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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Veteran Charged in Insurrection; New Phase of Pandemic?; Interview With Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA); President Biden Signs COVID Relief Bill. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired March 11, 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]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: And today would have been Bean's first birthday.

Her family has been collecting donations in her honor. It is all going directly to cancer research.

So, if you would like to join Team Beans and contribute yourself, go to TeamBeans.shop, TeamBeans.shop. All proceeds from the beanies will go to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. So, thank you so much in advance for your generosity.

And sending love to Andrew and his wife.

And I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with 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.

And we begin with breaking news this afternoon.

President Biden signed into law his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill this afternoon,the American Rescue Plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle-class folks, people who have built the country a fighting chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The White House says the $1,400 checks for many Americans will start landing in bank accounts as soon as this weekend.

The law also includes a boost to federal unemployment benefits and more funding for coronavirus vaccine and testing programs. Later tonight, Biden will deliver his first prime-time address to the

nation as president of the United States to chart a course out of this devastating pandemic, with 530,000 dead, 29 million infected, almost 33 million fully vaccinated, which is the good news, but of course, not to mention the nation is still down almost 10 million jobs.

And, as CNN's Phil Mattingly reports, the White House plans to try to sell this new legislation to every corner of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: I'm going to have a lot more to say about that tonight and the next couple of days.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For President Joe Biden, a day of major moments.

BIDEN: This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country.

MATTINGLY: With major challenges still ahead. Biden signing his cornerstone legislative achievement into law, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill.

BIDEN: It is clear that an overwhelming percentage of the American people, Democrats, independents, our Republican friends, have made it clear, the people out there, made it clear they strongly support the American Rescue Plan.

MATTINGLY: Just hours before his first prime-time address to the nation.

BIDEN: What I'm talking about tonight is the impact on the virus and how we're going to end this pandemic.

MATTINGLY: Where officials tell CNN he will talk about the sacrifices made by Americans over the last year, a symbolic moment just one year to the day after this from his predecessor:

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.

MATTINGLY: With the coronavirus death toll now topping a staggering 525,000, nearly 2,000 still dying each day, Biden will drill into the linchpin of his administration's plan to beat the pandemic, vaccines, their distribution, and what's next.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, level with the American people about what is required of them, but also provide a sense of hope.

MATTINGLY: Biden's bill-signing serving as the starting gun to an all-out administration-wide blitz to promote the measure, with top administration officials from the president to the first lady, Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and nearly the entire Cabinet preparing to head out into the country.

The message to be hammered home, according to an internal White House memo obtained by CNN -- quote -- "That help is here for them and their families," at its core, an effort to maintain the law's current popularity.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It is historic, it is monumental, it is consequential.

MATTINGLY: Even in the face of unified GOP opposition on Capitol Hill.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): 2021 is thought to be an historic comeback here, not because of the far left legislation that was passed after the tide had already turned, but because of the resilience of the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, Jake, one of the places the president and the vice president will be traveling together to promote this legislation will be Atlanta, Georgia.

And White House officials made clear the symbolism there is very real. Were it not for victories in the two Senate run-offs in that state on January 5, as one White House official put it to me, $1.9 trillion wouldn't have even been remotely possible, Jake.

TAPPER: That's right. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia joins us now.

Senator Warner, thanks for joining us.

President Biden just signed this legislation. He has a prime-time address tonight. How should Biden toe the line between celebrating these accomplishments and making sure Americans don't let their guard down, given that the pandemic is still out there killing more than 1,000 Americans every day?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Jake, I think you have hit the nail on the head.

You don't want to go out with a mission accomplished kind of banner. You want to say, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think we're all tired of the masks. We're all tired of social distancing.

[16:05:03]

But you can feel the economy coming back. You can see the numbers get so much better. We're up almost to almost two million vaccinations a day.

I think, if we hang in another 60 days, we're going to have been way over the hump. And then, if you can couple that with this major package, which will put money in the pockets of Americans, it will get us -- get those schools back reopened in a safe way, and there are a whole series of smaller parts of the bill that are big deals in any individual basis.

For example, the child tax credit could take down child poverty by 40 percent.

TAPPER: Right.

