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The Lead with Jake Tapper

President Biden Delivers Address on Vaccine Efforts; Texas Fully Reopening; Interview With Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); FBI Director Testifies on Capitol Hill; Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Rollout Begins. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired March 02, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we start today with our politics lead.

Today, the director of the FBI attempted to completely shut down conspiracy theories and attempts to rewrite history by former President Trump and his supporters on Capitol Hill and in MAGA media about that deadly January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Director Wray, Christopher Wray, told senators what happened on January 6 was an act of domestic terrorism.

And he said there are no signs that the insurrectionists were fake Trump supporters or members of Antifa.

Here's how he described the domestic terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We have got a number of who self- identify with the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, things like that.

There's no doubt that it included individuals that we would call militia violent extremists and then, in some instances, individuals that were racially motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This is, of course, a far cry from the claims we have heard from many Trump-supporting Republicans who have been trying to push this lie that it was actually members of Antifa dressed up, disguised as Trump supporters who are really to blame for the attack, for instance, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who used the accounts of an alleged eyewitness to make these wild allegations just last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): A very few didn't share the jovial, friendly, earnest demeanor of the great majority. Some obviously didn't fit in. And he describes four different types of people, plainclothes militants, agents provocateurs, fake Trump protesters, and then disciplined uniform column of attackers.

I think these the people that probably planned this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Director Wray today essentially said, Senator Johnson, you're wrong.

Today, Wray was also pressed on when he knew about threats to the Capitol and how and when that information was shared with the relevant police, as CNN's Jessica Schneider now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL): The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his first congressional testimony since the attack on the Capitol, FBI Director Christopher Wray, appointed by former President Trump, put a dagger into the conspiracy theories pushed by some Trump supporters about what happened that day.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Has there so far been any evidence that the January 6 riot here, the insurrection, was organized by people simply posing as supporters of President Trump's?

WRAY: We have not seen any evidence of that, certainly.

COONS: Is there any evidence at all that it was organized or planned or carried out by groups like Antifa or Black Lives Matter?

WRAY: We have not seen any evidence to that effect thus far in the investigation.

COONS: And is there any doubt that the people who stormed the Capitol included white supremacists and other far right extremist organizations?

WRAY: There's no doubt that it included individuals that we would call militia violent extremists and then, in some instances, individuals that were racially motivated violent extremists.

SCHNEIDER: Wray also explained in detail the warnings his agency found online before the insurrection.

WRAY: This was information posted online under a moniker or a pseudonym. It was unvetted, uncorroborated information, but it was -- and it was somewhat aspirational in nature, but it was concerning.

SCHNEIDER: The information came from the FBI Norfolk field office, warning of violent war at the Capitol.

"The Washington Post" reported the FBI bulletin quoted individuals saying: "Be ready to fight. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die."

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified last month that the details were only disseminated via e-mail the day before the attack. But Wray disagreed.

WRAY: That information was quickly, as in within an hour, disseminated and communicated with our partners, including the U.S. Capitol Police, including Metro P.D., in not one, not two, but three different ways.

SCHNEIDER: When Wray explained the bulletin was first e-mailed to members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes officers from the Capitol and Metropolitan Police departments. Then there was a verbal briefing to members of those departments at the command post. And, finally, it was posted on the law enforcement portal available to agencies around the country.

WRAY: The information was raw. It was unverified. In a perfect world, we would have taken longer to be able to figure out whether it was reliable, but we made the judgment, our folks made the judgment to get that information to the relevant people as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And Director Wray says the domestic terrorism threat only continues to grow.

[16:05:00]

Right now, the FBI is investigating 2,000 cases. That's double the number that were open in 2017, when Wray joined the FBI.

And Director Wray also acknowledged that this violent attack on the Capitol, Jake, it could serve as inspiration to foreign terrorist organizations.

TAPPER: All right, Jessica, thank you so much.

Joining us now, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He's on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and questioned FBI Director Wray today.

Senator, thanks for joining us.

Director Wray made it very clear that the FBI has seen no proof that Antifa or fake Trump supporters were involved in the January 6 Capitol attack. Do you think his comments will quiet your colleagues, such as Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who's been pushing this insane conspiracy theory and trying to rewrite the history of that horrible day?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Thanks for having me, Jake. To any of my colleagues who are at all rational and whose opinions are going to be fact-based, it should put to bed these conspiracy theories that somehow anarchists or Antifa or left-wing extremists dressed up or disguised themselves as Trump supporters and stormed the Capitol.

