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Companies Grapple with Vaccine Mandates for Employees; States Scramble as Millions of J&J Vaccines Set to Expire; Wealthiest Americans like Bezos, Musk, Largely Avoid Income Tax; McAuliffe Wins Democratic Nomination for Virginia Governor. Aired 7:30-8am ET
Aired June 09, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: To a proof of vaccination required, obviously private venues can do what they want to do. And then there are some places that are saying you have to have vaccination, although we're not going to require you to show proof of that. So it's a little bit nebulous in between sometimes.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It's interesting, because when you return to work, I mean, you're there day in day out for hours on end, right? You compare that to, say, a sporting event, some of which are outside, and you're there for a few hours, you know. This pace, though, Sanjay, you have keep stalling, how is that going to impact the ability of the U.S. to hit that goal of President Biden's by July 4 to get 70% of adults having at least one dose?
GUPTA: Yeah, I mean, it's going to be an uphill battle for sure. You know, we just did the math on that. So roughly, we know that you got about 60% or so of the country that's received at least one dose, you need about 16 million more people to get to that 70% across the country. And right now we're around 350,000, 360,000 people getting vaccinated per day. So, you know, here we are, you know, in June, you know, July 4, if you do the math, it's going to be an uphill battle, you're going to need to see some uptake in overall vaccines, you know, in particular states. There are some states that have already hit the 70% number, there's others that are further behind. So, it's going to be a challenge, I think, to get to that number, maybe by the end of July, if things sort of persisted the way that they are. But by July 4, at this point that leads the challenge.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So Sanjay, there's millions of Johnson & Johnson doses, those are the single dose vaccines that are set to expire this month, and states are trying to figure out what to do with them. What's going to happen here?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I mean, there's -- the vaccine supply issue, obviously was a significant issue early on. The supply issue is not the concern. Now, that's not the rate limiting step right now. So that would be a shame. Obviously, if you're losing vaccine doses, they're not being utilized here or, frankly, in other countries around the world, where the supply is still a continued issue. So I don't know that they anticipated that there would be that many doses that might still be going unused because of sort of a decrease in overall vaccine uptake. So we'll see. I mean, we're sort of learning real time here. What happens, this has happened with other vaccines in the past as well. Unfortunately, they do have an expiration date. They do have this sort of half life, but we'll see specifically what happens here.
KEILAR: Yeah, it's just the shame of it. You think of, in Africa, 2% of people vaccinated. And here it's at something like 50% and the idea of something going bad on a shelf is just, you know, it's terrible. Sanjay, thank you so much for being with us.
GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.
KEILAR: Jeff Bezos, who is the richest man in America. Well, he keeps getting richer. How does he do it? A new report reveals how he and other super wealthy Americans were able to pay next to nothing in income tax.
BERMAN: And get vaccinated to get high, one state hoping to fight COVID with cannabis.
KEILAR: Does that work?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:37:01]
BERMAN: So a new report reveals the 25 richest Americans including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk, they paid relatively little and sometimes nothing in federal income taxes between 2014 and 2018. Now the scandal is what they're doing is perfectly legal. CNN's Christine Romans live in New York with more on this, I mean, really Romans?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Newsflash, John. The super rich, they're not like us. The tax code is designed to favor the investment income of the mega wealthy over the regular earnings of everyone else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: When it's time to pay taxes, new reporting from ProPublica says the nation's top 25 richest people pay little to nothing at all. The revelation after an anonymous source sent the publication years of tax returns from 1000s of the wealthiest Americans, including Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
PAUL KIEL, REPORTER, PROPUBLICA: We had to work for months on this, to get it into a shape where we, you know, we're satisfied that it was, you know, it was accurate and it was saying something clear.
ROMANS: Take a look at Amazon Founder and CEO Bezos. According to ProPublica's reporting back in 2007 his wealth increased $3.8 billion and paid nothing in federal income taxes. Neither did Tesla Founder Elon Musk in 2018, and not a penny from George Soros for the three years between 2016 and 2018.
And it's all legal thanks to U.S. tax codes, which focus more on wages as opposed to investments which are usually taxed at lower rates. That's something billionaires like Bezos can take advantage of along with complicated tax loopholes and write offs. ProPublica says while the now richest man in the world's wealth grew $99 billion, between 2014 and 2018, he only paid 973 million in taxes at a rate of less than 1%.
KIEL: So if you like are Jeff Bezos and you're sitting atop this wealth and you're getting, you know, richer by the day, that doesn't get transformed income, you don't have to put that on your tax return until you, you know, sell your stock generally.
ROMANS: And for Buffett, who has said in the past, he favors raising taxes for the rich, his wealth grew by $24 billion between 2014 and 2018. And the amount of taxes paid 23.7 million or just 0.1% of his wealth. Buffet telling ProPublica tax codes should be changed substantially and huge dynastic wealth is not desirable for our society.
According to ProPublica as analysis, the 25 richest Americans were worth $1.1 trillion by the end of 2018. It would take 14.3 million ordinary American wage earners to make that same amount of wealth. The IRS and the FBI are now investigating this leak and the Biden administration says is looking into the situation.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Any unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information by a person with access is illegal. And we take this very seriously.