WARNER: Something I got into the bill, $17 billion on broadband deployment.

The one thing we have all learned from the last year of COVID, high- speed Internet connectivity, broadband is an economic necessity. We have made a giant down payment on that issue. And the state and local government assistance -- I say this as the federal government -- it's very generous, but in the second round of this money, there's some of these funds can be used for much-needed infrastructure as well.

So I hope they continue to lay out what's in this bill well beyond just the checks that are going into people's pockets.

TAPPER: I want you to take a listen to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Republican from California, criticizing this bill earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): As you know, less than 9 percent is used to defeat the virus. It doesn't prioritize school openings. Most of the money for schools doesn't even go out until 2023. This isn't a relief bill. It's pretty much a payoff for Pelosi's political allies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, Leader McCarthy says a lot of things that aren't true, especially the big election lie that he led the charge on, but he's not far off when he describes some of the spending and when it's spent.

A CNN analysis suggests that only about 7 percent of the bill's funding is directly for the pandemic, and only 5 percent of the $130 billion allocated for K-12 schools, only 5 percent expected to be used this year, 2021. What's your response?

WARNER: Well, my response is, Jake -- and, again, nobody's got a monopoly on hypocrisy in politics, but, remember, Kevin McCarthy was for the $1.9 trillion to $2 trillion that Donald Trump offered at the end of October.

So, we did $900 billion of that in a bipartisan way in December. I was proud to be one of the eight folks who put that bill together. But there was another trillion dollars he was for in October that now is getting spent out in this bill. When it came out of Trump, he was for it. Now that it's out of Biden, he's against it.

And, frankly, on the school money -- and there is a very generous pot of school money, 120-plus-billion -- it will not all be spent out before the end of this school year. But we're going to need these kids back in summer school at a rate that we have never seen before in this country to catch up.

And we're going to need additional after-school services as kids return in the next school year to make up for what, for many kids, particularly underprivileged kids, has been a lost year of education, and particularly those kids that did not have access to broadband.

TAPPER: But do you understand why so much of the money is not spent this year when it comes to the K-12 school dollars? I mean, 5 percent -- 5 percent of the $130 billion this year. Why only 5 percent of that? Why not 50 percent of it? Why is it spread out over four years?

WARNER: I believe that this is because a lot of these dollars were also going through normal formulas to state and local government. There's another $350 billion going to state and local government, very generous. And part of that also will be used for infrastructure, which we pushed for, because those numbers are pretty high.

Most school budgets had already been put in place it by this time of the year. They have cobbled together that school budget. But, remember, we're talking about this school year, which for most kids ends in June.

This doesn't talk about the summer school that will be -- will have to be at a level that we have never seen before and the much-needed dollars that start in the September next school year. That 5 percent is just for the balance of literally the next two-and-a-half to three months under this school year.

TAPPER: All right, Democratic Senator Mark Warner of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, thanks so much. Appreciate your time today, sir.

WARNER: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: A year ago today, one year ago today, quarantine became a household word.

Up next, a look at the progress we have made and some unexpected good news about one of the vaccines.

Plus, new information about one of the Capitol Hill attack terrorists and his ties to the president's helicopter, Marine One. That's ahead.

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TAPPER: And we're back now with our health lead.

It was one year ago today that the world changed forever. The NBA suspended its season. Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for coronavirus. Late-night shows stopped the practice of having live audiences. Seattle became the first major city to shut down public schools. And

President Trump gave that disastrous prime-time address from the Oval Office, where he bungled facts, while announcing a partial ban on travel from Europe.

And on this show one year ago today, we played this warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had testified on Capitol Hill earlier that day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the worst yet to come, Dr. Fauci?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Yes, it is. I can say we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now. Bottom line, it's going to get worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Today, Dr. Fauci said it would have shocked him back then just how much worse it would get.

On this day one year ago, we reported that 33 Americans, 33 had died because of coronavirus.

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And now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: I did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Five hundred and twenty-five thousand, a devastating toll that continues to grow every day.

