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The Lead with Jake Tapper

White House Warns Against States Reopening Too Fast; Cuomo Accuser Speaks Out; Senate Debates COVID Relief Package. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired March 05, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: The SUV rolled several times, before ending up well off the road.

Woods suffered severe injuries to his right leg, requiring multiple surgeries. The golf legend has not yet said whether he will attempt a return to the tour.

Well, that's it for me.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We begin with breaking news in the politics lead today.

Moments ago, President Joe Biden pitched his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill in a roundtable at the White House.

Right now, the U.S. Senate is considering the major economic package, which could put more money in your pocket, but first hours or even days of Republican delay tactics are expected in the Senate. Right now, the Senate is at something of a standstill because of a debate over unemployment benefits.

Once senators reach that final vote, Democrats have no room for error with a 50/50 partisan split in the chamber. This afternoon, President Biden also said the new jobs report out proves the bill is urgently needed.

Though the U.S. added far more jobs than economists expected, 379,000 jobs last month, as CNN's Phil Mattingly reports President Biden says his plan is essentially to turn the economy back around, because that is not enough jobs needed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't afford one step forward and two steps backward. PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

President Joe Biden trying to maximize the urgency of his $1.9 trillion dollar COVID relief plan.

BIDEN: The rescue plan is absolutely essential to turning this around, getting kids back to school safely, getting a lifeline in small business, and getting the upper hand on COVID-19.

MATTINGLY: Even as the U.S. economy starts to bounce back, a hiring surge in February, with 379,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate ticking down to 6.2 percent.

But with the U.S. still down 9.5 million jobs from one year ago,the White House is urging action, and fast.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Congress must pass the American Rescue Plan now, so we can get Americans back to work.

MATTINGLY: And the Democrat-led Senate on the verge of delivering, striking a deal on enhanced weekly unemployment benefits, dropping it to $300 from $400, in exchange for extending them through September, and, crucially, making the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits not subject to taxes.

BIDEN: I'm convinced we're ready to get this done.

MATTINGLY: In all, the bill largely standing in line with what Biden proposed before he even took office, with $1,400 stimulus checks, $170 billion for education, $160 billion for vaccines and testing, and crucial extensions of emergency unemployment programs, but still days away from Senate passage, with the chamber now engaged in a marathon consideration of amendments.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): And if we can't respond to the pain of working families today, we don't deserve to be here.

MATTINGLY: Including a last-ditch effort from Senator Bernie Sanders to get the $15 minimum wage back into the proposal, which failed on a bipartisan basis, with eight Democratic votes against, and dozens upon dozens of Republican amendments planned, most designed to try and split Democrats from the bill.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This isn't a pandemic rescue package. It's a parade of left-wing pet projects that are ramming through -- they're ramming through during a pandemic.

MATTINGLY: Something the White House and Senate Democratic leaders are trying desperately to keep from happening.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The Senate is going to take a lot of votes. But we are going to power through and finish this bill, however long it takes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, Jake, that desperation from the White House and Senate Democratic leaders is zeroing in on one senator, Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat. He has not signed off on that deal in terms of those federal expanded unemployment benefits up to this point.

And right now, sources say or sources are telling our colleague Manu Raju that he's leaning towards a Republican proposal related to that $300 enhancement. How this all ends is still very much up for debate. But the reality is this. Democrats cannot pass this bill without Senator Joe Manchin, so, right now, a lot of closed-door meetings, a lot of effort from the White House and on Capitol Hill to try and bring Joe Manchin along, Jake.

TAPPER: Joe Manchin, one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C., right now.

Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

Let's discuss with my panel.

Abby, let me start with you.

Today, the White House said that President Biden will fight to pass this $15 federal minimum wage increase. But, as Phil just noted, seven Democrats and independent Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats, they voted against adding this to the relief bill. Senator Kyrsten Sinema explained her no vote by saying there should be consideration of the raise, but separate from the relief bill.

What do you take from all this?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's pretty clear that the Biden administration doesn't want this bill held up because of the minimum wage.

Maybe the only -- if you looked at one signal of that, you would look at Senator Chris Coons' vote against this amendment. Chris Coons is a very close ally of this administration's.