ROMANS: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also emphasized President Biden's proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy to help finance his spending plans.
[07:40:07]
PSAKI: We know that there is more to be done to ensure that corporations, individuals who are at the highest income are paying more of their fair share.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: So the top 25 paid $1.9 billion in taxes in 2018. It took 14 million regular wage earners to have that same amount of wealth as the top 25. And they paid 143 billion in taxes.
Now, no comment to ProPublica from Bezos or Musk. Musk replied to the nonprofit publication with a question mark, but did not reply to detailed questions. A spokesperson for Soros told ProPublica between 2016 and 2018 George Soros lost money on his investments. Therefore, he did not owe federal income taxes in those years. Mr. Soros has long supported higher taxes for wealthy Americans. John and Brianna.
BERMAN: It really is just staggering Romans when you talk about paying one's fair share. Thank you so much for that report.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
KEILAR: Now, let's talk about this with Linette Lopez, who was a Columnist for Business Insider, and Jeanna Smialek, Fed and Economy Reporter for The New York Times.
OK, Jeanna, you know, this avoiding taxes, is this the real reason or one of the reasons why the ultra rich, stay ultra rich?
JEANNA SMIALEK, FED AND ECONOMY REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, absolutely. I think the real upshot here is that here in America, we tax income, we don't tax wealth. And if you're in an extremely wealthy person, it's very easy for you to sort of maneuver so that you never actually have any income. And in the meantime, you are massively expanding your wealth. And so you continue to grow that pie without the government ever really coming for it. And I think that's basically the main takeaway from this, this string of reporting.
KEILAR: Linette, when you look at this report, what was the thing that really stood out to you? What is the biggest revelation here?
LINETTE LOPEZ, COLUMNIST, BUSINESS INSIDER: I was going to say this, whether or not you asked a question or not, for your viewers who didn't read the report, Jeff Bezos claimed a $4,000 child tax credit, when I read that my blood started boiling. There are all kinds of complicated tricks that rich people use, but some of them are quite simple. And again, this is legal. So there are definitely plans that the Democrats have presented to fix this problem. We haven't heard anything from the Republicans. But we know that Elizabeth Warren, she wants to have a wealth tax, which would be a 2% tax on every dollar of wealth after $50 million. And Joe Biden's plan is essentially, to use the existing tax system and close a loophole that would trigger more capital gains payments, and then raise the capital gains tax. But what we have now is definitely frustrating.
KEILAR: Linette, just to be clear, it's not that Jeff Bezos is not entitled to that tax credit when it comes to child tax credit, right?
LOPEZ: Sure, he's definitely entitled to it. But when you look at that sum total of all of his (inaudible) a little bit of a kick in the stomach, I think, for working families who really need that tax credit, and are paying more taxes than he is, in the last couple of years, I think, as in inequality in the United States has grown. We've moved away from the, our old discussion of taxes. Our old discussion was like, OK, here's the amount that we can pay, the least amount that we can pay and still run the American government. That was the conversation that we were having.
Now, in the last 1015 years, we're starting to say, wow, what's fair? What do you really fair and get Americas and Americans looking at each other, like equals and fills our coffers, so that we can do things for ordinary Americans that don't seem to be getting done? And that's why --
KEILAR: Yeah, that's the thing. Jeanna, it's noteworthy that when you look at some of these people in this report, billionaires like Warren Buffett, who paid 0.1% of his wealth in taxes, they're vocal right about the super rich paying more, and yet they are not doing it. What do you make of that?
SMIALEK: I think it's really interesting, because like you said, Warren Buffett has been particularly vocal about this. But Warren Buffett also isn't taking any income. This reporting so clearly showed.
KEILAR: Yeah.
SMIALEK: And so if you raise income taxes on the super wealthy Warren Buffett's not going to pay more because he is just not sort of falling into that category that would be, you know, affected. And so I think it really speaks to sort of a fundamental issue with our tax system that is going to be really hard to fix. It is hard to tax wealth. This is not a simple thing to do. But, you know, that this is -- the system is not going to change. If we continue to increase taxes on income, that's not going to change this top, you know, 0.01% issue that's really highlighted here.
[07:45:05]
KEILAR: Yeah, there is a partisan divides on whether to tax that wealth. Jeanna, thank you so much for coming on, Linette, it's lovely to see you again. Thank you both.
LOPEZ: Thanks for having me.
SMIALEK: Thank you.
BERMAN: So CNN exclusive audio of Rudy Giuliani appearing to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Biden's in exchange for military aid. There's a Latin phrase for that.
KEILAR: There is.
BERMAN: Quid pro quo. So what does this mean for all the defenders of Giuliani and the president who said there was none, Reality Check, next.
KEILAR: And the slap heard round the world the French President getting a hand to face while greeting a crowd. He's hardly the first world leader though to encounter such a welcome. We'll go through them.
