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NYT: Rep. Matt Gaetz Sought Blanket Pardon from Trump; Biden: U.S. Still in 'Life and Death Race' Against Coronavirus. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 07, 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: "The New York Times" has a new report on Gaetz's efforts to head off an investigation in the final days of the Trump administration.

[05:59:16]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a private conversation that he had with White House officials about a blanket pardon, one for himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It demonstrates that at the time he went to former President Trump to ask for this, he knew that he had done something wrong.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know later than April 19, every adult 18 or older will be eligible to be vaccinated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope that going down to 18-year-olds will let them lead the charge and become the lawyers (ph) and really step forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can get vaccinated with the one dose for now, we could have a major impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I'm a little discombobulated. I'm a little -- I see you. I see you. I'm a little discombobulated.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Why?

CAMEROTA: I -- I'm having a hard time -- I'm a little distracted, having a hard time focusing, because this is my last day on NEW DAY. And I am filled with emotion. I'm filled with emotion. I mean, it's already poignant. It's already sad for me.

BERMAN: We're, like, 30 seconds in. You've only -- you've only got three hours left.

CAMEROTA: I know. I'm going to start weeping at some point during the show.

BERMAN: You're going to weep during the Matt Gaetz segment. That's how you're going to know. That's how you're going to know --

CAMEROTA: Why is today any different than other days?

BERMAN: We'll make it through. This is going to be a special day.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I don't what to expect. I'm already a little shellshocked.

BERMAN: I'm just watching. I don't want to miss -- I don't want to take up any of your time. I just want to watch you for the next three hours. That --

CAMEROTA: Why haven't you done that for the past three years? I've looked for rapt attention from you, and finally --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I'm going to start paying attention now.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

BERMAN: You're not here much longer.

CAMEROTA: Too late.

Welcome, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, April 7, 6 a.m. here in New York. And we begin with the developments in the scandal surrounding Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz.

"The New York Times" reports that Gaetz sought blanket preemptive pardons for himself and his congressional allies in the final weeks of the Trump administration.

It's not clear if Gaetz knew at the time that the Justice Department had launched an investigation into allegations of sex trafficking and prostitution connected to him. A spokesperson denies that the pardons were related to the probe.

Gaetz, though, is now using the FBI investigation to try to raise money from his supporters. Ironically, he is scheduled to speak at a women's event on Friday being held at a Trump resort in Florida.

BERMAN: Yes, I wonder if photos will be allowed there.

Overnight, President Biden's top coronavirus adviser says the U.S. is on track to have half of all adults vaccinated with at least one shot by this weekend. The president, though, is cautioning that Americans, we're not at the finish line and still in a life-and-death battle with the virus. Five states where the variants are spreading rapidly -- New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- they now account for about 44 percent of new cases. CAMEROTA: OK. But we begin with the developments on Congressman Matt

Gaetz. Joining us now, CNN political analyst David Gregory and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig. He's a former state and federal prosecutor.

Gentlemen, great to see you this morning.

OK, David. Let's just bring everybody up to speed. Matt Gaetz wanted President Trump to get the Nobel Prize, OK, and in return for the Nobel Prize, he wanted a favor, which was a blanket preemptive pardon for -- I don't know -- whatever might come up.

The White House advisers thought that that was, I guess, ill-advised and didn't go along with that, but now, somehow the pieces feel as though they're fitting together a little bit more.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, and it's -- it's shocking. I mean, in -- the breadth of potential corruption here that Matt Gaetz was involved in, that this was knowledge of his own guilt, he's under investigation for charges relating to sex trafficking. He has said he is innocent of that, that he is -- the allegations are false. It's very important to point out.

But just the step of someone who became this stalwart ally of the president's when the president said, you know, he needed someone who was young and who was going to fight for him, and he had it in Matt Gaetz, who took on all comers, during the Mueller investigation and beyond, went after Liz Cheney, of course, after January 6. So he was the kind of ally that President Trump wanted.

And now we learn that all the while, through this reporting in "The Times," to seek blanket pardon. Which sounds so outrageous on its face, except that there were others who were also seeking this kind of relief from the Trump administration, which is just a window -- not that we needed a whole lot more detail -- into kind -- the kind of behavior that was encouraged, in some cases allowed and enacted upon, in the previous administration.

BERMAN: I think it concerns me you're so fascinated about this story on this last day here, on your way out. You're thinking preemptive pardons. You can do that? I'm just a little concerned.

GREGORY: Yes. That's right.

BERMAN: You can do that? That's a thing?