[16:05:05]

And I think it's very symbolic that this is not the venue that they want to deal with this issue. Now, how they do that going forward, I think, is another subject. There's a lot of reason to believe that Democrats, moderate Democrats, and even some Republicans are open to a lower threshold.

And maybe, I think, that is where you will see the Biden administration putting their elbow grease behind an effort to get the minimum wage at the very least increased for the first time in quite a long time.

Tara Palmeri, today, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said that the Republican Party had 100 amendments in the hopper to keep delaying final passage of this vote. What do Republicans have to gain by doing that?

TARA PALMERI, POLITICO: I mean, it's going to be a very long weekend.

The thing that they gained is basically slowing down the passage of this bill and pointing out all of the amendments within the package that they disagree with. It's also -- they claim that there are a lot of Democrat wish list items in this package, and they want to draw attention to it.

And, overall, they just want to slow down the process. Senator Johnson had the parliamentarian read the 691-page bill the other day. And I think their whole point is that this package is so big, that it's -- and the big is actually the money as well. They think that $1.9 trillion is too much.

So, by showing the extent of the package, all the things that are packed in it, they are arguing to their voters that this is not the right bill for COVID relief.

TAPPER: But, Abby, a Monmouth poll shows 62 percent of the American people support the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. The White House says it's a bipartisan bill, not because of the votes it's getting, which is not bipartisan, but because of the support it enjoys from Democrats, Republicans and independents, according to polls.

Is there a risk for Republicans that they will alienate Americans who need help and don't really care about the size of the package?

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, I think that that is definitely a risk. Americans want money in their pockets. They want to pay their bills. They want to be able to go to the grocery store and buy groceries for their families.

But what is striking to me about that -- those numbers, both the 64 and the 34, look at where it is. It's almost exactly where we have been for about four years now, in terms of the approval rating of a certain former President Trump. There's a segment of this country that wants absolutely nothing to do with this.

And when you look at Republicans in the Senate and in the House, their base are those people, that third of the country, and that is who they are listening to. And that's why you're not seeing even these really extraordinary majorities of supporting the bill changing their behavior on Capitol Hill.

They are focused on the narrowest parts of their base, the people who are showing up for them in midterm elections, and that's the number one priority for them right at this moment.

TAPPER: And, Tara, this afternoon, as Phil just reported, it's not clear where West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is going to land when it comes to this Democratic proposal to extend unemployment insurance benefits at $300 a week, through September, instead of $400 a week, through August.

How messy could this get? I mean, they need that vote.

PALMERI: Right. And Manchin has essentially become king of the Senate because they're such a small majority. It's basically 50/50, with Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

And so the White House crossed Joe Manchin pretty early on when Kamala Harris did an interview with a West Virginia news outlet and sort of stepped into his turf, put pressure on him to vote along with the White House. And it seems like he still held on to that and is willing to exert his power right now.

I mean, he's a moderate Democrat, but he was -- he voted with Republicans, many, many times during the Trump administration. He was seen as a reliable vote. Republicans -- and maybe Biden, who is passing this massive bill through reconciliation, should have perhaps spent a little bit more time trying to win over moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans.

And I know that, obviously, the deadline is pressing. March 15, unemployment benefits run out. But a lot of these Republicans feel burned because they tried to meet with President Biden and they showed up asking for $600 billion. Obviously, he wanted $1.9 trillion, but they thought, hey, maybe we can meet in the middle.

But it turns out that they said, let's just ram it through with reconciliation. So I think what you're seeing is a lot of power plays right now and exerting -- showing that they have -- that the White House can't ram this through.

TAPPER: Yes, and Manchin is the one that essentially sank the Cabinet nominee Neera Tanden for Office of Management and Budget director.

PALMERI: Right.

TAPPER: Abby, quick, if you could, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain today tweeted about the February jobs report, saying -- quote -- "If you think today's jobs report is good enough, then know that, at this pace, it would take until April 2023 to get back to where we were in February 2020," a year ago.

[16:10:08]

The Biden administration doesn't want anyone to think, oh, this jobs report is good enough.

PHILLIP: Yes, not only that, but this is -- they are afraid of a deja vu.

What happened in 2009, when they passed a bill that they, in retrospect, believed was too small, was that the recovery was protracted. It took a very long time to get to a point where Donald Trump could then claim that he deserved credit for the economy rebounding.

