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New Day

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) Delivers Major Blow to Biden Agenda, Says He Opposes Reconciliation, Backs Filibuster; CDC Warns U.K. Variant Now Dominant Strain in the U.S.; Soon, Prosecution to Call more Witnesses in Chauvin Trial. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 08, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It was so inspiring to be in that room with him. He said that his message to others is that you have to look at where you came from in order to get to where you're going. He will be here with his daughter. He said he will cherish this moment forever and never forget it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Good for him. Good for the Masters. I mean, they have a lot. There's a lot of a legacy that needs turning over time, Coy. Thank you so much for being there for us. I appreciate it.

WIRE: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. New Day continues right now.

All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is New Day. I'm John Berman with Erica Hill this morning. Nice to see you.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEW DAY: It's nice to see you. Did you put that exclamation point after this morning with the --

BERMAN: I meant to (INAUDIBLE) to Erica Hill. Erica Hill, exclamation point, here this morning.

HILL: I'll take whatever I can get.

BERMAN: All right. So did President Biden's huge infrastructure plan just hit a road block in West Virginia? Forgive the metaphor there. But will West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin stand in the way of getting the plan passed? Is he more a political pothole or a full street closure, metaphor continued.

Manchin indicated overnight he's opposed to passing key legislation on strict party line votes. He's alarmed, he says, by that process. How alarmed, since we haven't heard a single Republican say they support the White House plan yet, this puts infrastructure in serious peril.

HILL: Meantime, overnight, the United States recording over 70,000 new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations at their highest level in a month. The CDC confirming the highly contagious B117 variant, that's the one first identified in the U.K., is now the most common strain of coronavirus here in the U.S.

The CDC director though also saying overnight she does expect all kids will be back in classrooms by September.

Let's begin this hour with Jeremy Diamond, he's live at the White House with our top story. Jeremy, good morning.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica. The words, President Joe Biden, don't appear once in Senator Joe Manchin's latest op-ed in The Washington Post, but there's no question that this op-ed will make President Biden's job a lot more difficult going forward as the senator from West Virginia, the Democrat, is saying he not only is firmly opposed to eliminating or reforming the filibuster but also saying that he doesn't want a budget reconciliation, that process where you can pass legislation along party lines to be the norm going forward.

He writes this, quote, there is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. I simply do not believe budget reconciliation should replace regular order in the Senate.

Now, President Biden has been trying to advance his $2.2 trillion infrastructure proposal through bipartisan negotiations, but so far there's been very little, if any, areas of agreement in terms of the broad scope of this plan with Republicans in Congress.

And so even as Democrats have already been laying the ground work to advance that proposal through budget reconciliation, allowing just 50 Democratic senators and the vice president, Kamala Harris, to pass that piece of legislation, Senator Manchin raising serious questions about whether or not he would go along with that.

I just spoke with a senior White House official though, and I can tell you there is not a huge sense of alarm here yet. What is clear though is that the president is going to be negotiating on this plan for a long time to come, and Senator Manchin will certainly be a part of that.

Now, later this morning, President Biden will also announce new actions on gun control measures. He's taking some executive actions to try and tighten restrictions on those so-called ghost guns that don't have any serial numbers, as well as actions to tighten restrictions on those pistol stabilizing braces, including the one that was used in that deadly shooting in Boulder, Colorado. John?

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond for us at the White House.

Joining us now is CNN Political Analyst Toluse Olorunnipa, he's a National Politics Reporter for The Washington Post. Also with us, Marc Caputo, he's a senior reporter at Politico.

And, Marc, this sounds like arcane, political inside speak here, but when Joe Manchin says, I simply do not believe budget reconciliation should replace regular order in the Senate, it's a big deal. He's putting it in writing this morning as the infrastructure bill is all the talk in Washington. How far is Joe Manchin willing to go here? Is he willing, do you think, to stand in the way, to be the one who says no to the White House infrastructure plan?

MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR REPORTER, POLITICO: well, he's acting as if he is. And it really raises the question about whether the White House kind of went through the proper process as the care and feeding of Joe Manchin.

Now, he says he's not doing this because he has a big ego. And he says he's kind of doing this because, as you had just reported, he wants to return to regular order. But at the same time, these are people you're talking about, these are politicians.

And in the end, the big mystery is what does Joe Manchin concretely want? And right now, it doesn't look like he wants a $2 trillion infrastructure bill or he wants more bipartisan commenting. For folks who have covered Washington, who covered politics for a long time, that does seem like an oddity at this point.