Elie, the fact that Matt Gaetz, according to "The Times," was asking for this blanket preemptive pardon when he was under federal investigation -- again, it's not clear if he knew, but what does this say about his state of mind, and what kind of legal -- forget political, because that's a whole other issue here, but what kind of legal jeopardy is he really in here?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So this is what we prosecutors call consciousness of guilt evidence. Meaning, plainly put, Matt Gaetz -- if this story is true, Matt Gaetz knew he had done something wrong, knew he was guilty, and was trying to cover it up.

That kind of evidence can be really persuasive with a jury. It's just common sense. Why on earth would someone ask for pardon from the White House if they had done nothing wrong?

[06:05:03]

And I want to be clear. There's a lot we still don't know. If these allegations, as reported and well-sourced, come through, if they are proven true, Matt Gaetz is in a world of trouble. These charges, these are not probation charges. These are not 18 months' charges. Sex trafficking a minor, under the federal law, is a ten-year mandatory minimum. The judge can feel as sorry for a defendant as the judge wants. He cannot sentence that defendant to less than ten years behind bars. So the stakes here are high, and frankly, quite scary for Matt Gaetz.

CAMEROTA: As you point out, David, he has denied all of this, says that he was dating women. There's nothing wrong with, when you're in a relationship, he says, paying for travel or hotel rooms.

Here was the statement that his spokesperson put out yesterday to "The New York Times." "Entry-level political operatives have conflated a pardon call from Representative Gaetz -- where he called for President Trump to pardon 'everyone from himself, to his administration, to Joe Exotic' -- with these false and increasingly bizarre, partisan allegations against him. Those comments have been on the record for some time, and President Trump even retweeted the congressman, who tweeted them out himself."

Well, then case closed. I guess if you tweet about something, then, you know, what more do we need to know?

GREGORY: Well, I -- the one point to be made, and I think Elie would back this up, this is a complicated case that we're learned about through -- through the investigative reporting of "The Times" primarily that is tricky for prosecutors to actually prove and make a case. So we want to be very careful about that.

But as it relates to his conduct as a politician who's calling for preemptive pardons, and when he did that -- again, once we get more details, it goes to this issue of consciousness of guilt, if he knew at the time that he was being investigated federally. There isn't a defensive lawyer who is worth his or her salt who wouldn't tell you, you need to be standing down and not, you know, speaking publicly that way, if you understand that you're under in federal -- under federal investigation for crimes like that.

So, you know, what Gaetz has done from the beginning of this is very much keep with the Trump playbook, which is, this is the Justice Department. Even though this is under the Trump Justice Department, you know, that is on some kind of witch hunt and going after anyone who would be supportive of Trump.

BERMAN: Let me just throw one more data point out there from "The Washington Post." "The Post" is reporting this morning that Matt Gaetz, when he was in the Florida legislature, was one of, I think, two Republicans who worked against a revenge porn piece of legislation.

CAMEROTA: I saw that.

BERMAN: Just, you know, for-instance, just a "by the way." Elie, to David's point, how hard is it to prove these charges? Or, you know, they're not charges yet, but how hard is it to prove a case like this?

HONIG: So David's right. We're looking at a complex factual scenario. One important thing to keep in mind, though. The feds already have made a case. They've charged a case against this guy, Joel Greenberg. Watch that name. This is Matt Gaetz's buddy, his bro, his MAGA buddy from down in Florida.

Joel Greenberg just had 21 new counts added to an indictment. He's now looking at a 33-count indictment. He's appearing in federal court later this week on Friday.

There is an enormous amount of pressure on this guy, Joel Greenberg. He, too, well, he is facing sex trafficking charges. He also is looking at a potential ten-year mandatory minimum sentence. If this guy flips, if he cooperates, it is potentially very, very bad news for Matt Gaetz. I know they're buddies, but I have seen much stronger bonds than that broken over a federal indictment. Being on the other side of "The United States versus" in a federal indictment can bring someone up to speed and get someone a reality check really, really quickly.

CAMEROTA: David, let's talk about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who thinks that corporations should stay out of politics.

BERMAN: Except --

CAMEROTA: Except when they're giving him donations. All of this has to do with --

GREGORY: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- the Georgia voting law. Here is what he said yesterday.

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): If I were running a major corporation, I'd stay out of politics.

I'm not talking about political contributions. Most of them contribute to both sides. They have political action committees. That's fine. It's legal. It's appropriate. I support that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, that's a relief, because otherwise, he'd have to give back a lot of money.

GREGORY: Right, right. What he means is stay out of -- stay out of what he perceives as left-leaning politics.

And what's jarring to him and other Republicans is that this is an issue that is bringing together the left and the right that are concerned about potential voting laws that are out of the mainstream, that are trying to keep people from voting. That is alarming people across the political spectrum.

It's very easy to try to define this as, well, the Georgia law is not as restrictive as it seems, liberals are just making too much of it, and Colorado has more restrictive voting than Georgia. Again, that's not the case.

