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The Lead with Jake Tapper

New Cuomo Allegations; President Biden Delivers Address On Vaccine Efforts; Inside Look As Chicago Schools Reopen After Nearly A Year; Source: New York State Lawmakers Moving To Repeal Cuomo's Expanded Executive COVID Powers. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired March 02, 2021 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can reopen schools if the right steps are taken, even before employees are vaccinated. But time and again, we've heard from educators and parents that they have anxieties about that.

So as yet another move to help accelerate the safe reopening of our schools, let's treat in-person learning like an essential service that it is. And that means getting essential workers who provide that service -- educators, school staff, child care workers -- get them vaccinated immediately. They're essential workers.

Over 30 states have already taken step to prior -- -prioritize educators for vaccination. And today, I'm using the full authority of the federal government. I'm directing every state to do the same. My challenge to all states, territories, and the District of Columbia is this: We want every educator, school staff member, child care worker to receive at least one shot by the end of the month of March.

To help make this happen, starting next week and for a month -- the month of March, we will be using our federal pharmacy program to prioritize the vaccination of pre-K through 12 educators and staff and child-care workers. Throughout March, they will be able to prioritize the vaccination of pre-K-through-12 educators and staff and child care workers. Throughout March, they will be able to sign up for an appointment at a pharmacy near them.

And I want to be very clear: Not every educator will be able to get their appointment in the first week, but our goal is to do everything we can to help every educator receive a shot this month, the month of March.

I want to conclude with this: We're making progress from the mess we inherited. We're moving in the right direction. And today's announcements are a huge step in our effort to beat this pandemic. But I have to be honest with you: This fight is far from over. I told you I'd be straight up with you from the beginning. As I said many times, things may get worse again as new variants spread and as we face setbacks, like recent winter storms in the Midwest and South. But our administration will never take this public health threat lightly.

Though we celebrate the news of the third vaccine, I urge all Americans: Please keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced, wear masks -- keep wearing them, get vaccinated when it's your turn. Now is not the time to let up. I've asked the country to wear masks for my first 100 days in office. Now is not the time to let our guard down. People's lives are at stake.

We have already -- we have already -- and I carry this in my pocket -- lost more -- as of today, we've lost more than 511,839 Americans, as of today. It's got to stop.

We need the United States Senate to follow the House and pass the American Rescue Plan, because despite the optimism, without new resources, our entire effort will be set back. We need the resources in the American Rescue Plan and we need it urgently. We need them expanding testing, ramp up vaccine distribution, fund FEMA and other federal vaccine efforts, and continue reimbursing states for their efforts.

We need the resources to expand genomic sequencing; to stay ahead of emerging variants; find the protective gear, transportation, staffing, and other costs required for school and business to open safely. We need to fund it. The bottom line is: We need the American Rescue Plan now. Now.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down now or assure that victory is inevitable. We can't assume that. We must remain vigilant, act fast and aggressively, and look out for one another. That's how we're going to get ahead of this virus, get our economy going again, and get back to our loved ones.

So thank you. And, please, please, it's not over yet. Great news, but stay vigilant. May God bless you, and may God protect our troops. Thank you all very, very much.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You have been listening to President Biden -- hold on one sec.

He might take a question here.

QUESTION: When do you think things will get back to normal?

BIDEN: When do I think things will get back to normal? I've been cautioned not to give an answer to that because we don't know for sure. But my hope is, by this time next year, we're going to be back to normal, and before that -- my hope. But again, it depends upon if people continue -- continue to be smart and understand that we still can have significant losses. There's a lot we have to do yet. So thank you.

QUESTION: Did you receive a briefing about the border today?

[16:35:02]

BIDEN: Yes, I did.

QUESTION: What did you learn?

BIDEN: A lot.

QUESTION: Is there a crisis at the border, sir?

BIDEN: No, we'll be able to handle it, God willing.

TAPPER: You have been listening to President Biden speaking at the White House announcing a few things, first of all, new measures to speed up vaccines for all Americans, a promise that they are going to attempt, the Biden administration, working with states, to have all teachers and educators vaccinated by the end of this month, March, President Biden also saying that there will be enough vaccine doses for every adult by the end of may, the production of the vaccine, not necessarily the vaccination themselves.

