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Biden Preparing For Tough Questions At First News Conference; President Biden To Attend Virtual Summit Of E.U. Leaders; Massive Vaccination Effort In Oklahoma's Osage Nation. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 25, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:58]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour this Thursday morning.
In just a few hours, Joe Biden holds the first formal news conference of his presidency. Expect to hear his achievements, of course -- another 37 million people receiving their stimulus checks this week and those improving vaccine numbers as well. But the challenges are as dramatic as the victories. You've got gun violence and young migrants at the southern border.
CNN's Daniella Diaz live on Capitol Hill this morning. And Daniella, we know he's been preparing. What are you watching for today?
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Christine, that's exactly right. President Joe Biden will have his first press conference since he became president more than 60 days ago -- the first time he will face his press corps.
And this is a departure from President Donald Trump, the former president. He used to face the press or Americans during prime time hours. He never shied away from a camera.
But President Joe Biden is actually having his press conference today at 1:15 eastern, so not prime time. And he -- like I said, this is his first time that he will do something like this.
And he's expected to highlight what he sees as his achievements of his administration, including the American Rescue Plan -- the $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus package that passed earlier this year that is now being implemented.
And he's also expected to talk about his 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days -- his goal of his administration that they've surpassed. And he's expected now to announce a new goal now that they've surpassed that past goal. But he's also going to face tough questions from his press corps, considering this is the first time they get time with him. He's going to be asked about multiple crises that his administration has faced, including the shooting in Boulder, Colorado that happened earlier this week that left 10 people dead, and this crisis at the border with unaccompanied minors crossing the border in recent weeks -- the administration overwhelmed with the number that are crossing the border -- and the lack of transparency from the administration about how they're handling this issue.
So we're expected to see him highlight all of those victories of his administration but face those tough questions from his press corps.
ROMANS: Yes, and face questions about gun violence and what the administration plans to do about gun violence. Any word what's on the table here?
DIAZ: Well, there are a lot of options that the administration is weighing. Right now, they're hoping that Congress will pass some sort of gun safety measures. But as it stalled in the Senate -- we've been covering that pretty closely -- the administration is weighing their own options for executive orders to tackle gun safety measures.
One of the measures that they're weighing is action that is floated requiring background checks for ghost guns. This is -- would make it so that handmade or self-assembled firearms that don't have serial numbers would be officially classified as firearms and would require background checks.
That is one thing that the administration is weighing right now in the wake of these two shootings that CNN has been covering first in Atlanta that left eight people dead in Atlanta, and this mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado that left 10 people dead.
And this issue -- every time there's a shooting these conversations always arise again about what the administration or Congress is going to do about gun violence in this country.
ROMANS: All right, Daniella. Thank you so much for that. We know you'll be watching this morning -- thanks.
JARRETT: The city of Boulder, Colorado pausing to remember 10 people killed in this week's supermarket massacre. Hundreds of mourners gathered in downtown Boulder, holding candles and flowers. Earlier in the day, a procession for Eric Talley, the police officer killed responding to the gunshots.
The uncle of one victim, Rikki Olds, tried to describe the loss.
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ROBERT OLDS, UNCLE OF BOULDER SHOOTING VICTIM RIKKI OLDS: She didn't get to experience motherhood. She didn't get to experience marriage. She didn't get to -- she was 25 years old. She didn't get to experience a lot of the stuff that we get to experience in life.
There's a hole. There's a hole in our family that won't be filled. I mean, we try to fill it with memories. You know, that's tough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:10]
JARRETT: The suspected shooter has his first court hearing this morning. He faces 10 counts of first-degree murder.
CNN has learned investigators are examining possible mental health issues and trying to determine the suspect's connection to that particular supermarket as they search for a motive in this case. The location is about 30 minutes from the suspect's home and there are closer grocery stores to where he lives.
ROMANS: A man who walked into a Publix supermarket in Atlanta armed with a rifle is now in custody. A witness saw 22-year-old Rico Marley enter a store bathroom with that weapon. The person called police. Marley was quickly detained by officers who found, later, five firearms and body armor.
The incident comes just two days after the Boulder massacre and just over a week since the Atlanta spa shootings.
JARRETT: Moving to the pandemic now, one topic that may come up at President Biden's news conference later today is what's happening with schools.
Education Sec. Miguel Cardona says three out of four K through 12 students in the U.S. have returned to some type of in-person learning, but that less than half of elementary and middle schools are in person five days a week.
Meantime, the U.S. now racing to stay ahead of COVID variant outbreaks. Hospitalizations up in 13 states this week -- up sharply in many of them, Christine.