Right now, an average of about 1,400 Americans are dying every day from COVID-19. And now, with more mandates lifting and more people vaccinated, the United States is coming out of a very dark place and heading into a new phase of this pandemic, as CNN's Erica Hill reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: We have got breaking news. The NBA has just announced that the season is going to be suspended.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The NBA coming to a screeching halt as the reality of this virus took hold.

FAUCI: I never would have imagined. Even though I have been through multiple outbreaks of different diseases, the thought that you would have 525,000 people in America to have died, this virus is a very formidable enemy. HILL: And yet here we are. In the course of a year, more than 29

million confirmed cases in the U.S., 530,000 lives lost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grieving in isolation is a very difficult thing.

HILL: CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky calling the toll of the past year heartbreaking.

"We are tired, we are lonely, we are impatient," she writes in a new statement, while also focusing on hope. Both deaths and average new cases down in the last week; 10 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated. Four former presidents teaming up to boost that number.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, roll up your sleeve and do your part.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is our shot.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now it's up to you.

HILL: Notably absent, Donald Trump, who we recently learned was vaccinated off-camera in January.

Meantime, encouraging new data from Israel shows the Pfizer vaccine appears to be 94 percent effective against asymptomatic spread.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It means that not just you're protected from getting sick, but you're also protected from potentially catching it and then spreading it to others.

HILL: The same studies show it's also highly effective against the variant first identified in the U.K., which is the dominant variant in Israel, and which has been confirmed in all but three U.S. states.

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH: This is coming at us at the very same time we're opening up America as if there's nothing else happening.

HILL: The Texas attorney general now threatening to sue officials in Austin for keeping the city's mask mandate in place.

STEVE ADLER (D), MAYOR OF AUSTIN, TEXAS: The science and the data very clear that the single most important thing we can all be doing at this point is wearing masks.

HILL: And yet, from Maryland to Oklahoma, more states are easing restrictions.

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): The standard for normal cannot be zero cases. In Oklahoma, the standard for normal is freedom.

HILL: Prompting celebration and concern.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: And breaking news just coming into CNN here. That threat of a lawsuit from the Texas attorney general is now a reality, Jake.

So we have learned that lawsuit has been filed because of this mask mandate against officials in Austin, saying that it undercuts reopening efforts. In that lawsuit, the A.G. says that the governors orders preempt more restrictive local emergency orders.

And it's asking for a stay. CNN has reached out to Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, as well as other health officials for comment. We have not yet heard back -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Erica Hill, thanks so much.

Let's bring in CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay since COVID was declared a pandemic, we're now averaging 1,400 deaths every day, compared to the peak just two months ago, which was around 3,400. Hospitalizations are now under 43,000. In January, they were three times at, around 133,000. New cases now average about 56,000 a day, compared to 250,000 only two months ago.

What do you make of where we are now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, things are obviously heading in the right direction, Jake.

I mean, the numbers are still just remarkably high. I mean, I think we think of them as low because of where we have been and what those peaks have shown. I think I'm optimistic, Jake, about the next few months. It's been a tough year. And you and I have had some times where we have had to give tough news to the audience.

But I think I am more optimistic. Here's what I'm concerned about a little bit, Jake, is, I think things will likely continue to improve, we will go into the warmer months, viral transmission goes down. And if people stop being serious about vaccinations, we may not get the amount of vaccinated people that we need, the percentage that we need, and then going back into the fall again, you could have more significant resurgences.

So people already starting to look at this in the rearview mirror, saying, it's over. And, as a result, aside from not abiding by good public health practices, if they slow down the vaccinations as well, that could set us up for some trouble in the fall. So, pedal to the metal still for a little bit, Jake.

TAPPER: Yes.

And we're one year into the pandemic. There are three vaccines available in the U.S. And we got this message today from four of the five members of the former presidents club. Take a listen.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I want to go back to work and I want to be able to move around.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To visit with Michelle's mom, to hug her and see her on her birthday.

BUSH: You know what I'm really looking forward to is going opening day in Texas Rangers stadium with a full stadium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That's part of this new ad campaign from every living president, except for notably one, Donald Trump.

But given that 28 percent of Republicans say they're reluctant to get the vaccine, this does seem a missed opportunity. I don't know whether because Donald Trump didn't want to participate, or because the people who made the PSA started while Trump was president and then ended up just not bringing him in. I don't know why. But there is this missed opportunity to get Trump supporters to hear the message.

