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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Democrats Push Forward on COVID-19 Relief Bill; Republicans Ramp Up Vote Suppression Efforts; CNN Exclusive: Internal Documents Reveal Packed Facilities, More Unaccompanied Kids Crossing Border; New York Governor Cuomo Apologizes for His Behavior, But Denies He Touched Women Inappropriately. Aired on 4:30-5p ET

Aired March 03, 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]

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In Arizona, state legislators have introduced nearly two dozen restrictive bills, many focused on limiting voting by mail, a method used by more than 80 percent of Arizonans in 2020.

KATIE HOBBS, ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: No voter in the United States of America should have their access to the ballot dependent upon who holds the majority in their state's legislature.

GALLAGHER: At the Supreme Court yesterday, arguments over a different Arizona election law which Republican legislators already passed, claiming it would limit voter fraud.

But when asked by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett why the GOP agreed with the law, party lawyers admitted what some experts say is really behind this nationwide effort, telling the high court:

MICHAEL CARVIN, ATTORNEY FOR ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER: Now, voting advocates at the state level are increasingly trying to rely on Congress to do something federally.

H.R.1, or the For the People Act, is something that is going to be voted on a little bit later today. It's likely going to pass the House. It's a massive government overhaul reform bill that includes protections on voting, like making sure there's at least 15 days of early voting and same-day and automatic registration, while preventing states from being able to prohibit absentee voting.

And, Jake, you mentioned former Vice President Mike Pence's op-ed there, where he spread those lies about election fraud. Well, the whole premise was H.R.1. He called the bill reckless, unconstitutional, anti-democratic, if that gives you any idea about how Republicans feel on this bill and how it may fare in the Senate.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Pretty remarkable at the end of your piece, when the Republican officials said that they opposed this move because it puts Republicans at a competitive disadvantage. That's not actually a principle.

GALLAGHER: Quiet part out loud.

TAPPER: Yes, exactly. Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.

So, at the same time, security is ramping up on Capitol Hill because of the chatter among pro-Trump extremists about a possible attack tomorrow, Republicans are continuing to sow doubt about who was actually behind that deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss.

And, Dana, once again, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who questioned whether the Capitol attack was even an armed insurrection, he tried to push that narrative again today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): How many firearms were confiscated in the Capitol or on Capitol grounds that day?

JILL SANBORN, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: To my knowledge, we have not recovered any on that day from any other arrests at the scene at this point. But I don't want to speak on behalf of Metro and Capitol Police, but, to my knowledge, none.

JOHNSON: OK. So nobody's been charged with an actual firearm weapon in the Capitol or on Capitol grounds?

SANBORN: Correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, just to reiterate, five people were killed that day, and dozens and dozens were injured, police officers losing an eye, losing fingers.

Even if the insurrectionists did not have guns -- and the truth is, we don't know that -- they wounded police and others with a variety of weapons. Why is he even doing this?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: To rewrite history, Jake.

I mean, there's no other way to put it. I talked before coming on with you with Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was one of the chairs of that hearing, who went down the list with me of all of the weapons that they did have, a lot of which, most of which CNN has reported, a baseball bat, baseball bats, flagpoles, bear spray, chemical irritants, stolen police shield, stun gun. And even if we didn't know all of that, because they were confiscated, we all saw the pictures. We all saw the video. We saw what -- the masses of people who were pushing in a violent way against the police officers and what they clearly intended to do if they got any of their potential targets would have done.

And you don't need a firearm in order to achieve that. And so that is irrelevant to whether it was dangerous and what happened. And Ron Johnson is trying to -- it's basically gaslighting. There's no other way to put it.

TAPPER: Eugene, the chatter about another possible Capitol attack tomorrow is because of this QAnon conspiracy, this deranged idea that Trump is actually going to be sworn in as president again tomorrow.

It's crazy. But people believe this.

Even after FBI Director Wray said yesterday there was no widespread voter fraud in the election that the FBI or Department of Justice knew of, Mike Pence is out with a new op-ed on the conservative Web site The Daily Signal, where he writes, falsely: "After an election marked by significant voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of the 2020 election."

What's going on here? What's the political calculation, that he's now siding with the people who were trying to hang him?

EUGENE DANIELS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Yes.

Well, I think he wants to stay relevant in the Republican Party. And you have to agree with former President Trump to do so. What he's missing about that when he says he agrees with those millions of people, the millions of people that believe that believe because President -- then President Trump stood in front of cameras late -- early, early in the morning on the 4th, on election night, and said that there was voter fraud. He created that.