Clearly, there has been no evidence, let alone proof, of these conspiracy theories, and just the opposite. The arrests have been of the Proud Boys, the 3 Percenters, and other militia, domestic, violent extremists. And that's what should persuade my colleagues.

TAPPER: Director Wray says that, the day before the Capitol attack, an intelligence report warning about possible violence the next day was sent to law enforcement agencies, including the Capitol Police, in three separate ways, an e-mail. There was a verbal briefing, he says, and a posting in a law enforcement portal.

But the former Capitol Police chief said that he never saw any warning. How was there such an intelligence failure here? And what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again?

BLUMENTHAL: Let's be clear. The failures were at multiple levels.

But I fault the FBI for failing to sound the alarm at the very highest levels of congressional leadership. The course chosen by the FBI was to go through bureaucratic channels. And, obviously, some of the intended recipients say they never received it.

This kind of information, an assault on the Capitol for the purpose of potentially killing people, assassinating public officials, should have been brought to the attention of congressional leaders, because it was at such a sensitive time, while the vote counting was taking place, and on the citadel of our democracy.

What can be done in the future? Certainly, this kind of raw intelligence, as he termed it, I have seen a lot of raw intelligence in our classified settings. And some of it is extraordinarily and profoundly important. It should be brought to the attention of congressional leaders in the future.

TAPPER: This same intelligence report has not yet been turned over to Congress. Wray says that's because it's law enforcement-sensitive.

What does that mean? And is this acceptable to you?

BLUMENTHAL: Unacceptable.

We receive a lot of classified, top-secret material in the United States Congress. We do it in rooms that are screened for any sort of bugs. We are more than capable of seeing this information. In fact, I think more of this kind of information should be brought to the attention of the American people. They need and deserve to know how emboldened these far-right fringe extremist groups have been by January 6, by Charlottesville, the Tree of Life massacre.

There is a through line here, and it represents a dagger at the heart of our democracy. These kinds of domestic terrorists have become a clear and present threat. And I think the director of the FBI has an obligation he's much more forthcoming with Congress, even more so with the American people.

TAPPER: You asked Director Wray if people in positions of power promoting QAnon increases the threat of violence from some of the QAnon adherents. He would not denounce members of Congress who have been pro-QAnon.

Let's just play a little exchange from that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WRAY: Our focus is on the violence and on the plans to commit violence, on the threats to commit violence. It's less than the rhetoric and the ideology. Obviously, the folks who engage in this kind of violence draw inspiration from a variety of sources, and we're concerned about any source that stimulates or motivates violent extremism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, you are obviously frustrated that he did not publicly denounce people who push QAnon in Congress like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene or others.

Now, to play devil's advocate, he says that -- he seems to suggest that he doesn't think it's appropriate for an FBI director to denounce rhetoric or an ideology of a deranged conspiracy theory. They're in charge of making sure that there isn't the violence that can sometimes follow.

[16:10:14]

Why was that not enough for you?

BLUMENTHAL: I said to him to his face during the hearing I was disappointed in his response. The director of the FBI, as one of the chief law enforcement officials in this country, ought to be denouncing encouragement of criminal action and incitement of violence, especially by a public official, whether it's the president or a member of Congress.

I asked him the same question in July of 2019 during his last appearance, and he was oblique, one might say evasive, in his answer then. And I think he has a duty to denounce incitement of violence and the QAnon fringe conspiracy theories. QAnon adherents were in the Capitol at the tip of the spear invading and assaulting the Capitol on that day, January 6.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, thanks so much for being with us today, sir. We appreciate it.

Any moment, President Joe Biden is going to make an announcement about the coronavirus vaccines. We're going to bring that to you live.

And then breaking news. Just one day after the CDC director warned states to not let their guards down, two states are announcing that they're reopening at full capacity and telling people they no longer need to wear masks.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: And we have some breaking news in our health lead now.

Any moment, we expect an announcement from President Biden. The White House says Biden will announce an unprecedented partnership that could rapidly expand vaccine supply. As of right now, of course, demand is far outpacing supply, with about 26 million people in the U.S. fully vaccinated.

Biden will announce, we're told, that pharmaceutical giant Merck will help rival Johnson & Johnson produce its single-dose vaccines just authorized in the U.S. Those shots are now being administered.

CNN's Nick Watt joins me right now.

Nick, yesterday, the CDC director said that, while there's light at the end of the tunnel, this is no time to roll back measures or get complacent. But it seems as though at least a couple states are doing exactly that.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake.

