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Biden Outlines Path to Normalcy by July Fourth; Biden Urges Americans to Buckle Down as States Ease Restrictions; Italy to Impose Nationwide Lockdown Over Easter Weekend; Trump's Time in White House Could Benefit New York Prosecutors. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 12, 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: More than two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are going into arms per day on average.

[05:59:48]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All adult Americans will be eligible to get a vaccine no later than May 1. That's much earlier than expected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Maryland to Oklahoma, more states are easing restrictions.

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): The standard for normal cannot be zero cases. In Oklahoma the standard for normal is freedom.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: You're wearing your mask not because your governor tells you to. You wear your mask because you want to protect yourself, you want to protect your loved ones.

(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, Friday, March 12. 6 a.m. in New York.

And President Biden is targeting July Fourth as the day that America can start feeling a sense of independence from the pandemic. In his first prime-time address last night, the president pledged to make all adults eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by May 1. That's just seven weeks away and a month earlier than the last projection.

But first, President Biden is pleading with all Americans to buckle down until then to beat the virus.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Putting dates on it. I think, is really interesting.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting to have an actual finish line that you can see and touch. In some ways, it makes it harder.

BERMAN: What are you going to do July Fourth?

CAMEROTA: You've never seen anything like my Fourth of July is going to look like now.

BERMAN: So the president spent only part of the speech touting the $1.9 trillion relief package. The first round of direct payments could hit bank accounts as soon as this weekend.

Let's go to the White House. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is there with, I think, the rollout plan both in dollars and in P.R., Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: no doubt, John.

And, listen, yesterday as President Biden addressed millions of Americans speaking directly into the camera, leaning over his podium several times, you saw him using his tried mark empathy as you recall the grief and sacrifices THAT Americans have endured over the last year since the coronavirus really began to shut down and fundamentally change this country.

But what you also saw from the president at a time when more Americans than ever, three-quarters of Americans, believe that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.

You also saw the president express some cautious optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): In his first prime-time address, President Biden giving a pandemic weary nation glimmers of hope with two dates on the horizon. One year after coronavirus up-ended life in America, the president injecting cautious optimism and challenging Americans to help him defeat the pandemic.

BIDEN: I will not relent until we beat this virus, but I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part.

DIAMOND: Biden's first deadline: expanding vaccine eligibility for all adults.

BIDEN: I will direct all states, tribes and territories to make all adults, people 18 and over, eligible to be vaccinated no later than May 1.

DIAMOND: The president also offering his clearest time line yet for a return to some sense of normalcy. But only if people commit to get vaccinated and continue to wear masks.

We do this together, by July the 4th, there's a good chance you, your families and friends, will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day.

DIAMOND: Even with those goals, Biden sending this dose of reality. BIDEN: A lot can happen. Conditions can change. The scientists have

made clear that things may get worse again as new variants of the virus spread.

DIAMOND: And a somber reminder of the staggering losses during a crisis that's claimed more than 530,000 American lives.

BIDEN: While it's different for everyone, we all lost something. A collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life and the loss of living for all of us. Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do, and that's what we've done.

DIAMOND: The president also condemning the rise of hate crimes against Asian-Americans.

BIDEN: States pitted against one another instead of working with each other. Vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated. It's wrong. It's un- American. And it must stop.

DIAMOND: Biden's speech coming hours after signing his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

BIDEN: This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country.

DIAMOND: A life line for millions devastated by a pandemic, Biden says requires a united America to end.

BIDEN: From the bottom of my heart, I believe there's nothing we can't do when we do it together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And, John, today President Biden is expected to hold a signing ceremony to tout this $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill which he signed into law officially yesterday, and now begins the business of selling that piece of legislation, touting it as a key accomplishment for President Biden in his first 100 days in office.

[06:05:11]

The president next week heading to several key states, including Pennsylvania, and ending the week in Georgia with vice president Kamala Harris. Several other administration officials also fanning out across the country to try to sell this bill.