That is sooner than the previous promise of July. And then, of course, you also heard him talking about the effort to open schools, reopening schools, by all having all the teachers vaccinated this month.

Let's go to CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

Jeff, you heard a lot of caution there, along with these new goals. The big news, we were told that this press conference was happening or this announcement was happening was because of this announcement that the president was using the Defense Production Act and getting pharmaceutical giant Merck to help Johnson & Johnson, normally a rival, produce more vaccines.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, that is very significant, because this is one of the things that has been at issue here, is creating enough of a vaccine supply.

But through using the Defense Production Act, it is going to allow Merck to speed up to essentially get a couple facilities online to start producing more Johnson & Johnson vaccination faster.

Now, it is unclear if that is part of his goal that pushes this up to May, because it is going to take -- administration officials I have been speaking with say it's going to take several months to get those Merck facilities up to speed.

But just the idea of Johnson & Johnson now being able to produce more is accelerating the goal of having enough vaccine for every American by the end of May.

But the distinction here is getting that vaccine into people's arms. And that is a variety of challenges. One, there's hesitancy from some Americans, but, two, there's also still a blockage of supply. So, the government is setting up those mass vaccination centers. They are having more a distribution through pharmacies, through local pharmacies.

So, that is what the government is trying to speed up. But it is very significant, because, just a couple weeks ago, at our town hall meeting in Wisconsin, the president said the end of July. So this is about 60 days prior to that to have enough supply on hand. So, this is one of the things, a lot of things going on behind the

scenes here. But the Defense Production Act -- and the White House was very involved in getting Merck to work with Johnson & Johnson. And part of this also is for vaccinations yet to come.

Johnson & Johnson is doing significant trials on children, on pregnant women. So, this is expanding, eventually, by the end of the year much more vaccines. But that is one of the reasons that the president is being hesitant by saying, when are we going to get back to normal? He said, by this time next year.

That is actually extending it a little bit, because he answered that question differently just a couple of weeks ago. He said by Christmastime next year. The reality is, he doesn't know because of the variants, because of how we are handling this, with the loosening restrictions, but certainly optimism, a light at the end of the tunnel here, having enough vaccine by the end of May, but again pointing out the challenges of getting all those vaccines into people's arms -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thanks so much.

Let's bring back Dr. Peter Hotez, the author of the new book "Preventing the Next Pandemic," which is out today.

So, you heard President Biden just there. He says we're on track to have enough vaccine supply -- that's not in arms -- but it's enough supply for every adult American by the end of May. How do we get those shots into arms?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, well, first of all, Jake, I thought that was an incredibly important speech. Those were very important remarks.

And he hit -- that was a home run in many respects, because that's our biggest hurdle right now, is, we are opening up a lot of vaccination hubs. We're expanding them, including in low-income neighborhoods. We're going beyond the pharmacy chains and the hospital chains.

The problem has been, we don't have an adequate supply of vaccine. So, by number one, taking the Defense Production Act and working with Merck & Co. -- Jake, the two biggest multinational companies for making vaccines and Merck & Co. and GSK. So, Merck & Co. has a lot of heft and a lot of horsepower for making vaccines.

So, it's really important that he brokered that deal, because now I have a lot more confidence we can accelerate production of the J&J vaccine. So, that's a really important act.

And getting this by May is absolutely critical, because I have been criticizing the White House by saying, if we go by the old plan of going to the fall, it's not adequate anymore because of the U.K. variant, the B117 variant,and how aggressive that's being, as Rochelle Walensky, Dr. Walensky, pointed out before.

[16:40:11] So, we have to move up our timetable. And now he's moving up his timetable. So I think that -- those are incredibly important remarks.

TAPPER: Well, speaking of moving up timetables, I do want to ask you about your governor announcing that businesses in Texas can now go to 100 percent capacity and taking away the mask mandate.

You said you disagree with it. You're worried about him doing it. Is there any science on which the governor's decision is based? Or is this decision based more in politics and desire for the economy to restart?

HOTEZ: Yes, I don't know, Jake. I haven't spoken to the governor or his staff.