And it's not just the CDC director. Many medical experts are saying, with all these variants spreading around right now. This is not the time to roll back on the restrictions.

But so far today, we have heard that that is happening in Texas, Mississippi, Massachusetts, in part fueled by vaccine optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, vaccinate.

WATT (voice-over): Johnson & Johnson's vaccine just injected into American arms for the first time, but supply is a trickle, not a flood.

BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: It's a fairly limited supply to begin, but, later in the month, we think we start to see real numbers,

WATT: Merck will transform to facilities to manufacture the J&J vaccine in a deal President Biden is expected to announce this afternoon.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: A lot to look forward to. But, right now, we're in a dire time, potentially.

WATT: The average daily COVID-19 death toll was falling. Not anymore. And average daily case counts now plateauing at about the level of last summer's surge.

DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: This is a scary virus. And we already know that. We underestimate it at our peril.

WATT: A study of a surge in Manaus late last year found a variant first identified in Brazil was likely to blame and could more easily reinfect people who've already been infected. The research is not yet published.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Variants are starting to take over. And if they become dominant, and we relax restrictions, I think we can absolutely see a huge spike.

WATT: Houston just became the first city in America to log cases of every major variant, but:

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WATT: Meanwhile, team Biden is still sticking to two doses within a month of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Even though you can get a fair degree of -- quote -- "protection" after a single dose, it clearly is not durable.

WATT: But there's a ghost at the feast, the rump of team Trump, the former surgeon general today tweeting: "Good protection for many with one shot is better than great protection for a few," later adding: "I'm not saying it's 100 percent the right way to go."

DR. RICHINA BICETTE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I think that he should park his Twitter fingers for a few minutes. The Trump administration has a lot to answer for with how their vaccine plan rolled out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: So, mask mandates will soon be no more in Mississippi and Texas. And a week from tomorrow in Texas, all businesses can reopen 100 percent.

Now, explaining this decision, the governor said that part of it is due to the great vaccine rollout.

But if you look at the percentage of people actually vaccinated in Texas, that state ranks pretty low -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Nick Watt, thank you so much. Dr. Peter Hotez is the co-director at the Center for Vaccine

Development at Texas Children's Hospital. He's also author of a new book called "Preventing the Next Pandemic," which is out today. He joins me now.

Dr. Hotez, congrats on the book.

Take a listen to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19. Please stay strong in your conviction.

[16:20:03]

Continue wearing your well-fitted mask and taking the other public health prevention actions that we know work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And yet your governor, Texas Governor Abbott, just announced he's ending the statewide mask mandate. He's allowing businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity. Mississippi also lifting its mask mandate.

What do you think? Are they are they proceeding too quickly?

HOTEZ: Yes, I think so.

I think I side with Dr. Walensky here, because I'm -- I share her concerns about this B117 variant. Look, we saw, in the U.K. what happened, right? It appeared in September, and by December, it had dominated all of the -- outcompeted and dominated all of the other virus lineages.

And we saw a heightened level of transmission. So, this is a more transmissible virus. And the U.K. government has put up data, which has not been peer-reviewed, but it looks pretty compelling, that it's more lethal as well.

So, with the U.K. variant, the B117 variant, now accelerating across the U.S., this is the exact time you don't want to begin relaxing restrictions. And I understand that we're starting to vaccinate, but we're just beginning, Jake. We have -- nationally, we're only about 15 percent of the population has received a single dose, which gives very modest levels of protection.

So, we're not even close to that. If we were to hang on a few weeks, at least, or maybe more than that, we'd learn a lot more. We'd figure out what this variant is actually doing, number one, and we'd have a higher percentage of the U.S. population vaccinated.

And then we could revisit it, but not now. TAPPER: We're expecting any second now President Biden to come out

and talk about this new announcement having to do with vaccines.

So, if I interrupt you rudely, please stick around and also accept my apologies.

But let me just ask you, as a Texan, is Governor Abbott, in your view, making this decision to revoke the mask mandate and have businesses up at 100 percent, is it based on health and science data? Or is this more of a economic and political decision?

HOTEZ: Yes, it's hard to know what he--

TAPPER: I think here's President -- Dr. Hotez, stand by.

I'm going to come back to you.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- news to report, and I'd like to make two key announcements today related to our COVID-19 vaccination effort.

