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Question over AstraZeneca's Trial Data; Colorado Grocery Store Shooting; Massive Blaze at Adult Living Facility; Sidney Powell Seeks to Dismiss Defamation Lawsuit; Lab Scandal may Vacate Drug Convictions in Massachusetts. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 23, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Statement from health officials. This has to do with the claims from AstraZeneca they made just yesterday, not even 24 hours ago, that a huge trial showed their vaccine to be safe and effective. Well, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says that an independent panel, known as the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, quote, expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data.

Joining us now is CNN contributor Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist and Detroit's former health commissioner.

I want people to understand, first of all, that it's unlikely that AstraZeneca was going to play a major role in the U.S. vaccine efforts to begin with and we weren't likely to see it till the middle of May and by that point everything else probably would have filled the need in the U.S.

But to have the government basically come out and say, Dr. El-Sayed, that we've got a problem with what AstraZeneca is telling us, what is your take away here?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's right. To your point, John, the situation is that we probably didn't need these vaccine doses anyway. In fact, we've been stockpiling them and sitting on them, waiting for them to potentially get Emergency Use Authorization. But we've got a lot of Pfizer, a lot of Johnson & Johnson, a lot of Moderna. And if folks remember back to President Biden's claim that we would have everybody who wanted a vaccine would have one by May, that was based on dosages of what's already available. And, you're right, by the time that authorization came through, it would be May, and that is after that deadline that the president already set.

That being said, these aren't the kind of documents that you just copy paste, right? And so it is a bit concerning that there is data in those documents that didn't quite meet muster when it came to timing. And it is concerning with respect to their EUA.

The key thing I want folks to understand, though, is that this is not authorized yet, right? This is just early data from the manufacturer arguing or showing what their -- what their trials showed. It still has to go through the process.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But, Doctor, you just said we have a lot of Moderna, we have a lot of Pfizer, we have a lot of J&J. Do we have a lot of J&J because the Biden administration was just expressing concern that Johnson & Johnson may not be able to meet their 20 million promised by the end of this month.

EL-SAYED: You're right. And that really is the main concern. Remember, Johnson & Johnson got their authorization a bit later than Pfizer and Moderna and they had teamed up with another manufacturer to make enough Johnson & Johnson for -- to meet the expectations and requirements that we had to be able to vaccinate every American.

That being said, now we are -- we are starting to see a situation where the administration is getting a bit antsy about the level of production that Johnson & Johnson is delivering. And that's really concerning because per shot, Johnson & Johnson is probably the most powerful vaccine we have because you only need one dose. And so you can get someone from not vaccinated at all to fully vaccinated in one dose. And so that makes every dose that much more important.

And the fact that Johnson & Johnson is struggling to meet its quotas may set back the timeline that the president already confidently went out and proclaimed. And so that is a real concern.

That said, you know, folks have been reporting on the ground that the J&J vaccines are just really slow to trickle in and hopefully they'll be able to pick up. Remember, they're a couple months behind Pfizer and Moderna, so they just haven't had as much practice at this and trying to deliver vaccine at scale is no easy task.

BERMAN: We're averaging 2.5 million vaccines a day now, 2.5 million vaccinations a day now. So if nothing changes in terms of the vaccine production going forward, we would still hit 2 million doses within the first 100 days of the Biden presidency. So we're already, you know, way ahead of where everyone thought we would be. And that's even without Johnson & Johnson amping up more than they are, meeting their stated goals. They should meet their goals. There's no question about that.

On AstraZeneca, one thing I want to clear up, though, I mean, look, the -- it is significant if an independent advisory board that works for the U.S. government is saying that AstraZeneca -- I don't know if they're saying they're not being straight with the public, but there's a problem with what they're telling the public.

EL-SAYED: Yes -- yes, I'll tell you, the context here that I'm most worried about is, AstraZeneca just had these issues with having their roll-out stopped in Europe to investigate claims that that vaccine was associated with higher risk of blood clots. There's no evidence to suggest that. But all of this is to say that public trust is one of the most important things that we have right now about any and all vaccines. We are right now struggling, of course, to get enough supply out to people. But there's going to come a time were we have more than enough supply. Anyone who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine, it's just that the demand might trickle down because of vaccine hesitancy.

So anything like this that could shake the public's trust in any vaccine makes it that less powerful a tool in our arsenal if folks are worried about taking it. And so this really is a bit of a mark on them. And it is worrying that you have an independent advisory board at the government saying, wait a second, this seems outdated.

BERMAN: Well, we're going to wait to hear from AstraZeneca what they have to say about this and exactly what is hanky or the government thinks is hanky.

[06:35:05]

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

El-SAYED: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: We're standing by for new details from police about the mass shooting in Colorado that left ten people dead. We have a live report from the scene, next.

