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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Iranian Political Intrigue; Biden Administration Touts COVID Accomplishments; Sources: Trump Advisers Urge Him to Make a Vaccine PSA. Aired 4:30-5p ET
Aired April 26, 2021 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:30:20]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our politics lead today: Thursday will mark President Biden's 100th day in office. And Americans are giving the president mostly positive marks for his job performance so far, with 53 percent approval in a new poll.
But it's Biden's handling of the coronavirus pandemic that's getting him even higher marks. Nearly 70 percent approve in that same poll.
President Biden has long said he knows he will be judged on how well he steers the U.S. out of this pandemic crisis.
CNN's Gloria Borger now takes a deeper look at his administration's push to do so and what they inherited from the previous administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: From day one, it's been about urgency, overwhelm the problem. We're at war with the virus.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): For the last 100 days, how to get vaccines into the arms of hundreds of millions of Americans and convince the hesitant to get a shot has been an immense historic undertaking, and also personal for those on the front lines.
ZIENTS: I'm worried that people have lost loved ones. People continue to lose loved ones. People's lives have been upturned. This is hard, and people are tired, which means that there's a tendency to let down our guard, which we can't do.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: If you had told us 100 days into President Biden's tenure that it would be open season for every adult American that wants a vaccine to be able to get one, I think we would have all said that's really incredible.
BORGER: A country with the highest number of confirmed deaths worldwide now vaccinating at a speed more than four times faster than the world average.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The progress we have made has been stunning.
BORGER: Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed developed the vaccine.
PAUL MANGO, TRUMP HHS SENIOR OFFICIAL: It turned out to be the most significant medical discovery and manufacturing achievement in American history.
BORGER: Nothing short of a miracle.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Do you realize what a dire situation we would be in if we did those vaccine trials, and, oh, my God, they were 20 percent effective instead of 90- plus percent effective?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Operation Warp Speed.
BORGER: But, in the beginning, the transition did not move at warp speed. President Trump was preoccupied with finding votes, not shots.
FAUCI: There was much more of a concentration of the president on reelection and a dissociation from the fact that we were having an epidemic.
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): I was somewhat critical.
BORGER: And governors were left wondering who would be running the show.
HOGAN: I raised the issue to Mike Pence several times about, hey, regardless of whatever stuff the president is saying, we have got this vaccine thing, that we have got to make sure that these guys know what's going on as soon as they get a -- and he assured me that that was going to be the case.
BORGER: And then:
ZIENTS: There was no plan to get shots into arms.
BORGER: No plan?
ZIENTS: There was no plan. Those early doses of Moderna and Pfizer were being dropped-shipped to states, and there were just not enough places for people to get vaccinated.
BORGER: They say that you were using their playbook on vaccine distribution.
ZIENTS: I just think that's just not true.
MANGO: I have to say it's frustrating when they spend all of their time disparaging what we did. They say we didn't have a plan?
BORGER: Yes?
MANGO: We had 65 plans. BORGER (voice-over): Localized, not centralized.
MANGO: We had the fundamental belief that local leaders understood their counties, their townships, their states, their islands, at a greater level of detail than we ever could.
FAUCI: It's complicated. There was not really a well-articulated long-range playbook to get the vast majority of the people vaccinated. That's where I think the full-court press of the Biden administration really, really stepped up to the plate and did it well.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT: Congratulations, Mr. President.
BORGER: The new president inherited a surging pandemic, more than 3,000 deaths a day, only about 15 million vaccinated.
HOGAN: At the very beginning, the frustration was huge demand and no supply.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to get it today.
HOGAN: And so the anger and frustration everywhere across the country was, why can't I get an appointment for a vaccine?
BORGER: Biden became the national vaccine pitch man, setting targets.
ZIENTS: And he ultimately decides.
BORGER: And announcing every milestone himself, eager to show any momentum, starting with what looked like an attainable goal.
BIDEN: A hundred million shots in the first 100 days.
HOGAN: We were already doing more than a million a day at that point. So, if he did absolutely nothing, we would have done 100 million in the first 100 days, even if he didn't show up.
BORGER: But he did show up repeatedly.
BIDEN: One million more Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, vaccine supply for every American adult by the end of May. By my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million shots.
BORGER: I heard early on the president was very impatient.
[16:35:02]
FAUCI: He is. He is. And that's the truth. He's impatient, like, OK, is this the best we can do? He asks specific questions. Well, what about this, and why aren't we doing this, and are we doing the best in that?
BORGER (voice-over): Biden could not control the delays due to winter storms, or governors who eased restrictions. And he abided by the decision from the FDA and CDC to temporarily pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a move that some saw as overcautious and confusing.