But what we do know is, and has been pointed out, we do have this 117 variant really accelerating. And we lost a week vaccinating the people of Texas because of the winter storm and the collapse of the power grid. So, unfortunately, that places us at the bottom nationally in terms of percentage of people in our state being vaccinated.

And, in fairness, it is a big state. So I would have preferred that we waited until we could get a higher percentage of the people of Texas vaccinated, and that would buy us time to see what's happening with that B117 variant. So, if it starts going up, we could have held -- so, I would have held off.

And if we waited until the end of May, until we have vaccine supply, as the president is assuring us, that would be a game-changer.

TAPPER: Americans across the country are struggling to get appointments. Web sites are crashing. Appointment slots are gone within minutes. How do we fix us?

HOTEZ: Well, the way we have to fix it is, one, I think the guidelines are also a bit too fussy. People are very confused by the guidelines.

So, the sooner we can liberalize those 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, to the point where people actually understand what they mean, I think that will help, but also maintaining that trajectory of keeping the hubs open, opening the hubs.

But, again, it's got to be the supply. We -- I feel confident that, by the summer, we will have the mother lode of the two mRNA vaccines, the J&J vaccine. We will also make likely have the Novavax vaccine and the AstraZeneca vaccine. So, we will have five really excellent vaccines by that time.

The tough part is how we navigate March, April and May. This is going to be the most critical and most difficult time for the country right now. We're going to be in a much better place by the late summer or fall. I don't know that it will be normal, but it'll look so much different. It's just these next couple of months that really concern me.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Peter Hotez, thanks so much. Appreciate it, as always.

Coming up: classes during COVID. We're going to take you inside a school in one of the nation's largest school districts where students just returned to in class learning.

Plus, we have got some breaking news out of New York, where state lawmakers are taking action against Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Stay with us.

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[16:47:48]

TAPPER: Our national lead now, it is back to school, though not back to complete normal in the third largest city in the U.S. Kids in Chicago are returning to class after the city became a flashpoint in the debate going on inside most communities right now.

CNN's Omar Jimenez gives us a look at this new reality for our children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sounds of school ring through these hallways for the first time in nearly a year.

But this Chicago kindergarten class looks a little different than it used to. Mainly, masks.

UNIDENTIFIED KID: I can read the pictures, the words, retell the stories.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, you remembered all of that?

LEIGH OQUENDO, HAWTHORNE SCHOLASTIC ACADEMY KINDERGARTEN TEACHER: We made a graph and were buildings graphs of mask stamina. So we were wearing them even though we were on computers.

JIMENEZ: Chicago School District, the third largest in the country, welcome back thousands of fifth grade students Monday, a month after it planned to, following a week's long standoff with the city's teachers union over COVID protocols. Parents had to opt-in to go back to in-person learning. Only about 30 percent chose to do so.

It wasn't easy to get this point.

DR. JANICE JACKSON, CEO, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I know. It was not. Everybody wants the same thing. Our teachers, principals, parents, they want their kids in school. They want them to get a great education but want they want it to be safe.

JIMENEZ: A big part of that, vaccinating teachers who are now being prioritized but also making sure protocols are actually enforced inside the schools. These signs are among what's new when you walk the hallways of this

particular school in Chicago. You have one-way only signs also on the ground. Please keep six feet of distance, visual reminders of the stakes to returning in-person, stakes that are at play at places all across the country.

New York City, the largest school district in the U.S. welcomed back middle schoolers in person last week after its elementary students returned in December. All of it under the shadow of Joe Biden's goal to reopen most K through 8 schools five days within his first 100 days in office.

[16:50:01]

Is that realistic?

JACKSON: Well, I think it's a -- I think it's a very aspirational goal. It's going to take time to get people back to a place where they feel comfortable. This is one step in a long journey. We can't go from where we are today to where we were a year ago. It's going to be a process.

JIMENEZ: Even with in-person available, Chicago schools aren't in- person five days a week. It's still one to three days virtual, two to four days face-to-face. A first step, the district says toward getting back to normal.

OQUENDO: There are things I'm not changing. Although we're in person, there are some things I've discovered and learned from curriculum and ways of teaching and being creative that I'm going to continue to implement, even though we're here in person.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): And a portion of the sixth through eighth grade students that opted in are expected to be back on Monday. And school district officials here tell me they expect that opt-in rate of 30 percent where we are currently to go up. As they say, parents and people see that this can work.