ROMANS: With 27 million doses being shipped out across the U.S., President Biden says the U.S. will have enough vaccine for every adult by the end of May. If the country continues at the current pace of 27 million doses per week, it appears to be on track to reach the president's goal.
Of course, supply is one thing but shots in arms is another. Louisiana now the latest state to announce all adults are eligible starting Monday.
CNN is covering the pandemic coast-to-coast.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Kristen Holmes in Washington, D.C. with some good news for those seeking a vaccine. More states are opening up the eligibility to get the vaccine to the general public. That, of course, is anyone 16 and older and that's starting as early as today. We expect to see Georgia opening up vaccine availability later today, followed by Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, and North Dakota in just a few days. Then expect to see a huge slew of states all across April as they start to open up that eligibility.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Boris Sanchez in Miami Beach.
Officials here are bracing for yet another weekend with throngs of revelers partying on South Beach. Over the last few weekends, that has meant vandalism and violence. In response, a large law enforcement presence was brought in and an 8:00 p.m. curfew was installed. There were clashes with police.
That curfew hasn't been in place the last few days -- it's been calm. But it gets back into place on Thursday night when officials are expecting yet another large influx of COVID-fatigued partiers to hit the area and again, a large law enforcement presence on hand to respond.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Alison Kosik in New York.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is keeping its no- sail order in place until November. The cruise industry's trade association said it had asked the Biden
administration to lift the order for cruise ships by early July. The group said that timeline is in line with President Biden's forecast for when the U.S. will be closer to normal. But the CDC declined, saying in a statement that returning to passenger cruising is a phased-in approach to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Erica Hill in New York.
A year after some of the darkest days of the pandemic, a new report is detailing the immense toll it's taken on healthcare workers. The survey of some 300 hospitals reveals an industry that is burned out -- workers exhausted -- many of them suffering from trauma and PTSD while also battling an erosion of public trust and frustration over the vaccine rollout.
The study was released by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general.
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ROMANS: Thanks to all of our reporters for those reports.
An epic rescue of the COVID economy underway -- $1.9 trillion in economic relief passed last month. And now, the White House considering another $3 trillion for infrastructure and for Biden's domestic agenda.
How do you pay for it? Well, the Treasury secretary, this week, suggested a 28 percent corporate tax rate may be on the table. And "The Wall Street Journal" gets even more specific, reporting that
Democrats are looking into splitting tax increases into two parts. First, that higher corporate tax to upgrade roads, bridges, rail, clean energy, and other investments like that.
The second part of this, higher taxes in wealthier households. We know that President Biden has promised new taxes on people who make $400,000 a year or more. No one under that threshold.
That would be used to fund things like free community college, possibly a $15.00 minimum wage, universal pre-K, and make the newly- expanded child tax credit permanent. That's critical for addressing income inequality.
[05:40:00]
JARRETT: New this morning, a powerful alliance. CNN has learned of major conservative groups are assisting state GOP efforts in voter suppression. National Republican groups are offering guidance to state lawmakers as they draft laws to restrict ballot access, they're deploying grassroots activists to key battleground states, and raising millions of dollars to block Democrats from establishing national standards for voting rights.
The Republican-controlled House in Georgia is expected to vote today on a number of changes that would make it harder to vote. And a set of election bills to restrict voting was also introduced in Michigan on Wednesday.
ROMANS: Meantime, Democrats taking action to expand who can vote. Late last night, Washington State's Senate passed a bill to automatically restore voting rights to people as soon as they're released from prison, including those on parole or probation. The measure now goes to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature.
Virginia's Gov. Ralph Northam took a similar step last week.
We'll be right back.
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[05:45:08]
ROMANS: Welcome back.
Today, President Biden will attend a virtual meeting with European Union leaders, with the pandemic and coronavirus vaccines at the top of their agenda as the E.U. and the U.K. have been in a heated vaccine dispute.
CNN's Nic Robertson is live in London. What are we expecting here from this virtual meeting today, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It could be very divisive, decisive, and have huge diplomatic consequences. The E.U. is considering, essentially, whether or not to toughen up its laws on the movement of vaccines.
The background to this is in Europe -- and that includes Britain here, geographically, of course -- that vaccine production and supply crisscross country's borders, so it's a complicated and interlinked production process.
The U.K.'s vaccine rollout is way better than the E.U.'s at the moment, averaging about 45 out of every 100 people compared to the European Union's 13 out of 100 people. The E.U. is under pressure from politicians, from people. There's a third wave of the pandemic hitting Europe at the moment, so there's pressure to sort of level up.