[16:35:03]

And so it's completely cyclical. And every Republican you talk to when you talk to them in front of cameras, you talk to them on the record, they will not agree to that, even though it's obviously true. It's true that President Trump lied, and they started repeating those lies. And that is part of what happened on January 6.

And all of that, now that President Trump is -- former President Trump is still the head of the Republican Party, that's not going anywhere at all.

TAPPER: And, Eugene, you just spoke with the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee about what he sees as Trump's role in these upcoming primaries. What did he have to say?

DANIELS: Yes, he has a hard job, right? His whole job is to keep the -- try to get the Republican majority. But he is the first Republican leader to say publicly to President

Trump, we don't really want you to engage in these primaries. President Trump is going to -- has already waged wars on these 10 people who voted to impeach him.

And he -- Emmer told us that it would not be helpful, and he would like him to stay out of it. And that's something that we haven't heard from someone like Kevin McCarthy.

TAPPER: And, Dana, Pence's op-ed calls for lawmakers to vote against this H.R.1 legislation, For the People Act, the Democrats call it. It's a sweeping set of election reforms backed by Democrats.

Pence's stance -- Vice President Pence describes his stance like this -- quote -- "It proves" -- I'm sorry. Vox -- I'm reading this incorrectly. Vox describes Pence's stance as this: "It proves" -- VICE, rather -- VICE says -- quote -- "It proves that, as Pence looks to stay relevant in the modern Republican Party, with an eye on a potential 2024 presidential run, he's willing to play footsie with the elements of the party that were calling for his head just a few weeks ago."

I guess the larger question I have for you, Dana, does Pence have any chance of winning the Republican nomination if he runs in 2024? I mean, Trump has already made him an enemy. And people close to Trump are saying, if he does run again, he's not going to pick Pence.

BASH: They are.

But if anybody knows how mercurial Donald Trump is, it is Mike Pence. And so he is trying to -- he's a relatively young guy. He -- in politician's terms these days. And he's trying to stay in the former president's good graces, but he's also trying to toe the larger line that Dianne just reported in her excellent piece, which is, keep it at the state level, where a lot of Republican legislatures are trying to roll back the ability for a lot of people to vote, which really helped -- you saw how many people voted in 2020.

And he says in his op-ed that it is the states, not the -- in his words, the leftists in the House who want you powerless at the ballot box. This is the way that the Republicans, even those who say the big lie is in fact the big lie, the way that they are still trying to court the Trump base is by using the terms election reform, and, frankly, using it pretty loosely and talking about all the ways that they want to change the ballot box, which is obviously a response to the lie in 2020.

But they're making it as if it's much broader.

TAPPER: Dana Bash, Eugene Daniels, thanks to both you. Appreciate it.

The Biden administration says it's a challenge, not a crisis at the border, but up next, CNN exclusively obtained some new documents showing that the White House may be way wrong on this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:42:50]

TAPPER: In the politics lead: Despite making a concession today to more moderate or conservative voices on who is eligible for another stimulus check, President Biden is comfortable, the White House says, with negotiations over his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill.

As Senate Democrats work out the fine print, Biden is trying to move on after the first setback towards filling his Cabinet, as CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden has suffered his first defeat since taking office.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: She certainly saw that the path her own confirmation was narrowed and did not look like there was a path forward.

MATTINGLY: Neera Tanden, Biden's pick to be budget chief, officially pulling her nomination, citing no pathway to 50 votes in the Senate. And while officials say Biden hasn't settled on a replacement, Shalanda Young, a longtime Democratic congressional staffer, getting an unprecedented boost from the top three House Democratic leaders today, saying in a joint statement Young would be -- quote -- "a tremendous asset to the Biden/Harris administration."

Sources telling CNN, Young, Biden's current nominee for deputy budget director, would easily be confirmed, something made clear in her confirmation hearing Tuesday.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You might talk me out of voting for you, but I doubt it. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: So far, 13 of Biden's 23 Cabinet level nominees confirmed by the Senate, which is also moving towards votes on his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, but Democrats making late changes to address intraparty debates and pressing forward.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We have come a long way. But we have a long way to go.

MATTINGLY: With Biden signing off on an agreement to tighten eligibility for the stimulus checks in the package, now phasing out checks at $80,000 for individuals, down from $100,000, and $160,000 for couples, down from $200,000, all as Republicans, united in their opposition to the bill, planning a marathon vote process to try and split Democrats from the package, with Biden scheduled to continue his Hill lobbying blitz later tonight, this time with House Democrats.

