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CDC Says Michigan Should Close Things Down; Iran says Attack with Strengthen Tehran; WHO Says Pandemic at Critical Point; Minnesota Teams Postpone Games. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 13, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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


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[06:31:07]

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: When you have an acute situation, extraordinary number -- when you have an acute situation, extraordinary number of cases like we have in Michigan, the answer is not necessarily to give vaccine. In fact, we know that the vaccine will have a delayed response. The answer to that is to really close things down, to go back to our basics, to go back to where we were last spring, last summer and to shut things down.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So that's the head of the CDC calling on Michigan's governor to reimpose restrictions as new cases of coronavirus and new hospitalizations surge in that state.

Now, this comes after the Biden administration rejected Governor Gretchen Whitmer's request to increase the supply of vaccines to her state.

Joining us now, Anna Palmer. She is the founder of Punchbowl News.

Gretchen Whitmer, big supporter of Joe Biden during the campaign, popular Democratic governor. So, what's the level of awkward here with the White House rejecting Governor Whitmer's request?

ANNA PALMER, FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: And a key swing state, right, in Michigan for Democrats going into the next election cycle. It is awkward. I think what you're seeing, though, is Joe Biden's team is not going to play favorites just because it's a state that he needs or that its supporters come from. It's very different than President Donald Trump, where you saw sometimes crises happen and they would find favor if they were run by Republicans instead of Democrats.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Something weird happened, and that is that John Cornyn tweeted what now we know is a quote from a "Politico" piece about Joe Biden but there were no quote marks around it so people thought maybe it was him -- his actual original words. He's still saying it, I suppose, but he's quoting. If I could just read it to you here and get your thoughts on why he did this. Quote, talking about Biden, the president is not doing cable news interviews, tweets from his accounts are limited. When they come, unimaginably conventional, the public comments are largely scripted. Biden has opted for fewer sit down interviews with main street -- with mainstream outlets and reporters. And he goes on to say, invites the question, is he really in charge?

My question to you is, read his mind for us this morning, Anna. Why?

PALMER: Well, listen, I think Senator John Cornyn has -- often likes to use Twitter to poke the bear. But this is a talking point that you hear a lot on Capitol Hill among Republicans and they feel like it's one of the few areas where they've kind of been able to make some headway when it comes to attacking Joe Biden, that he's elderly, that he's not actually running the ship, that it's very staff-driven administration. You're going to continue to hear those same kind of criticisms behind the scenes and I'm sure publicly as Democrats try to push this American jobs plan.

HARLOW: I mean --

PALMER: Go ahead.

HARLOW: It's just rich following the tweeting habits of the former president, that's all I was thinking.

PALMER: Yes. I mean, listen, I think -- yes, there was a lot of Republicans that had -- that were certainly exhausted by Donald Trump and tweeting all the time. So, it is kind of ironic. But this is going to be their, I think, talking point going forward.

BERMAN: So, Anna, there's waffling and then there's Waffle House, right? There's flip-flops and then there's Nikki Haley. Their, you know, political gymnastics, it's like Nadia Comaneci. I mean it's like, you can't even name all the superlatives here because I want to read you what she told "Politico," Tim Alberta, in this interview that published January 12th, about Donald Trump. She said, Donald Trump was done, should be done in the Republican Party. She said he's not going to run for federal office again. I don't think he's going to be in the picture. I don't think he can. He's fallen so far. We shouldn't have followed him. We shouldn't have listened to him. And we can't let that ever happen again.

Nikki Haley, January 12th, meet Nicki Haley from yesterday.

[06:35:03]

Play this.

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NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR: I would not run if President Trump ran. And I would talk to him about it. You know, that's something that we'll have a conversation about at some point if that decision is something that has to be made.

Had a great working relationship with him. I appreciated the way he let me do my job.

And, look, I just want to keep building on what we accomplished and not watch it get torn down.

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BERMAN: Explain.

PALMER: I think she's a realist. You know, she made those comments earlier this year that were pretty stunning. There was certainly the never Trumpers who were behind her, but there wasn't a huge ground swell of enthusiasm among the Republican base, which is very strongly in Donald Trump's camp, continues to be. And I think she just sees the writing on the wall that if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, if he chooses to run, she would have a very, very difficult time trying to get any momentum against him.

HARLOW: I just -- I can't get over -- and I don't have as good analogies as Berman this morning with Nadia Comaneci.

BERMAN: Olga Korbut.

HARLOW: I mean that --

BERMAN: Kurt Thomas.

PALMER: No one does.

HARLOW: For the win.

BERMAN: Bart Conner.

HARLOW: But in all reality, I'm just stunned that she's -- it doesn't seem like she knows what she believes, and that matters.

Thank you, Anna. Good to have you.