[06:10:08]

And you have companies who are making -- who are taking a risk. Yes, he's right. Republicans drink Coca-Cola, too. And they fly, and they like baseball. So MLB, Delta, Coca-Cola, they're taking a risk of alienating a lot of people. Apparently, they're willing to take that risk.

And don't be -- you know, let's also be very clear. Mitch McConnell will stay on the right side of corporate America. He's already fighting to -- against those corporate tax hikes that Biden wants, too, so they'll all be friends soon.

BERMAN: David Gregory, Elie Honig, you know, I thought you guys were going to sing for Alisyn like Bette Midler, you know, on her last day. Do the "Johnny Carson" thing. I was waiting for the song.

HONIG: We had something prepared. David, do you want to do it?

GREGORY: Well, Alisyn, to your very many years of service this early in the morning. I just want to congratulate you on your next step. There are so many episodes that -- great interviews and great moments that we'll never forget since you've been doing this for what feels like decades.

CAMEROTA: Thank you?

GREGORY: I just want to point out, Alisyn committed to doing this job, starting at 6 in the morning, sometimes 5 -- sometimes 5, even when she knew this wasn't a program that was on every day during the week, every day.

BERMAN: That's a good point.

CAMEROTA: Nobody -- There's no one I bond with more than David Gregory who, every time I see him says, Let me just get this straight. You do this every day. Is that right? Is this show on every day?

BERMAN: Well, it was -- only for your last day would David come on at 6. So -- so it's great. David, Elie, thank you both very much.

HONIG: Thanks.

BERMAN: So as of this morning, 19 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated. Nearly 33 percent have received at least one vaccine dose. The White House now says half of all adults should have one dose by this weekend, but President Biden says it's still a life-and-death fight. He is urging Americans not to let their guard down.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House -- Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Even as the U.S. prepares to enter this next phase of vaccinations, President Biden making very clear that Americans need to follow those public health protocols, continue to mask up to try and prevent any more -- to prevent more deaths before that return to normalcy. He is also urging seniors to get vaccinated before those floodgates open for all Americans to get vaccinated.

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BIDEN: Let me be deadly earnest with you. We aren't at the finish line.

DIAMOND (voice-over): President Biden pleading with Americans to stay vigilant as coronavirus cases are ticking up.

BIDEN: We still have a lot of work to do. We're still in a life-and- death race against this virus.

DIAMOND: Many states are rolling back restrictions, and some have eliminated mask mandates. Biden, who's called those moves premature, appealing directly to Americans to hold out a little longer and mask up until more people are vaccinated.

BIDEN: As I've said before, we can have a safe happy Fourth of July. The real question is how much death, disease, and misery are we going to see between now and then?

DIAMOND: Biden announced on Tuesday more than 150 million vaccine doses have been administered in his first 75 days in office, putting his administration on track to reach its increased goal of 200 million shots in arms in his first 100 days.

BIDEN: Everyone's going to be eligible before the month is out.

DIAMOND: Biden and Vice President Harris both visited vaccination sites on Tuesday after the administration announced all adults will be eligible to get vaccinated by April 19, nearly two weeks earlier than expected.

BIDEN: No more confusing rules. No more confusing restrictions.

DIAMOND: As the vaccine floodgates prepare to open, Biden making a direct appeal to seniors and their families.

BIDEN: It's simple. Seniors, it's time for you to get vaccinated now.

I also have a message for people under 65. If you know someone over 65 who's not gotten this life-saving vaccine, call them now. Work with them to get their shots this week or next.

DIAMOND: More than 75 percent of Americans over 65 have received at least one dose of the vaccine. And officials say by this weekend, half of all adults will have received at least one dose.

ANDY SLAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: We've really got to keep pushing, because we've got to get closer and closer to that point where every adult who wants one can have a shot. And we think that's going to happen as we get into May.

DIAMOND: While more and more Americans are getting vaccinated, White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted the administration will not create a vaccine passport as proof of a shot.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The government is not, now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential.

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DIAMOND: And that comment from the White House press secretary coming after the state of New York became the first state to roll out a vaccine passport.

[06:15:06]

Meanwhile, other states are going in the complete opposite direction. The governors of Texas and Florida going so far as to ban localities from actually using those vaccine passports -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond at the White House. Jeremy, thanks so much.

So there's this brand-new study that outlines the significant long- term impact the coronavirus appears to have on the brain. The details next.

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BIDEN: The virus is spreading, because we have too many people who, seeing the end in sight, think we're at the finish line already. Let me be deadly earnest with you. We aren't at the finish line.

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BERMAN: President Biden warning Americans despite the fact that his own administration says by this weekend half of all adults will receive at least one dose of the vaccine.