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[07:50:09]
BERMAN: So America's impeachment magnate, Rudy Giuliani caught on tape and what can only be described as a quid pro quo. And this says a lot about not just him, though it says plenty about him.
KEILAR: Yes.
BERMAN: But it also speaks to the legions of his defenders. John Avlon with a Reality Check.
JOHN AVLON, CNN REPORTER: They say Latin is a dying language. But there's one phrase that definitely endured in our recent political battles. Quid pro quo, that means creating a favor for something of value. And it dominated discussion around Donald Trump's first impeachment, get this quid pro quo appears nearly 1800 times in cable and network news transcripts during the four months surrounding the House vote and the Senate trial. That's according to a search of LexisNexis.
And I know it's hard to keep track. After all, that was what whole impeachment ago. And part of the strategy behind lying loudly is to assume that even assaults on democratic norms will fade into the memory hole. And that's why new audio tapes and Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani exclusively obtained by CNN should disrupt this march to moral relativism. But before we play the tapes, remember that no quid pro quo was the core of Trump's defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: There was no quid pro quo.
SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, (R) WEST VIRGINIA: I don't see a quid pro quo in here.
SEN. ROB PORTMAN, (R) OHIO: I don't see the quid pro quo that the Democrats are claiming.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (D) TEXAS: There's no illegal quid pro quo in that transcript.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been no proof of a quid pro quo here. We're not in the realm of a situation where there's one official act being traded for another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging a quid pro quo, outside the phone call that would be very disturbing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: But that experience to be exactly what happened. Because in the July 2019, tape, Giuliani is trying to convince a senior Ukrainian president to announce an investigation into the Biden's as well as baseless accusations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: If he could make some statement at the right time, that would clear the air really well. And I think it would make it possible for me to come and make it possible, I think, for me to talk to the president (Trump) to see what I can do about making sure that whatever misunderstands are put aside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: CNN tried to ask Giuliani about the tape, but he didn't respond. But he's previously said he didn't do anything wrong on Ukraine and was just trying to pursue his clients best interests. But three days after that call, President Trump contacted Ukrainian President Zelensky with his infamous request to do us a favor. So it would seem that the no quid pro quo defense is no longer operative, in other words, it was all a lie.
But don't expect Republicans to feel shocked or betrayed. If confronted with this new evidence, you can bet they'll say something like, we're not going to relitigate the past. And that's actually the big reveal here, because it exposes the strategy of deny and delay that lives on to this day. Deny the evidence, block further investigation, and then hope that the delay makes the whole issue fade away in a ball of confusion. The same cynical partisan logic that apparently fueled their refusal to back a bipartisan commission into the causes of the January 6 attack, and Trump's first impeachment now hangs over President Biden's first trip overseas. It's not that Biden's reputation was tarnished by Trump's attempt in shakedown, but America's reputation was because it compromised the idea of American exceptionalism, making it look like our democracy could be just as corrupt as any tin pot dictatorship.
Combined with Trump's cow telling to the Kremlin it made many of our allies doubt America's commitment to the rule of law and international organizations like NATO. Rebuilding that trust with allies like NATO in the Ukraine is a key part of President Biden's agenda on this trip. Rebuilding trust here at home will mean Republicans accepting at least some responsibility for enabling Trump's lies, but don't hold your breath. Nonetheless, the truth matters, facts matter, so keep hope alive on that front or, as they say in Latin, carpe diem, seize the day. And that's your Reality Check.
BORGER: Very clever, John Avlon, thank you so much.
AVLON: Go that far.
KEILAR: It was, you speak Latin, kind of. Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe will be the Commonwealth Democratic nominee for governor and deja vu, yes, this is happening again McAuliffe topping for primary challengers in his effort to serve a second term, if successful, will be the first Virginian to achieve this in decades. The Commonwealth bans governors from seeking consecutive terms so he took a break. Now he's coming back and he's going to face off in a general election against Republican Businessman Glenn Youngkin. And CNN also projects that Jack Ciattarelli has won the Republican nomination for New Jersey Governor, setting up challenge against democratic governor Phil Murphy in the fall.
[07:55:03]
BERMAN: You think Terry McAuliffe's campaign slogan will be, we were on a break.
KEILAR: Yeah. We were on a break.
BERMAN: You were on a break.
KEILAR: It was just a break.
BERMAN: Also deja vu for the record French. KEILAR: That's French.
BERMAN: Not Latin.
KEILAR: Which you're better at Latin than French?
BERMAN: I got a D in French.
KEILAR: Something I learned about John Berman today. I don't get that.
BERMAN: Yeah.
KEILAR: It seems like French is easier than Latin. But I digress. Moments from now, we're actually going to see President Biden. He'll be departing the White House for what is a really big trip here. He's on his way to England. It's the first leg of this high stakes week of meetings that he has overseas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this New Day. President Biden about to depart on his first foreign trip, what's at stake with America's allies and rivals, like Russia's Vladimir Putin, plus, progressives losing power as Biden's domestic agenda stalls. Can Bernie Sanders convince the President to try to pass it without Republicans?
KEILAR: And an NBA player speaking out after his little brother.