Coming up later this hour, we will speak with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

And later today on CNN, you'll want to see this, former House Speaker John Boehner will appear on "THE LEAD," 4:00 p.m. Eastern, with Jake Tapper.

BERMAN: All right, we have live pictures we want to show you of the U.S. Capitol where U.S. Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans will lie in honor today. Evans, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police force, was killed earlier this month when an attacker drove his car into two officers at a barricade outside the Capitol. Both President Biden and Vice President Harris will pay their respects today.

So nuclear talks moving forward despite an attack on Iran's main nuclear facility. We have stunning, brand new details about the scale of this attack, next.

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HARLOW: Overnight, Iran's foreign minister says Israel made a, quote, very bad gamble by attacking the Natanz nuclear site, insisting that it will strengthen Teheran's position in the nuclear talks. Israel, of course, has not accepted responsibility for this whatsoever. The Biden administration says the U.S. was not involved.

Our Fred Pleitgen is live in Berlin for us again this morning with the details.

And our viewers know how extensively, Fred, you have reported in and around Iran. What do you make of these latest developments?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, it certainly is very complicated and also, Poppy, very interesting it's going to be to see what it's going to mean for those talks that are going on in Vienna right now to try and bring the U.S. back into the nuclear agreement and, of course, Iran back into compliance.

Now, we've gotten some new information this morning as to how extensive the damage to that nuclear facility may have been. It still is somewhat murky, though. However, the head of the research group of Iran's parliament, he came out earlier today and said that thousands of centrifuges had been damaged through that attack, as he called it.

Do have to give you a caveat, though, this is a hardline politician who is someone who's very much against international talks about Iran's nuclear agreement. However, he is a senior member of the Iranian parliament. Also, we are hearing from "The New York Times," their reporting that sources are telling them that it was an explosion that led to both phases of the power supply of the Natanz facility to be disabled. Again, we've not been able to independently verify that. However, Iranian senior level politicians are saying that there are repairs going on and that emergency backup power system is now back in place.

But you're absolutely right, the Iranians obviously placing the finger of blame at the Israelis and saying that this will strengthen their position in negotiations in direct ones with the U.S. I want to read you what the foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said. He said this is a, quote, in the aftermath of the attack on Natanz, Iran's hand will be stronger, both in negotiations and developing nuclear enrichment. The Iranians are saying that Natanz is going to continue to operate and indeed operate at a higher level.

But as far as those talks are concerned, the Iranians are saying that they are staying in those talks. However, the Iranian foreign minister yesterday, last night, wrote a letter to the U.N. secretary general where he said that Iran's non-compliance, the parts of the agreement that they're not going to continue to comply for, for the time being, that's going to accelerated, Poppy.

HARLOW: Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much for all of that reporting. It's riveting, fascinating what has happened. Thank you. The World Health Organization is warning this morning that people need a reality check as COVID cases rise around the world. More on this critical point we've reached in the pandemic, next.

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MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: We are in a critical point of the pandemic right now. The trajectory of this pandemic is growing. Its seventh week in a row we've had more than 4.4 million new cases reported in the last week. If you compare that to a year ago, we had about 500,000 cases being reported per week.

It is time, right now, where everyone has to take stock and have a reality check about what we need to be doing.

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BERMAN: Strong words from the World Health Organization nearly 16 months into this global pandemic as cases continue to grow worldwide, despite mass vaccination campaigns. So how do things get turned around?

Joining us now is Maria Van Kerkhove, she's the COVID-19 technical lead at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Why are the numbers rising?

MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: Well, I think there's a combination of factors of why the numbers are rising around the world. It isn't consistently growing everywhere around the world. There are some countries that have shown that they can control COVID, including these virus variants. But in a number of countries, we are seeing some virus variants. This B117, which is circulating across a number of countries in Europe, it's circulating in the United States, for example. And some of these virus variants, the variants of concern, have increased transmissibility. And if we increase transmissibility, we will have more burden on the healthcare system. And if we ease our public health and social measures too soon, if we lift those measures too soon, the virus will spread.

And so I think there's a combination of factors. The variants, the fatigue, and the fact that we have inequitable and uneven vaccine distribution around the world, that combination of factors 16 months into a pandemic is really -- really puts us in a critical situation.

BERMAN: In the United States, we're vaccinating more than 3 million people a day. Why isn't that enough? VAN KERKHOVE: Vaccine alone is not enough. One measure alone is not

enough, including vaccines and vaccination. What we are advocating for at WHO, and with our partners, is to make sure that we vaccinated those most at risk first. These are older people and these are health workers around the world in every single country. That is of critical importance.

[06:50:01]

But in addition to vaccine, it's not vaccine only, it's vaccine and. We have to continue with the other measures. We have to continue with our physical distancing, avoiding crowded spaces, hand hygiene, mask wearing, improving ventilation. We need consistency in the approach at national level, at sub national levels across a number of countries. It's the combination of factors that drives transmission down.