We're also following breaking news out of New York where an assisted living facility has collapsed. You're looking at pictures of that now. Huge fire. As we sit here, several residents are unaccounted for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Another mass shooting in America. The second one in less than a week. Ten people killed by a gunman inside a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. Among the dead, a 51-year-old police officer who was the first to respond and who leaves behind seven children.

CNN's Dan Simon is live at the scene for us in Boulder with the latest.

What's happening at that hour, Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

So much shock. So much anguish. We are across the street from the grocery store where this all took place. Still a wide swath taped off by police.

[06:40:01]

A lot of questions this morning, Alisyn. The main question, what would cause the shooter to go into that supermarket and start firing seemingly at random? At this point police have not disclosed the name of the suspect. They haven't provided any operating theories on whey he went to the grocery store and began opening fire.

In the meantime, you did have several people inside that store, all of those shoppers, frantically running for safety, some people jumping off of loading docks just to try to get safe, others hiding in coat closets, things of that nature. This is how some of the eyewitnesses, some of the people in the store described what was happening. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Guys, we got people down inside Kings Supers (ph). Look, there's -- holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

RYAN BOROWSKI, COLORADO SUPERMARKET SHOOTING WITNESS: This feels like the safest spot in America. And I just nearly got killed for need a soda, you know, and a bag of chips.

STEVEN MCHUGH, FAMILY WAS AT SUPERMARKET DURING SHOOTING: They had, you know, a half a dozen storm troopers, you know, half a dozen cops came in through the roof, got him and then told them, you know, stay quiet and they -- they're OK. I just -- this is not OK with me. And this is put in a big pitch for gun control. And this is -- you know, when it's your family, you feel it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, we know that the initial investigation will take several days to complete, which will include processing the scene, talking to witnesses, taking a look at any potential surveillance video and trying to gather as much information as possible about the suspect. We do know that a news conference has been scheduled by Boulder authorities at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time this morning where we hope to glean new information about the suspect and about the victims.

John, we'll send it back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Dan Simon for us in Boulder. Thank you. I know you're standing by for more details. Please keep us posted.

Also, breaking overnight, a huge fire at an assisted living facility outside of New York City -- about 40 miles outside of New York City. The blaze engulfed the building before just it just collapsed.

Officials tell CNN that some residents and one firefighter are still unaccounted for.

CNN's Miguel Marquez racing to the scene. He is now live for us in Spring Valley, New York.

Miguel, what can you tell us?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I want to show you where things are right now.

This is sort of the common area of the building right here. You can see that police and fire are still on this building here. And if you look all the way down the block, it's a huge facility and it goes much of the way down the block. You can see how much of it has been destroyed down in that area.

This went out as a call around midnight. It's now almost 7:00 a.m. This is how long they have been here. There's an absolute army of emergency personnel here.

Here is how one witness described what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSHEY GREEN, SPRING VALLEY RESIDENT: There was plenty of just good Samaritans out here, like probably eight of them, that literally ran into the building and bring them out in the wheelchairs, walkers, literally picking them up and physically removing them out of the danger.

We were trying to talk to them, that we'll take them somewhere else, in a -- in a different facility where they could be welcoming (ph). But them watching their facility, their home going down in flames was something really traumatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So, this is an assisted living facility. So it's everything from seniors to people with -- adults with disabilities of all sorts. Some of them may have had a much more difficult time moving, which may have complicated rescue attempts here.

But what we are hearing, as lots of reports about people being rescued and pulled out of here a-OK, there was an early report that a firefighter was missing, that another firefighter, possibly the same one, had gone to the hospital. Those are all things we're wrapping up.

We talked to officials here. They said they hope to have something more later. But it is an absolutely massive scene that they are dealing with and that fire is still burning.

Back to you guys.

BERMAN: Well, Miguel, let's hope. I mean let's hope that soon we get all people accounted for. Obviously, the pictures overnight were simply terrible. We're hoping that we get a sense that everyone is safe this morning. Thank you so much for being there for us.

MARQUEZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: So a stunning admission from one of Trump's former lawyers who says that, quote, no reasonable person would have believed her election lies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:45]

BERMAN: So developing this morning, Sidney Powell, one of the lawyers who pushed false election fraud claims for former President Trump, is now moving to dismiss the $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against her from Dominion Voting System. And the way she is doing it might just explode your brain.

In a new court filing, her lawyers argue, quote, reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact, but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig. He's a former federal prosecutor.

Elie, you are a wicked smart guy and a wicked good lawyer. I'm not even sure we need someone as smart or as good as you to explain how just outrageous this is. This is someone who went on TV, went before courts, yelling and screaming, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud. And now she's saying, no reasonable person would actually take what I said as fact.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, John, it's official, Sidney Powell is a massive fraud. That's according to Sidney Powell herself. Similarly, the whole election fraud narrative, that too is a complete fiction, a complete fraud, that also according to Sidney Powell.