As you know, a few days ago, after a rigorous opening -- open and objective scientific review process, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson COVID- 19 vaccine. We should all be encouraged by this news of a third safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccine. The more people who get vaccinated, the faster we're going to overcome this virus and get back to our loved ones, get our economy back on track, and start to move back to normal.

But that's -- one of my first goals in office was -- when I got into office was to say that there will be 100 million vaccination shots administered in my first 100 days in office. We've got halfway to that goal in 37 days, and I feel confident we'll make it all the way.

As I -- and as I've said, we have a long way to go, but as I said from the outset, we're going to use every resource of the federal government to make it happen. Among the things I learned when I came into office was that Johnson & Johnson was behind in manufacturing and production. While we -- while we had the potential of another highly effective vaccine to accompany the two existing vaccines, it simply wasn't coming fast enough. So my team -- my team has been hard at work to accelerate that effort.

As I've always said, this was a wartime effort, and every action has been on the table, including putting together breakthrough approaches.

And today, we're announcing a major step forward: Two of the largest health care and pharmaceutical companies in the world -- that are usually competitors -- are working together on the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson and Merck will work together to expand the production of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War Two. We also invoked the Defense Production Act to equip two Merck

facilities to the standards necessary to safely manufacture the J&J vaccine. And with the urging and assistance of my administration, Johnson & Johnson is also taking additional new actions to safely accelerate vaccine production. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine manufacturing facilities will now begin to operate 24/7.

In addition, we'll continue to use the Defense Production Act to expedite critical materials in vaccine production, such as equipment, machinery, and supplies.

[16:25:09]

I've also asked the Department of Defense to provide daily logistical support to strengthen Johnson & Johnson's efforts. And I want to thank Johnson & Johnson and Merck for stepping up and being good corporate citizens during this national crisis.

Here's what all this means: We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.

Let me say that again: When I came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America. We rectified that. About three weeks ago, we were able to say that we'll have enough vaccine supply for adults by the end of July.

And I'm pleased to announce today, as a consequence of the stepped-up process that I've ordered and just outlined, this country will have enough vaccine supply -- I will say it again -- for every adult in America by the end of May. By the end of May. That's progress -- important progress.

But it's not enough to have the vaccine supply. We need vaccinators -- people to put the shots in people's arms, millions of Americans' arms.

To date, we've brought back retired doctors and nurses. We've developed -- we deployed more than 1,500 federal medical personnel you usually see during natural disasters, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- FEMA -- and the Commissioned Health Corps at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Defense Department, including the National Guard, with thousands of more to come.

We're also increasing the places where people can get vaccinated. We've sent millions of vaccines to over 7,000 pharmacies to make it easier for folks to get their COVID-19 vaccine shot like they would their flu shot.

The federal government is also working with states to set up hundreds of mass vaccination centers in places like stadiums, community centers, parking lots that vaccinate thousands of people per day. My wife Jill and I just visited one in Houston last week. It's incredible.

And with this increased production of three safe and effective vaccines, we have an opportunity to help address the urgent national need more quickly and getting our schools back open safely.

Right now, an entire generation of young people is on the brink of being set back a year or more in their learning. You can ask millions of parents; they understand. We're already seeing rising mental health concerns due in part to isolation.

Educational disparities that have always existed grow wider each day that our schools remain closed. And remote learning isn't the same for every student, as you all know.

Our educators are doing everything they can to protect and educate our students, despite the lack of resources and as districts face budget crises that risk education jobs.

Moms and dads are exiting the work force in astonishing numbers in order to care for and manage the school experience for their children at home, hindering their own opportunities for -- and further undermining the health of our economy.

This is a national imperative that we get our kids back into the classroom safely and as soon as possible. As you know, back in December, I set a goal of having a majority of our K-8 schools open by the end of my first 100 days as President.

To achieve that goal, I sent the American Rescue Plan to Congress to provide vital help to make sure schools can open safely -- reopen safely. Essential things like more teachers to reduce class sizes, more buses and bus drivers to transport our kids safely, and more space to conduct in-person instructions, and more protective equipment, school cleaning services, physical alterations to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. All cost money. The House passed the American Rescue Plan last week, and I hope the Senate will follow as quickly and as well.

You know, also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, issued new guidelines on how to reopen schools safely. It's a road map that will enable schools -- if they have the resources they deserve -- to reopen safely. I have given those schools a road map. I've asked Congress to give them the tools. And today, to add one more tool to school reopening: a vaccinated work force.

Let me be clear. We can reopen schools if the right steps are taken, even before employees are vaccinated.