What we need right now globally is laser focus on driving transmission down. We can do this. We can do this with the tools that we have, including vaccination, but not only vaccination. Every single citizen, every single person in the United States and around the world needs to know, what do I need to do to keep myself safe? What do I need to do to keep my family safe? And you don't -- and if you don't know, you need to find that out because there's so much that each of us can do and it is critical that everybody plays their part in fighting against this pandemic.

BERMAN: Explain to someone in the United States why, beyond just compassion or empathy, but from an epidemiological perspective, they should care that, hey, in the United States deaths are going down, in the United States things may be getting better overall. Why should you care here if cases are rising across the world?

VAN KERKHOVE: Because we live in an interconnected world. This virus does not respect borders. This virus is evolving. We are now seeing changes in the virus and mutations in the virus. This is natural evolution that is happening. People in the United States will not be safe until everyone around the world is safe. We are in this together. There is no other way to put it. All of us have a role to play and we need to care about people around the world.

And I think people do. I mean I think everyone is concerned about what is happening. Right now we're 16 months into a pandemic and we shouldn't minimize the fatigue and the challenges that everybody has been in. But I think if we could think of this -- people do not like the war analogy, and that's correct, we shouldn't be using a war analogy to think about this pandemic. But we have to find a way to come together, double down and show how -- what I am doing in the United States is affecting people around the world.

BERMAN: What is that --

VAN KERKHOVE: No matter what we think, viruses do not respect borders. So what we do here affects somebody else in other countries.

BERMAN: How do you fight the fatigue, which is very real? I mean my concern is that in some ways it may be insurmountable, that once people have started to loosen restrictions, there's almost no political will to tighten them again.

VAN KERKHOVE: I mean, I think part of that is in the communication of how we're talking about this and what we -- we need to be doing, how long we need to be staying the course. I think we need to understand the reasons for the fatigue. What is it that is actually challenging people? Is it about their daily lives? They need to make a living and put food on their table for their families.

I mean if you think about this virus, this virus is affecting almost every person on the planet right now. It is a challenge for a number of factors. Differences for people who are older, who haven't seen loved ones for a very long time, for children who haven't been in school. Some children haven't been in school for a year. You know, there are lots of reasons for that fatigue.

What we really need is strong leadership.

BERMAN: Right.

VAN KERKHOVE: We need consistency and the messages around the world with our leaders, our political leaders, as well as our religious leaders, our community leaders, our family leaders about how collectively we can do this.

BERMAN: Right.

VAN KERKHOVE: There is a mental health issue as well because this is causing so many different challenges.

BERMAN: We --

VAN KERKHOVE: We have to be able to talk about this, talk through it and figure out ways how we're going to get through every single day. And think of that light at the end of the tunnel. Look at some of the countries that have controlled COVID, even without vaccination, who are going to sporting events, who are seeing their loved ones and giving -- putting their arms around their loved ones and giving hugs. These are the goals that all of us are thinking towards.

BERMAN: Right. There are rewards.

VAN KERKHOVE: We can do this.

BERMAN: There are rewards if we get through this.

Maria Van Kerkhove, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

VAN KERKHOVE: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: A powerful display of unity in the NBA. Spurs and Magic players lock arms after the death of Daunte Wright. The "Bleacher Report" is next.

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[06:58:28] HARLOW: Minnesota sports teams postponing their games after the police killing of their fellow Minnesota native Daunte Wright.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Poppy.

So the Minnesota Twins, the Timberwolves and The Wild all deciding that yesterday was not the time to be playing sports in their community after what happened. And the Twins afternoon game against the Red Sox was the first to be postponed. The national anthem had actually already been played with players on the field warming up when the decision was made not to play.

Now, members of the Spurs and Magic, meanwhile, locking arms on the court before their game last night. And coaches across the NBA speaking out about the events in Minnesota.

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DOC RIVERS, PHILADELPHIA 76ERS HEAD COACH: You keep hearing this cancel culture stuff, but, you know, we're canceling black lives. And I think, to me, that's a little, you know, more important, in my opinion, and we just -- it just keeps happening. We keep making mistakes on killing black people.

GREGG POPOVICH, SAN ANTONIO SPURS HEAD COACH: As sick to our stomachs as we might feel, you know, that individual is dead. He's dead. And his family is grieving. And his friends are grieving. And we just keep moving on as if nothing's happening.

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SCHOLES: Now, Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks, meanwhile, pulling himself out of last night's lineup in response to the shooting. After having discussed with manager Aaron Boone, Hicks decided he was not in the right mindset to play baseball.

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AARON BOONE, NEW YORK YANKEES MANAGER: Aaron's hurting in a huge way.