And the European Union is considering whether or not to introduce some tough controls on proportionality and reciprocity -- i.e., meaning that if a -- if vaccine supplies coming from the European Union are going to a country that is doing much better than the European Union, then should they actually supply those vaccines? That could clearly impact the U.K.
And the other one is if the other country that you're supplying vaccines to is holding back on vaccines to you, then you (audio gap). It's actually very, very divisive.
(Audio gap)
ROBERTSON: Some European Union diplomats are saying it will be the nuclear option to go this route simply because it would -- it would -- it would -- it would hurt those countries that make and are involved in pharmaceuticals.
So it's very divisive, E.U. to U.K., and within the E.U.
ROMANS: Sure.
All right. Nic Robertson for us this morning. Thank you so much for that, Nic -- Laura.
JARRETT: So any adult in Oklahoma can now get a COVID vaccine thanks to several native tribes, including the Osage. But in the Osage Nation itself, it's not the supply that a problem, it's the demand or really, lack thereof.
CNN's Sara Sidner takes a closer look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, everybody, hold on. We're headed out.
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Osage Nation is bringing the vaccine to the people instead of waiting for the people to come to them.
GEOFFREY M. STANDING BEAR, PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE OSAGE NATION: Nearly 50 percent of our people were choosing not to take the vaccination. SIDNER (voice-over): One of the overarching reasons for that, distrust of the U.S. government among some Osage goes as far and wide as the plains of their nation in Oklahoma.
STANDING BEAR: Historically, there is an association between the coming of the government and death.
SIDNER (voice-over): In the mid-1800s, it was disease brought in by outsiders that decimated the tribe. In the 1920s, the Osage battled a uniquely human disease -- rampant greed and racism. White Americans who would stop at nothing, even murder, to take Osage land after oil was discovered here.
CAROL CONNER, EDITOR, THE FAIRFAX CHIEF: A block and a half from where we're sitting a house was blown up as an attempt to murder Osages for their land and money.
SIDNER (voice-over): One hundred years later, the Osage are battling new skepticism fueled by COVID-19 misinformation.
DR. RON SHAW, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICERS FOR THE OSAGE NATION: Anything from the nanochip is in the vaccine and people are going to be tracked, to where the whole COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax and untrue.
SIDNER (on camera): What that tells us is the Osage Nation is not immune to the conspiracy theories that are --
SHAW: No.
SIDNER (on camera): -- across the country.
SHAW: No, not at all.
SIDNER (voice-over): But it was fear of potential side effects that spooked Janese Sieke even though she works in healthcare.
JANESE SIEKE, OSAGE HEALTHCARE WORKER: As an employee of the Wah-Zha- Zhe Health Center, we were one of the first ones offered, and I originally said no.
SIDNER (voice-over): Her father, an Osage elder, changed her mind with a lot of love and a little wisdom.
RAYMOND LASLEY, OSAGE ELDER: And of all people not to trust the government, native people are the ones that shouldn't trust the government. But this is a -- this is a case where we need to put our trust in science, we need to put our trust in medicine.
SIDNER (voice-over): Still, not enough people in the Osage Nation have chosen to get the shot. So the tribe did something it has never done before -- opened their health services to non-natives, giving COVID-19 vaccinations to everyone 18 or older, no appointment necessary.
Marcia Pryse and her husband drove over an hour for their chance. MARCIA PRYSE, OSAGE COUNTY RESIDENT: I really was excited about it because like I said, I haven't gotten good full-on hugs from my kids in so long.
SIDNER (voice-over): And they've taken it on the road --
SHAW: We've tried to remove all the obstacles.
SIDNER (voice-over): -- sending out their brand-new medical unit to rural areas.
Here, even in the face of a man collapsing after his dose with what nurses believe was a seizure, not a single person walked away from their chance.
[05:50:06]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready?
SIDNER (voice-over): One hundred thirty-five got the shot --
VERN, LUMBEE TRIBAL MEMBER: I'm more concerned about the virus than the vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deep breath, going out real slow.
SIDNER (voice-over): -- but others still won't take it.
JOEY STAFFORD, HOMINY RESIDENT: For people at risk it could be detrimental. But for the rest of the population, I don't think it's as big of a deal as what they made it out to be.
SIDNER (voice-over): Sara Sidner, CNN, in the Osage Nation.
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JARRETT: Sara, thank you for that report.
A major policy change by the U.S. Army for new moms. Active duty or Reserve soldiers who have just given birth now have a year to meet body fat requirements. Soldiers previously had just 180 days to meet the standards. The Army's sergeant-major calls it a common-sense change.
Christine, I don't know about you, but 180 days -- I was just beginning to shower again, let alone try to lose weight.