BIDEN: These checks are providing a heck of a lot needed relief.
BORGER: The president did jump-start a substantial federal response, a $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
BIDEN: America's coming back.
BORGER: Deployment of active-duty military and FEMA, a federal pharmacy program, a network of community health centers to increase vaccine access and equity.
DR. MARCELLA NUNEZ-SMITH, CHAIR, COVID-19 HEALTH EQUITY TASK FORCE: We have to always start with access, making sure that people can get vaccinated in places where they are comfortable and where they trust the people who are vaccinating them.
BORGER: Many in communities of color are skeptical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the side effects?
BORGER: Vaccinations of younger people and those in rural areas are lagging. And with the number of overall daily vaccinations wavering, appealing to the hesitant is crucial.
NUNEZ-SMITH: We always will meet people where they are. We always have to make sure that messages are tailored. So that's about saying, what are your particular concerns?
PROTESTERS: We want to be free!
BORGER: And politics, as always, comes into play.
Fifty percent of Republican men say they are not likely to take the vaccine. What would you say to them?
HOGAN: I would say that's absolutely crazy, because the people that say, hey, we want to get rid of these masks, we want to open up all the businesses, the only way we ever get life back to normal is if we get enough people to get that vaccine.
BORGER (voice-over): So, why not explain the rewards of vaccination earlier?
WEN: If what we're saying to them is, get vaccinated, it's great, this is such a safe and effective vaccine, but, by the way, you can't really change much of your daily activities, I don't think that people understand what's in it for them.
BORGER: And why not open schools sooner?
WEN: I think this was a major mistake at the very beginning was to not prioritize teachers for vaccination.
BORGER: The administration's answer has always been the same: Let the science lead. ZIENTS: I think this is another example where we followed the
science. The CDC put out guidance as to how to make sure to open schools safely and keep them open safely.
BORGER: Now a new phase in the effort, an immense get-out-the-vax P.R. campaign, a TV blitz.
NARRATOR: With vaccines we can trust.
BORGER: Celebrities getting jabs.
DOLLY PARTON, MUSICIAN (singing): Vaccine, vaccine.
FAUCI: It really is kind of a race between getting vaccinated and the virus trying to essentially surge up again. Every day that goes by, you get closer and closer to that virus really not being able to do anything, because, when you get an overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated, the virus has no place to go.
BORGER: The country is at a tipping point. With coronavirus variants on the rise, the next 100 days and beyond will still be a tough race, with the final finish line not yet in sight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BORGER (on camera): And, Jake, now, as the administration starts to loosen guidance on things like masking, they're walking a very fine line here, letting up on restrictions, while still telling people, you ought to remain vigilant.
TAPPER: Yes.
BORGER: It's not an easy sell.
TAPPER: Not at all.
Gloria Borger, thanks so much. Really appreciate that.
BORGER: Sure.
TAPPER: A nation's top diplomat caught on tape giving details on rivalries and power struggles, like you have never heard before from inside that country.
And that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:13]
TAPPER: In our world lead today: a firestorm in Iran, after the country's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was caught privately criticizing Iran's powerful and elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard, revealing a behind-the-scenes power struggle and claiming that the military is calling the shots. Foreign Minister Zarif also said that the Trump administration's
successful January 2020 targeting of General Qasem Soleimani was quite consequential.
CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us now live from the State Department.
And, Kylie, what exactly did the foreign minister say?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zarif said specifically of Qasem Soleimani that -- former top commander in Iran, that he had actively worked to sabotage the Iran nuclear deal by working with Russia to do so.
He also said that he had done things in Syria that were not in Iran's interests. And he makes it very clear this commander, Qasem Soleimani, was killed by the United States during the Trump administration.
But what the foreign minister makes clear here about Iran is the fact that, even though that commander is gone, the Iranian military is the supreme force when it comes to Iran. He said -- quote -- "The Islamic Republic is the military field. That's what rules," demonstrating that, no matter what he does diplomatically, he has to give up a lot on his diplomatic efforts just so that the military can do what they want to do.
We asked about this to State Department spokesperson Ned Price during the briefing today because it's significant, given the U.S. and other countries that are trying to reenter, to salvage the Iran nuclear deal are talking right now. Ned Price wouldn't comment on it.
But he did comment on the fact that, despite the fact that the military commander was opposed to the Iran nuclear deal, they were able to create that deal in 2015. Now they're trying to salvage it.
[16:45:02]
TAPPER: And, Kylie, Zarif has also been suggested as a possible candidate for Iran's June 18th presidential election. What are experts making about the timing of this leak?