And we're also learning this morning that the Democratic National Committee, in coordination with the White House, is launching a new national ad campaign to once again tout this bill. This is all about setting up the 2022 midterms. This is what Democrats across the country will be running on -- John.

BERMAN: At least one of those senior administration officials will be on this show a little bit later. We're going to keep it a secret as to just who. Stay tuned for that.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks for being with us.

So despite President Biden's plea for Americans to continue to buckle down, a growing number of states easing coronavirus restrictions. Maryland now lifting all capacity restrictions at restaurants and gyms as of today.

CNN's Joe Johns live in National Harbor, Maryland. Joe, I thought you were going to be inside a gym doing flies or something.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Not yet anyway, John, but perhaps very soon.

Look, as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to drop, in many states local officials are facing decisions about how and when to reopen.

Here in Maryland, the governor is taking a cautious approach, but he's still reopening businesses, while some other states are moving full speed ahead, defying the warnings from the experts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): As the coronavirus pandemic enters its second year, more states are easing restrictions. In Maryland most of the state's gyms, restaurants and bars can now operate at full capacity today, but mask mandates remain in effect.

In Oklahoma, the governor there announcing he is removing all restrictions on events statewide and removing the requirement to wear masks in state buildings.

STITT: The standard for normal cannot be zero cases. In Oklahoma the standard for normal is freedom.

JOHNS: While the daily numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths are down significantly from their peaks, Dr. Anthony Fauci says the number of new cases per day in the United States is still too high to ease restrictions. '

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You have to keep up the public health measures. That is unacceptably high. That is risky for triggering another surge. I would say, my estimation would be clearly below 10,000 per day.

JOHNS: Texas has lifted most of its coronavirus restrictions, and some cities and counties are refusing to follow state orders to lift mask mandates, choosing to side with health experts instead.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is now suing officials in the state's capital, Austin, and its surrounding county, claiming officials are undermining the state's reopening efforts.

Texas is one of 16 states that currently have no statewide mask mandate. WALENSKY: You wear your mask not because your governor tells you to.

You wear your mask because you want to protect yourself, you want to protect your loved ones, you want to protect your community members.

JOHNS: Concerns over loosening coronavirus restrictions come as another vaccine's final data has been released. The Novavax vaccine has an overall efficacy rate of nearly 90 percent and was found effective against the U.K. and South African variants.

Currently, one in ten people are now fully vaccinated in the United States, but health officials warn we have a long way to go to end this pandemic.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, MEMBER OF FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: I think we're going to get fooled. I think what's going to happen is you're going to see that, as we enter the summer months, numbers are going to go down, and people are going to think, great, we're good. They're going to be less interested in getting a vaccine, because they think that we've conquered this pandemic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: A CDC analysis says 2020 was the deadliest year on record, at least since 1900. Another historic metric which tells us the toll this pandemic has taken over the last year -- John.

BERMAN: That's an incredible statistic, Joe, the deadliest year since 1900. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your reporting.

So you've heard the markers now. May 1 for everyone to sign up for the vaccine. July Fourth to get back to normal-ish. How realistic? What needs to work to make this happen? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:14:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I will not relent until we beat this virus, but I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part. I need you to get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity. And to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's President Biden imploring Americans to do their part to help stop the spread of coronavirus so we can get to his goal of Fourth of July celebrations.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst Seung Min Kim. She's a White House reporter for "The Washington Post."

Seung Min, it was really interesting. President Biden has seemed pretty focused on putting his energy into giving Americans dates certain, like not like soon, not like it's going to miraculously going away. Just giving them, OK, May 1, here's what's going to happen. OK, July Fourth, here's what you can imagine.

I mean, what's behind that strategy? Do we know?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: A lot of it is making sure that you -- that the White House, that President Biden, the administration, gives Americans hope and a date, something to look for -- something to look towards to but also base it on the data that they have so far so you see the May 1 trajectory that they've laid out is something that they -- that administration officials after President Biden's speech last night, they said that was based on the data that they were getting in terms of, you know, the states and when their eligibility dates were kind of coming online.