So, the Biden administration, they don't want to do that again. They want to get back to fast growth as quickly as possible, so that they don't get blamed in two or in four years for the recovery not being fast enough.

That's what you're seeing in that Ron Klain tweet, never mind that they want people to recognize that this is urgent and they want to do it right now.

TAPPER: Tara Palmeri, one of the authors of "Politico Playbook," thanks for joining us.

PALMERI: Thank you.

TAPPER: And you can catch Abby Phillip on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, right before "STATE OF THE UNION."

Coming up: The coronavirus vaccine is hard to get as it is, so why is the White House today brushing off one big city mayor who said no to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?

Plus: As a new scandal erupts regarding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, an additional -- in addition to the sexual harassment accusations, a source tells CNN that it's getting a livid reaction from inside his own party.

That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:43]

TAPPER: In our politics lead: The problems keep mounting for New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In the wake of Cuomo ordering nursing homes to take in all individuals even with COVID in March 2020, which critics say lead to loss of life, some of Cuomo's top aides allegedly rewrote a June 2020 nursing home report to hide the high COVID death toll in nursing homes, cutting it by nearly half, according to "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal."

This as Cuomo's former aide and one of his sexual harassment accusers, 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett, revealed in a disturbing interview with CBS News that she believes the governor was grooming her and propositioning her for sex.

She called him a textbook abuser, as CNN's Brynn Gingras reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLOTTE BENNETT, CUOMO ACCUSER: He is a textbook abuser.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former staffer of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, telling CBS the man she saw as a mentor asked her to find him a girlfriend.

BENNETT: When he said he was lonely, I mentioned that his daughters had been around, and he also rejected that. He said: "Yes, love my daughters, but that's -- I want a girlfriend."

GINGRAS: Bennett held an executive assistant position in the administration last year and was alone in the governor's private office to take dictation, she said.

During one interaction, Bennett says Cuomo told her to turn her recorder off. And the conversation turned personal.

BENNETT: Without explicitly saying it, he -- he implied to me that I was old enough for him and he was lonely.

GINGRAS: Bennett says Cuomo also seemed fixated on her history as a sexual assault survivor.

BENNETT: I think abusers look for vulnerabilities, previous traumas, the idea that maybe I'm more willing to accept behavior because I have a history of sexual violence.

GINGRAS: Cuomo's office didn't respond to CNN's requests for comment on the interview, instead pointed us to his apology on Wednesday.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I never knew at the time I was making anyone feel uncomfortable. And I certainly never, ever meant to offend anyone.

GINGRAS: It's not the only controversy the governor is facing right now, a second over his administration's reporting of nursing home residents' COVID-19-related death data last year.

"The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" citing an internal report from June that purportedly shows Cuomo's top aides deliberately reworked the data in an effort to lower the death toll of these residents. The tension over numbers partly stems from a March 25 directive.

In it, the state required readmission of residents recovering from the virus into nursing homes. Some believe that contributed to the higher death toll. The administration rescinded the directive on May 10.

CUOMO: Nothing was hidden from anyone.

GINGRAS: The handling of the information now being looked into by the U.S. attorney's office and FBI.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The consequences are going to be determined by the Justice Department. They're probing him for a reason, because you can't lie to everybody.

GINGRAS: Cuomo's chief counsel tells CNN: "The out-of-facility data was omitted after DOH could not confirm it had been adequately verified. This does not change the conclusion of the report, which was and is that the March 25 order was not a driver of nursing home infections or fatalities."

The report, though, a tipping point for some lawmakers said to be livid over the new revelations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS: And we just got a new statement, an updated, more detailed statements from the governor's special counsel, Beth Garvey, sort of elaborating on what I had just in the piece there, that the reporting was factual.

Now, all of this new reporting, though, Jake, comes at a time when lawmakers have moved forward with that plan to revoke the emergency executive powers from the governor as it comes to the pandemic.

Of course, this was something they were toying with for a couple of weeks now, when this controversy was heating up, and then it really sped up with the latest sexual harassment allegations -- Jake.

TAPPER: And how are New York law homemakers responding to this reporting on the nursing home deaths?

[16:20:04]

You say that they're livid, but are they doing anything more, other than being steamed on backgrounds through journalists?

GINGRAS: Yes, and that's exactly a good way to put it, Jake.