GUPTA: Yes, no doubt.

I mean, it is interesting, as Erica Hill just mentioned, that President Trump did get vaccinated. So, do what I do, not what I say, I guess whatever that saying is.

TAPPER: Right.

GUPTA: I mean, he obviously thought it was the right thing to do for him. And to the extent that people will then follow his example, they should know that.

But 28 percent, we have sort of hovered around this 20 to 30 percent vaccine hesitancy for some time. I think, as more and more people do get vaccinated, the numbers will go up. One thing, Jake, we talk about a lot, communities of color. You saw LeBron James yesterday sort of hedging on vaccination, saying it was a private conversation between him and his family.

Of course, he's right, it is a private conversation. But when you look at vaccine distribution overall, 67.8 percent of these vaccines going to white Americans, between 6 and 7 percent going to black Americans, despite the fact that they are far more likely to be hospitalized and die from this.

So that's probably the biggest area that needs to be addressed in terms of hesitancy.

TAPPER: Yes, though we had Congresswoman Karen Bass, Democrat of California, on this show yesterday, and she said, she thinks the biggest issue when it comes to the minority community is access, the ability to take a day off, go to the hospital, wait in line, et cetera, as opposed to willingness.

It's probably a combination of both.

I want to ask you, Sanjay. New guidance now allows for indoor visitation at nursing homes, regardless if the visitor or resident has been vaccinated. Explain the reasoning here, if you could. I don't really fully understand it, if seniors are supposed to be one of our most vulnerable groups at risk, especially people in nursing homes.

GUPTA: Yes, I could see that confusion a bit here, especially given that, yesterday, you and I were talking about the idea that we're still saying people who are even vaccinated shouldn't be getting on planes. And yet visitations can occur in arguably the most vulnerable areas of our community.

I think it's a couple things. First of all, there's dissonance here, and I think the CDC is going to have to explain why no travel, why yes nursing homes. Having said that, you could look at long-term care facilities and save 70 percent, roughly, of the residents have now been vaccinated. In some ways, they're approaching that herd immunity already, which is sort of an interesting way to look at things.

But I think there's also a subjective component. When I read that, when I read the language carefully, yes, basically saying, Jake, the same thing that you and I were talking about yesterday. People want to see their families. People have been isolated for a long time. There's a compassionate clause to this in terms of allowing this to happen.

TAPPER: Yes.

GUPTA: In again, the concern is, it's going to feel to some people like this is over, looking at things in the rearview mirror. I hope that's not the message people take. I hope people still get vaccinated for example, so that we go into the fall in much better position.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. Good to see you on this sad anniversary.

A veteran who was a member of the Marine unit responsible for transporting the president has now been charged in the January 6 insurrection.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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TAPPER: The national lead now.

He once went through the nation's most impeccable security clearance check, one that is meant to ensure any unquestionable loyalty to the United States. But now he's an accused domestic terrorist charged with storming the U.S. Capitol.

Pentagon records show that John Andries once worked in the Marine unit responsible for transporting the president and operating Marine One, the presidential helicopter, during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama years units.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has more on the shocking story.

Jessica, this aspect had higher than top-secret security clearance. What else do we know?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: He did, Jake.

And he had to have that higher level of security clearance because it's reserved for personnel close to the president. And that's because John Andries worked for years as a helicopter crew chief doing maintenance for Marine One. He was in the Marine Corps between 2004 and 2009.

And he was assigned to the Marine Helicopter Squadron One. That's the unit responsible for transporting the president. But now he's charged with breaching the barriers outside the Capitol on January 6, then entering that building through a broken window.

And then, once inside -- prosecutors, they released these pictures and they say that Andries faced off with police, but he didn't actually physically engage them.

But, still, these pictures and this scenario is startling for someone who once served in the military and was assigned to Marine One. Now, the FBI got at least two tips from people who alerted them to John Andries after January 6.

He has since pleaded not guilty to five federal crimes. He has been released from jail. But, Jake, this is just the latest charge against a military veteran.

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