ROMANS: I think a year is perfectly reasonable.
And I know when you've had a baby, the last thing you want to hear from somebody else is oh, my baby sleeps through the night or oh, I lost all the weight right away. Two things never to say around someone who just --
JARRETT: Or when are you due?
ROMANS: -- to somebody who just had a baby.
All right, looking at markets around the world right now. Taking a look at Asian shares, they have closed for the Thursday trading session and they've closed mixed. Europe has opened down slightly. And stock index futures in the U.S. right now are also fairly undecided, really, for futures here.
Let's talk about the tough day we had for big tech on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow barely moved, essentially flat, but the Nasdaq fell two percent -- a drag down by April -- Apple, rather, Facebook, and Netflix.
The CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter testify before a House committee today. Expect them to talk about the growth of misinformation on their platforms and be grilled about that.
The bull market, by the way, in the stock market is now a year old. That's right, it's been a bull market in stocks. The strongest first year of a bull market since all the way back in 1945. The major averages are up 60 to 75 percent in one year.
It has been terrific for investors. But as we say here every day, Wall Street is not Main Street.
Nine and one-half million jobs wiped out since February. Untold businesses closed for good. Another 735,000 Americans are expected to have filed for first-time jobless benefits last week, to say nothing of the more than 500,000 people who have died in this pandemic. Main Street, Wall Street, two very different places still.
The percentage of women in the workforce has dropped to a 33-year low. It's just one big data point around Equal Pay Day. This is today. It marks how far into the year women need to work to earn the same as men. So women, essentially, begin earning today.
Women are about 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. Women of color faring much worse. In total, women lose an average of $406,000 to that wage gap over the course of their lifetime and that was before the pandemic.
The U.S. Women's Soccer team was at the White House for an Equal Pay Day event. The team has been critical of the NCAA and ongoing gender inequity.
Jill Biden, the first lady, remembering her experience only making 75 percent of what a male colleague made.
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JILL BIDEN, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: It wasn't just the money, though that was unfair. It was the lack of respect, the discrimination. Why was my work worth less?
Well, that was in 1975. And today, all these years later, there are women who are still in the exact same position.
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ROMANS: The coronavirus recession has really been a she-session. Millions of women have dropped out of that labor force because of health, childcare, and education challenges at home.
JARRETT: Texas A&M reaches the Sweet 16 of the Women's NCAA Tournament with an overtime buzzer-beater.
Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report from San Antonio. Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Laura.
Yes, the Sweet 16 now set here in San Antonio and the Aggies needing some heroics from one of their players to avoid being the highest seed knocked out of this tournament.
The two-seeded Aggies taking on Iowa State. They never led this game in regulation. Down two, under 10 seconds to go, Jordan Nixon got a drive right in and get the layup to go to tie the game, so we would go to overtime.
Then with time winding down in the extra period, Nixon going to hit the runner in the lane and banks it in for the win. Her teammates stormed the court. Nixon, a career-high 35 points lifting the Aggies to an 84-82 victory.
Afterwards, Nixon dedicated the win to her high school coach who was also an Aggie alum. He died from COVID-19 last year at the age of 48.
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JORDAN NIXON, GUARD, TEXAS A&M: Today was for him. I didn't tell anybody.
I, you know, just wanted to win the game, of course. It didn't matter how it happened -- but I did. There was a little something in me that just wanted to do something for him to dedicate to him -- to his memory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Oregon, meanwhile, upsetting three-seed Georgia last night thanks to a big game from their 20-year-old star Sedona Prince. Prince, who used her voice to call out the NCAA on the disparities between the men's and women's facilities, scored a game-high 22 points tying her career-best in the 57-50 win over the Bulldogs.
[05:55:13]
And check out the locker room celebration. The Ducks back in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight tournament.
That's UConn's legendary coach Geno Auriemma getting an awesome welcome back from his players here in San Antonio. The 11-time national champion missed the first two games of the tournament after testing positive for COVID.
Now, the Huskies, they're going to play Iowa in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
All right. And finally, Patriots offensive lineman Justin Herron is being hailed as a hero for helping save a woman who was being sexually assaulted. Police in Tempe, Arizona honoring Herron yesterday after they say he and another man stopped the attack on an elderly woman in a park. The men were able to hold the suspect until police arrived and they took him into custody.
Herron is a six-foot-five, 300 pounder. He said he was in shock at what he was seeing and just wanted to do anything he could to help.
Christine, the woman who was being assaulted called Herron and the other man her two angels.
JARRETT: Just amazing. Thank you so much, Andy.
Thanks for joining us, everyone. I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" is next.
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