No. That's the short answer. There are those Democrats who have been critical of the governor, have been calling for him to resign. And they are saying the same thing, even with this new reporting. But there are crucial ones that have not come forward just yet.

But, as you said, my colleague Lauren del Valle had reporting that there was a conference among Democratic senators just before they took the floor to vote on the bill I just mentioned, and they were livid with this new reporting.

So, of course, we're just going to have to wait and see until what comes out even after this in ways of what they decide to do.

TAPPER: All right, Brynn Gingras, great reporting, as always. Thanks so much.

Coming up next: the Biden administration's explanation today for that vaccine guidance that was supposed to come out this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:25:41]

TAPPER: In our health lead: The White House COVID response team today warned states against rushing reopening, as more and more governors are easing restrictions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: It may seem tempting, in the face of all of this progress, to try to rush back to normalcy, as if the virus is in the rearview mirror. It's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: But 15 states are lifting their mask mandates anyway, with Texas and Alabama about to lift theirs, as more and more Americans get vaccines and desire to return to normal life, even as health experts caution against trying to do so too quickly.

This as CNN's Lucy Kafanov reports for us now we're waiting for new guidance from the CDC on what life for vaccinated Americans could look like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We will be releasing this guidance soon.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vaccinated Americans are still waiting for the CDC to release its new guidelines, which were expected this week.

WALENSKY: Our goal and what is most important is that people who have been vaccinated and those not yet vaccinated are able to understand the steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones.

KAFANOV: The White House says there's nothing nefarious about the holdup. But with vaccinated Americans wanting to know things like when they can hug their grandkids, frustrations are growing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to get back out there.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Like it or not, people are going to be resuming some of their pre-pandemic lives after getting vaccinated. Why don't we provide them with the best guidance that we can?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your arm, sir.

KAFANOV: Those shots of hope averaging two million per day now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, I was so excited.

KAFANOV: A new survey shows nearly 70 percent of Americans plan to get vaccinated or have already gotten the shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three.

KAFANOV: Three vaccines now being offered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all in the same ballpark. Get the one that's available to you.

KAFANOV: Picking and choosing, well, that landed Detroit's mayor in hot water.

MIKE DUGGAN (D), MAYOR OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer are the best. And I am going to do everything I can to make sure the residents of the city of Detroit get the best. KAFANOV: The White House describing the mayor's remarks as a misunderstanding.

SLAVITT: We have been in constant dialogue with Mayor Duggan, who said -- in fact, that was not what he said, or however -- however it was reported. In fact, he is very eager for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

KAFANOV: Mayor Duggan walking his remarks back today, saying he now has full confidence that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is both safe and effective.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi:

KENNY WILLIAMS, OWNER, MOSAIC RESTAURANT & BAR AND THE BEER HOUSE AMERICAN PUB: I just can't tell you how tickled I am that we're maybe going to see everybody jammed in one day.

KAFANOV: More states are rolling back COVID-19 safety rules, but keeping their mask mandates, like businesses in West Virginia, which will return to 100 percent capacity tomorrow, and Connecticut, which is lifting capacity caps in offices, retail and restaurants in the coming weeks.

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): We thought, this is something we know we can do safely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV: And as governors weigh reopening, new research from the CDC shows that states with mask mandates saw declines in daily coronavirus cases, while allowing restaurant dining, for example, was associated with more cases and deaths, definitely something to keep in mind as COVID-19 continues to spread -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Lucy Kafanov, thank you so much.

Joining us now, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, Michael Osterholm.

Michael, thanks for joining us.

Detroit's mayor rejected a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, saying that, while it's good, Moderna and Pfizer are best. But if you take a look at the data from the study of this vaccine, scientists found it was 72 percent effective against moderate to severe critical COVID-19 cases in the U.S., but it also prevented 100 percent of hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus.

So, it's a good vaccine. I mean, it prevents you from getting really sick or dying. How dangerous is the rhetoric that we heard from the mayor of Detroit?

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH: Well I think, at this point, Jake, I'm not even sure it's rhetoric. I think is a misunderstanding. And I understand why. These numbers are a bit complicated. And we need

to do a better job of helping the public understand that this vaccine, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, just like the other two, will prevent you from getting serious illness, hospitalizations or dying.

That's what this is all about.