touch anyone inappropriately and I never knowingly said something to harass someone, basically. Are those even the right measurements to grade this by?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a really good question, and it's very astute, because that's exactly what the governor was trying to do, was trying to lean very far into his apology for saying things, if they offended people.

You know, the big question is, what are those measurements, as you point out, John? And are the measurements what he and every other New York State employee is supposed to understand and abide by, based on the sexual harassment laws and guidelines in the workplace or just workplace guidelines for how to act appropriately? My guess, and I haven't seen all of those guidelines, my guess is the things that the governor is accused of saying don't measure up to those guidelines.

And then the bigger question is, what is this report going to say? Gretchen Carlson, who, of course, basically started the Me Too movement with her allegations against Roger Ailes back at Fox, said that that report took two weeks and then it was done. So the question is, how long is this A.G. report in New York going to take, and, you know, the governor is suggesting that it could take a long time. But should it, you know, probably not, given the experience that we as a society have with these investigations.

BERMAN: David Chalian, did he do enough?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, he certainly did enough to prevent an avalanche of further calls from Democratic officials in New York for his resignation. We've seen some of those calls, but it didn't fully snowball. What he tried to do, I think, was sort of deal with the criticism that his initial written statement apology did not fly at all. So he tried to sort of double down on the apology piece.

But as you're noting here, he's also just trying to buy time. By pleading with New Yorkers to await the results of this investigation, he is now trying to take that as a point in time and say, no more adjudication about whether or not I should leave office or not, until we get the results of this investigation. And a lot of the New York Democratic establishment, the office holders, seem to be willing to go along with that notion at this moment.

Now, the game will change entirely, politically for the governor, if more allegations come out, but at this moment, he does seem to have bought himself that time.

BERMAN: I rarely get to speak to two such astute guests. So I'm going to try to get a couple different subjects in here very quickly.

David, there's a discussion now, a very real political divide on voting rights and voting access. You have Republican legislatures trying to limit, maybe harder, in some cases, the vote. You have the House of Representatives passing new legislation, creating new rules or allowances for voting. And then you have an argument before the Supreme Court where lawyers for Arizona republicans gave up the game. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the interest of the Arizona RNC here in keeping say the out-of-precinct voter ballot disqualification rules on the books?

[07:30:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it puts at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats. Politics is a zero-sum game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)