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New Day

Biden Administration Charts Path Forward One Year into U.S. Pandemic; House to Vote on Biden's $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill by Tomorrow; Prince Charles Ducks Question About Meghan and Harry Interview. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very contrasting narratives here and one of them sounds very, very sinister.

[07:00:05]

John and Alisyn?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: China bears responsibility. The question for the world is will they be held responsible for this action. Ivan Watson, thank you very much.

New Day continues right now.

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

And this morning, there are positive signs for how the United States can navigating the pandemic. For the first time, more Americans have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus than have been infected by it. It was exactly one year ago today that Dr. Sanjay Gupta told us right here on New Day that the U.S. was entering a new and very dangerous phase.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN is now calling the outbreak a global pandemic. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to explain why. What makes it a pandemic, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, there are criteria that are somewhat defined to call something a pandemic. And let me just preface by saying this terminology that we're going to start using now isn't so much to cause panic but rather to really cause a focus on preparedness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Can you believe how close we were sitting to each other?

BERMAN: That was a striking thing. We were right next to each other. I can't imagine being that close to a non-family member.

CAMEROTA: What were we thinking?

On that day, just 22 Americans have died from the virus. A year later, that number is 525,000 Americans.

BERMAN: This morning, the CDC is releasing guidance for what is safe to do after being fully vaccinated. Yes, go hug your grandchildren, But still concerns about travel. The CDC director warns the next eight weeks will be crucial for the direction of the pandemic and preventing another surge.

Joining us now, you heard from him moments ago, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Most remarkable how close you and I were sitting one year and how you haven't aged a minute since one year ago despite not sleeping --

GUPTA: I'm still just as far away.

BERMAN: -- despite not sleeping a minute over the last year.

You know, I don't like to do it too often, but to think about what we've been through the last year, to think about what you were saying then, you didn't want to cause a panic, on the other hand what came to pass was certainly worthy, I think, of being majorly concerned.

GUPTA: Yes. No, I think that's exactly right. I mean, that was a Monday, March 9th last year. And I remember being up all that weekend writing this article thinking about it, looking at the data and, you know, it was heady stuff. Because, remember, the CDC had not declared this a pandemic. The World Health Organization had not declared this a pandemic. President was still saying this is just -- it's going to go away just a few days. So, to go out there and say it was a pandemic, you know, we -- it was a different phase, as you mentioned. But it was correct because that's what the data showed.

But I got to tell you, honestly, at that point it was still very much a prepare for the worst but hope for the best sort of feel. The idea that it could have gone from 22 people who had died at that point to 525,000, like you see on the screen, there's no way I could have -- I think anybody, frankly, if they're being honest, could have anticipated that, even in sort of the worst case scenario.

So it felt like it was a different phase and the phase was up of preparedness but then all the actions, at least the immediate actions after that really weren't following. And that was sort of the great tragedy of all this.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, I just want to read what you wrote back then because it was so prescient. Back then, exactly one year ago today, you wrote, now is the time to prepare for what may be ahead. That could mean quarantines, closed schools and cancelled events in your town. It might mean strain at work or taking a break from hobbies that usually bring you joy. It might mean putting off a family vacation or catching up over the phone instead of getting together.

I mean, you predicted it all. It was all right there. You didn't say Zoom meetings, but you might as well have. And it sounded like you were just really out there at the time and all of that came to pass.

[07:05:01]

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, you know, and there were people who, you know, in the infectious disease community who were sort of raising the alarm on this for some time. But there was such dissonance. You'll remember, guys, because going to the White House, talking to the president, interviewing other people and they're saying do not make a big deal about this, this is going to go away, all it's going to do is cause panic.

And on the other hand, again, I think one thing that we've tried to really always do here especially at this network is lean into the evidence, the data, the facts, you know, in terms of what we were seeing. And the thing about pandemics, the thing about lots of illnesses is that you don't always see it before it strikes you. By the time it actually starts manifesting, you're late.