And it kind of -- it really is a contrast to what the previous government did almost a year ago, a little less than a year ago. At this point, when he was saying in late March of last year, that he wanted all the pews filled up at churches on Easter, and obviously, clearly, that was an unrealistic goal at the time.

So the Biden White House is trying to walk a tightrope here. They're trying to give Americans some hope and optimism but still be very measured and tempered.

And you really saw that in President Biden's speech last night when he looked direct to the camera and really implored Americans to do their part, saying, I need you, that you need to continue to wear masks. You need to get the vaccines once you are eligible and just really do your part.

So it was just one measure of -- one measure of optimism but also one measure of realism and just really urging Americans to do our part when we're so close to the end at this point.

BERMAN: Look, they have consistently under-promised and overdelivered. So if they're saying May 1 and July Fourth, you would think they probably have data that says that's eminently achievable.

I would note, also, he didn't talk about the $1.9 trillion relief bill as much as -- as much as I thought he was going to do, Seung Min. Why? I mean, why didn't we hear more about that specifically?

KIM: Well, I think that's part of the splits that you're going to see in administration officials from the president on down, you know, really today.

You have a big Rose Garden ceremony this afternoon with a lot of the key Democrats who were involved in crafting this bill. And then you're going to see -- and you're going to see President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, hit the road. They're going to Pennsylvania, Georgia, all these states to really sell the bill.

They've tried to learn from the mistakes of what they call mistakes of the promotion, the public relations around President Obama's 2009 stimulus package and really focus on telling voters the merits of the bill.

And you do see that, while he didn't mention it so much last night, his last night's message really focused about marking -- focused on marking the one-year anniversary of when, effectively, this country shut down, and kind of, you know, charting out a way forward on this pandemic. Today -- starting today will really be the start of that blitz of promoting that nearly $2 trillion package.

CAMEROTA: He also talked about the horrible political divisions that are gripping the country, and he zeroed in on hate crimes against Asian-Americans. So let's listen to a portion of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Too often we've turned against one another. A mask, the easiest thing to do to save lives, sometimes it divides us. States pitted against one another instead of working with each other.

Vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated. It's wrong. It's un-American. And it must stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: After that, Governor Larry Hogan, Republican of Maryland, was inspired to tweet this picture of his family. He says, "Our family greatly appreciates the president's comments condemning the awful rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans. It is truly un-American, and it must stop."

He's married to a first generation Korean-American. So what did those words mean to you last night?

KIM: Right. I think it was a really important moment for President Biden to specifically call out the hate crimes in the Asian-American community. And I think that a lot of times, you know, members of the AAPI community feel that we are kind of the overlooked racial minority.

So I think for a lot of Asian-Americans, you know, who are also suffering under this pandemic, who are going through economic issues, and who are facing this rise in harassment and hate crimes is really important for the president of the United States to acknowledge that pain, acknowledge that harassment, and really explicitly condemn it.

And you do see the importance of a president's words, because it does trickle on down. That prompted, you know, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, to make similar comments and thanking the president.

And I think that's when words really do matter here to set the standard and set the tone for what is right and what is OK and what is not OK.

So I think it was really important to hear that from the president last night. [06:20:03]

BERMAN: Seung Min Kim, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

So we talked about the politics of what we heard. Let's talk about the science. Joining us now, CNN contributor, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist and Detroit's former health commissioner.

May 1 for everyone to be able to sign up for a vaccine. July Fourth for a little bit of normalcy. What needs to happen, right, in terms of vaccine distribution in order for this to work?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, we're going to rely on every single dose of the vaccine getting where it needs to go, getting into the arms of people.

We've had challenges with deployment. And to think about it, May 1 is still five months from when we had the first vaccines.

But this is a moment where we're seeing a lot of vaccine come online, particularly with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which as we've discussed, it's as if you had two of the other Pfizer or Moderna vaccine vaccines.

And -- and so we're starting to get into the rhythm of getting these deployed in all sorts of locations.

But the other part of this is that $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. I want to put that in perspective. That's 1,900 billion, right, dollar stimulus bill, much of that going into vaccine deployment to be able to grease the wheels to get vaccines out to people.