HILL: It does seem a little bit like an oddity. And, Toluse, just to pick up on that point of what does Joe Manchin want here, I'm curious, what are the rumblings behind the scenes that led to this point of Joe Manchin saying, now, I'm going to write it all down and put it in this op-ed? Because this is not a secret in terms of how he feels.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Well, this senator has been asked more than any other senator what he feels about the filibuster, whether he would be willing to make some changes to the filibuster. He has been seen as sort of the swing vote in the Senate because he's the conservative Democrat. He is the 50th vote the Democrats have to get in order to get anything passed.

And I think he was probably tired of being asked about this so much because he has given his answer over time. His answers have shifted slightly. And a few weeks back, he said that he would be open to making some changes to the filibuster, making -- senators have to speak while they're filibustering and while they're blocking legislation from moving forward.

But now it seems like he is making a definitive statement that he does not want any changes to the filibuster. Instead, he wants to focus on trying to get Democrats and Republicans that work in the same room. They have part of some bipartisan groups that have been trying to come up with some kind of legislation that can get support in the Senate from both parties.

They haven't done quite as much as he would like for them to do, but I think this is a new push to say, let's halt the brakes on reconciliation, let's try move forward with bipartisanship and see if we can move forward and make the Senate work without having to change the rules.

BERMAN: I don't think I'm telling any secrets here, but I don't think there are ten Republican votes for the president's plan, not now, not ever, it doesn't look like.

So, Marc, my question to you is, is this really just Joe Manchin's world and Joe Biden is living in it? CAPUTO: Well, at the moment, yes. But also understand, you know, the Biden White House does have the opportunity to break down bills in smaller chunks and remove the excuse that Republicans have of saying, oh, it's too much spending too quickly, this stuff is not useful.

And then that probably puts the pressure a little bit more on Joe Manchin, who would then be presented with the reality of like, look, the White House has tried to work with these folks, they've refused to -- we need to fix roads and bridges and take care of a bunch of other things, and how do you vote. But we haven't hit that stage of the process. It could be coming.

HILL: It could be coming. I mean, Toluse, do we know what's going to trigger that? To go back to John's many very well thought out examples that he gave of potholes and roadblocks, I think this is really a like fines doubled work zone ahead moment.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. I think the senator from West Virginia is going to eventually have to decide whether he wants the Senate to do big things in his state and across the country when it comes to fixing the broken infrastructure of the country, or whether he wants to allow sort of a partisan gridlock that we've seen in the Senate over the years and decades to just continue.

Because as you said, there does not seem to be ten Republican votes for anything that Joe Biden wants to do, that Republicans have realized that by blocking a Democratic president, they can find their way back into power. They did this back in 2009 and 2010, and they were able to seize power in the midterms. And I think that's the plan that a lot of the Republicans are operating under.

So, Senator Manchin is going to have to essentially decide whether or not he is going to vote for some kind of bill to fix things in West Virginia and elsewhere or whether or not he's going to put all of his political capital in trying to get the two parties to work together.

BERMAN: All right. Florida man, Marc Caputo, let's talk Florida man Matt Gaetz and Florida man Joel Greenberg here. What's going on in Congress?

CAPUTO: I was going to say Toluse was also a Florida man. We used to work together at the Miami Herald, by the way.

That's a great question. What is going on is possibly one of the most ultimate Florida man stories. Form Tax Collector Joel Greenberg is under a 33-count indictment. One of the counts is that he had sex with a minor, engaged in sex trafficking with a 17-year-old. And Matt Gaetz, his friend at least since 2016, is now wrapped up in this in kind of a really bizarre tale.

[07:10:00]

CBS yesterday reporting that federal prosecutors are also examining an overseas trip that Matt Gaetz apparently made with other friends to the Bahamas, CBS reports there were escorts on there. We're unable to confirm whether that's the case or not and whether there was any sex with a minor that allegedly occurred there.

It's a really unexpected and that Matt Gaetz has been kind of notably knocked on his heels by just a crush of allegations for the past week. I do also think it's notable though we haven't had any names that have come out so far, no other accusers have come forward, nor have we seen any, you know, old irrefutable data or evidence. And we're all kind of sitting around waiting for that reporting it out.

HILL: Marc, the other thing you really haven't heard is a lot of support for Matt Gaetz, quite honestly. I mean, other than the sort of tepid statement from Donald Trump yesterday, there aren't a lot of Republicans jumping up and down saying, he's our guy.