[06:50:00]

And like you said, as Sidney Powell herself says, no reasonable person could believe this.

It's also importantly not a legal defense here in a defamation case. It's not a good defense, a bad defense, a weak defense, it's just not a defense. It's actually the opposite of a defense because the two things Dominion has to prove here in order to win its lawsuit are, one, the statements were false, and, two, that the person who made the false statements knew they were false. Sidney Powell has now essentially come out and admitted both of those things.

BERMAN: Also, Elie, I mean, is it true, I mean, didn't a lot of people believe her? Wasn't there an insurrection at the Capitol -- this minor matter of an insurrection at the Capitol where people who believed those false claims stormed the building, five people dead?

HONIG: Right. I mean it's not even -- there's proof right in front of us that many, many people believed those claims. Not just the people who stormed the Capitol, but really millions of people across the country who continue to believe in this fiction that the election was stolen. Maybe if there's a silver lining here, maybe people will see that one of the leading perpetrators of this lie has now come out and said publicly it was a lie. Maybe we can get something out of this and correct the record a little bit.

BERMAN: Yes. There was something to this defense, too, which may ring as familiar to some people. Call it the Fox News defense. This is an argument that Fox News or Fox, I should say, I don't want to overstep reality there, Fox lawyers have said in defense of some things that Tucker Carlson has said, he said, would a reasonable viewer be coming here and thinking this is where I'm going to be hearing the news of the day? Question mark. That was a lawyer for Fox.

It's very similar. It's very similar to the Sidney Powell argument.

HONIG: It is, John. And the sad thing is, what they're trying to do is take advantage of legal protections that are given to parody, to things that are obviously meant as sort of sarcastic or humorous social commentary. For example, if "Saturday Night Live or "Mad Magazine" or "The Onion" ran an article saying essentially what Sidney Powell has been saying, that this election was stolen because of some bizarre hacking scheme involving Venezuela or something, but you saw it in "The Onion," you would know, OK, obviously that's a joke. You can't sue "The Onion" for defamation.

The fact that Sidney Powell and Fox are trying to say, well, we're like "The Onion," we're like "Mad Magazine, " I think that says an awful lot and it's not going to work legally either.

BERMAN: It is interesting. I -- it sort of did work, though, for Tucker. I think there's a difference between Sidney Powell, who is working as a lawyer making a case and working as a spokesperson for a public official and then, you know, what you just referred to as a parody show that runs on Fox at 8:00.

HONIG: Yes. What Tucker Carlson is trying to say is, well, it's all opinion. Now, that's a fine line. If you -- if you're talking about what Sidney Powell did and said, you can't just take an outrageous statement of fact, this election was hacked, this election was rigged, and then just throw in my opinion on the front and be completely covered legally. Opinions are different from statements of fact.

But, yes, again, it's not a great reflection on the journalistic credibility of Tucker Carlson.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, thank you so much for being a great lawyer and a great mind. Appreciate it, as always.

HONIG: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: So thousands of drug convictions could be thrown out because of ties to a now closed state lab. We have new details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:27]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, thousands of drug convictions in Massachusetts may be thrown out because of evidence tampering at a now-closed state lab. The top state prosecutor calls it a, quote, catastrophic failure of management.

CNN's Joe Johns is live for us in Washington with more.

What happened, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

There have been drug lab scandals around the country before but none quite like this one. The Suffolk County drug lab scandal is possibly one of the worst, if not the worst kind of case in modern criminal history anywhere in the country. It's been going on for years and years. It's not over yet. Now the prosecutor in charge of cleaning up the mess is proposing a wide-ranging solution, which basically may involve throwing out tens of thousands of cases because of one chemist named Annie Dookhan who worked at the Hinton Lab between 2003 and 2012, convicted of tampering with evidence. Now, the district attorney, Rachael Rollins, is reviewing tens of thousands of cases handled by the lab during that period to see whether they need to be dismissed.

She did put out a statement that said, after years of litigation, this is an important step toward restoring faith and trust in the criminal justice system. And she talked about systemic management of the Hinton Lab, saying it rendered anything produced there is inherently suspect.

So the numbers here are just staggering. It's an extremely shocking case and may be going on for some time. That lab analyzed and certified nearly 83,000 samples from Suffolk County during those nine years, according to the DA's office. Well, more than 7,800 of those cases were vacated. The initiative will review approximately 74,800 remaining certifications.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: Those numbers are staggering.

Joe, thank you very much. Please keep us posted.

So ten people killed in a mass shooting in Colorado. Our breaking news coverage continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

The front page of "The Denver Post" captures an all-too familiar American nightmare, ten people killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Of course, this is our reoccurring nightmare. This shooting comes less than a week after the spa shootings in Georgia that left eight people dead.

[07:00:00]

In Colorado alone there have been so many mass shootings that they have come to be known by just one name, Columbine, Aurora.