Also, we should note the latest CDC guidelines on school says any spread in a school can be associated with spread in a community. Good news here is that numbers in Chicago, like many places across the country, have been trending down as of late, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Omar Jimenez, thank you so much.

People chained together in protests as Republicans across the country propose hundreds of bills which could change the way you vote and whether you can vote. That's next.

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TAPPER: Breaking this hour, New York state lawmakers are moving to strip Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo's expanded executive powers that have been given to him at the beginning of the pandemic, according to a legislative source. This after the Cuomo administration acknowledged having withheld data on nursing home deaths. And now, a third woman has accused Cuomo of making unwanted advances toward her, according to "The New York Times."

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now to discuss all of it.

Brynn, let's start with this breaking news from Albany happening among state lawmakers. What does this mean for the governor if these emergency powers are stripped from him?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. So, this was something that state lawmakers were considering when there was all that controversy brewing, original controversy regarding the administration's handling of nursing home death data, but we're told by sources that that conversation got heated up with the fallout of all these allegations against the governor.

And essentially, this means that he will not have the pandemic-related directives authority, so this emergency executive authority to make decisions on the pandemic without going through the legislature. And we're hearing that that bill could be introduced this week and could be taken up next week and we're also hearing that this will likely pass very quickly.

TAPPER: Let's talk about these new allegations. We already knew that the New York attorney general, Democrat Letitia James, is investigating the claims by the first two women. They were state employees. They're alleging sexual harassment.

This third woman was not a state employee. Is her story going to get the same investigation?

GINGRAS: Yeah. Well, Jake, any woman who comes forward is going to get heard, right? That's been promised by the attorney general.

Remember, Charlotte Bennett, too, one of the accusers is also asking for women to come forward if they want to, saying she stands with them.

I want you to keep something also in mind, though. Cuomo is someone who held a daily briefing at the height of this pandemic. Well, now, it's been several days since we've seen the governor go in front of the camera. So, behind the scenes, you can imagine there's likely a lot of turmoil going on, especially with this third accuser coming forward, Anna Ruch.

And she's told "The New York Times" that she met Cuomo at a wedding in 2019 and Ruch told the paper she thanked the governor for a toast he gave to the newlyweds at that wedding, and soon after, he put his hand on her back which she said she removed and then she says Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her. That moment captured in a picture published by "The New York Times."

And she said, quote, I was so confused, and shocked and embarrassed, going on to say, I didn't have words in that moment. Now, CNN has reached out to Ruch but she did not respond and we didn't independently corroborate her complaints.

And as far as how Cuomo is responding, well, he -- their office didn't return calls to CNN as well but in a statement made over the weekend where the governor says, quote, I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation, and then went on to apologize for that.

So, right now, we know the investigation is in the hands of the state attorney general. It's likely going to take a few days, Jake, before Letitia James selects an independent counsel to handle these allegations. But again, what's so key here, and we said it many times on our air, is that person is going to have subpoena power.

So, they're going to be able to request documentation, compel testimony. And it could be the governor himself. It's important to note, Cuomo says he will cooperate fully with this investigation.

TAPPER: Yeah, I've seen a lot of women criticizing the idea that he's apologizing for his actions and statements being misinterpreted as if it's the fault of these women and not his own fault for the things he said and did.

Are there calls by lawmakers, Democrats, for Cuomo to resign? I mean, Republicans have been calling for him to resign since last year.

GINGRAS: Well, listen, there's a lot of Democrats right now who are just saying, let's wait and see how this investigation plays out before they determine the fate of Andrew Cuomo. So, I think, again, it's going to be months before those investigation findings will be made public. So, we'll certainly likely hear from him then. For the most part, only one person has come forward, one congresswoman, saying she would like him to resign. Other than that, no one else -- Jake.

TAPPER: Right, although there's some state legislators who are Democrats who called for him. But Congresswoman Rice, I believe, has said she wants him to resign, Democratic congresswoman.

Thank you so much, Brynn Gingras. Appreciate it.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @JakeTapper.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

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