ATWOOD: Yeah. That makes the timing of this leak a little bit questionable, but it's really hard to know if this benefits Zarif or if it hurts him. You talked to folks who say, yeah, in one way it does benefit Zarif. It demonstrates that he's really trying to do everything that he can diplomatically despite the front that he faces at home with the military, but on the other hand you talk to folks who say that this is not a leak that's going to help the foreign minister in any way, shape or form because the supreme leader of Iran isn't going to be happy, and that's true lit only person that matters when it comes to the power struggle within Iran.
One thing we can be sure of, Jake, is the fact that when the U.S. official heads to Vienna to try to salvage the Iran deal this week, this is going to be something that's definitely going to be discussed.
TAPPER: All right. Kylie Atwood at the State Department, thanks so much.
Is former President Trump the only person on earth who can convince many of his supporters that they should get the vaccine? The push to get Trump to make a PSA, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:31]
TAPPER: In our health lead today, will former President Trump do more to help get the U.S. closer to herd immunity? We know many of his fans are reluctant to get vaccinated. Almost 30 percent of Republicans say they are definitely not going to get the shot. That's according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll from March.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.
And, Elizabeth, you just learned that Trump's closest advisers are pleading with him to make a vaccine PSA. What do they say?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What they are saying, Jake, is they are really nervous. They are scared for President Trump, former President Trump's legacy. You know, the vaccine was developed under his administration and his supporters say he should own that -- I'm sorry, his former aides, these officials say that he should own that, that he should sell that, that he should tell his followers, look, I helped develop this vaccine. I led that effort in operation warp speed and I want you to take it.
Now, these former Trump administration officials who I've spoken with, they say, look. Trump supporters listen to Trump and pretty much only to Trump. This is that one of those officials tells me.
This official says: I see Operation Warp Speed tipping towards failure and it concerns me. If we don't move half the people into the vaccinated column, we're most likely not going to reach community immunity and if we don't reach it then the president's vaccine legacy is dead.
Now, Jake, last week, former President Trump said on Fox News he mention that had he had been asked to make a PSA and very briefly he said I'll do it. However, we all know the former president changes his mind and that's hardly a -- a commitment to actually making the PSA, these former officials are looking for a commitment -- Jake.
TAPPER: It's so odd, Elizabeth. Trump himself got vaccinated in January but did it secretly. We didn't find out until much, much later. What do health experts think about if he had televised his getting that shot in January whether the U.S. would be in a better place?
COHEN: If he had televised it and if he had released that, made it part of a PSA, that would have made a big difference. Look, all the other former presidents did televise them getting their shots and their wives, the former first ladies, but let's face it. People who were supporters of say Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, they are pretty much, not completely, those folks are getting vaccinated.
So if President Trump had at the time taken pictures of it, had a photographer, a videographer there, that would have made a difference if he decided that he wanted to make that part of campaign, but I will say that the officials that I've been talking, to the folks who used to work in the Trump administration. They say even without that, the president looking into the camera and giving an earnest plea to his followers to get vaccinated they think that that would make a big difference, even without images of him and Mrs. Trump getting vaccinated.
TAPPER: So self-defeating.
Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much, appreciate it.
You might believe President Biden is real the hamburglar if you watch terrorism news these day. The weak, wild, offer conspiracy theories that Republicans are now peddling.
Plus, vaccinated Americans with the travel bug may soon be able to fly to Europe again. When might that be allowed? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:58:25]
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, the family says it was an execution after they were shown just 20 seconds of the video in which Andrew Brown Jr. was killed by police. Hospitals in India are running out of oxygen for COVID patients, the worldwide push to get help.
Plus, the brutality against pro-democracy demonstrators in Myanmar. CNN talked to a soldier who defected after being horrified what he saw.
But, first, leading this hour, the GOP gone wild, and that's our politics lead today. Republicans across the country embracing conspiracy theories from enabling the former president's election fraud lies to red meat lies to the base about red meat. This weekend, Republican governors and a member of the House pushed a lie about the Biden climate plan, pushing the lie that he's proposed the consumption of meat. He has not proposed the consumption of red meat.
Frankly for those hoping for the Republican Party en masse to re-- tether itself to reality this is just one example in the last few days that's very discouraging. In Minnesota, news broke of a county party event featuring a far right conspiracy theorists who went so far as to say that the George Floyd killing and subsequent unrest was all planned.
In Arizona, the party is all in on a recount run by a peddler of election lies. And nationally, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy continues to attempt to rewrite history about Trump and his own involvement in the January 6th insurrection. [17:00:00]