Joining us now, Dr. Ali Khan. He's the dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

So it's a good news/bad news thing here, clearly, Dr. Khan If half of all U.S. adults are going to get one dose by this weekend, that's a big deal.

On the other hand, we are seeing these variants take hold.

DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: So good morning, John. And thank you. Before I talk about Biden, if I can make a comment to Alisyn.

Alisyn, it's 5 a.m. here in Omaha, by the way, and thanks to you and John being so gracious, I've been willing once a week to be available at 5 a.m.

Also, thank you for being such a public health champion. You know, you've asked the difficult, inconvenient questions about this deadly debacle of a pandemic, including your surprise when I told you, when we had 5,000 cases of death a day in the United States, that they were doing double doughnuts, so zero cases and zero deaths in Australia and New Zealand.

But your public health championship obviously extends with your journalism and advocacy to sexual assault. So thanks for being a public health champion.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Khan, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. And thank you for getting up at 5 a.m. in your time zone for us. I really appreciate it.

BERMAN: By the way, difficult and inconvenient are two of the best adjectives to describe Alisyn.

KHAN: I'm not going there, thank you.

However, I will talk about President Biden and how he's been challenging himself and his administration to raise targets and give us real hope where this disease is concerned.

So at the beginning of the year, we were doing about a million vaccine doses a day. We've reached 3 million doses a day and are on track for 4 million doses a day.

But he's very careful about complacency, because he's looking at real world data. So let's look at Chile. They've vaccinated as many people as we have; however, they've abandoned all public health measures, and they have twice as many cases as the United States.

And this concern about complacency is not just about we need to continue to use masks, social distance, and use measured public health restrictions. But it's about increasing vaccine confidence.

And you noticed his focus on seniors. And I think that's deliberate, because 80 percent of deaths are in people who are 65 years of age and older. And I'm sure he's looking at this number, that 55 percent of these individuals have been fully vaccinated and in trying to get that to 80 to 95 percent. So I think that's the focus on seniors. That's where most of the deaths occurred. So let's make sure they get fully vaccinated. CAMEROTA: Dr. Khan, here's a troubling development. "The Lancet" has just published a study showing that a third of all people who have been diagnosed with COVID ultimately end up being diagnosed with some sort of psychological or neurological condition. The most common is anxiety. Next is mood disorders.

But this, they make the point, is very different than patients who just get the garden-variety flu or pneumonia. This affects people's psychology, which we knew. But also, they have lasting neurological disorders in some -- in some cases.

KHAN: So this goes back to a common theme, which is death is a tragic outcome, but it's not the only bad outcome if you get infected with COVID.

And we see this with long COVID syndrome, where about 80 percent are now called post-acute infectious COVID syndrome, where about 80 percent of people report brain fog. And this study is consistent with what's being reported by our clinicians and being seen by clinicians across the world.

So in this case, I think the study was almost a quarter of a million people where they looked at them. And at six months out -- which is what's worrisome, right? Six months out, I believe about a third had a combination death of neurologic or psychiatric disorders.

So again, death is not the only bad outcome. And with over 300 million cases, as we get increased cases in the United States, even those individuals would worry about their other complications.

BERMAN: Dr. Khan, we've got to let you go. Thank you so much for being with us. Do you want to give Alisyn one last mask sendoff?

KHAN: Alisyn, please stay in good trouble and mask up, America.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, Dr. Khan, for everything. And I'll see you at 1 p.m. your time. Thank you. Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right. Some legal analysts say Derek Chauvin's defense team made inroads in court. What were the key moments, and what's next?

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[06:28:53]

CAMEROTA: Later this morning, Los Angeles Police Sergeant Jody Stiger will take the stand again in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. He testified on Tuesday that Chauvin used excessive force in restraining George Floyd.

CNN's Josh Campbell is live in Minneapolis with what else to expect. What's happening today, Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn. Yesterday court ended abruptly as this LAPD expert witness was testifying. The court did not indicate the reason for that early adjournment. We expect that, if the past is any indication, it's probably due to some type of objection by the defense to his knowledge of this case. Nevertheless, we do expect court to resume this morning with that witness.

Another key witness that we are still waiting to hear from, the county medical examiner here. Of course, so much we've heard about focuses on training and the use of force. But a key indication, a key focus of this trial is going to be George Floyd's actual cause of death.

So both the prosecution and both the defense have many questions for that medical examiner.

Now, yesterday was arguably the best day yet for the defense after days of damning testimony. They were able to elicit some potentially advantageous information from some of the key witnesses.

They also showed -- I want to show you this image, an exhibit that they provided to one of the witnesses. This shows, in their words, a Minneapolis police officer being trained how.