CAPUTO: Right. Matt Gaetz had pride himself on being a disruptor and someone who didn't go to Washington to make friends. And even he has said, now that the Republican Caucus or the Republicans are in the minority in the House, that he's in the minority of the minority. And his own party even don't like him very much. So, yes, he's kind of keenly aware of how alone and isolated he is.

That having been said, I don't think that President Trump sort of act on that dance (ph). We did see him go out of his way to issue that statement yesterday, denying a New York Times report (INAUDIBLE) pardon. There were sources in the White House who told The New York Times that was the case.

One thing that doesn't make sense about those anonymous claims is that the White House staff also didn't like Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz frequently went over the heads of the White House staff and, in fact, in one case of lobbying, the president firstly for the pardon of Roger Stone, another Florida man, and why Matt Gaetz would suddenly not go to President Trump for this alleged White House pardon but then go to the staff that hates him go for it that doesn't make sense at all.

But this is not the first time we've heard odd things come out before the Trump White House where everyone is kind of backstabbing each other and kind of waiting to sandbag the other one.

BERMAN: Florida man, Marc Caputo, Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you both for being with us this morning. I appreciate it.

CAPUTOL Thank you.

BERMAN: So, the CDC warning that the highly transmissible B117 variant of coronavirus found first in the United Kingdom, it's the most dominant strain in the U.S. now. So what does that mean for hopes to contain this, next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Trends are increasing in both case numbers and hospitalizations. Across the country, we're hearing reports of clusters of cases associated with day care centers and youth sports. Hospitals are seeing more and more younger adults, those in their 30s and 40s admitted with severe disease.

Based on our most recent estimates from CDC surveillance, the B117 variant is now the most common lineage circulating in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The director of the CDC confirming the more transmissible variant first identified in the U.K. is now the dominant one here in the U.S.

Overnight, the U.S. is reporting more than 70,000 new cases of coronavirus, and hospitalizations are now at the highest point we've seen in a month.

Joining us now, Michael Osterholm, he's the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Look, you've been warning us for weeks at this point this is what we're moving into. And you have said repeatedly look at what's happening in the northeast and in the Midwest, we're going to start to see it spread. Is that where we're at this morning?

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Unfortunately, that is the case, Erica. We are going to continue to see these cases fan out. I think that the vaccine rollout has been a really important tool to try to reduce these cases. But as you've seen from Michigan and Minnesota, even though they have very high levels of vaccination relative to the rest of the country, you're still seeing how severe the problem is. So we just aren't going to be able to get enough people vaccinated quickly enough to keep the rest of the country from experiencing much of what we're seeing in the upper Midwest and northeast.

BERMAN: So, Professor, as Erica said, you've been consistent about this, warning us that this was going to happen. Why do you think your view is so different than the view of other people in the field, people like Scott Gottlieb and others who say, you know, there's enough vaccinations now and people who have had it, maybe enough herd immunity out there. But Paul Offit was on with us yesterday who said this is going to keep it relatively contained, going to keep whatever bump we have from becoming a true giant fourth surge.

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, we can't say how large this surge is going to get in the United States, but I can tell you, it's going to get a lot larger than it is now. And, again, just look at the evidence in Michigan, in Minnesota, and places like that, and you'll see that that's already happening.

So I don't know where those gentlemen get their information or how they come upon their own decision. You'll have to ask them that. I just have brought to you a consistent message since the beginning of the pandemic and what's happening next. And I can tell you, this is going to happen next. I think the really important message here is that we want all of the American public to understand we're not done with this virus yet and that all the opening that we're doing, all the social events, how we're getting together again as if this pandemic didn't exist was going to extract a real price. And no one wants to be the person who is going to die three days before they're scheduled to get their COVID vaccine, and that's what I fear is going to happen. It's going to happen over the next few months.

BERMAN: Is it possible though that deaths, even though if we see a rise in cases and maybe even a rise in hospitalizations that we don't see the corresponding rise in deaths that we've seen in the past because such a high percentage of the older population has been vaccinated?

[07:20:03]

OSTERHOLM: You know, John, I think that's a real possibility. The problem is we've got a virus here that's very different than the past. Remember, this virus is now 50 percent to 100 percent more infectious and it's at least 50 percent to 60 percent more severe.

And as you heard from the lead-in from Dr. Walensky, you're seeing many more severe cases in people 30, 40, 50 years of age. So these are people who will not yet have been vaccinated. So, because of that offset against what we've done to reduce the number cases in the older population, it's really unclear just what the final picture will look like.