So I think this is an achievable outcome. We've seen with this administration that they do not put out numbers or dates unless they know that they can achieve them. And so they've got pretty good data saying that, with this new bonus of funds, they're going to be able to get there. And that really is good news for all of Americans.

CAMEROTA: That is good news, and there's a lot of optimism. And yet, I mean, every morning John and I struggle with this tension between the optimism and the -- is it time to warn people about what might be ahead?

And so we have, you know, one more kind of harbinger of what might be ahead, and that's looking at Italy. And so the prime minister is announcing this morning, I believe, that they will do a lockdown in Italy around Easter, because new cases there are again spiking because of the new variants. What do we need to know here?

EL-SAYED: You're right, Alisyn. That is a huge warning sign and, look, it has never been the case that vaccines alone were going to get us there. We've always needed vaccines in the context of tried-and-true basic public health blocking and tackling.

Just because we have vaccines coming onboard, let's remember that we still need to do the basic things, because we have these variants breathing down our neck.

The increase in funding, the increase in new vaccines coming online, what it tells us is that we're taking a slight lead in this race, but we don't pull up now. We've got to continue to run through the finish line.

And the thing I want folks to appreciate about this is that vaccines don't work until you take them. And so let's remember: 10 percent of Americans only at this point are fully vaccinated. That leaves us 90 percent to go. And that means that, when your number is called, get your vaccine.

There are increasing new guidelines that open up opportunities for safe -- safe interactions, the kinds of things that we've been missing for a year now. But we've got to get vaccinated. And until then and even after then, we've got to be careful.

We don't want to end up like Italy, where there are lockdowns over Easter, where we miss that -- that July Fourth goal that we have. We really want to have a good summer. We want to get out of it safely. And let's not forget the 530,000 who have already passed from this disease and millions more who have already gotten it.

BERMAN: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, always a pleasure to have you on. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

EL-SAYED: Thank you all for having me.

So the former president's time in the White House could end up helping New York prosecutors investigating his finances. We have brand-new reporting next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:47]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, CNN has new reporting on what might be a different kind of legal jeopardy for the former president. CNN's Kara Scannell, who's been doing terrific reporting on this, has all the details. And it's really a new way for investigators to go at this, Kara.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John.

So sources tell me that prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office have discussed using this provision of New York law that would allow them to look at earlier conduct, because the president -- the former president -- was in office.

And this has to do with the statute of limitations, which is the time period from when a crime was committed to how long prosecutors have to bring a case.

Now, in New York, for most felonies, that's five years. And where this comes into play is that, under a provision in New York criminal procedure law, it says that, if a defendant is out of state continuously for a number of days, that prosecutors don't have to count those days when they calculate the statute of limitations.

Of course, the former president was a lifelong New Yorker, but once he went into office in January of 2017, he rarely came back to New York, spending time at Bedminster, New Jersey, and at his home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida. And he also, remember, changed his residency officially to Florida. So that could give prosecutors a lot of time to work with.

And they have used this successfully before in their prosecution of Harvey Weinstein. They had accused him of assault that -- of assault that was 68 days outside of the statute of limitations. Now, Weinstein's lawyers challenged that, but prosecutors used travel records from U.S. Customs and Border Control to show that Harvey Weinstein had actually been not only out of New York but out of the country for 193 days. That was enough to satisfy the judge in that case.

Weinstein ultimately was convicted and is serving a 23-year prison sentence.

So in the case of the former president, this is something that prosecutors are discussing. Their investigation is obviously ongoing. They haven't made any charging decisions, but it does give them another tool in the toolbox.

And for a president who is often able to shield himself from lawsuits and investigations because he was in office, this looks like this could actually now potentially benefit prosecutors -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We shall see. Kara Scannell, thank you very much.

So in a new interview, former acting secretary of defense, Christopher Miller, who served under President Trump, says he believes Mr. Trump's speech on January 6 did incite the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the president was responsible for what happened on the 6th?

CHRISTOPHER MILLER, FORMER ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I don't know, but it seems cause and effect, yes.