So, you have to sort of be predictive of these things ahead of time but people are going outside, as many people said on your program and looking outside and saying, hey, sky is clear, things look great. What are you talking about? And that's a tough position to be in as a doctor, as a reporter or whatever, to say, yes, it looks good right now, but you've got to take warning here and be careful. So, here we are, one year later to the day.

BERMAN: All right. That's the rear-view mirror. Let's look forward now. We have this new CDC guidance what they think is safe to do and that's been chewed over for 24 hours and you've got new reporting, Sanjay, from Andy Slavitt at the White House who, in some ways, has helped run the vaccinations, getting shots in people's arms. What are you hearing about what we can expect?

GUPTA: There's no -- what we're hearing is there's no question that they're being cautious. I mean, you've heard that over and over again. I heard Peter Hotez talking about it last hour. They are being cautious. A lot of people are coming on saying, they're being overly cautious. Why can't vaccinated people do more? But Andy Slavitt and others will say, we are purposefully underpromising, hoping to overdeliver.

But there's of the two other things that I think were really important. One is that you don't hear things as binary as you used to, can't do this, can do this. You're going to start hearing things framed low risk, medium risk, high risk, giving people little bit more choice.

Second thing is that the recommendations that we hear are going to be directly tied to the percent of the country that is vaccinated. So 10 percent roughly of the country fully vaccinated right now, 2 million roughly, 2.5 million per day will be vaccinated, so you'll get to 20 percent of the country within the next few weeks, 30 percent by the end of March. My point is each time that happens, you're probably going to hear a loosening of the recommendations coming from the CDC.

And, by the way, the recommendations, again, and Andy Slavitt made this point from the CDC, that those were CDC recommendations. Those weren't CDC recommendations where HHS or the White House then changed the recommendations or dropped things on to the CDC's website. So that's it. But I think they are being cautious right now because of, you know, how this last year has transpired.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, how about travel? Why are they being so cautious about travel? Haven't airlines made all sorts of safety provisions that have changed and made airline travel safer over the past year?

GUPTA: Yes. No, and I think -- look, I think that one is going to change and I think that one will change, that recommendation will be loosened within the next couple of weeks. We have not seen large outbreaks on airline travel. Over the last four days, 4.5 million people traveled. We have been tracking airline travel for a year now saying, look, okay, so people still have been traveling. Have there been distinct outbreaks linked to that? We really haven't seen that. There have been a few isolated sort of cases of transfer on planes over the last year.

But this gets back to the caution thing. If you look at the guidelines specifically, they're basically say, hey, if you're vaccinated, you're pretty good to go. You're not going to get sick and you're very likely to transmit the virus. If you go into a household where people are young and not having some pre-existing illness, it's unlikely to be a medium or high risk situation. That's a low risk situation.

On an airplane, they're basically saying, look, could there be somebody on the plane who vulnerable, not yet vaccinated and increased risk. Despite the fact that you're wearing masks and you have good ventilation, they still want to be cautious here. I think that's going to change by reading the tea leaves and talking to lots of people and I think that will happen in the next couple weeks.

BERMAN: And also there's a difference between shouldn't and can't. It's not like there are CDC police grabbing you by the collar and dragging you off planes. They're just saying that we are not yet sanctioning this as something that we think is completely safe yet.

Sanjay, thank you, fascinating to take a look back, and we'll talk to you again later.

GUPTA: Okay. You got it.

BERMAN: The House of Representatives preparing to vote on the $1.9 trillion relief package, a huge, significant, historic piece of legislation likely to pass without a single Republican vote.

[07:10:02]

We're going to speak to a key legislature who helped get this over the finish line, next.

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CAMEROTA: The House of Representatives gearing up for a final vote on the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan by tomorrow. The revised bill passed the Senate without a single Republican vote over the weekend, and it turned out to be far from a shoe-in for Democrats either, many of whom had to spend a lot of time cajoling one of their own.

Joining us is one of those cajolers, Independent Senator Angus King of Maine. Senator, great to see you.