If you look at hospitalizations, if you look at ICU care in areas that are getting hit right now, like Minnesota and Michigan, we're seeing big increases in ICU care. That's truly a sign that there is a lot of severe disease, even in the younger population that we haven't seen before.

HILL: And it's that younger population, again, as you just pointed to, that is so concerning. I should say, Dr. Walensky earlier this week saying that the drop in death that we've seen, she's really attributing to the fact that the vaccinations are working. When you look at younger people and the rollout, moving up this deadline from the White House to April 19th, all the states say they are going to be able to increase eligibility to those 16 and up.

The White House is announcing new target areas also to try to get the vaccine into more areas of the country. Do you think those efforts are moving quickly enough to make sure that the distribution is becoming more equitable and accessible?

OSTERHOLM: Yes. And, first of all, let me comment on the number of hospitalizations and deaths right now. Remember, these are lagging indicators. What we're seeing here is a relatively quick turnaround of cases dropping from the high in January until just several weeks ago and all of a sudden now we're starting to see activity in the upper Midwest.

Once this rolls out throughout the rest of the country and people have a long enough time to be sick, we will see a change in the number of deaths. It will start to go back up.

In terms of what the administration is doing, I have given them great credit it from the beginning for their efforts to get the vaccine, working closely with the pharmaceutical industries to get this manufactured. I still think that we can do much more to getting a single dose out now to as many people as possible with the second dose to be followed up eight to ten weeks later, which we know surely still provides a great deal of protection.

Now, the other thing is I think the media I wish would do a better job, frankly, of covering how many people are really getting vaccinated. When I hear 3 or 4 million people getting vaccinated, remember, almost half of those are getting a second dose. That's not new people, the same people who have gotten the previous dose.

So, the numbers aren't going up nearly as quickly as some people think they are in terms of who's getting vaccinated and how many. We still have a lot of people out there that are not protected by vaccine, have not previously been infected, and are the wood that this coronavirus is going to burn in the next weeks and months ahead.

BERMAN: Outbreak clusters in youth sports happening in Michigan, I know it's happening in Minnesota. It's something, again, you've been talking to us about. Why are we seeing that now? I don't think we have seen it like this in the past year at all. Why is it happening? What are the implications going forward and what do we do to stop it?

OSTERHOLM: Well, John, you know, we have talked about this in the past. And as you know, and as some people who have watch this show know, I have been very strongly supportive of getting kids back into school, particularly those K through 8. Because prior to this B117 variant, we saw only limited transmission in kids, through kids, by kids, and didn't really turned out that it was a major part of the transmission concern in our communities.

Unlike influenza, where when if you get influenza virus early in the winter in a group of school kids, you can guarantee it will spread through the community in no time. Well, that's changed with B1117. Right now, we are seeing a tremendous amount of transmission in young kids, highly infectious. Not so much more than any adult would be, but, in fact, they're not transmitting.

And so, just as you pointed out, youth sports have been a major challenge for us here in Minnesota, school, other social contact environments. And so it is now a whole new part of the transmission. I believe that many of the younger adults, the 30-year-olds and 40-year- olds that we're seeing sick, many of them are people who had contact with their kids. In fact, I know of a number of just like that, where the kid became infected first in the family and spread it to everyone else in the family.

So this is another part of why the B117 experience is different from what we saw before, and we have to take that into account as we plan on how we're trying to control this virus.

BERMAN: Professor Michael Osterholm, always an education to have you on. Thank you very much for joining us.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: Erica?

HILL: We want to remember some of the more than 559,000 lives lost in this country to coronavirus.

Anthony Audy was a tattoo artist in Vermont. Friends say he was a comic book mega fan and a people person with a huge heart, happy to help anyone or any rescue animal in need.

[07:25:02]

Friends say he booked his vaccine appointment just days before receiving his coronavirus diagnosis.

Alex Hernandez was just 14 years old. Normally, this, as you know, is a low-risk age group, but he was also battling leukemia, a significant added risk factor. His mother tells CNN affiliate WDJT he never lost hope throughout his battles of cancer and COVID. She says, Alex once told her, he didn't know what he'd do without her. Now she says, it's the other way around.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Later this morning, jurors in the Derek Chauvin murder trial will hear more testimony about the day George Floyd was killed and the deadly encounter with police. In this exchange, a key investigator struggled to make sense of what George Floyd said as Chauvin kneeled on him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to ask you, sir, to listen to Mr. Floyd's voice.

[07:30:01]

Did you hear that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I did.