PSAKI: He rolls up his sleeves. He gets involved in them too. And he's confident that this is a package, with all of the components included, that -- and he's hopeful that Democrats of all political backgrounds can get behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, Jake, the White House and Senate Democrats confident they can get this done and passed by the end of the weekend, but Republicans not going to make it easy. It's not just on the amendment front. They're also planning to force the Senate clerk to read the entire bill, something that's usually done away with procedurally. That could take about ten hours, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

Breaking news for you now. A CNN exclusive, CNN has obtained internal Customs and Border Protection documents revealing an emerging crisis at the border, even as the Biden administration refuses to call it a crisis.

The documents reveal a growing trend of unaccompanied children coming into the U.S., overwhelming facilities during a pandemic. And, on average, children are remaining in Border Patrol custody longer than the law permits.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is breaking the story for us.

Priscilla, just how bad is the situation?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: So, these internal documents, Jake, underscored the increasing trend of unaccompanied migrant children coming to the border. To put this in perspective, in the last 21 days, Border Patrol encountered 340 migrant children. Now, these are -- these are not levels that have been seen since 2019, when there was a crisis on the border.

Now, this is a vulnerable population. Border facilities are not designed nor intended to care for these children. They depend on Health and Human Services Department to place these children in shelters, but HHS here is also working under limited capacity due to COVID-19 precautions put in place last year.

So, behind the scenes, officials scrambling to accommodate these children. The numbers are expected to continue to rise. The Biden administration again calling this a challenge, but it may be an emerging crisis, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that breaking news story.

The governor of New York breaking his silence today on sexual harassment allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: I feel awful about it. And, frankly, I am embarrassed by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But that's not enough for some of his critics. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:18]

TAPPER: Breaking news today, Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo apologizing today after two female former aides accused him of sexual harassment and a third woman accused him of unwanted physical contact at a wedding. But along with Cuomo's apology was a denial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional, and I truly and deeply apologize for it. And I want you to know this from me directly. I never touched anyone inappropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Brynn Gingras is live in New York.

And certainly saying that he never touched anyone inappropriately, that's disputed by at least two of the three women, and you're now hearing from the accusers.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Jake. And we've heard from two of the three accusers who outright call him a liar with that news conference. I'm going to get to that in just a second. But, first, I want to take some key points from the governor's apology at this news conference.

As you just heard, he apologized multiple times. He essentially said he was embarrassed, that he didn't mean to offend anyone or, you know, make anyone feel very uncomfortable. And he outright denied any claims of inappropriate behavior, as you also just heard there. And so with all of that, he was definitive on the fact that he is not going to resign, saying anyone who is saying he should is really just playing politics at this point.

So, this is the first time that we've heard from Governor Cuomo since these allegations from three separate women, two of them former staffers, who have come forward within this just last week. I want you to hear more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Again, I didn't know at the time I was making her feel uncomfortable. I never meant to. But that doesn't matter. If a person feels uncomfortable, if a person feels pain, if a person is offended, I feel very badly about that. And I apologize for it. There's no but, you know. It's I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yeah, and it's just that part right there. I didn't know at the time I was making people feel uncomfortable that some of his accusers have issues with, one of them Charlotte Bennett, released a statement through her attorney. I'm going to read part of it to you, Jake.

It says the governor's press conference was full of falsehoods and inaccurate information and New Yorkers deserve better. The governor repeatedly said he never touched anyone inappropriately. Ms. Ruch's story makes clear that's not accurate. The governor repeatedly said he had no idea he made anyone uncomfortable. My client, Charlotte Bennett, reported his sexually harassing behavior immediately to his chief of staff and chief counsel. We are confident that they made him aware of her complaint.

So, that's the part they really have issue with and don't feel settled with in the way he presented it today, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Brynn Gingras in New York, thank you so much for that report.

And new details revealed about a former White House doctor turned Republican congressman about drinking and popping pills while on duty. That's coming up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:05]

TAPPER: CNN has learned that the House of Representatives is going to push through the votes planned for the rest of the week and finish tonight because of concerns about the threat to the U.S. Capitol tomorrow. U.S. officials alerted lawmakers that the chatter among extremists discussing plots to breach the Capitol, sources tell CNN. In the next hour, House Democrat are going to meet in a virtual event with President Biden.

Finally from us today, we'd like to remember just one of the more than 518,000 Americans we've lost to coronavirus. Today, it's a man who truly helped San Diego, Larry Baza.

He dedicated his life to advocating for the arts. He was an activist for Latino and LGBTQ communities in California, remembered as a hero by the San Diego pride committee. He died of COVID last month, just short of his 77th birthday.

Our deepest condolences to his family, friends and fellow activists. May his memory be a blessing.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @TheLeadCNN. We actually read them.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now. I'll see you tomorrow.