It sounds like on Friday, it was sort of touch and go in the Senate with this bill and Senator Joe Manchin, you know, wavering there. So can you just take us inside your conversations with him? I know you had many. How much cajoling was going on?

[07:15:00]

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Well, I wouldn't call it cajoling. I think in a 50/50 Senate that every single vote is a crucial swing vote. And Joe had some reservations and he had been expressing those reservations for some time about cost and about how the funds were allocated, what the guardrails would be on the expenditure of the funds. He was being responsible.

And, finally, there were some efforts. It came down to an issue of the unemployment compensation and how that provision was going to work. And my role, along with others, I'm a good friend of Joe's, was to basically keep him talking. And they finally did reach a resolution, as you know, late in the day on Friday. We went ahead and moved the bill with Joe's support.

But it was just a question of Joe had to get to a place where he felt comfortable. He always -- he has a great line. He always says, if I can't explain this to the people of West Virginia, then I don't know how I can do it. And he had to get to a place where he felt he could make that commitment.

CAMEROTA: Well, he needs to do a better job of explaining to the governor of West Virginia, who doesn't like it. And so let me just play for you. He thinks that Joe Manchin made a mistake. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): I still believe that we needed to go big or not go at all, you know, because we still got too many people that are out there across especially West Virginia that are hurting, but what was written in the law was written in there primarily by Joe Manchin. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about the people of this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Senator, explain this. Why was Senator Manchin so stuck on wanting $300 unemployment benefits instead of 400? I mean, $1.9 trillion relief bill, why nickel over $100 for the people of your state?

KING: Well, I think the concern was you got to find a balance in unemployment. And I think this was on Joe's mind. You don't want to get -- have unemployment be so high that people have a disincentive to go back to work. And I think that was one of the things that he was concerned about. And I think he was concerned about the way it was structured. He wanted to make it go longer if possible.

Listen, I got to disagree with the governor. I have never seen anybody more devoted to his constituents than Joe Manchin. And I'm not making that up. I mean, that's absolutely true. He refers -- he's from a little tiny coal mining town, Farmington, West Virginia. He identifies with his constituents as deeply and thoroughly as anybody I've ever worked with.

So for the governor to say that is just nonsense. He knows better. Joe was trying to do what he thought was right for West Virginia, and which is where he always starts, and for the country.

CAMEROTA: Senator, why no Republican support?

KING: Oh, there was huge Republican support. That's been a big -- the reporting has been all wrong on this, Alisyn. This bill was supported by 60 percent of Republicans across the country, 70 percent of the people. The only place there wasn't Republican support was in the United States Capitol, which I got to tell you, I don't get, because all the major provisions in this bill had already been voted on positively by the Republicans several times last year. So, suddenly they say, well, you know, why are we doing this and why are we doing that. These are things we voted for.

Probably the only provision in the bill -- I will correct myself. I was going to say they didn't like state and local aid, but that was in the CARES Act, which they voted for, I think, pretty much unanimously. So, all of a sudden things that were okay last year aren't okay this year.

I honestly don't understand their calculation from either a public policy point of view or a political point of view. The idea -- the bill is really simple. The idea of the bill is to crush the virus and raise the economy. And those are two very important goals. And, yes, it's a lot of money. I'm uncomfortable about the amount of money, but if we undershoot and the recession lingers into next year, then it's going to cost the treasury more than the bill will cost.

So, I think it was an important step, and, you know, everything in there I didn't necessarily agree with, but I'm sure nobody did. But, by and large, it was a really important bill. And I don't understand my colleagues going home and saying, well, I didn't really want to provide checks for you or unemployment extensions or money for the schools. I just don't get it.

CAMEROTA: Senator, because you're on the Intelligence Committee, we also want to ask you about what Russia is doing right now. We understand that there's evidence of another disinformation propaganda campaign against the coronavirus vaccines that the U.S. is using. What are you seeing? Where is the evidence of this?

KING: Well, there's pretty substantial evidence of Russia basically using anti-vaccination -- you used the right word by the way -- propaganda, on their various media outlets. And what they're doing, they don't have to invent this issue.

[07:20:01]

Of course, there are people in the U.S. that are anti-vaxxers and the Russians are sort of amplifying it.

And, Alisyn, they've been doing this since the '30s. The Russians are very skilled, as part of their playbook going back, you know, almost 100 years, of propaganda and disinformation. They just have better techniques of doing it now. But they also, I think, have a commercial interest. They're denigrating Pfizer and Moderna. They have their own vaccine called Sputnik V, that they're selling in Europe and around the world. So this may be just good old, you know, economic competition but in a new form and in an insidious form.

We don't need the Russians to tell us how to handle -- whether or not our vaccines are safe. That's why we hired the FDA.

CAMEROTA: Well, it's a great warning for everybody listens to be aware of when they see something that doesn't look quite right, some disinformation online to know where it might be coming from.

Senator Angus King, thank you. Great to see you.

KING: Thank you, Alisyn. Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Prince Charles making his first public appearance since Harry and Meghan's explosive interview. So how did this go? We have a live report from London.

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[07:25:00]

Happening now, Prince Charles just made his first public appearance following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

CNN Anchor and Royal Correspondent Max Foster joins us now. Max, surely the prince used this opportunity to clear the air and answer these important questions that were raised during the interview. So what did he say?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been waiting for the palace's response, haven't we? I've been reporting on the palace for a while. I think, in part, this is their response. So what you see is Prince Charles continuing with his diary commitments. He's here at a vaccination pop-up. And the fact that he appeared is this message keep calm, carry on. We are not changing our diaries, our engagements. We are carrying on as usual. You could also look at it in the prism of another palace saying, which is never complain, never explain.

I'm getting the impression from Buckingham Palace the sort of people involved in discussions there that they will not be rushed into a formal statement in response to the Harry and Meghan interview. So, I think this is what we've got in terms of optics. We can wait around for a statement. The palace is going to carry on with what they do normally.

Interestingly this morning, someone came in defense of the royal family today and there's accusations of racism, and that was the duchess of Sussex's father herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS MARKLE, FATHER OF MEGHAN MARKLE: I don't think the British royal family are racist at all. I don't think the British are racist. This thing about what color will the baby be or how dark will the baby be, I'm guessing and hoping it's just a dumb question from somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: What we do know this interview created a lot of division here in the U.K., and I'm sure in the U.S. as well. So, until we get that response from the palace, the formal statement, I think it will trundle on. There will be more pressure on them to come out with it. But at the moment, keep calm and carry on, guys.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, Max. Keep us posted.

Joining us now, CNN Business Editor-at-Large and host of Quest Means Business, Richard Quest. Also with us, T.V. Presenter and Journalist Trisha Goddard.

And, Richard, isn't this the problem? I mean, isn't this what got the palace in trouble to begin with, silence when Meghan comes and says, I need help with mental health. Silence when Prince Charles is asked a direct question, sir, what did you think of the interview? So, isn't this silence revelatory in its own way?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Look, you're playing by a different set of rules here, John. That means we can't really fathom how they think. They will be viewing this as we're not going to be rushed into a response. We're not politicians. We don't resign. We don't suddenly get fired. It's an institution that goes back 1,200 years.

Now, in a social media age where you want a quick response to an accusation, that is not going to happen. And the palace -- you and I may sit and fume about the way they do it over there, but the reality is they will turn around and say, yes, we have been doing it this way in 1,000 years and a measured response at the right time will be the way forward. It's not satisfying for a 24-hour news cycle, but that's the way they will regard it.

On the issues that have been raised, of all the issues that have been raised, probably the most serious is the mental health in terms of the palace, because one level this goes to the hypocrisy of every change that has ever been brought in since Diana. They now sort of basically not listening to anything people would appear to be saying. CAMEROTA: Trisha, not only is it a different set of rules in the U.K., it's a different perception certainly by talk show hosts, morning show hosts. So here is Piers Morgan of what Harry and Meghan had to say.

[07:30:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, GOOD MORNING BRITAIN: This is a two-hour trash-a- thon of our royal family.